Conference misery::feline

    nap time
    

>    Why do they return to the same place day after day?  Why mid-day?  

well, cats are a predator species which is well designed for night hunting...
and even though the only thing our little tigers have to hunt is a food
bowl (and an occasional furry mouse toy), they still have the instinct to
lay low and rest up for the evening hunt.  Why do they always go to the
same place?  inside every cat is a fussy, maiden aunt like my Great Aunt
Maude, lovely person, but hide-bound and very unhappy with change or variety..
or, as she used to say, "if you like, and it suits you, why change it?"

	8^}   D-and the wilde house gang

    Cats are Republicans....they hate to have anything happen that hasn't
    happened before.  -- Cleveland Amory
    

    Rico has 2 favorite hiding spots.  One, of course, is under the bed. 
    The other is a little complicated to describe.
    
    My father-in-law gave us a footrest.  He kept the chair that went with
    it, and the only reason he gave us the footrest was because that was
    Tiki's "bed" - NO ONE (except my FIL) could actually put their FEET on
    it!
    
    Anyway, the only place we could put this footrest when we moved was
    behind the couch, under the window.  There is a heating duct next to
    the couch, which keeps us from being able to put the couch against the
    wall.  The duct and the footrest are exactly the same width.
    
    Rico's other favorite "hidey-hole" is under that footrest.
    
    Alex doesn't hide.  Since she's not afraid of anything, she doesn't
    feel a NEED to hide.  Whenever she sleeps, it is on top of something...
    the bed, the couch, the infamous footrest, etc.  The closest thing she
    has to a favorite "hidey-hole" is under my husband's desk, but the only
    time she can go there is if my hub is working on it...that is the only
    room that stays closed during the day.  (My hub's miniature town layout
    is also in there, and Alex has a nasty tendancy of jumping on it and
    stealing Ferraris.)
    
    K.C.

    Guido Tiggerini likes to hide behind the oil furnace in times of
    crisis: thunder storms, strange men in the house, cheep cat food, 
    the fire alarm going off.
    
    Christopher hides under my daughters bed (it has two drawers under and
    a nice space behind the drawers he can stretch out in. He has recently
    taken to sitting on the house roof, but I don't think he's "hiding"
    The roof makes a good dog spotting place.
    
    Miss Moffet never hid from a thing in her life.
    
    Charlie, if he woke up long enough, might think about hiding but only
    if really pushed.
    

    Pippin doesn't hide from anything or anyone
    
    The boys have two very original hiding places - under the bed (geeze!)
    or under the round designer table in the living room - funny thing is
    that a tail tip or tip of a paw might be sticking out from under the
    table cloth.
    
    Giudi

    
    Rascal hides under the bed, too.  He also (like .0) hides under the
    covers.  It's like he thinks because he can't see people from under
    there, people can't see him, either.  Silly cat :^).  It is quite cute
    to see that lump under the blankets.
    
    He also hides on top of the refrigerator, behind the cereal boxes,
    napkins, and extra paper towels.  He likes to go up there when I'm
    vacuuming (no rugs in the kitchen!).
    
    Valerie

Guidi,

the tail tip or paw sticking out reminded me of the siamese we had for most
of her 17 years - she would hide behind the drapes --well, she would tuck
her head and shoulders under the drapes and leave her backend showing...it
seemed that Tabitha felt covered if she couldn't see you.  It made it easy
to find her when we needed to groom or pill the old girl...that, and the
fact that she would ALWAYS answer when you called.  The rest of the cats
would run away from her because they knew we would find her by calling her
name...she would answer and that was our clue.

Of course, Hana hides behind the door in the bathroom..and she answers too!

	No rocket scientists in my family!

			D

    Re: under sheets
    
    Tiki used to like hiding under the sheets, but when we got our first
    apartment, we were hanging pictures in the bedroom, and hadn't made the
    bed, so when my husband dropped the hammer on the bed (thinking that it
    was just going to land on a wrinkle in the blanket), we heard a "Mrph!"
    and Tiki came out from under the blankets!
    
    He never again went under the covers.
    
    K.C.

Yes. :-)

Jill

    Furby has a great hiding place. Unfortunately, I have no idea wher eit
    is. I'm sure she's one of those magic cats that can hide in plain view.
    She's really good at it too! We have a red rug in the living room (I
    hate it, but can't afford to replace it yet) and she's mostly white,
    and big! She just appears, sometimes with a "Mrrp?" and sometimes
    silently.
    
