Conference misery::feline_v1

    Do your blue-eyed beauties happen to have Siamese in them?  Taja is a
    pretty smart cat compared to the others.  He talks to us constantly and 
    it isn't
    an incessant whine like Kelsey does.  Taja talks.  He has a distinct
    sort of meow for everything and then gets upset with us when we are too
    dumb to figure out what he is saying!  As far as opening things are
    concerned, well, he's also part Himmie, and no offense to you Himmie
    owners (I'll be one soon too!) but that is where his stupid side comes
    in.  Just when he gets smart enough to figure something out, the Himmie
    part takes over and it's like, duuuuuuuhhhhhhh?  :^).  All kidding
    aside, he really is unique and I feel like I have a real person with me
    most of the time!!
    

>    Do your blue-eyed beauties happen to have Siamese in them?  Taja is a
>    pretty smart cat compared to the others.  He talks to us constantly and 
>    it isn't
>    an incessant whine like Kelsey does.  Taja talks.  He has a distinct
>    sort of meow for everything and then gets upset with us when we are too
>    dumb to figure out what he is saying!  As far as opening things are
>    concerned, well, he's also part Himmie, and no offense to you Himmie
>    owners (I'll be one soon too!) but that is where his stupid side comes
>    in.  Just when he gets smart enough to figure something out, the Himmie
>    part takes over and it's like, duuuuuuuhhhhhhh?  :^).  All kidding
>    aside, he really is unique and I feel like I have a real person with me
>    most of the time!!

Oh yes, The Flash (aka Mandycat) is a Javanese - long-haired flame-pointed
Siamese (well, in my opinion, that is what she is - but I'm sure Javanese
breeders have other origins for the breed).  Hannah has the most brilliant,
rich aquamarine eyes, she must have some Siamese in her somewhere - she is
also flame-pointed, although with a nice cobby body.  She is, by description,
a flame-pointed, blue-eyed American alley-cat.  She is my talker and has
a wealth of vocalizations that are not just "feed me, dammit!" talk....she
also inflects her talk - people hear "?" at the end of some of her
vocalizations --- thankfully!!! I was afraid it was just me and that I was
going over the edge on this one...luckily, several folks have mentioned that
she seems to "ask a question" sometimes.

At any rate, these two took to each other almost immediately...and the level
of "cooperation" between them is, to me, quite remarkable.  Hannah seems
to function as Mandycat's "mentor", showing her how to do things and "helping"
her when she gets frustrated....talking a blue-streak the whole time...it's
like watching a teacher and pupil having discussions.  I am, of course, only
called in when Hannah finds she cannot "fix" it herself.
    

    Javanese breeders have no exotic origins for their cats.  They were
    named Javanese due to Balinese purists not wanting the additional colors
    and patterns allowed in their breed.  Javanese can be bred to Balinese,
    but the offspring must be registered as Javanese.  
    
    Same as the Siamese folks not wanting the additional colors and
    patterns called Siamese (hence Oriental Shorthairs).
    
    Cat people are so strange sometimes. :^D
    
    Jo

    Miss Moffet has a rotten habit of catching things and bringing them,
    unharmed, into the house (I know, this is not unusual). I guess she 
    likes hunting in comfort.        
    
    After the latest in a series, (and particularly difficult) hunt, 
    Miss Moffet was very angry with me for taking her fun away and I with 
    her for wasting over an hour of my time (chipmunks can be very
    stupid).  She was puzzled, once again, as to why I wouldn't let her 
    join in.  We had words, and they were not kindly ones.
    
    The next morning I found a dead chipmunk carefully placed in the
    center of the bowl of dried cat food.  I think she was telling me, 
    "It's food you silly woman, you're supposed to catch it, kill it and 
    eat it! not let it go!".                                                       
    
    And, of course, there was the time the late and great Pete brought
    in a dead squirrel and placed it in the back of the storage cabinet, 
    neatly in line with the bottled plumbs.   Putting food by!?
     
    

    Re: -0
    
    You're lucky.  My beautiful blue-eyed Benjamin has figured out 
    how to release the child proof lock on the cabinet in which we
    keep the trash barrel.  
    
    He only goes after it when there's chicken bones in it, but man
    can he make a mess with chicken bones!
    
    dm

>    You're lucky.  My beautiful blue-eyed Benjamin has figured out 
>    how to release the child proof lock on the cabinet in which we
>    keep the trash barrel.  
    
yes, those siamese genes have smarts attached to them, don't they?


