The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

honerbright

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I started leaving a cat bed outside the back door for Toby as I saw him sleeping on the doormat right up against the door. 8 euro in Dunnes. He has one in the shed too and we leave the shed door open for him The difference is though that he's very keen to come in. He eats indoors in the morning then wanders into the living room to give the catnip fish toy a good lick. He always sits looking up the stairs and then Felix begins the intimidation. Poor little guy would happily go upstairs and go to sleep. The last 3 days I moved the cat bed out to the garden and he's sleeping happily in there for a few hours til Felix evicts him.

I think having a snug bed and being able to watch us from a safe distance is making a lot of difference. I've been able to give him a good brushing and lots of ear scratching. It sounds like madam is gearing up to move in to your house

It's such a shame those two don't get along Hopefully it's something they can work though and you'll find them curled up together one day! Is Felix like that with the other cat too?

I have a cat carrier with a towel in outside for PeeTee at the moment, but I know she's not gone in there yet, because I put a treat that I know she likes in the back of it and it's still sitting there a few days later. I moved all her bowls and carrier halfway up the garden today from the corner to the area she usually sits at night. Everything it still under the bushes (they start about half a meter up) so she'll still feel sheltered and safe and keeps everything dry. I have some cooked chicken I might put in the carrier tonight to try and encourage her in, especially with the rain starting up again.

Pumpkinseeds

Felix took a long time to let Jasper indoors. He's a very jealous cat, then again he was a year old when he showed up so we've no idea what his background is. Sometimes people get bored once the cat stops being a kitten and just dump them. He had a huge polyp in his ear that had never been treated and a ragged old collar on. So wherever he came from he wasn't looked after.

He isn't well socialised with other cats so I'd say he was taken from his mum very early. He and Jazzy sleep on either end of the sofa and sometimes close together on our bed but never, ever curl up. He'll tolerate Toby eventually. Usually when Felix gives Jazzy 'the look' or moves towards him sideways, jazzy will run. Toby doesn't run from it and I think it's confusing Felix. He's a big lad and knows it, be getting another weight talk at vet on Wednesday I'd say. Am really hoping he doesn't have a nasal or throat polyps.

honerbright

Oh the poor little monkey. I'd say he really landed on his feet when you took him in! Good luck with the vets on Wednesday, I hope he's polyp free!

tk123

we're going to see the litter of puppies this evening!!

SillyMangoX

tk123 wrote: »

we're going to see the litter of puppies this evening!!

Make sure to take tons of pics

I had 5 cats for a while today, peach and cream were outside with our 2 feral visitors, Fred and Peach's boyfriend. They freaked when I opened the back door and ran though before I could go out to say hi Fred can be very friendly and I have rubbed him and picked him up before but I've never got to have any contact with Peach's boyfriend!

tk123

I think you should name the boyfriend Ken lol

SillyMangoX

tk123 wrote: »

I think you should name the boyfriend Ken lol

I think Ken would suit him, he looks like such a pretty boy :P Though my re-naming of ferals never seems to stick. No matter how many times I tried giving Cat-with-no-tail a new name I always reverted to calling her the original, I think the only time I successfully renames one was with one of her kittens Hitler, my granny wanted a few ferals for the farm and I didn't think she would appreciate little Hitler running around the place so he became Cow, but anytime I go to visit he's still little Hitler to me :P

anniehoo

Oohhh very exciting TK....

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Make sure to take tons of pics

+1 and come back and post them on here.

mymo

Sillymangox, my daughter named some feral kittens at my uncles house some years ago.
Three black and white kittens were Rob-anybody, daft wallie, and Hamish. The tabby and white was very pretty and she named her Daisy.
Turned out the Daisy was a boy, so renamed him tommy toes(he slept under the tomato plants) but the other three were girls!
My uncle loved the names so much he still calls the remaining two by the names she gave them, Hamish and Daft Wallie.

+2 for pics of floppy puppies!

Pumpkinseeds

mymo wrote: »

Sillymangox, my daughter named some feral kittens at my uncles house some years ago.
Three black and white kittens were Rob-anybody, daft wallie, and Hamish. The tabby and white was very pretty and she named her Daisy.
Turned out the Daisy was a boy, so renamed him tommy toes(he slept under the tomato plants) but the other three were girls!
My uncle loved the names so much he still calls the remaining two by the names she gave them, Hamish and Daft Wallie.

+2 for pics of floppy puppies!

Ahh, The Wee Free Men:)

mymo

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Ahh, The Wee Free Men:)

Yep, our dog is Tiffi short for Tiffany too!

Pumpkinseeds

I love the Tiffany Aching books, those and the ones with the witches. Mr P prefers the Ankh Morpork based ones and I love Sam Wimes and Wilikins:D

tk123

Our new baba

SillyMangoX

Oh my goodness isn't she just divine!!! Naww I just wanna give her a big squeezy hug

tk123

They were all so tiny and not mad puppies yet so hard to pick one! She started walking around and was the nicest color lol

mymo

That's not a pup that's a baby polar bear!
She's huge!
Making me broody, but have a houseful for now.

Pumpkinseeds I love Sam too, and the witches, my daughter read the wee free men books when they came out, but the rest were too old for her, must get her back to them. She did read the witches books and loved them.

