Why are all troublesome cats ginger?

[HesterShaw]

I'm not saying all ginger cats are troublesome obviously. I love ginger cats. I am ginger myself.

We've moved to a house which is perfect for cats after renting for eight years. Finally our gorgeous girl has somewhere nice to roam around, sniffing flowers, swatting flies, sitting on flower pots, that kind of thing. Unfortunately it's the most popular place for cats in the world. None of them seem actually aggressive, but they have had the run of the garden too long and think it's theirs. I'm too fond of cats to scare them too much.

However one in particular is interested in the house. We put a cat flap in the other day. It's like a honey pot attracting an unusually persistent bee. I'm fed up of the yowling and hissing at 5am when our girl is this side of the cat flap and we can see an interested ginger face peering in. Yesterday AND today I found the Iams on the floor ripped open and scattered everywhere, which she has never done in her life. Today I just got home to hear angry cat noises upstairs and the furry little bastard was on the bed! Ours was one the window sill being angrily ineffective "This is MY house :( " It was quite funny chasing it and roaring through the house watching its little ginger legs skidding and skittering all over the wooden floors . It's a cute little thing, but I don't want it in the house.

Can't have a magnetic collar - the last time we tried a collar she almost strangled herself trying to get it off and the resultant sores got infected. We're just going to have to lock the cat flap when we go out, but this means she can't go out in the garden.

Grrrrrr. Just moaning really. I love cats but they're pushing their luck.

[cozietoesie]

All the ginger cats (toms) I've ever known well have been thoroughgoing gentlemen.

[sashh]

I feed a ginger stray occasionally, he disappears for weeks then turns up every day for a week then goes off.

He is allowed in the garden and occasionally supervised in the living room.

But if he tries to get in my bedroom window he is chased out by my 1/2 sized tabby.

[HesterShaw]

The one coming into my house? Oh yes. I've seen him in the window of the house over the road and he has a collar and bell.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Are you sure he's owned?

[Kudzugirl]

Love this thread.

Our cat would sidle up to us whilst we slept, place his nose near our ears and make this 'phner phner' sound accompanied by smelly fish breath and stubby whiskers that felt like needles.

Between his wake ups and my husbands, life sometimes seemed full on first thing....

[ThatBloodyWoman]

My ginger tom is a lovely boy and when he was younger,the most incredible ratter.

He is a scaredy cat though and easily stressed by aggressor cats.

I pssshhttt all other cats out of our garden to help him protect his territory, and he doesn't roam far.

Big fluffy squidgy old puss.

I love him.

[HesterShaw]

Isn't it funny how we list hundreds of bloody annoying, messy, time consuming and expensive things our cats do, but always finish with how much we love them?

"My cat hospitalised me once, but I adore him"
"My old girl recently threw herself under the wheels of a car on purpose and had to be rebuilt, costing me thousands of pounds, but we love her so much!"
"My lovely old boy vomited on the baby's face but we wouldn't be without him."
"My kittens shredded the new Harrods curtains! :o :o :o"

And so on...

Maybe they are evil geniuses after all.

[Whatfun]

I have a ginger tom. He's three years old and the biggest coward alive. He's afraid of everything. We also have a very timid tortoiseshell, who is a complete prima Donna. My ginger tom is even afraid of her.

When he was a kitten he was a bit of a nightmare. He took months and months to get the hang of toilet training, and would get upset at everything. I went away for a week and it took him six weeks to get over the stress. He peed all over the house, his particular favourite place being my foot! The vet thought it was hysterical. He said that he's demonstrating just how pissed off he was that I went away and left him. I do love him so.

[HesterShaw]

Not cooked spaghetti. The raw sticks of it. I think it was my dad who first found that out. Though quite why he thought "I know, I'll see if Ginger enjoys playing with uncooked pasta" we'll never know.

[chemenger]

Cat pee is very corrosive, I remember reading about a chemical plant that had trouble with pipework corroding unexpectedly. It turned out that were the pipes had been stored was where the local strays hung out, hence all the pipes corroded about 9 inches from one end - they had been stacked vertically and had been well marked by all the male cats.

My ginger also has no sense of personal space and usually has an interested look on his face. I also can't stop laughing at that fat cat picture, my cat looks most like the first one.

[Kudzugirl]

I have never heard of a spaghetti playing cat

[HesterShaw]

Thanks Kudzgirl. It was a long time ago now and I have a lovely photo of him on my mantelpiece. He died the week after my wedding. Now he's in cat heaven terrorizing all the others and playing with spaghetti , I'm sure...

[moonbells]

Hester you program your flap by stuffing the cat head-first through it! First you press a button to activate programming mode and then the next cat through is automatically stored. And yes, if your thug gets in first, you can wipe it and start again...

You can also set the flap for in-only, out-only or locked.

If you get the (dearer) pet door then you also have the option of programming it to shut when the light levels drop at dusk.

I love gingers but the two ginger kittens of the litter we went to see had been chosen when we got there. So we adopted a mad B&W kitten instead and the litter's mum, who is a very naughty tortie and white and so I did get a cat with some ginger!

[Kudzugirl]

That is one learned cat.

[HesterShaw]

Now he looks even cleverer

[derektheladyhamster]

We have a microchip cat flap, as the same thing happens to us (i woke to find a strange cat on the end of my bed, whilst ours slept on the landing!)

Best thing we've ever bought, you just move the sensor over your cat to programme the microchip

[Kudzugirl]

Aw Hester sorry to read that- made my eyes prick with tears. I love and miss may cat too. Doesn't and hasn't got that much easier with time either

I am getting near to the point of readiness for another cat. He will have to be a ginger ninja. There is one that sits in the window of a nearby house all day and when you walk past he extends a lazy foot out and blinks slowly. I think he expects me to prostrate myself in front of his window in supplication.

[HesterShaw]

I'm still laughing at Fat Cat, and the last one who's looking at the camera so seriously and looks very clever.

[DramaAlpaca]

I'm sorry & I'm no help at all, but your post made me laugh, especially the chase round the house

I am owned by a ginger ninja who is a bundle of trouble. He visits his little ginger girlfriend in the house behind us & tries to sneak in through the patio doors & help himself to her food. Fortunately the ginger girl's house belongs to my friend who doesn't find him too annoying, even when he taps at her window to be let in

[ListenToTheLady]

I saw a documentary about RSPCA officers and people who have to deal with problem animal situations. There were blokes talking about When Cats Go Bad and situations where they have literally needed several men to subdue and remove an aggressive cat that was holding someone hostage / going on the mad rampage.

Big burly "seen it all" type bloke goes "It's always the big ginger ones."

So there you go. Maybe it's genetic.

[HesterShaw]

My first cat was ginger. I loved him more than life itself. He was massive and very bad tempered, but used to play with sticks of spaghetti like a kitten. I wept buckets when he died.

[Kudzugirl]

He does look more pompous than curious doesn't he? Like a Puffer Cat.

I have always seen Ginger cats as bolshier though. I wonder if there is any truth in it?

[HesterShaw]

AM

[HesterShaw]

Look at the fat one! I actually clutching my sides :o :o :o

[Kudzugirl]

I have found some interested ginger faces.