Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    I have two, one is the original Rdb (nickname) and is of the Maine Coon
    Cat variety.  The other is of mixed breed, generic cat w/siamese.
    
    Oh, I suppose I should clarify that I am not a cat owner, but rather
    owned by two cats!
    
    Laura
    

    Two cats:  Reuben, who is part coon cat and part sofa pillow, and
    Escher, named for the artist, who is very elengant, ladylike, and
    probably brain-damaged...
    
    I myself would much rather live with a dog.  However, I think a
    dog added to two cats, three kids, and a PC PC would be quite
    excessive.
    
    --bonnie

    Ah yes, Mr. Woolsley is quite an unusual cat; a grey tiger.  He's very
    clean and does pretty much what he feels like doing.
    
    Methinks he's a heat-seeking cat.  I found him on top of the fish tank
    the other morning, enjoying the heat of the light and the sound of the
    bubbles.  (No, he wasn't planning on going fishing.)
    
    For some odd reason he likes water.  When I do the dishes he'll sit on
    the divider between the 2 sinks and watch intently for the bubbles and
    then play with the water coming out of the faucet.  When the sink is
    clear, he'll sit in it, enjoying the warmth.
    
    We'll be getting a dog in the near future, and I'm sure that Woolsley will 
    establish his turf very quickly. (He gets the house and the yard and
    the dog gets a corner of the basement...)
    
    
    Judi

    Milo is the avatar of Teddy [who was a dog before being re-born].  This
    time around he is a grey tabby cat of the descended-from-Abyssinian-
    royalty variety.  He meditates in the bath-tub every morning and
    delivers apparently impromptu lectures on global warming, population
    control, and pizza in the evenings.  He loves me very much.
    
    Cardigan is the incarnation of a dream I once had.  She is six pounds
    of varigated grey silky fur that was once dust under some cosmic bed. 
    Yes, she _is_ the Celestial Dust Kitten.  She not above turning her
    soft black pits of eyes upon me and telling me that she was once an
    Abused Cat [which is true] when I scold her for molesting the shoes.
    [yup, this exquisite creature _completely_ blows her fragile, sensitive
    image when confronted with freshly removed shoes ... I only hope the
    shoes enjoy it as much as she does ...].  She adores Rick [or more
    specifically his shoes and dirty clothes]; but assures me that my great
    love for her won't interfere.
    
      Annie
    
    

They're cats? e gadz...I thought you were talking about my husband :-)

Jenna

    Annie, you are *fabulous*!  I loved that note!
    
    E Grace

    
    Elliott, my demon puppy who is now 7 months old.  He's half black
    lab, half golden retriever, and his paws are the size of a lion's.
    
    He snores and hogs all four of my pillows.
    He stands over me and presses his nose to my cheek when I cry.
    He licks milk moustaches off me.
    He wriggles like a worm when I come home.
    He can devour a supersize rawhide bone in two hours.
    He loves mustard, green peppers, onions, celery, and grapefruit,
      foods supposed to dissuade dogs from begging.
    He sprawls across my lap in the car.
    He chases birds and blowing leaves.
    He catches snowballs in his mouth, where they explode on impact.
    He's my mainstay, my support, my woofer, my babydog, and the best
      example of love I've ever known.
    
    Carla
    

    My friend of nearly nine years, Lint Brain is brindle-gray-black-rust 
    with white splashes on her throat and belly, and white stockings, and 
    a perpetually bewildered expression.  She greets me at every homecoming 
    and hates the Siamese bully next door.  Her favorite sound is when I
    gently rub my fingers together, for she knows I'll cuddle and stroke
    her to blissful oblivion when she comes to that sound.  (actually, she
    may like the sound of the can opener more, but I'm a close second.)
    
