Siblings

Jura and Tobermory came from a litter of six. Their mother had fallen on her feet after a tragic start and had the kittens in a nice warm home where she was loved. The Kittens all found homes we became the proud owners(servants) of two glorious bundles of fur and the friend who had told us about them had one of their brothers. Their Brother also a whisky fan was named Talisker. The breed that they belong to is a very intelligent breed great at working things out for themselves. For example Tobermory has worked out that water comes from the tap and that if he pushes the tap he will get water out of it, the only thing is he hasn't got the strength to turn it on and is so far frustrated. Talisker their brother is also very intelligent as you will see. Jura and Tobermory keep in touch with their brother Talisker and his new feline brothers and sisters via email, catching up with their latest adventures and escapades. The emails below show just how ingenuious they can be. Character list Jura ..................... Our little girl Tobermory ............ Our little boy Talisker 1 ............ Our white and totoishell female Talisker 2 ............ Tobermory and Jura's brother living with mum and dads friends Salem.................. Talisker 2's new feline sister with extra toes Tornado ................ Talisker 2's new feline brother Pipestrelle ............ Talisker 2's new feline brother Tadpole ................ Talisker 2's new feline sister Dearest brother Tobermoray and Sister Jura, together with your feline helpers Oban, Sprocket and Talisker1, I am writing this with the help of Salem, she being a reasonable scribe, and having an understanding of computer things. She is blessed with the additional 8 toes so puts herself in a higher class of underling. My female human tells me that your female human is writing a 'blog' - according to Salem, this is something like a scratch pole, but where you can air your opinions. My female human was in fits of laughter over that most dreaded of events - the application of flea medicine. As if the process itself is not enough of an afront to dignity! Anyway, I have found myself to be in a bit of a 'situation' and wonder if you have any theories. The story goes like this: Last week I woke up in the middle of the night feeling hungary. (Salem - are you sure that that is how the feeling is spelt?) I know the female human puts biscuits down for us at night - but I really felt like something a bit more substantial. And heree I just know your are going to critisise me, and I know all the books say you should not let your human share your bed - but she is good to snuggle up to in the night, and she looked so peaceful sleeping, I decided to go on a food finding expedition of my own. Between the food bowl room and the back door room there is, high on the wall, a cage full of ready meals (she calls them Zebra Finches). I can jump up and hang on the bars looking at these, but for some reason I cannot work out, the sliding access door is always kept shut. Remembering I did not want to wake my female human with requests for meat, I resourcefully jumped on the cage bars, and with one from paw holding on, my two back paws braced against the bottom of the cage, I managed to use my left paw to push up the door. The ready meals then started bouncing about the cage and I was able to catch two of them. How clever is that? The feathery wrapping was a bit of a nuisance, it gets up your nose, but the ready meals themselves were most delicious. Starting to feel sleepy after the excertion and the big meal, I just had time arrange the feather wrapping and the bones so that the female human could get the full impact of my resourcefulness, before I went back upstairs to bed and to a well earned sleep. Now comes the strange bit, when she got up and went downstairs she was not one little bit grateful!!. In fact she seemed quite cross and, would you believe it, upset!! I just do not understand it, it, it is quite unfathomable. She seems to have calmed down a bit now as she has bought me a new bed. It has four tall carved posts at each corner, a tall carved headboard and a carved high foot board. Oooh all that lovely wood!! Only problem is it is very shiny and very hard - not all that suited for scratching at all! Oh well, I suppose she is trying to be nice and butter me up. Butter, now there's an idea, I am pretty sure I saw a pat being defrosted in the back door room, taking Salem to investigate further. Bye for now............... Talisker2 xxxxx Hello Bro How are you and your family doing? We are great although I am a bitmiffed with my owners. They won't let me out of the bedroom window anymore. I tell you Bro its amazing, I can get out of the window onto the bathroom roof then onto the main house roof. The views are great I can see the street out at the front or see across into the big posh house gardens at the back. Okay I am a bit accident prone and have been known to fall of the pattern in the carpet but that was no reason to stop my fun. I am not that clumsy, the bruise from when I jumped into the bathroom sink and missed is fading, I just don't know what all the fuss is about. Tobermory our Brother is turning into a heavy weight. He was weighed the other day and he weighed in at 5 kilos and he is still growing, where as I only weigh 3.5 Kilos. I am getting close to Socks the oldest cat, he is not very well, Mum and Dad have taken him to the vets but the vet says he is just getting old. Mum wants to take him back to the old vets because she thinks its more than getting old. I have to admit he doesn't seem like his old self. I have been having a mad dash around the house this morning. We have a string curtain at the back door and I love dashing in and out attacking the last string. Mum has been telling every one about your predeliction for Zebra Finches and everyone is amazed. Mum wanted to know if you would mind her cutting and pasting your taleabout the Zebra Finches into the next blog. So we can boast about what the rest of the family are up to. I have taken up collecting. A few gardens away the small humans have some balls which I really like. I keep collecting them and bringing them home. There are pink ones green ones. Mum and Dad call them splat balls and keep throwing them back, how mean is that. Lots of love Jura and all the other cats and Mum and Dad Hi Bro, Hi Sis Mum is now sorting home and contents insurance on the phone so we have full access to the computer. I promised you the next step in the tale of the zebra finches if you remember. After I had had my supper feast, various attachements appeared on the cage. ie, several lengths of green garden twine to keep the door fastened - this was easy to get rid of though, in fact the ready meals themselves helped by pulling and fraying it from the inside! Then a padlock appeared on the door - this was not so easy, but, where there is a will there is a way - the key was left in it one day, so I sprang to my usual position on the front of the bars and removed the key and hid it in one of my hidey places. A fair amount of swearing and cursing came as a result of this and my plan flourished as the bolt cutters came out and the pesty padlock was removed! Unfortunately another one has replaced it, and, a really stupid bell hung just where I land on the bars! The humans went off one Sunday, to something called a garden centre and returned with three boxes that smelt of bird. These were emptied into the cage, and behold - there are now three more ready meals available. But, and this is the best bit, the humans couldnt get zebra finches, so the new ones are English finches!! How about that - none of that foreign muck, proper natural food! They are cheeky little sods as well - they hang on the bars on the inside, whilst I am hanging on the bars on the outside! Damn bell gives me away though. I can hear mum on the phone, tallking to the insurance person, she seems to have finished the covering my hunting and play area, and is saying she does not want any other cover, but I think they are being a bit persistent......... car - not due till next year, no we don't have any dogs (wonder what they taste like?) but have six cats, five rescued ones and me, ages? errr, 3 are ten years, 1 at 3 years, 1 at 2 years and 1 at just over one if it lives any longer - don't like the sound of that!! Hey guys we have had a birthday!! mum worked it out to be 28 August, although I did not turn up here till the same time you guys got home. I wonder if the Finches were bought for us for our birthdays and she forgot? Might find a way to drop that into a conversation. Another thing, and this is for Tobermory, so Jura just tune out for a moment. Not so long ago I went for a trip in the cat basket to a strange smelling place called 'the vets'. I am really not sure what happened there, I think somebody slipped me a roofie in my drink, cos when I woke up 2 significant parts of my anatomy were missing! What's more, according to the other boys, Tornado and Pipistrelle, they also had this experience. ALso, in each case, the food magically disappeared the evening before! Tadpole has this conspiracy theory going on about alien abduction - she looks like an alien with her enormous ears and eyes, and she says my 'parts' were taken by alien-vets! She says you can tell because they wear masks and long gowns. The food abduction is just the first sign! Well, mum is off the phone now, and is looking like she wants the computer back. Now that the house is all nice and insured I suppose I had better go and test the new cover by trashing something. Come on Salem............ take care Talisker (and Salem). xx

A Sad Story

Warning this is a sad story of love and loss and for those of you who don't like sad stories don't read any further.

Part of this story you will already be familiar with but I will start from the beginning.


