Political upheaval

Shadowcat was named Shadow cat for two reasons: first of all, a then three
year old boy thought it woudl be *hilarious* to name a white cat "Shadow".
Second, it suited her, at least, it suited her more than "Cupboard cat"
which is where she lived most of the time. She seemed very threatened by
Suki and Pickle, even though Pickle and Suki were never agressive towards
her.

Shadow became Queen of the Kitchen. By day, she'd live under the sink,
occasionally putting her nose out just far enough to get a pettins from me,
but she'd hiss and hide from anyone else (except Fluffy, oddly). She'd
attack with ferocity if anyone tried to pick her up and would hiss and then
bite viciously if during a pettins session, my hand (no-one else was game to
do a pettins session) went past a particular part of herback. She was
terrified of anything thrown and would flinch if an open hand was raised
anywhere above her. I still strongly suspect abuse in her past, and the
problem with her back, her viciousness when being picked up and her general
skittishness even made us take her to the vet with suspect spinal injuries -
only to be picke dup , petted and otherwise loved on like a perfect little
princess by the vet.

The vet duly diagnosed her in perfect physical health but a bit neurotic -
as often happens when theyr'e dumped as a kitten and recommended clomicalm,
which we *tried* to get her to take. We gave up after 6 days because I was
quickly running out of things to crush it up into (she'd only ever be fooled
once, and then I'd have to find something else yummy to mix it into) and the
pill popping became so stressful for her and painful for us (she *really*
objected with all the brute force a former street cat can muster). We
figured that we'd just have a cupboard cat, and thats the way it would be.

Slowly but surely she came out of the cupboards, and for the last few months
she's been sleeping under the computer table (which is admittedly less than
a metre from the kitchen). But she was still deathly afraid of Suki & Pickle
(who hadn't raised a paw against her) and hissed at them whenever they were
in her line of sight. If they got too close, they got their ears boxed for
their trouble.

4 days ago, there was one heck of a cat fight at about 3am that woke all of
the hoomin occupants (and the canince outside) up, but by the time we'd
gotten out of bed it was over, and the fur was gently settling across the
furniture like the first snow of the season (since all of them are white).
There was not a cat to be seen and we just went back to bed, figuring they'd
sort themselves out in good time.

The only physical evidence from the Cat Fight from Hell, besides all the
extra clumps of white fur lyingabout, was one single clawmark on the back of
Suki's head and a small scab on Shadow's nose. But since Thursday, Shadow
has slept of Joel's keyboard, the back of the lounge, and the TV. She no
longer minds being petted, and I can stroke her from head to tail with purrs
of pleasure rahter than her trying to remove my hand with her teeth. If
we're on the sofa and she sees me, she'll even come over when called to get
pettins and last night, she hopped onto my lap after a bit of encouragement
and did the purry contented drooly beast thing for over an hour.

The boys have not left ventured any further north in the hosue (the
direction of the kitchen) than my bedroom since thursday, and mostly they
are now hanging out in the bathroom. Suki keeps getting stuck on top of the
shower railing and howls with atter despair until someone comes and rescues
her - at which point she quickly hop - hop - hop backs up again and gives
the mystefied rescuer the filthies for removing her from her throne.

We suspect that the alpha cat status has passed from Pickle to Suki in the
catfight to end all catfights and Suki (who has always been the lower cat on
the rung) no longer knows who to give her allegiance to (it was Pickle, her
brother, but now Shadowcat is the alpha).

Its very disconcerting to see Shadow out and meatloafing casually where Suki
used to - they're both very similar sized white long haired cats, and we
often need a doubletake to figure out which one is which. The beetroot stain
lasted for 3 and a half weeks on Suki and whilst I wouldn't bathe a cat in
beetroot juice inentionally, it was a very good way of quickly distinguising
the two. I wonder whether I could use food dye to paint their ears???

Cary would no doubt be very obliging with regard to his textas,a nd happily
turn his cat into a tiger again (with blue and purple stripes, natch) but
his cat is Pickle (or I should more correctly say that Cary is Pickle's
preferred twolegs) and so it wouldn't help.

Suki has decided that Joel is her twolegs, which still totally bewilders
Joel because he is quite honest about "not being a cat person". This however
doesn't stop Suki from making his lap her own any time she can. Her
particular favourite habit is to show Joel her very becoming pantaloons and
extrodinarily fluffy long tail right inthe middle of a party raid whilst
he's playing World of Warcraft - so much so he's had to remove the automatic
power-off button from his keyboard. Its not unknown to have a flakey ISP and
disconnect in the middle of combat, but a cat just trying to get the
luvvin's she knows is due by walking across the keyboard is another thing
entirely. Still, he learntto play WoW one handed when Cary was a baby, and
Suki cant see why he can't pat her with one and play with the other. Thats
why Bast gave us two hands, of course!

