Foxy encounters.............

Pets and wild animals seem to have a healthy respect for each other. Their lives skirt around each others' and they appear to try to avoid confrontation, unless it is accidental. One of the wild creatures I love are foxes but I was scared Jonesy would meet one while out on his jaunts. To be honest we tried to keep him in at night, especially when we could hear the foxes at night, mating. They were far too well fed on our discarded rubbish to be bothered by a cat, but who knows what a cornered frightened animal will do....and foxes are bigger than cats! To be honest I used to blame Jonesy for the torn rubbish bags and scattered chicken bones but having found fox dung in the garden it could have equally been one of them?
We live right in the middle of town but close to a river bank and open fields. There are foxes living in the area, and I know this because I have seen them regularly. Once in the early ours of the morning while going round the corner to our parked car, in the next road, my husband and I make a young fox jump as he stood on the pavement. Another time I was coming back from a night out, again in the very early hours of the morning, and I chanced upon a fox simply sitting in the middle of the road, again round the corner. I crouched down and talked to it in a low voice, probably hoping I could coax it nearer, but it ran off. The third time was about 8am and I was sipping coffee and looking out of the bedroom window at the garden. I could not believe my eyes as this large fox sauntered across the garage roof at the end of our garden and hopped into next door. There were clearly people around but the fox did not seem bothered. Only once was I aware Jonesy was in the garden at the same time as a fox, and that was when I heard a fox barking very close by, late at night, and within a minute or so Jonesy shot through our bedroom window. We had a flat roofed conservatory below our bedroom window, and if Jonesy would not come back when we called at night we would leave the window open. At some point in the night he would scrabble onto the fence by the conservatory, haul himself onto the roof and then leap onto the window sill. If the window was not open he would howl until we woke up and let him in. I must admit to hating it when he was young and he would be off out for hours.It was sometimes difficult to realise he was not responding to our calls or racing back home. Of course later we realised he was either being pampered down the caravan park, or being spoilt by the elderly lady in the next road, but at the time I hated it. I would pace for ages and go in and out to call Jonesy. It must have driven the neighbours mad, although a few of them also used to say they were worried when either my husband or I did this because they knew he was not home! Such was the love Jonesy instilled in the neighbour hood. Still, foxes and cats don't like each other much, so I preferred to know Jonesy was home at night.
While we were away we had the interesting experience. One night, in the early hours, we were woken by an almighty racket...the howling, yapping and barking noise of what turned out to be a fox. This went  on for around an hour as the fox simply say in the middle of the road for a while, ran for a few yards and then ran back and sat down again. Something probably was spooking this fox but it was eerie, yet wonderful, to hear such a wild animal so close to humanity. I haven't heard the foxes near us for a while but spring will be here soon so they will be around. At least Ripley and Peanut don't even move from the sofa at night so we don't have to worry about them encountering foxes!

cat rules dog!.........

Today I am off to spend a few days away with my husband. We are off to the world of Hemel to see my in-laws...and leave the son in charge of the cats. They will be howling their annoyance by the time we get back, lol. Cats are animals of habit and don't appreciate change. Move some furniture, or add a new ornament to the house, and they will be sniffing around it suspiciously within two seconds. We have always had cats in our family. My parents and my English grandparents always had cats. My German grandparents had dogs, and I only realised this when I recently saw some photos. Funny how you don't think about it until something like an old picture crops up.
Now my in laws tend to be 'dog people'. They had a cat each time, along with the dogs, but generally the cat ruled the house! My husband's grandparents always had dogs...and one cat. Funny that? I always feel cats and dogs don't get along but actually it seems they do, as long as 'boss' is sorted. Generally it seems the cat ends up boss. My in laws have not got their dogs any more as sadly they died but it was such a shock for me the first time I went to their house. Having an Alsation bark i your face as he dopiest know you....even a friendly soppy one...is pretty scary if you are cat orientated, lol? The funny thing is that when we all get together and end up talking about our pets we all sound the same.......yeah the cat sits by his food and ignores it.........yeah the dog sits by his food and ignores it........oh the cat needed his tummy scratched......ah the dog wanted his tummy scratched.....I could even see similar characteristics in the dog to Jonesy. Weird? The only difference is that cats allow you to do these things and dogs just do these things. cats are far more aloof and touchy, lol. I think that's what I like most about cats. They are independent and when they give you their love you know you have won them over for life. Maybe I am wrong but most dogs just want love full stop..........but then aren't all cats and dogs are wonderful for the affections and love they give to us humans.

