For kitten lovers

Math Is Hard

hee hee hee

larkspur

Moonbear

Oh dear! I've grown to dread getting things with packing peanuts! I got something around Christmas-time with packing peanuts galore, and by the next day, the floor was covered in them (so I shipped at least half of them with the Christmas presents for my nephew...his turn!).

And, well, that other cat looks like it's had more than just a few cheeseburgers.

turbo

What a sweetie! I would love to have another ferret, but it's tough to say goodbye to them after 6-7 years. They are clever and engaging and curious and its impossible not to fall in love with them. Cats are OK, and I like dogs, but I LOVE ferrets. We have rescued ferrets that have spent years in cramped cages, only to watch their personalities bloom when they had our love and trust and the run of the house.

Turbo was a special guy. We ordered him and his brother from a breeder who bred a female from NZ with a big male from Sweden. Our close friend wanted one ferret and we wanted one, so I picked them up from a Delta express flight and we had the boys for a couple of days. I picked out the feisty one, with the most impressive speed and bite and our friend took the more laid-back kit. Turbo quickly accepted my wife and me, and was easily trained with just a bit of verbal disapproval if he did something we did not like. He would either meet me at the door when I came home, or he would look me up as soon as he woke up (ferrets like to sleep) and we would play. His favorite game was ferret bowling. He would approach me and play "keep-away" until he agreed to be captured, at which point I would flip him onto his back and bowl him across the slick (fake wood) living room floor. He would right himself and get his little feet churning to slow himself down until he could reverse direction and run back to me for another round. After 15-20 minutes, he would come straight back to my hands without making me catch him. That was my cue to cuddle him to my chest and let him take a snooze.

Animals are precious. I might be able to bring myself to rescue another ferret that I find in horrible conditions, but I don't know if I can support ferret breeders by buying another ferret when so many of them get treated like they are disposable. (another conflict...)

Math Is Hard

I can certainly understand your pain. I feel the same way when I lose a kitty. But to me "home is where the cat is" and I can't imagine a life without them, especially when I can offer them a loving, happy alternative to a cruel fate. All I've ever wanted in life is to live in a place where I could have all the critters I wanted, and all the critters who wanted me. I share your feelings about breeders. My four-legged children have all been ones who adopted me.

I think you have a very special connection with ferrets. My native american ancestors would say they are your "totem" animals. I hope the door to your heart is not closed when the next little one in need comes knocking.

marlon

Here are my cats again :

Gioia on her way to the vet :

Gioia, Silvio and Lilli all doin' what they do BEST :

marlon

Math Is Hard

Kitty eating corn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljMODw-fXaI

I just thought this was cute.

hypatia

I hope they have floss for the kitty!

The Bulk

That’s quite cute. We had a beautiful kitty called Potato who liked to nibble on fingers dangling appealingly from the edge of sofas. One minute you were lost in a reverie, the next you had a boisterous kitten hanging from your paw!

I know better now, of course: I should have thrown him some corn.

I like this kitty…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B9Vvso4LWto

Math Is Hard

He was really digging in!

Maybe Potato would have liked corn. They are cute at that Velcro stage when they attach themselves to you. Can be painful as they get bigger, though.

awwwrr.. cute overload..

Mallignamius

I know cats sometimes like dogs, but this is ridiculous.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cMucov2fxyI

Evo

My cat Tig when I was growing up, ate corn on the cob. He would grab the cob, one paw at each end and eat it, turning it with his paws as he went.

Math Is Hard

Cute video, Mallig! Poor doggy -- kitty is treating doggy's leg like an ear of corn!!

Evo, you should have taken some pics of that. I had a kitty that was wild about canned peas. He'd eat as many as I would let him have.

turbo

Well, not a kitten story, but when I was a kid we had a beautifully-marked mixed-breed dog that LOVED tossed salad. My mother made oil-and-vinegar dressings with oregano, garlic, and other herbs and spices, and Lady would gladly chow down any left-overs, although sometimes she would leave a few onions if she'd already had enough. She lived to be almost 20 years old, and although her eyesight was failing toward the end and her arthritis slowed her down, she never failed to meet me at the door, tail wagging like crazy.

When I was in HS, I gave her a lesson on the word "no" that she never forgot. I was eating Spanish olives with pimento out of a jar, and she came running over and gave the whole routine - "sit, shake, beg, lie down, roll over" over and over again trying to get an olive. I told her "no" and she persisted, so I gave her one and she immediately spit it out on the floor. I said "eat that" and she reluctantly picked it up in her mouth and retreated to a rug in the entryway where she used to enjoy bones and other long-lasting treats, and returned to the kitchen with her tail wagging. I went to the front door and saw the olive on the rug, called her and told her to eat the olive. She ate it, but the edges of her mouth were pulled back in a grimace so severe that I would love to have a picture of it. After that, when I said "no" I got no arguments from her.

Math Is Hard

I am surprised she didn't like the olive, since she liked the oil and vinegar salad so well. Now, if she had just tucked that olive under the rug she might have been able to fool you with the "I'll eat it later" trick. Nice try, though :)

Mallignamius

I don't understand why cats would eat corn. I'm surprised. And that is a super cute video.

My science teacher told me that we can't digest cellulose, which made me wonder about why we eat corn, and now I see cats enjoying it. Now I'm itching to hear about any of our animals' interesting dietary habits.

turbo

Spanish olives are REALLY salty (and maybe in the '60's the brine was even more potent than it is today-I don't remember) and I didn't think that she would enjoy eating one. She didn't.

Of course, when she ate left-over salads with a little vinegar and olive oil, she was probably getting stuff that was real good for her. I never saw a short-haired mixed-breed dog with such a sleek, shiny coat, and apart from the arthritis, etc later in life, she was always the picture of health.