We had a lovely old Cat called Wispa and after the death over the years of her best friends we decided to get a kitten to join the family to be a companion to Wispa. We found a suitable litter and choose the only female a beautiful girl with a white body and tortoiseshell tail and cap. At 8 weeks we collected her and she joined the family.

Her and Wispa never did hit it off but she settled in fine with the rest of us and we had 4 great months full of fun with a kitten. Then came the signs that she she was growing up and she was on heat. We made an appointment for her to visit the vets to be neutered. In the meantime we locked her in the upstairs office where she could be with us, she had company her litter tray and food at her disposal while we curtailed her freedom. We had upvc windows and could open them a little bit so she could sit on the windowsill and breathe the fresh air but couldn't get out.

Down below in the garden was a male tom cat he had obviously picked up on her scent and was there to follow it up. He was a good looking chunky black cat with a devil may care attitude. He decided the best way to catch the imprisoned female was to sing to her. The cauterwaling started and despite much boot throwing and yelling the black male was not detered. I knew Tally was safe because the window was only open a fraction it was on the second floor and even if she got out of the office door the other doors between her and freedom were also shut.

One morning I was pottering around the garden doing some jobs when a strange odd coloured cat turned up. Rolling around on the floor miaowling and wanting attention. The coat was a murky greeny brown colour I had never seen a cat that colour before and was intrigued. The cats behaviour was reminiscent of Tallisker and as the cat drew nearer it turned and looked at me, as soon as I saw the eyes I recognised them. It was Tally and she was absolutely covered in mud your could not see the tortoise shell head and tail and certainly not her snowy white body. She was taken to the bath room and showered down it took about half an hour to get all of the mud off her. She then had to be towelled and dried off with a hairdryer meanwhile she was telling us about the wonderful adventures she had had and the wonderful male she had met. How kind he was and how he had promised her the earth and anything she ever wanted.

We worked out how she had got out. Where theres a will there is a way she had managed to push her nose into the gap of the open window until she forced the window open and then proceeded to jump from the 2nd floor into Black Toms open paws.

We had to crush her dreams and tell her that she would probably never see him again he was probably a philanderer and he had been interested in one thing only and now he had got it he would be off looking for the next female. We told her to stay away from him males like that were bad and he would break her heart.

We needed to know how far the meeting had gone and if he had had his wicked way, so off to the vets she went, it was a few weeks before it could be confirmed either way and when the news came it was to find that Black Tom had been doing more than promising her the earth.

There was no need to keep her in any longer the horse had already bolted. We let her out and off she went straight into the paws of her beloved Black Tom they became as thick a thieves. Despite our dire warnings we were proved wrong he seemed to be devoted to her. They wandered round together playing in the haystacks across in the barns. The corn barn was a favourite place, they would go hunting mice together very successfully. We would find them sunbathing together on the decking in the garden. Black Tom was wary of us and didn't come too close and though we tried not to encourage him and told each other we were not to become fond of him, but we would catch each other sneaking out and giving him cat biscuits.

The only blot on the horizon was he fought with Socks our oldest cat and we would shoo him off when we caught him doing this. Socks would chase after him and would come back with a bloody nose. Black Tom was bigger than Socks and when Socks started to avoid going out we has to get serious about chasing off of him. This didn't deter Tally she just went and met him were ever she could and we would often see them across the fields together.

Tally got fatter and fatter and started nesting, after curtailing several of her unsuitable nesting sites she opted for under the bed. She had three beautiful kittens of which she was very proud. Tally went out very little at this time but the Black Tom was always some where to be seen if only off in the distance. When the kittens were old enough Tally took them out and proudly introduced them to their father and to our amazement he seem to be quite proud of them. Until they moved on to new homes the kittens used to play and scamper around their mum and dad while they basked in the sun. Tally was whipped off to the vets to be neutered so that she wouldn't become a mum again. When she recovered from the operation she was let out again and she was off to join Black Tom. We began to see less and less of Tally and was worried that she was becoming wild like her Black Tom. Sometimes she would dissapear for a a few night and days we would only see her when she came in to sleep. The two of them were inseperable. We think she tried to smuggle him in a few times but there would be fights between Sock and Black Tom.

Then Black Tom dissapeared. We wondered if he had deserted her for another female maybe he had smelt a scent and had gone to follow it. Tally was a very unhappy cat and we worried about her. Before she had been going out for whole day with her Black Tom and now she was spending days looking for him. We didn't know what to do for her she was becoming wilder by the day. It was no good telling her "I told you so". She seemed to be desperate and began to loose weight she was not a happy cat and no matter how much we tried to comfort her she carried on her searches to no avail.

At the other end of the village lived the inlaws and it was a chance comment when visiting them that let us know what had happened to Black Tom. We had stopped giving him food and chased him off so that he didn't fight with Socks but he remained solid and chunky he was a wild cat and could fend for himself and we wondered if anyone else fed him as well. It had turned out while Tally was looking after the kittens he had taken to wandering up to the farm further up the road from us and he used one of their sheds as his home. The farmers wife used to leave food out for him because he was good at keeping the rodent population down. When tally was out and about again he spent most of his time with her but when Tally came home he would wander back to the farm. It was summer and the farmers wife liked to leave the door open to allow the summer air in but often would find Black Tom in the house ensconsed in a comfy chair. Whenever she tried to chase him out he would try and swipe her legs. This was not good because the farmer had had to have a serious operation on his legs and she didn't want Black Tom to swipe the farmers legs.

The farmers wife was in a dilemma he was a good mouser but if he swiped her husbands legs there could serious health complications for him. she knew he was a wild cat and called the Cats Protection League they had a scheme whereby they rescued wild cats neuter them and find farms where they would be welcome. The Farmers wife called them and they came along and trapped Black Tom and took him away. The intention was for him to be treated for fleas and worms, be neutered and returned to a willing farm to be a farm cat, he was a known mouser He would have yearly checkups to check he was in good health but before any of this is done the cat is taken to the vets to have a checkup blood tests are taken and their general health checked. Black Tom was in good health but his blood test was not good. Black Tom had feline Aids there was nothing that could be done and to prevent further spreading it was decided that Balck Tom would be put down.

When we found out we were devasted, as much as he was a problem for bashing Socks up we would never have wished him to be put down. How do you tell a love lorn cat that the cat she is searching for hasn't left her and probably would never have done so and no matter how much she searches she will never find him.

It took Tally a long time to settle back down. Even when we moved house 16 miles away Tally went missing for a month and we suspected she went back to the old house to look for him. It was a hard time for her and us. We tried to comfort her and tried to keep her occupied. Time is a healer and three years later she is a much happier cat and has settled down to a plump and contented life. Occasionally she seems far away and we wonder if she is thinking of her Black Tom and remembering the happy days in the sun.

The Maurader

Theres something up!!

Toby keeps running through from the kitchen miaowing at us Jura follows as well and both look back with concerned eyes at the kitchen. Oban tends to spend most of the day out so he is only here for the evening through to the morning so we can't gauge him for a reaction to whatever spooked the others in the kitchen. Socks just miaows whatever the occasion. Talisker takes everything in her stride and the only reaction from her is to avoid the kitchen every so often. So what is the problem?

Then there was the bells, "dear can you hear a bell" "No dear" the other one would say with a look the intimated that maybe it was time for the men in white coats.


The cats are fed in the morning and at night they have two tins of cat food a day and an unlimited supply of cat biscuits. At feed time they are all ready and waiting, they eat what they want and eat the rest throughout the day and night. Suddenly they seem to want more, the plates are licked clean and theres not a cat biscuit in sight. Its not even winter when we would understand them wanting more. We are having to stand firm and say no, no matter how pleadingly they look at us. "You will be getting fat and then how do you think you'll get over the garden wall"


The bells again, I am sure it came from the kitchen. I go and investigate, no there is nothing in the kitchen or the utility to make this sound am I losing my marbles after all.