Awwww, now I want a puppy to snuggle while reading a book!

Whispered

Highly recommend a Pratchett audiobook. So funny to hear the characters voiced.

My fave book so far was equal rites. He's a flipping genius.

Pumpkinseeds

Whispered wrote: »

Highly recommend a Pratchett audiobook. So funny to hear the characters voiced.

My fave book so far was equal rites. He's a flipping genius.

We have the audiobooks, I find them very relaxing, especially if I'm on my own in bed on a windy night. As funny as they are I always drift off to sleep. It depends on whose doing the voices, I prefer Tony Robinson. I love to reread Hogfather every Christmas.

tk123

mymo wrote: »

That's not a pup that's a baby polar bear!
She's huge!

We couldn't get over how small they are !

anniehoo

tk123 wrote: »

Our new baba

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!! She does look HUGE though.

Congrats. Any names yet?

tk123

Well she's (Lucy ) tiny compared to big boy Bailey - she's the side of his block head lol!

gavmcg92

Millie's on strict orders by the vet to rest for the month.

Noticed she was limping a couple of days ago, so we brought her to our vets. All major joints in her paw, leg and shoulder were checked as well as her pads. Vet didn't notice anything.

She's on medication for a month to calm her down so as to stop her from injuring it any further.

Have another appointment for next tuesday and if there is no sign of improvement by then, we have to book an x-ray.

bluecherry74

Poor Millie - hopefully she's just strained or sprained something and she'll be back to normal soon.

Lucy is gorgeous! Part of me looks at puppy photos and wants to go for number 3. Thankfully another part of me looks at puppy photos and wants to curl up in a corner and cry when I remember how much work Henry was. :P

Jess is back to normal, more or less. We went for a short walk last night and she lagged a little, but it could just have been the weather. She often thinks she'd like to go for a walk, but regrets it when she realises it's raining.

tk123

bluecherry74 wrote: »

. She often thinks she'd like to go for a walk, but regrets it when she realises it's raining.

HA! Like my friend's setter - he has a face on him in the rain lol!! That said he's become much more comfortable in the water since he's been coming to the beach with us so we're waiting in anticpation for when he actually has a paddle with his legs off the ground! He goes mad barking when Bailey goes off for a swim - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awI8RhPZ40I

borderlinemeath

tk123 wrote: »

HA! Like my friend's setter - he has a face on him in the rain lol!! That said he's become much more comfortable in the water since he's been coming to the beach with us so we're waiting in anticpation for when he actually has a paddle with his legs off the ground! He goes mad barking when Bailey goes off for a swim - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awI8RhPZ40I

That's mad, I can't get my pair to come out of the water half the time! Whether it's the sea, or a stream or even a large puddle, they're in it! Oh to have a dry dog:D

tk123

borderlinemeath wrote: »

That's mad, I can't get my pair to come out of the water half the time! Whether it's the sea, or a stream or even a large puddle, they're in it! Oh to have a dry dog:D

Well he stands in it now and will play with a ball etc but doesn't actually swim - you can see him teetering at the egde where the water is starting to lift him but he never launches off into an acutal swim.:o

Pumpkinseeds

Very long night/early morning last night. It poured with rain all day yesterday and Toby didn't arrive til 11.30pm. After a good towel drying and some grub he decided he'd go to bed upstairs, fine except for the fact that Felix was sound asleep on the bed he chose to go under:rolleyes: I sat on the sofa waiting for the carnage to begin hoping Toby would run down before Felix ate him alive. So given that it was silent I went to investigate.

Felix was peering under the bed at Toby, then he went under after him, lots of hissing and Toby flew over the bed and down and out to the garden where he sat looking in the door. He made a few more attempts at getting past Felix but nothing doing on that front. So he wandered off, I'd to take the bed he uses away from the back door or it would've got soaked and he saw me put it in the shed.

3am and Toby arrived back to 'call me', loudly, so for the sake of neighbour relations I went down and opened the door and the whole cyclee started all over again. Am exhaused today. Mr P finished nights this morning and was in bed so I decided to be decadent and go back and join him for a couple of hours sleep. Not to be, as minutes after getting into bed Felix pounced and decided he needed most of the bed after giving me a good wash and purr:)

mymo

Really feeling crap, was up twice last night as pain killer/anti inflams I got for my knee are making me feel ill.
Knee is no better, so looks like injections into the knee for me
Got loads to do, really don't need this right now.
Can't walk dogs past end of road, but they have been very good, cuddling on the sofa with Oliver all evening.
Did get a laugh from Toby chasing a pheasant earlier, he got a fright when he got close and realised how big it was

westies4ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu9sWjnJFHU

I can't watch without crying. It really captures what it means to have a dog as a best pal. I might be biased cos it's a westie though.

Mod Edit: your link wasn't working out too well, so i embedded it as a proper Youtube video. Cesar and Natures Menu is the only food my foster dog will eat,while not ideal...she's happy out on it. Sweet video.

westies4ever

thanks anniehoo - was on my phone so i mustve made a mess of it. yeah my dogs love cesar as well but i only give it to them occasionally for a treat.