We have a cat too...... or does he have us?

Since Bella and Daisy have been introduced to everyone, it's only fair that the man in charge should make his presence felt here! He's been seen as a pair of eyes peering out from under my van when it snowed very heaily back in March, but that's not really in keeping with his dignity......

So here he is - Tom (yes, I know, a really imaginative name, but as I've said in another thread - he's a rescue cat, and he came with the name!

 

tom is so cute welcome, my friends cat is called tom but he is ginger he loves me when i go to hers he always greets me doesnt do it to anyone else mind i,ve known him since he was a baby 8 years ago so he is used to me. dont know how your tom could sit there in the freezing cold like that.

 

Wow Dendy he is beautiful.I like the white whiskers.Do you know how old Tom is.He looks like a mouser

 

He's about 4 - and yes, he's a mouser, and a shrewer, and lots of little birdser...... He wears as many bells as we can get on his collar, which is about as much as we can do.

You can't change a cat's nature, but I have to admit I find it hard to cope with bits of dead robin in the house.... Somehow it's worse than sparrow or blue tit, etc, etc, etc.

Apparently cats don't eat shrews because of the taste - anyone know about this? I've certainly found various intact ones around. Definitely a waste of time on Tom's part

He's definitely taught himself to hunt very successfully. He was in a houseful of 25 cats and 2 dogs when we got him at the age of approx 13 months - and his first expedtition outside involved him mistaking the green-covered surface of our small pond for grass - so I had to carry one soggy moggy at arm's length back into the house!!

His first attempts at getting birds weren't too successful. He'd sit under the very high bird table and miaow at them, just as he does at me when he wants food!! Cats!!

 

Rosa - Tom sits and goes exactly where he chooses!! In this picture he's on the stairs up to our back entrance, to the area where all the animals have access, the "family room".
You can see the set-up here, with a bed we were just organising in the fore-ground.... That's another story, and has nothing to do with Tom!!

 

Oh, well, Dendro, you know we love Tom ... and we like your stairs as well!

Onto shrews ... :eek: ... we were inundated with them in Bucks, more shrews than mice. Didn't you in HH? Well, these little b*ggars would attach themselves to your fingers and bit the sh*t out of you, draw blood like a vampire! So, does that answer your question as to why cat don't eat them?

:D :D :D :D

 

No, LoL - I didn't noticed inundations of shrews in HH! And I'm sure Tom would have made sure we were aware of them!!!!

And as to why cats don't eat them, do you reckon it's because the shrews would taste of human blood?? :rolleyes:

Glad you like the stairs!!

 

dend just realised thought he was sitting on a bench, thought it was unusual, that explains were he is sitting.

 

Rosa, cats sit anywhere they want! :D :D :D

Dendro, could be vampirish! I think .. but can't honestly personally vouche for this theory, that shrews are bitter!

PS Don't know how to spell vouche and can't be bothered to go to the dictionary! :D

 

My TomTom is in my avatar - very much a rescue cat - I 'rescued' him from the snow outside where he had been (I suspect) drive-by dumped about three or four years before.

I actually named him TomTom because until I had him neutered he had two.... well, you know what!... and was a very pongy young man!

 

I like whey he was named! :D

You don't really mean that he had been dumped three or four years before you found him? :D :D

Unfortunately, we saw a dead moggie today on the side of the road ... I always get upset about that! :( Last week we saw a huge doggie in the same situation! :(

 

Oh, LoL, that's really horrid, isn't it?


And yes, TomTom was dumped that far back. But we (the neighbourhood) thought he belonged to someone and it wasn't till I had a catflap put in and saw how terribly hungry he was (despite his hugeness - he weighed 14lbs!) that it began to dawn on us that he was abandoned. So a couple of us tried to win his trust but he gave it to me first and moved in! I had him chipped and snipped and deloused and he's been a wonderful companion ever since. Until....

About three weeks ago I took him to the vet and coming back, realised I needed something from the shops. So I pulled up outside the house and let him out of the car - well, 'encouraged' to be precise. When I got back he was still sitting there and my neighbour said he'd been there since I drove off, howling like a little wolf! He had refused her efforts so console and went into an enormous nervous reaction, refusing to allow me anywhere near him for the rest of the day. It took him almost four days to completely trust me again. Silly thing is, because of his weight, I never carry him out of the car in the basket, always open basket and car and let him get out but it's usually been inside the car port. This was just ten feet outsite the gate but I reckon he must have been drive-by dumped because of the extremity of his reaction. He just looked so terrified, like "Oh no, you're not doing it to me as well!"

I was so sorry and upset that I'd hurt him so. You can't imagine how awful it is to lose a cat's trust when he's been so rejected like that.

 

MMD, I do get so upset and always say something like ... poor poppet, bless the little poppet / soul (because I believe they have them too), poor bunny ... or even just oooooohhhhhh!!! Then it's on my mind for days! Horrible!! But fortunately you don't see it often nowadays like you did years ago ... it was quite surprising to see two such incidents within the week.

Tom-Tom is such a beaut and he's just posing for that pic! He's got a lovely mummy and he knows it!

 

i never realised they remembered things like that, my two have been with me since kitten days, and we have never had a trauma, ...... the first time they were put in cages to go to vets there was quite an uproar, but now they are ok about it, and even sit in vets waiting room glaring at any dogs that dare come near

 

Lovely,Purrrfect don't know about shrews but they leave the gall bladder from a mouse.