It was playing in the back of my mind, bells in the kitchen it can't have been the cats because we removed the bells from their collars after being woken up night after night by the tinkling in the wee hours of the morning when one of them would decide it was time for an all over scratch for ten minutes.

Again Jura and Tobermory come in to fetch me, I followed them through to the kitchen when I got there they both hid behind my legs and this time I definitely heard the sound of bells I was not imagining it, but there was nothing there. I spent the next day or two listening out for the bell.

Aha was that a tinkle, very quietly I headed to the kitchen and caught site of a ginger tail dissapearing out of the utility window. Suddenly it all became clear the cats wanting extra food and being upset about something in the kitchen, we had a marauding cat!

There are a variety of ginger cats in the area so we had to catch him in the act. The next few days were quiet, then we both heard it. I sneaked out the back door and shut the utility window, my other half headed to the utility room admitting to me they would have to cancel the visit from the men in white coats that had been arranged. The cat was cornered and picked up and told in no uncertain terms that he wasn't welcome. All of our cats were standing in the doorway to the living room jeering and yelling general abuse about him for stealing their food and telling him what they did to theives. Their bravado was ten fold because we were there. The cat was escorted off the premises and sent off over the wall into the field.

The cats all patted themselves on the back for a job well done, and all went for a well deserved snooze.

The bells again, did the telling off, not work. Aha there are two ginger brothers who look alike. We have no idea which one we told off and don't know if it is one of them marauding or both. We are now planning to take photos next time, so we have a criminal line up to check them against.

"Hey up Bro, what you up too?"
"I got caught in the act of having an extra supper at the house down the road. I won't be going in there again I got a right telling off and I was stunned by the flashing lights"
Did you Bro, I was in there tonight and I am stuffed, ate until I couldn't fit through the window had to use the door. I think they got a photo of my tail. You know what your problem is, its that stupid bell you've got round your neck. Lose it and life will be a dream".

Curiosity killed the Cat

Never has there been a truer saying, the messes cats get themselves into are hair raising. Here are just a few of the catastrophes we have encountered.


Smokey one of the childhood kittens was fascinated by the gold fish in the fish tank in the front room and would spend hours looking at it, following the fish around the tank with her eyes from the arm of the settee The fish tank was was cat proofed and placed on the middle shelf of a shelving unit. The space above the tank was enough for an adult human to comfortably put the fish food in but not big enough for a cat. The fish tank was surrounded by books on either side, so there was no room for a curious cat to sit and scoop out any fish with their paws either. The tank had been pulled to the front of the shelf so there was no room for her to sit in front of the tank.
Where there is a will there is a way.
Smokey had spent many an hour on the arm of the chair eyeballing the fish and plotting how she could get them, she had come up with a plan. The family were going out and would be gone for some time, now was her chance. No Member of the family would be able to stop her, the fish tank was her oyster.
When the family came home as usual through the front door into the living room they were greeted by the sight of Smokey in the the fish tank doing the doggy paddle with the fish swimming in and out of her legs. If she put her feet on the floor of the tank her head went under water. She was alternating the doggy paddle with the sinking changing as she got tired or ran out of breath. When the family found her she was tired and struggling to keep the doggy paddle up.
How she got in there we can only surmise. She would have had a real struggle to get in but there was no way once she was in that she could get out. If the family had arrived home later she may have drowned. As it was they had a very wet soggy and grumpy cat to extract from the tank.


Smokey mentioned above was one of a brood of kittens born to Kato and we think the litter may have been blessed with the stupid gene. One of those kittens Smokeys sibling was very accident prone. There used to be a problem with the coal fired boiler that heated the radiators and the water. Often the hot water had to be run off from the tank before it reached boiling point, running a bath was a good way of doing this. One of the family had decided to run a bath and had turned the hot water on to fill the bath but hadn't turned the cold water tap on. The kitten eager to see what was going on came springing up the stairs, ping ping ping it hopped into the bathroom ping ping across the floor and ping on to the side of the bath and before they could stop him he had pinged into the bath. The poor little thing rocketed out of the bath. Unfortunately he had burnt himself and had to be treated for burns his fur came of his legs and he looked very much the worse for wear. After that it became the family rule that cold water went into the bath first.
Once the poor little kittens fur had grown back and he was fully recovered he was allowed to venture out of the house into the garden. Dad this particular day was having problems with his car and was working underneath. He was draining the Sump oil out of the car into sandwich box. Kitten seeing dad went ping ping ping across the lawn under the car and pinged straight into the sump oil. Covered from head to toe the kitten had to be washed with washing up liquid to remove all the oil this took many washes and one irate kitten. Afterwards the kitten refused to wash itself anymore and hence forth had to have baths every so often.

We had purchased a new swing bin for the kitchen ( need I go on). Wispa was fascinated she could see us put things in and the top swing back. She could smell the aromas that only a cat could love and wanted to get at them, which was why we bought it in the first place. Our old bin had no lid and keeping the marauding cats out was a nightmare. If we put a lid on we couldn't get in easily but it kept the cats out and without the lid we would have a kitchen festooned in the morning with the detritus of the week.
Like all the other cats she waited till we had gone out to investigate. We had emptied the bin before we went out and had thought no more about it. When we arrived home again there was a plaintive mewing coming from the kitchen. We located her in the bin but she must have been in there some time. The bin was saturated with condensation and we hauled out one very soggy cat. Needless to say she gave the bin a very wide berth after that.

Fortunately although curiosity has hampered, scared and wounded the cats curiosity has never killed any of our cats.

Dogs and Cats

One of us grew up with dogs and cats and they all got on very well, often causing great mirth with their antics. The traditional role of cats and dogs is considered to be that of mortal enemies and while many do live up to this role often cats and dogs do get on. Here are a few examples of both.
We used to live in in Lancashire in a stone terraced house it had a path that was ran along the back directly outside the back doors and beyond the path was the garden of each house. This path was a right of way as far as our house where it ended. We eventually put a fence and gate up which encompassed the path into our property but until that happened anyone could wander down including animals. This particular day an unwary Alsatian wandered down, little did he know what was going to happen to him. Bramble was our dark tortoiseshell girl, sister to Wispa. It was a hot day and she was cooling down on the kitchen floor when wandering past the door came the dog, the dog hadn't spotted her but she certainly had seen him. In the blink of a eye she was up and out she flew at the dog and dodged under the Alsatian rotated 180 degrees and dug four sets of claws into his undercarriage. The dog was completely shocked he didn't know what to do other than yelp. The poor dog hopped from one foot to the other in the hope he could dislodge her. The cat was hissing and digging in and the Alsatian was yelping and dancing on his tippy toes. We tried to help but there was little we could do to get her off. The dog was in pain and wasn't letting us anywhere near in case we had another cat who wanted a piece of the action. Finally she decided he had been taught a lesson to last him a lifetime and dropped off. The dog realising his freedom ran yelping down the path never to be seen again, Brambles sauntered back into the house and lay down on the kitchen floor to get cool again and went to sleep safe in the knowledge of a job well done.