    DougO

    Yes, it's true, I share my home (or shall i say "her home") with a cat
    by the name of Sassafras.  She also deigns to allow me to provide her
    with Purina Cat Chow and a steady supply of Bonkers Cat Treats.  She
    even condescends to share my bed with me, as long as the electric
    blanket is on.  To remind us whose house it is, she leaves hair
    *everywhere*.
    
    D!

Yes, I just installed V4.0.

Mr Nerd

>>Yes, I just installed V4.0.
    
    So, tell me, Mr Nerd, does it purr now?
    

    
    i believe the reason for houses is to keep animals on the outside.
    

    re .13, as you know, this belief is one of your 3 flaws.
    
    Lorna
    

    Yep... two of 'em...
    
    Loki (aka "the Lumpcat")  -- a grey tabby with a heart of gold and the
    loudest purrbox on the face of the earth.  Normally quite stoic, he
    loses all dignity when a flashlight beam or a catnip mousie appear...
    
    Thor (aka, "the Maniac") -- also known as "the Pooh Cat", being a cat
    of very little brain :).  An orange streak that spends his waking
    hours charging from one spot in the house to another, chasing bugs,
    balls, his own tail, and imaginary mousies.  
    
    	-Todd
    

	Yup, two little (or not so little) moggies called Cider and Yoda.

	Both castrated short-haired males, I call them ginger, but have found 
	out they are called differently in the US. Cider is a red tabby with 
	green eyes, and Yoda is a yellow spotted tabby with yellow eyes.

	They were both strays that aquired me.


	Heather
		

    I don't have a cat, but one of my housemates does. A Maine coon
    cat named Malcolm, whom I also call Malcosaurus Rex ("King Fuzzy
    Lizard").
    
    But remember, as a cat-owning friend of mine, one must occasionally
    tell one's cats, "All cats are scum, and don't deserve to live,"
    to keep them in their place.
    
    --- jerry

    I wish I could figure out a way to change the way we talk about
    companion animals.  The fact that we say we "own" them means, at a very
    deep level, that we really do consider them property, like a toaster. 
    And too damn many people exhibit no more feeling or sense of
    responsibility toward the animals that depend on them than they do
    toward a toaster.

>    I wish I could figure out a way to change the way we talk about
>    companion animals.  The fact that we say we "own" them means, at a very
>    deep level, that we really do consider them property, like a toaster. 
>    And too damn many people exhibit no more feeling or sense of
>    responsibility toward the animals that depend on them than they do
>    toward a toaster.


	This flummoxed me a bit, so I went and re-read all the previous notes.

	Apart from your note, there is only two other that mentions "owning".

	.2 specifically says they didn't "own" the cats, the cats "owned" them 
	- and I admit to sharing this feeling too!!!!

	.18 does not have animals themselves, and mentions a cat-owner friend,
	cat-having friend seems a bit of an odd thing to say.

	People have metioned they "have" cats, this is the same thing as saying
	you "have" brothers and sisters, it's nothing to do with owning.

	So, how does this note relate to anything that has gone before in this
	topic - or wasn't it meant to?

	Heather

    It was prompted by Jerry's reference, Heather, but driven by the fact
    that, as I said, far too many people really do consider their animal
    companions as nothing more than property.  The "we" was a rhetorical
    device, not an reference to the people in this string particularly.

We have two dogs, Jessie who will be 14 years old in March and Sarah
who just turned 3 this past year. 

We also have 4 Nubian goats, they don't live in the house but they come
when you call them; they listen best when I'm giving them food.

Gracie is 4 and Sally is 5.  We bred both Sally and Gracie this
year and have Sally's kids, Katie and Cleo who are 2� months
old.  Gracie's boys have been adopted by loving people who are also
doing their best to spoil them.

