Life sucks ...

He's in great form at the moment ladies (weather permitting). My mother came to stay last night because I was expecting a large package to arrive and couldn't take a day off.

Peppermint creams!

The old dear has been off her feed a bit for the last couple of months and has to really fancy something before she can eat. Peppermint creams are the appetiser at present.

Mum made a cup of tea about 9.00 last night and we settled down to watch the box. Dougal was on my lap, paying a duty call to let me know that he hadn't forgotten me in the delight of having Grandma stop over.

During the advert break Mum had a craving for a mint and threw a couple over for me. You know how they are wrapped, in a twist of waxy paper. I opened one and Dougal's nose started to twitch (eyes still tightly closed at this point). As I bit into the sweet he opened his eyes and began to home in on the hand holding the sweet.

I bit a tiny bit off saying "You don't like mints!" Fateful words for any cat owner. "Like 'em? I love 'em! Why don't we have these?" He went mad for another piece then another.

The second sweet was on the arm of the chair and when it became clear that he wasn't getting any more, his attention turned to that bit of paper just there. He stood up to inspect it and ... "MINT!"

Before I could grab either cat or sweet, he had grabbed the sweet by the twisted end and run to the other side of the room. He then, very deftly, unwrapped the sweet by standing on one end and pulling at the centre part with claw (very daintily for a cat with such big plodders).

He then sat pondering this wonderful-smellling and tasting item. Being just a bit smaller than a 50p piece, he couldn't eat it all. As the outer coating is quite hard, but it is a flat, coin-shaped sweet, he couldn't pick it up to bite it properly. Hmm, bit of a dilemma here.

Problem solved. Put paw on one end to lift other end off floor and bite the raised end. Result, lots of smaller, minty, sticky bits. Yum! (I'm still picking bits off the ruddy carpet.)

He then proceeded to pat the rest of the sweet very daintily around the floor like a well-worn ice hockey puck.

He then discovered that because his mouth was all sweet and minty, it made him smell nice if he had a wash afterwards. He would wash a paw and then stop and sniff at it, then carry on washing, then stop and sniff again, quite intrigued.

Hmm. Mint-scented toiletries for cats?
 
:lol: The ladeeze will love him! Is it like catnip? In fact, what does catnip smell of - is it minty? Grandma probably won't be allowed out of the door until she gives up the rest of the booty.
 
When I left the house he was sitting on Grandma's lap, obviously thinking that if he pinned her to the sofa she wouldn't be able to leave.

He has obviously been feeling well in himself recently as the sitting room was a wreck this morning. Mum had made the big mistake of leaving her watch on the coffee table. Every cat I have ever had has been mesmerised by watches that have leather straps. (I think it might be because they bend around one's wrist and then stay curved when you take the watch off, looking like giant spiders from a cats viewpoint. My bracelet watch just didn't have the same effect.)

Anyhow, he had ransacked the little tray that I keep on the table and everything shiny had been hooked out and was somewhere on the floor. However, Mum's watch was missing. As well as the usual attraction of leather straps it has a large face and ... it glows in the dark.

Apparently it illuminates its surroundings to several inches around itself.

How could a cat resist? I mean, why put it there if you don't want it thoroughly investigated?

Said watch was eventually found in the kitchen, with teeth marks in the straps.

I have a mint-scented cleptomaniac posing as a cat.

Any takers?
 
So lovely to read this account of more Dougal mis-adventures. I was worried about him earlier in the summer when he's once again shed his fur and was upset by the vet visit.

Dougal's little life with you really cheers me up and ought to be written down for all who adore life with cats. :D

I've never heard of a cat eating mints, but makes perfect sense as ours are totally potty about catmint. We grow a lot of bushes in the garden for them and I keep cuttings of it in the house for them to munch on. They tear bits off, making a massive mess, and then roll about like mad things.
 
Both Dougal and Tilly like minty things, Isi.

When Aero first brought out the little choc/mint balls I bought a bag and Tilly shot across the room, as if pulled on strings attached to her nostrils.

Tilly Heaven - mint and chocolate all together. I gave her an Aero marble and watched her trying to eat it. She ended up patting it around the floor trying to get a hold on it and all the time drooling with anticipation.

I eventually gave in and broke it up for her - such a happy, sweetly-scented cat.
 
