What I wished I had known at the start

[secondtry]

We all know how dreadful AF can be but it would have saved a lot of anxiety if I had known at the start it would drive me to eat more healthily, drink less alcohol, adopt a less stressful life, take the right exercise & yes even make me more religious......so roll on the best possible Christmas & get ready for family communications!

[CDreamer]

Poor cat.......

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to CDreamer]

Oh CD, you sound like me.

I hated Tom and Jerry and always feel cross when I see pictures of cats or dogs dressed up in silly clothes, or riding scooters. They're put on places like Facebook to make people laugh! Some times I can't keep my mouth shut and have to say I hate it and find it cruel.

This cartoon joke is funny though, as it sum's up how mischievous cats can be at times.

[CDreamer in reply to jeanjeannie50]

My cat used to walk over my keyboard whenever I settled down to type an email or work - maybe that was pay back.

[Desanthony in reply to CDreamer]

Payback for what? feeding the cat keeping him safe, warm and healthy, being woken up at unknown hours of the morning - because they feel like it or decide it's time to be fed - or even - and I kid you not, want "their radiator" turned on. LOL. I love cats especially the one who wanted his radiator turned on my friend's ginga ninja "Tiger"

[CDreamer in reply to Desanthony]

You didn’t know my Casper. Payback would have been trying to take him to the vet -who always wore gauntlets when he knew we were on the way. For locking his cat flap so he couldn’t get out after I got too fed up with the complaints - he howled until I undid it then disappeared for days, just to scare me. He couldn’t have cared less about me feeding him, always left his food because he could always sneak in the cat flap next door, terrorise the 3 very elderly cats, steal their food then clean himself with a very satisfied grin on his face sitting in neighbours front window, perfectly aware there wasn’t a thing I could do about it! Then hook up with his pal next door but one - called Brutus, I kid you not - and terrorise every other cat and a few dogs into the bargain in the neighbourhood! Brutus would ‘call’ for him every morning and try pounce on him as he ventured from the cat flap - but evidently he learned that from Casper!

He also loved his radiator bed and in his very old age became the cat I always wanted. Safe to be stroked without losing a finger, not constantly leaving presents of rats, mice, voles and once a slow worm, plucking blackbirds whilst alive in my back porch and many other misdeeds. The complaints came in many and often. If anything bad cat related happened in the Neighborhood - it was blamed on Casper.

And I adored him.

[Desanthony in reply to CDreamer]

They are wonderful aren't they? You can now get cat flaps that read the chip on your cat/s so only let them in. Don't know how much they cost. My cousin has a little cavapoo and works a 12 hour shift 3 days a week so had a cat flap put in his patio door - he didn't get the one that reads the micro chip and I wonder if one of next doors cats tried to get in would she defend her property because she is such a timid little thing I don't think she would. When you tell her there are cats out side she just looks at you as if to say "so what - they are probably bigger than me" If she bothers at all she runs out and then looks for them everywhere where they are not! When she stayed with us once she saw a cat run along the garden and I don't know if she saw but I saw the cat go behind the shed and sit on a low wall. I went out with her because she was making a fuss and watched her run around the garden but go nowhere near the shed - I just stood looking at the cat who made him/herself comfortable on the low wall. Animals are such wonderful companions. My wife says she is getting withdrawal symptoms from our cousins dog as we now won't be able to see her until at the earliest the end of January due to our lockdown and same for our friends two cats - though we did see them on zoom yesterday - wasn't quite the same.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to CDreamer]

My Pete has stolen my office chair so I now have to use a hard kitchen chair when using the computer.

[Hidden in reply to BobD]

Yeah Bob, I know that feeling ..... 😂😂John

[Hidden in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Apparently it took them 2 years to train the Churchill dog to ride his skateboard........OH YES!! 😉

[Tickerprobs in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Oooh cats...yuk. J J, Tom and Jerry wasn’t a true story...Relax. Merry Crimbo🐶

[Cliff_G in reply to Tickerprobs]

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff

[Txellen]

Great post about new healthier lifestyle...and cats!😉

[Hidden]

...... AF ( amongst other things) is a journey of discovery ....😂😂😂

[Lilypocket]

My previous cat got lost in Normandy while we were holidaying and walked back to the Paris region took him two and a half weeks to do 375 kms! He had an ID and was on a central register so the lady who found him in her garden called me. Cats are so amazing! Some people wouldn't believe it and said he must have hitchhiked. Yeah right. I can just imagine him looking like Dick Whittington's cat chilling on the side of the road waiting for a lift. Not. 😂😂 He was a rescue cat. I have two others now.

[bassets in reply to Lilypocket]

Mine, a rescue, went back to our old house and turned up at our new house a month later. Then she decided she would be better looked after next door and abandoned me - they gave her cream!

[Lilypocket in reply to bassets]

Cats!! Don't we love them 😊 I had a tabby as a child and one day saw the younger child of our neighbours carrying him around. To cut a long story short he left with them to go to live on the Isle of Man. Must've been getting cream too 😂

[bassets in reply to Lilypocket]

Same cream

[Lilypocket in reply to bassets]

😂

[Tickerprobs in reply to Lilypocket]

Hopefully for you Lily, your ex-moggy can’t swim. 😹

[Tickerprobs in reply to bassets]

Yes they’re very very very loyal......to anyone that feeds them. GET A DOG. Or better still get a talking budgie. 🦜

I know, it’s not a budgie but you get my drift🤪

[Lilypocket in reply to Tickerprobs]

I also have 2 rescue dogs Tickerprobs 😊 When I take them for walks the cat tags along ( if it's a long walk I shut her in first - it's quite disconcerting for passers by to see a chatty cat trotting along with us).

[Frances123]

Always said “Timothy” would not sleep in our bedroom or on our bed. He got injured and was quite poorly so we had him in our bedroom at night to keep an eye as he recovered. So how come once he was recovered did he not only stay in our bedroom but slept on our bed, spreadeagled in the middle, to the point most mornings my husband and I woke up to find ourselves teetering on the edges........for the next 15 years! Don’t even mention the look of disdain if we tried to move him. As Terry Pratchett said “In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods, they have not forgotten this”. xxx

[Auriculaire in reply to Frances123]

We too said our cat Pikelet could not come on the bed as he made my asthma worse. But little by little we relaxed and were particularly lax when he was not very well. Decided to go back to original rules. He has a nice comfy next to the radiator but would not go back to it. First came a "mat protest" where he would sit on the doomat by the French window. Then a refusal to sit in the bedroom at all sulking big time on the desk chair by the computer. After about 2 months of this he has finally decided his chair was ok after all. So far the attempts to get back on the bed have ceased. But we are vigilant.

[Singwell]

Absolutely agree. I'm only just over s year in as you know but through this group and my own in investigations I realise that, between episodes, my life is far better than it was. Have a great Christmas and I LOVE that pic.

[qp3usavk]

I have to say but my rescue ginger cat, Amber, has got me through lockdown, a year of retinal bleeds and sudden onset afib which required 6 days in hospital in the summer. Luckily, after cardioversion and an eye operation, I can now try to regain my life back. But Amber was there by my side all the way: a real comfort in such tough times. Let us hope for a brighter and healthier 2021 for one and all!! And cats are the very best companions!!! Now I've got to go as I've got to feed her.....!!!

[davebakerpurton]

You forgot the tail, they can do a lot of damage with their tail