Please be seated and we can begin
After that last post I figure we all could probably use some cats. I certainly could.
So here are some cats behaving just a little bit suspiciously.
Clearly they’re planning something
Huh.
Balancing out that last one
Non-cat owners might find the next one suspicious as well. It’s not. It’s just what cats do.
They like to watch
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I grew up in the Midwest, so there were always raccoons around. We used to keep a water bowl on the back porch for the cats and we would have to change the water every morning because the raccoons would wash their food in it. (Fun fact: “Raccoon” in German is “Waschbär,” which literally translates to “wash bear.”) My sister used live in an apartment that faced some woods, so they got lots of raccoons on the patio. My nephew called them “bad kitties.”
I also used to work at a children’s museum and there were two raccoons there. One was blind and the other was albino. The albino one was gorgeous, mostly white, but with normal raccoon markings in a very light brown. She was really mean, though.
Bad kitty:
Worse kitty:
The worst kitty:
Imaginary Petal:
Indeed they are! Didi even gave her best pooping and peeing advice to Fingie! 😀
Story 1: I was once on a date which ended with cuddling in a hammock in the woods. When we got up to leave, her backpack was missing! After some don’t-panic moments we found it in the bushes, dragged there presumably by a raccoon.
Story 2: Driving down a secondary highway recently, I rounded the bend and, barely conscious of what I was seeing, I stopped, because stopping just seemed to be the thing to do. Once stopped I could take stock of the scene: there were two adult geese and several goslings to my left. One adult on the centerline, another at the back of a group of goslings. Two adults and goslings to my right.
It was exactly the scene I see in town all the time, except here it was geese and goslings rather than teachers and crossing guards and kindergarteners.
@Alan Robertshaw – as a foreign type I occasionally have my moments with my adopted country. When I’ve been particularly peeved by something in the UK I have this fantasy of smuggling in a breeding pair of raccoons to let loose on an unsuspecting England.
They will steal your purse. I’ve heard a story, perhaps apocryphal, about one that drowned a hunting dog that was after it. They will break into your bin and spread rubbish about (they are too smart to be deterred by most tamper-proofing). But they are dang cute.
Sometimes I also have this fantasy after I’ve been kept up all night by the screeches of the mating foxes. “I will bring in the raccoons and they will outcompete you urban foxes! I’ll show you Mr. Fucktastic Fox.”
But turns out I wouldn’t even have to smuggle them in, I’d just have to buy some as pets. Which you can, legally, in the UK.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572043/Adorable-pet-RACCOON-taken-daily-walks-lead-just-like-dog.html
Just the other night I was coming home from work when I heard a noise in the bushes, and out came a pair of raccoons the size of small corgis. They’re all over the city.
@ej
In French it’s ‘raton-laveur’, literally ‘washer rat’.
@Rugbyyogi
They’ve been introduced in a couple places in Europe, it’s only a matter of time before they find their way through the Chunnel.
Growing up, we had to literally chain the damn things shut for that reason.
They don’t; you’d just have two kinds of pest around. We had a family of grey foxes under our shed for several years, and the raccoons never bothered them. Grey foxes are about the only canine that climbs trees, and sometimes we could watch the kits practicing from our back window. They’d take a runup and scrabble up the pine in the yard. They’d vanish into the branches, and then you’d see a branch shake, then a lower one, then a lower one, and then a fox kit tumbles to the ground like a pinecone before the next one takes its turn.
In Swedish, raccoons are called “tvättbjörn”, which literally means “wash bear”. Seems like a common thing.
bluecat – I hope your kitty comes home!
skiriki – My cat gets anxious when I *remove* his collar! The look he gives me when I do is the same one he gets when I sing to him (which he hates!)
That’s because his first kitty mom always puts collars on her cats; the kittens too tiny for collars get to wear a tiny little harness as soon as they fit into it, then graduate to a collar. None of them like being ‘naked’ for very long! And no, there are no leashes involved.
@mish -mostly because Opposums are cranky, ugly critters who hiss at people from their hidey-spots and scare them. They are actually fairly harmless, and don’t carry rabies as much as other animals, like bats and raccoons. Also like raccoons, they live close to people and can get into the trash.
It’s a lovely creature.
@petal -yes, and they can get into yr closet and have all the babies. Baby possums are fairly cute.
Also, opossums are bad at running, and if forced to flee, will often faint from shock. This is called “playing possum” and was once thought to be an adaptive feature (basically, playing dead). Except it isn’t, because predators will just eat their unconscious body. Oh, yeah, and those who survive to the ripe old age of 3 usually die of multiple cancers. They’re weird that way.
There are a lot of opossums in my neighborhood. Sometimes I’ll wake up (my bed is right next to the window) to see my cat on the windowsill, absolutely fixated on something in the alley outside. It’s usually an opossum scavenging for trash.
The thing is, if you shine a flashlight on a rat or raccoon, it runs away. An opossum just gives you this look, like: “Yes, and? My ancestors had to deal with velociraptors; do you think you impress me?”
@ rugbyyogi
Do it!!!!!
Anyway, I’m not sure a country whose national animals are the lion and the unicorn can really talk about ‘invasive species’.
@ rugbyyogi
When I’ve been particularly peeved by something in the UK I have this fantasy of smuggling in a breeding pair of raccoons to let loose on an unsuspecting England.
