Conference misery::feline_v1

                I don't think this is very unusual. My cat used to play
        fetch (she's getting to old and lazy now), and I have known
        other cats wich also did the same.
                
                Just wait until you get a toy dumped into your face at
        3am by your cat who wants to play fetch NOW!
                
                /s/     Bob

    Re .0:
    
    Merlin not only plays Fetch, but invented the game independently.
     He once took up a crumpled piece of paper and dropped it at my
    feet (I hadn't thrown it) and looked up expectantly.  He's 6 years
    old now, and did a "play fetch, please," routine last might while
    I was on the phone.
    
    But then, he's a genius cat.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Re .1:
    
    Yeah, and when the toy that's dumped in your face is a soggy
    pipecleaner, you may find yourself clinging to the ceiling before
    you've quite awakened...
    
    -b

     My Oreo thinks he is a dog. When we arrive home and he has been
    out John will call him and he will run to him and put his paws
    up on Johns leg just like a dog would and then meow.
    

    
    My kitty TC ...
    
    -  plays fetch since I brought him home
    -  is the best begger for food (cat or dog) I've ever seen
    -  If he wants to be pet, he pushes his whole face under my 
       hand so it's on top of his head 
    -  I've started to teach him to shake (paw to hand). We've been
       working on this for a week and he'll do it about 40% of the time.
    
    
    Donna  (This new kitty mom is hooked ... next I'm going to train
             him to dust and vacuum!)

    Hmmmm, I'm sure Suki thinks he's a dog as well.  His favourite trick
    is, if I'm standing in front of him and I pat the tops of my legs,
    he will jump up into my arms.
    Cute!
    julia

re: .6

My cat Scooter did that a few times!
I'd stand near our kitchen door (the kind with a window in it) and talk to her.
So I guess she decided that to be in my arms and looking outside was what she
wanted to do!  "Boing!!" one second kitty on the floor and next second kitty 
in arms!  Startled the heck out of me, but it's a good thing for her my 
reactions are good, or there wouldn't have been arms there to catch the flying
kitty!  
With Scooter I have to always be ready for the unexpected!  A truly weird cat!
(beware Bernice!  :-)  )


-Kathi

    I'm not sure where this reply belongs, so I'll just put it here
    since the last reply warmed my heart so.  Do any of you, while reading
    this conference, come across something that makes you miss your
    kitty and makes you want to run right home and cuddle it?
    
    Marion

    Holly jumps up onto my shoulders.  If she misses, she climbs up
    the rest of the way....  Then she settles down with her little head
    on my shoulder at just the right angle so I can rub underneath her
    chin.  Pussycat heaven, apparently.
    

    Re .8:
    
    I always miss them, except when they try to walk on me in the middle
    of the night.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

Ever get the feeling that all kitties are humoring their humans?!  As if to
say, "Well, if that's what he/she really wants me to do, I suppose I'll give
her/him the *thrill*, but for a dignified pussycat, she's/he's wierd!"  I
remember teaching Munch to fetch rolled up cellophane wrappers by carrying
the wrapper back in my mouth and depositing it at his feet.  I got a look
from him as if to say, "Oh, that's what you want me to do...well, o.k. if
it will make you happy".  I truly believe kitties are much smarter than
we humans think, after all, they train us, don't they!?

J.

    Ishtar is at the vets all day today while I work.  The vet must
    have thought I was being pretty silly when I took her out of the
    box and had a little talk with her about why she was at the vets
    and that mommy still loved her.  But he's a good vet and I'm not
    (too) worried.
    

    Re .12:
    
    If your vet thinks that (which I suspect not being the case), look
    for another vet.
    
    Good _cat_ vets understand about cats and their "owners."
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    Re .8:  You better believe it!  The funny notes make me want to
    go home and play with them; the sad ones make me want to go home
    and hold them.  What also works is when you're at some dull, boring
    meeting, and you find a piece of cat hair on your close....every
    one is wondering why you're smiling...
    
    Re .12:  You're vet most likely thinks your kitty is one of the
    most fortunate cats on Earth to have you!  My first vet used to
    sit on the floor and play with Honey.  The exam happened along with
    play time.  It was this special vet who told me that I was a Mom
    now and that I had to remember that!  I never forgot it...
    
    Mary

    Yup... kitties do the craziest things! But it has to be their idea!
    
