The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

tk123

I've had my suspicious but confirmed earlier that Lucy is definetly afriad of small kids!! Crossing the road around the corner a little boy asked to pet them and was very excited about it - she shyed away from him but was happy for the mum to pet her...then walking through the hospital grounds 3 more kids - 2 running over shouting 'big doggies!!' - she wouldn't go near them and froze on the path when they get close. The forth was a man walking by with a toddler who wasn't paying the dogs any attention but she froze again because they were coming towards us.
The breeder had kids and she was fine with them before. The only bad experience I can think of was when she was small and herself and Bailey were off lead and ran up hill in the park where they normally play on top - passing 3 kids who went absolutely crazy screaming and crying. I had to go up and lead the dogs back down because the kids were between them and me and they were afraid to go past them while they were in hysterics.

VonVix

I don't blame her. Small kids are terrifying.

tk123

VonVix wrote: »

I don't blame her. Small kids are terrifying.

I know but kids seem to love them!!...probably because they're the perfect height for hugs! I think we'll have to start sitting near the playground at a distance and take it from there? Her first walk ever was as far as the playground to sit on a bench and get her used to it - she was delighted to see all the kids and get cuddles. Bailey was very good though - wagged his tail and licked their hands

VonVix

tk123 wrote: »

I know but kids seem to love them!!...probably because they're the perfect height for hugs! I think we'll have to start sitting near the playground at a distance and take it from there? Her first walk ever was as far as the playground to sit on a bench and get her used to it - she was delighted to see all the kids and get cuddles. Bailey was very good though - wagged his tail and licked their hands

They're noisy and fast! Maybe start acting like a kid yourself, or find a 'trusted' kid you know and see on a fairly regular basis like a niece or nephew. :P

My dogs don't like little boys, they are too full on for them. They much better with little girls though they can have their scary moments too.

Pumpkinseeds

Zapperzy wrote: »

I got a da bird type pole feather on zooplus, looks very similar to a real bird. Jesse went mad for it, when she finally caught it she took off flying round the kitchen ears back growling :-o she's never ever growled or been territorial with any type of food or toy but this thing set her wild :-o she hid underneath the telly til I opened the hall door to let her downstairs

Toby was the very same with it the first time I took it out. He ran off onto the green area in front of the house with it and growled when the others tried to play. We get ages out of them as some of of 4 prefer to swat at it in the air and some prefer chasing it on the ground.

Pumpkinseeds

I couldn't figure out why Jazzy has been chasing and slapping Poppy for the past few days. He's really been harassing her. Then yesterday I found her asleep in his basket, she was there again last night and I had to scoot her out his basket again this morning. The little madam is trying to steal it on him. She has her own basket, which was his but became hers when she had that room as a safe room when we brought her home. I can't blame him really, I'd throttle anyone trying to steal my bed.:D

mymo

I'm trying to figure out a way to finish painting my livingroom.
I feed the cats on the windowsill as the dogs were stealing their food, and I have no doors on my livingroom, the stairs are open (in the livingroom), and paint needs at least 24hrs to dry properly, so what do I do with 4 cats?
I can't shut them all in together somewhere as they would kill each other, I won't shut them outside and the house is a funny layout so can't let them in and out, I can't shut each in a separate room, it's like one of those puzzles.

Pumpkinseeds

mymo wrote: »

I'm trying to figure out a way to finish painting my livingroom.
I feed the cats on the windowsill as the dogs were stealing their food, and I have no doors on my livingroom, the stairs are open (in the livingroom), and paint needs at least 24hrs to dry properly, so what do I do with 4 cats?
I can't shut them all in together somewhere as they would kill each other, I won't shut them outside and the house is a funny layout so can't let them in and out, I can't shut each in a separate room, it's like one of those puzzles.

We still have a set of white paw prints outside on the living room window ledge from when Jazzy walked in the gloss from the bannisters then walked it everywhere he went.

mymo

We put in French doors couple of years back, one 3inch wide bit of cement across the doorway have two lots of dog paw prints and a few cat ones too!

