Cat maintenance

I know some of you have or have had cats in the past. Some people hate cats. We have 2. The older long haired grey can is officially mine according to my wife and the younger short haired male grey cat is my wife's cat. My wife picked out both but because the older female is sort of hard to get along with she must me mine. I am good with that. We have an understanding. She likes me and sort of tolerates the rest of the world at least a little. She likes me because I think she can do not wrong. She is obstinate to the max but is ok.

Our male cat is totally different. I trained him to come when called. I did that with treats. Now he is a treat pest. He also will eventually kill anything that gets into the house from the yard. We somehow get little lizards in the house and you have to chase him to get them away from him. He killed a mouse a month ago and put the dead mouse on a step where several little stuffed mice were sitting that he plays with. The big, and I mean big, female just watches things that move. She can't be bothered actually putting forth the effort to really trap or kill anything.

I am always puzzled as to why cats don't live for 100 years. They sleep 20 hours a day and don't seem to allow anything or anyone to stress them out. These cats are the only pets that I have ever had to have live full time in the house. If one got out I would have to leave the state as my wife would hunt me down and kill me if anything happened to one of them if it got out.

I think they are good company...mostly for my wife when I am on the road. They are pretty good pets overall. I just do not have interest in having to take care of a pet and these are really low maintenance and my wife handles that. She has always had cats and dogs from a very young age.

I like animals. I hate the squirrels getting in my attic but I like them running around the yard. They are entertaining. Glad that cars don't go outside. The male cat would be killing them all the time. I saw a squirrel nesting box that you can buy. I did not know that they even made such a thing. I have nexts all over the trees in my yard and my neighbors yards. I am still trying to understand why we hardly ever see chipmunks. We see one or two in the spring and then never again. The hawks must get them. They cleared out the doves and some of the furry critters so maybe they got the chipmunks too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marty Gass

I think they are good company...

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Marty, no matter what people say, you are a good man. :applause:



I had dogs, and I miss them more than I can explain. Dogs are not cats.
K has cats. I like cats.

Like my dogs, the cats just showed up after assholes abandoned them.
The cats here arrived wild, so go in and out as the mood hits them. There is a door bell mat for when the want in, when they want out -- they tell (demand) you open the door. At first light Percy stands on me until I get up so he can get out to potty. He will use claws if I ignore him.

On mild days when most folks might have on the heat or air, we don't so the door can stay open. That saves me some money:fox:.

Two cats have been here over ten years. They showed up together. The female stays in the yard, the male roams and is well known to all neighbors. He believes every person and dog loves him. Every Christmas I give all the neighbors presents from 'Percy'. They all treat him well. He sleeps in bed with me, but some nights does not want to come in. Percy is the King. He owns the neighborhood.

The female ('Prancy') who arrived with him is thin and small, but is definitely the boss of the other cats. She likes K, me, and loves Percy. The others give her wide berth. She likes to sit on the roof, and I worry an Eagle might get her.

Prancy and K last week:
Attachment 8420

'Spooky' is a beautiful long haired feral cat about 5 who is gone during the day ?? but now spends the nights on the porch. He likes to be petted, but will not come inside for more than a couple minutes. He has a heated pad on a porch chair.

Percy has a heated tent in the driveway, and there is another below in the screen room where the skunks hang out. They don't sleep in it, but they do love cat food.

'The Devil' is about 4 and is a long hair Maine Coon who roams the neighborhood and is not feral. He likes me, follows me around. Other cats hate him. They bully him because he does not seem to realize he is bigger and stronger. He hates people, and will even smack the crap out of K if she gets out of line. Last Winter on really cold nights I got him to sleep in some nights, but he don't prefer that. I have no idea where he sleeps.

I don't feed or clean up after cats. K does that. There is always many types of food out here (best available). It seems every cat has a favorite. They also like whipped cream which she buys by the case. Her cat bill runs near a million dollars a month. The Amazon and Chewy drivers show up here most days.

Here are a brother/sister who "arrived" last year:
Attachment 8421

Marty yall could move here and your wife could get rich off K.

I feel like you are making allowances for me because we (I) have cats. I tell everyone but you guys that they are my wife's cats. My wife buys all the food and treats. She orders food from a supplier that ships it to the vet practice where she works. The big hairy cat, my cat, ate a piece of aluminum foil back last May and we spent $3300.00 on her surgery. That was with my wife's courtesy discount. I alway say that I am going to put them out in the yard and good riddance but I would spend any amount to take care of them. I would like to have a dog. I miss my old dog. She was an English Shepard which is sort of like a border collie only they are still bred as working dogs. Smart as hell and they are very protective and love to play about anything.

My wife just came home and now the cats are running around excited. We keep talking about getting another kitten but our big grey cat has yet to forgive us for getting our other male cat. He was sort of a pain in the ass for her. His name is Booger. It is a name he earned.

We decided some time ago that the big female can read minds. We can just talk about trimming her nails and she gets up and hides. Once I pick her up my wife can do about anything to her and she is ok as long as it is me that is holding her. We shave mats off her coat and you can imagine how that goes but she just makes some noise and I just hold her. I have even held her flipped over so we can shave the mats off her gut and she is ok as long as I am holding her. Picking up the male cat is another story. My wife does it all the time. If I do it he goes nots because it means nail trimming and he goes nuts. I have scares from him clawing away.