Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Lady Magic on July 25, 2011, 04:38:30 AM
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Hello it is she 'The cats mother' ( Ami) :rofl:
Treacle ;) & Toffee ;D are just over three months old now and looking very much ' I'm a big boy mini cat ' :Luv:
'I'M A BIG BOY NOW STAGE '
You know that stage , four long furry skinny legs.... one on each corner with a fluffy warm squishy tum in the middle, a long thin furry worm dangles at one end of the body and at the other end underneath two big sparkly yellow eyes (which follow you lovingly around the room) sits a never ending food machine door which gives out 'fishy kisses' , high level squeaks , purrs and other more chatty noises depending on the time of the day, amount of food in one's tum and how sleepy one now is :P
Well after many days of thoughts, talk's and general worries we have now decided what to do when the boys get old enough to go out into the garden , the fields beyond and how to confront those boy racers who killed 'Big H' .
We have all come to the decision that if we can get them to walk on leads for a number of half hour walks with Mike and I each day as well as having free run in a large outdoor play cage (10 foot x 10 foot x 15 foot ) with loads of activity toys, trees, cat nip grass and anything else the vet can suggest , well we would rather pay out to get this all sorted than to go through another terrible day like we did when Big H died.
So today 25th July 2011 is my boy's first 'walkie's training day '.
We bought to blue puppy ( shhhhhh , they will not know if you don't say anything to them ) harnesses / matching leads and have already walked them around the garden on several occasions in our arms ( wrapped in blankets as it was such a cold day in summer ... unbelievable isn't it !!!!) and they loved to sniff trees, flowers, logs, garden furniture and anything else we could get the end of their noses on.
So if anyone has any suggestions as to the best way to go about this drop me a line as all suggestions will be greatly recived.
and appreciated by Ami and her 'Boys' :Luv2: :Luv2: :Luv2:
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Good luck with the training .... be careful when walking near fences / trees etc. If they suddenly decide they want to go up and over something it can turn into nightmare if you are hanging onto the other end ;)
Cats do take well to lead training .... if they want to! The thing to remember is you will never be able to take them for a walk like a dog, cats are for too independant and "superior" to allow themselves to be lead around by a human! You will simply be the thing on the other end of the lead being lead around by the cat! lol.
I remember my parents taking our two siamese cats out on their leads when I was very young (3). At the time we lived in a flat in Hull and we would take the cats to the local park for a walk. It certainly raised a few eyebrows ... it was safe to take the cats to the park because there were signs everwhere saying NO DOGS. This was 1970. We also used to drive around in a red MGB sports cars with the roof off and the two cats and me sat in the back .... when we stopped at traffic lights Rajah (the male) would yowl at passers by. The cats never made any attempt to jump out of the car. Thinking about it now I think my parents were very brave (or stupid) but things were different back then. The cats used to go everywhere with us .... we even took them camping in a tent.
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Hmmn, all I'll say is :luck: :evillaugh:
I bought harnesses for my cats when they were kittens and tried to get them used to them from a young age. If they weren't trying to bite it off they were flattened to the ground refusing to move!
Hope you have better luck with your boys! ;D
The enclosure sounds fab, have you thought about catproofing your garden at all?
P.S I don't believe we have seen pics of these gorgeous boys yet (the one in your avatar is a tease but too small to see properly ;) ). Do you have a photobucket account? If you upload your pics to photobucket and hover over the pic you want a box with codes will pop up - copy the [IMG.] code and simply paste it into your post - simples!
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My boy Lupin is far too dangerous to go out side, he climbs everything......sigh
I have bought him a harness and an expandable lead, but cant get it on him yet lol
Infact I cant get spot on flea stuff on him either............he is a biter and a fighter but very very clever. I will be interested to know how it goes, please make sure the harness is secure and you have a firm grip of the lead!
