Libertine: On the Prowl

Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________

Bitchy Kitty

05:09, 2008-Oct-6 .. Posted in animals .. 10 comments .. Link

My female cat is twelve years old now. And the older she gets, the more crotchety she becomes.

She has a bad habit of perching on the narrow ledge of windows in the house; the place where the upper and lower windows meet. She's OK there, as long as she's awake and alert. However, she tends to fall asleep on that narrow ledge, contorted into a weird position. And no sooner than she fully relaxes and drifts off to sleep than she tends to fall from her perch, hitting the floor (or the kitchen counter if she's in that window) with a resounding thump.

You'd think she'd learn and find another place to sleep where she'd be more secure. But that is something you'd be wrong about. No matter how many times she falls out of the window, she goes right back to it, only to fall again a few minutes later. I've done all I can to persuade her to perch elsewhere, but she won't even consider it. If I move her seomwhere else, she'll just run right back to the damned window.

The other day she fell out of the window and I suddenly heard her hissing and spitting. I looked to see if the tom was hassling her, but he wasn't even in the room. She's fallen from the kitchen window right into a half eaten borwl of soup I'd left on the counter and she was dripping wet. The bowl was a disposable cardboard bowl, so she'd not hurt herself with glass shards.

She was just royally pissed off at me for leaving the soup there and for getting all wet. When I approached her to make sure she wasn't hurt, she just gave me a look that could kill and hissed emphatically at me. If she could have spoke, she'd have told me to clean up the damned mess, already.

By this time, the tom came into the kitchen to see what the hell was wrong with her and she hissed at him, too, for good measure.

Have any of you ever had your cats to verbally complain at you in this manner before?

There's Not a Roach Motel Big Enough to Handle This

10:08, 2008-Apr-24 .. Posted in animals .. 8 comments .. Link

Most people worry about having mice or roaches in their kitchens.

But a Florida woman came home the other night to find an alligator in hers. The eight foot gator had come into the house by busting through her sliding screen door, then walked through the house to where she found it in the kitchen.

When she called 911, the dispatcher didn't believe her at first, asking whether what she'd seen was really an iguana. When animal control officers arrived, they were able to remove the alligator without incident. No one was hurt, except for the gator who had a minor cut when it broke a plate after knocking it off a table.

Photo of the Day

01:33, 2008-Apr-6 .. Posted in animals .. 7 comments .. Link

This newborn kitten's odd markings seem to say, "I love dot". The markings are especially amazing, considering that her mother's name is Dottie.

Wheelchairs For Pets

08:07, 2008-Mar-25 .. Posted in animals .. 3 comments .. Link

While browsing the net today, I found a website, Eddie's Wheels, which is a business devoted to making wheelchairs for handicapped pets with disabilities of various kinds, both temporary and permanent.

I've seen many pets over the years who have lost the use of their rear legs or lost multiple limbs who were otherwise healthy, who nonetheless had to be put down.

The founder of Eddie's Wheels started this business when his own dog lost her mobility due to disc disease. He devised and built a dogcart for her that would allow her explore the woods, wade in the river, and play with other dogs, as she had always done. Fortunately, her disabilities were temporary, and she later regained the full use of her legs, her recovery no doubt hastened by the cart that allowed her to get around.

Now, he builds pet wheelchairs, individually designed for each client, according to the pet's size and type of disability.

It's a great idea that allows many disabled pets to live a normal life to old age, who wouldn't have had a chance before. I wish I'd thought of it.

Bad Cats

01:07, 2008-Mar-6 .. Posted in animals .. 33 comments .. Link

Both my cats have had wild hairs this week, with both instances of their misbehavior centering on my computer.

A few days ago, I was sitting here using the computer and the big, clumsy-ass tom cat jumped on the computer table then leaped to the tower, missing it and going over the side. Unfortunately, he took the tower along with him, which flipped itself upside down before landing on the floor on its head.

Oddly enough, even though the front panel popped off and the side came open a bit, nothing was unplugged. When I picked it up and replaced it on the table, it was even still online, with everything still working. I was able to pop the front panel back on, though I'll have to use electrical tape to keep the side completely closed again.

The cat knew he'd done wrong and immediately ran and hid somewhere in the house, staying out of sight for several hours.

The next day, I was out for several hours and when I came back, I opened the front door to hear "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep". I found the female cat sitting ON TOP of the keyboard, which was wrapped in a garbage bag so that it wouldn't get fried if she happened to throw up on it like she'd done to my previous keyboard a few weeks earlier.

I yelled, "NO!" and removed her from her perch. After I set her down elsewhere, she just walked right back to where she'd been and plopped herself back down and the beeping resumed. I ended up having to set the keyboard up on its side, wedged between the tower and monitor, when I went back out. So far, she's shown no more interest in it.

Feel free to tell me about some of the crap your cats and dogs have done in your house.

