Fetching Behavior

We had Prissy for so long (almost 20 yrs) that when she passed away I
thought it would be forever before we would be thinking about another
cat into our lives. But we decided to take the plunge after only a
few months. We recently adopted Kona and Avery from the cats up for
adoption at our vet (they keep somewhere around 40-50 cats for
adoption there)

Avery is a an average/large (12 lb) medium/long haired black cat who
was a "door dump"-someone left him at the doorstep of the vet in a
carrier. He's about three years old and has his spells where he wants
to be picked up and cuddled and times when he wants to "do his own
thing". He's not particularly a lap cat (for now), although he wants
to be where the people are and sleep on the bed. Pretty playful. We
are thinking of another name for him since no one knows what his
former owners named him.

Kona's picture and also somewhat sad story can be viewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ttx1 for those interested. Kona was *miserable* at
the "orphanage"-having been in a home for 11 years and then dumped by
his former owners he just didn't like having to share things with a
horde of cats. He's a senior cat and of course we don't know how many
years he has left, but he's in good health now and we're happy to give
him all the lovin' he can handle for however many years he has left.
And he's BIG. The vet says he weighed a little over 16 lbs at the last
weigh-in but I think he's closer to 20. Bigbig paws and bigbig eyes.
Kona thinks the reason your lap exists is for him to be on it. You
have to decide when you sit down that you want to stay sitting for a
while because he's kind of a load to dislodge if you want to get up.
:-) He's seems a little jealous when we show affection for Avery-he
seems to want *all* the attention and kind of glares at us when we
give Avery some lovin'. But they seem to tolerate each other fine,
even if they are not instant best buddies.

Anyway, we are gradually discovering the various aspects of their
personalities. Kona likes to jump on the bathroom vanity (it's not
too big he has some trouble fitting his entire self on it:-)) and
first stick his paw under running water, then stick his entire face
under the faucet sideways and drink from the tap, getting his entire
face wet in the process. Never saw a cat that liked getting wet like
that. But the most curious thing so far is that he apparently was
taught or developed a talent for fetching. He was up on the vanity
one night when I took out some Q-tips to take off some makeup and his
eyes just lit up. I put one in front of him and he began to bat it.
On a hunch I tossed one out into the hall. He bounds off the vanity
(BIG thump), bats the Q-tip around a bit and then grabs it in his
mouth by one end, trots back, lays it at my feet and looks up at me. I
thought this was so neat I went out to the living room with him and
tossed one to the other end. Well, the living room has hardwood
floors and Kona has lots of inertia so when he accellerates he skids
like a cartoon cat. He zooms to where the Q-tip lands, sliding and
slipping as he decellerates. He proceeds to flip the Q-tip up in the
air several times, pounce on it when it lands and bat it around.
After he's sure that he's killed it, he picks it up with his mouth,
trots back to me with it dangling from his mouth by one end and drops
it at my feet. Repeat process five or six times. He *loves* doing
this. I find it so charming and quirky. I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.

"CajunPrincess" wrote
We had Prissy for so long (almost 20 yrs)

So sorry about your loss...

We recently adopted Kona and Avery from the cats up for
adoption at our vet (they keep somewhere around 40-50 cats for
adoption there)


.... but glad to hear that you felt able to open your hearts for a couple of
adult cats so soon. They both sound like wonderful characters. Do you have
any pictures of them online?

My Nikki used to play fetch when she was younger. Every evening, when I had
gone to bed, she would bring me some toy into bed - a mousie or a foam
ball - and I would throw it for her. She would retrieve it five-ten times,
then she was ready to settle down for the night (on my legs). She doesn't do
this any longer, I don't know why.

Frank, OTOH, loves Q-tips. He doesn't fetch, but he can play with one for
ages. I just worry a bit that he will swallow the cotton.

--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi

Thank you SO much for posting this and for adopting these two. Kona's story
is unbearably sad and I'm so glad you took him in. He is beautiful too.

Hugs
Karen

On 5 Nov 2003 17:55:40 -0800,
(CajunPrincess) wrote:

We had Prissy for so long (almost 20 yrs) that when she passed away I
thought it would be forever before we would be thinking about another
cat into our lives. But we decided to take the plunge after only a
few months. We recently adopted Kona and Avery from the cats up for
adoption at our vet (they keep somewhere around 40-50 cats for
adoption there)

Avery is a an average/large (12 lb) medium/long haired black cat who
was a "door dump"-someone left him at the doorstep of the vet in a
carrier. He's about three years old and has his spells where he wants
to be picked up and cuddled and times when he wants to "do his own
thing". He's not particularly a lap cat (for now), although he wants
to be where the people are and sleep on the bed. Pretty playful. We
are thinking of another name for him since no one knows what his
former owners named him.