    Merlin always likes to sit on a lap and will jump up, whether invited
    or not. The only problem is when he doesn't quite make it and "climbs"
    the rest of the way. It's ok when you have jeans or a thick bathrobe
    on, but summer shorts or sweat pants just don't keep out the claws!
    The other Suday morning, "Mom" was hot so took off the bathrobe
    while reading in a chair...BIG MISTAKE!! Within a minute Merlin
    had launched onto the lap expecting terrycloth and traction and
    what he got was slippery nylon and what Mom got was the skid marks
    on the thighs! Oh well....
    

    But don't we love 'em lots!  I like the comment about cat fur on
    the cloths....definetly good for a smile or two during the day!
    
    janet b.
      (who's looking forward to winter and thick clothing and no more
    skid marks!)

    Most cats that I've known personally who play fetch taught it to
    their owners.  [Most of those cats have been at least half Siamese.]
    
    I've heard claim that any cat can be taught to fetch, and having
    seen one of the lowest IQ cats I've ever met taught to fetch (by
    a psychology grad student, who was trying to prove the claim),
    I tend to believe it.

    Timothy taught himself, and would bring it right to me (and if was
    sitting in the recliner with a newspaper trying to ignore him, it
    would not stop him).
    
    After he died, I tried to teach the others to play, but they had 
    no interest.  Now Sasha, the year old "kitten" plays.  She is not
    good about bringing it right to you, and resists our efforts to
    teach her this, but is CONSTANTLY begging to have you toss her toy.
    Pink fuzzballs and round plastic lids of milk gallons work best
    with her.
                          Carol

    Chanel is a very tiny 14-months old kittie, totally black with bright
    yellow eyes - specialized in looking *totally* harmless and innocent.
    
    From the first time I bought a Cat toy, consisting of a plastic
    ball with a bell in it, she wanted to play fetch with it. Game usually
    starts (*every* day within 10 minutes that I sit) with her finding
    one of that balls, bring it, drop it at my feet, sitting down saying 
    PRRRRRR? and staring at me. On no reaction, PRRRRR? will eventually
    escalate to MRWAAWAAWAA!!!! and she'll pull my trousers with her
    claws.
    
    I have done some experimenting on how much she likes the game and
    I found out that the more difficult I make it (by throwing the ball
    on tables, bar, out of the room) the more she likes it. Like she
    isn't put off by quality, she isn't by quantity. Current record rates
    over 150 times in a row - you guess who gave up?
    
    Whenever she hears the bell in the ball only tinkle just the slightest
    bit, she'll stop whatever she's doing (sleeping, eating!, harrassing
    Omar (my male persian "bear"), being on the balcony, even on her
    litterbox!), rush to me via the shortest way (remember to remove
    all fragile objects!) and give a short PRRRR? to challenge me to
    throw the ball....
    
    I even abused the game to get her indoors by throwing it through
    the room only once.... No way. It's *the* game!
    
    BTW when Omar takes the ball, he'd better drop it immediately. That
    doesn't have anything to do with him being 3x as heavy as Chanel....
    
    Couldn't resist, bye
    AD

    Bailey fetches, almost all the time.  She usually chooses not to
    fetch when I'm trying to show someone that she'll do it.  Amelia
    doesn't fetch.  She plays soccer.  If Bailey is in the process of
    a fetch and is distracted by Amelia attempting to play soccer, both
    games end in favor of a game of chase.
    
    Bailey loves to fetch the little nerf golf balls we have.  There
    are a couple of packages of them spread throughout my apartment.
    I like to bounce them off the walls and ceiling for her.  She's
    a good catch.  You should see some of the flying catches she's made.
    I wonder if she could handle a small frisbee.  I'd tie a handkerchief
    around her neck and take her to the park for a game of frisbee like
    some of the dog owners I've seen.  (Not really, she's strictly an
    indoor kitty.)
    
    Jan
    

    Tasha used to fetch and place at my feet little bundles of computer
    wire.  Now she thinks she's a CAT, and CATS don't do things like
    that.  She seems to know because my brother's older cat told her.
    She reverts back whenever she has a falling out with his cat.
    
    She's also discovered that you can play fetch with small dead(and
    not quite dead yet) animals.  Its not much fun waking up a 5am to
    a thumping noise that is some unfortunate critter being bounced
    off the walls.  Since I would only take it away, she no longer
    tries to drop them on the bed.
    
    dennis
    
    p.s. she is doing a fine job of keeping the moles out of my lawn,
    but its the other critters I feel sorry for.