Robin

    
    I have a cat and she's wonderful.  Her name is Sheba and she's about 2�
    years old.  She was brought to me all sweaty and scared, trapped in a
    pillow case, from a not-so-wonderful home where someone named Jack was 
    threatening to use her for target practice.  The woman I got her from 
    said she had devil's eyes but she's not the same cat.  She's mostly very 
    cute and not usually very "bad"; I know that I can't leave my earrings 
    or rings hanging around or they'll be gone, and that baby's breath is 
    irresistable to her.  I'm not always happy to be woken up early in the 
    morning, but she's sweetest then, creeping around my pillow, purring, 
    drooling (yuck), and giving me gentle little "love bites" on the end of 
    me nose.
    
    CQ

    We currently share our household with four cats and a dog. (The
    numbers have been higher in the past, when we have had a maximum
    of 5 cats, 3 dogs and goats, sheep, ponys, chickens, ducks, parakeets, 
    canaries, gerbils, rabbits, hamsters, tropical fish, and turtles.)
    (not all at once!)
    
    Our current resident Rdbs are:
    
    King who was supposed to be a border collie but whose father was
         a newfoundland (as near as we can guess)...a large black dog
         with a collie's feathery tail - all the better to knock things
         off of tables!
    
    Dusty, an aging tom cat who moved out of his preivous home and into
          ours about 10 years ago.
    
    Inky, who adopted us about the same time as Dusty. She is an all
          black cat who tends to lick her fur out if we don't get her
          to the vet to get cortisone shots. She's over due for a shot
          now, and her flanks are getting gray. She loves to sleep with
          people, probably because she's cold! I often wake up to find
          her patting the covers to get in where it is warm.
    
    Boots, who looks like a gray and white version of puss'n'boots. She
           is our 'lucky' cat. We found her in a tree about 4 years ago.
           She apparently was 'lost' out of someone's car. She is about
           the softest short haired cat I've ever known. A real joy to
           pet. She also has learned to climb up on the roof at night
           and cry at our bedroom window to be let in. (So we encourage
           our kids *not* to let her out after dinner.)
    
    Frisky, the youngest of our cats. She is almost 2 years old. She is
            also a black cat, and on the tiny side. Still kittenish
            in her joy for play inspite of the loss of her kittens last
            summer.
    
    Bonnie

    
    	My husband and I are owned by 4 cats. 
    
    	Brandi is the oldest at 6 years.  She's a grey tabby with a 
    	white belly.  She used to be an indoor/outdoor kitty but the
    	owners of our new apt. don't want to deal with fleas (and neither
    	do we) so she is now completely and indoor kitty.  She's the
    	enforcer, the boss, head honcho.  Her favorite pasttime is to
    	sit on the stereo speaker and stare out the picture window.
    	Nickname: Moose kitty.
    
    	Sasha will be three this summer.  She's a Maine Coon/tabby mix
    	but her Maine Coon personality shines through most of the 
    	time.  She's the first to greet company and loves to be
    	petted.  And she's momma's baby and she knows it!  Big green
    	eyes and a very soft purr.  Her favorite pasttime is to 
    	terrorize Chloe.  She loves water...
    	Nickname: Poophead
    
    	Chloe we adopted from my husband's brother at the age of 1 1/2.
    	She also is almost three.  She's a blue/cream point Himalayan
    	with big pale blue eyes.  She's the wimp.  Sasha terrorizes the
    	hell out of her and we haven't been able to change that so 
    	Chloe spends most of her time hiding or sleeping.  She has
    	a very loud purr that's more like a chirp.
    	Nickname: Abominable snowcat, Smooshface
    
    	Audrey is our newest addition.  She's 6 months old.  A lynx-
    	point Siamese with dark blue eyes.  She is a terror but can 
    	also be the biggest love.  She loves to use her claws and I
    	have the marks to prove it.  You look at her and she purrs.
    	Her newest trick is to jump from wherever she is onto our
    	back/shoulder.  Have the marks to prove that too.  She has
    	the most pitiful wail when she's upset.  She loves to sleep
    	curled up on our chest but also has more energy than any of
    	our other cats had as kittens.
    	Nickname: PITA (pain in the a**), little one.
    