Pumpkinseeds

Toby came home without his collar AGAIN today. That's the 2nd in 7 days. Thankfully the 2 others I ordered arrived yesterday. I suspect he might have lost it in a brawl with a new cat last night. Mr Pumpkinseeds fed him at 4.30 and he went off again and when I came down at 8.30 the collar was gone, apparently he still had it at 4.30. He crosses a very busy road and it's vital that he has a reflective collar. We've been using the Red Dingo ones, which aren't cheap with the Sterling to Euro exchange rate. At this rate I'm probably gonna have to start taking a torch around the neighbourhood in the early hours looking for the lost collars.:D

mymo

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Toby came home without his collar AGAIN today. That's the 2nd in 7 days

High vis cat vest?

Pumpkinseeds

mymo wrote: »

High vis cat vest?

It's a 2 person job just to get a collar on him. I saw a new cat strolling down the street late last night, totally indifferent to us being in the garden and automatically thought he's gonna be a new nemesis for Toby. The new cat was strutting around with that 'cause fcuk you' look on his face.

tk123

My bro got me a couple of pink yes equality bandanas before I went on hols and brought them over the other evening. The different reactions from people are so funny - some are not impressed with them at all, some have an issue with Bailey wearing a pink bandana when he's a boy , some have asked what they say and then where can they get one and this morning two people running by in the park had seen the bandanas on FB and were very impressed lol!

Poochie05

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Toby came home without his collar AGAIN today. That's the 2nd in 7 days. Thankfully the 2 others I ordered arrived yesterday. I suspect he might have lost it in a brawl with a new cat last night. Mr Pumpkinseeds fed him at 4.30 and he went off again and when I came down at 8.30 the collar was gone, apparently he still had it at 4.30. He crosses a very busy road and it's vital that he has a reflective collar. We've been using the Red Dingo ones, which aren't cheap with the Sterling to Euro exchange rate. At this rate I'm probably gonna have to start taking a torch around the neighbourhood in the early hours looking for the lost collars.:D

Can I ask where you get the Red Dingo collars?

Pumpkinseeds

Poochie05 wrote: »

Can I ask where you get the Red Dingo collars?

I get them on Amazon. The only criticism I'd have is that under the collar, where the Red Dingo logo is, the stitching can be a little too long and it irritates the cat. I get around it by using a nail clippers to clip it level and it solves the problem.

baby and crumble

Why are black cats so hard to photograph??? Shade is settling in great but I can barely get a good photo to post. Grrrr.

VonVix

baby and crumble wrote: »

Why are black cats so hard to photograph??? Shade is settling in great but I can barely get a good photo to post. Grrrr.

They suck up the light, very cat-like in generally really!


Also, I've been on a mad one lately and been considering getting a Belgian Shepherd. AH. I know. I'm mad.

mymo

Baby and crumbles, Try taking pics in the grass, on a bright day, get down level with the cat, don't try light backgrounds unless very well lit.

Toby came in last night and dropped a soggy mouse at my daughters feet, she woke me with the squeals, but she was brave and picked it up with some tissue and threw it out the back door.

So this morning the dog walked in with it, and gave it to her again!

jokettle

My dog habitually scratches at his ears/face with his front paws. The vet has had a look and it's not fleas or tics or anything, she thinks it's just a behavioural thing he does. I've noticed it's usually when he's tired or unsettled or generally unhappy with something.

Today, I noticed him doing it while I was singing, clearly unhappy at the quality of my dulcet tones. Well feck off so :P

Pumpkinseeds

I am so pissed off with whoever it is letting Toby into their house. He was gone from the early hours of this morning and I went looking for him twice in the estate across the road where he goes every evening. I finally found him in someone's back garden, he heard me calling and jumped up on the wall, so I carried him home. Last Friday he disappeared at 10ish in the morning and only got home at 5 that evening and we were worried sick about him.

Now before anyone starts lecturing me about how cats shouldn't be allowed to roam, we have 4 cats, all of whom we would love to be indoor only cats, but 1 of them was a feral kitten, and even though he's a lap cat now, he goes berserk if he feels trapped and has literally dug holes in the carpet to try to get out of the house in the past, so keeping them indoor only is impossible.

Now, I don't mind a cat lover letting him in, although I'd prefer it if they didn't, but letting him stay in so long is ridiculous. He's a big, well fed, collar wearing 6 kilo cat, so no mistaking him for a stray. If it keeps happening I'm going to have to knock the door and have a word with them about it.:mad:

reallyrose

I've torn a neighbor to shreds before for going off to the shops or whatever and leaving Swanson locked in his flat.
His cat and my cats are mates so sometimes Swanson ends up in his flat but like, shoo him out before you leave...

Alun

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I am so pissed off with whoever it is letting Toby into their house.

