just slightly unnerving cat-stuff

[rivendellrose]

So, lizbee posted a few pics the other day from a book Lalla Ward illustrated back in the 1970s or so... and of course being that it was a cat book I couldn't resist looking.

It's... a bit like looking in a mirror, actually.





For reference, if you have no idea why I would think a picture of such a large cat would be amusing, here is my cat, being held by nekokoban:



I am deeply amused by this.

Comments

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Theo is WAAAAY cuter though.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. I certainly think so. ♥

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I love your giant cat.

Random question for you: as a fellow owner of kitty with mighty toe fluff, do you have any tips for keeping him from tracking litter all over the place? We have a covered litter box and a litter mat for Kershach (which he usually uses), but he has tracked litter even into the bed, which kind of tweaks me out. The litter I buy is low-dust, but whatever dust there is gets caught in his toe fluff, and I wish I could, I don't know, make him wash his paws before he gets into bed. :P Do you have any advice ... or is this just one of those things I need to grin and bear as a cat owner?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm not sure what kind of litter you use, but I've got Theo on Swheat Scoop or, when I can find it, this other stuff that's similar but made of corn - both of them have the advantage of being biodegradable, flushable, and (best of all) not nearly as dusty as the clay stuff. So you might try that and see if it cuts down on his dusty toes a bit?

The other thing (and I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to do this until just now) is that you could trim his toe-fuzz. That way stuff wouldn't get caught in it - what's probably happening is that it gets caught in his fuzz and then he pulls it out wherever he's washing (apparently, on your bed - I'm just lucky that Theo likes to take his baths on the floor, I guess).

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry, that wasn't clear - Kershach washes himself anywhere, but I wish I could make him bathe his paws before he stepped on the bed and spread the dust there. At times, he will go straight from the litter box to the bedroom, without pausing to bathe first.

I use World's Best Cat Litter - is that what you're talking about? It's made of corn and flushable. I was going to try Swheat Scoop, because it's cheaper, but I had a coworker who warned me against it, saying that it had a tendency to, er, create a cement out of dust and urine. I take it you don't have that problem?

Trimming toe fuzz ... that's a good thought. Kershach's pretty tolerant, so he might let me do it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah... thank goodness I'm not quite attentive enough to notice if Theo's doing that. >_< The benefits of having lived with cats for 20+ years... some of their bad habits just don't register, really...

That sounds like the corn stuff I'm thinking of, yeah. I... prefer World's Best to Swheat Scoop, yeah, so you're probably best off sticking with what you've got. Swheat Scoop isn't a nightmare (I switched up to it after years of using the clay stuff, so it felt like a major improvement!), but the corn is definitely better, IMHO. The reason I still use Swheat is the only store near me that has it has kind of crummy week-day hours, whereas Swheat Scoop is available at Whole Foods. And it comes in bigger boxes.

Like I said, I haven't done the trimming-thing myself, but... I can't imagine it would hurt, and it's hard to picture how it might fail to help at least somewhat? I might have to give it a try with Theo, too... he's due for a nail-trimming this week, probably, anyway...

(I'm rereading this comment and realize that I sound marginally incoherent - sorry about that, it's been a long day at work!)

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

You know, that might just be it. This is my first time actually owning a cat, so all the little oddities and inconveniences are standing out to me. (Even when I lived with shadawyn, Sebastian and Maddie had to walk a long way from their litter box to my room.) I felt some litter dust under my pillow, and have found individual pieces of litter once or twice; it's probably not a huge deal. Though I do want to see if I can solve it!

You live near PAWS, right? There's a Mud Bay just a block or so away from there, and they carry World's Best. We found them because PAWS gave us coupons to Mud Bay when we adopted Kershach, and I really like the place so far (though we go to the one in U Village because it's closer). It's a touch pricey, but has good stuff - sort of like Whole Foods, since you mention it!