    	Unconditional love is the greatest.
    
    

Sadie Sad Eyes - A buff cocker whose soulfull eyes, sit pretty, and kisses on
                 your face would melt just about anyone.  When I got Sadie, she
                 was so tiny you could hold her in one palm.  Sigh...I still
                 carry her baby pictures.

Lucious Lucille- A black and tan cocker who looks mostly black.  I call her my
                 "full figured" girl - she is of opposite stock from Sadie and
                 her sit pretty is mostly amusing.  Lucy loves to sit with me
                 at night and watch TV - she especially adores golf.

Most of all, they are each others' best friend - we humans are appeciated but
definitely not the "top dogs."

Barb

    Five of my eight roommates are cats.
    
    1) My sister, Jade, who is a 12 yr. old, blue-point, Siamese.
       She is very tiny, gentle, friendly, intelligent and loves
       people.  She has lived with me since she was 6 wks. old, in
       5 different residences and 3 different relationships.  She
       sleeps with me every night and loves to be held and cuddled
       like a teddy bear.  If I don't feel in the mood to hug a
       cat "teddy bear" all night, she'll poke at me for awhile,
       complain in Siamese, and then perch somewhere on top of me.
       I've woken up with her perched on top of my head, my hip,
       my chest, etc.  We love each other very much.
    
    2. Raven is a 5 yr. old neutered male.  He is all black with long,
       fluffy fur, a plume tail, big double paws, and round gold eyes.
       Although some people and cats don't realize it, both Raven and I
       know that he is the cutest cat in the entire world.  I tell him
       often so he won't forget.  He has a very mellow personality.
    
    3. Frodo is Jade's son, who was conceived one night in a corn field
       when she was very young and naughtily ran off for awhile with
       a stray tom cat before she was spayed.  He is a big, gray & white,
       neutered male with green eyes and a pink nose.  Although he is
       big, he doesn't realize it, and is afraid of everyone except
       my daughter and I.  In his opinion, Melissa and I are the only
       2 humans who are unlikely to turn into homicidal maniacs at the
       drop of a hat.
    
    4. Julian is a 1 1/2 yr. old, neutered male.  He's orange with deeper
       orange swirls, 4 huge double paws, and white trim.  Julian loves
       women and girls but is terrified of men.  He finds loud voices,
       and clomping feet, and shouts of "Watch out! I'll get ya!"
       when people get in his way, to be very menacing.  I rescued
       Julian from a colony of homeless cats, in inland, rural, Maine, when
       he was a baby and brought him home to live as a housecat in
       suburban Massachusetts.  He likes it better here.
    
    5. Ace is 4 yr. old, neutered, male, gray striped tabby with white
       trim, and green eyes.  He is very vocal, and friendly and loves
       all people.  He was rescued by my ex-husband from the Grafton
       Flea Market, where he had the ignominy of being the last kitten 
       left in a basket of free kittens.  Although some people seem to
       find it annoying, Ace is making his life's work a study of the
       eating habits of humans.
    
    Lorna
    

    I live with 5 cats (four strictly indoor and one part-time indoor),
    all various breeds of the Siamese.  Two dogs, one 9 year old German
    Sheppard and a four year old Yorkie (the Yorkie from Hell might I add,
    he's definately got an attitude problem).  One horse (12 year old
    Morgan Gelding that I've had for 11 years).  My animals are all part of
    the family and my horse and Sheppard are more like very close friends
    than anything else.
    
    I've also had a variety of birds, wild and domestic.  I had a Miltary
    MacCaw for a couple of years and he was just like a big dog.  Insisted
    on sleeping in bed with me every night, and traveling with me.  He's
    now happily rebuilding the MacCaw population in northern California.
    
