Guidelines For Cats

Some years ago I posted something like this.  I wanted to share this in case it is different.  Have fun.

http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/hum1/guidelines_for_cats.htm

The Cats In My Life

It all started when I was a child. I know we had cats before I was ten but I do not remember any of them.




I have pictures of cats that we had in Japan but my parents cannot share any memories of them.



The first ones I remember were when I was twelve. We had a Siamese in Lincoln, Nebraska. I remember the first time he saw snow. He put his paw on it to check it out but wanted nothing more to do with it.



This same cat jumped in the bathtub one day when there was water in it. He just stood there as though nothing was different. Then, he just jumped back out. It never seemed to occur to him that he had been in water.



Rocket came to join us next. She was so named because she was my high school's colors and they were the Rockets. She was supposed to be my brother's cat but she warmed up to me.



Just within the last few years, I have been blessed with cats again.



While wandering around the property one day, I kept hearing the meows of a kitten who seemed very scared. It was a couple of days before I saw it. Then, I did the only thing I could do. I offered it a bowl of milk. Well, we all know what followed. All of a sudden, I had a cat. I don't know where she came from. She may have been a "drop off" from the highway I live on.



She went on to grow up and have kittens. There were at least five. She had them outside and I did not see them until she brought them in. Four were alive then. She moved them inside after something had gotten to them the night before. Sadly, I found the remains of one outside.



She deposited them in the sink in the front bathroom. I tried offering her more comfortable "lodging" for them but that was of no interest to her.



They were such fun to watch grow up. Before long, she had them in the bedroom and I put a baffle at the door to keep them in. That did not last long. They were climbing over it in no time. There was no keeping them in.



Finally, they "talked" me into letting them go outside. It was such fun to watch them run this way and that. They never went very far. The funniest thing to watch was when they would run straight at each other and just before they collided, they would jump straight up in the air.



One day one of them thought they were jumping up on top of a bucket. Well, it was full of liquid fertilizer. I have never seen a kitten come back out of something so quickly. It was all I could do to keep from laughing and crying at the same time. I did go get a towel and try to dry the wiggly kitten dry. They were never still except when they were asleep.



One evening, one got up on the roof and would not come down. So, I gave up and came in. At two in the morning I heard a plaintive cry at the front door. I figured when it got hungry it would

figure it out.



I have a large cut glass basket and they thought that was the place to sleep. I was expecting one of them to slide into the bottom at any time. None of them ever did. I don't know how they would have gotten out if they had.



All four of those cats are now gone. Two of them have new humans to watch over them in this neighborhood. I see one occasionally when he comes to visit. The other came once and stayed four days.



Other cats have amused me.



One day I had taken a bowl out to put ice cream in it. I turned around to the freezer to get the ice cream. When I turned back around there was a kitten curled up in the bowl already asleep. I got another bowl out. LOL



On cold nights, they are the best sleeping buddies. The first four used to all spend cold nights inside. When I would wake up in the morning they would all be asleep on top of me. they were a nice blanket warmer.



I will be sharing more about cats as time goes along.









© Copyright 2005 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

The Cats In My Life 2

Cats are a big part of my life. I could talk about them all the time.




Have you ever seen a cat sitting like nothing is wrong, but, surrounded by chickens? I wish I had a picture of that. Chickens are birds. Cats chase birds. The only thing I could figure was this cat had tried that on other occasions and felt the rath of the chicken as it fought back. It had probably had enough and decided to turn and fight. I would not want to be that cat.



One day my landlord was moving a mobile home onto the property. I looked and looked for Fluffy. She was no where to be found. I was looking all the places I thought she would be hiding. I asked if anyone had seen her. They pointed up in a tree. There she was observing the whole situation. I went over and called her down. I wonder if she was frightened or curious or just a little of both. She seemed fine when she was in my arms. Usually, when she was scared, she would be fighting to get down and run.



What do you do when you have weeds to pull but the cats love to go hide or play in them? I am out in the country so have weeds encroaching all of the time. I want to go pull them back to the fence line but how do you do that to a cat. Especially, when they are sitting there looking at you and you can almost see them thinking " You are taking my hiding place away again?"



Years ago, when I had a set of kittens, I had to get creative about leaving the propery. Often, they would follow me down the drive and I was afraid they would get out on the highway. First, I tried corraling them inside but that was an adventure in itself to get them all in at one time. Finally, I just started timing my outings when they were asleep. I could usually get away then.



There are lots more stories that I am not remembering right now. I suspect there will be a part 3.

© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Life Without My Cats (Happy Ending)

All of a sudden I had to move. It was not my doing. Landlords can sometimes cause it to need to happen.