Kona's picture and also somewhat sad story can be viewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ttx1 for those interested. Kona was *miserable* at
the "orphanage"-having been in a home for 11 years and then dumped by
his former owners he just didn't like having to share things with a
horde of cats. He's a senior cat and of course we don't know how many
years he has left, but he's in good health now and we're happy to give
him all the lovin' he can handle for however many years he has left.
And he's BIG. The vet says he weighed a little over 16 lbs at the last
weigh-in but I think he's closer to 20. Bigbig paws and bigbig eyes.
Kona thinks the reason your lap exists is for him to be on it. You
have to decide when you sit down that you want to stay sitting for a
while because he's kind of a load to dislodge if you want to get up.
:-) He's seems a little jealous when we show affection for Avery-he
seems to want *all* the attention and kind of glares at us when we
give Avery some lovin'. But they seem to tolerate each other fine,
even if they are not instant best buddies.

Anyway, we are gradually discovering the various aspects of their
personalities. Kona likes to jump on the bathroom vanity (it's not
too big he has some trouble fitting his entire self on it:-)) and
first stick his paw under running water, then stick his entire face
under the faucet sideways and drink from the tap, getting his entire
face wet in the process. Never saw a cat that liked getting wet like
that. But the most curious thing so far is that he apparently was
taught or developed a talent for fetching. He was up on the vanity
one night when I took out some Q-tips to take off some makeup and his
eyes just lit up. I put one in front of him and he began to bat it.
On a hunch I tossed one out into the hall. He bounds off the vanity
(BIG thump), bats the Q-tip around a bit and then grabs it in his
mouth by one end, trots back, lays it at my feet and looks up at me. I
thought this was so neat I went out to the living room with him and
tossed one to the other end. Well, the living room has hardwood
floors and Kona has lots of inertia so when he accellerates he skids
like a cartoon cat. He zooms to where the Q-tip lands, sliding and
slipping as he decellerates. He proceeds to flip the Q-tip up in the
air several times, pounce on it when it lands and bat it around.
After he's sure that he's killed it, he picks it up with his mouth,
trots back to me with it dangling from his mouth by one end and drops
it at my feet. Repeat process five or six times. He *loves* doing
this. I find it so charming and quirky. I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.
Yes. When I was a teenager we had a grey tabby named Tiggy who would
retrieve a small rubber ball (it was the kind kids played "jacks"
with). He could carry it easily in his mouth. TuTu now will bring
the
cat dancer" to me if I toss it across the room. MLB

On 5 Nov 2003 17:55:40 -0800,
(CajunPrincess) wrote:

We had Prissy for so long (almost 20 yrs) that when she passed away I
thought it would be forever before we would be thinking about another
cat into our lives. But we decided to take the plunge after only a
few months. We recently adopted Kona and Avery from the cats up for
adoption at our vet (they keep somewhere around 40-50 cats for
adoption there)

Sorry to hear about your losing Prissy, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind
Avery and Kona coming into your home. And, I'm glad that you were able
to find what sounds like two great cats.


Avery is a an average/large (12 lb) medium/long haired black cat who
was a "door dump"-someone left him at the doorstep of the vet in a
carrier. He's about three years old and has his spells where he wants
to be picked up and cuddled and times when he wants to "do his own
thing". He's not particularly a lap cat (for now), although he wants
to be where the people are and sleep on the bed. Pretty playful. We
are thinking of another name for him since no one knows what his
former owners named him.

Kona's picture and also somewhat sad story can be viewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ttx1 for those interested. Kona was *miserable* at
the "orphanage"-having been in a home for 11 years and then dumped by
his former owners he just didn't like having to share things with a
horde of cats. He's a senior cat and of course we don't know how many
years he has left, but he's in good health now and we're happy to give
him all the lovin' he can handle for however many years he has left.
And he's BIG. The vet says he weighed a little over 16 lbs at the last
weigh-in but I think he's closer to 20. Bigbig paws and bigbig eyes.
Kona thinks the reason your lap exists is for him to be on it. You
have to decide when you sit down that you want to stay sitting for a
while because he's kind of a load to dislodge if you want to get up.
:-) He's seems a little jealous when we show affection for Avery-he
seems to want *all* the attention and kind of glares at us when we
give Avery some lovin'. But they seem to tolerate each other fine,
even if they are not instant best buddies.