Cat in a tub territory............

Right from the word go Jonesy was boss cat of the local area......except for the big bruiser of an old black and white cat who lived around the next road. My he was huge....and neither was he 'done'!!! Hence the reason both Peanut and Ripley got pregnant before we even realised they were in season. Then again, without that black and white cat we would never have had the joy of Jonesy, Cepha or Tank, and what a wonderful experience that has been. I must say that many a time we would all go running into the garden to shout for Jonesy because of the howling and caterwauling we could hear......Jonesy and that bruiser fought often and hard and there were many a cut to prove it. Actually I am surprised he never got hurt more than he did considering the size of his foe, but Jonesy obviously had guts...or the stupidity... enough to stand his ground. One day we realised the old black and white cat hadn't been seen for a while, so he must have passed away? Jonesy was finally boss cat of the area.
Being boss cat meant checking out his territory every day and Jonesy had a good routine. Wake at the crack of dawn, eat, wash and saunter off to check around. Generally he had been out for a good half an hour before my husband and I would leave for work and by that time we would usually see him sat in someone's garden in the next road, or sauntering off down to the caravan park (see a previous blog post). But his favourite place to be was next door in the neighbour's garden. Oh yes, next door marking his territory in their pot plants! I will always remember a conversation I had, over the fence, with the elderly neighbour. Ripley and Peanut never wandered far but Jonesy definitely did, and Cepha and Tank would at least sun themselves next door. The garden was their pride and joy, with beautifully kept lawn and hedges, and wonderful flowering tubs. As boss cat Jonesy would carefully make his mark all around the garden.....and sit smack bang in the middle of one of the prize tubs! It was like he knew he shouldn't but couldn't and pretty much every day we could hear the shoo shoo of the neighbour to get him off the tubs. This action prompted me to peer over the fence one day and apologise profusely about the cats and their damage. "How many cats have you got"? asked the neighbour. "Five" I replied. She almost fell over and the repeated gasp of "Five" did cause me to giggle. I suppose five cats was a little excessive?
It took years for Jonesy to stop planting himself on the beautiful flowering tubs to sleep, and years for our neighbour to become accustomed to him being around. Interestingly their relationship really developed a few years ago when our neighbour's husband died. She came round one day to tell us how much of a comfort Jonesy was to her. What a surprise, considering we had thought the cats a nuisance to her? Apparently, one day she had been alone, sunning herself in the garden. She had been feeling very lonely, and sad, and then suddenly Jonesy appeared. He lay down beside her and stayed all afternoon. Her had never done it before, and yet she told me it was as if he knew she needed company. All summer, and every summer after, he would spend his time in the afternoons with her in the garden, weather permitting.
I know my neighbour will miss Jonesy this summer.......

Cheesy Wotsits rule, okay..............