    Kel
    

    I'm allergic to pets, I used to be able to tolerate gerbils
    allergy-wise and I thought they were adorable when I was younger
    (they're still adorable, of course, but I don't have 'em anymore).  I
    have 4 hearty houseplants though which have survived me for anywhere
    from 3-10 years - I have a notoriously black thumb.  
    
    -Jody

I have a 17 (going on 18) year old black and white long hair cat named Sylvester
He is the boss of the house and expects to be treated that way. He can keep the
dogs in control no problem. Twice I had vets tell me he was going to die and I
took him home and sang to him and held him and willed him back to life. He's
blind in one eye and has ears slit from cat fights and a neck full of scars.

Then there is Joe, the love of my life. He's a 13 year old Dalmation I've had
since he was 6 weeks old. I am his world and he lives to be at my side. His idea
of absolute heaven is riding with me and my horse. He sleeps at my side.

The house pest is Artie. I got him from a friend who is a breeder when he got 
too big and the person that bought him returned him. He's an American Eskimo, a
bundle of barking white fur. He's 6 or 7, I don't remember. I got him when he
was 8 months old and it took months to civilize him. The person who'd bought him
was using him for a show dog and didn't treat him like a pet. He doesn't like
men much because of this and has to be introduced to them before they are
allowed in the house.

And finally there's BMF's Irish Connection. My lovely little grey mare. I bought
her last spring when she was three. I first offered to buy her the day after she
was born. I'd taken one look and fell in love but her owner wouldn't sell then. 

    Rags and Ziggy are 1 year old sisters who are as different as night 
    and day. Rags, better know as the Princess, is a long haired, gray cat 
    with cream and brown markings.  Ziggy, also know as the Zigmeister or 
    crack baby (she loves to sleep in the crack between the sofa pillows)
    is a short-haired brown cat with gray and cream markings.  Both love
    to drink from the bathroom sink or toilet, love the tub after a hot
    shower, both fetch and retrieve, come if you whistle, sit up and beg,
    love spaghetti, sit on the washing machine while it's running, and 
    generally think they are puppies.   And we watch "Kitty 500" every 
    nite.  They are supposed to be my daughter's cats, but she locks them
    out of her room (they steal from her drawers under the waterbed and 
    strew her clothes all over the house) and she generally ignores them.  
    Dan and I have a theory though:  Our 2 cats = 1 puppy but twice the poop!
    
    

    Rdb indeed!  Hmph! My domestic beasts are all object oriented.  Relational
    is passe.
    
    Actually, I am, for the time being, sans beasts while attending CAA
    meetings (Cat Abusers Anonymous). My last cat went deaf in his old
    age and unable to stop myself, I kept sneaking up behind him to play
    jokes on him.  I hope there's a cure.
    
    Mary

    I have two cats around.
    
    The older is a very fat British Blue, with the face of a malevolent
    Yoda.  For nearly two years, she was just "the kitten".  Then she
    learned how to use the cat door.  She would go outside, catch a moth,
    bring it in, play with it until it wasn't fun any more, eat it, then
    go out and repeat the process.  We named her after Fritz Leiber's
    character, the Gray Mouser: the Grey Moth-er.  She is called Moth,
    and is really very beautiful; we bought the carpet because it went
    so well with her fur.
    
    The younger is her son by a passing Tom.  He is a big, friendly dark
    tiger.  Due to his fondness for stomping restlessly across one's lap
    (until just before one wishes to get up, at which point he settles
    down very thoroughly, thereby making one feel very badly about getting
    up and disturbing him), his name is St. Fidgetus, and he is named
    for one of the phony saints of John Bellairs: St. Fidgeta.  We
    generally leave off the "St." part of his name.
    
    						Ann B.

    
    uh... just a few...
    
    At last count, 11 cats and 4 dogs.  (A friend refers to our place
    as the "Home for Wayward Cats.")  OK, first the cats...
    
    Boss Tweed -- NY junkyard cat, ticked-tabby tiger w/ white, a
    	house-tiger with an attitude, definitely the head cat, very
    	affectionate (if we've been good).
    
