Fetching Behavior

Cinnamon will play with a toy,usually the plastic ring from the milk
carton and then bring it to me to toss for her. I have a 1/2 bath off the
kitchen and it is used as our main bathroom. I keep all our personal
groming things there. When I home alone at night I don't close the door
when I'm washing up and brushing my teeth. Cinnamon will come running up
to the door way and sit there with a toy in front of her. I can here her
coming with the water running as she makes alot of noise as she puts each
paw down. I'll take the toy and toss it across the kitchen for her. She'll
play a bit and then bring it back to me.


Ann

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.

"Marina" wrote in message ...
"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?

Unfortunately, my digital camera died a few months ago and I haven't
gotten around to replacing it. There's a picture of Kona from the
website of the vet at the link in the original post.

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.

One thing I learned from having a cat for almost 20 years is that it
is possible for cats to go through "phases" as they grow up. Prissy's
quirks and to a lesser extent her personality changed over the
years-she was not a lap cat at all when she was young; she loved laps
in her later years. There was her "foor fetish" phase :-)-she went
through a period where she wanted to lie down on your feet when you
were sitting and would even go to sleep there. It was always
interesting to see what the latest quirk was.


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.

I don't worry so much about the cotton, as I figure Kona injests a lot
more fur, but I do worry that if left alone with a Q-Tip he might
somehow swallow it; so he only gets to play with them under adult
supervision. :-)

Steve Touchstone wrote in message . ..
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.

It is an interesting experience. I never expected the guys to
"replace" Prissy. I am seeing first hand again how each cat has its
own personality and we're trying to adjust to theirs just as much as
they are adjusting to us. I figure these cats have the right to be
theirownselves and I shouldn't expect them to react to things the same
way Prissy would. For example, Prissy would eat up affection nonstop
and you could tell from her body language and her actions how much she
enjoyed it. Avery likes affection but has a limit-the mood hits him
when he wants petting and after a while he decides he wants to do
something else like patrol. Kona wants to be either on you or around
you all the time. When you pet him he may purr but he does'nt have
the same kind of "AHHHHHHHH-that's so wonderful" body language Prissy
had. Neither of these guys "talks" like Prissy did. It's all a
reflection of how they are individuals and they all deserve love.


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.


Actually, its a cat-only vet set up in a large old house. They take
in cats on their own and provide rooms for a local shelter to house
cats the shelter has for adoption. I like to think that maybe Avery's
parents had some excuse-maybe they couldn't afford to take care of him
and were too ashamed to ask someone to take him or maybe they couldn't
find a shelter with room. There was no excuse for giving up Kona,
IMO. Avery was a young cat who was likely to be adopted. The chances
of an older cat being adopted are much less, which makes me even
angrier when I think of what happened to Kona. There is more to the
story than what is on the website and it doesn't reflect well on the
former parents. The whole thing started, as it sometimes does, when
Kona's mom got remarried to someone who apparently was a real jerk.
I'm just glad to be able to give Kona the kind of home he needs-poor
guy was just miserable in a shelter environment, even one as good as
the one he was in. He didn't get the kind of attention he was
probably used to and went into a shell to an extent. He's come out of
it to a large extent. I don't think Avery was at the shelter for very
long and he appeared to have adapted to the environment there a bit
better, although in hindsight I can see that he felt more of a need
for attention nonstop when he was in the shelter than he does now that
he's settled in a bit in a home of his own.


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.


That's still pretty neat, though. It's amazing how there is an
inverse relationship between the cost of what the cats play with and
how much they enjoy playing with the item. Buy them an expensive toy
and they ignore it. give them a bottle cap and they're in hog heaven.

Poor Kona to be abandoned like that. I'm so very glad that this story has a
happy ending!
Lots of best wishes and purrs,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"CajunPrincess" wrote in message
om...
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)
snip

Condolences on the passing of Prissy.

Congratulations on adopting Kona and Avery (since Kona is named after
coffee, maybe you can continue the theme and re-name Avery after a
type of coffee bean? tee hee - a cat called "Mocha Kenya"!).

We have two kittens (they're a year old now, but still kittens) -
Spocky and Perstephanie. Spocky has never played fetch, but
Perstephanie *loves* to fetch and has done so ever since she was a
tiny kitten. She will fetch a wide range of things, but her absolute
favourites (British spelling) are grey toy mousies. She will fetch
for up to about 45 minutes at a time. Strange cat! If I throw it
somewhere inaccessible to her she will hunt for it (talking all the
time) for a surprisingly long time before she gives up and comes back
to me to ask me to retrieve it for her.

She is a bit in my bad books this morning as she has just destroyed a
window fly-wire screen. *sigh* I thought they had grown out of that!

Tish

"CajunPrincess" wrote in message
om...
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.

Bunter taught me to play fetch when he was a kitten. His favorite toy for
this game was a strip of cardboard.
Brenda

Tia was a fantastic fetcher until just a little while ago. I have a
longish hallway that's always littered with toy mice, ping pong balls
and screwed up bits of paper and she used to pick up whatever took her
fancy, drop it at my feet and then pat my knee or foot to attract my
attention. I'd then chuck it up the hall and she'd tackle it, monster
it for a while and then bring it back so we could do it again.

She's now two and a half and is much more interested in me doing the
active part of playing although she's currently fond of diving in and
out of a pile of tinsel I threw on the floor in the middle of spring
cleaning and couldn't face putting away because she enjoys it so much.

Vicki

It sounds like Kona is finally home. I looked at the website for your vet
and I have to tell you. I think your vet's website is fantastic. I really
like the first aid information they had online. Looks like you have a
great vet.

I hope you have many great years with these two furbabies. I hope you will
be setting up a website with pics soon.

Purrs,

fuga

CajunPrincess wrote:

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.



Jim's cat, Honor, was a drop off at TED. However her humans had enough
guts to bring the kittens in, get the mother spayed and arrange for TED
to adopt them out. I wish our area had a low cost spay/neuter program,
but it doesn't. Seems kinda primitive for an area with over 150,000
people living in it, doesn't it?

We see all too many feral colonies, and drive-by drop-offs even here in
the suburbs.

Pam S.

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)



Welcome to the group. Kona and Avery sound sweet and totally charming.
I'm looking forward to reading more stories about them.

Why not compile a list of names and try them out of Avery? Dave
Stevenson http://blakjak.com/sty_menu.htm and Flippy
http://www.flippyscatpage.com/ have pages with cat names on them. I'd
pick out the ones I like and try them out on the cat and see which he
likes. But then I like Cleveland Armory's version of cat naming, which
is essentially the same.

Pam S.