Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The litter tray

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

Original poster

Ridiculous things you do for or because of your cat?

116 replies

PickAndChooseMe · 12/10/2021 20:03

I’m always cold and my office is freezing so I dress as if I’m living & working in Arctic conditions. That’s fine in the morning but coming home I usually do a bit of shopping so I have heavy bags, a laptop, books and a couple flights of stairs up to my flat. I’m hot and sweaty when I get to the door and desperately needing to get my layers off.

The Cat always acts as if she’s been abandoned for days and as soon as I’m inside will lay there like a pathetic pile of fur needing at least 5 minutes of love and attention. If I try to walk she gets in my way, tripping me. So what have I been doing for the past few winters?? Dump all my stuff on the floor, strip until I’m in my bra & trousers or tights and sit down cuddling her. Semi naked with her long fur sticking on my sweaty skin because I don’t want her waiting an extra couple minutes. I am so bloody ridiculous 🙈

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
ppeatfruit · 21/10/2021 08:58

My goodness reading these made me feel positively normal (our cats aren't allowed in the bedrooms Grin ).

Though Millie has 4 'formal' beds in the sitting room which consist of 2 cat carrier baskets, one flattened box and a chair by the window all of which have to have the bedding (old t cloths etc.) changed regularly. Otherwise the yowling all night is unbearable. Though we've had her checked out and she has a kidney problem , she has medicine now and has calmed down amazingly.

saleorbouy · 21/10/2021 13:11

Make a hot water bottle and slip it under her blanket so she is cosy on her cushion overnight in the utility room. She was always snuggled up with her sister but unfortunately she was recently knocked down on the road outside.

Original poster
PickAndChooseMe · 21/10/2021 18:23

I’m sorry @AlfonsoTheDinosaur and @saleorbouy Flowers

I’m loving this thread! Now that it’s getting colder I’ve been leaving the heated blanket on for her highness.

OP posts:
NotMyCat · 21/10/2021 18:27

Mine wouldn't eat at the vets and they were very "he needs to eat"
They found he would eat if being cuddled and hand fed chicken from the hot counter Blush
Me HmmHmmHmm
Vet "well we tried boiled chicken but he just looked at us like we were daft"

PresidentJoey · 21/10/2021 18:56

@ClawddaPussy

Not me, but my mother would sit for whole evenings watching rubbish on the TV and missing something she had really been looking forward to (this was in the days before remote controls) because one of the cats was sitting on her lap and she didn't want to move them to get up and turn the TV to the other channel.
Years ago I sat through three episodes of Pimp My Ride on MTV because the remote control had fallen off the sofa and I didn't want to dislodge purry snuggly cat Blush I did consider texting my neighbour who had a spare key to ask for help Grin
sociallydistained · 21/10/2021 19:00

@Piapiano

My cat is obsessed with the bath mat and we have a routine where every morning when I let her out (I shut her in her own room at night otherwise she hunts all night and brings it to me in bed) she runs straight up to the bathmat and flops down so I can rub her tummy. If I'm in a rush or need the loo or something so I don't do this straight away she gets really huffy with me and refuses to be touched for about an hour 😾
Black cat has taken to the bath mat and if not on her pillow on the bed can surely be found on the bath mat next to the bath!
crimsonlake · 21/10/2021 19:09

King size bed and live alone. Cat sometimes settles right near my legs meaning I end up sleeping on the edge of the bed instead of sprawling out so as not to disturb her.
Other times I spend the night with her draped across my neck like a dead weight completely flat out. No wonder I feel wrecked in the mornings.
My other cat insists on being fed as soon as I walk through the door, first things first and all that :)

ppeatfruit · 22/10/2021 09:59

Aaah salebuoy . We had another stray who we looked after until he died (there was no way he'd go in a basket to the vet, he was ill when he appeared in our garden). We gave him a heated bed in the garage and good food plus the company of our other Fr. stray (so they could speak french to each other Grin .) he still misses him.

it's funny how some cats 'get on' with each other and not with others.

Defiantly41 · 22/10/2021 17:56

@NotMyCat similar experience here, emergency hospitalisation over Christmas and he wouldn't eat. I went down there with a slice off the fresh roast turkey and no surprises, he tucked in.

The poor cat in the next "bed" had her jaw wired as she had been attacked by a dog and was crying pitifully for some turkey ...

ppeatfruit · 23/10/2021 09:43

Yes Defiantly We've discovered (through a process of elimination) that turkey is the favourite food of our cats. They LOVE it. Much more than chicken with none of the ill effects.

Pythonista · 23/10/2021 15:27

I used to have the most fabulous but stubborn cat. I lived in a flat that was set out in a straight line (so hall with bathroom off it, into kitchen then living room then bedroom

He would sit in the doorway of the bedroom and glare at me when he deemed it necessary for me to go to bed.

He would then insist on sleeping under the covers and would dig his claws into my leg if he didn't have enough Room Grin

MrsCatE · 23/10/2021 17:53

I warm up his food bowl . . .

ppeatfruit · 24/10/2021 14:47

Aah MrsCatE We warm up their food! Or keep it out of the fridge if it's tinnedus thinking , though they'll only eat tinned if it's out of a freshly opened tin however we've kept it. I don't know how they know Grin

Has anyone got cats who go OFF their favourite foods after us thinking oh thank goodness we know what they like now? We have ordered too much of a specific food only to have it sitting in the cupboard for months! I suppose it's not only humans who like a change of diet.