How do you know they're actually letting him into the house? One of our cats will happily spend all day in next door's garden, but doesn't go into the house at all (I've asked!) I think she just does it to get away from her sister for a bit.

Pumpkinseeds

Alun wrote: »

How do you know they're actually letting him into the house? One of our cats will happily spend all day in next door's garden, but doesn't go into the house at all (I've asked!) I think she just does it to get away from her sister for a bit.

The weather was awful today, with really strong gusts of wind and torrential showers, but he was bone dry and he wasn't hungry, despite having not eaten at our house since last night. What worries me is that he's crossing a very busy road to get over there. We think that he was left behind in that terrace by whoever had him before us and that he wanders back out of habit.

Sometimes he comes home and you can tell he's been brushed, you just know when they've been in someone's house all day/night. I know they have good intentions but it can be dangerous. We don't know if they own the house or are renting, if they rent, the next people to move in could hate cats and might harm him. Previous neighbours of ours had kids that encouraged our cats to jump up on a porch and go in the box room window, no matter how much I complained about it, it continued. Then they started going in other peoples windows.

reallyrose

Back in work today after being out sick most of last week. I really don't feel on the mend, I wish I was at home with a cat sitting on me!

Pumpkinseeds

reallyrose wrote: »

Back in work today after being out sick most of last week. I really don't feel on the mend, I wish I was at home with a cat sitting on me!

Take care of yourself, I'm almost finished a second course of antibiotics and it still hasn't fully gone.

tk123

We were in the park this morning strolling along when we come up to a duck on the river bank about 3 or 4 feet away from Lucy.. Normally they jump down into the river/fly away but this one didn't budge...so neither did Lucy. I should have recorded but we were standing there for a while with Lucy sniffing and sniffing in amazement when I decided to step in by asking the duck if it was ok - it jumped out of it's sleep and went "WTF!!" and jumped into the river lol!! I wasn't taking any chances after we had an incident before where Lucy came across an injured gull and started prodding it with her nose - luckily it swam to a part of the river that's too deep for her before she tried to pick it up etc!!

Pumpkinseeds

tk123 wrote: »

We were in the park this morning strolling along when we come up to a duck on the river bank about 3 or 4 feet away from Lucy.. Normally they jump down into the river/fly away but this one didn't budge...so neither did Lucy. I should have recorded but we were standing there for a while with Lucy sniffing and sniffing in amazement when I decided to step in by asking the duck if it was ok - it jumped out of it's sleep and went "WTF!!" and jumped into the river lol!! I wasn't taking any chances after we had an incident before where Lucy came across an injured gull and started prodding it with her nose - luckily it swam to a part of the river that's too deep for her before she tried to pick it up etc!!

Years ago we lived in a Cul De Sac in York and we had 2 seperate pairs of male ducks that spent most of their time with us. Bill and Ben and Sid and Sylvester, very original I know:o 1 pair would often chase the other pair off and a neighbours torty cat from an upstairs duplex further up the terrace used to visit us every day, they'd often chase her down the street and under a car. Viscious little buggers when they want to be, but great fun, even though it did mean scouring outside the front door with disinfectant and a yard brush every evening to clean up their poop.

Pumpkinseeds

Our cats are doing a lot of bed hopping lately. Poppy has decided that she no longer wants her bed in the office or the office chair that she used to love, now she wants Jazzys bed on the bed in the spare room. If he's in it then she'll steal Felixs bed on the spare bed. I found Jazzy asleep on one of Mr Pumpkinseeds pillows this afternoon. He'd managed to knock one down in front of him so it was like a nest of pillows. Then I found Felix on Toby's armchair in the kitchen. Only Toby hasn't switched beds, then again he's spending entirely too much time in someone elses house.

Dubl07

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Our cats are doing a lot of bed hopping lately. Poppy has decided that she no longer wants her bed in the office or the office chair that she used to love, now she wants Jazzys bed on the bed in the spare room. If he's in it then she'll steal Felixs bed on the spare bed. I found Jazzy asleep on one of Mr Pumpkinseeds pillows this afternoon. He'd managed to knock one down in front of him so it was like a nest of pillows. Then I found Felix on Toby's armchair in the kitchen. Only Toby hasn't switched beds, then again he's spending entirely too much time in someone elses house.

Your neighbours posted this...

reallyrose

Important breaking news:

When we move house, we are getting A KITTEN!