Loads of luck ;D
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We used to walk the late Clan founders Sweetie and Toerag on harness's and they loved it. Toerag used to be allowed his lead dropped and he would walk to heel like the dog :shocked:
Sweetie only liked to go out on sunny days and refused to put a paw out the door in the rain, a habit she kept up for all her 19 years :rofl:
Gill if you can't get a flea treatment on him get a Programme injection at the vet gives you 6 months to work on any flea treatment for him in the future
We had harness's for the body and neck and it gave us control over the darlings as they used to go everywhere with us when it was only the 2 of them they loved to sit on the parcel shelf in the car to and caused a lot of strange looks when they moved :rofl:
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I dont like programme and think........err thats a big think that it went on him!
I now have spot on profender to get on him next week :rofl: :rofl:
He will be able to be insured in a month and then will also need his booster............I will stop paying out for the little monster soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have bought him a collar today to try and get him ready for a harness, PAH said it could go back but told her that could be months away :rofl:
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Gill don't believe you have ever tried Programme and it would be easy combined with his injection - no shredding or hassle for 6 months :)
Looking forward to picces of your boys on leads ;D
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You are wrong Liz!
I also do not use flea treatment as a matter of course anymore, but just think this little man is scratching too much.
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Gill you need to use Flea treatments if your other 3 go out or the scratching may become worse and all of the cats could become infected
Just so folks know we use Programme plus injections on all our cats and Programme Plus tablets for the dogs and are flea and tick free great if you have more than a couple,of cats, live in a rural area which can provide sadly ticks on cats and dogs
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Sorry Liz but I dont need to do anything.
If we have fleas then stronghold will be used but it will not be used for no reason.
I am not convinced that Lupin has fleas but as he is new here, its a precaution. Pretty certain some stronghold at least reached him cos he is knocked out.
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Hope you Indorexed or similar after Franta having Fleas in February as the eggs can lie dormant in carpets if not treated
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Any more trips out with the boys today Ami? Still waiting for pics :waiting: :pic:
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My Bengals are all harness trained, it didnt take long and they love to go for walks - they also have a large run that they spend time in when the weather is okay.
I know several places where you can get made to measure harnesses when they are bigger if you would like the details x
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Sorry I haven't been back but my condition played up and sent me to sleep fort 24 hours flat :Crazy:
Anyhow, having bought the 'D * G' harnesses and leads I set about getting them on to the boys.......mmmmmmmmmmmm :scared: took a couple of sniffs and decided here's another play thing for us :wow: :wow:.
Sorted out the sizing of the harness and managed to get both on OMG they didn't kick or bite :wow:
Lead attached and opened front door ...........four front feet took a sniff and wouldn't budge !!!!! so , mum gave leads to son and 'mother cat' ( that's me ) went into garden first followed by her two four legged sons !!!!!!
If your wonderfing why I'm mummy cat well...........each night when I go to bed 'the boys' follow me up and after some 'rearranging of the hair, general kneading of it and rearranging it again to suit the boys sleeping needs '...........they curl up by my ears and go to sleep ............yes, in my hair ;D ;D....I do have almost waist length very dark hair and BIG H ( Harley ) used to do this if he needed comfort as well.
Anyhow , back to walkies, I've now had the boys out three times and although they are not brilliant at the minute , they do walk down the path and love tearing about on the grass , although the noise of cars sends them into 'woz at 'mode
If you want to see some photos of the boys as long as its allowed follow this link for as yet we do not have a photo bucket site .
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150208628396582.314295.585061581&type=1
I do hope this works .............Ami and the boys xxxxxxxxxxxx
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It says content currently unavailable for me :(
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Me too :(
Cant get even a collar on Lupin, let alone a harness :rofl: :rofl:
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Please excuse me if this is not allowed but its the only way at this time I can get photos of my beloved bits onto the site as Hubby is unwell again and had to be dosed with large quantities of painkiller which makes him see butterfly's and fairys everywhere ....luck me . :Crazy: :Crazy:
Go to Face book ......
Put in name Mark Andrews ........Newton Ferrers.........
Open photo section on left hand side of lists.........