Do it!!!!!
Anyway, I’m not sure a country whose national animals are the lion and the unicorn can really talk about ‘invasive species’.
Hah, not around here they don’t. I shined my light right on one two nights ago and all that happened was another one came out of the bushes.
Possums in the closet sounds like a job for animal control.
I’m sure ‘playing possum’ doesn’t work too well with a determined predator, but I saw it work with two curious beagle puppies. They were pretty worked up at first (we had them on leashes; they weren’t going to get too close). Once the possum fell over, they sniffed in that general direction a few more times and got bored and went to do something else. After they were no longer paying attention, the little possum toddled off.
But big ones are terrifying. They remind me of ROUSes.
@bluecat
I’m sorry about your missing cat.
If I may offer a piece of unsolicited advice: I can’t find the Tumblr post where I read this, but leaving an article of clothing you’ve worn for at least a day outside might help. Apparently, cats find it much easier to recognize your scent than you calling them.
(Also, hello everyone! I’ve been lurking for years, but this is my first post. I’ve helped myself to a welcome package, and I’ll try not to completely disappear into lurkerdom again.)
@not Ian – hello! I only de-lurked myself back in February (I think) after reading for ages. Nice to meet you 🙂
Got any animal stories?
Welcome, not Ian!
This is basically an open thread, right? I learned from my 23 and me report that I have a gene that causes me not to be able to taste a specific bitter flavor found in Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Now, carrying a gene doesn’t mean it’s active, but I’ve never tasted a bitter flavor in those foods (my childhood love of Brussels sprouts is now explained!). Up until today, I saw this as lovely, but today I made a delicious (to me) pudding that my husband found to be bitter (no, I didn’t put Brussels sprouts in the pudding; it was whole grain bread crumbs instead of white). Cooking has always been a passion of mine and if I didn’t hate food service I would have gone to school to become a chef, so it makes me a little sad to know I have this kind of blind spot in my palate. Oh well; I get the leftover pudding. 😀
Hambeast:
Yeah, they just haven’t worn a collar ever, so this is a totally new experience.
Also, Finns call raccoon “pesukarhu”, which of course means “washing bear”. Coincidentally, that was also a name of one washing machine brand. Raccoon dogs are known as “supi” or “supikoira”.
We have a couple stray cats in our neighborhood, but one will occasionally stand on the porch and look inside. This drives our girl cat (Purry) NUTS. She’s slammed into the door a couple times like a hockey player, which makes me really glad that I put the glass part of the door on the bottom and the screen on top.
Last night, she knocked the window screen out and apparently fell out. The first I knew of it was when I looked at the door and saw her little face peeking in. I went out to get her and she ran back to where the screen came out, I guess to show me? I boosted her back into the house and then shut the window; I got a replacement screen today.
She also was wrestling the Grumpy Old Man Cat earlier because he wasn’t holding his head at the right angle for her to clean his ear. Clearly the solution there was grabbing his head and physically turning it! And when I go to the bathroom, she’ll follow me in and meow as she stares at me until I turn on the faucet for her.
Oddly, the boy cats are much less demanding, which is kind of hilarious because they are typically RIGHT THERE wherever I am. GOMC (Keon) sleeps at my feet, and Scrumpy will lay on top of me until I actually turn out the light. Fortunately, he’s less inclined to do that in this heat.
By the way, anyone have any ideas for helping cats keep cool? This heat is just brutal, and the high humidity isn’t helping.
Purry: https://goo.gl/photos/TQiHzMkLEshDtJqK6
Keon: https://goo.gl/photos/HRtVWcV45rUpfXZ2A
Scrumpy: https://goo.gl/photos/1gY6DtHE19cqrUC8A
Adorable kittehs!
I don’t know that it’s really necessary to help cats keep cool. Other than making sure the water dish is full so they don’t get dehydrated. They evolved in hot climates and they’re comfortable at warmer temperatures than humans are. I think they’re fine dealing with the heat by being lazy lump loafs.
Lots of fresh water (if you got one of those flowing water springs for the cats, it might be ideal, since running water makes ’em drink more often), and if you think they’re overheating, put a lightly moist towel to freezer and let it chill for an hour or two and spread it out in front of cats. If they need cooling, they’re going to flock to it. There are large cooling pads for dogs (which you might reappropriate for cats), but cats indeed resist heat better than dogs, and their response to it is to turn into sleepy lumps.
Welcome, Not Ian!
Update:
Carisma has totally destroyed the collar in two and half days. It is now frayed and completely out of shape (nylon), and that means my next purchase will be a leather collar.
Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone!
Alas, I don’t have any animal stories to share. I live in a rather central part of Berlin right now, where animal encounters are limited to pigeons, weirdly gray-feathered crows, and the occasional mouse on the subway tracks.
Well, I did wake up one summer night to find a bat in my room, who ate the gnats off the walls, I think, before disappearing back out of the window, and bats are awesome!
@not Ian
I love bats. In the summer they’re out before it gets too dark, so I love going for walks around dusk and watching them fly overhead. 🙂
I didn’t see this linked yet? Apologies if I missed it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNtYHswzFzM
(German ad love letter to cats and the internet)
Netto-Katzen