Happy new year

Groltz

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01/01/05

A good new year to you all


FatherTime.jpg
 

Tea

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Hi Groltz!

I'm just back. Tannin's still in South Australia, or possibly new South Wales, but I can hold the fort till he gets here. Now, where is the key to that drinks cupboard?

A happy new year to all.
 

jtr1962

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There was exactly one good thing about 2004. I got roaring drunk to celebrate it's end. Let's hope 2005 brings better things.
 

Handruin

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It's a she, she is 3 1/2 years old and I adopted her from a humane society. :D She is a great cat so far, I'm very lucky to have found her.
 

Handruin

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If you couldn't tell from the name of the folder, her name is Zelda...I didn't pick it, she came named that way from the adoption place and we decided to keep it.
 

CityK

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That is a good looking cat Doug - Nice clean coat, eyes and ears look good, and its weight looks just about right too. All in all, my armchair veterinarian skills tell me you got yourself a healthy critter.
 

mubs

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Glad you saved that cute feline, Doug. She looks great, and my 8-year old gal, who's a fanatic animal lover, had a blast looking at the pics and wanted to kiss Zelda (my monitor)!

How well do cats adapt to moving? In your case, Zelda went from her original servants to the humane society to her new servants. Merc moved, with his assortment of cats. I was always told that cats are attached to places, not people, so moving disrupts them, or that they will try to go back to the place they're familiar with. How true is that?

My child has been wanting a cat for a couple of years, but we keep putting it off because of the prospect of moving soon (life's been pretty uncertain the last 4 years; 3 moves in that time).
 

jtr1962

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Since my brother moved back with us in June his cat made the adjustment very well. Within a month she acted like she owned the place. I think frequent moving is a bad thing for cats, but moving every few years or less often shouldn't be that big of a deal.
 

Handruin

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I'm no cat expert, but I can tell you what I've read so far. Moving the cat around does cause stress. Zelda was a gift for Laura for xmas, so I chose to leave her at the shelter until the day after xmas so that we didn't shuffle her around from place to place.

I also read that the cat should be introduced to the new environment in a small room. So we brought her into the house and closed her in a half bathroom with her litter box, food, water, and a scratching post.

She spent about 3-4 hours in there, and she quickly familiarized herself with all the objects in thew room. She immediately went into her litter box (just to explore) and then started eating some of her dry food. Both seemed lik good signs that she was adjusting. She is a very friendly cat, so she continuously wanted to be petted. After an hour she wanted to be let out of the bathroom, but we gave it a little more time.

After the 3-4 hours, we opened the door to let her out. She ran out with excitement only to return in a few seconds. I think the larger downstairs room and hallway was a bit much at first, so she went back into the bathroom.

We sat in the entry way for about 20 minutes and eventually she gathered up the nerve to adventure out. Once out, she started exploring and learning the house. After 20 more minutes we left her alone to explore and returned upstairs. Shortly after she came upstairs meowing and continued looking around. She wasn't scared of the 10 people we had over that day. I was very excited to see she isn't scared easily.

Move forward to today and the cat owns the place. This morning around 5:30 she decided to climb over me and onto my night stand while I was sleeping. She was driving me crazy (but I love her regardless) so I gave her the boot. :) I pushed her out the door and closed it so I could get some sleep.

She loves to make different meows depending on who she's with or if we've gone to bed. They all mean something different, but I have no idea what she is trying to tell us.
 

e_dawg

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Happy New Year everybody!

That is a beautiful cat Handy! Reminds me of my neighbour's cat who frequented my backyard back home. Almost exactly the same, but even cuter!

Reminds me of a story with my neighbour's cat... One cold wet summer morning, I saw it shivering by the patio door so I opened up the door and let her in. I toweled her dry and let it warm up and nap on my lap. When she woke up, she was hungry and was pawing at me to get her some food. I got her some chicken from the fridge, which she absolutely loved... kept on begging for more. When it stopped raining, I opened the patio door and let her out. She kept on running back in. We had to leave town for the day, so I had to literally throw her out the door and close it before she ran back inside. I thought she'd be fine since it was now warm and dry around noon. But she would not budge from that patio door and even jumped on the screen to peer over the box at the foot of the door. On the road that night, it turn cold, windy, and started pouring rain. And I'm talking heavy thunderstorms. I felt horrible that she was probably still standing by the patio door soaking wet and shivering, waiting for me to let her in. And of course, I never did because I was out of town. When I got back the next morning, I saw her curled up on the corner of the patio asleep in a planter box, probably there all night trying to weather the storm.

