Ring Out, Wild Bells! As 2025 approaches, the Excellent Cats raise their game with a discussion on Tennyson's poetry

[TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne]

And while the cats are thus engaged, their human slaves are still finishing the turkey and Christmas pud, and idly placing bets on whether or not Kitty will use her new cat tree.

The Stray has been offically adopted by adult DD so when she finally leaves home so will the cat. I really don't want to be collecting hungry cats but I'm blaming my rescue soulcat as they've only been appearing since she died despite me living here over twenty years. The latest will be 5th stray in five years 😩

Kettle is adorable, he's exactly how you dream (and hope) of a cat behaving. Reminds me a bit of soulcat ❤

Reflection looks to me as if GT is wearing a saucepan 🐯

Follow up to the previous picture.
Lots of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Lovely photo @Esgaroth . Hope it went well.

As long as I don't get stuck with him.
🤣

TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOneAndTheGingerOne?

I’ve just been trying to get a photo of Kitty yawning but she wasn’t having it. She gave me a pose of her choice & then turned away to have a bath.

For tabby fans, this is Matt when he was younger (about one) and considerably slimmer!

He looks so comfy! And I love the blanket, homemade?

Yes, but not by me, @EmpressaurusKitty - my grandmother, I think. I missed out on the crafty gene!

TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOneAndTheGingerOne?

That'll do for the next time I (ahem) need a name-change.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Five of the beasties are sleeping near me. I tried to get a photo but you can only see the inside of Raven's ear as she blends into the office chair!

I see Fred woke up to have his picture taken. Or is that Frank?

Edited. Definitely Fred. Frank's black, I think.

Yes, Fred is the white one. He was just settling down ready to go to sleep.

Lexter is almost always in my bedroom when I go to bed, but last night he was nowhere to be found. I events checked the back bedroom as I'd looked everywhere else.

That octopus
Do they wake you up in the night, Rum, or are they considerate bedfellows?

It's only Ghostie and sometimes Fred who sleeps on my bed at the moment and they're both very well behaved. If anything I think I disturb their sleep!

The octopus was a fairground win for my birthday in 2023. I was desperate for one of my friends to win me one, I have no idea why but I am now stuck with a 6ft red octopus in my house 😂

It looks like it’s Lexter’s octopus now!

Some cats have absolutely no sense of modesty.

I've never met any cat with a sense of modesty.
🤣
But I agree some are slightly worse than others (looking at you Gizmo)

Haha true. It's the eye contact while they lick their arseholes that is a step too far for me.

I had one male foster in particular, big grey & white boy, who was very happy to just let it all hang out.

Fred has stared at me while he's cleaned his...um... "lipstick" which was really uncomfortable.

But I agree some are slightly worse than others (looking at you Gizmo)

You're not wrong.
I've got hundreds of pictures of cats licking themselves, and they're all pretty brazen - but it's the way Gizmo falls asleep on his back, demonstrating the lithotomy position so beloved of midwives and gynaecologists, which always causes me to take a sharp intake of breath.

It's a long time since I had a cat who did that - but you've brought back some very unpleasant memories 🤮

I can assure you - he was exceedingly vulgar before he got to you too 🤣