Tortoiseshell cats

[littlewhitething]

I was standing (well, sitting, really!) At a bus stop last week chatting, as one does to a lady I see fairly frequently when the subject of cats came up. lady mentioned she has a tortoiseshell which is completely army and I realized ours was not the only one as mad as a box of frogs. Very talkative to the point of needing earplugs, strange taste in food, sleeps upside down...I could go on! Does anyone else have a similarly crazy cat?

Out tortie has just turned one and so far has none of the bonkers tortietufe I was warned about. She’s very sensible hardly know she is there kind of cat, she has bonded with my DD2 and spends a lot of time sleeping on her bed or bird watching. Her ginger brother on the other hand is nuts.

Mine is completely non-bonkers too.

My phone changes tortie to torrid.
One stalks local dogs and is known as “bad kitten”. The other keeps getting herself locked in garages or even an empty house once.
They pretty much hate each other (sisters) and have at least three attempts to scare the life out of me each week by suddenly hissing and swearing and chasing each other. I love them but they’re bloody nightmares.
I’ve always wanted a Siamese. Actually think that may have been an easier option.

I've always been under the impression that they have quite a reputation!

Also, all tortoiseshell cats are female.

Or does every one know that already?

Ours is a pampered much loved cat whom we got from a loving home when she was a kitten. She behaves to everyone besides us as if she were a previously abused rescue. Hiding, hissing, spitting and attacking. Regular visitors are a bit afraid of her. She also swipes us if we don't pet her enough - we call it "love me or I'll hurt you". She'll also swipe just in passing. Mainly DH though.

On the other hand, when I was very stressed out and upset last year due to a family member being very sick, she used to sit on the back of the chair behind me and groom my hair. Great if you like claws in your scalp and cat spit in your hair! Very touching nonetheless.

After yet again standing at the bottom of a tree, feebly waving a pouch of cat food about, in order to encourage my tortie to climb back down from being at least 40 foot up a tree, I would agree torties are bonkers.
She is very loving and sweet natured but boy does she have a knack for getting into trouble.

Mine climbs the roof and then insists she can’t get down and “insists” I reach out through the window and lift her back in.
She also bit DH tonight when he said she couldn't sleep in DDs room.
Actually we have two torties but only one is a sodding menace. I love her.

I had two naughty torties and adored them, miss them terribly. They were sisters and had such individual personalities. One died young (4.5 yrs) of a kidney disease, her sister lived to about seventeen. Bless. Wish they were still here.

Not bonkers

Oops, I didn’t know they had this reputation. I’ve recently adopted a 9 month old Tortie who is very hyper and will flip from love to bites.

She has calmed down a bit but can’t be trusted alone with our disgruntled black cat who is rightly very cross about her new sister.

Our tortoiseshell is the most active, noisy, attention-seeking and bizarrely-behaved cat I've encountered in a lifetime of cat-ownership/servitude.

She took some getting used to but we wouldn't change her for anything and sometimes joke that another cat would seem like a stuffed toy in comparison.

I wasn't aware of the "naughty tortie"/"tortitude" reputation before we chose her from Cats Protection!

My Portia.. who died just short of 19 years earlier this year.
Feisty, ace hunter, and would bite my nose to wake me up.

It once took two nurses and the vet to get a pill into her

She was fabulous and definitely a naughty tortie!!!

We had a tortie+white (not the patches of colour 'Calico' but the beautiful stripes and ripples of the tortie coat)

When she had her side shaved she had pink skin with black spots like a jaguar .

She came from Rescue , we were totally novices with cats (and she knew it ) . She was with us till she was 17yo.

Recently on our cat-search I saw a pair of tortie kitten sisters in Rescue .....and made the Sensible Choice and got 2 rescue black young adults (who are also Mad As Frogs)

We've just adopted a 3 year old tortie from a local rescue. She does have some strange behaviours (according to DH who grew up with cats) but she's my first cat so I don't know any different!

We adopted tortie sisters in December...they have some funny habits...

They both flick their biscuits out of the bowl one at a time with their paws then eat the individual biscuits off the floor.

Penny puts her paw in the water bowl as if she's soaking it - leaves it in there a good 30 seconds. I call it her paw spa.

Tallulah digs for victory in the litter box. She'll be in there covering stuff up for at least five minutes.

They chase each other round like lunatics, too.

My tortoiseshell certainly has 'tortitude'... she only truly behaves herself around my 10 month old baby (which is very sweet, he's definitely 'her' human). She's a true naughty tortie.

Pictures anyone?)

My Sophie. She is 16 now and arthritic but she was semi-feral when we got her and spent most of her time outside. She hasn't done it in a while but used to catch a small wild animal (birds, mice), eat the head off and then sit and call for ages for my dogs to come and eat it! We had to keep the dogs inside until she took it away again. Once she herded 4 ducklings into our garden and another time she came home soaking wet and covered in duck weed where she'd obviously fallen into a pond trying to catching something . She still always meets us at the top of the road after walking the dogs and when she wants something she jumps up and digs her claws into your leg. She used to love playing but she really is a sensible (albeit grumpy) and very sweet girl.

My deranged lunatic. She was semi feral when we rescued her 7 years ago and not much better now. She likes to eat mushy peas

Our tortoiseshell is very much a character. Currently a feisty 12 yr old and no sign of mellowing yet. Chatty, playful, begs like a dog for titbits, stark raving bonkers on catnip, hates the vet passionately and can be ridiculously affectionate and want to be worn round your neck like a scarf!