At top of photo section is 'photo '................
open this and look down to 'Toffee & Treacle photo album '
If you scroll down the huge page of photo albums almost at the bottom is an album called 'Look at the size of my pussy now ' and has a photo of a black kitten on the front cover and 19 photo's inside , this is my beloved Harley Davidson , as soon as Mark has sorted out the new photo site then all will be well .
All other albums are photos that hubby does to keep himself sane, be warned spiders and creepy crawlies up' CLOSE' .
Ami and her very hot boys !!!!! :P
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Sorry to hear you've not been well Ami :hug: Hope your boys (human and furry) have been looking after you :)
Aaaargh, I'm not on FB (dying breed I know :evillaugh:) so still can't see the pics :( Actually, having just read about the sp*ders I'm quite glad, getting the shivers just typing the word :sick:
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I am on FB but am like Helen urghhhhhhhhhhh!
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Do not worry , clever hubby has put spiders , fangs and other things that I and other do not like, want to see or find in bed with us in a file that is nothing to do with my 'puddy cats'...so look away.
Lots of photos of Harley and his mum Sophie as well , she was a right B****H we had them both , harley was 8 weeks and she was 2 years her third litter poor love, but she had the snip and came to us afterwards , we thought OK thats fine and thought no more of it until Harley started to get injuries ...............from mum >:(
I caught her calling him up the stairs one day only yo grab him by thr neck and throw him down again :scared: I couldn't believe my eyes....poor Harley suffered an eye injury and some nasty bites before our vet said its her or him .....we chose Harley and Sophie went back to be re-homed , but the lady would not believe that she was like that UNTIL she unknowingly put her in with some of her kittens and Sophie nearly killed one :-[
So Sophie lives on a farm now without other cats and is OK.
Anyhow I've just sorted litter tray, washed floors, washed bowls, tidied rooms and now about to brush the 'hooligans' ....that's the four legged ones by the way !!!
Ami and her boys
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Still not on FB so missing out on your
boys hooligans :shy: How's the harness training going, any progress?
I've heard that about Mum cats before, often they don't like living with their offspring. Must have been very hard to choose but it souunds like they both did OK for themselves :)
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I think you need to post pics here :innocent:
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we take ours out in turns on a harness... bear in mind 90 of the dogs in my town are staffies so i tend to go out at dusk with the kids and one of the cats on a harness to avoid meeting dogs, thankfully we have a farm and lots of fields across the road so i have enough room to spot any dogs first and can avoid walking towards them. we also have a fox that comes out at same time but he allways spots us first and runs off so miyagi and georgia can roam about fairly freely on the lead although they do tend to try to dash into brambles :Crazy:
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh brambles LOL.................not a place for a lead to go round and round and......................
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Well, I'm having no problems with the boys and going walkies at the minute, they let me put the harness over thier heads and snap it shut on the backs ....... although they do have a problem with what leg goes in what opening and do at times trip themselves up :-[.........looking back at me with a 'what did you do that for ????? hey ????'
We have now been up and down the path and over the decking quite a few times :shocked: stopping at the pond and the tree to have a sniff and a poke about and I've not had one session of : 'I'm a not gonna move my bum for anyone ' a strange condition which effects the limbs of both cats and dogs . :rofl: which leaves the poor carer ( that's us who holds the other end of the lead) looking like right idiots as we try and tempt our four legged critters to moving one way or another . :Crazy: and many an onlookers watch in amazment while we do the 'pussy-wussy talk 'come on pumpkins for mummy ....walky walky , uppy getty's ' and variouse noises that sound like a cow giving birth or a chicken laying an egg !!!!
We went over the road ( carrying them by the way ) to see an elderly friend of ours, who could not understand why two 14 weeks old kittens did not want to be picked up by a stranger ............... :P :P when in her garden thousands of birds seemed to be waiting for them to play with , calling at them from every bush, tree and hedge :wow: :wow: ( in fact just 3 , then toffee like to exaggerate :-[)
Soon ...........shhhhhhhhh, I'll say this quietly, the boys are to be 'dee-doodled' and for your pleasure here is a copy of Harley's letter to the vet after his manhood was taken from him by some cold handed man who tried to explain to him 'its for your own good' >:( >:(
'Oh , yes mate and I suppose that if I pooped in your hat I could say its for your own good, for after all cat poo is known for its organic growing properties and would help with your balding '!!!!!!!
