Loose House Cats

[askandanswer]

Today's newspaper has the solution to loose house cats

Robotic pets bring joy, return memories, improve interactions with aged care residents

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/robotic-pets-bring-joy-and-return-memories-in-aged-care/102440556

The sound of purrs and meows echo around Norma Williamson's room. 

Despite the noise, Ms Williamson says she feels peaceful.

She's holding a robotic kitten on her lap, which reminds her of the cats she raised when she was younger.

"You can hold them, you can pat them, you can talk to them, and you can tell them stories and they never ever repeat them," Ms Williamson said.

"It never answers you back."

 

 

[Ironhold]

8 hours ago, Carborendum said:

That seems like a lot of hard work.  I'm not sure if I'm willing to make such an investment.  I'll go the lazy way out.

So far, the silicone claws haven't stopped him from being a spaz-cat.

Speaking of which, I found a completely different definition of "spaz" in the dictionary than what I grew up using.  Anyone else?

Cats get the crazies. 

Usually it's the result of an excess of energy after being inactive, but sometimes they'll just start freaking out on their own. 

The best way to deal with it is to spend time playing with them each day to help them burn off their unused energy. 

Remember that cats in the wild are *very* active and aggressive hunters, and as a household kitty they're not having to do that anymore.

[zil2]

41 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

Today's newspaper has the solution to loose house cats

Robotic pets bring joy, return memories, improve interactions with aged care residents

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/robotic-pets-bring-joy-and-return-memories-in-aged-care/102440556

The sound of purrs and meows echo around Norma Williamson's room. 

Despite the noise, Ms Williamson says she feels peaceful.

She's holding a robotic kitten on her lap, which reminds her of the cats she raised when she was younger.

"You can hold them, you can pat them, you can talk to them, and you can tell them stories and they never ever repeat them," Ms Williamson said.

"It never answers you back."

I mean, OK, if that's what you want and if there's really a reason not to have the real thing, but the real thing is still better by far.

[zil2]

29 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

Usually it's the result of an excess of energy after being inactive, but sometimes they'll just start freaking out on their own.

I've been wearing out my little boy as much as I can, but he still gets the squirrelies - sometimes toward the end of our play sessions.  And once he got comfortable here, he decided that nighttime, when the lights are low, is the time to go into demon-mode.   He arches his back, fluffs his tail, flattens his ears, and turns sideways, like that picture I posted a page back.  It's all play, and he was doing it while I was busy elsewhere (IOW, I didn't spook him) - he just decided he needed to practice his "big scary cat" look.  Does it every night now...

And at bedtime, I'm obligated to spend ~45 minutes playing "sheet monster" with him...   Never met a cat that didn't enjoy playing with the sheet monster, but this little boy takes a long time to wear out... 

[Vort]

1 hour ago, askandanswer said:

"It never answers you back."

This is a selling point?

[Carborendum]

7 hours ago, Vort said:

I grew up thinking that "spaz" was short for "spastic", which meant moving in a jerky, uncoordinated fashion (i.e. prone to muscular spasms, I guess). It was generalized to mean someone who seemed uncoordinated, or just someone who was uncool. I considered it a term used almost exclusively by jerks toward people they deemed uncool.

I understood the "spastic" meaning as someone who (in today's parlance) tends to wig-out physically (like having spasms).  But several dictionaries indicate "clumsy" or "awkward".  It was this meaning that I'd never heard nor used.  But if I remember correctly, it was only around my school buddies for about three years.  Then it disappeared.

[LDSGator]

7 hours ago, Vort said:

I grew up thinking that "spaz" was short for "spastic", which meant moving in a jerky, uncoordinated fashion (i.e. prone to muscular spasms, I guess). It was generalized to mean someone who seemed uncoordinated, or just someone who was uncool. I considered it a term used almost exclusively by jerks toward people they deemed uncool.

I agree totally. It’s a pejorative that the cool kids called anyone who wasn’t in their group

[zil2]

Here's my loose house cat at 10 weeks...

