Hi there everyone!!
I've actually been a member for about a year I think, but I had to stop dropping by, cos my employer began a harsh IT Monitoring and Email policy and I had to stop spending time on my favourite site, which took away some of the joy of going to work. I always take 100 years to do things - but finally we're on the net at home, and you'll probably hear a lot more from me So if you don't' mind - I'm going to be a bit boring and introduce myself and catperson again.
I grew up with cats. In my recollection my parents never ever bought a cat - they were always in need of a home for some reason or other, and most of them lived long and comfortable lives as part of our family. I had never owned my own cat though, and now I am proud to be continuing this family habit:
I got Tiki in February last year - an 8 year old Siamese blue point who desperately needed somewhere to live. My father stumbled across her - as he has a tendency to do with stray and unwanted animals, and as he wasn't in a position to take her - he thought of me. Thanks dad! She lived with a family and to be fair she wasn't ill-treated, but very much ignored. Her male owner apparently had bought her as a kitten and he loved her. He then got married and his wife loathed her - and so she was relegated forever to be an outside kitty during the day, and locked up in an outside garage at night. They were going to be moving interstate and into an apartment and the wife refused to take the cat with them. They were on the verge of surrendering her when my dad volunteered my home. The man took her over to my parent's home and dropped her off complete with basket, and used kitty litter. He was quite tearful about saying goodbye. How sad that he couldn't keep her. I picked her up about a week later and took her to my cramped one bedroom flat in the inner city. My man was not very impressed. He had issues with 'cats' as environmental destroyers, he's a dog person and he was worried that she'd be a problem anytime we wanted to go away. I talked him around or I probably just said "Tough. She's staying" She adapted to being an indoor cat so easily I was surprised. She was definitely an 'edgy cat' for the first few months. She'd stalk around and never stay still for long. She liked to sit on people but wasn't very relaxed about it. She'd be alert and her tail would swish, but she started to improve after a while. Then Rolf and I got married in July last year and moved in a house in a bushy outer suburb of Sydney, but she is still an indoor cat because there are lots of birds and frogs in the area, and I think it's safer. Just after we got married her behaviour got seriously bad. She was cranky and edgy and developed diarrhea and terrible toilet habits. I was beside myself, but just before we took her off to the vet, it was suggested to me to take her off canned food which I did and she now has a diet of dried food in the morning and raw kangaroo food at night and the difference in her is amazing. She's a different cat. She's gorgeous. Rolf has also come around - he's finding that cats are a lot more interesting than he thought. She talks to him as Siamese do, she plays games, she snuggles up to him and now he can't imagine life without her. He even defends her when she does something naughty and I'm not pleased with her. Although I've had some tough times with her, it's been more rewarding than I can say. And now I better go cos she's sitting right in front of me and tapping my lip with her paw because she wants me to feed her.
Thanks guys. I'm so pleased to be back on the cat-site. I love this forum - every person and every feline is fabulous. I'm looking forward to reading more about the cats n' the hood.
Cheers
I've actually been a member for about a year I think, but I had to stop dropping by, cos my employer began a harsh IT Monitoring and Email policy and I had to stop spending time on my favourite site, which took away some of the joy of going to work. I always take 100 years to do things - but finally we're on the net at home, and you'll probably hear a lot more from me So if you don't' mind - I'm going to be a bit boring and introduce myself and catperson again.
I grew up with cats. In my recollection my parents never ever bought a cat - they were always in need of a home for some reason or other, and most of them lived long and comfortable lives as part of our family. I had never owned my own cat though, and now I am proud to be continuing this family habit:
I got Tiki in February last year - an 8 year old Siamese blue point who desperately needed somewhere to live. My father stumbled across her - as he has a tendency to do with stray and unwanted animals, and as he wasn't in a position to take her - he thought of me. Thanks dad! She lived with a family and to be fair she wasn't ill-treated, but very much ignored. Her male owner apparently had bought her as a kitten and he loved her. He then got married and his wife loathed her - and so she was relegated forever to be an outside kitty during the day, and locked up in an outside garage at night. They were going to be moving interstate and into an apartment and the wife refused to take the cat with them. They were on the verge of surrendering her when my dad volunteered my home. The man took her over to my parent's home and dropped her off complete with basket, and used kitty litter. He was quite tearful about saying goodbye. How sad that he couldn't keep her. I picked her up about a week later and took her to my cramped one bedroom flat in the inner city. My man was not very impressed. He had issues with 'cats' as environmental destroyers, he's a dog person and he was worried that she'd be a problem anytime we wanted to go away. I talked him around or I probably just said "Tough. She's staying" She adapted to being an indoor cat so easily I was surprised. She was definitely an 'edgy cat' for the first few months. She'd stalk around and never stay still for long. She liked to sit on people but wasn't very relaxed about it. She'd be alert and her tail would swish, but she started to improve after a while. Then Rolf and I got married in July last year and moved in a house in a bushy outer suburb of Sydney, but she is still an indoor cat because there are lots of birds and frogs in the area, and I think it's safer. Just after we got married her behaviour got seriously bad. She was cranky and edgy and developed diarrhea and terrible toilet habits. I was beside myself, but just before we took her off to the vet, it was suggested to me to take her off canned food which I did and she now has a diet of dried food in the morning and raw kangaroo food at night and the difference in her is amazing. She's a different cat. She's gorgeous. Rolf has also come around - he's finding that cats are a lot more interesting than he thought. She talks to him as Siamese do, she plays games, she snuggles up to him and now he can't imagine life without her. He even defends her when she does something naughty and I'm not pleased with her. Although I've had some tough times with her, it's been more rewarding than I can say. And now I better go cos she's sitting right in front of me and tapping my lip with her paw because she wants me to feed her.
Thanks guys. I'm so pleased to be back on the cat-site. I love this forum - every person and every feline is fabulous. I'm looking forward to reading more about the cats n' the hood.
Cheers
