To save us further hijacking the ""good day"" thread, here is a thread about cats!
As well as buying the feliway plug in, I also bought some spray too.
What are those anxiety relief drops? Might look into them. My Gizmo is such a scaredy cat, he even runs away from the rabbits!
dunno about any treatments etc but thought i'd butt in as i LOVE cats haha
I have 2 cats - one is a scaredy cat and the other is a bully LOL
Scaredy cat (Fudge) pretends to be very aloof and not liking humans but she has her moments of wanting lots of fuss - usually when i'm trying to play the piano!!!! She also sleeps on my bed with me at night 
The Bully (Toffee) also has her loving moments and often sits next to me when i'm on the computer. She also likes to sit on my knee when i'm on the computer but she also puts her head on my right wrist so i lose the ability to move my hand properly and my typing goes haywire.
I know you should'nt have favourites but i do / did. Spice who we lost in 2007 was absolutely gorgeous - but only with me LOL And she used to sleep IN my bed with me Nothing like having a furry hot water bottle on a cold winter night. She used to curl up and lie on her back cradled in my left arm like a baby and she used to rub noses with me Sounds stupid she was ""only"" a cat but i still miss her sometimes, i have a little shrine to her in my room on the shelf above my piano - her ashes in a casket, couple of photos, a cat ornament and a little pot with some of her fur that i cut off on the morning we had to take her to get put down :'-(
Ooops this was supposed to be a happy post and went downwards
No such thing as ""only"" a cat (or dog, or rabbit, or hamster, or fish, or whatever). They are family and of course we grieve for them. We had to have our cat Squeak pts just over a year ago and I still miss her and I think about her every day - usually when I'm making dinner and I remember all the things she managed to steal from our plates. Animals are amazing!
My pair join us in bed when they feel like it. Gizmo comes for cuddles like a cuddly toy, Hannah is a bit more aloof and either lies on my tummy or the pillow, sometimes at the feets.
I wouldn't be without them!
Also have the feliway plugin as our kitten used to chase the older cat who wasn't having any of it. Better behaved now with age and feliway as less hyper. More affectionate and playful too. Also very good as a foot warmer in bed and somehow knows to paw my hand when lungs not 100%.
Didn't know about the valerian or anxiety relief drops so may have to look in them.
Wish we'd had those drops when we took our cats on that journey! Not trusting the vet on 'tranquillisers' again...
We have 2 (well they live with a friend now) - one is an old Burmese (15) who sleeps most of the time, is pretty grumpy but managed to rouse himself enough to bring in a rabbit in pieces the other day.
The other one is a spherical tabby (in winter - it's mainly fur). This is basically him (if you don't know Kliban, you've missed a treat) movietreasures.com/Kliban/k...
Very sad when you have to take them to the vet's. We had to do that with one and then a few years later another was hit by a car and died at the vet's - in the middle of my GCSEs so not brilliant timing!
nice thread Sue - cheers
agree with sentiments re the loss or need to rehome a CAT. i wave everyday at the rescue sanctuary where i took my Tiny girl in February 2010, when i moved out of my martial home. i still pray that she survived and is happy there. (i cant visit as my asthma and allergies wont let me be there more than ten minutes and thats not enough time to search for her face amoungst the many that live there)
so love your description of curling up in bed with a furry hot water bottle - reminds me of Baggins x
wish i'd known about using valerian - have recently discovered it and used it as Kalms for me (very useful and it doesnt seem to set the asthma off which is good) - it would have been good if i'd known about it for use with Scruffy - real scaredy cat that used to inhabit the tops of cupboards or under things.
take care all you CATs out there and be friendly and supportive of your Humans. xx ><>
Thank you piglet for starting a new thread.
I initially found the anxiety drops in the vets. There are a variety of the homeopathic drops but I found the 'anxiety relief' the best one. They are made by homeopet and the same drops are safe for cats and dogs.
The valerian drops I have bought are made from dorwest (organic valerian compound.) I did wonder if putting the drops around my house for the cats (I put them on kitchen towel) might help me too as I know valerian is used in human products too!! lol
I use these products as one of my cats is a pouncer, ambusher and very territorial with my other cat and these products help both cats as well as training the 'pouncer' to leave my other cat alone with verbal prompts from me... My other cat can become very hesitant and hide away or reluctant to come too far into the house without these products.