Max was the neighbours Jack Russell a puppy who was curious and wanted to see everything and sniff everything. Max used to come out with me around the farm and did a lot of ratting burrowing into the haystacks and chasing everything he could. As I always collected him from the neighbour he rarely ever came into our garden so didn't come into contact with the cats. After some particularly bad weather the fence was blown down allowing him access to our garden so we thought we had best introduce him to the cats, he was at the stage where he could be taught to get on with the cats. Unfortunately we had not taken into consideration what the cats thought of dogs. Two of the cats were sunbathing on a chair outside of the back door and we took max along to meet them. Max thought they were great and was friendly with them he wanted to be friends. He put his front paws on the chair wagging his tail and lolling his tongue out at them he wanted to sniff them as he came in close Beeswax our oldest cat took one look at him and slashed poor max across the nose. Immediately max decided these were the enemy and must just be big rats. We had to drag him off and from that day forward max hated cats, chasing them for revenge whenever he saw any.
Sandy the golden retriever and Smokey the cat grew up together with one of us as a child, the family had been out for the day and the cat and the dog had been shut up in the house all day. When they arrived home the animals were crossed legged and dying to be let out. Smokey shot out first and found somewhere convenient to do her wee next to the pole for the washing line. Sandy shot out after her to his regular spot the washing pole and weed right over the top of Smokey she was drenched and because she was mid wee there was nothing she could do and was very unhappy, her face was a picture as Sandy let go all the liquid he had been holding in all day.
This infamous duo used to get up to alsorts of tricks, back in the seventies you could buy boiling chickens in a large cylindrical tin. Mother had put this chicken in a pan of water with a lid on to boil for tea and left it to itself. The kitchen was situated off the dining room which in turn was situated of a small hall and on the other side of that was the front room. The family had settled down in the front room reading and watching telly. When they heard a crash. One of the family went to investigate to find that Smokey had knocked of the the lid then used her claws despite the scalding water to hook the chicken out of the boiling water and knock it to the floor for Sandy to eat. Who despite the heat was trying to eat it before anyone could take it off him.
Many years later when Sandy and Smokey where quite old the family moved to a new house. Smokey on her first foray out went and investigated the new yard it was a lovely sun trap where she and Sandy would be able to lounge together and enjoy themselves. Suddenly a huge tom cat appeared and let Smokey know that this was his territory and she would have to fight him for it. Smokey immediately ran off back inside, the tom cat was satisfied here was a cat who was not going to give him any trouble. Smokey when she went back inside miaowed to Sandy who was lounging in front of the fire he got up and followed Smokey out. Sandy went up to where the cat was and barked loudly and scared the living daylight out of the cat it decided it was too dangerous to stay around and shot off never to bother Smokey again.

Charlie our friends cat lives with two Labradors when taken out for a walk the cat joins in and goes with them. Charlieis often found sleeping with the dogs in the dog basket. The older dog Gizmo can be in an awkward mood sometimes and will get in the dog basket and squash himself right up against Charlie till Charlie has the smallest space imaginable and Charlie will still refuse to move. Often they can all be found in the same basket all lying on their backs with their tummies exposed to the world showing their contentment.
So although cats and dogs can be mortal enemies they can make the best of friends.

A typical day in the words of Oban

A typical day varies according to the season and the day of the week. At the moment we are progressing nicely into the summer season with the hot weather and short sticky nights. Most of us sleep in the bedroom with the humans. I sleep on the bottom corner of the bed the side depends which human moves around the least. Jura and Toby sleep in the bunk bed which is really the cat carrying basket Toby inside and Jura on top, human mum put blankets up on top for Jura and she spend the night quite comfortably there. Toby spends his night between the bunk bed and between the humans. Toby likes to try and push them out of bed by taking up the most room, as yet he hasn't succeeded making the humans fall out but he still has some growing to do. Talisker sleeps on the window sill and watches the world outside plotting her hunting strategies and which cat she is going to box next.
The day usually begins at about 4am when one of us cats decides it is now light so it must be time to get up. ( a note to the reader here this is only on a weekend, during the week don't wake up until after the alarm has gone off then play dead making it hard for them to get out of bed) The first step is one of us cats will bounce up an down on the human to see if they can get it up to feed them. This usually results in a bad tempered push of the bed and the human will burrow down deeper into the bed covers. The cat will then decide it is probably better if it waits and lull the human into a false sense of security maybe 20 minutes or so and try again. Each of the humans have a soft bit in the middle if you sit on this towards the lower end the human usually gets up and runs to what they call the toilet, muttering something about cats and deliberately. One of the humans sleeps like the dead and you can jump up and down on its head without it stirring, so it it better to wake the other human up. The human will try and ignore you pushing you off the bed or turning away from you. Persevere it is worth it eventually the human will get out of bed and put on their dressing down and come down stairs.
It is a good idea at this point to run in front of the legs as they walk down the stairs humans like this. Weave your way in front of them until you reach the food bowl sit in front of bowl and look pitiful. If this does not result in your human feeding you, weave in front of them again. Miaowing is a good way to get food. If you get really good at it, a groggy human will automatically feed you whenever you make this noise often without realising it. When the other human gets up repeat process if we play it right we can be fed twice.
Once fed we all have a good wash and wander in and out the back door, check all is in order in the back yard make sure there are no mice and other rodents around if so it is your duty to either chase them back into the field or show them the error of their ways. Another job that needs to be done is to check there have been no intruders about, If its the cats from 3 doors down then you can go and sort them out, their smaller than us. If its the dog from the field make sure you can run faster than the cats from 3 doors down and beat a hasty retreat indoors.
The humans at this time of the morning will then make their way to the bathroom. I take this opportunity to chase any naked toes, they are so tasty plus I can get them to do a jig. One of the Humans wears special clothes so many days a week and won't let us go near them when they have them on. Little do they know we score points for how much hair we can get on them without knowing, Socks is winning at the moment he is shedding and the human usually has more fur on than Socks. The human with the clothes goes out the front door after breakfast and doesn't come back in again till tea time when we get fed again.

The other human stays with us. Once we are all fed washed and have been out and done our duties we settle down for our morning nap. Talisker sleeps on top of the filing cabinet on a cushion but not if I can get up there first, just to prove I can. Jura or Toby sleeps on the human knee Socks sleeps on the couch. Toby if he is not on the knee sleeps on the couch with Socks or has the whole bed to himself. About mid morning the human goes into the kitchen and prepares a drink. We use our cat wiles on the human to get tit bits during the day but it tends to be a strict human and we only wheedle extra food out of them if they are making something for their food in the middle of the day.
If we feel in need of particular attention we go and sit on the desk in front of what they call the computer. If you block the screen they will pick you up and put you on its knee. Don't push your luck if you do it too many times the home human will make loud noises and put you on the floor.
I particularly like chewing cables although when humans see me doing it they start flapping and making loud noises at me. If they want to chew cable let them get their own. Apparently according to my humans I have chewed through several pairs of head phones. Although I must admit I have gone off it a bit since the last few times my mouth has gone all tingly and got a uncomfortable buzz right down to my feet actually it was more than a buzz it flipping well hurt owwwwww.
Then its outside for the a couple of hours for the afternoon, Socks tends to sunbath on the bench. Toby and Jura lounge on top of the wall. Talisker and I go off hunting in the field at the bottom of the yard. There are lots of mice and trees. I love trees I can climb ever so high and I can see everything. I can climb the tree in the yard but its such a stubby little thing one leap and a few branches I am at the top so I go for the big ones in the field. They are quite interesting at the moment there are a few nests up there. Although I have to be careful Mum and Dad Magpies have a very good aim and the four chicks that have fledged are learning fast how sharp their beaks can be. I try to chase them when humans are not watching me because they start flapping and making loud noises if they see me. We think they do this because they think they are birds themselves. Its no good telling them no matter how much they flap they won't be able to fly.
Towards the end of the afternoon it is nap time again, if it is warm we all nap outside if cooler we nap all over the house. It's getting nearer to the time the other human comes home we all nonchalantly make our way towards the front door. As soon as we hear the key in the lock there is a mass rush for the kitchen. The human puts down all its clutter and heads to the food cupboard and gets the food out. Too slow, too slow, we all weave in front of it to hurry it up. If we trip the human we can help ourselves, unfortunately it manages to stay upright and shouts a lot. We have a great variety of bowls, plates and troughs in which the human manages to spread the food around. Followed up with some dried biscuits. We let the human go and all tuck in. We have to stay out of the way of Talisker if any of us get too near her food we get cuffed around the ear. Occasionally we get treats such as tuna and then its every cat for himself. One by one we are satisfied and all go off to have a wash. It is now time to hang around because the humans now make their own food and if we look cute one of the humans will give us tit bits from their plate. There are different ways to do this, miaow at them, try and sneak in why they aren't looking and grab something but if we get caught we have our nose smacked, look cute, head butt them, cuddle up close and hope.
Then its time to sleep again. The humans after eating and tidying up then sit in front of what they call the television if we feel like it this is the best time to sit on their knees they don't move around as much. The humans tend to spend their time between the television and the computer. We drape ourselves over the furniture and have a good wash. It is best to do this on a clean surface. You can deposit all of the hair that you have groomed out on this surface. The humans obviously like us to do this because they get the big whooshy thing out that sucks up all the hair and stores it in a cylinder why they want to collect the hair we don't know but we like to oblige them and make sure there if plenty of hair for them to collect, humans are odd things. Occasionally through the evening the humans can be caught heading towards the kitchen it is always a good idea to follow to the kitchen in case there is anything tasty to be had.
Towards the end of the evening one of the humans goes up stairs and gets ready for bed. I follow upstairs after them, there are usually naked toes that I can bite mmmmmmmm. When the human gets into bed it takes a book with it and the human will stroke me with their spare hand while reading. If both humans come to bed at the same time they both have books and if you lie between both you can get them to tickle and stroke you until you purr yourself silly but often there is a crush of us hoping to be stroked at the same time and tempers can get a bit short between us. Before the light goes off I get a cuddle and then a pat on the back and the lights are out. We cats then all go playing outside in the dark off into the field if we can hunt anything we will. After a good hunt we take our catches and go and enjoy it on the bed. We leave a bit for the humans they don't seem to be able to hunt so that when they wake up they can have breakfast in bed. They must like it they make enough noise when they find it in the morning. Then we start the day all over again life is good.