    Feendoonie's favorite place is anywhere she can climb into or under.
    Her most favorite place though, is the cabinets near the ceiling of my
    bedroom. Of course I leve the one near the wardrobe open for her. ;-)
    I have a bag of poly fill up there for crafts, which is now pretty much
    a nest for her! She dug it to shreds! I don't mind, except when she
    digs at night and wakes me up. She's a little miffed with the fact that
    Furby (chubbo) can now get up there herself.
    
    Y

         Midnight is one of those "magic cats".  She's all black with gold
    eyes; you'd figure you could *always* see a black cat, right?  Well,
    once she closes her eyes, she fades into the background.  Fades into
    the rug, fades into the couch, fades in the firebrick.  With her habit
    of fading and always being underfoot, there are a lot of apologies and
    trippings ;-) .  
    
         I guess it's time to get some *white* furniture ;-) !

    Rico is sable-brown (almost black) with gold eyes, too, and is a
    "fader", too.  Its really bizarre when we look in our door and sitting
    on the steps are just these floating, glowing, gold orbs.
    
    K.C.

    My Feendoonie, is all black with HUGE green eyes, and unless she is in
    a dark space, she never fades. She's very petite too in comparison to
    my huge fluffy big-footed Furby. She doesn't have double paws either!
    She is gorgeous though! ;-)
    
    Y

    My Spooky seems to change her spot each day!  The favorite lately is in
    the new changing table I just got - she plants herself among the
    clothes and just vanishes.  She also has a preference inside the dryer
    (which I watch very closely) and in the tub or bathroom sink!  (I have
    my husband now trained to brush his teeth in the kitchen if she is
    sleeping in the sink)
    
    She seems to get bored very quickly with her spots and changes
    frequently but eventually works her way around to the same ones at
    times.
    
    She definately rules my house!  but I guess that most cats do......8-)

    Day 2 of work after a weekend cat show.  This morning Onyx waited
    until I was ready to leave and then very nonchalantly slipped under
    the bed as I was turning out the bedroom light and getting ready to
    leave the apt0.  It was such a smooth little move..."well, I think
    I'll check out what's happening under the bed now, see ya mom."  I 
    think that by the time March 21-22 arrives he'll have forgotten about 
    being out of reach at departure time.
    
    Jan

Let's see...the only cat that really hides is ex-feral Mikey.  He still has
to sleep out of sight of everyone.  He has a real hiding spot in the basement
tucked in between some boxes.  It's his safe zone and I've never roused him
from there.  Beth also likes to sleep somewhere safe, which is usually on
my bed when I'm in it, otherwise it's between the sofa and the stereo speaker.

All the others hang out where ever they feel like it....

Mary

    Sam, my big, double-pawed (ex-feral) male learned how to open the base
    cabinet doors in the basement kitchenette. One evening I looked for him
    in the basement for the longest time, without a trace or hint of his
    whereabouts. Suddenly, the base cabinet door opened and out stepped SAM!
    I guess he thought that there were goodies to be had, and didn't want
    to miss out.
    
    Sam now must have taught my black female, Susie, this trick. Recently,
    she has started opening the under-sink cabinet door in the upstairs
    kitchen, and to lounging inside -- unseen, unobserved, unheard of!
                   

     Kitten Takes A 12-Mile Ride Wedged In Car Engine

     By Associated Press, 08/06/96

     EAST WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) - Resident Wanda DeRonck
     thought she heard her engine purring like a
     kitten.

     She was right. The noise was coming from a
     6-week-old calico cat wedged underneath her car
     battery.

     DeRonck found the kitten after returning home on
     Friday afternoon. She had been hearing noises
     since she left work in Enfield earlier that day.
     But she passed off the sounds as birds chirping.

     ``It sounded like a muffled cat,'' DeRonck said.
     ``I couldn't tell if it was a bird or a cat.''

     The kitten accompanied DeRonck on her errands to
     the post office and the cleaners - about a 12-mile
     ride - before heading home.

     DeRonck heard mewing again but couldn't find
     anything under the hood of her 1989 Mazda.

     East Windsor Animal Control Officer John Patsky
     arrived on the scene and removed the car battery
     to uncover the kitten.

     ``She was greasy and oily. I thought for sure she
     was damaged,'' he said. But the cat, who they
     think may be a stray, didn't have a scratch.

     DeRonck is allergic to cats, but Patsky said his
     wife may keep it.

     AP-DS-08-06-96 1539EDT