You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘cats’ category.
If you are like most Internet users, you’ve probably passed time looking at many of those videos of cats and boxes. Cat people spend countless hours with smart phone in hand and a box on the floor, waiting for their cat to junp into the box. Maru, the popular Japanese cat who demonstrates the fine art of jumping into and out of boxes, has been viewed over 200 million times since he first appeared in 2007. There are countless Tumblr and Twitter accounts dedicated to the cats being cats.
The Oak Court Cats aren’t any different when it comes to boxes. I will occasionaly toss an empty box onto the floor and wait for one of the gang to fall into the trap. On the Court, empty boxes are reffered to as “cat traps”. Throw one onto the floor and wait to see what kind of cat you’ve caught.
The Big Guy prefers a large trap, here he makes himself comfortable in a large bos (34 pound kitty litter box). At his size (a full grown 28 pound Maine Coon), he prefers a large box, even through he manages to overflow out onto the floor.
Fatticus was snared in this particularly large cat trap. I had baited the trap with an old towel, a lure that he couldn’t pass up. He prefers large traps as he isn’t as graceful as most cats and finds that jumping into and out of boxes he frequently ends up in embarrasing situations (ok, he just isn’t gracefull).
The tortie isn’t choosey about the size of the box; as long as she can see over the edge (she’s usually on the lookout for small wildlife(she chases them) or large preditors (they chase her) or small children ( just the site of them will send her running for the hills). She is a little paranoid and sleeps with one eye open.
Oh, the exception? The old lady doesn’t do boxes. She prefers pillows, cushons and the occasional window sill.
Why do they like boxes? Who knows. I’m sure that a government grant and five years of research could lead to an answer but I would think that knowing why they are attracted to boxes would ruin the moment. The Oak Court Cats won’t share the explanation with me; they don’t wish to shatter the magic.
Oh, this last picture of the Big Guy was taken when he settled on the clothes hamper when he couldn’t find a suitable box. I’ll write about his hamper habit at another time; fortunatly one that the other cats haven’t picked up on yet.
It’s late; the cats have settled down for the night and so must I.
John
It’s been a while since the last update on the Oak Court Cats. Well, they’ve been busy.
Busy doing what? Busy being cats.
It’s mid summer and they’re in typical “cat” form. Their day begins around 5:00 and continues until an hour or so after sunset. The Cats also nap. A lot. Actually, they seem to sleep up to 20 hours on a really hot day; the most common napping spots are on window sills where a gentle breeze cools them down.
The Big Guy has shed quite a bit of his fur and is probably at his lightest weight now, maybe 25 pounds. Getting him to settle down on the scale for an accurate measurement is difficult. He hasn’t spent much time outside lately; seems there is a stray Tiger that has gotten the better of him. Mr. Big, like most Maine Coons, isn’t into fighting. He’ll go out into the yard but never more than 20’ from the back door.
I’ve met the stray a few times, chased him out the cart door more than once. The tiger looks like he’s been living out in the factory lot behind us for a while and could use a good brushing and maybe a dose of Frontline.
With the exception of Precious, the Psycho Killer Cat, the other Court Cats don’t spend much time out back and haven’t mixed it up with Tiger. Precious, on the other hand, will raise a commotion when the Tiger comes in; spitting, growling and sending a strong message with her movements with her posturing. I don’t think she’d go after the Tiger; she is, as Filipino’s would say, OA. (Over Acting – a drama queen).
Missey, the alpha of the clan, is approaching her 16th birthday later. In human terms she’d be 80. She’s got a touch of arthritis in her right shoulder; her right front leg isn’t as flexible as it should be. When she walks the leg is stiff and gives her a slight ‘hitch’ in her stride. Other than that, she’s doing well. I will have to d something special on the 25th; maybe open up a can of salmon for her.
The Cats have asked me to do a better job of posting on the blog. As they don’t have opposable thumbs they can’t type too well themselves. With that in mind I’ll be back in a few days with a new post.