Cat Names

Can you imagine yelling out of the back door late at night for your cat "Bubasti". It sounds very much like something else and has the neighbours saying "What are they shouting? Are they swearing at someone?" that was the name given to one of our cats by my Grandfather, A very very clever man, huge IQ but no common sense. Apparently the name was that of an Egyptian Cat Goddess.


Names can be very emotive things, quirky, unique, common place. The reasons can be many and varied. They for some reason have caught the owners fancy. Others can be for obscure reasons, for example we knew a family who named all of their cats after supermarkets. Not entirely sure why, maybe they got vouchers for advertising.
We have told you about naming our cats after whisky but where? do I hear you ask does the name of our eldest cat Socket come from? Socket spent his first 4 weeks of life in a cardboard box that had housed a television set. We named the kittens from words on the box. Socket and Tv where used. When we found we were keeping Socket and his brother we changed them to Sprocket and Tuvok. Tuvoks name stuck, we where very much into our Sci Fi and Tuvok was a character out of Star Trek. Socket wouldn't take any notice of sprocket and it slipped back to Socket.
We have had quite a few cats over the last few decades, Beeswax one of the loves of our life was named after a cat in a film with Tom Selleck in. Beeswax was our beautiful long haired tabby who was magnificent.
Chantilly was named after the lovely pattern of her fur coat, she was a cream and brown tabby with the most amazing yellow eyes.
Lillipud was our very first cat, we cannot remember where her name came from but one of us loved the sound of it and that became her name, she was more often than not called Pudding. She was a lovely Tabby who turned up at Grandmothers house very young and very pregnant. She lived in their caravan on their driveway until we were married and could provide a home for her. Sadly she died of Leukemia a few years later.
The older cat that Talisker was to be companion to was called Wispa after the chocolate bar which has now been reintroduced. Wispa was a tortoiseshell in browns oranges and blacks and her coat looked like a mass of fine bubbles Actually originally she was called William because of the straight red blaze she had down her nose reminiscent of William the Conqueror and the helmets the Normans soldiers wore. It wasn't until we found out it is virtually impossible to get male tortoiseshells that we looked and yes she was a girl.
We may seem to have a problem sexing our cats but it is not because we cannot tell the difference it is because we believe what people tells us. Its like the Grandma of one of us told us the moon was made of Cheese and hence always has their packet of Jacobs Crackers ready for when samples are brought back.

Some people are quite contrary about the naming of cats, I know of a cat called Rover and another called Rex. Language can play a role in naming such as the Latin word for cat is Cattus and there have been many a cat called Cattus. There are names that are derivitves of the word cat I have know cats called Kato, Kat, Catkin and Cattakins. Some names are a play on words, I heard of someone naming their cat Ceefer, when asked where the name came from they said it was C for Cat.

One of the first cats we ever had was a bad tempered Calico Tortoiseshell. We looked for a name that would describe her character all we had that had a list of names in was an old tatty family bible that had a list of all the names therein, we came across Meribah which meant strife and contention and to be ironic it was shortened to Merry.

Then there are traditional cat names such as Felix, Tibbles, Tabitha, Tigger, Fluffy, Marmalade, Tinkerbell, Smudge, Charlie, Blacky etc.

Some people take their cat names from famous cat both real and fictitious such as Bagpuss from the same named children's program who was a pink and cream striped cat with magical abilities or Orangey who played the role of Cat in Breakfast a Tiffany's. Snowball was the name of Lisa Simpson's cat and of her many subsequent cats, Garfield who was a great big orange lump of a cat whose ethos was sleep and Lasagna, which may owners feel relates to their own cats. Nelson was one of Winston Churchill's cats who used to sleep on a chair during cabinet meetings, who in turn was named after Lord Nelson. Winston Churchill had many cats and particularly loved ginger toms, His last cat before his Death was called Jock. More details on Jock can be found at http://www.flippyscatpage.com/churchill.html
Do you remember the cartoon series of the seventies Top Cat, obviously many do because often owners can be heard calling for their cat TC.

If you are looking for a cat name here are a few from our many friends and some of our own
Bobo .................an enormous ginger and white tom
Tuppence ..........a dark brown tabby with handy claws
Charlie ..............a chunky marmalade Tom
Mo ...................The smallest fully grown cat we ever knew
Schnapps..........an apricot ginger boy
Malibu...............a calico tortoiseshell
Anes.................a black oriental
Mimi......... ........a Portuguese silver tabby
Sebastian .........a black and white Tom
Brambles...........a tortoiseshell
Blondie..............a fluffy white cat with one blue and one green eye who isn't deaf
Levi ..................a grey Havana
Petrinka ...........a black long haired male moggy
Paddy ..............a black and white male from Ireland

Treats

The last blog may have made you think that cats are a violent and dangerous species nothing can be further from the truth they are loving friendly and happy creatures (most of the time). They give so much, fun laughter happiness because of this you want to treat them. Over the years we have bought various toys, treats and tit bits which have had various degrees of success. Here are a few of them



Successes


Bouncy balls are one of the successes, they are small round easy to get a paw round they bounce back when the cat aims for a vertical surface and there was no guarantee that it would bounce back in the expected direction, bliss. Even more bliss when a human stands on them and flails around, even falling over whoo hoo. Whenever buying cat toys a full health and safety report needs to be produced, a huge amount of accidents in the home are caused by toys lying in wait for the unsuspecting. The problem with bouncy balls is they get rolled under furniture and the cats cannot reach them until you move the furniture.
Another success was knitted fluffy mice. A friend knitted about 3 mice for us and they have lasted years and years, they don't roll under furniture and if you stand on them they just squash down. If we find one we throw it to the cats who catches it and runs off with its prize.
A favourite game was a round bowl with a lid that had various slots and shapes on it. In the bowl would be one or two balls, the lid would be put on and the cat could chase the ball round and round through the slots. The kittens spent hours on this till eventually they learnt how to get the lid of and get the balls out which would then be rolled under the furniture and lost. The lid has now been cracked by Toby the heavy weight and we are looking at ways of mending it and then taping the top down so they don't get the balls out as quick.
The cheapest cat toy is a cardboard box with polystyrene quavers. The cats will jump in and bury themselves in the quavers. The cats would fight over who got the box. Top cat usually wins. A favourite game is burying itself deep so any other suspecting cat climbing in gets short shrift on the rump.
Sticks with a long string and feathers on the end is a good toy as long as you allow them to catch it every so often they are happy.
One Christmas we received a battery operated hamster in a ball, which rolled around never stopping even if it got stuck in a corner it just kept running around the ball until it became unstuck. The cats would stare at it in fascination tapping it every so often in wonder. Jura loved to get it to the top of the stairs then push it off the top step and then charge hell for leather to beat it to the bottom and then chase it around downstairs.