(No worries, you were coherent enough for me!)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah... it's a process, definitely, and everybody's got their levels of what they're willing to put up with. I won't let Theo sleep on my pillow, for instance - he can sleep next to it, but not on. Our big problem right now is him getting up on my desk and sleeping on my laptop. It doesn't exactly hurt anything, it just really annoys me, so we're engaged in a constant battle where he does it, I yell and put him down, he does it again, I shut him out of the room, and so on. Fun stuff. :P

Alas, the PAWS and Mud Bay are on the other side of the lake from me... well within range for weekend rambling, but not really for normal errands. The place we go to is really close... it's just not open past 7pm on weekdays, so if I'm close to running out and forget to buy litter on the weekend, I'm stuck with the stuff they carry at Whole Foods.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, the things we do that probably don't make sense to cats ... I'm sure Theoden thinks that sleeping on the laptop is fine since he doesn't break it. Relatedly, Kershach probably doesn't understand why I let him climb on the dining room chair, but not the table, even though that makes perfect sense to me. :P

Ah. Any grocery shopping requires a bus trip for me, so having a Mud Bay in U Village is actually quite good for me. (That's the one thing I dislike about where I live - I wish it were easier to walk to stores or restaurants.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the chair vs. table problem is a big issue in our house, too. Theo has this sneaky way of just sort of... sidling up and sprawling out on the table before we notice him, and then looking up at us like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" when we yell and get up to evict him. :P

Aha! Yeah, we're walking distance from Whole Foods (and a QFC, but I kind of hate them), so we do most of our shopping there and Trader Joes. I'm so spoiled from living right in the middle of things; I think I'd be cranky all the time if I had to hop a bus any time I had to go to the store.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, feline feigned innocence. We haven't gotten to that with Kershach yet, but I don't think that'll last forever.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

You've lasted this long without getting the patented feline "Who, me, I wasn't doing anything..." look? I'm impressed - Kerschach really must be a sweetheart. ;)

[irishninja.livejournal.com]

Sebastian has the same problem. Let me know how your toe-fuzz trimming exercise goes. I might wish to learn from your experience. ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Now we just have to all hope that Kerschach, Sebastian and Theo don't gang up on us like they're going to think we're ganging up on them. ;)

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'll share, but if I recall, Sebastian is touchy about his paws. :P Kershach seems to not mind when I touch his paws, though I haven't tried doing anything like trimming or clipping.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

My boys don't have the toe fluff that Theo does (and presumably your kittie) and I also find kitty litter even in the bed.
Good luck, if you find a solution, let me in on it please.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

I will! Though I'm afraid it's sounding more and more like this is just one of those "blessings" of owning a cat. :)

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

"one of those blessings of owning a cat" Indeed.

[thegranddewru.livejournal.com]

Aww! Big fluffy kitty! We used to have a kitty like that. His name was Charlie and he was gray and white. He was huge, but part of it was the big fluff ball.

When I was a little girl someone dumped a cat off in our area and we ended up adopting him and I remember him being HUGE and he was short haired. His name was Doobie.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awww!!! Part of Theo is the fluff, but mostly he's just huge. And, er, also kind of fat, silly thing. He's on a diet right now. The vet wants him down to 14 pounds, from 18, and he is Not Entirely Thrilled with this plan. >_<

Wow, a big short-haired kitty would be awesome. And the best cats are strays, I think - all of mine always have been, and some of them (Theo included) have been total sweethearts.

[thegranddewru.livejournal.com]

Doobie had belonged to someone because he was pretty "well fed". :p but we never knew how he got way out there. We lived way out in the boonies at that time. But he was a sweetie. Scared me the first time he showed up at night though, me being a kid and him being a huge strange cat.

I've had a few great stray cat friends too. Spencer being one - he was the opposite of big. Everyone kept saying don't you feed that cat, he'll never leave! but... I never regretted it. :p

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

He sounds like a total cutie. We had one cat who just wandered up like that, when I was a teenager - we think he was just in transit, or maybe a neighbor's cat who made the rounds, because he just walked into our house one day (completely ignoring our own cat, who was so shocked he didn't even do anything about it), ate from our kitty's bowl, and then slept on my dad's bed. Stayed for about a week, and the poof! Gone. I was sad he left - I would've been happy to have that little guy forever, but I guess he had other plans. ;)

[thegranddewru.livejournal.com]

He was a wanderer. His heart too big to belong to just one family. :p How funny that he just made himself at home like that. I love cats, they have so much personality. Even when it's ornery there's usually still a lot of it!

We've had cats that adopted another family besides us. Charlie did that and he wasn't a tom. He had some other family down the road and he'd go stay there for a month and come home.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Theo is just gorgeous. I LOVE cats who have enough of a mane to look like a small lion.

BTW, have you seen the Simon's Cat cartoons yet? For some reason the cat in that cartoon reminds me of Simon's kitty...

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

He thinks he's a small lion, too, the silly thing. ;)

Oh, I haven't! I'll have to look it up!

[cordeliadelayne]

Aw, much cuteness :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thank you! <3