Scottish Tourism - the Excellent Cats debate Gizmo's suitability as a top influencer

[TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne]

Yeah, right.

Linney is more suitable.

At least he's actually a Scottish cat.

Gizmo is an English interloper, who only came to Scotland in order to get behind my bathroom cupboard.

Ohhhhh!! Cute kitten alert!!!!

There are now Five Prison Cats.

I think they should give them their own series.
🤣

I'm going to suggest it to the BBC.

The Five Prison Cats sounds like it's worth a pilot, at least. Although getting cats to take direction would be very challenging IMHO.

I actually used to be a midwife in Holloway Prison, and I don't recall seeing one Prison Cat never mind five of them.

Title suggestion Orange is the New Cat?

Ijwwm : beautiful trio. We need more photos with tails, though.

I am not really in favour of a prison theme, because it will be all about the break outs for Gizmo and Cat One. Let’s not give them ideas.

I am joining the Scarface Club. Cat One was displeased I attempted to go to sleep last night and gave me a whack on the nose avec claws. He’s gotten over it now. How lucky I am #bastardcat

Gizmo has plenty of experience breaking in to places - not sure he'd be any good at breaking out of anywhere though. 🤣
A few gentle reminders of his housebreaking and carjacking style attached.

I confess - I do rather miss Gizmo's 'attention' 😻

You might miss Ginger Thug’s attention too once he’s moved to Scotland, @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats.

How’s your nose, @learieonthewildmoor? I sleep in socks to protect myself from Kitty’s foot pouncing but I think sleeping in a balaclava would be a bit much.

Grumpy: the car one is a new one to me! 😂 omg, hilarious and frightening in equal parts.
Break outs will definitely be a problem with Cat One. In recent years he is satisfied with only going to lie down in the driveway once he’s past the door, so maybe it will be alright?
I have my suspicions that your next door neighbour was passing the buck to you.

EmpressaurusKitty: assiduously applying tea tree oil to the red marks in order to prevent Bad Things. Unable to conceal them with makeup because of this.
Writing “Trim cat claws” fortnightly on the calendar because a balaclava is definitely a no go.

You might miss Ginger Thug’s attention too once he’s moved to Scotland

Much as GT amuses me, he really doesn't quite have TC's style and panache. He just sits outside looking menacing, and he snarls, hisses, and swipes at me if I go outside. Oddly though he's quite happy to be stroked if I see him on the street. Also since he lives on the island on the other side of our backwater he's not quite as omnipresent as Gizmo was.

@learieonthewildmoor - hope your nose recovers soon.

@Ijwwm 3 beautiful cats! and only one looking disapproving! Lucky you

Herbie has lost weight!! Only 200g, but I don't know how he managed it.
Maybe he's had a nighttime exercise regime we don't know about. (Other than visiting the neighbours in the early hours). He's certainly not very active in the day.
Bit of gingivitis so I may have to try brushing his teeth again...we switched to royal canin dental dry food.

Well done Herbie! You're probably right about the nighttime exercise regime. Plus I think dog food is less calorie dense than cat food so it's probably conducive to feline weight loss 🤔

@Pianoaholic Well done Herbie - can he send me some tips? (not involving eating dog food...

Hmm. Herbie's 'diet' often involves hoovering up any scraps left after dinner, including licking olive oil off baking trays.
And of course, dog food where available!
So I wouldn't try it myself!😅

Masterfully demure tail placement from a very relaxed Kettle.

Someone should paint Kettle in that pose. Kitty’s very relaxed too.

Those photos are brilliant, the one with him peering ominously through the open window 😂

Am just trying to fully grasp the back story. So, Gizmo used to live Elsewhere in the UK. He lived near you, but didn’t belong to you. He used to try to break into your house, car, etc. He now lives in Scotland, with Broon and her other cats. Is that correct?

If so, I have so many questions - it’s like the plot of a film! How was it decided he’d be heading off to pastures new? How far did he have to travel? How did he get there? What was it about him that made Broon decide he was the one for her? Does he still try to get into other peoples houses?

What a character!

It’s an epic tale best told by @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats.

Kitty is preparing for Hallowe’en. I have a suspicion that she might be planning a Trick or Treat for next door’s dog.

@Ijwwm
Gizmo (aka Thug Cat / TC) belonged to my next door neighbour and spent most of his waking hours trying to break into our house. This went on for years. When he did get in he was very difficult to remove and really behaved quite badly 🤣.
Sadly my neighbour ended up leaving the country and was unable to take all the animals with him. Since Gizmo had something of a following on MN (and I like to think kept people amused during Covid lockdown) I asked on MN if anyone would consider rehoming him and @TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne volunteered.
We'd have taken him on if our cats got on better with him - but we really didn"t think it would have worked.
He had 5 threads dedicated to him over the years.

See below for the full story - starting on MN in 2019 🤣

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3564597-Next-doors-thug-cat

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3766857-Thug-Cat-part-2-What-has-this-thing-appeared-again-tonight?page=1

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3995128-Thug-cat-part-3-Unbidden-guests-are-often-welcomest-when-they-are-gone

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_litter_tray/4263656-Thug-cat-part-4-After-all-its-not-my-Axminster?page=1

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_litter_tray/4739619-thug-cat-part-5-for-he-will-not-do-destruction-if-he-is-well-fed-neither-will-he-spit-without-provocation

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - thanks for the summary. And huge thanks for the links. We are due pretty miserable weather for the weekend, so I know what I’ll be doing - I feel like I’ve just been gifted a book series I’ve been dying to read!

Grumpy & co ought to try selling it to Disney 😆

@Ijwwm it's a good and amusing read, assisted by good prose from Grumpy.

And with the all important happy ending.