Further Adventures of the Excellent Cats

[TheShellBeach]

....... calling all the excellent cats from the last thread.

Stop chasing shrews, mice and birds and join us here.
Less well-behaved cats especially welcome.

He is so handsome!

Thanks for the encouragement, I know I can do this, it's just the habits I need to break, like lighting up with my first coffee, or when I'm bored at work 😁

RumNotRun Years and years ago I heard Sir Richard Doll on the radio programme Desert Island Discs. He was the main person who discovered the link between lung cancer and smoking. He was adamant about the difference that giving up smoking could make, no matter how heavily a person smoked and how long it was since they started. Here is the link to the programme:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009494q

I've not actually listened again so I hope I haven't misremembered it.

Good news on the refund. TheShellBeach, horrified sympathy on spider bite Supersimkin2 and fingers crossed for Wednesday, Allergic.

Goodnight one and all! Hope people and cats have a peaceful night - not that the nocturnal hunter cats will want a peaceful night in terms of prey!

Honestly, Rum, I agree that it's really hard not to have a ciggy with a hot drink. I remember that was one of the most difficult things for me.
Nowadays I don't even think about it but it was a nightmare for several weeks.

There was one in my mom's sink when I was there earlier, Lana. Bloody monstrous thing. I texted my sister and asked her to put it out when she's there tomorrow. 😂
Good luck @RumNotRun . I've never smoked or drank but I wish I had the willpower to stop stuffing my face with chocolate, cake, ice cream, chips and everything else which is unhealthy but delicious.

Here you are Rum. No cat pix of my own to share so here is Tom Holland's cat Edith:

https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1701142109468631300?t=5KKK3kR5yhjrZy4jeReCFw&s=19

The mention of Prof. Doll takes me back. My mum worked in admin on his cancer trials for quite a few years. Not just brilliant, she always said he was a very nice chap too.
Good luck @RumNotRun . Haven't found a holiday cat to compare with @ShoutyCatSlave's yet, but will report back if I do 😁.

You've got this Rum! I gave up 21 years ago (because I wanted DS) but had to resort to hypnotherapy. Tbf it was the best £100 of my ex-husbands money I ever spent 😂

Think of it this way, it's tobacco or the cats 🤷🏼‍♀️ If you waver look at their li'l furry faces and their bowls, then bury your face in their fur 😁

@RumNotRun The "hand to mouth" habit is even harder to break than the nicotine addiction.

I gave up around 10 years ago when I was working for friends who had a vaping company. Part of my job there was to read all the research and legislation on the subject and summarise it to the bosses, and to write the company blog.

The basic takeaways come down to:
a) better to stop imbibing nicotine completely
b) around 95% of the harm from smoking is from the combustion products of setting light to tobacco leaves
c) whatever method you choose to use to give up, the habit bit is possibly the hardest to break
d) depending on what you currently smoke, and what type of vapes you go on to use, vaping tends to be MUCH cheaper than smoking

@RumNotRun DCat 1 sends her support

Does your GP practice offer any support? Their smoking cessation clinics are often very helpful

I offer the support of two house panthers, Star on the left, female, cranky as fuck and the ever lovely Pooka on the right.

Thank you everyone and please thank your furry overlords for the photos. I'm not replacing smoking with vaping cause I don't want to get reliant on that, so am just trying to distract myself. Luckily the tribe are being suitably demanding which occupies a lot of my time.

I didn't realise how big a part of my day smoking had become. I keep thinking that there's something I've got to do and then I realise that's when I would normally be making a cigarette. Thankfully I'm WFH so no evil temptresses inviting me out for a cigarette like in my last office.

The video of Tom Holland and his cat was so cute, although I got confused and thought it was going to be Tom Hiddleston so was a bit confused when the video started! I am rubbish with names.

Anyway, enough of me. How is everyone today? Are you all being glared at for allowing it to rain?

It hasn't rained here, and this is Argyll, where it rains endlessly.
It's been sunny and lovely.
We took DS and DD out for a drive and we're all going out for dinner tonight. They're going back to London tomorrow. 😥

Lurker here again... this may entertain those of you afflicted by arachnids:

And one to help RumNotRun hold onto the thought that smoking is really kind of ludicrous when you get right down to it.

I massively over ordered dinner tonight. Thankfully, some helpful locals came to my aid to finish what I couldn't..... not tummy-tickling "friends", but still very plump and well looked after. Although they all claimed to be starving. There are several British women leaving trails of kibble up and down the streets, so it's not just leftovers for these babies!

@Allergictoironing wishing you the very best for tomorrow

Hello cat people! I've been trying to catch up for days. Life is incredibly busy these days. Sending support to all those who need it. I'll try and add some cat photos. Benny is utterly bonkers and adorable. Walter is tolerating him very well, bless him.

Benny is so cute!
Be thinking of you tomorrow, Allergic.

Benny and Walter 😍

Good luck tomorrow @Allergictoironing

They look like very well fed cats @ShoutyCatSlave where are you?

And great videos thanks @Anniegetyourgun I had a humongous spider exploring my living room floor earlier, she was presumably looking for a boyfriend but was in danger of becoming cat food. Luckily Lexter was too busy sleeping and, though Raven spotted the spider, she's too lazy to actually do anything.

Not being "done" until mid afternoon, so WFH this morning 😐

Thanks for that song @Anniegetyourgun, very appropriate at this time of year. Except I don't have any house spiders left since Girlcat moved in, she finds them irrisistable; many is the time in the past I've seen her proudly trot by with wiggling legs sticking out of her mouth 😬. But please don't put the ginormouse long legged spiders out in the garden, they have adapted to living in houses and will die if you put them out. They are there all the year round, but they throw caution to the winds in the autumn as it's mating season so they run around the house on the pull.

BTW I can generally recommend Flanders and Swann (as per the song above). Many of us here will relate to "The Gasman Cometh" and A Song of the Weather.

Good luck @Allergictoironing 👍 my mom was due to have her cataracts done but she's not really well enough at the moment 😢 hope your recovery is very quick 💕

Very best of luck for today Allergic! 🐾

Good luck Allergic! My mum had it done and realised she had forgotten how bright colours are - then promptly went back to her art (which she hadn't done for years) and did a gorgeous pastel of Leroy for us.

All the very best, Allergic!

Good luck for later, Allergic.

And to Rum, I'm on Crete, in a small village in the north. There are tons of cats, but they all seem well fed and looked after.