    Curious George -- chronologically the first cat, he's half Siamese,
    	all white, blue-eyed, double-pawed -- he's the moral arbiter of
    	the pride ("I told them not to do that" blink blink, nose in air)
    
    Punkinhead -- a sunshine cat in look and spirit (light orange tabby,
    	loves everyone), loves warm clothes, being held upside down,
    	kneading, and leaving startled dogs in the dust
    
    Maxwell -- all black and manic, sees things that no one else can,
    	fascinated with all flying things, very vocal, probably half
    	Siamese of Burmese -- because of his silky coat, he's called
    	"The Acrylic Cat"
    
    Pipsqueak -- queen of the hill, a small, fluffy dilute calico who
    	occasionally takes exception to the existence of other cats,
    	once thought to be a near-mute, she's decided to become a talker
    
    Spats Growltiger -- red tabby with white, the "sleeping cat", the only
    	cat we've had trouble integrating into the pride, likes people better
    	than cats, this powerful 13+ pounder quails when Pipsqueak
    	objects
    
    Spider -- all-grey with a soft thick coat, she's fond of running to the
    	nearest empty room to howl out her lonliness, then looking startled
    	when a human shows up to console -- she's also fond of perching on
    	things, all four feet in the space of a quarter
    
    Bailey -- the serious cat, a cream tabby with copper eyes who
    	continually ponders weighty matters, his coat is extra soft,
    	and he has curly whiskers
    
    Jasper -- determined to be the next head cat, with the size (15 lbs)
    	but not yet the iron will of Boss Tweed -- he has a wiry grey
    	and white coat and like to kiss ears
    
    Scooter -- mostly white with tiger tail and head patches, and a short
    	kinked tail, manic-in-training under Max, fond of water, has
    	finally learned to drink from a faucet without getting water up
    	his nose or in his ear
    
    Stripe -- our feral cat, but one dressed for a party in his tuxedo --
    	a strikingly beautiful cat with a long elegant tail, he's fond
    	of his perch in the cat tree, of food, and of Bandit (see below)
    
    
    now for the dogs....
    
    Sheba -- loving, affectionate, sweet-tempered, but not playing with
    	a full deck -- loves to nose tunnel through snow and bark at
    	birds -- a lab-dalmation or lab-setter mix
    
    Cleopatra -- a fawn greyhound, ex-racer, who's quiet, shy, and happiest
    	on a soft bed -- she's also a sneaky kisser and has gotten over
    	her fear of cats
    
    Nefertiti -- a dark brindle greyhound, known as "The Goose", whose
    	size and elegance hide the soul of a class clown -- also an
    	ex-racer, but was probably distracted by butterflies and birds
    
    Bandit -- a rollicking, romping West Highland White Terrier (or Terror)
    	who is slowly being trained out of chasing cats and whose dearest
    	possesion is a small black-and-white soccer ball that squeaks
    	(and squaks and squeaks) -- this one brought Stripe out of his
    	shell
    
    
    They're all adoptees or strays who have come home.  They're fine
    company and more than pay for food and vet bills with lots of love
    and joie de vivre.
    
    Ron 

    
    What a wonderful note!
    
    CQ

    Yes,  I must agree, this is a wonderful note.
    
    My husband and I desparately wanted a Maine Coon cat (had seen them
    at a cat show and fell in love instantly) and finally
    met a woman who raised them.  Before she would agree to sell us
    one, she had us over so the cats could interview us.  One fell in
    love me and I with him.  It worked out that I was able to take Saucy
    Samson home with me.
    
    We affectionaly nicknamed him "DOC" because he is such good medicine.
    I've never had a cat that cuddled so much.  Such an affectionate
    friend.  
    
    Likes to play fetch and then drink water from the faucet because he's 
    thirsty.
    
    Kathy M.