The Surprising Physics of Cats' Drinking

[NewTricks]

does she sleep under the covers with you?

[Hyperwolf122]

Unfortunately she doesn’t, she can’t come in my room cause she loves to tear up things and I have a lot of fragile things in my room 😆 and she isn’t very cuddly but occasionally she will purr and knead with her paws on you or lick you to death 😂

[NewTricks]

Well, that's a drawback, cat's just don't care. Maybe over time, she'll soften up. It's a good sign that she'll get right on you and do her thing. You're probably providing her with the first stability she's ever had.

 

[Hyperwolf122]

Yeah hopefully so! 😆

 

agreed! Shes definitely loving my home and watching birds out of the windows. We’re hoping to harness train her so she can visit the outdoors occasionally but she absolutely looses her mind when the harness is placed on her 😂 oh well it’s a work in progress!

[NewTricks]

Yeah, I've done that and since she's over a year old, it might be an uphill climb. To acclimate, you might try just one lightweight ribbon with a velcro closure, to let her get used to feeling something, but not the whole "shebang."

 

[Hyperwolf122]

Oh hey that’s a super good idea actually! Thank you! 😄

[NewTricks]

I hope you can use it. You might find something around the house, or get cheap ribbon at a craft store. Don't give up. Make it really loose at first, then if she tolerates it for 15 minutes, take it off. Do it for a week. Then continue, but snug it up by 1/2 inch. 

All the best on your training efforts! 🐱

[Hyperwolf122]

Crazy story with my cat that just happened that I think y’all will find funny 😂

so

i have Bluetooth earbuds for my phone and I put them on the couch this morning before leaving with my mom and sister to go shopping. I come back and I wanted to listen to some music BUT my earbuds were NOWHERE to be found!! I looked everywhere in my room and in the living room thinking I misplaced them and I got my mom to help me and it took 30 minutes of looking to find my earbuds and we looked under the couch before but we looked again and we missed a spot under the couch were my earbuds were, I was SO happy to have found them BUT I opened the case and NO earbuds!!!! 😂😂😂 they were out of the case and we found one under a chair in the living room and one in the kitchen. It’s safe to assume Louise had a fun time with them whilst I was gone, naughty little critter! 😆😂

[NewTricks]

Louise! You naughty girl. 

She's quite the character-no leaving things around casually anymore. Such is life with four legged friends. Like toddlers, only worse. 

[Hyperwolf122]

LOL that’s so true!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂

[NewTricks]

In Praise of the Cat Loaf

In realms of yarn and scratching posts, where sunbeams dance on playful ghosts, A creature dwells, a master of ease, the loaf supreme, oh what a wheeze!

No longer sleek, a panther’s grace, this feline form takes up its space. A perfect orb, a doughy mound, with paws tucked in, no whisper found. The tail, once whip, a hunter’s pride, now disappears, no place to hide.

A flurry once, a whiskered twitch, transformed it seems, a baker’s stitch. Like marble cake, with ginger swirls, or calico in patchwork pearls, Each loaf unique, a masterpiece, a furry form brought down to peace.

The windowsill, a bakery bright, displays these loaves in morning light. A ginger orb, a tabby round, upon the couch, contentment found. The human sighs, a book unread, for on their lap, a loaf has spread. A purring warmth, a rhythmic hum, a furry friend, oh so overcome.

The doorbell shrieks, a frantic beat, the mailman flees in swift retreat. The loaf unfazed, in slumber deep, the world may rage, they’ll soundly sleep.

A feathery toy, a tempting lure, might spark a sleepy paw to stir. But then a yawn, a paw unfurls, and back to dreams, the world unfurls.

The internet, a joyous sea, explodes with glee at loaf majesty. A viral trend, a meme’s delight, the loafing cat, a socialite.

From ancient tombs, a whisper stirs, of feline gods with knowing purrs. Bastet, perhaps, in loafing form, brought naps and peace to keep us warm.

Scientists scratch their puzzled heads, at how a cat can fold like breads. Is it for warmth, a heat-filled core? Or simply bliss, forevermore?

The answer lies, a secret kept, within the heart, where purrs are swept. For in that loaf, a truth resides, a lesson learned, where life confides.

Slow down, dear human, take a breath, embrace the loaf, defy life’s death. In stillness found, all worries cease, find comfort true, and inner peace.

So next you see a loaf at rest, upon your lap, or chest to chest, Don’t dare disturb, just watch and smile, at feline grace, for a little while.

For in that loaf, a magic sleeps, a secret whispered, wisdom deeps. The art of loafing, a gift to share, a purring friend, beyond compare.

This loafy life, a gentle art, a lesson learned to mend the heart. So let us learn from feline grace, and find some peace in this wild space.

credit: poem by Domino Cat March 12, 2024  Bastet is the Egyptian God deity. (original formatting untouched)

[NewTricks]

Sharing the spotlight 💝 The rag doll breed.

[David H. Lipman]

The ONLY way to wear fur.

 

[NewTricks]

 Who is jennyanydots and what does she do? 

 

If you have to look it up, no credit. Incomplete or partial answers accepted.

 

[AdvancedSetup]

6 hours ago, NewTricks said:

 Who is jennyanydots and what does she do?

Don't have a clue without searching

[NewTricks]

T S Eliot (Thomas Stearns) wrote Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats in 1939 when he was 51 years old. This slim volume is a lighthearted look at feline behavior and psychology~also the basis of the Broadway show, CATS.

While still a teenager in the late 60's, I discovered this book and the poem; the name Jennyanydots has been buried deep in memory, until last week. My library displayed it promoting poetry. Old Possum is Ezra Pound's name for Eliot during their friendship.