Cat's eat all sorts. The girls are no exception. Jonesy definably was no exception. By this I mean 'all sorts of rubbish'. What cats definitely don't do is eat the cat food you buy! They are devious creatures, lol, and will catch you unaware by eating the food you have bought for  few days, sometimes even a week or so...........and then they won't! The pathetic howls of anguish that you have given them the same make of food for more than two days is pitiful to hear. My cats would get all excited when the crunchie box was rattled, or the tin opener appeared. How exciting! Food was coming. Yummy. I would carefully place the bowl of food down onto the mat and stand back all pleased with myself. I have to say Jonesy cat would generally woolf it down as he was a 'gut bucket'. Peanut on the other hand, is the worst cat in the world for this.......even now she will race to the food dish, after meowing her head off that she was starving and hadn't been fed for all of ten minutes, sniff the food in the dish, and then cock her head at us, sit down and meow all over again. It was as if she is saying "How could you give me this? You call this food? I don't like this! It's the same as ten minutes ago!" Ripley and Jonesy would cotton on, and then you would have all three cats turning their noses up at the food. No amount of ignoring them and leaving the same food down would work. My husband and I would hold an amazing conversation with the cats. "It's all you are getting"....... "Meow" ....."Eat it"......"Meowwwwwww"......."There is nothing else"......"meowwwwwww, hoooowwwwllll"......This impasse would end with both human and cat stalking off in opposite directions ignoring the food. Any human sneakily peering round the corner of a door would catch a cat munching away until they realised someone was around and then it would start all over again. "Ah caught you eating it"......"Meow? I think not!"....."Yes you were definitely eating it".........."Meow, you are seeing things"........"You will get nothing more" ..... "Meowwwww" ....... Oh joy!!
Jonesy, being the gut bucket, would forage. It didn't matter that he had been given food two minutes earlier, and actually eaten it. Out he would go, into the wide world, to hunt. Well maybe not hunt! He would scavenge, generally in any rubbish bag left out by some unsuspecting person. If it contained chicken, meat, fish or any such food. One sniff at ten paces and Jonesy would have pinpointed it. We used to try and place our bin bags on top of the bin if it was full, and double bag them, to try and stop him. It never worked. Going outside would end up like the Hansel and Gretel story....follow the trail of chicken bones and you will find Jonesy at the end of it. How he didn't get a bone stuck in his throat I will never know?
Now Cepha was a whole other kettle of fish. He liked vegetables, broccoli in particular. Didn't matter if it was raw or cooked, he ate it. When we had Sunday roasts, and the cats would wander around desperate for some scraps, he would turn up his nose at the meat and eat the greens. Weird cat?
Then there is the 'junk food'. Oh yes indeed. The smell and rustle of Cheesy Wotsits would send Jonesy into raptures. He would go totally mad until you gave him one. In fact if you weren't careful his nose would end up in the packet and he would help himself. Okay it's probably not the best food to give a cat, but one now and again is okay I think? Cheeses and onion crisps had the same effect on him. Ripley still loves cake, crab sticks and cheese. Peanut likes cheese but is not bothered about the rest unless she is in the right mood. Oh yes indeed, we have junk food addict cats!!

Cat-in-a-box............

Cats are like young children...........place a box on the floor and you find one of them in it pretty soon! I have no idea why but I have a picture of me in a box when I was young, a picture of one of my sons in a box when he was young, and a picture of one of my cats in a box, so it is a true statement, I promise you.
Yesterday I watched in amusement as Ripley set about, with great determination, to get into a box. The sun lounge was warm in the winter sunlight, and she obviously wanted to laze about comfortably, so she headed for a small box tucked in by the side of a chest of drawers. This box had some plastic packing material inside so she painstakingly snagged it with her claws and yanked it out, squeezed herself in the box and snoozed noisily within minutes. Well, the box was important so I lifted her out, placed the packing material back in, and replaced the box. I had barely turned my back when she was at it again, snagging the packing material and yanking it out....and settling in the box. This little scenario happened four times before I did the sensible thing and hid the box. Poor cat! She did settle on a cushion in the end.
Funny enough Peanut never seems to have done this and seems quite content to suddenly crash on a sofa or bed. It's probably because she is so small and we would trod on her if she was asleep in the middle of the floor (and I think we have, in the past, to be honest).  Maybe she hasn't climbed into a box because the other cats always beat her to it? Jonesy and Ripley would always end up asleep in the most awkward of places....like the middle of a stair, or the middle of the kitchen floor, or on the computer keyboard. As for boxes? Leave one lying around and usually Jonesy was first to leap in. If he wasn't first, he was still soon in the box, due either to the fact he had landed on one of the others because he didn't know they were actually already in the box......or he did know they were in the box, wanted to get in the box, and wanted them out of the box!! This was generally accompanied by lots of hissing and spitting and yowling by the ousted cat, but being boss cat had advantages sometimes.
Having one cat inside a box, and one cat outside a box, made for entertainment of another kind. One cat would attack the edge of the box. The cat on the other side of the cardboard would dive for that place. Scrabbling and shredding and banging, and all sorts of growls, would sound the alarm that this game would all end in tears. Sure enough, one cat would get far too boisterous and the other one would end up having a hissy spitting fit and stalk off. Amusing for humans to watch, and annoying when the fur was flying around as you had to clear it up!
Give a cat......or a child for that matter....the choice between an empty box and some carefully chosen expensive toys, guess which would be picked? Oh yes, the box wins every time. By the way, the same goes for empty washing baskets!