I couldn't help but wonder that my seemingly good deed early the previous morning didn't cause that poor kitty to suffer much more all night by expecting to be let in and fed just by waiting at the patio door... and that if I didn't do it, she would have not expected anything from me and would have went home instead, where her owners would have let her in the house...
 

Gilbo

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Your new cat looks exactly like a cat that I recently witnessed being moved into my father's house, while I was visiting over the Holidays. His name's Buddy.

He was even more timid at first, but he had a less gradual introduction. He was just dumped into the house. The poor thing was owned by a relative who passed away over the holidays. He'd lived in a small apartment his whole life. I'd offered to take him home with me, because I love cats, but they said they'd give it a shot. It probably would have been unnecessarily rough on him for him to have come with me all things considered, but I was really getting to like him and I've been seriously thinking about getting a cat for a year or so.

At first he hid in a closet that he apparently found satisfactory. He finally came out to sleep on the guest bed with me the second night. He didn't do the typical cat thing and try and sleep on my face so I put up with him, and after a couple more days, he'd grown into one of the friendliest felines I've seen. He still meows a lot for no apparent reason, and I think he misses his previous human buddy, or wants to go home :(.

Yep, Cat's are awesome animals. Enjoy the new family member Handruin. And you may want to check this app out. Not that you can stop a cat from causing mischief ;)...
 

Clocker

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Thought I posted here already but I guess not. Happy New Year all! :wink:

Nice looking cat, Doug...

C
 

Handruin

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mubs said:
Whoa! I replied to Doug's last post, but it's not here. Did I post in the wrong thread?

That is weird. I don't remember seeing it anywhere else. :cherry:
 

Handruin

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I'll post some more pictures later, but for now I'm going to chill out for a bit. We took her to the vet tonight and it wasn't fun. She's healthy, but trying to get her into the car carrier was NOT fun. Took us a half hour, and I probably stressed her out. It stressed ME out.
 

Mercutio

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I know your pain, Handy.
Actually, the even more amazing thing is the cat's amazing ability to literally vanish immediately prior to a car trip.

Cat's on your lap, purring.
You even think about getting the cat carrier and... <WHOOSH>

Cat is gone.

It is uncanny.

On the other hand, one of my cats is so laid back that I've carried him out to the car and let him sit on the seat next to me while I drive to the post office or bank. He likes those trips, kind of like a dog, and puts his nose right up against the window.
 

Handruin

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I was literally running after her around my kitchen...for an 11lb. cat, she tore ass through the house. At one point I almost had her because she was cornered in the bathroom. I put the carrier at the door and worked her toward it. I almost had her in the door and she some how managed to squirm through my hands and jumped over it.

She got even with me this morning. She jumped into bed and woke me up, then proceeded to knock things off my night stand. She does make a cute sound when she comes into the room. It's not a meow, but rather a cute gurgle noise.
 

Will Rickards

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Getting a cat in a cat carrier through the door... haha ... rookie.
You need a cat carrier where the top comes off.
You trick them into curling up into the cat carrier (an old piece of my clothing generally works. Then BAM put the top on quick. Make sure to practice and not catch the cat's tail.
 

Fushigi

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First, once you've got them in a room, close the door. If nothing else you've restricted their movement. Bathrooms are good as they're smaller and don't have things like beds that are hard to get a feline out from under.

Second, 'pre-treat' the carrier as Will mentioned. We keep an old towel in there, although clothing is also a good option. Anything with her or your scent. A pinch o' catnip or a small piece of food if nothing else will work.

My cat doesn't like the carrier too much but I've gotten her somewhat used to it by leaving it out at times other than when she'll be taking a trip. I leave the door open.

In the car she'll meow frequently but I've found I can make her far more comfortable if I stick a finger in the carrier door for her to sniff & run against.

As in the past I've had cats that projectile-vomit whnever they travel, I always opt for a vet that's close by. :)
 
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