Letter from Harley to his vet :
Ode to my doodles
I feel asleep in a sort of a haze, thinking I’d slept for days and days,
I awoke to find something was wrong and looking down, MY DOODLES HAVE GONE!
That thieving man at my local vets, has taken em off in a perfect set,
He’s wiped em out as clean as can be and now my ball sack is gangling free.
You swiped me nuts me pride and joy now I’m not a girl or a boy!
I can’t see straight, my bits sting like mad, but it’s the best dam hang- over I’ve ever had.
Ode to my Doodles you thieving git, I’ll get you one day I’m sure of it.
Watch your back, your car and place cos this little kitty will remember your face.
I’m gonna get you one fine day……….. that blasted vet who stole my doodles way.
NOTE: Please excuse any rude language in the above letter , Harley does not mean to cause offence by his somewhat common wording
Ami and her boys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. wonder what the boys will say to him ?????
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I am seriously considering trying my girls on a lead... Drum is such a hunter and I think she'd love to have a play in my mum and dads garden round the corner... any suggestion for the best place to buy good comfortable harnesses much appreciated...
My only concern is that once they have been outside they will hate being inside... I'm just not sure if what you've never known is better, if you get me...
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I got mine from pets at home, although I think serious walkers use walking jackets
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Oooh a walking jacket... what's that?! ;D
Thanks Dawn, I saw them in there so will go back for a second look...
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I know a lot of the bengal people use walking jackets - i've catproofed my garden so don't walk her anymore but here you go
http://www.mynwoodcatjackets.moonfruit.com/
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Oh!! I love the look of them.... ;)
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.................today I am going to invest in two of those leads that have handles and are retractable in length as the boys are doing so well the shorter lead just doesn't seem enough any more :briggin:.
I'm amazed by the way they have both taken to being on leads and am wondering if they are part dog or possibly werewolf ??? :rofl: for as soon as I get their leads/harnesses (on hook by front door) and shake them saying 'walkies boys walkies' they come racing over and sit down at my feet .
I've discovered that by kneeling down with the back of one of them to my knees they almost push their heads into the neck part of the harness so all then I have to do is just pull the waist section around them and click them into place .
When both are done they then race over the the front door and 'off we go'
Today we had 20 mins in the garden ( I've been increasing each walkies session by 3-5 mins each time ) which included:
3 rolls around the path :Luv:
chasing a fly :P
jumping on ants.............. :evillaugh: and then being attacking by a wild vicious leaf which seemed intent on running off with Treacle's tail and doing harm to Toffees left ear. :shocked:
The large green monster leaf fell from some great height onto first Treacle then Toffee as the wind caught it , the boys who by then were suffering from post traumatic stress stood rooted to the spot for a good 3 minutes inspecting the sky to see if anything else was about to descend on them.
It wasn't until treacle, out of the corner of his eye saw a large ant heading his way, discovered that they had been watched by a big fat pigeon who was majestically sitting on a lamp post in the road , in utter embarrassment :-[ :-[ :-[ both boys started to wash themselves like mad causing Treacle to lick up the now fur tracking ant , this was shortly followed by a great wail and some words I do not care to repeat came from the mouth of my 14 week old four legged son as he shot past me up the garden path with Toffee being half strangled by his lead which was now caught under his and my feet , whilst I tried not to trip up on two cats who seemed intent on doing the one minute mile back to the open front door .......with or without me.........but definitely without the ant :censored:
Boys ....don't you just love them xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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:need pics:
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Excellent it certainly sounds like the boys are enjoying their harness training. I think the fact that you have started training a such a young age really helps.
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Brilliant! - and yes, I agree, we need piccies ;)
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Its so nice to read that there are other cat owners out there who don't let their cats loose outside without precautions.
We lost a much loved cat a few years ago, knocked down on a sunday morning and they didn't even bother to stop... what sort of people are these?