Rainbow Bridge....

It's strange but I never thought a social network site like Facebook would bring a smile to my face when I am having a 'Jonesy Moment' but today exactly that happened.......... 

I popped onto Facebook this afternoon and a picture from this site https://www.facebook.com/CatsareAwesomeAnimalsDoYouAgree caught my eye. When you are cat mad.....and my sons call me 'The Mad Cat Woman', especially when I used to walk around with Jonesy on my shoulder like a baby.....any picture of a cat stops you in your tracks. I spent a short while "cooing" and "ahhhing" at the pictures, and then saw an album which brought tears to my eyes. I suppose this album made me realise that there are other people out there, in the world, that also feel the loss of their pet in the same way as I do. I am not being daft, and I am not alone. Phew....no need for me to duck the strange looks from non animal mad people then?? The picture album on the site was called ..........


RAINBOW BRIDGE...OUR KITTIES MEMORIAL ALBUM
 'This memorial album is to share our love of our furbabies who have passed over the Rainbow Bridge.


We can support each other and acknowledge our grief and our love for our kitties who have 
passed.'

I will confess to having a quiet grizzle after reading the words below but it also did me good. I had a smile on my face as I posted a picture of Jonesy to join the others and I finally feel comfortable with my grief! One person asked how long does it take to recover from the loss of a beloved pet..........I think it takes as long as you need and want. After all, those pets have shared some amazing times with us......... 

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigour, those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.

~ Author Unknown~

Psychic cats, and all that telepathy..........

What has happened? I have had this blog in my head for days yet haven't managed to post anything! To be honest I have had no time....and I have been unwell. Hey ho, lol, but today is a new day!!
I had all sorts of ideas on what to write today, but a news article caught my eye yesterday and made me curious. It was in the Daily Mail...

Is your pet psychic? A Cambridge scientist believes we have only seen the beginning of animals' telepathic powers 

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2084017/A-Cambridge-scientist-believes-seen-beginning-animals-telepathic-powers.html
• 
  
• It was a very interesting item and some I already knew about, like animals seeming to sense impending earthquakes, or other disasters. The bits I found more interesting were, for example, about animals knowing when their owners were due home from work, or simply being out. Animals knowing they were going to the vets. Animals knowing their owners were ill, or had died. 
• because Jonesy and I had such empathy I have tried to think about how he behaved when I was ill, or when I was due to come home. I work varied shifts so there was no way Jonesy could learn my home-coming habits. So did he know when I was due to come home? Certainly, my sons have told me, he used to sit bolt upright, and wait expectantly, when my husband left in the car to collect me....or he would sit patiently by the food bowl until we were home!! But is this because he associated the noise of the car leaving the drive with us going out, and then returning? Did we somehow have certain habits, like putting our coats on, for a cat to learn we were going out and then returning? I have no idea whether Jonesy would be prepared for our return close to us actually coming home, or wait once we had gone out, even if it was hours? 
• Jonesy certainly knew when I was ill. He would sit with me for hours, only to hop off for a bite to eat and then come straight back. But was this because he had my sole attention, even when I was asleep? I have to say that even if I was restless he would still stay with me. But then again I think he stayed with any of us if we were ill. Having a cat around when you feel under the weather is rather soothing. I know if I felt 'down' Jonesy would always be around and I think the action of stroking his fur and whispering my thoughts in his ear was mutually comforting. 
• I would like to think that Jonesy was 'psychic' and knew more than I give him credit for, but maybe I am being deluded as I miss him so much? I just do not have the same relationship with the girls, Ripley and Peanut, however much I try to cuddle and stroke them. Don't get me wrong as I adore them, but the way I felt about Jonesy was different. Maybe it's like having a favourite? On that note, do cats know they are a favourite? Oh dear....I must pamper the girls more!!!!

