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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

My tortie is a real COW! :-D

66 replies

GetStuffezd · 20/09/2013 19:04

She has been sitting at the window for about two hours, pining for ginger boy to come home. (He's got a new mate in one of the feral farm cats!) Every time I tried to pick her up for a cuddle and fuss she gave me the feline equivalent of F off and resumed her position.

Scabbers the Ginger strolls in for his dinner and she's straight on my lap and biffing my face, pummelling, etc. It was a proper "we've been having SUCH a nice time without YOU!" I do love them!! Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
GetStuffezd · 22/09/2013 10:04

Haha nothongoriginal
Mine got cross with me after I got up the other night to get a drink...so I came back to her sprawled out in my warm spot on sofa! Pic on profile. Little sod.

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MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2013 10:13

I officially have the World's Most Beautiful Tortie - she is grey and pink (yes, really!). Her permanent expression is "outraged", she doesn't like being stroked, will tolerate being picked up and cuddled for a while, and she pisses on any dirty laundry left on the bathroom floor, or craps on the front door mat if she is feeling particularly displeased about something. We moved house recently and she stood on the bed next to DH and miaowed at him all night long on the first night!

Original poster
GetStuffezd · 22/09/2013 10:24

Had to google to see what you meant, and ohhhhh, so pretty!! Also, the one on google has a very "outraged" expression too!

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Mogz · 22/09/2013 10:27

I've had two torties, the last one only for a couple of months as she was a very old (19y11m) rescue riddled with lumps and bumps, but she was the most beautiful natured cat ever. She would beg to be picked up, pop her paws on your shoulders and pull herself in really tight so her snotty little nose dribbled all over your neck and then purr like it was going out of fashion. She was also very pretty, our vet described her as blue and apricot coloured. I often wonder what she was like as a youngster, I'm sure she had a lot of mischief and naughtiness in her past.
My first tortie was a BOY! Yep, born as an only kitten in the back of a wardrobe he was our special needs kitty. He had fits when very young which left him with some messy wiring, his back legs took a lot longer to respond than his front legs, that didn't stop him running and chasing and biting like a good 'un though. He only lived a few years but was naughty to the extremes of his abilities, we were really blessed to know him as he was extra special and a rarity.

EstoyAqui · 22/09/2013 10:37

Our Tortie loves hunting too. For 90 solid days this year she left me a gift either by the back door or on the hall mat. Three whoe months of either pigeon, thrush or magpie carcusses. She is currently in the garden eating any daddy long-legs that dares to move. I watched her eat no less than 12 the other day before I got bored.

Original poster
GetStuffezd · 22/09/2013 10:39

Ooh is anyone else finding desiccated spiders around the house at the moment? Tis is something I won't be bollocking the cats for! I actually feel quite sorry for the spiders though - hyping themselves up to make a dash to a wardrobe when up looms the slavering face of Millie!!
God I need to get off MN and do something productive!!

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bishboschone · 22/09/2013 12:05

I've just remembered we had a reuse tortie when we were kids who had the most amazing personality . She followed my horse home
From a ride once as a kitten and we didn't know where she lived so brought her home while we tried to find her owners .. We never did and she just stayed.. Sadly she got run over about a year later which is why I had forgotten her but she really was a character and fitted in really well with our lives ( big country house with lots of animals and kids) so was never any bother .. We also have another waif and stray who should be very grateful for a home as he came in similar circumstances but is really stroppy and grumpy .. I guess it's just pot luck with personalities .

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 18:45

What is it about tortoiseshell cats which makes them have this distinct personality?

Mine is similar to lots on here

She is disdainful and gives the most expressive dirty looks. When she is in a really bad mood she puffs herself up like an owl.

She hates the other cats. The other three all cuddle up together and she is nowhere near them. And then goes and jumps on them and hisses.

She swipes at your feet and bites if she is not happy.

Is the biggest hunter of the family, brings in something every single day. Mice, water voles, small birds, bats, a crow

She is a pig and is always there at the front of the queue at dinner time and eats the most despite being the smallest cat (she is not much bigger than a kitten)

Only likes me. She is very affectionate with me, comes and sits on me and pads her paws for ages (whilst dribbling and purring). Comes in to bed with me and snuggles next to me. She won't go anywhere near another human and will not be touched by them without scampering off.

Eats everything. She likes crisps, chips, cakes, everything.

I love her to pieces, and she is so beautiful (pic on profile).

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 18:48

I have 2 big black boy cats as well, and they are so soft and friendly. And a ginger and white cat who purrs permanently and sits in strange places. We often find her sitting comfortably staring at a wall and purring at nothing.

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 18:49

Someone told me once that black cats are the ones which are never taken from rescues. That is such a shame. Black cats are lovely, they are like beautiful panthers.

I want some more cats.