So, I left my cats with the promise they would be fed. The first time I went back to start getting my belongings, I did not see any of them. The next time I saw the two that my parents wanted to bring home. Mother told my landlord. Sure enough, when we went back after them last Saturday, we could not find any but one of them - not one of the two my parents wanted. It was so skinny and scared. i left a bowl of food for it. (We always feed them when we go and up until last time, they ones we saw looked fine.)



To add to the melee, my landlord now hasa a big dog tied up in my front yard. I can get in the door but I am sure the cats will not venture close. I pray I can still get them. If they were scared off, there are two other places close that will feed stray cats. I hope they found one of them. All of the cats I was feeding were at one time stary or their parents were. Just one was actually mine and he is fine on his own. Most of his life he has been elsewhere.



Now, that I am at my parents until I move to Des Moines, I have three cats to spoil rotten. They are my parents and they are all a delight. They are all different and make for much enjoyment.



Little Bit was dropped off in my son's neighborhood and found refuge at their front door. They brought it to my parents. My parents put an ad in the paper and prayed no one claimed it. Needless to say, no one did. He is quite his own boss but eats their cat food.



Sissy was born as one of three out in the country where daddy goes to feed a group of stray cats. He found out about them from a friend. She now lives here with my parents - the only one of the three still living. She is quite a love.



Then there is Rockey. He is very old but my favorite. He has me wrapped around his little claw. He sits up on the railing of the porch and just looks in the kitchen window when he wants to be fed. He usually has his food brought to him right there

He eats like he may never see food again..He loves to be petted and I cannot turn him down.



These three give me great joy and it is easier to let go of the others. However, I will always remember Treeki, Floffy and Butterscotch. They each have there own little story on this site.



I am sure I will have a new cat as soon as possible when I get to Des Moines..



© Copyright 2008 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Cat Gym

What do you do with four kittens when you are flooded in?




I had never seen that much rain and the water was coming up. I was on the highest point on the property and several feet off the ground. When you see two ducks float by your front window (I had to look down to see them.), you realize you have a problem. I was enjoying all the water birds that were coming so close. I could enjoy them. (One of the few benefits of the mess.) but it did not impress the cats.



There was just a little bit of the front yard above the water. I still had the front porch to go out on. However, for very young kittens who do not know what walk means, that is not enough space. Under normal circumstances, they would run from one end of the yard to the other, stopping only long enough to jump straight up in the air if they were about to collide with one another. They would play outside, but could not use up their energy. I felt so sorry for them.



Then, I got an idea. Why not build them a "gym" to help keep them occupied. I took my two wheeled cart and put it out in the middle of the room. They love to climb up on it anyway. They would scamper up it and into it. One loved to crouch under it before attacking another one as it wandered by.



I tied spools to strings and tied them to cabinet knobs on the ground level. Those are such fun to bat at. They were one of the less popular things to do as they tired of them quickly, but they had their place for a minute or two at a time.





Paper bags and boxes are always a hit with my felines so those were put about the room. One box turned out to be the favorite. I had it so they had to jump up and into it. They slept there often. Paper bags are fine places to climb in and "hide". Just don't put your hands around them if a cat is inside. They will attack.



The water stayed up for over a week. I think the only thing that kept us sane was all the things they had to do. There were times when I was getting rather jealous. I was getting tired of being cooped up and was ready to get out.



The water finally went down and they could roam outside again. I could reclaim the kitchen and living room, but, it is something I will never forget.

© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Watching Kittens Play

What a joy it is to open the door and find two kittens playing on the porch.




They tumble and scamper and just look like they are having such a good time. I think what I love most is when then jump straight up in the air and land in the same place.



They run from me (they are not mine), but, that is okay. I know they will stay away from those who might hurt them.



When they are asleep they look like little balls of gold and white.



There are three others down the drive. Two of them are gold and white and the other is black and white.



I see even less of them. When they see me coming, they scamper under anything they can find.



I wish I could make friends with them all. However, since they are wild, I guess it is best if they stay vigilant of humans and other creatures that might harm them.



So, I will continue to just observe them as they play. Sometimes, I wonder why they don't hurt each other. They play so rough.



Too soon they will be grown. Anyone want a kitten?

© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Kitty

Kitty was three weeks old when we had the second hurricane of the season heading our way. I was evacuated to my parents house in a stronger structure.




Daddy looked at one of the kittens and realized it's eye was seeping. He wanted to take her to the vet. It was decided that both my parents would go and I would stay with the mother (Fluffy) and the other two kittens. The storm was not affecting us, yet.



Fluffy stayed asleep the whole time her baby was gone. I was so thankful. I did not quite know how I was going to handle it if she woke up. All I could have done is hold her and assure her that her baby was okay. But, would she understand?



The vet put "Kitty Chidlow" on the medication for her eye and so she became "Kitty". The vet also told them she was a she.



She was the typical playful kitten. If the three of them were not scrapping, they were running from one end of the house to the other.