Edit: Just to add, I don't give the anxiety relief drops to my bold cat as it made him more bold! Also, I started with 5 drops, 3 times a day with my timid cat and when his hesitancy/hiding reduced I reduced it to twice a day and then once a day.
I'd just like to register my cat envy. I miss my moggies big time. And my sheepdog. It's a long, long time since they breathed their last but you don't forget, do you?
You never forget, they leave little paw prints (and fur, it gets everywhere) on your heart (sorry for the excessive cheesiness, but it's true).
We just scared Gizmo out of the bedroom by bringing in the bags from today's shopping spree! The original scaredy cat that one!
I can't imagine how it must feel to lose a cat or dog.
Mine are 6 and 7 years old and I just enjoy every day with them. I do see them as my boys, my family. (Yes, I admit to being a bit of a cat woman! And I could talk about cats for hours!!) I have always wanted dogs but with working long hours it wasn't possible I didn't realise I was also a cat person until I had my first one.
JF i'm with you completely - i'm definitely a cat woman, i love my own moggies and can't resist a stroke of other cats i know - or don't know for that matter! I have a theory that it's safer to approach a strange cat than a strange dog - a cat will generally either be friendly and happy to be fussed or it'll be a scaredy cat and run away, i've not come across a cat that will happily attack a human for no reason.
I go riding once a fortight and there's a siamese cat at the school and she's sooooo friendly, last time i was there i fussed & cuddled her for ages after my lesson
My cats are also my babies - i don't want babies unless they have 4 legs and fur haha
I went on holiday to the Isle of Man 2 years ago and there's a cat sanctuary there. I visited with my mum one afternoon and i could've literally stayed there ALL afternoon. Before we even got out of the car park and into the sanctuary proper i'd made friends with a little black cat and she'd parked herself on my shoulder haha
I'm with you all on this! Esp the talking about cats, which I know bores some people silly.
Actually my family are all suckers when it comes to cats - we're definitely not dog people! My brother once spent nearly an hour to walk an easy mile (and unlike me atm he's a very fast walker) because he met two very friendly cats in succession and just 'couldn't not talk to them'. My dad was similarly a sucker for a cat - he could spend hours talking to them (and did) and used to work with our (very heavy) grumpy Burmese perched on one arm. And my mum has a particular fondness for tabbies, claiming that even the fattest and sleekest must be in need of a new home 
('It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single cat in possession of a good set of stripes, must be in want of a home.')
Imagine my delight on finding that the office where I sometimes work (I mainly work from home but like to have a 'work space' where I concentrate) has a regularly visiting cat, a lovely and very friendly Russian Blue with his own little cardboard home (all the guys there are major suckers). I am so tempted to catnap him.
I am daft about my cats too! I don't know what people must think of me, as whenever I see a cat when I'm out and about, even if it's 30 ft away, I still talk to it! We looked after our neighbour's cats last year when they went on holiday, and tbh, I don't think they are the most loved cats in the world, but they are cared for and have their physical needs met.
Anyway, when they came back from holiday they were astonished at how affectionate their tabby was towards me as apparently she's a bit aloof towards them. All I'd done was sit on the floor with her a few times and stroke her and let her climb on me! They both keep coming to us now, I think they still think we can let them in and out and feed them (the neighbours don't have a cat flap) and I wish we could, especially when it's tipping it down or freezing cold!
JF - like you, I didn't realise I was a cat person until we adopted our Hannah (all of our cats have been rescues). None of my family are cat people though, and tbh most of them aren't even pet people. My mam was certain that my asthma was being caused by the animals, so I was pleased when the allergy tests proved negative.
Hooray for cats!
It is always lovely to hear of other people crazy about cats! I have a few work colleagues who can also talk for hours about cats and I do find it funny when other colleagues around us just don't get it and keep waiting for us to change the subject. I think cats are so smart too.
I also have two cats who are brothers. They are 3 years old. One is more confident and affectionate than the other, although the shy one will get very cuddly with my husband and I every now and then. They are both really playful, fight on and off and compete for the best sitting places in the house. Some days you can't get rid of them, then other days like today they disappear upstairs and you don't see them all day.