So true - especially when one of them is washing my face at stupid o'clock in the morning, trying to wake me up. Yeuuuk!
 
Bat Cat! Da da da da da da da da Bat Cat! Bat Cat! Splat Cat!

Tilly. On catnip.

13 years old and not built for athletics. Oh dear.

Currently recovering in the centre of my double bed.

How is it that such a small creature can take up 2/3 of a double bed - and always wants the bit I am on?

I hate cats.
 
They have astounding stretchability, don't they? And so heavy! Many a time and oft I would try to buck them off my feet, but they just rode the wave and no matter where I tried to relocate, remained stolidly and solidly on top of them. Amazing.
 
I wanna be with yoooooou!

Even fast asleep they just crawl back on again.

Dougal has taken to sleeping in the small of my back and gets quite grumpy when I turn over. To get his revenge he falls out of bed and then makes sure that he lands on me when he jumps back up. 3.00 this morning. Urrrgh.
 
Reminds me so much of when I had kitties, this. I'd forgotten some of those tricks until you mentioned them, Red. They rarely slept up on the pillows, although I remember being woken up one early morning by one of them purring right up my nose - I cocked a bleary eye open and just saw half a cat's face blissfully asleep mostly on mine. Quite sweet, if it hadn't been for the tickly whiskers!
 
As my hair is almost waist-length, I usually throw it over the pillow so that I don't scalp myself when I roll over. Oscar used to clamber onto the pillow and make a nest in it.

Most of the time, though, Oscar would sleep under the duvet along the length of my back - terrific draught excluder. He would often put his head and a paw on the pillow, just like old-fashioned kids' story books show children sleeping. So sweet!

Dougal has a new bed. I bought a wicker "dalek" the other week. There is an open basket on the top and there is a small doorway into the body so that he has a "den". He took to it immediately, I am happy to say. So now he has somewhere hidden to retreat to when I am out.

We have a new game. I found a lovely old Scots pine the other day and brought a couple of the cones home for him to play with. They have a bit of weight and as they are egg-shaped, tend to roll in different directions when hit.

We play kitty football on the stairs now, with pinecones bouncing all over the place. Dougal races up and down, clouts the pinecone - which he can get a claw into and hook up and down the stairs. Great fun!

Amazing how such a small and (normally) light-footed creature as a cat can make a noise like a small carthorse whilst playing.

He's worn himself out now, so is having a comfy kip in his hammock hung from the sitting room radiator, aaaaah.
 
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I had a cat called Sammy who used to do the same as Oscar - it was fine until he started "kneading dough" on my head .. ouch!

Pine cones! What a great idea. Cara likes chasing screwed up bits of paper around (her favourites are Waitrose till receipts :rolleyes:) - I think she might like pine cones ......
 
Pine cones are brilliant fun, Muttley. They bounce in a different direction to the one in which they are hit, so the cat is constantly on its toes because it wasn't expecting the cone to go a different way.

Tilly does head massages - fortunately without the claws!
 
Decided to go part-time and started new hours at beginning of this month (September). As my last payslip was the last at my old rate, I decided to put a fair chunk of it away for emergencies. Since then: the boiler needs fixing; the car needs fixing; my PC went "bang" (quite literally) this morning.

Total cost of repairs/replacement? The amount of money that I stashed away - almost to the penny!
 
My sincere commiserations, Red. A friend and I feel pretty much like that at the moment - she has been temping through an agency and having been very pleased with the income, scraped her beloved Honda sports car along a well-hidden bollard when exiting her employer's car park. We'll try to T-cut it as best we can, but... !

And when I managed to rescue the final £3,000 left by AXA's demolition of a 'very low risk' Bond I inherited from Mum (that was what was left from a comfortable cushion of £25K), my beloved Proton died quietly on the way to Lingfield. 'New' car - £1,700. And then £350 in costs to my solicitor for the Sale That Never Was (of my flat) to a time-wasting nincompoop.

So I send you two virtual boxes: one of tissues and a bigger one of chocs!
 
Thanks for the virtual tissues and chocs, Kri, although it sounds as though you need them a lot more than I do. 25k to 3k! Bloody hell, that's some depreciation!

Used up all the tissues the other day as Dougal wasn't well and I was being a tragedy queen.