Its early September here on the Court. Being in Northern California, we won’t see Autumn for another 6 weeks or so. There are a few things that we get to deal with at this time every year.
The cats begin to grow out their heavier fur. Especially the Maine Coons. The
The Big Guy in full winter fur.
picture shows The Big Guy last January, at the peak of his ‘furriness’.
Come April the cats shed a lot of the insulating fur and begin to battle with the fleas who arrive just about the same time the cats are busy shedding those tufts of hair and their skin is tender from the repeated brushings.
It takes 6 to 8 weeks to bring things to a stable state again. The cats are ‘doused’ with flea control meds but only after they have their annual bath or shower (some of the Court inhabitants prefer a shower while others prefer the wash tub in the garage). The goal is to clean the skin with a shampoo that has aloe or some other soothing agent.
The Big Guy in summer fur
The house is also treated. The rugs are shampooed and sprayed with a flea control agent. The sofa, chairs and mattresses are also treated.
If all goes well, the flea problem is solved for the time being.
During this period the cats complain, incessantly, about the irritation, the bites, the upset stomach (yep, going to see a few hairballs). The cats will pick at their food, argue amongst themselves and, in general, be most difficult to be around.
When over, the cats are generally quiet until the winter sets in. Well, they complain about other things, like rainy days, the need to burrow under the blankets at night and the list goes on and on.
This year, probably due to the dry spring and cool summer, we’re seeing an increase in flea activity. The Cats have been complaining for the past few weeks about the bites and the itching. We’ve seen them on the comb when we brush their hair and have seen them on the blanket where the cats sleep.
So, here we go again. The beds, chairs, sofas and rugs have been treated. Several of the cats have gone through the shower and have been treated with the flea meds. They are still complaining as the skins is raw from bites. Brushing is not a lot of fun as they are still ‘wearing’ summer fur and there’s not a lot of fur.
Hopefully this round of battle against the fleas will be over with soon; Missey has made it clear that she is unhappy and it is probably my fault. Precious is so beside herself that she passed up on a fat lizard that was out on the sidewalk this morning. And, most telling, the Big Guy has been hanging out with the racoons and possums in the old factory behind the house. Seems he prefers their company to the complaints of the Oak court Cats these days.
Missey recently celebrated her 15 birthday!! Not knowing for sure her actual birthday, we (the Vet, my daughter and I) decided that Missey was born around July 25, 1998.
According to the Purina web site, she is (in human terms) 77 years old. She is a Norwegian Forest Longhair, distant relative to the Maine Coon. Originally Mr. Worf’s room mate, she had a rough time after he died in 2006. (That’s Worf and Missey on the blog header, she was about 2 years old at the time.) Since then she’s become an indoor cat, only stepping out for an occasional walk around the back yard.
This picture taken in 2000, a much younger cat then, she spent most of her time in the house but would go out back to chase the occasional squirrel who wandered into her territory.
These days she spends most of her time on grooming and personal hygiene (a polite way of saying she does such a wonderful job of cleaning herself that her production of hairballs ought to be listed in the Guinness Book of Records). No longer does she race about the yard in pursuit of a squirrel; she now sits placidly on the couch when squirrels come into the room, looking for peanuts.
The other Oak Court Cats remembered the occasion in their way; Precious brought in a lizard, the others pretty much stayed out of her way as she has a bit of a temper now. Instead of the usual flea “juice” on her back, she permitted us to give her a bath using a kitty shampoo with flea control. In her younger years there would have been considerable bloodshed; this year she complained about the indignities being forced upon her but didn’t tear anyone up.
Happy Birthday Missey!!!
Its late spring here in Northern California and that generally means we are in the dry half of the year. The Oak Court Cats are ready for the nice weather and usually head out at sunrise, coming back to the house for a snack or a drink. Fatty and the Big Guy will spend 10 hours a day out in the back, patrolling the yard, keeping track of all comings and goings in the neighborhood and, oh yeah, a lot of sleeping in shady spots.