>    He only goes after it when there's chicken bones in it, but man
>    can he make a mess with chicken bones!
    
I'll say it again...if the food is tempting enough, the cat WILL get the
garbage...make it a policy to immediately remove all meat trimmings and
poultry bones from the interior of the house...move the bag to the garage
if you don't want to go all the way to the outside garbage can.  It only
takes 3 minutes to get the garbage out of the house...it could take hours,
cost a fortune, and lose you your beloved pet to leave the bones in the
house.  I just don't leave anything tempting in the garbage can and the cats
don't try very hard to get it...of course, were I to leave the room for
one second with chicken ANYTHING in the can, they'd be on top of the garbage
can in a flash.

    
    
    	I won't even tell you what Audrey pulls out of my wastebaskets.
    	Let's just say if I have company over and she pulled one of them
    	out, I'd shrivel up and die!
    
    	Fortunately, our kitchen wastebasket is too heavy for any of
    	them to knock over but they do have fun with the others!
    

    
>    	Fortunately, our kitchen wastebasket is too heavy for any of
>    	them to knock over but they do have fun with the others!
    
i thought that also...until Mandycat discovered she could topple it by
leaping at it from on top of the counter...she would hit one side of the
can and over it would go.  The spray bottle with cold water discouraged that
bit of acrobatics...but, as long as she knows she CAN, I don't dare leave
anything in the can that they might want.

    I usually have to lock my kitchen basket up in the bathroom at night
    and when I'm away from apt.  If I didn't, my "Thai" (lots of Siamese in
    him and he is definitely my cleverest cat) would put his paws up on the
    rim and "pull" it over.  He then grabs whatever smells good to him be
    it cheese wrapper or another food wrapper, and off he runs with it in
    his mouth.  I put the garbage in another container I keep locked in one
    of the floor cabinets; had to get those child locks from Child World to
    keep him out of the cabinets AS WELL AS propping the kitchen chairs
    against the bottom cabinets when I'm out or at night.  Otherwise, Thai
    found if he pulled the cabinet door open just enough he could squeeze
    inside.  Of course, he'd be stuck in there until I'd count noses and
    miss his and start searching calling his name.  When he didn't answer
    and I couldn't find him under the bed, etc. I'd open one of the cabinet
    doors and out flashed "Thai".  
    
    He knows when he does something wrong but it's a game for him and, of
    course, I'm always the target for his pranks.  He knows how to wrap his
    tail around my fingers. ;-)
    
    Pat, Holly, D.P., Thai, Buffy, Jamie, Midnight (& Cookie)
    

    Aren't chicken bones particularly dangerous for pets, because they
    tend to splinter?
    

>    Aren't chicken bones particularly dangerous for pets, because they
>    tend to splinter?
    
yes, yes, yes!  Small bones of any kind can cause damage to internal organs
intestines, etc. when they splinter and poultry bones are the worst of the
lot.  the raw bones that a cat encounters in the wild are much less prone to
splinter -- but raw poultry is really not a good idea for your cats either
due to salmonella, etc - not to mention how grody the cat gets when playing
with raw meat.... so keep them bones OUT of the house.

    I either lock meat and bone scraps in a ziplock bag before throwing
    out or freeze the meat scraps and bones in a ziplock/plastic bag 
    until the trash bag is full enough to be tossed into the dumpster.  
    Bailey, Amelia and Carrie will do almost anything to get to meat/bone 
    scraps inside the trash bag.  In fact, they're not too shy about
    trying to grab piesces of chicken (and some other meats) right out 
    of my hand while I'm still eating it.
                         
    Jan

    After Nebula got big enough to dump the kitchen trash over, I started
    freezing the meat trimmings, wrappings, and bones until trash pickup
    day.  JFCL has never gotten into trash-dumping, but Neb is half
    Siamese, and gets into everything - even now that both of them are
    "older" kitties.  Neb still likes to open and hop into the cabinet
    where I used to keep the kitchen grease can (now also in the freezer);
    she used to like to make a mess out of that sometimes also!
    
    Good thing I *like* cats... endearing little household monsters, aren't
    they??
    
    /Charlotte

    I finally moved the kitchen trashbarrel to the cellar stairs and 
    secured it with a bungie.  I keep a very small barrel in the kitchen
    itself and only put paper trash in that. 
      Nancy