Failures


Wind up mice do not work and as far as the cats are concerned are beneath contempt. Did the stupid human think they looked anything like the succulent rodents they were used to chasing. Balls with bells in is another one that failed miserably. What fascination could a cat have for a bell. Now if it squeaked that might be fun. We purchased a treat ball thinking this would be the greatest of fun but the cats never got the hang of it. A ball with a sliding door that treats can be loaded into then partially closed so that when the cats rolled it around treats would fall out and they could eat them. Our cats are not fans of cat treats so they would push the ball round in a desultory fashion ignoring the treats that fell out, decide that the ball didn't do anything interesting and would wander off. We will one day find a treat the cats cannot resist and may be the treat ball will rule another day.





Food


Food treats are popular but it can be a hit and miss affair. Many years ago we went on a camping trip to France and bought back with us lots of tinned fish thinking this might sooth the their cries of "where the hell have you been" when we got back. Either they were so incensed at being left in the hands of a relative for two weeks or they genuinely didn't like the fish and wouldn't touch it leaving us with several tins that haunted the back of the cupboard for several years. We have tried a variety of packaged cat treats for them as far as they are concerned we can keep them. Tuna is a sure success as long as they don't get it too often. They love the liquid in the can being squeezed out onto their dried biscuits and would wolf it down. Then the tuna could either be mixed with the tinned food or on its own. The secret to treats is not to make it too often or it becomes common and expected. Occasionally we would try a different variety of tinned fish never as good a tuna but they would give it a try.


Other treats would be human food. This is not recommended but a little bit once in a while can be allowed. We had a cat who loved ready salted crisps it wasn't often we had them but if we did he would look up at us with big eyes until we would give him a small bit. Another cat would do anything for white chocolate. One of us has an intolerance for chocolate (not that that ever stopped her eating it) so white chocolate was a good alternative. Now because the cat loved it the human would try and bring it in without the cats knowledge, there was no chance as soon as the cat could sense it in the house he would be there. Have you ever watched a human tying to ignore a cat when eating something that the cat would give up all mice for. It impossible and the human would give the cat a little bit and bolt the rest themself. A certain brand of white chocolate buttons was not allowed in the house it is a sad sight to see a human and a cat growling over a packet.


All the cats in our household learned they were not allowed on the work surfaces in the kitchen. There would be shouts and smacked noses if they did. This allowed the humans to make food on the work surface without any worries about the cats pinching it while being cooked. We used to live in a stone terraced house in Lancashire and we had the back windows open all the time in summer which were work surface height. Now our cats knew the rules but the neighbours cats didn't. On one occasion when cheese sauce was being made, a huge block of cheese had been placed at the side of the cooker. The human was called away and arrived back just in time to see the cheese block being cat handled out of the window by one of the smallest cats we ever knew. We chased outside to wrest it from her but it was too late, she had hauled this huge lump of cheese which was not that much smaller than her up over the fence and into the woods. Strangely enough we didn't see our neighbour for weeks and when we finally caught up with him he admitted that he had been hiding, she had come home with a half eaten block of cheese which he confiscated into the bin, he then stayed indoors lest an irate neighbour collared him.


As a child one of us had similar experiences with their cats. They had a mum and her kitten who would often go out exploring together on one occasion Kato the mum came in with a whole gutted trout in her mouth followed by the kitten Smokey dragging one of a similar size in with her. The fish was quickly taken off them and disposed off much to the cats disgust. Then a few days later the cats appeared again each with a sizeable steak. Again it was disposed off. Then came the knocking an unhappy neighbour came to complain that the cats had been stealing her and her husbands tea which she had been defrosting on her windowsill. Apologies were given and a suggestion that she did not defrost the food on an open windowsill. It is not known if she did this but the cats stopped bringing food home, but knowing cats they probably learnt that taking it home meant it was taken off them so still stole the food and took it somewhere to eat in safety

Medicating your cats

Medication and how to apply it. Warning cats are dangerous and medicine must be applied with great care. In fact we are surprised the health and safety police have not regulated cat medication yet.



Have you ever tried to give medicine to a cat, you will probably need therapy if you have. One of us is currently sporting a bite from Socks who took offence when they tried to give him a tablet for a urinary infection. 22 years of cats and we still have not found a fool proof way of giving medicine.



Its not just medicine, flea powder, aerosols and pump action sprays can cause havoc. Before the days of flea drops powder was the preferred method. First of all you find a large bath towel and liberally sprinkle it with flea powder and approach the unsuspecting cat. Here is the first error, unsuspecting is not a word in a cats mind from the moment it sees you it knows you are up to something. This is a two person job, one grabs the cat and the other quickly wraps the cat up with the towel and rubs the powdered towel vigorously over the cat. You have to be quick if you want the towel or yourselves to survive a Freddy Kreuger type attack with the claws. Let the cat go and it dashes off to a safe distance, if looks could kill we would have been gone long ago. The trailing clouds of powder have you choking coughing and spluttering, if your eyes are not watering from the powder they should be from where the cat inserted it's claws. Once this is done its the next cats turn but it is too late, even though the other cat was not in the room it knows. Yes it knows, there has been some sort of telepathic communication and all other cats have fled to the highest most inaccessible point in the house or have dug their claws in so deep to the carpet furniture or bedding that they make Velcro looks like an ineffective application. By the time you have cornered the cat wrapped it up and suffocated in the fumes you are hot sweaty and leaking blood from many scratches and punctures.



We had a cat flap put in for the cats convenience and for a short time it helped in the application of flea powder, How? Well it was the sort that could lock four ways and was double glazed. As soon as they realised it was flea powder time they would make a dash for the flap which we had had the foresight to lock so that they could get in and not get out they would run headlong into an immovable object. A stunned cat is easier to administer too and much less harmful. Of course this only worked once or twice because the cats wised up to it.



Then the flea spray was invented whoo hoo we thought, flea spraying the cats would be much easier we didn't have to grab and wrap. I think we only ever bought flea spray once if we thought towel wrapping was dangerous we just hadn't lived. The memory of the first cat we ever sprayed is embellished in our minds permanently. One of us had lulled the cat into a false sense of security and had the cat cornered the fur had been ruffed up so that it was all standing on end and the other then proceeded to spray. The cat leapt up into the air up above head height still being followed with the spray it came back down to earth jumped again and rotated itself 180 degrees and dug all four paws deep into the arm holding the spray there were screams and hissing. The can was dropped the cat let go and sped off. The human dropped to its knees and needed medical aid for twenty deep lacerations. Next time we used the spray gauntlets and full body armour was needed. For years and years afterwards any of the cats heard an aerosol can being sprayed they would dive for cover so deep was the trauma.

The next invention was the pump action spray it was sold as being cat friendly much quieter than any spray. It was about the best, you could sneak up on the cat with the pump fully primed pump once or twice before the cat realised what was going on and ran off.

Then they invented the drops, whoever invented them should be knighted. No more trips to the hospital no more tetanus boosters whay hey. All our cats are none the wiser just a cool spot on their necks which they don't mind.



Tablet are still a problem though. Giving tablets to a cat is not for the fainthearted. For those of you now saying well I don't have any problems with my cat, we hate you its not fair. Often people would give you advice telling you what was the best method the mummy method is probably the most effective following are the instructions:

The mummy method

• Using the trusty towel again wrap your cat up quickly with the towel until they look like a mummy.


• It must be tight to contain the cat


• Once wrapped turn the cat on its back


• Open the mouth and pop in the tablet


• Close the mouth while stroking the cats throat


• When the cat has swallowed it can be set free.