Last Wednesday, however, we had a weather front come through and leave us with close to a half inch of rain. The rain comes very late in the season; not expected by either the weatherperson or by the Court Cats.
As can be seen in the picture, the Big Guy wasn’t particularly happy. I took the pictures around 4:00 in the afternoon, when he usually goes out on the afternoon patrol. He sat there at the back door for a hour, waiting for the rain to let up; he needed to be out there but wasn’t too excited about getting soaked.
The rain finally stopped after dark and he went out for a while, working his way through the yard, the neighbor’s yard, the front yard and several other places. When he finally came in he was quite wet. The grass is long and his coat is shaggy (hasn’t started to shed yet).
He was, however, quite satisfied that he managed to spend a little time out side before the end of the day and found a quiet corner of the bed and went to sleep.
The cats were confused, worried and unsettled.
It started out as a regular day on the Court. The old man was up at 6:00, filled the bowls with canned wet food and topped off the dry crunchie-munchie bowls. (To the cats the old man was the one who took care of them most of the time, the person they would go to when ever something needed to be dealt with, like a hair ball). It was understood that he was here to wait on them.
None of the court cats paid attention when the old man put some clothes in a bag and went off in mid-afternoon.
That night the old man didn’t return home. None of the cats paid attention as there was still food in the bowls. Nor was he there in the morning to let them out onto the Court at 6:00. In fact, one of the other inhabitants of the hose opened the door at 7:30; much too late. Something was wrong.
Food was put out, although not by the old man and not the way they preferred. Missey complained that her bowl wasn’t filled and placed on the right side of the food mat. In fact, it wasn’t filled at all; it wasn’t there. She would have jumped up on the counter to look for it if she could still jump that high. The Big Guy was happy as long as there was plenty of food; he’d eat it off the floor if need be.
Later that night, at the appointed hour, (they had a schedule to follow for everything) they went into the rear bedroom expecting to curl up against the old man and sleep. He wasn’t there. “Come to think about it”, noted Fatty, “I haven’t seen the old man all day”. The cats were worried but went to sleep anyway. Surely the old man would return in the morning.
But he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t come back that day or the next or even the next. He’d been gone for days and the cats were not at all happy. Missey has been so upset she left a very messy hairball on the bed and wouldn’t sleep there (the old man would clean up these things). Precious was so worried that she stayed out front until way after dark, hoping the old man would return.
“He must have been kidnapped by dogs. There’s no other reason he hasn’t come home” she said when the cats gathered in the kitchen that night. “No, I think not. He is bigger than dogs, he wasn’t kidnapped” said Fatty. He continued “I think he ran away. Sometimes people do that.” The Court Cats grew quiet when Patty stopped speaking. A real possibility existed in that the old man was not happy with the Court Cats and left to find other cats to live with.
On the 6th morning the other person put the food out, opened the door to the Court and went about his business. He stopped long enough to give Missey a scratch between her ears and to rub Fatty’s belly then went on his way. The Big Guy and Precious argued with each other about the mysterious disappearance and blaming each other for the disappearance. “I think you made him angry, always growling and hissing at the rest of us” argued the Big Guy. Precious retorted that she wouldn’t need to hiss and growl if he had left her alone. Missey sat on the corner of the sofa and contemplated life without the old man, “who is going to clean my messes up?”
A sad, angry and confused chowder of cats they had become.
That night, just before the appointed hour of sleep a car door slammed out on the court. Precious was first to pick up the scent, “The old man! I sense him!”, and she ran out the door to the front of the house.
The old man was coming up the walkway when she got around the front of the house. “Hey!! Where have you been?” she shouted at him. Of course all he heard was some meowing as people can’t understand nor speak cat. She paced back and forth in front of him, blocking his way into the house and continuing to demand an explanation. He bent down and scratched her ‘tween the ears and, all of a sudden, she didn’t care where he was, as long as he was home.
Once into the house he went to the rear bedroom and got ready for sleep. The Court Cats were glad to have him back and decided to forgive him for running away.