...with his favorite ball - the green one.   Little boy does not like to sit still for pictures.  He thinks his name should be Thunderfeet. (That's what it sounds like when he decides to race around the house like a krazy kitty!)

And, Just noticed - that's his favorite mouse - the purple one - under his behind...

[Jedi_Nephite]

On 6/7/2023 at 6:05 PM, askandanswer said:

 

"You can hold them, you can pat them, you can talk to them, and you can tell them stories and they never ever repeat them," Ms Williamson said.

 

What is that supposed to mean?

Did a real cat break confidence and gossip about about her?

Edited June 11, 2023 by Jedi_Nephite

[zil2]

Klaw-dorable kitten sleeping beside me on the couch:

[Traveler]

I have often wondered about animals and their spiritual significance.   In the creation epoch of Genesis, we are told that man had dominion over the other living things of earth.  I am not sure I understand what exactly is meant by dominion.

As a youth, I was raised to hunt and believed that part of being a hunter was to care for and maintain the balance of nature.  That there is a balance between predators and prey.   Sometimes it is needed to prune an overabundance of predators and sometimes that prey need pruning.  I recall several discussions with individuals that thinking the attituded of being a hunter that kills or murders (especially innocent deer - Bambi and other gentle creatures) is evil and that hunting licensing should be banned.  I asked if these persons had a driver’s license.  They say they do – I reminded them that in Utah more deer are killed or murdered by drivers than hunters.  Perhaps we should not allow licensing of drivers before we end hunting licensing.

Sometimes logic only serves when a specific outcome is pre-desired.

There is a belief that predators of nature only kill when there is need to maintain the life of the predator.  This is a gross misnomer.  There is no need for any pet to maintain killing and killing skills.  But killing is instinctive behavior for predators.  Free ranging pets with predator instincts will kill regardless of how well fed they are.  The only reason that free ranging pet cats will consistently return home is because dogs or other critters that are capable of killing them are not also allowed to be free ranging within the same range.

We used to keep two pet dogs when we were raising our children.  Both dogs dearly loved people and were excellent outside pets (never allowed in the house) one was a husky the other was a mut.  We have a good size yard and kept a dog run.  At night the dogs were free in the yard – sort of a burglar system. They would never hurt a human but would make noise if someone entered the yard that they did not recognize.  However, they would work together, stock and kill any cat that violated their territory.   Chasing cats was their favorite recreational behavior despite the fact that they never ate their catch.  We would never allow our dogs to free range the neighborhood but I have wondered if free ranging such dogs would finely convince cat owners to better manage the dominion of their cats.

 

The Traveler

[Carborendum]

My cat seems to be unusually happy for a cat.  It seems that he's constantly purring except when he's afraid (when our dog comes around).  He purrs when he sleeps.  He purrs when he's stalking his item of interest. He purrs when he's chasing someone.  He just constantly purrs.

I've never seen that in all the cats I've had.  What's up with that?

[zil2]

2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

My cat seems to be unusually happy for a cat.  It seems that he's constantly purring except when he's afraid (when our dog comes around).  He purrs when he sleeps.  He purrs when he's stalking his item of interest. He purrs when he's chasing someone.  He just constantly purrs.

I've never seen that in all the cats I've had.  What's up with that?

  Cats purr for other reasons than happiness, but perhaps your kitty is just enjoying being in a nice safe home.

I think I mentioned somewhere in this thread that Klaw will purr as soon as I touch one of his toys.  His latest fun is the "curtains" made by my pajama pants when I sit on the floor with my legs out, but knees slightly up - he loves diving through the "curtains" under my knees...  Just a little while ago, he informed me that I needed to "assume the position" so he could play, and once I did so, he went and got a toy and brought it back "between the curtains" to play with it, happily purring away.  Apparently, they're now the cat's pajamas....

Edited June 13, 2023 by zil2

[zil2]

@Traveler, in an effort to alleviate your confusion, I have made this video of Klaw diving through the "curtains" formed by my pajama pants - it's not the greatest, but capturing this myself is not easy, and it should be good enough.

