Tales and Tails and NMCs - the Excellent Cats March On

[TheShellBeach]

Join us as 2024 starts and our cats continue to run our lives for us.

Ahh!! Isn’t he lovely!

Basil performing a very impressive yawn this morning.

<waves to @Puppylucky>

Fellow FIV+ puss here 😊 Leroy has no other issues though so he gets two walks a day (weather permitting - his choice). He also has supervised access to the garden, but we're lucky in that sense as it's quite small and pretty well enclosed.

Some of the pictures of your cats can be quite...... alarming, Grumpy.

🤣🤣

I do wonder sometimes whether you’re either 2cm away or have one of those long-lens paparazzi cameras :)

Leroy is MAGNIFICENT. Basil is Emperor to his king with that yawn, eh.

Glorious portraits to brighten a cold day.

On a more pedestrian note, I don’t fancy your chances getting Leroy out for a walk in this, Yes. And with his frankly Churchillian expression of ‘assessment’ too.

Also whether Grumpy spends all day with his phone out ready to snap whatever his cats are doing.

I assumed we all did that. 😆
I do admit that I take ridiculous numbers of cat photos (most of which are rubbish), I hate to think how many shots of TC are on this phone.

I am ready and willing to take cat pictures all day long but I often find that by the time the phone is willing to take a picture, the actual cat has got bored with posing and he walks off.

Yes, I'm still having difficulty working the photo app on this phone. It just refuses to take pictures sometimes.

It must be me, of course. DS has no trouble.
🤣🤣🤣

So the truth is, Grumpy, I'm just jealous that you can work your phone and I can't work mine.
🤣

Me too. By the time I’ve found the phone under the sofa etc and what with the animal refusing to hold pose, my photographic archive is 99 per cent shots of my pants on the radiator.

I'm always saying "Keep still Linney" as he walks off to another room.

I am also very sad that I’ve never got a good shot of Velvet attacking the stairs or doing a sideways roll. But I have a couple of friends with very good cameras so I was just wondering :)

Hello @YesItsMeIDontCare - I've seen Leroy before - he is indeed magnificent! Before Elton arrived we had grand plans about lead training him, but he's quite protective of his manky paws and I don't think he'd let us get a harness on. Plus we live in quite a "vibrant" area and I think he'd be terrified by some of the sights he might see! We also have a small enclosed garden which he goes for short walks in whilst we hover anxiously, but mostly it's the cat tree for him 😁

Basically Grumpy, we're all well jell, as they say.

I see all you lot anxious of putting harnesses on because you might get scratched and raise you the Power of Velvet Mewing. Even if you’re doing a gentle lift down from somewhere she shouldn’t be in the safest, comfiest way she’ll give this little strangled squeak which just triggers ALL those instincts that make us like koalas, pandas and kittens - I’ve been scared I hurt her days after just lifting her down from the dinner table and meanwhile she’s running around at 100mph and snuggling with me.
On a more serious note, I think she’d find even putting on a harness scarily restrictive and let alone once she was outside wanting to run around. Some cats can adapt to being walked and some can’t.

Vixen has learned that she must wear a harness if she wishes to prowl the jungle that is my back garden. I've "rewilded" it, aka let it do what it wants, so is perfect for her to get in touch with her inner tiger.

Getting the harness on is fine, she stays nice and still. Taking the thing off is when I need extra hands and/or gauntlets. She turns into a Tasmanian Devil when playtime is over.

I found that Leroy's desire to go out was greater than his disgust at wearing a harness. Putting it on can be a bit of a pantomime sometimes - depends whether he wants to wind me up or not 😁

@Supersimkin2 - you are so right. He yelled at the back door so we opened it. He sat down. He huffed. He walked in to the lounge to view his territory from the relative warmth of the windowsill. 😂

He is now on the heated throw. He's left me a small corner.

At least nobody’s cat is currently playing the game of cutely mewing to be let out then literally running round through the catflap and asking to be let out again, for actual hours. This used to amuse Mr N while I was writing my thesis and even though velvet does like to roleplay a poor abandoned cat and is also terrible at using the catflap (think sideways head action, a wiggle and a slump to the floor) she does know what and where it is and has not learned this game yet.

At least nobody’s cat is currently playing the game of cutely mewing to be let out then literally running round through the cat flap and asking to be let out again, for actual hours

Mr. Linney does actually do this, but we haven't got a cat flap, so we have to open and shut the front door to facilitate his brief visits to the front garden and back again over and over................

I think it wears him out more than it does us.

Ours do similar, simply to take full advantage of a complete absence of catflaps.
Miaow to be let out the front door. Run round the house and miaow to come in at the back door. Run straight through the house to the front door again and repeat. Furry bastards 😹.

Thanks for well wishes Shell. It will be nearly 2 weeks but am grateful for NHS and for recuperative powers of cat photos!

I forgot to post this calendar that I thought may appeal to some of you.

SHCHME Medieval Cats Calendar 2024, Ugly Medieval Cats Calendar 12 Months January To December Wall Hanging Weird Medieval Cats Calendar For Home Office amzn.eu/d/czjMck3

When I can't find them I have to remember to look up 👀

So make yourself useful and do a bit of dusting while you're up there...

I certainly do!

I have thousands of cat photos on my phone. And that's only the halfway decent ones I keep!