Christmas with the Excellent Cats

[TheShellBeach]

......... Silent Night.........

Well, maybe not so silent when there's a cat about who wants to be fed.

Join us in the run up to Christmas 2023!

Oddly I've never had a feline Christmas tree fiend. The worst thing that any of mine have ever done is to bat the odd low hanging bauble off the tree and play football with it.

Hang citrus scented car air fresheners on the lower branches 🎄

@CeciledeVolangesdeNouveau Tbh if you try to walk a cat like you walk a dog then yes, it's unlikely to go brilliantly. I let Leroy mooch at his own pace and lead the way. Yes I do spend a lot of time standing around suspiciously while Leroy watches birds but the neighbours are used to me and are very fond of Leroy 😁 There's always a bit of a pantomime when it comes to putting his coat on but no coat - no out 🤷🏼‍♀️ Always carry treats and be ready to pick up if you see a dog.

We don't do Christmas, so there are no decorations etc to show. I'll just repeat the pictures of Daisy and Phoebe on the festively-coloured new chairs.

This is Akasha on my lap and wrapped up like a burrito, it’s cold here!

Ooh, is she a Rex? Love her dilute tortie colours.

Akasha and Velvet could form a crime-fighting duo! While Velvet uses her wide blue eyes and general incompetence at life to convince the subject they’re safe in their… paws, Akasha can stare directly into their souls with her piercing gaze. They could employ a black cat from this thread on a part-time basis to play the (literal) noir detective, constantly sitting in the corner with their eyes narrowed and solving the case at the last minute before returning home to angst about their ex.

@CeciledeVolangesdeNouveau Tortellini is a reserved and elegant lady with exquisite manners! She never trips me up or climbs anywhere she shouldn't and as an ex feral, she's just starting to learn that being petted is nice and that humans are OK (I've had her 2 years). It's Lasagna who is the menace who is into everything - he tripped me up with a powerful figure of eight around my ankles in his first week with me and did my back in.

There are only 3 logical places for a tree in my house. Next to the front window is now occupied by a cat tree, by the back windows is now occupied by the downstairs litter tray, and on top of a chest is now occupied by Girlcat's favorite igloo. I don't bother with trees any more here.

I do have a wreath on the front door, small battery operated trees etc in the living room on places the cats can't really walk, and previous years I've had snowflake window clings and battery lights in the front window. Not sure about those this year, Tobias can be a little - enthusiastic - when he decides something is a toy.

However I also have a rather elegant copper & black light up mini tree that I suspend from my rear view mirror in the car, a USB mini fibre optic tree I plug in to my work laptop when in the office, and a bunch of gold and green bottle brush mini trees I scatter about the bank of desks we sit on. Plus tinsel around the screens. Link to Car tree here , and link to house battery trees here.

Long-time lurker (many thanks for sharing all your cats) Just wanted to add this - in relation to previous PPs experience of cats living with terrorising dogs 😄
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1718280664397598720/pu/vid/avc1/320x440/OJSsfF7DFsRJVzeX.mp4?tag=12

(And apologies I don't know who to credit for the video)

Also paying my cat tax...
My 2 - mini panther and tuxedo - mother and daughter.

I don't know why I bother! I have a plush long cat pillow thing which Freddie loves, and a McDonald's squishmallow that he also adores. The cat pillow has the same feel to it. I was ordering the tribe's food from PaH and they have squishmallow pet beds on offer, so I decided to buy one for Freddie. I know, rookie error, cats don't use cat beds. Freddie sniffed it, looked at me, and walked off.

Thankfully Lexter is an angel and decided he'd use it. He hasn't even got up for lunch so at least someone appreciates the bed (it feels lush, I'm just gutted it doesn't come in human size!)

Our house is open-plan, so one year we tied the top of the tree to the banisters so it wouldn't fall over. I did also leave the bottom row of branches unadorned by intriguing dangly things, and didn't bother with tinsel.

Lametta is a big no-no with pets anyway, and fortunately they don't really sell the stuff any more.

Lametta!
That's a blast from the past!

I have caught up on the last thread - sorry so many people seem to be having a wretched time of it.

