Cat Views

It’s no secret that cats love to jump and climb. Most of the time, cats can jump from all kinds of heights and awkward places and still land on their feet. Other times, they may make one misstep and hurt themselves. If this happens, you’ll want to get a set of pet steps so they can still get up onto their favorite couch while they’re recovering.

After your cat recovers from a fall, it’s a good idea to position a set of pet steps under the place where they fell. That way, if they attempt to jump again, they’ll have a place to land that’s not as far down as the ground. Similarly, if your cat likes to jump to really high places but often gets stuck, you can position a set of pet steps under the area to help him transition to the ground. This will save you many headaches in trying to rescue your cat over and over again from the top of a tall cabinet!

Animals can be as funny and a quirky as humans. If you take the time to get to know them, you know they all have distinct personalities. Some have very definite prejudices towards people and foods. My daughter inherited two gorgeous chows when she got married. She had two middle aged to elderly cats.

The female cat is rather docile but the male will stand against people or animals if he thinks his territory is threatened. The female chow was the aggressive one while the male was pretty laid back and would only sometimes follow her lead. Whenever the front doorbell would ring, the female dog (Sasha) would chase the female cat (Sugar) down the hall and into the bedroom. One day, Sasha mistakenly chased the male cat (Chess) down the hall, and reaching the bedroom door; he turned and stared her down. She was so surprised when he stood up to her; she actually backed her way down the hall. When she left, he went into the room and curled up on the top of his cat condo to keep an eye on things.

It was a Sunday afternoon; my mother was a writer and had her typewriter on the dining room table. She had been working on her novel earlier in the day. Relatives came and we were all sitting in the living room talking, and waiting for dinner. All of a sudden we heard the keys of the typewriter clicking while mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Well, as we trooped into the dining room to see what was going on, it was quite a sight! There was the cat up on the table playing with the typewriter keys. He would press a key with one paw, and bat it with the other paw. (This, of course, was a manual typewriter).We were all entertained and made comments as to how cute it was! The cat was removed from the table, and went to his Cat Cocoon while we went in the kitchen to dinner. Halfway through dinner, we heard the dog barking in the dining room. Everyone was curious to see what was going on, and went in to find the dog sitting on the table with her paw on the typewriter. She wanted her share of the “limelight” too.

We had been adopted by a big orange tabby who had decided our home in the country was better than living in the woods. My neighbor had been feeding her using her custom pet feeder off and on for two years, and named her “Rita” after Rita Hayworth…another beautiful redhead.I took the cat to the veterinarian for shots and a check-up since she had decided she was now a “house-cat”.

I explained to the Vet that I had no knowledge of her background but that I believed that she had been spayed since she had never had kittens during the time my neighbor had known her. The Vet smiled. “Well,” he said. “The reason this cat has not had kittens is that “Rita” is a male.” Needless to say, I was quite embarrassed. He also told me that “Rita” had, in fact, been neutered. He asked why my friend had assumed the cat was female. I said, “I don’t know except that it has such a pretty face.” At that, the Vet laughed out loud and said, “Tell her for me that the next time she wants to find out a cat’s gender she needs to check the other end!”

And now, for the rest of the story…we tried renaming HIM “Ritz” however, we still kept calling him “Rita”.

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon and both of our cats had gone outside.  Alex is a big black long-haired cat and Pye, a Blue-Point Siamese. Although they have a lot in common like a tail, 2 ears & 4 paws, they barely just tolerated each other. Pye, was a newcomer to the family who encroached on Alex, the “old man” and very territorial. However, time has proven that when the “chips are down” they  support each other.

Ah, back to the event. After the cats had been out for a while, we heard an awful ruckus by the back door. Naturally, we ran out to see what was going on. Three big German Shepherds had our little Siamese cat cornered and very scared. While we were wondering how to end this melee, a big black ball of fury came roaring in at the dogs. The dogs all yelped, turned around and ran. After the dogs left, Alex walked over to Pye and swatted him as if to say, “You dummy letting yourself get cornered like that,” then turned around and stalked off. After that, he became Pye’s hero!