He had a tummy upset that took him a couple of days to recover from and was very dopy and clingy.

He's a fair bit better now, but still quite clingy and needing frequent cuddles. Hoping the warmer weather will help him buck up - although he's shedding fur like crazy again and then feeling cold at night.

He's a bit confused by my new working hours as I now don't work on Thursdays, so he thinks it's a weekend and then gets very confused when I go back to work after 1 day, then take another 2 days off.

I am off to don the gauntlets for another round of "Will I? Won't I? Will I take my pill? Yes you bloody will!"

He got quite annoyed with me last time and neatly dissected a small mole off my wrist. Ouch!!

Boss was dead impressed with Dougal's surgical skills as he has removed the entire mole, which measured about 2/10 of an inch.

He always gets a treat after he has had his pill and tonight it is raspberry yogurt. They both love yogurt.
 
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I've not been on the forum again for awhile, Dougal and various cats/dgs etc keep calling me back though. Truly been ages since I posted in horses!

Great to see you at Lingfield Kri, if only most briefly. Our horsey girl was v naughty and did not feel like playing on the day but has seen sense since and come 2nd.

Anyway .... Dougal. I am still laughing about his mint antics. I do hope the warm weather helps him perk up again.

We've had lots more mis-adventures with our 2 semi ferals and 1 tame but ferocious Tortie. The big grey stripey thing decided one night to get up on the sofa next to me and his feral mate Minnie and he lay there for about 20 minutes allowing me to stroke. nearly had a heart attack! (Me, not him) It's not been repeated but I live in hope.
 
Wow, Isi, What an honour! He is doing his best to resist becoming (ssshh) domesticated, isn't he?
 
I no longer work on Thursdays and both cats have struggled to get the hang of the new timetable (3 days out, 1 day in, 1 day out, 2 days in). They seem to have finally got the idea (i.e. don't wake Redhead on Thursday), but I've thrown a spanner in the works and am not going in today, either. A lie in before going to the races. Bliss.

Think again, Redhead. 6.00 this morning, Tilly kicks door open and starts scratching bedroom furniture. Ignored, she went away to sulk.

Ten minutes later, Dougal bounded through bedroom door and leapt onto me. Lying on my side, so he walked up and down the length of me, leaning hard on the more tender bits. Who taught cats that dirty trick - putting all of their weight through one paw onto a joint or softer parts? He has actually managed to bruise my hip bone this morning.

I managed to resist for a further 30 minutes, but by then was wide awake and decided that I might just as well get up. Grrr.

Got my own back, though.

On getting downstairs I opened one of the front windows. They are the kind that open outward from the bottom. Dougal decided he wasn't using the catflap so wriggled his way through the opening at the bottom of the window. He managed to get his head and shoulders through but forgot that his tummy is a bit wider and ended up stuck halfway.

He looked sooooo funny because he was twisting and turning his back end in the air trying to get free, but the front end had to balance on the very narrow ledge outside the window. He was looking at me through the middle pane, with his front paws on the ledge, yelling for me to go and help him, while his back end was way up in the air doing its own thing.

A cat of two halves.

Tilly was lying on the back of an armchair watching him. Her face was a picture of amazement.

Once I had managed to pick myself up off the floor I went to open the window a bit more.

Of course it is all my fault for being determined to keep some condition on him through the summer!
 
Ha ha! So funny. :D Glad Dougal has some condition.

If my 2 ferals got stuck I'd not be able to assist as they get all spooky. And the tame but ferocious Tortie is just wild as heck and gets all stroppy. Stay back!

Kri, you are right, I whisper 'domesticated' to him! He's sleeping at the moment, upside down in a peacock chair (shades of the 60's) in the sun. He looks defiormed he is so twisted and is realy zonked. He was out all night hunting so he has a cat hangover. :rolleyes:

Meant to say about the sinus infection Morpheus has had on and off for two years. Despite taking him to three vets they all concluded as he had cat flu as a kitten he has asthma from after effect, so there was no point in antibiotics. I read about it all and was convinced he had a secondary infection, finally got a better vet. She gave him a shot. Guess what? No more sniffles! Hooray. Feel awful that I did not shout about this earlier as the poor guy has been sneezing and choking for ages.
 
Other cats .....

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