If you curbed your curiosity and still don't know about Jennyanydots, she was a Gumbie cat. A Gumbie cat just "sits." Eliot was fond of creating stories about cat names and their qualities.

Here's the poem:

 

The Old Gumbie Cat

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots; her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.

All day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat: She sits and sits and sits and sits-and that's what makes her a Gumbie Cat!

But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,

Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.

And when all the family's in bed and asleep,

She slips down the stairs to the basement to creep.

She is deeply concerned about the ways of the mice-

Their behaviour's not good and their manners not nice;

So when she has got them lined up on the matting,

She teaches them music crocheting and tatting.

 

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;

Her equal would be hard to find, she likes the warm and sunny spots. All day she sits behind the hearth or in the sun or on my hat: 

She sits and sits and sits and sits-and that's what makes her a Gumbie Cat!

But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,

Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.

As she finds that the mice will not ever keep quiet,

She is sure that is due to irregular diet.

And believing that nothing is done without trying,

She sets straight to work with her baking and frying.

She makes them a mouse-cake of bread and dried peas, And a beautiful fry of lean bacon and cheese.

 

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;

The curtain cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.  She sits on the window sill-or anything that's smooth and flat:

She sits and sits and sits and sits-and that's what makes her a Gumbie Cat!

But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,

Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.

She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment

To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.
So she's formed, from the lot of disorderly louts,

A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,

With a purpose in life and good deed to do-

And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.

So for old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers-

On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.

[AdvancedSetup]

Chubby cat 😄

Amazing how our minds can so easily remember good times of the past, yet we can't remember what we ate for breakfast

Thank you for sharing

 

 

[NewTricks]

Oh, how true! All memories from 1967 have 💥 my brain. Especially 🎶 Whiter Shade of Pale instantly did it. 

I have never seen an illustration of a lean cat. 

[David H. Lipman]

21 minutes ago, NewTricks said:

 Especially 🎶 Whiter Shade of Pale instantly did it.

Oooooooooooooorah !

 

[NewTricks]

Melancholy shivers.

Now on my playlist.

Edited May 5 by NewTricks
update

[NewTricks]

Blessed with a rich and long history, Lollypop Farm has the same purpose on 133 acres in suburbia-preventing cruelty to animals. This facility had a prominent role in my life, even before adolescence. I happened to take another route home last week and against better judgment, stopped in again. Pragmatism prevailed and I walked out with new memories and empty hands.

Signage and wall art looks good to me.

Edited May 5 by NewTricks
grammar

[NewTricks]

This is a silly story written by Gary Chapin , copyrighted.

"I Sent My Cat's DNA 23andmMe"

I got the report back from 19andMe, the division of 23andMe that handles cat DNA. I sent Ursula’s “genetic material” to them.

The report said Ursula is a black-furred domestic short hair. She tends towards isolation and rancor. She carries the genes for “slight and winsome.” She’s good at card tricks and close up magic. She doesn’t like cilantro. And — oh, yeah, this looks important — I’m not her real owner!

Yikes. I need half a mo. Let’s pin that. What else does the report say?

    In the “ancestral” gene set, it shows one of Ursula’s lines of descent goes through a series of scat singing jazz cats. Fun!
    10% of Ursula’s progeny will have a seventh toe — but not a sixth.
    Cats with her gene patterns tend to be Protomarxist Revolutionaries prone to psoriasis.
    Green eyes. A tail.
    She loves to read Russian lit, but only in the original. And not just the big names — Tolstoy and Dostoevsky — Turgenev, Gogol, Pushkin. She likes Chekhov’s short stories but not his plays, which makes for provocative conversation. Ursula is fun at parties.
    Her deepest roots are in Seoul. A clan of bodega cats, drinking soju and maintaining security while charging everyone in the neighborhood for “protection.” One time they really did protect the neighborhood. In 1830, the infamous Axe Gang shuffled in to extend its malfeseant influence down the peninsula. In a battle talked about right up until last Thursday, Ursula’s folk pulled a 13 Assassins on the Axe Gang, setting traps that were clever and MacGyver-esque, while also being charmingly comedic. When the Emperor decided such a formidable and charismatic clan of cats could not be allowed to live in his lands, Ursula’s fam used the bounty from the Axe Gang war to buy passage to the US. For some generations Ursula’s clan maintained its ganster-ish ways in the suburbs of Boston, but eventually the younger generations assimilated and “went legit,” becoming house cats throughout the continental US.

Let’s get back to the pin: the genetics show that I am not Ursula’s real owner. This is one of the ethical dilemmas that consumer gene testing can bring up. The question is: does it make a difference that I’m not connected to Ursula by DNA? Yesterday, I would have said, “No, of course not. I can love equally, whether the DNA connects or not.” But now, if I’m honest, I have some anxiety. Maybe some grief.

I decide to ask Ursula what she thinks. I walk into the bedroom and she’s lying on the super colorful bedspread, scatting away.

“Diddly-bop-a-squee-mop-bo-de-lame-o-bop-dop -meow-meow-zing — ”

“Hey, Ursula.”

“Yeah, man,” she says.

I explain the whole sitch to her. “So, does it make a difference if genetically, I’m not your actual owner?”

She thinks. “The way I look at it, man, I’m just as likely to murder you in your sleep and eat your eyeballs today as I was yesterday. No difference, daddio.”

Anxiety gone. Love that cat.

[NewTricks]

Cheating a little here....but the label is BLUE CAT

 

[AdvancedSetup]

 

[NewTricks]

I love that dark outline on the nose! I adopted a feral kitten that had the same thing. Before I figured out it was his natural coloring, I tried to scrub it off with a Q-Tip. He started purring.