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Cepha, storm chaser cat............

I know I have written a lot about Jonesy, and some about the two girls, Ripley and Peanut, but we also had two other cats at the same time as Jonesy's reign. I will write about Tank in another post as we all have found memories of him, but today the terrible stormy weather has reminded me that I want to mention Cepha.
Cepha...C fa....(it means C for cat)...say it fast and it makes sense, honestly! I think we believed we were being clever when we thought up his name, but maybe not? He was definitely one laid back cat dude. He was a beautiful cream colour that I have never seen before, or since, and he was graceful and languid in his movements. In fact Cepha had a way of staring at the other cats, and even his humans, like he was looking down on them. A little like the character Lord Snooty, just so you get the idea. His nose would point in the air and he would fix you with his green eyes and boy did you feel inferior. Basically he went about his life in a very chilled out way and it took a lot to annoy him. Jonesy, of course, wanted to be 'boss cat' and Cepha was another male, albeit a pretty laid back male. You will know, from past posts, that Jonesy ordered the girl cats about. He also ordered Tank about, but he never quite could order Cepha about. For a while Cepha would tolerate Jonesy's growls, and eye balling, and general stroppy 'I want to sit right where you are sitting' moments, and then he would react like lightening. We nicknamed him 'Cepha big paws' in the end (sounds like a song title?) because he would sit, and sit, and sit, staring at Jonesy's pouncing, and boss posing, and then he would simply whack him two or three times round the head really fast, with his paw. Jonesy would be left dazed, literally shaking his head, and would slouch off in disgust. Cepha never stood up to do the paw whacks, but simply stayed sitting, and afterwards he would just carry on either washing himself, or whatever he was doing. Jonesy never learned to leave Cepha alone, and would always push the boundaries, and Cepha would whack him fast every single time!!
As I said, the stormy weather today reminded me of Cepha, because he would have been sat on the lawn in the back garden right at the height of it all. Most sensible cats stay out of the wind and rain......the girls certainly stay indoors unless it is full blown sunshine, Tank preferred an easy life which did not involve getting wet, and until the last few months of his life, Jonesy would sprint back home doing 90 miles an hour if it even started to spit with rain. Cepha seemed to love the rain. He would deliberately go outside as bad weather approached. Even if it was thundering and lightening we would have to coax him to come back indoors. He would sit there, getting wetter and wetter, and yet looking for all the world like he was in his element. We would have to actually carry him indoors quite often, although he never protested at us doing that, and rub him dry with towels. As I said, Jonesy behaved in a similar manner as he became ill. He would sit outside under a bush or a table and watch the rain, keeping dry but still in the middle of it all. Obviously the last few weeks of his life he preferred to stay close to home and keep warm in the sun, or indoors, but looking back his behaviour was similar to Cepha's. You see Cepha suffered from epilepsy, which became worse and worse as he got older. In the beginning he would simply howl as the 'episode' started and dribble and hide in a corner. It was distressing for us to watch as nothing would help. We would simply stay close and try to murmur words of comfort. As he got older his fits made his whole body shake as he collapsed, and they became more distressing. The vets were unable to help, and told us that probably we would have to make a decision to have him put down eventually. It was a constant worry to us that Cepha would one day have a major fit outside away from us, and would die, and we would not be with him. In the end, though, and very sadly, one day he began to fit and would not stop.....we raced him to the vets but he died there. We were with him right at the end, and for that we are grateful, but it was a very upsetting time. I often wonder if Cepha found the air in a storm somehow more comfortable, especially when he was feeling ill, and that is why he stayed outside? Maybe Jonesy felt that too? I suppose we will never know, but it would be interesting to hear if anyone else's cat behaved the same as Cepha and Jonesy?