CURIOUS CREATURES

CURIOUSITY KILLED THE CAT .....

I hope we never find that to be true with our cats ANGEL and GARFIELD. They are part of the furniture here at our house. My daughter is mother to these 2. They are sweet cats really and have quite different natures.

ANGEL is older than GARFIELD and I've post about him here before.

ANGEL is the quieter of the two cats.

GARFIELD tends to like a lot of attention.

Eventually when it suits them, they both like to be patted.

DOGS HAVE MASTERS, CATS HAVE SERVANTS.

I think this saying could be true.

Cats can be very aloof and often will ignore you until they are ready to be patted or fed. It's all about their own good time.

They also like to hide in places and stay away .... like ANGEL inside the clothes dryer and GARFIELD up on top of the cupboard, and yet he looks down curiously at what you are doing. Somehow joining in but not totally participating.

ANGEL'S ANNIVERSARY

For anyone who has been following my blog you may remember that one of my first posts was about Angel our cat, or Lord Schmuck as he is affectionally known. On the 25th of January Angel has been with our family for 1 year. Miss A (17y/old daughter) is his mum and she tells him all the time that I am his grandma. It's actually quite funny, but any of you who know my daughter will know that she is a very innocent girl (my Asperger child), that absolutely loves her cat and treats him like a child. One of her obsessions is animals and I'm sure she thinks that Angel is almost human - Miss A talks to him and tells me that he understands everything that she says.

Anyone who knows about Asperger Syndrome will know that these children/adults have many sensory issues.....and Miss A is in sensory overload most of the time.

Truly though, he is one of the most gentle and affectionate cats that I have ever had in my home. He is just gorgeous. He is so placid and he will just lay in your arms while you pat him. He doesn't try to jump out of your arms and just laps up all the attention.

He loves sitting on top of the washing machine in the laundry.....and even when it's madly spinning he just lays there and seems to enjoy the ride!! If I put miss A's clothes on top of the machine prior to washing them he will get up on top of the washing machine and sit on top of them. Miss A says it's because when she is not there he can smell her ....makes sense. Makes sense to miss A because she says that when she is not with me if she has something of mine with her she feels like I am there. I think that's sweet....

To the Animal Companions in our lives

I had a friend come online a little while ago to chat to me on messenger to tell me that she had had to have her cat put to sleep tonight. Her cat was 19 years old. She was crying and talked about how she had been with the cat when the vet euthanaised her. As she talked to me I could feel her pain at the sadness of losing a animal companion that she had shared so much time with.

I totally understood how she feels because when we were growing up we had a little dog that my dad brought home one day and held her in the palm of his hand.....she was a fox terrier cross and we called her Midge. She was particularly special to us because my father was killed when I was almost seven years old and so she was a memory of my father in a way. Oh how we loved that little dog. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew her. If she wasn't sitting in our yard, she went next door. She was happiest when she was around people. She slept in the house and most often slept on or in our beds.

I don't honestly know how she survived to be an adult dog. We all loved to dress her up and push her around in the dolls pram, or we'd put her in the wheelbarrow and wheel her around the back yard or down the street. The worst thing that ever happened to her was that my brothers decided one day that they were going to teach her tricks and so they tried to teach her to climb a ladder. Well it never did quite work and when she finally fell off the ladder she broke her leg. I'm not sure how much it cost my mother to go to the vet that day, but I can tell you she was none too happy.

If you were sad or happy there she would be right beside you. If you were sad it was almost as though she understood that you were sad. You could tell her your deepest fear, or saddest moment and she seemed to listen and just be there for you.

Well the day finally came that she got ill and we were told by the vet that she was dying. He said that we could take her home, but that when certain things happened it would be the end of her time and then she would probably be in pain. He said that the kindest thing to do would be to put her to sleep then so that she didn't have to suffer any longer.

Sure we cried a lot, and wished that we didn't have to do it, but in the end we knew that it was the kindest thing to do. So off we went to the vet with her. The vet said that it would be quick and that she would just go off to sleep. While we all stood around the vet took care of everything else and very quickly she slipped into a peaceful sleep at which time her heart ceased to beat. Midge was 13 years old......much older in dog years.

We were all sad, but knew in the end that we had done the kindest thing for her. I imagine at that moment when she slipped from this world to the next she was running around in fields of green grass and she was once again the happy little dog that I knew from my childhood.

So to my friend D, I have written this little story in memory of your precious animal companion Jacqui and all the joy and happiness that she brought to you in her lifetime. May she be in the next life, young again, running, sleeping and playing as she did in her younger days. I know that you will miss her and it will take time to get over her passing. You will never forget her and she will always be in your heart. She had a good life.

UPDATE ON LORD SCHMUCK

Well this cat really does have the life. What I wouldn't give to just lying around all day doing nothing. Sleeping .....now that would be a nice way to pass the time away.

Angel is such a relaxed cat. He lives in our laundry and is very happy to be there all day. When he comes into the lounge room he is quite happy to just lie on your knee or sit next to you and purr to his hearts cotent.

He is definately a people cat and I don't think he would cope with a feline companion.....even though his mum Miss A has suggested that we get another cat. He is definately a one family cat...and that means only one cat in the family.

He has such a cute personality and is very affectionate. Often cats are not that affectionate and would rather live soliary lives. Not this young man!!! He is quite happy to sit with us and join in and will just stay there for hours if he can.

He is definately my kind of cat !!

He does ocasionally make an effort to do some sort of exercise although it is very minimal at best.

WHAT A CAT !!!!!!