JackieQueen · 24/10/2021 14:53

I have two superior madams, if I can't find one I ask the other one where she is.

slashlover · 24/10/2021 14:54

@ppeatfruit

Aah MrsCatE We warm up their food! Or keep it out of the fridge if it's tinnedus thinking , though they'll only eat tinned if it's out of a freshly opened tin however we've kept it. I don't know how they know Grin

Has anyone got cats who go OFF their favourite foods after us thinking oh thank goodness we know what they like now? We have ordered too much of a specific food only to have it sitting in the cupboard for months! I suppose it's not only humans who like a change of diet.

I rotate her wet food so she doesn't get bored, same brand but different flavours etc.

I have also donated a lot of cat food to the foodbank because I bought something new that she didn't like and I wasn't binning 10 sachets of food.

Fluffycloudland77 · 24/10/2021 14:57

@ppeatfruit

Yes Defiantly We've discovered (through a process of elimination) that turkey is the favourite food of our cats. They LOVE it. Much more than chicken with none of the ill effects.
I cooked a turkey thigh joint and my timid, reserved, paws on the ground cat went MENTAL running around yelling her little head off and jumped onto the work top. I didn’t know she could jump up that high.

I’m too scared to buy another one now. She went berserk.

slashlover · 24/10/2021 15:13

See, now I'm wondering if it would be worth trying turkey as a treat. She's disapproved of chicken, prawns and salmon, and would only drink the water from a tin of tuna.

I'm vegetarian so it's not worth trying if she doesn't like it. I might try her with the precooked turkey meat and heat it up to see if she likes it.

ppeatfruit · 24/10/2021 15:25

Yes well worth it I would say slashlover I'm a demi veggie\vegan too (the one time I eat meat is organic turkey at Xmas! Blush ) of course I know that means I'm strictly NOT either, esp. when it comes to buying catfood! You could freeze it if she doesn't like it or cook very gently. Ours like it raw sometimes.

ReginaaPhalange · 24/10/2021 15:26

DCat goes mental for sliced cooker ham. She could be at the other side of the house ignoring you, or in the deepest sleep ever, but the minute a pack of ham is brought out the fridge, she appears and uses your leg as a climbing post!!!

Somuddled · 24/10/2021 15:49

Dh and I will never move a dcat. This means that most evenings we huddle to one side of our bed while boy cat sleeps on the other side. Today it means we will be eating out roast dinner on our laps on the sofa because girl cat has made a nest on the table.

slashlover · 24/10/2021 21:47

@ppeatfruit

Yes well worth it I would say slashlover I'm a demi veggie\vegan too (the one time I eat meat is organic turkey at Xmas! Blush ) of course I know that means I'm strictly NOT either, esp. when it comes to buying catfood! You could freeze it if she doesn't like it or cook very gently. Ours like it raw sometimes.
I used to work with someone who fed her cat vegetarian cat food, that seems cruel to me as cats are obligate carnivores. I try and buy the dry food with the highest meat content and then she has Felix AGAIL or Sheba for wet, I tried some of the higher meat content wet and she wouldn't touch it, even now she mostly eats the jelly or gravy and leaves some of the meat.

I'll have a look the next time I'm in the supermarket for some turkey.

Mojoj · 24/10/2021 21:49

Ha ha ha love these! Cat people are crazy. I want a wee cat....

ppeatfruit · 25/10/2021 08:55

Yes slash It's like trying to feed tigers corn flakes. Carnivores ARE carnivores! We have always bought no cereal cat food which (if you read the labels) you'll find most cat foods have plenty of. It costs more but as I said above we have noticed the health of our strays when feeding them with all types of foods and gone with the best!

It does work; our oldest cat is now 19 years old and although she had a leg off 5 years ago, can jump about and has only just got ill. The vet thought she was 10 years younger !

PuppyMonkey · 25/10/2021 09:01

My cat will only drink water if it’s provided in a particular plastic cup and placed in a specific spot on the floor of the landing so she can access it at all times. If you forget to do it, she goes round the house shouting until one of us rectifies the situation.Confused

slashlover · 25/10/2021 10:50

@PuppyMonkey

My cat will only drink water if it’s provided in a particular plastic cup and placed in a specific spot on the floor of the landing so she can access it at all times. If you forget to do it, she goes round the house shouting until one of us rectifies the situation.Confused
I have to make sure the toilet lid is down as she drank from it when I first got her and I have had to shoo her away as she tried to drink my bathwater,

In order of fussiness - Dry food (will eat anything, has never refused any)
Water - Will drink out of any bowl (I have metal and ceramic for variety)
Treats - Will eat most but will ignore some cheaper varieties. (WHY did Dreamies stop the advent calendars??)
Wet food - Will refuse some, won't eat Whiskas AT ALL.
Actual meat - Gets all excited until I put it down then will look at me in disgust and walk away.