It is so sad and I have struggled with my conscience about keeping my two indoors but it just isn't worth it is it? I live on what used to be a nice quiet village lane, they built a flaming bypass at the top of it and now its a rat run and a race track for boy racers, I found three poor dead cats on it in one month alone earlier this year. Cats are always going "missing" in the village too (and i don't believe our foxes are much of a threat despite the best efforts of the Daily Mail to demonise them so its more likely to be poisoning or stealing I reckon).
Good luck with the harness training... I have a feeling it'll be.... how shall I put this.... challenging?
Have any of you cat-proofed your gardens? I am wondering what the financial and visual impact might be and if the Parish Council would be on my back if I did it. Would LOVE Cashie and Izzy to go out in the garden and have fun.
What do you do to entertain your indoor cats? I do put a huge amount of effort into making sure that they have as full a life indoors as possible, we have lots of games and toys and they are forever chasing each other about and play fighting and so I don't feel that they are bored as such but any ideas for making their lives better would be very much appreciated.
Jo
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Hello all , If you want to see the boys on the harness and leads follow this link to my husbands photo bucket :
http://s75.photobucket.com/home/bandit1_2006#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ20
as for keeping them happy we have a huge climbing frame a box full of mice, balls and other larger items, I made a broom handle line toy ( put lots of toys onto a broom handle via ribbon and then tie the handle horizontally across two of the dinning chair backs ) this holds around 18 small toys to knock about with , we also have toys hung on banisters, in bedrooms , in the kitchen all over the house including the garden for when we go for our walkies each day
At night time they come to bed with us and as I've said before one sleeps on my head and the other under my chin ...........mmmmmm very warming in this weather .
We are now looking at fencing for the garden and I've found an American site that does a package for around £300-£400 depending on the size you want fully enclosed, so it may be that Mark my husband does it himself as he is really clever at woodwork and building having been a boat builder in his youth ( hence being one handed as the saw slipped and took his right hand with it .. :sick: :sick:...oppppppps)
Well had better go as I'm working on book chapter at the minuet ad just came on site for a break .
Ami and her boysxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Have any of you cat-proofed your gardens? I am wondering what the financial and visual impact might be and if the Parish Council would be on my back if I did it. Would LOVE Cashie and Izzy to go out in the garden and have fun.
One of my cat sitting customers cat proofed her garden using deer netting and copper pipe (bent to form brackets).
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/scruffyjoe/CAT%20GARDENS/catproofing.jpg)
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/scruffyjoe/CAT%20GARDENS/catproofing3.jpg)
My own cat proofed areas have metal brackets with Twilweld mesh and I grew climbers up, as you can see here - well you can't actually see the cat proofing on top of the fence coz of the climbers lol - and the blinkin great bamboo which has a life of its own and may actually be a triffid! ;D
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/scruffyjoe/CAT%20GARDENS/fencingOct092.jpg)
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/scruffyjoe/CAT%20GARDENS/fencingOct09.jpg)
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We are now looking at fencing for the garden and I've found an American site that does a package for around £300-£400 depending on the size you want fully enclosed, so it may be that Mark my husband does it himself as he is really clever at woodwork and building having been a boat builder in his youth ( hence being one handed as the saw slipped and took his right hand with it .. :sick: :sick:...oppppppps)
If your hubby is quite a good DIY-er then here's a complete DIY guide on catproofing that I scanned from a cat magazine a few years ago.
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,6444.msg100236.html#msg100236
Have any of you cat-proofed your gardens? I am wondering what the financial and visual impact might be and if the Parish Council would be on my back if I did it. Would LOVE Cashie and Izzy to go out in the garden and have fun.
In the end I went with Secur-a-cat fencing as I was lucky enough to win a kit that was donated, in the Purrs Xmas auction, by the lady that runs Securacat (Roz).
Here's the view through my living room window, whilst it's not invisible I don't think it's overly obtrusive. I checked with my neighbours before hand and they were all fine about it.
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z202/Lucas_Riley/084800x600-1.jpg)