Which leaves me with Shadow. Personally I feel more drawn to Pickle, as he's
got a keen intelligence and a look in his eyes that is reminiscint of
Shmogg, whilst the two long haired one seem to be in a forever spiralling
downwards competition to see who can out stupid the other. Neverthe less
Shadow has deemed me her twolegs and there is no argument to be had with a
cat that has amde up her mind - that and pulled a coup de tat over not one
but two cats that always work in cahoots. What she lacks in actual brains
she makes up in sheer bloody mindedness, and I have to respect a cat that
knows how to bide her time (in this case, about a year).

Gotta run, Suki needs to be rescued yet again. I have no idea why she keeps
going up there and calling for help, but I should have long ago given up
questioning the mind of a cat. I am merely a hoomin, having been enslaved by
the Superior Species long ago, and it is not my place to question the mind
of Cat (even if this one makes a sack of bricks look like a Rhodes scholar
in comparison)

Yowie
--
If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many
pancakes can you fit in a doghouse? None, icecream doesn't have bones.

The cat keeps needing the rescue person to show the other Cats that "Yes,
you may rule the roost but I "R"U"L"E" the Rooster" so to speak.
"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Shadowcat was named Shadow cat for two reasons: first of all, a then three
year old boy thought it woudl be *hilarious* to name a white cat "Shadow".
Second, it suited her, at least, it suited her more than "Cupboard cat"
which is where she lived most of the time. She seemed very threatened by
Suki and Pickle, even though Pickle and Suki were never agressive towards
her.

Shadow became Queen of the Kitchen. By day, she'd live under the sink,
occasionally putting her nose out just far enough to get a pettins from
me, but she'd hiss and hide from anyone else (except Fluffy, oddly). She'd
attack with ferocity if anyone tried to pick her up and would hiss and
then bite viciously if during a pettins session, my hand (no-one else was
game to do a pettins session) went past a particular part of herback. She
was terrified of anything thrown and would flinch if an open hand was
raised anywhere above her. I still strongly suspect abuse in her past, and
the problem with her back, her viciousness when being picked up and her
general skittishness even made us take her to the vet with suspect spinal
injuries - only to be picke dup , petted and otherwise loved on like a
perfect little princess by the vet.

The vet duly diagnosed her in perfect physical health but a bit neurotic -
as often happens when theyr'e dumped as a kitten and recommended
clomicalm, which we *tried* to get her to take. We gave up after 6 days
because I was quickly running out of things to crush it up into (she'd
only ever be fooled once, and then I'd have to find something else yummy
to mix it into) and the pill popping became so stressful for her and
painful for us (she *really* objected with all the brute force a former
street cat can muster). We figured that we'd just have a cupboard cat,
and thats the way it would be.

Slowly but surely she came out of the cupboards, and for the last few
months she's been sleeping under the computer table (which is admittedly
less than a metre from the kitchen). But she was still deathly afraid of
Suki & Pickle (who hadn't raised a paw against her) and hissed at them
whenever they were in her line of sight. If they got too close, they got
their ears boxed for their trouble.

4 days ago, there was one heck of a cat fight at about 3am that woke all
of the hoomin occupants (and the canince outside) up, but by the time we'd
gotten out of bed it was over, and the fur was gently settling across the
furniture like the first snow of the season (since all of them are white).
There was not a cat to be seen and we just went back to bed, figuring
they'd sort themselves out in good time.

The only physical evidence from the Cat Fight from Hell, besides all the
extra clumps of white fur lyingabout, was one single clawmark on the back
of Suki's head and a small scab on Shadow's nose. But since Thursday,
Shadow has slept of Joel's keyboard, the back of the lounge, and the TV.
She no longer minds being petted, and I can stroke her from head to tail
with purrs of pleasure rahter than her trying to remove my hand with her
teeth. If we're on the sofa and she sees me, she'll even come over when
called to get pettins and last night, she hopped onto my lap after a bit
of encouragement and did the purry contented drooly beast thing for over
an hour.

The boys have not left ventured any further north in the hosue (the
direction of the kitchen) than my bedroom since thursday, and mostly they
are now hanging out in the bathroom. Suki keeps getting stuck on top of
the shower railing and howls with atter despair until someone comes and
rescues her - at which point she quickly hop - hop - hop backs up again
and gives the mystefied rescuer the filthies for removing her from her
throne.

We suspect that the alpha cat status has passed from Pickle to Suki in the
catfight to end all catfights and Suki (who has always been the lower cat
on the rung) no longer knows who to give her allegiance to (it was Pickle,
her brother, but now Shadowcat is the alpha).

Its very disconcerting to see Shadow out and meatloafing casually where
Suki used to - they're both very similar sized white long haired cats, and
we often need a doubletake to figure out which one is which. The beetroot
stain lasted for 3 and a half weeks on Suki and whilst I wouldn't bathe a
cat in beetroot juice inentionally, it was a very good way of quickly
distinguising the two. I wonder whether I could use food dye to paint
their ears???

