[cloa513]

For all you dog owners, cats can retract their claws - full claws out for fighting and climbing and destroying things, half out for scratching humans that annoy them and fighting with friendly cats (i.e. same owner) and fully in when not needed when they need to non-aggressive like fun play. Dog no choice fixed full claws unless trimmed.

[jjbrr]

no, i think your generalizations are close but not entirely true. i believe i heard somewhere that claws out is the relaxed state for cats. my cat, for example, always has her claws out when someone is petting her or when she's agitated. the former is particularly troublesome when someone is petting her and she gets startled, because she digs her claws into whatever surface shes on to jump off. she may think it's harmless; i claim quite the contrary.

I have encountered cats that don't do this.

Also, my cat has her claws out when she "kneads", and many do not.

finally, one of her toys for certain provokes her to swat at it with claws all the way out. perhaps she's "fighting" it, but i don't think thats true. for each of her toys besides that one, half out sounds about right.

more correct would be to say that your claims are usually true, but every cat is different. they all have their quirks.

[gwnn]

Kneading is the one thing I do not like about cats. Ouch.

[H_KARLUK]

We've a cute dogzilla here. I know she loves to play the good girl for some extra food. But no big deal we're OK as she's loyal.

Before i moved to USA suffered a lot from neighbor's feeding street cats hobby.

[y66]

Noomi. Favorite cat.

[y66]

Noomi's favorite pet. Crook.

[kenrexford]

kenrexford, on 2010-March-03, 11:09, said:

My wife and I live in a zoo, sort of. "Favorite" is tough.

We have koi and goldfish in a pond outside. They are tremendously relaxing in the warmer months.

We have a large saltwater tank inside. They are tremendously relaxing in the colder months.

We have two dogs, Malcolm (black) and Aspen (white). They are not remotely relaxing, but they are great fun.

But, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be my Himalayan cat, Arcadia. I pruchased her back in 1994 while I was still in law school. I have been through a lot of ups and downs since then, and my cat has been my one steady throughout. She's a relative bitch to everyone except me, whom she follows around the house constantly.

Lose any of my pets, and I'm upset, of course. When my cat passes, I'm sure that I will be unconsolable for a while.

I forgot about this post. About a month or two after this, Arcadia suffered a complete renal failure, and I had to put her down. I was devastated. We had tried to get her medical help, but after about a week of trying, it was obviously over. When we went to the doc to end the suffering, I actually collapsed. Quite embarassing, but such is life with a pet.

A few days later, my wife and I ran into two Siamese kittens that were left as the runts at the pet store. We got bro and sis, now Bella and Ender. (My wife likes Twilight; I went with Ender's Game. Probably best -- which male name might have been an argument otherwise. LOL) They did not replace Arcadia, but they are a ball of fun anyway.

[Rain]

Sorry to hear about Arcadia Ken.

Last year I had to put a cat to sleep. It's more my parent's cat than mine since I don't live in Singapore much nowadays, but the guilt at having to make this choice is really overwhelming. I overcompensated by spoiling his brother. That actually helped, so I think your 2 kitten strategy will work well.

Also, I'm still a dog person, even though the rest of my family have switched tacks and have kinda adopted all the stray cats roaming around this street.
One BBOer actually adopted a little kitten from us 2 weeks ago. He may be willing to do an interview article soon. Anyone else here who would like to share animal stories in BBO news are welcome to contact me ) Maybe because I love these little critters myself, but I really enjoy reading about dog or cats or smart parrot stories, so please share them if you find that you can't contain yourself too.

[Free]

I like ducks, especially ducklings, they're so cute!

[matmat]

Free, on 2011-June-10, 08:32, said:

I like ducks, especially ducklings, they're so cute!

And so tasty when they grow up!

[helene_t]

My cat, Fizz, sometimes clicks a mouse button while I am using the computer. Recently she somehow managed to reduce the screen resolution, I have no idea how.

Also, while I was playing on BBO last wednesday and the auction went:
(1♣)-pass-(1♥)-?
Fizz ventured a negative double holding xx-Jxxxx-xxxx-Qx. Fortunately opps accepted my undo request.

[shintaro]

Definite Cat lover here

Last Feline of many over the years named 'Marmalade' (let the more intelligent guess his colouration)

Rat lovers dont read on

He would come home bearing Gifts of Rats from a local Farm

Was huge but went and got himself run over sad really

[jjbrr]

Makes you wonder what he planned to do with the car once he caught it.

[luke warm]

i would have never believed it, but since we got a cat i'm pretty sure i like them better than dogs... at least i like *this* cat better... out of loyalty to dogs though, i named her spot

[blackshoe]

You and Commander Data.

A Great Dane I once knew used to bury cars in the back yard.

[shintaro]

Forgot to add I have hundreds of Tropical Fish

But you cant realy class them as pets as you cannot really take them out for walkies (unless you freeze then on a lolly stick I suppose)

[blackshoe]

Friend of mine had a cat who used to bring home stuff he'd killed. "Look what I have for you, Daddy". Once he brought in a chipmunk, still alive. Gary pried his jaws apart (a bit of work, as the cat didn't want to let go), the chipmunk fell to the living room floor, and when he realized, after a couple of seconds, that he was free, he was out the door like a shot. Killer (the cat) was not pleased.

Unfortunately, Killer outlived Gary by several years, and passed away just about a year ago.

[Hanoi5]

blackshoe, on 2011-June-11, 06:54, said:

Friend of mine had a cat who used to bring home stuff he'd killed. "Look what I have for you, Daddy". Once he brought in a chipmunk, still alive. Gary pried his jaws apart (a bit of work, as the cat didn't want to let go), the chipmunk fell to the living room floor, and when he realized, after a couple of seconds, that he was free, he was out the door like a shot. Killer (the cat) was not pleased.

Unfortunately, Killer outlived Gary by several years, and passed away just about a year ago.

Was Killer the name of the cat? Talk about programming...

[1eyedjack]

As someone who has no desire for a pet of any type, I should be interested to know what this "cat person" v "dog person" stress is all about? Is it because cats and dogs (at least those not from the same household) have a tendency to dislike each other that their owners seem somehow morally obliged to take on the preferences of their pets?

Over the course of my life I have come across several families that have both cats and dogs. They seem to be a minority, but they get along just fine, as do the cats and dogs within their household.

If forced to choose between the two, I tend to prefer dogs to cats, because cats poo in my garden, and their owners seem to be just fine about that so I guess that means I prefer dog owners to cat owners as well.

My wife being a postman, I guess prefers cats over dogs (although she gets frustrated with the poo of both).

Actually, I have a pet yeast culture. It is making a fine brew as I type.

[babalu1997]

she is now 15 years old, would soon go to the prom if human
but she had been coughing and i hoped it was not congestive heart failure

it was not and not hairball either,she had an allergy, 2 shots and some pills, the cough is gone. No steroid the doctor said, would make the fat one even fatter.

but during the shots at the vet, she bit my hand, she cannot do any wrong but,

my middle finger is terribly swollen, pain going down my arm, driving is hard, and i had to get a tetanus shot and antibiotics, i hope i dont die before her.