Always makes me wonder about folks who can dump long time companions.
I can understand those who have to give up their cats if their lives
change so much that they can no longer provide a good home, but surely
they could find a better solution than turning them over to the local
humane society like in the link.


Anyway, we are gradually discovering the various aspects of their
personalities. Kona likes to jump on the bathroom vanity (it's not
too big he has some trouble fitting his entire self on it:-)) and
first stick his paw under running water, then stick his entire face
under the faucet sideways and drink from the tap, getting his entire
face wet in the process. Never saw a cat that liked getting wet like
that. But the most curious thing so far is that he apparently was
taught or developed a talent for fetching. He was up on the vanity
one night when I took out some Q-tips to take off some makeup and his
eyes just lit up. I put one in front of him and he began to bat it.
On a hunch I tossed one out into the hall. He bounds off the vanity
(BIG thump), bats the Q-tip around a bit and then grabs it in his
mouth by one end, trots back, lays it at my feet and looks up at me. I
thought this was so neat I went out to the living room with him and
tossed one to the other end. Well, the living room has hardwood
floors and Kona has lots of inertia so when he accellerates he skids
like a cartoon cat. He zooms to where the Q-tip lands, sliding and
slipping as he decellerates. He proceeds to flip the Q-tip up in the
air several times, pounce on it when it lands and bat it around.
After he's sure that he's killed it, he picks it up with his mouth,
trots back to me with it dangling from his mouth by one end and drops
it at my feet. Repeat process five or six times. He *loves* doing
this. I find it so charming and quirky. I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.

Sammy, my two year old kitten, has been fetching plastic bottle caps
from soda bottles almost since she learned to wobble around. When she
was younger she'd do this for over a half hour, running all out both
ways. Now that she's a little older she tires of the game faster, 15
minutes is a long game, and the last 5 minutes she runs after the cap,
bats it around for awhile, then walks back.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky
remove Junk for email

I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.

When Waffles was a kitten she loved to do this with little scrunched up paper
balls. Neither Francis nor Marble have ever shown any interest in the game.

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o* *l.c**$*$om$$

Mine too: Pericles the red tabby Maine Coon, from 6 months old until
aged 3 adored chasing the blue plastic tops from large milk bottles
down the stairwell & retrieving: like others though 6-10 times was
enough, then he wouldn't bother coming back. Cleverer than dogs to
give up like that?

Now of course at nearly 5 he's a bit too dignified for that sort of
thing: a bat at a passing length of string (as Snowball the kitten
thunders by) is all he allows himself. Shame really.

Best

Exocat


Multiply the ten a hundredfold to reply direct

Family viewable at
http://community.webshots.com/user/exocat


"CajunPrincess" wrote

snip
I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I
was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.

(CajunPrincess) wrote in message . com...
(...)
Kona's picture and also somewhat sad story can be viewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ttx1 for those interested. Kona was *miserable* at
the "orphanage"-having been in a home for 11 years and then dumped by
his former owners

Odd, wonder why?

(...)

Anyway, we are gradually discovering the various aspects of their
personalities. Kona likes to jump on the bathroom vanity (it's not
too big he has some trouble fitting his entire self on it:-)) and
first stick his paw under running water, then stick his entire face
under the faucet sideways and drink from the tap, getting his entire
face wet in the process. Never saw a cat that liked getting wet like
that.

One o' mine (Big Kimble) does just that - even though he has a pet
fountain. Ingrate.


But the most curious thing so far is that he apparently was
taught or developed a talent for fetching. (...)
I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.

The other one o' mine (mu) does that! I didn't 'train' him, and I
haven't bothered to reinforce the behaviour, but from time to time
he'll play fetch for a bit. Not at the moment though, because he's
batted all his throwable toys under the oven. Well, not all of them -
some he's just shredded into confetti.

Steve.

In article ,
omcom (dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) wrote:



When Waffles was a kitten she loved to do this with little scrunched up paper
balls. Neither Francis nor Marble have ever shown any interest in the game.

Cheers, helen s

Spicey does this with water bottle caps A new game is where one of my aides
puts her mousie on the top shelf of her cat-tree, Spicey runs up and bats it
off the shelf. She was playing catch with it up there the other day.
Suz
Iron Chef Macmoosette
Thank Heavens There's Only One
=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=

Chocolate heals all wounds.

