The CAT room!

Wow. The Eastern Brown Snake was the worst of the bunch! Please be careful! Jeez.

Did you ever notice that most good hunting cats are female? Those snakes though... I don't mind a mouse so much, except when it's been evicerated and left on the porch, but a venomous snake? Uh-uh. No thanks! Luckily, here in western WA, we don't have any kind of venomous snake... there are rattlesnakes on the east side, over the Cascade mountains, but none here. At least, not yet, though with the global warming that we seem to be in the midst of, I suppose all bets are off and those sorts of distribution would change.

I don't understand why the houses wouldn't be made for cold if it gets down to 30F. That's plenty cold. ANyway, if a house is built well for cold, it's built well to insulate against heat, too. So WHAT'S UP with those crazy Australian carpenters??? They should be building you nice warm in the winter, cool in the summer houses.

Now that you mention it, all the good hunter stories I've heard have involved females.

msolga,
Very sorry for your loss. A companion for eighteen years is part of you forever. I'm sure your Flatty does miss his housemate. On abuzz I had a thread on cat grief, how I almost lost my surviving cat after the other cats died. Hope you're doing well.

Tartarin,
Condolences, wish you well.

nextone

thank you for your kind thoughts. Yes, sad, it is & obviously you know a bit about this! .... but I'd far rather that my poor old 18 year old was out of her pain & suffering, rather than struggling, still.
Flatty is coping OK, I guess. At times he seems a bit confused at being the the "last cat standing", but some time down the track he'll have a new female companion. (I don't think a second male would be a brilliant idea, do you?) I'll leave this until I know I'm going to be home on holiday, so I can give the new critter lots of help settling in. (AND help in learning to cope with Flatty, whose a wee bit unpredictable! )
It is strangely quiet, going from 3 critters to one, in such a short time.

I bet you've forgotten the nonstop athletic performance a young cat can put on for you. If you have, I warn you, it isn't something you get used to late at night.

They're fun though.

Roger

Without a doubt I've forgotten!
Most of my cats, for over 20 years now, have been of the "lost" or "orphan" variety .... Very rarely kittens, but all SO happy to have a home again!
For my next one I've no doubt that I will be charmed by one (probably grey tabby) whose a bit older than the rest & might have trouble finding another home. I think it's sad that slightly older cats are often over-looked. They ALWAYS make wonderful & loyal companions if you adopt them.

BTW, speaking of adopting new cats, let tell you all this story:

I was offered 2 grown-up male cats, along with a cash payment, to adopt them by a woman I met in the vet's waiting room during Mozz's last visit. She was admiring Mozz & asked why I'd brought her to the vet ... In the process of explaining I'm afraid a a couple of tears escaped & she gave me a big hug & came close to crying herself.
Well, yesterday the vet's wife rang me to say that this same woman was going overseas & needed a new home for her 2 critters. And possibly might not be returning to Oz for a long time. She'd asked the vet's wife to ring me & ask. Would I take them? I toyed with the idea & decided that 3 full-grown male cats under the same roof was more than I could cope with right now.
Besides, Flatty has had such a rugged little life to date & has only recently begun to settle down. How on earth would he cope with 2 new intruders to his home? Gina, the vet's wife, heartily agreed with me. She was going to talk me out of it if I considered agreeing.
But I do hope that a new home is found for these 2!

Good choice, msolga. That would ruin Flatty's life.

How wonderful that you would choose an older cat rather than a kitten! Good for you! At least you know what you're getting with an older cat. Kittens often change personalities as they grow.

Olga

This is your chance to spoil FlatCat! (I've just thrown out my Flat Cat mat - remember those?!)

There are some advantages to a one-cat household. Quieter, cheaper.

But the downside is, when that cat goes, the silence is deafening. How do you think the Poss-cat got to be so spoiled? A new cat coming into a cat-less cat house gets his own way big time

Hi Eva!

Yes, it probably would! And his life has certainly had it's ups & downs till recently. (I might have told people here, but he was stolen from the flats he barely survived in prior to finding a home with me - formerly "us". A very sick, disturbed & COSTLY experience!) Anyway, he's certainly getting my undivided attention at the moment!

As much as it saddens me that those 2 other moggies need a good home & may not find it, I know my limitations ... AND Flat Cat's!!

Good morning, Ms Margo!

Yes, I'm discovering the sheer ease of one cat households, but rather miss the cacophony! This solo cat thing is quite a strange experience.

But I'm certainly not rushing into anything. (For starters, I'm too busy with work & looking after myself right now. It has been an extremely busy few months.) And I like the idea of acquiring another critter when the weather's warmer & it's comfortable for both cats to live outside, as well as in. Brrrrrrr
And it seems better to do this when I'm on holiday, with lots of time to keep my eye on how a new cat is adapting. One thing that I wonder about - You know how the older cat is a sort of "role model" for the younger one? Well, what if the older one (Flatty) happens to be a wee bit er.. crazy? I wonder if one ends up with TWO crazy cats!

I can see that Possum thoroughly enjoys being THE cat! But what a beautiful, well looked after specimen! How are you going with the diet regime, by the way? Sleek again?

So yes, as you've suggested margo, this will be Flatty's time to be indulged in with no distractions. He seems to be enjoying all the attention immensely!

MsOlga - I'm afraid neither of us are sleek

He's been remarkably good about the reduction in food, though. I've only lost a small amount of blood, so far!

My experience with acquiring a second cat so the senior cat would have company was alienation of affection. Spooky used to give me a genuine hug (no kidding) when I got home. After I got Nermal, I'm lucky if he gets out of bed. At least Spooky did become the responsible older cat. It almost seems as if there is some rule that allows only one destructive clown per household.

msolga, very wise of you.

-sigh- This from my dad:



Over a week of this, then. No pain? I can't imagine that that is true. What is so terrible about taking her to the vet and easing her passage, surrounded by loved ones?

Thank you, all of you, for giving me a chance to vent -- I managed to write a polite and sympathetic reply knowing I could come here right afterwards and say what I really think.

Oh Sozobe, I'm so sorry. This must be excrutiating for you.

She died this morning, about an hour and a half after I wrote the above. I'm OK -- I'm glad her suffering didn't drag on too long. I did most of my grieving when my dad first told me. His email to me announcing her death was all about how hard it was for him, not one word about "I know you loved her too," or whatever. Sigh. Oh well.

Thanks much for your sympathy. It helps.

Here's a pic of her as a kitten. (Argh, now I'm crying again.)

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=17137&highlight=jasmine#17137

Well, now he can find something else to complain about. Poor kitty. Poor Sozobe.

What a cute little kitten!