The kittens are coming!

Sebastian and I continue to be amazed by the new wildly active and emotional Viola. She constantly rushes at me for cuddles and smooches then runs off to find more mischief. Ambushing Sebastian or just scrabbling around like a wild thing...her licking and general expressions of adoration are positively embarrassing. She's also becoming a bit less like a sheep and more like a Cornish Rex.

Sebastian compensaates by trying to look noble.

mine, too

What? You people have your taste in your bums?

probably.

I am beginning to see why the woollies, especially Sebastian, are so extraordinarily destructive.

1. He, especially, is really, REALLY clumsy. I am used to cats who float lightly through the air and descend to land like thistledown precisely where they meant to. Miranda was especially floaty.

Sebastian is always missing and scrabbling desperately to gain the height he intended to jump to. Objects fly.

2. Most cats I have known quickly orient themselves to where things are, and use the same route to jump up onto things. This means they avoid knocking things.Not Sebastian. He takes roughly similar paths, but never the same...therefore he is always encountering things he didn't smash or scatter last time.

3. Most cats I have known only deliberately knock things off other things when they are being calculatingly provocative. Sebastian thinks that the purpose of anything that he can move that is in one place is to be moved to another place.....either horizontally or vertically. So...any movable object on the floor has to be moved elsewhere. Anything that is somehow above floor height needs to be moved TO the floor...where it becomes something on the floor that needs to be moved elsewhere.

Viola is similar but in a much less determined and demolitiony manner. She picks the objects she believes are to be her targets more precisely. EVERYTHING is Sebastian's target.

Viola's particular jobs are to knock the telephone off the nightstand, throw my glasses to the floor from wherever I put them whenever I remove them for any reason (she is especially diligent about this) and to knock my watch off the nightstand and hide it in ever more cunning places.... after she broke the glass in it this became a deeply honoured duty of hers.

She is also more choosy about the objects she believes are misplaced toys. To Sebastian EVERYTHING is a misplaced toy.

Both believe any food or beverage left anywhere, even when you are actually eating or drinking it, is theirs by divine right. For Sebastian this includes wine, raisins and sultanas, sunflower seeds, pepitas, nuts, apples, oranges, carrots, egg, sweets of any description, any meat, of course...(except pine-nut and spinach free range chicken sausages)...(if it's hot, he gets upset and biffs it)...numbers of vegetables, except pumpkin....I expect the list to grow with him.


ALL water not in their drinking bowls is their special property.

Oh...and all lighted screens are theirs.... iPads, iphones, TV's....and anything NEAR a lighted screen....eg the entire computer desk including boxes, mouse, disks, keypad and anything else left remotely near computer desk.

iPad.....the space immediately round it, especially if that is my chest and it means I can't see it. This is Viola's special domain, and she loves to utilise the touch screen.

I had a particularly clumsy cat named Albert. His specialty was jumping up on a shelf or table and clearing whatever was on it when he tried to regain his footing. Sounds like Sebastian is of this ilk. Word to the wise: This will not significantly improve with age.

Groooooooaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnn.

deb, I only just recently got over the habit of putting my watch and glasses in the drawer of the night stand. I couldn't have my watch and glasses flying around the apartment.

I think those are easy pickings for PCs.

You got a drawer?

In a word, no.

I kinda guessed.

They also refuse to honour clauses sanctified lo these millennia from the Treaty of Thebes.

They say they're from Cornwall and won't acknowledge British Common Law, much less ancient nonsense from Egypt.

They like the clauses about the cats shall be fed regularly and have comfortable places to perch, but they're disowning the ones about the cat shall refrain from behavior absolutely proscribed by the human, within sight of said human.


I must say they're extremely generous on the stuff about the cat shall show the aforementioned human affection and interest to the extent that this process is comfortable to the said cat.

They're more than acing that one. To the moon.

Deb, Glad (and green with envy) that the two woollies are loving and affectionate.

Kinda surprised at how a seasoned cat owner like you gets all upset over stuff that cats do.

I'm wondering whether it's you or me. I have a feeling it's me.

Several people said that if they could come back, they'd want to come back as one of my cats. Despite being one of the most impatient people I know, I have infinite patience and tolerance for animals.

Stuff knocked over? So what? Stuff broken? Who cares? Stuff strewn around? No problem. I remember my mother was visiting when Mikey decided to grab the end of the toilet paper roll and run around the house with it streaming behind him. She said, "Look what he's doing!" I didn't respond. I was laughing. Love dem felines.

Give dem woollies a scritch for me.

Boida. Never had felines like this. Was always able effortlessly to establish immediate authority...to extent I never realized it was authority, just thought it was natural cat/human interaction.....as natural as water flowing downhill.

Simply gently communicated to cats what the rules were.....and they went with them as ducks to water.


Not as upset as I pretend to be...but genuinely astounded. Never realised it was an effort to train cats.

Still adore woollies....just stunned. After 10 cats over 50 years, this is new and difficult territory. Love their mad independence, but am used to effortless management.


Perhaps my prior experiences have been unusual?

Dont worry......I adore them.


They get massive skritches and love...but will dedicate some to you.

I've never had a rescued critter (which all of mine have been, for years & years) behave in quite this way, Deb.

Mind you, none of mine have been anything but "bitsas" ... a jumble of different common breeds.

They have all been absolutely terrific in their adjustments, once it's become clear about where their new home is & that they would now be properly looked after.
No special behaviour to adjust to.
And they have all been so appreciative of being rescued & loved!

I think I'll continue with other peoples' cast-offs in the future.

Miranda was wild and independent minded. She was into everything and impossible to control. She loved high places and made great leaps down. Chaos.

Patty was an angel, but she loved to knock things to the ground. I still remember her patting things with her paw as they came closer and closer to the edge.

Mikey was a maniac in addition to being gigantic and a little clumsy.

All three were rescues.

OK. point taken, Roberta.

The character of rescued cats can vary a lot.

But most of mine, over years & years, have been pretty straight-forward.
Just really happy to have a real home at last & love & care ... after a period of being out there on their own.

Mind you, there was Mouse, who I absolutely adored ... who used to make a habit of distributing my earrings & jewelery up & down the length of the the central passage of the house I lived in. I have no idea of why she did that while we were off at work during the day.

None of my pedigrees have behaved in this way either!!!

Also, perhaps rescued cats tend to be adult or near adult?

I'm hoping this lot calm down a bit with age!

Age?? Theirs or yours???