She grew up and Fluffy wanted no more to do with her. Fluffy would hiss and swat at her if she came close.



Now, that Fluffy is gone, Kitty "hangs" on me. If I sit down, there she is. The only reason I can type right now is that she is asleep right next to me.



I am trying to encourage her to not be so clingy, but,nothing has worked, yet.



She is a precious little one and a wonderful pet but she needs to become more sure of herself.The original part of this article was written February third of this year.



Three weeks ago I left to go to the beach for two weeks. A friend said she would feed them. I was so excited. She found that she could at the last minute. I was going with my mother and when I called her to tell her I could go she was leaving in ten mintures. It was a wonderful time.



When I came home Kitty was gone. It has been a week and she is still gone. I am still praying that she comes home.

© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Tabby

Tabby is one of my cats. I feed a lot of them that are not mine, but, I claim this one. He is Fluffy's grown baby and very precious to me.




At two weeks of age, he was one of four cats that evacuated with me to get out of harm's way in a hurricane. We went to my parent's. The others were his mother, brother and sister.



They were assigned to the bedroom that I was sleeping in. They were not allowed out most of the time. My parents have cats and a very friendly cat home. There are two ways for the cats to get in and out. We were afraid that if Fluffy was allowed to run free, she would get out and try to go home. So, the bedroom was their home for about four days the first time and about three the second. (I am in Florida and this was the year that we were affected by four hurricanes. That will be another story.)



My parents had such fun watching the kittens. Of course, when my cats and I came home, they (the cats) were spoiled rotten. But, I would do it all over again.



Tabby is now about two and a beautiful cat. I don't know why, but, he spends a lot of time away from the house. I know where he is. He hangs out in the same area as Butterscotch does. If I want to see him, I can go just a bit down the drive and call for him. He will come, but, not right away. Sometimes, he waits just a few minutes and other times he does not come until after dark. I think he is hiding from another cat. I cannot find out who it is. He is the only male that I know of besides Butterscotch.



When he comes on his own, he is coming for food. Sometimes, he will stick around to be held and petted for quite awhile. Other times, he comes, eats my cat food and leaves. I find that quite rude. He can get away with anything, though.



When he stays, he sits by the window and looks out upon the world. It is such a pretty picture to have a cat in the window.



I hope you can enjoy a cat. If not, come enjoy mine. You might also want to read other's recountings of thier cats.



© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Butterscotch

His name is Butterscotch. He has quite a story to tell and I will never know half of it. You just have to love him. There is no other choice.




Once I had a little gold kitten. He is another one who thought he should stay out all night before I thought he should. I could not catch him and had to give up. All the next day I could not find him. The next day, when I was coming back from an errand I saw him crouched on the back porch right by the door. I picked him up and took him in.



Not too long after that I found a home for him and did not see him for years.



Then one day he showed up in the yard. I found out he had been left to fend for himself. So, I had him back.



This did not turn out to be all good. Fluffy could not stand him and let him know it. She was not afraid of him. He was already much bigger than her. How she kept him in line I will never know.



He bullied all the other cats and they just all stayed away from him except at feeding time.



One day another cat showed up on the property. It was scared and very skiddish. I think it was mistreated wherever it came from. I figured it had been someone's pet because it was not skinny.



Butterscotch had found a friend in the new cat. Those two were always together. The new one terrorized Fluffy. I often wondered why I let it in. I don't know how but Fluffy regained control and it was back to normal.



Butterscotch comes and goes. I know of at least one other place where he eats. He is a well fed cat. Now, I think he has found yet a third place. Butterscotch is big and heavy. Garfield comes to mind when describing Butterscotch now.



When he wants to be picked up he will put a paw on the side of my leg. I think he was playing a game today. He would signal he wanted to be picked up then want right back down. Then put his paw on my leg again. After about three times, I tired of the game and came back to my yard. He followed me. He has been following me every time I have come out all day.



I hope he stays this time. As much trouble as he is, I miss that cat when he is gone.



He stayed for about a year. Then, he was gone again. He was gone about two months when I had to leave. I worried he might come back but had a family emergency and had no choice. As it turns out, I was gone seven out of eight weeks. When I came back, he was still gone. Within the last week, he showed up.



I am thinking about going away for Thanksgiving, but, not sure I want to leave this cat. When he came home he was a nice size. I noticed the little rolls of fat were gone and he looked like he had not been terrorizing whatever neighborhood he was in. That did not last long when he got back.



He is Butterscotch again and I am not sure I am going to leave him.





© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Gray Streak

Treeki (real name Gray Streak) died many years ago. Just remembering some of the things I learned from that cat are very bitter sweet memories. I still laugh about them even though I miss him so much.




My first memory of him was when he was less than six weeks old. He jumped into a bucket of liquid plant food. He jumped right back out. I could not get to him fast enough and towel him off. I felt so sorry for him. Who knew they could jump that high already? I was learning about kittens.