The next morning the old man was awake at preciously 6:00 to feed and clean up the cat’s mess. The Court Cats went out on early patrol as they had for years and life quickly returned to normal.
The cats tried to be nicer to the old man and didn’t try to get him out of bed early. Missey made an effort to be in the kitchen before tossing up the next hair ball. Even the Big Guy tried to quit scattering crunchie-munchies when he ate. Everyone seemed to be settling down into old routines.
Except Precious. She had picked up the scent of another cat on the old man’s luggage.
Thought I’d update on a previous post. It’s been over 2 months since the Little Princess passed away and her brother is still looking for her.
Most mornings he’s at the back door at 6:00, wanting to go outside. When he finally gets out he’ll sit on the top of the steps, looking out across the yard toward her favorite spots. This goes on for maybe 2 hours before he slowly comes in, snacks then curls up on the bed where she’d spend her mornings and sleeps. In the evening he’ll want to go out at dusk and repeats the process.
We’ve tried to make things a bit easier; scrubbed carpets and pillows where she used to be so that he wouldn’t be reminded of her scent. We also rearranged chairs and pillows differently so he’d not look in the old spots. Not working out; he continues to wait every morning and evening, hoping the Little Princess will come running up the side walk.
Now, he’s not wasting away or anything like that. A recent trip to the vet reassured us that he’s healthy and just as heavy as before. The gray fur ball (or boulder) has his preferences (“yes, I like that salmon shrimp flavored snack but don’t give me the crunchy cheese snack, please”) (“what, the water bowl is empty, Oh the humanity”) (“That’s my sleeping spot, you can sleep on the floor”).
The other court cats are just fine. The Queen is battling the winter cold by refusing to go outside, even when taunted by the squirrels scampering about the kitchen. The predator awaits the warm weather; she’s not been foraging for a while and I’m sure the lizard population is growing. And the big guy is enjoying the weather. His coat is full now; he now resembles a small bear as he trundles across the back yard. He was a bit depressed in early January when a neighbor moved out and took their little black and white kitty with them. A week later the new tenants moved in and he can now be seen patrolling the neighborhood with their black cat in the mid afternoons.
All is well on the court.
It’s been 10 days since the Little Princess passed and Mr. Fatty is missing his sister. He used to spend his days with her sleeping in a warm spot or out in the back yard warming in the sun. This past week he’s moved through the house, stopping to investigate her favorite spots. Sadly, he looks around then turns to look at one of us and lets out a long and plaintive meow. We’ve had a few cats who’ve passed away and, while we deal with the loss, we have found it more important to help the remaining cats deal with it.
Cat fanciers have always knows that Cats feel the loss of a sibling as strongly as a human does. The old queen, Missey, went into a deep depression after her pal died; it was a year before she began to go back to her self. So we expect Mr. Fatty to need some help. In the last week Mr. Fatty has been sleeping in my room at night, something he never would have done before. He’s also been spending time with the Tonkinese, which he would never do before. He’s trying to fill a void. The big guy (he’s about 25 pounds) is also asking to be scratched move than in the past.
The Oak Court Cats are starting to settle into cold weather habits now. Fatty doesn’t spend much time outside (he’ll go out and sit in the morning sun for a while but comes back into a warm spot near a heater vent. The Tonkinese sits in the front window and stares intently at anything moving on the street. In warmer weather she’d be lying down under the bushes out front. Mr Big’s coat is thickening and the ‘collar’ (or mane) of light colored fur around his neck is filling out. Missey has reclaimed the corner of my bed (it’s by the window and has a southern exposure for more sunlight).
The cats go out later in the morning and tend to come back in an hour. They’re also eating for winter; unlike the summer when they take in a fair amount of food, in the winter they eat less as they tend to be lethargic this time of year. By 5:00 they’re all in for the day, settled into their favorite spots. Tonight 3 of the 4 have decided my bed is the place to be.
Nite!