If your confusion is wondering why in the world I would let a little ball of fur enslave me in this manner, well, I'm afraid that's not something I can explain - either that cute little purring furball is irresistible to you, or it's not.

[Carborendum]

On 6/13/2023 at 1:28 PM, zil2 said:

  Cats purr for other reasons than happiness, but perhaps your kitty is just enjoying being in a nice safe home.

Strider is finally beginning to warm-up to our dog.  He still had his hackles up, but less so... and he was purring while doing so.

Meanwhile he's been chewing off his claw covers.  I've had to replace them several times.  I only have two tubes of glue remaining.  We'll see how that goes.

[zil2]

13 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Strider is finally beginning to warm-up to our dog.  He still had his hackles up, but less so... and he was purring while doing so.

Meanwhile he's been chewing off his claw covers.  I've had to replace them several times.  I only have two tubes of glue remaining.  We'll see how that goes.

Good for Strider - soon he'll be the brave one and the dog will be afraid.

As for the claw covers - get scratching things - post, boards, whatever you think will work, and put them where he likes to scratch.  I did some googling of catnip and apparently it's not effective below a certain age, but you could get some to try, if you wish.  Carpet hanging on the wall would likely be irresistible to him - but you might have to rescue him until he gets the hang of climbing down.

[Carborendum]

5 minutes ago, zil2 said:

Carpet hanging on the wall would likely be irresistible to him

I like this idea.

[zil2]

2 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I like this idea.

google it and you'll see lots of videos of cats climbing the wall and at least one funny one of a woman saying, "Finally I have a place to hang my kittens," as she places a third kitten on the wall-carpet.

[Traveler]

This thread has endured much longer than I ever expected.  Certainly G-d's creatures are amusing and accomplish astonishing things – obviously worthy of our attention and appreciation.  Moroni chapter 10 seems to indicate that we all come to mortality with different sets of spiritual gifts.  Perhaps G-d’s lessor creations (mankind being the ultimate creation) also have spiritual gifts.

It has seemed to me that certain types of human individuals have different propensities of affections towards different types of creatures – dog types verses cat types one of the most obvious.

I had an exceptional and unique bond in my youth with a dog and have never desired to replace that relationship with any other pets.

Sometimes it seems to me that some individuals with deep relationships to diversities of personalities in pets seem to lack the same enjoyment with similar diversity in humans.  Perhaps the acclivity to pets is a spiritual gift.  Obviously, a spiritual gift I lack (along with many others).

 

The Traveler

Edited June 16, 2023 by Traveler

[Carborendum]

 

[zil2]

Klaw has discovered that he can use my eyeglasses to pull me close enough to lick my nose.   And then he discovered that he can pull them (the eyeglasses) off and chew on the earpieces...

[LDSGator]

Just a joke! 

[NeuroTypical]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:28 AM, Traveler said:

Sometimes it seems to me that some individuals with deep relationships to diversities of personalities in pets seem to lack the same enjoyment with similar diversity in humans.

Oh, absolutely I'd rather spend time with my cat, than spend time with most humans.

[zil2]

6 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Oh, absolutely I'd rather spend time with my cat, than spend time with most humans.

Funny, or not so funny, thought...  I'm an extreme introvert.  Church attendance and the occasional ministering visit are sufficient human interaction for me.  (Now that I understand what introversion is and how to manage it, I can push that limit a lot farther, but it's still sufficient.)  So, after I decided to get a kitty, I asked Heavenly Father to help me find the right one for me (leaving it up to Him what that meant, just mentioning what I hoped to do with kitty).  All the timing and such fell into place for Klaw and I was quite certain he was the one I was supposed to adopt.  Turns out, he doesn't much like other people.   He finds them scary and just wants to hang in our nice quiet house with mom. Oh, and car rides are OK, so are walks outside - as long as we don't go to far and don't encounter other people. Make of it what you will...

[zil2]

1 hour ago, LDSGator said:

Just a joke! 

Kitty kept him company in his dying minutes.  Good kitty.