Their mother disappeared shortly after they were weaned. Treeki decided he would be in charge. I thought he was being so mean. Later, I realized he was just tending to the others. He licked them clean and kept them in line. I do mean he made them toe the line.



Later in life, it would be he who cowered from one of the others . He kept himself "hidden" in a bookcase in the back bedroom. I guess they were getting even by bullying him.



He loved to spend sunny days on the back of the property. Fluffy would often join him there. (I will tell you more about her in another article.) If I wanted either of them they were always there.



In his growing up days, he decided that snakes were put there as his personal toys. It is what eventually killed him. If he found one he would wrestle with it. I tried to stop him but to no avail. I knew the day we were losing him. There was nothing the vets could do by then so I brought him home and stayed with him. Towards the end, he crawled under a chair and suddenly I could no longer hear him breathe.

© Copyright 2005 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

The Cats In My Life 2

Cats are a big part of my life. I could talk about them all the time.




Have you ever seen a cat sitting like nothing is wrong, but, surrounded by chickens? I wish I had a picture of that. Chickens are birds. Cats chase birds. The only thing I could figure was this cat had tried that on other occasions and felt the rath of the chicken as it fought back. It had probably had enough and decided to turn and fight. I would not want to be that cat.



One day my landlord was moving a mobile home onto the property. I looked and looked for Fluffy. She was no where to be found. I was looking all the places I thought she would be hiding. I asked if anyone had seen her. They pointed up in a tree. There she was observing the whole situation. I went over and called her down. I wonder if she was frightened or curious or just a little of both. She seemed fine when she was in my arms. Usually, when she was scared, she would be fighting to get down and run.



What do you do when you have weeds to pull but the cats love to go hide or play in them? I am out in the country so have weeds encroaching all of the time. I want to go pull them back to the fence line but how do you do that to a cat. Especially, when they are sitting there looking at you and you can almost see them thinking " You are taking my hiding place away again?"



Years ago, when I had a set of kittens, I had to get creative about leaving the propery. Often, they would follow me down the drive and I was afraid they would get out on the highway. First, I tried corraling them inside but that was an adventure in itself to get them all in at one time. Finally, I just started timing my outings when they were asleep. I could usually get away then.



There are lots more stories that I am not remembering right now. I suspect there will be a part 3.

© Copyright 2006 Mary Ann Chidlow (UN: merian at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

Mary Ann Chidlow has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Cat Fun

This just puts it all in perspective. LOL

Cat Cam

WebCam

I just saw a Tabby cat on it. I will continue to go back to see what else there is.

Sled Kitty

Kitty Pictures

This is just too funny. I kept laughing well after I finished looking at all the pictures.

Favorite Indoor Hangout

If Fluffy was not outside or on the computer, she was on top of the refrigerator.

One day I could not close te refrigerator door. So, I reached down to push in whatever was not all the way on the shelf. I found a white cat - named Fluffy. She kept my life quite interesting.

Treeki used to love to sit on top of it and wait for me to open the freezer door. He loved to stick his head in just as far as he could from there. One day he fell off. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

One day I could not find Fluffy's kittens. I looked every where I knew they could be. You guessed it. They were on top of the refrigerator. I had no idea how they got there. Later, I saw how high and far they could jump.

Now, the refrigerator is built in. Such fun I am missing.

Cat Gym

Four very active kittens and being flooded in can result in a chaotic situation. They were full of energy and needed to release it. And, they had to stay in. We had a porch and a very little bit of front yard. The rest of the surrounding area belonged to the ducks and fish.

So, they chose to make the hall their race track - in the middle of the night. Something had to be done.

They had been climbing up the sides of the two wheeled cart so I decided to get inventive.

I put the cart out in the middle of the living room where they could get to it. Then, I tied a cat toy on a string and then the string to the door knob.

Cats love bags so I put big paper bags out. And, boxes. Thank you, Lord, for boxes. Between the bags and boxes, they were busy for hours - a lot of it sleeping.

I share these ideas with you in defense of your own sanity. They run our homes, but sometimes we deserve some sanity. LOL

I do really love my cats.

This Is For Your Cats. LOL

I had to look for it as I did not even remember the name of it. It is now in the links list on this page.

Cats, unite. Here are the rules for managing your humans.

I laughed when I first read it. I am going to read it all the way through just as soon as I am through writing this.

I just felt like you had to have it.

Here We Go

This is going to be such fun. It will be very much like my Zoo Animal Encounters except this one is hands on and about my own cats and others that I know.

I have been teased about a cat gym that I put together when we were flooded in. I have found them sleeping in the strangest places. Some of the things they like to eat are truly strange. If you own a cat I suspect you have stories that I have not even heard about.

I will start telling my adventures with cats shortly.