Balanchine & Nijinsky are delighted with my (early) birthday present from my daddy: a magical blanket that is made of warms. They are even willing to forgive the bleepy noise that precedes the warms.

Balanchine and Nijinsky have proper Princess Diana eyes, with the looking up under the eyelashes thing.

Our days of having five cats are when we stopped having any Christmas decorations. They were always indoors at night and that was just asking for things to get wrecked.

Meanwhile, Phoebe approved of the footstool arrangement this morning. She usually sits on Mum's lap but the tray table was in the way.

Between Nijinsky’s personal philosophy of "I like to be a free spirit. Some don't like that, but that's the way I am."; Balanchine’s firm belief "A mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's."; & their shared belief in The Power Of Hugs I’m now concerned that the BalletCats are either jointly hosting the reincarnated Princess Diana; or simply channelling her from the beyond 🙀

I slept most of the weekend & would happily do the same again today but have to go up to the hospital to have my portacath flushed & then “locked” with heparin. Mnyleh.

This just happened, Nemo with Cotton the foster kitten.

😻😻😻 that is such a cute photo.

Turns out that timid little Munchkin is an assertive little madam when it comes to other cats. She's just seen off a little tabby that comes into the garden; there was some chasing and yowling but looks like nobody was hurt. It would be nice if she could learn to tolerate other cats over time - there are lots around here. We shall see.

Agree re tolerating other cats. It depends on the cat’s personality and what they regard as “their” territory very strictly. Most cats will have a strictly demarcated area where we have NO other cats, but might have other areas where they will happily socialise a little or tolerate others.

It's lovely to see Nemo being the big brother when he started out being the little kitten in relation to your other cats @TheLongRider.

I saw one of those programmes about cats, and apparently they make time share arrangements between themselves, using times of day as units, regarding gardens which have no resident cats.

I agree about backing up your cat vs others. The other cat will run away, but (I imagine) it will seem to both cats that your cat, not you, has brought about the victory. If we ever heard caterwauling outside, we would rush out as defenders - ever since the time of my childhood cat.

That is fascinating @SequentialAnalyst. Makes sense as to why the increasingly elderly and doddery Mr N, who could take down a pheasant in his youth but would have quailed at a look from another cat in old age, could maintain his lengthy patrols. He was probably eating other cats when he was younger - he certainly put the fear of god into humans!

Because Velvet is so full of energy I haven’t seen her encounter another cat as she will slip through a hole in the fence and I’m assuming she has a fairly wide roaming area (her level of exhaustion when she gets back suggests that). However, yesterday, the tabby-patched cat did HIS patrol round our house while she was absent and not returning to a call or a jingle of her toy. Either they have yet to meet or they’ve agreed that “if I didn’t see you at my house, you weren’t there”. Or maybe they’re best friends already and have a mutual protection agreement! I’d be curious about seeing V with another cat, because she’s so inquisitive but also a bit reserved (she’ll sleep touching me or nearby but she has yet to go on a lap or be comfortable with even the briefest lift, she loves being stroked but won’t cuddle, she’s friendly but always keeps her escape options open). Will keep you all updated! She had an extended tussle with the tinsel while I was trying to decorate the tree, by the way, but after a thorough sniff doesn’t actually want to eat it (the tree). That bit of tinsel is sadly a bit denuded, but it sacrificed itself for the greater good of decorationkind.

By the way, since I made a big fuss about it, she had some nervous but amicable overtures with my sister, who is being ostensibly polite, but has been pretty clingy with me. The cat, that is. I know it’s probably a horrible thing to say but I’m glad the cat has chosen me as her safe harbour for this influx of new people. You can’t help but be yourself eventually with pets and I’m glad that so far she’s judging me as safe (and it’s not just the Dreamies, she comes to me for fuss and play and is always overjoyed when she gets them).

Anyone want a tribe of cats? Three, maybe four of them? I gave the evils some catnip earlier, but have just realised one of them appears to have got overexcited and done a huge wee on the floor. How I didn't hear it I have no idea, but none of them are admitting to it. Thank god for hardwood painted floors. 😡