This is an effective and easy way of giving tablets to your cat.

Ha, in your dreams it is. the following is more like it.

• Grab the cat before it knows what is happening. Try and warp the struggling bundle this may take a few goes before you get it tight enough so it will not be able to use its claws to slash its way out and you in the process.


• Once wrapped turn the cat on its back it takes two of you to force the mouth open.Throw the tablet in while you have got the chance. Avoid the teeth they can easily bite through a human finger.


• Hold the mouth shut quickly stroke the throat taking care to keep your hands away from the claws as they are shredding the towel.


• Wait until the tablet has been swallowed. Allow cat to open mouth and double check that the tablet has been swallowed. It is wise to wear glasses as cat can spit a tablet out with great accuracy. Once you have double checked the tablet has gone, you can let the cat go.


• Watch the cat take three paces and then spit the tablet out.


• Repeat the above as neccerssary


• Keep a good supply of tablets as by the 3rd attempt the tablet has turned to a mushy mess.

Oh the joy of cats, some of you will be saying why don't you mix it into their food or in a special treat Oh we have and have wasted more tablets food and treats than we care to mention. Cats are not thick It only takes one cat to wise up and tell they others and they will all thwart your methods for years. We have tried crumbling medication mixing it with water and syringing it into their mouths. Saying that Socks has to have painkillers all the time because of his arthritis and I used to mix it with his food which he seemed to like but if he didn't eat it all he wouldn't have a full dose. Then some one told me that cats like the taste of it and to use the syringe. They were right and now when I get up in the morning I have Socks waiting for his medicine and if I should forget it he starts to wail. At the beginning of this blog we mentioned that Socks was having tablets for a urinary infection, he has it sussed. He is an old cat and is riddled with arthritis and we can't wrap him in a towel because it would hurt him. At first he would take the tablet if I coated it in his pain killer, then he wised up, he took the tablet licked off all the painkiller and spat the tablet back out. So now we hold his scruff pop the tablet in and try and avoid him accidentally on purpose closing his mouth with your fingers still inside. Its revenge for all the towel wrapping years.

Introducing Tobermory and Jura

How many cats have you got? We have five, we didn't mean to have five and thought three was more than enough. In fact if you decide you want more than three I think it is compulsory that you take a psych examination, its for your own benefit.
Oban had replaced our old cat and we were quite happy to settle down as we were. That would have been the case if it hadn't been for a taxi Journey. One of us has a weakness for certain breeds of cats and here was the taxi driver telling us about a passenger in the car the previous day with a cat and her six kittens of a certain breed. There was a very sorry tale and the cat and the kittens had been rescued. They were checked over by the vet and the rescuers agreed to look after the cat and the kittens. When she got back in the taxi, the taxi driver saw them and fell in love he offered a home for one. He was busy telling us about them the next day and he happened to mention the breed, Oh no. The taxi driver was asked to see if the woman had homes for the other kittens if not we could offer a home to one, the rescuers said they hadn't got a home for one of them and we could have him when he was old enough, whoo hoo.

The morning eight weeks later dawned and one of us was so excited. The Taxi driver turned up at our house with a cat basket and mentioned that there might be two kittens. In for a penny in for a pound. The two kittens duly popped their heads out and had a look around no shyness just a curiosity, they where soon out and exploring the terrain. After having single kittens it was good to have two kittens that could play chase and fight together cause trouble and blame each other.

The two kittens are an unusual breed, their behaviour is more like that of a dog than a cat. They love water but don't like to be in it. Once the kittens were big enough to get in the bath it was hilarious. They would paddle in puddles and flick water everywhere. Their favourite game was to chase their tails in the bath. They would spin faster and faster until they collapsed in a heap of legs, tails and water. They play fetch with rolled up pieces of paper, they like human company and want to be with humans all the time. Going to the toilet, the bath, making a drink, working, gardening two cats would accompany you to make sure you didn't get lost.

We had got two boys and we needed to think of names for them. Different whisky names were considered and we had a few contenders. We had been told we were getting a boy and when we received the two it was still supposed to be boys so neither of us thought to check. It wasn't till one of us noticed that one was more endowed than the other that we thought to question it. On closer inspection we found out we had a boy and a girl. Two fine single malt whiskies were chosen Tobermory and Jura.

The Male became Tobermory, Toby for short. Jura for the female. Jura the female turned out to be the most laid back of the two, this cat can take Armageddon in her stride. she has no aspirations and is quite happy to take things as they are and settle in in her own little niche. Tobermory is a big bundle of cuddles who has found out there is a hierarchy. He isn't particularly interested in being at the top of the heap but is interested in not getting any stress from the other cats and if he is on top of the heap there will be no stress. So far he is boss of Jura who is happy to be bottom of the heap and Oban who is older than him. Supremacy over Oban has been obtained through fighting. When the kittens first arrived Oban was so excited he had someone to play with. At first all he had to do was tap them with a paw. there would be a Phhhsssst and kittens would explode into spiky bundles of fur with a mohican down their back and a tail twice its normal size. Oban would let the kitten settle down and then tap the other and that too would explode like a air bag. As they grew we had to watch out that Oban was not too rough and had to rescue the Kittens a few times from an over enthusiastic Oban. As Tobermory grew Oban and him have fought it out. They both go in for the throat and who can stand it the longest is the winner. For a long time Oban was superior, unfortunately for him Tobermory grew. It is part of his genes that he is one of the largest domestic cat breeds, so it was inevitable that he would defeat Oban. Oban has taken it in good heart and relief, before his mum was the superior and who can fight with his mum when she can grab you by the ear and tell you its time for bed, it is a case of Awwwhh mummmm, I don't want to. Oban was quite happy to answer to Toby rather than his mum it made things much easier.

As I mentioned before Tobermory just wanted an easy life. Between him and that goal is Talisker. She brooks no argument over this but Tobys size is giving him the edge and it won't be long before she capitulates. As for Socket Tobermory has no intention of fighting him and once Talisker has been defeated Toby is quite happy to pretend the arthritic Socks is the leader of the pack. We remember seeing a program about the Cats that live in the ruins of Colosseum in Rome, Ceaser was a ginger and white Tom and had been top cat for a many years. He was eventually defeated by Brutus (who was probably his son, grandson or great grandson), but rather than being ostracised and excluded from the pack Brutus let him enjoy a happy existence, he sunbathed, ate and left all the mating and procreating to the young while he had the time of his life. The same will happen with Socks and Toby.

All the cats sleep on the bed with us at night, Jura likes high places and would perch on top of the highest cupboard or door but after a while would like to join the heap on the bed. She did this by jumping from her high spot onto the bed she found the best place to aim for was the soft bit in the middle of the humans. It made a great noise as she landed on one tummy then bounced onto the other and the humans would immediately sit upright from being fast asleep. This didn't last long as the humans learnt to sleep on their sides and that wasn't as bouncy when she landed. Toby liked to snuggle he would find the gap in the quilt at the neck and then make his way down the human back he would then roll over and sleep back to back with the human. This was fine until he decided to chase anything that moved, any legs moving would be punctured arms would be savaged and toes chomped on. Still we let them stay it was all part of the fun of having cats, I am beginning to think we are masochists, the bruises scratches and wounds we have would make anyone think there was domestic violence going on in the home. They would be right they just wouldn't guess who was the cause.
Well that is a brief introduction to all the cats read on more to find out more about their lives and the havoc they cause.