Cary would no doubt be very obliging with regard to his textas,a nd
happily turn his cat into a tiger again (with blue and purple stripes,
natch) but his cat is Pickle (or I should more correctly say that Cary is
Pickle's preferred twolegs) and so it wouldn't help.

Suki has decided that Joel is her twolegs, which still totally bewilders
Joel because he is quite honest about "not being a cat person". This
however doesn't stop Suki from making his lap her own any time she can.
Her particular favourite habit is to show Joel her very becoming
pantaloons and extrodinarily fluffy long tail right inthe middle of a
party raid whilst he's playing World of Warcraft - so much so he's had to
remove the automatic power-off button from his keyboard. Its not unknown
to have a flakey ISP and disconnect in the middle of combat, but a cat
just trying to get the luvvin's she knows is due by walking across the
keyboard is another thing entirely. Still, he learntto play WoW one handed
when Cary was a baby, and Suki cant see why he can't pat her with one and
play with the other. Thats why Bast gave us two hands, of course!

Which leaves me with Shadow. Personally I feel more drawn to Pickle, as
he's got a keen intelligence and a look in his eyes that is reminiscint of
Shmogg, whilst the two long haired one seem to be in a forever spiralling
downwards competition to see who can out stupid the other. Neverthe less
Shadow has deemed me her twolegs and there is no argument to be had with a
cat that has amde up her mind - that and pulled a coup de tat over not one
but two cats that always work in cahoots. What she lacks in actual brains
she makes up in sheer bloody mindedness, and I have to respect a cat that
knows how to bide her time (in this case, about a year).

Gotta run, Suki needs to be rescued yet again. I have no idea why she
keeps going up there and calling for help, but I should have long ago
given up questioning the mind of a cat. I am merely a hoomin, having been
enslaved by the Superior Species long ago, and it is not my place to
question the mind of Cat (even if this one makes a sack of bricks look
like a Rhodes scholar in comparison)

Yowie
--
If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many
pancakes can you fit in a doghouse? None, icecream doesn't have bones.

On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:58:49 +1100, Yowie wrote:

I wonder whether I could use food dye to paint
their ears???

I had as imilar problem with the three nearly identical looking Walsung
red tabbies. I dealt with it by making colored collars by coloring pieces
of 1/2 inch elastic with permanent markers and stapling the ends together.
Sewing would have been better. Of course I made multiples of each since
knew they would lose them. That worked for months until they grew up and
became somewhat distinguishable: Hilde (Brunhilde) is darkest, Chubby
(Sieglinde) has a slightly different face (and a kink at the end of her
tail), and Curly (Siegmund) has a strongly curled tail. Chubby is by far
the noisest and Chubby is the quietest - Hilde talks a lot, but not as
loudly as Curly.

I'm having trouble typing this morning due to CJ being between me and the
keyboard, and kneading the inside of my right elbow.

--

T.E.D. ) MST (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
used to be UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla).

In article ,
"Yowie" wrote:

snip

Gotta run, Suki needs to be rescued yet again. I have no idea why she keeps
going up there and calling for help, but I should have long ago given up
questioning the mind of a cat.

snip

Feh. That one's easy enough: no one has paid any attention to Suki at
*all* for the past five minutes - and that's four and nine tenths
minutes too long. That particular trick would stop once it no longer
worked (although, given nearly sixty years' conscious experience with
felines, something else would take its place within a day or two).

snip

Baird

--
Bumper sticker: "If you can't operate your turn signal,
what makes you think you can drive the rest of the car?"

Yowie wrote:

4 days ago, there was one heck of a cat fight at about 3am that woke all of
the hoomin occupants (and the canince outside) up, but by the time we'd
gotten out of bed it was over, and the fur was gently settling across the
furniture like the first snow of the season (since all of them are white).
There was not a cat to be seen and we just went back to bed, figuring they'd
sort themselves out in good time.

The only physical evidence from the Cat Fight from Hell, besides all the
extra clumps of white fur lyingabout, was one single clawmark on the back of
Suki's head and a small scab on Shadow's nose. But since Thursday, Shadow
has slept of Joel's keyboard, the back of the lounge, and the TV. She no
longer minds being petted, and I can stroke her from head to tail with purrs
of pleasure rahter than her trying to remove my hand with her teeth. If
we're on the sofa and she sees me, she'll even come over when called to get
pettins and last night, she hopped onto my lap after a bit of encouragement
and did the purry contented drooly beast thing for over an hour.

Go Shadow!! You may have to rename her now.

Must be nice to have "your" kitty hang out in places other than beneath
the kitchen sink, and to actually be able to pet her.

Hope the other two cats adjust to the New Order. Maybe they'll all get
along better now.

(Wait, isn't Shadow really a boy? They're all boys, aren't they?)

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

wrote:

(Wait, isn't Shadow really a boy? They're all boys, aren't they?)

Pickle and Suki are both technically neutered males, but Suki is such a
pretty little princess I can't help but think of her as a girl.

Shadow is a neutered female.

Yowie
--
"because its more fun to be evil" - Jarppi, _The Dudesons_