SummerRain · 22/09/2013 19:16

LeGavr, colouration is closely linked to behaviour. Check out the Russian experiments on foxes for an example. They breed them purely for temperament but they developed colouring similar to other domestic animals as a by product. The foxes bred to be 'untame' in personality retained their red colouring

Only domestic animals display pie bald or skewbald colouration, no wild animal has those colour types. It's a fascinating topic and shows the interrelationships between genes one wouldn't assume to be connected.

TheAccidentalExhibitionist · 22/09/2013 19:18

I could fill my house with cats and dogs too. Love em. Two of each is probably all my DH could handle though.

I always thought torties were exclusively female but we live in France now (we took the cats with us when we moved) where there are lots of male torties. Our girl is unusual here though as she's a dark tortiseshell and they don't have those in France.

There is a national black cat day once a year in the UK to encourage the rehoming of black cats. Superstition has a lot to answer for.

TheAccidentalExhibitionist · 22/09/2013 19:25

Oh we also have ginger females here too

AthelstaneTheUnready · 22/09/2013 19:28

Gav, I only went to the rescue place for one, but brought out two because they said the same - no-one wants the black cats so they get put down Shock.

I hadn't realised we carted so much 17th century about with us Hmm

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 19:44

Oh yes summer I remember reading about the Russian foxes experiment in a Richard Dawkins book, it's a fascinating subject. That is also very interesting that there is no skewbald coloration in a wild animal.

Such a shame about black cats and their getting put down because nobody wants them. I don't know if our black boys are anything unusual in having lovely natures. They are so affectionate. They bloody dribble everywhere when being cuddled,

SummerRain · 22/09/2013 20:21

I love black cats, I have 2. One the kitten of a rescue cat I took in when she was pregnant and one I found dumped at the side of the road. They have very different personalities but are both lovely in their own way, the female is far more stand offish but when she's in the mood she's a right pet.

I also have a ginger and he has definitely chosen dd as his person. Sleeps on her bed every night and cries if he can't find her Grin

The blue and white female is a madame, hates being picked up but is very playful and affectionate.

My black and white female is the biggest pet by far, she loves being on people's laps and purrs like a tractor at the slightest hint of affection. She's amazingly tolerant of the kids too.

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 20:24

I had Siamese cats when growing up. They were wonderful. They had all the best bits of a dogs personality combined with that of a cats

NorbertDentressangle · 22/09/2013 20:29

I didn't realise that the disdainful, dirty looks were such a character trait of torties.

We used to describe our tortie as looking as if she had a bad smell under her nose most of the time.

Mogz · 22/09/2013 20:29

Accidental male torties are possible due to a little genetic mix up irrc they're usually blessed with three sets of genes, instead of two, xxy or xyy. There ae probably other ways too but I'm not scientific enough to work it out.

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 20:41

I didn't either Norbert until we got her.

She is the only cat who responds to her name (probably because we tend to call them collectively 'kittykittykittens' and other such bollocks like the twats we are) but by respond she doesn't come over purring. She just looks at you, gives a deep breath and then gives a cat side eye. She is like Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey faced with a ghastly middle class person.

Never known a cat with such a distinct character.

TheAccidentalExhibitionist · 22/09/2013 20:43

That's fascinating to know Mogz is it the same for ginger females?

LeGavrOrf I had a seal point Siamese when I was growing up. I could look at him all day long, he was so beautiful but boy was he neurotic. He was a high maintenance rescue, noisy as hell.
We had a Burmese too that dribbled all over us when we cuddled her. She loved cuddles so much she'd sit in the bath, submerged in the water just for the chance to get a bit of love.

NorbertDentressangle · 22/09/2013 20:53

Ours didn't do much of the hunting that has been spoken about .

Although there were two possible/near miss occasions:

-the time I found a slow worm in the bedroom and have no idea how it got there. Tortie cat was chief culprit, being the only cat we had but managed to cover her tracks well if it was her.

-the time I heard an almighty commotion outside. I looked out of the upstairs window to see a shower of feathers falling from the sky as a very distressed pigeon flapped away in a lucky escape. Tortie cat was seen on the ground below doing that 'emergency wash' thing that they do when something hasn't gone quite according to plan and they've made a bit of a twat of themselves. Hmm

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 20:54

Mine were seal point, they were absolutely beautiful. All died young from leukaemia, bless them.

That is wonderful about a cat in a bath. I would love that.

God I am obsessed with cats. Went to someone's house this week, she had a white cat (haven't seen one of those for years) with amazing eyes, blue around the pupil and then green. She was beautiful.

LeGavrOrf · 22/09/2013 20:56

Haha Norbert.

My tortie played with a centipede this week. She didn't kill it amazingly, just played for hours and followed it around. She looked thrilled to bits.

bishboschone · 22/09/2013 21:19

We had Siamese cats growing up too.. 3 of them but one had kittens so we had loads at one point.. They girls only likes one person but the boy was soo friendly . Such a lovely boy .. All went on to 17 ish .. One of the girls was mine and I loved her very much Hmm