Introducing Oban

Oban is the next cat I want to introduce, he is a black and white moggy. Mainly black with a white flash on his chest and then a white nose and neck. He looks like he is wearing a batman mask with a teardrop. Oban wears white half boots and has a bent tail of which he is very proud.
So far the cats have been in order of hierachy and age, it changes with Oban. Oban is the next one down in age but in the hierachy there is a younger one higher than him which we will tell you about later. Oban is Tally's son, he was one of three kittens and the biggest. He was the first out of the box, although once he had been out he got back in and didn't want to get out again. He had discovered there was no rush his brother and sister could do it first and took his time at everything else. Tally had joined the household to be company for one of our old cats. Unfortunately our old cat was ill with cancer and it got to the stage where it was kinder for her to go to sleep than suffer any more treatment. She was a good age and much loved losing her was very upsetting, Oban with his wonky tail was the kitten who needed us most and so we decided to keep Oban. Whereas Tally was daddies girl, Oban was mums little man.
Oban is not the sharpest knife in the box, which must be a throw back seeing that his mum and dad are fairly intelligent. He is an amiable cat who bumbles through life enjoying himself but he does have a talent, trees. He first encountered trees when a male chaffinch decided to bait him (probably leading Oban away from a nest site) Oban chased up the tree to get the Chaffinch. The Chaffinch would stay just out of reach, every time Oban moved colser the Chaffinch would hop further out on the branch until the branch was bending precariously and could snap at any moment. Despite this he did not fall but the Chaffinch wasn't giving up and caused Oban to climb the tree a number of times. I think the Chaffinch thought if he could lure the cat right out on a limb it would snap the cat would fall of and be splatted or at the very least develop a phobia for heights. Unfortunately for the Chaffinch somewhere along the line Oban spotted the view and could see far across his Kingdom and he loved it. Oban learnt to climb up tees with the greatest of ease. He will sway in the breeze on branches so thin you didn't think it would support a pigeon never mind a cat. We daily suffered palpitations as he would sway past the upstairs office window on a slender twig. We would be working away and one of us would look up and gasp as Oban looked back at us several branches above the wood pigeons. When this first happened we would rush downstairs and lure him out of the tree with some treat or other but five minutes later he would be back up. What made it worse for us his favourite tree leaned out over a large greenhouse and we had visions of him plummeting to earth through the roof and despite the fact he could well land on his feet he couldn't avoid the shattered glass. As soon as we were able the greenhouse was put on ebay and sold. prreventing premature aging and grey hairs.
If we cannot find him we go to the nearest tree and shout for him and he will appear somewhere in the canopy where he has been sunbathing.
Oban has one bad point, he has a fondness for toes any bare toes and he has to nibble and bite them, which can be a problem when you stick them out of the quilt in your sleep and wake up to fangs being sunk into them. He has learnt to bite toes even when the victim is running. So no quick sneaking off to the bathroom without the slippers. At least we will be safe from bare footed burgulars.

Introducing No 2

All cat groups have a hierarchy and our cats are no different, Socks is in command and Talisker is his second, not because she does as he tells her but because she can beat up all the others and not him. Socks is getting old and there will come a time when she is top cat but she has to keep her eye on one of the younger ones who is rocketing up the ranks.

Talisker joined the family as a companion for one of our older cats who seemed to be quite lonely after her best friend passed on. Talisker is a rather beautiful cat, she has a completely white body with a tabby tortoiseshell tail and a tabby tortoiseshell cap. She has lovely green eyes very similar to Socks although no relation. They come from different sides of the country. We have a name theme in our household and if I tell you that the other cats are called Oban, Jura and Tobermory you might guess where their names come from. No they are not named after Scottish name places but single malt whiskies. Guess what we like to drink, we did want to name her after our favourite whisky but we didn't think calling her Spring Bank sounded as good as some of the other whiskies. Despite her beautiful appearance and lovely name she is a grumpy so and so. She loves her humans but hates other cats, we think she is a ailurophobe.
As mentioned before we acquired her as a companion for one of our older cats. We went and got her when she was eight weeks old. It had been many years since we had had a kitten in the household and all was new and exciting. We introduced her to our older cat very carefully thinking that in a few weeks they would cuddle up together keeping the older one warm. No such luck it was hate on first sight. We had had this happen in the past and the cats had learned to live together and eventually became the best of friends so we had hope for these two. Tally used to shoot round the house having a whale of a time. She had us giggling and acting like youngsters ourselves. Bit by bit the hissing died down and the cats would tolerate each other, only telling each other how much they hated the other one when they came face to face.
Tally was devoted to her human dad and would cuddle up on his knee, any available t shirt or jumper would be suckled to death until dad would have to go and find a towel to dry himself off. Dad worked from home and was sat in front of the computer most of the time so lots of towels were needed. As she grew older she stopped suckling as much but could still be heard in the dead of the night slurping on the quilt until there was a large damp patch.
Tally was a hunter from the start. We had always trained our cats not to hunt birds but they were allowed mice and rats. With Tally this proved to be quite hard as she would eat whatever she had caught leaving no remains for us to teach her with. She learnt quickly that if she came into the house with them, mum and dad would chase her to pinch it. Cheeky humans they could go and catch their own lunch she wasn't letting them eat hers and stopped coming in with her latest takeaway.
At six months old she would be going to the vets to be neutralised. No little kitties, there are enough in the world without creating more. Unfortunately some cats develop quicker than others and we spotted the signs early on, strange males turning up and her being a complete tart and rolling around on her back batting her eyelashes at them. So she was grounded and warned about the dangers of boys. Much to her disgust she was locked in the upstairs office, she had everything she needed food water her bed and a litter tray. No matter how much, she begged and pleaded to be let out, promising she would be a good girl we did not give in. We were firm and told her that come pay day she would be going on a lovely trip to the local town and in the sight seeing tour we would be viewing the veterinary surgery.
We underestimated her determination. We had double glazed windows that could be opened a small bit for fresh air. being upvc they had to be pushed quite hard to be opened, fine she wouldn't be able to open it. The office was upstairs so even if she could get out she wouldn't be able to get down. We didn't realise what devotion the Mysterious Black Tom Cat cauterwauling below the window was offering her and how much her head was turned by such talk. She must have pushed and squeezed until finally she got through the gap and leaped out into his waiting paws. The first we knew of it was when a grey brown cat appeared out of the shrubbery rolling around in ecstasy it took a moment to realise that this was Tally completely covered in mud only the green of her eyes could be seen. She was unceremoniously put in the shower and cleaned off, it took a good half an hour to get it all off her. While this was going on she was being told she was a ruined woman and how she would be lucky to see him again now he had had his wicked way with her.
After this there was no fresh air gaps and no matter how much she told us she loved him and he had promised to marry her we would not let her out. We took her to the vets and explained our sorry tale to the vet who said at this stage he could not tell if she pregnant and to bring her back in a few weeks time when he would be able to tell one way or the other.
Guess what?
She was pregnant.
Since she had got out Mysterious black cat hung around constantly we assumed he could still smell her and in no way had any commitment to her. We lived in the Country and knew all of the local cats this was a stranger a wild cat and we had to be careful around him. Several times we had to chase him off as he squared up to Socks our old man. Blood was drawn and Socks became paranoid bopping anything that looked like it might challenge him.
Talisker was pregnant, there was no point in keeping her in anymore the deed was done. Her and Mysterious Black Cat were inseparable he had promised her the earth and he was keeping his promise they would laze in the sun together go hunting across at the farm together. He being big and tough introduced her to rat hunting and the rat population at the farm dropped dramatically.
Finally the time came when getting through the cat flap was a problem and she started to nest. We set up a box as a nursery all lined and comfortable but she turned her nose up at this her she kept trying to nest under the bed which was inaccessible to us. Finally she compromised and had them in the cat basket. Three kittens two unusual coloured ones and a black and white one. After two weeks of total devotion to them she went out and spent some time with her Mysterious Black Cat. When the kittens were big enough to get through the cat flap Tally proudly introduced them to him and he was great with them. We decided to keep one of the kittens more about him in the next blog.
Talisker spent more and more time with the mysterious black cat, she would be out in the morning with him and back again late at night. She could often be seen across at the farm hunting in the barns with the Mysterious Black Cat. So much for thinking that he was a ne'er do well who would be off after having his wicked way with her.