My cat Rhys is 17 and a big softy like me. My wife and I are mad about our feline friends and have vowed to keep cats all the time. We lost one of our cats Max ten years ago to liver disease and we still talk about his antics to this day. When I was a kid I had a cat called Timmy who got on the wrong side of a squirrell which tore a chunk out of his leg. A few years later he got cancer and had to be put down. I still miss him. Funny thing is I always seem to end up with boy cats.
Piglet I love you!! Thank you for starting this thread as a newbie I don't dare start a thread but enjoy joining in with others.
Up until July 19th last year we had 3 cats all rescued 2 half Siamese brothers called Joey and Sisko and Jay Jay who was born in our back garden. We lost our Joey in July and I still fill up with tears when I think of him which is many times in a day. He was such a character and a lovely lad but he ended up with kidney failure and after weeks of treatment including a 5 day stay in cat costa we lost him. His bro and his best friend both missed him terribly but have settled down to a new friendlier life with each other. Sisko is now 14 and a half and Jay Jay is 14 this month. I am allergic to cats and have no doubt that they make me worse but it didn't show until recently and I couldn't get rid of them cos that would make me ill too!
One of Sisko's hobbies is beating up the extender hose on the vacuum cleaner. As you can probably tell he is nutty! Our vacuum cleaner died on us last week and as a replacement we got a ""Henry"". Sisko came flying in the room to help unpack and play with the packing as per usual. We got Henry out of the box and Sisko was very interested in the hoover until my husband turned it round. Henry ""looked"" at him with those big eyes and Sisko went out of the room backwards, VERY slowly and without turning round went into the bedroom and under the bed!! I don't think they are going to be friends somehow. Maybe we should have got a ""Hetty"" instead?
lol Pauline! Cats and the things they're afraid of - one of ours once decided my sleeping bag was possibly THE most terrifying thing he'd ever seen! I was going on holiday with friends (who were staying with me) so had bag and sleeping bag there. He trotted into the room then saw the sleeping bag and practically did that cartoon backwards skid and looked at it like it was an unexploded bomb - my friends still think it's one of the funniest things they've seen! It wasn't the shape either - I took it out of the bag and he still hated it. Maybe it smelt weird to him...daft cat.
I don't think you should hesitate to start a thread btw, there's no hierarchy here. If you want to, go ahead!
haha Pauline your account of Henry and sisko reminded me of something Toffee did about 3 years ago. It was near Red Nose Day and i decided to get one of those big magnetic noses you're supposed to put on the car but i put it on the fridge instead, quite low down. When Toffee first saw it she went quite mad and tried to attack it hahaha
Fudge is also nutty and will often chase round the house making a sort of chirrupping noise for no apparent reason LOL
Can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet, but one of my cats is asthmatic too - she gets 1mg pred a day. As far as she is concerned, she gets wet food on a morning and doesn't notice it crushed up in it!
One of the worst things with us and our cats nearly caused a bust up with our neighbours. They were noisy neighbours and drove us mad with all the banging about and slamming the front door. We decided that one more disturbance and we would have a word with them even though they were a wee bit intimidating! Then one night the music started! 2 o'clock in the morning and it was blasting out so I got up to go and knock on their front door. I was hopping mad cos for once I had been in a lovely deep sleep. I was putting my dressing gown on when we heard banging on the wall so I got even madder and stormed down the stairs ready for battle only to be stopped dead by the noise coming from our front room. Lets just say that I had to go next door to say sorry and to explain that our cats had switched the radio on AND turned the volume up full blast! Not altogether sure they ever believed me but we made sure we unplugged the radio after that. The cats just looked at me when I went in to turn the thing off and didn't even look shifty like they usually do when they do something wrong. I still think they were planning a party and I was a spoilsport. Why we love them so much is a mystery.
Piglet, i know someone else who also has an asthmatic cat but she has the dubious pleasure of trying to administer an inhaler to him!! She was telling me she has a standard human MDI for him and has had to fashion a spacer from half of a 2 litre pop bottle. I've never seen this in action but i presume it's sucessful
Jinglfairy, a spacer with a mask may work better than a homemade one from a bottle esp. if it does not fit very well. There are specific animal ones.
Yay, made it to the vet with Gizmo without getting a shower! He waited til he was in he carrier before peeing! Vet says he's fine.
Now time for our Hannah's appointment - check up, jabs and more pred.
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