Tonight the cats are quiet. One of the members of our little community has passed away. Our young Maine Coon, the little princess, had developed a problem with her lungs and her condition deteriorated quickly. Her people were with her when she went to sleep.
The Little Princess
The Oak Court Cats knew that she was having problems and were very quiet today. Before Little Princess left the house the others were sitting on the bed, all watching the door to the room where she was.
Earlier today she took a stroll out into the back yard, spending an hour out in the grass. It’s as if she knew she was going to leave and wanted to take just one more walk.
The little princess was young, just about 3 and a half years old but had a good life. The last year she spent here was a great year. She had been an indoor cat until we first took her out into the yard last summer and let her roam. She’d spend hours out there with the others, chasing bees, butterflys and the occasional bird who flew too low. She’d sit under the tree as the squirrels ran around and, frequently, right up to her. She accepted them as members of the community and never gave chase.
Cold nights would find her buried deep under a blanket; warm nights would find her sleeping on the floor in the living room or back in one of the bedroom windows.
She wasn’t a lap cat but would settle down next to someone on the couch, just close enough to allow that person to stroke her fur, scratch her ears and her chin. I don’t think she ever bit or clawed me, even at play. Yes, she was a good cat and she’ll be missed.
Her brother, Fatty, is asleep on the bed tonight. He has been very quiet tonight; I believe he knows she’s gone. This is the first night in his life she hasn’t been near him; makes us all sad here on the Court. Somehow he’ll get used to life without his partner, it’ll take some time but he’ll come out ok. After all, he has his family here, on Oak Court.
So good night Little Princess, we’ll miss you.
We’ve had visits from the other furry inhabitants of the Court recently, the squirrels. There are a number of squirrels
One of the Oak Court Squirrels
that live in the pines around the court; probably more than the dozen we’ve been able to identify. The cats are not too concerned about the squirrels, it seems. One would think felines would attack (or at least chase) the varmints out of the yard. The Oak Court Cats don’t chase them off; they don’t defend their territory at all. They just sit there as the squirrels scamper around the yard.
I tried to figure this strange behavior out, googled a number of sites, asked my vet as well. At one point I even contacted the county agricultural office to see if they could explain this behavior and was not able to get an answer. On more than one occasion I was told “Cats chase squirrels”. But they don’t. At least here they don’t.
Now, the squirrels come here for a reason. Peanuts. We will occasionally toss them a peanut. Now don’t go wild and call someone and complain; we toss out roasted but not salted peanuts only. Don’t want to be accused of causing high blood pressure amongst the squirrel population.
This has gone on for a few years now and the cats get along with the squirrels; there’s been no attacks that we know about.
Lately we’ve noticed the squirrels have become a bit more aggressive. 2 of their community have been seen sneaking into the house, searching for the peanut stash. One of them, probably the ring leader, actually climbed up on the sofa. (One of the cats was there and didn’t move at all). Others have taken to standing on the picnic table staring at the back door, sometimes standing on the back step, watching us as we walk around the kitchen.
I’ve been in the garage doing the laundry and have experienced that feeling you get when you know you’re being watched. Yes, a squirrel was be up in the rafters staring down at me.
Scene of the attack
It was inevitable, at some point they would attack the house and find the peanut stash. A week ago they made their way in and found the peanut bucket. I arrived home from work that evening to find the remains of a 2 pound bag of unsalted roasted peanuts scattered across the kitchen floor and a trail leading out the back door.
You can’t seem them in the picture, the Oak Court Cats. They were not there, anywhere. As far as I know they helped the squirrels to the peanut stash, probably held the cat door open so they could come in and make off with the nuts.
We’re a little more careful after this assault. The peanut stash is now kept behind a closed pantry door. We try to chase the squirrels away from the back when we see them begin to congregate.
Will this work? probably not. The Oak Court Cats probably don’t see the squirrels as a threat. After all, as one of the cat’s tried to explain, they eat peanuts and we don’t.
Nite.
Oak Court Cats' Blog 
Recent Comments