On 5 Nov 2003 17:55:40 -0800,
(CajunPrincess) wrote:

We had Prissy for so long (almost 20 yrs) that when she passed away I
thought it would be forever before we would be thinking about another
cat into our lives. But we decided to take the plunge after only a
few months. We recently adopted Kona and Avery from the cats up for
adoption at our vet (they keep somewhere around 40-50 cats for
adoption there)

Avery is a an average/large (12 lb) medium/long haired black cat who
was a "door dump"-someone left him at the doorstep of the vet in a
carrier. He's about three years old and has his spells where he wants
to be picked up and cuddled and times when he wants to "do his own
thing". He's not particularly a lap cat (for now), although he wants
to be where the people are and sleep on the bed. Pretty playful. We
are thinking of another name for him since no one knows what his
former owners named him.

Kona's picture and also somewhat sad story can be viewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ttx1 for those interested. Kona was *miserable* at
the "orphanage"-having been in a home for 11 years and then dumped by
his former owners he just didn't like having to share things with a
horde of cats. He's a senior cat and of course we don't know how many
years he has left, but he's in good health now and we're happy to give
him all the lovin' he can handle for however many years he has left.
And he's BIG. The vet says he weighed a little over 16 lbs at the last
weigh-in but I think he's closer to 20. Bigbig paws and bigbig eyes.
Kona thinks the reason your lap exists is for him to be on it. You
have to decide when you sit down that you want to stay sitting for a
while because he's kind of a load to dislodge if you want to get up.
:-) He's seems a little jealous when we show affection for Avery-he
seems to want *all* the attention and kind of glares at us when we
give Avery some lovin'. But they seem to tolerate each other fine,
even if they are not instant best buddies.

Anyway, we are gradually discovering the various aspects of their
personalities. Kona likes to jump on the bathroom vanity (it's not
too big he has some trouble fitting his entire self on it:-)) and
first stick his paw under running water, then stick his entire face
under the faucet sideways and drink from the tap, getting his entire
face wet in the process. Never saw a cat that liked getting wet like
that. But the most curious thing so far is that he apparently was
taught or developed a talent for fetching. He was up on the vanity
one night when I took out some Q-tips to take off some makeup and his
eyes just lit up. I put one in front of him and he began to bat it.
On a hunch I tossed one out into the hall. He bounds off the vanity
(BIG thump), bats the Q-tip around a bit and then grabs it in his
mouth by one end, trots back, lays it at my feet and looks up at me. I
thought this was so neat I went out to the living room with him and
tossed one to the other end. Well, the living room has hardwood
floors and Kona has lots of inertia so when he accellerates he skids
like a cartoon cat. He zooms to where the Q-tip lands, sliding and
slipping as he decellerates. He proceeds to flip the Q-tip up in the
air several times, pounce on it when it lands and bat it around.
After he's sure that he's killed it, he picks it up with his mouth,
trots back to me with it dangling from his mouth by one end and drops
it at my feet. Repeat process five or six times. He *loves* doing
this. I find it so charming and quirky. I think I've read about cats
bringing things like rolled up socks to their humans but I don't
recall anyone mentioning that their cat plays fetch like a dog. I was
curious as to whether anyone else had a cat that did this sort of
thing.

CATherine wrote in message . ..
Such a good story I couldn't bear to snip it. Bless you for taking in
these cats for lovin' security. Some former owners are disgusting; but
at least these two cats weren't dumped on the street to fend for
themselves like many are.

You are absolutely right. My sister lives in a rural area and where
she lives people drive out to a sparsly travelled road and dump
kittens. It happens all the time; that's how she got her cat-found it
by the side of a road she was taking a walk on. Looking at the
shelter websites when I decided to adopt, I was really saddened to see
the number of cats that were abandoned when people moved like an old
sofa that wasn't worth taking with them. At least my guys were left
at a place where they would get the best care they could hope for in
that type of environment. The folks at this cat specialty vet are
really passionate about the puddies.


Now they will have a wonderful life. As for
a name for Avery; how about Kahlua?

CATherine

Thanks so much for the suggestion-that's a real good one. I am in the
process of making a name list and sometime in the next few days I'm
gonna pick one. I want to start getting Avery (wonder if I should
start referring to him as "the cat formerly known as Avery?" :-))
accustomed to the new name. I think he'll like that process-it's
going to involve the use of cat treats.