Working Cats

11:22, 2007-Dec-30 .. Posted in animals .. 6 comments .. Link

Feral cats in Los Angeles now have a better alternative than euthanization when picked up by the humane society. Previously, feral cats had little chance of leaving the shelters alive because they usually cannot be sufficiently re-domesticated enough to be suitable pets.

Recently, the LAPD, along with the animal welfare group, Voice for the Animals, instituted a Working Cats program that uses such cats to combat the rampant rat infestation in their various facilities.

Everywhere the cats have been placed, they've effectively ended the rodent problem. Though the cats kill whatever rats and mice they are able to catch, the problem is solved mainly by scent. The rodents become aware of the feline presence by the smell of the cats and their urine -- and simply move on to areas with less cat density.

In areas where the cats have been placed, officers have been assigned to feed and care for them, which supplements their rodent diet.

It's a humane solution all around: the cats are saved from starvation or euthanization and the rats are spared more grisly methods of control, such as glue traps.

It's a great idea that should be imitated in other cities wherever rodent problems exist.

Thoughts?
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Working Cats

Cats' Christmas Tree

12:01, 2007-Dec-21 .. Posted in animals .. 8 comments .. Link

I don't have anything to write about today, so I thought I'd leave you with this...

"Sticky" Mousetraps Are Inhumane

01:03, 2007-Dec-2 .. Posted in animals .. 18 comments .. Link

Recently a coworker mentioned a problem with mice getting into his house. I suggested he get a cat, as I've not had that problem since I've had cats. He said his wife didn't like cats and was afraid of the traditional snap traps, so he was going to buy some of those sticky traps, also known as glueboard traps.

I'm totally against sticky traps. Unlike the snap trap, where the mouse dies instantly by having its neck broken, a mouse caught by a sticky trap dies a slow, agonizing death. As mammals, they feel pain just as humans and dogs and cats would. Trapped mice struggling to free themselves pull out their own hair, exposing bare, raw areas of skin. Mice typically break or even bite off their own legs, and the glue causes their eyes to become badly irritated and scarred. After three to five hours in the glue traps, the mice defecate and urinate heavily because of their severe stress and fear, and quickly became covered with their own excrement. Those whose faces become stuck in the glue slowly suffocate, and all trapped animals are subject to starvation and dehydration.

Laws against inhumane treatment of animals typically don't include rodents such as mice and rats, thus inhumane methods of controlling them are legal. Many veterinarians have spoken out against this barbaric means of pest control and suggest alternate methods. These methods include traps that simply capture, but don't kill them so that they can be later released somewhere outside. Snap traps are also a better choice, as death comes quickly without suffering. And, then of course, there's the option of cats, which goes along with the cycle of nature.

I urge everyone to boycott the use of sticky traps and choose one of the methods suggested above, instead.

Cat Conversation

10:37, 2007-Nov-27 .. Posted in animals .. 7 comments .. Link

I thought I'd try one of these...

Dolphins Save a Man's Life

01:19, 2007-Nov-11 .. Posted in animals .. 14 comments .. Link

Surfer Todd Endris owes his life to a group of quick-thinking dolphins.

On August 28, while surfing in Monterey, California, Endris was suddenly attacked by a great white shark. The shark attacked him three times, hampered by the surf board Endris was on. But it managed to peel the skin off his back and mangle one of Endris' legs during the repeated attacks, though he was able to fight the shark by kicking it with his other foot.

At this point, a pod of dolphins appeared and surrounded Endris in a protective ring, which caused the shark to break off the attack. The dolphins' protection allowed Endris to get back on his board and to make his way to shore, where first aid was given while waiting for the helicopter which evacuated him to a hospital.

Six weeks later, Endris was well enough to return to surfing, though he is still undergoing physical therapy to repair the muscle damage he endured in the attack.

The behavior of the dolphins is not unusual -- there are countless cases of dolphins acting to protect humans in the water from marine predators, usually sharks. Sharks fear dolphins, which allows the dolphins to effectively help humans.

For some reason, dolphins like humans. They commonly follow ships at sea; hoping for a handout, I'm guessing. I remember my father telling me that one of his favorite activities was to watch the dolphins who followed his aircraft carrier when he was at sea during WWII.

As for me, if I ever go to Florida, the first thing I want to do is to go to one of those places where they let you swim with the dolphins. If any of my readers has done this, I'd like to hear about it.

Animals and Pizza Delivery

03:28, 2005-Nov-28 .. Posted in animals .. 0 comments .. Link

At about eighty percent of the houses I deliver pizza to, I am greeted by animals as well as humans. Most of the animals are happy to see me, whether it's because I smell like food or they just sense I'm an animal lover.

In this last week, though, I've had some meetings with animals that have been out of the ordinary.

The other night, I went to this trailer way out in the woods to deliver pizzas. Before I left, another driver warned me to stay in the car when I got there, as the customer had some psychotic dogs and that he'd meet me at the car.

Sure enough, when I drove up the dirt road leading to Deliverance land, a boxer and a Heinz 57 mutt appeared out of nowhere, barking their guts out as they followed my car.

As I stopped the car, the owner came out, just as the other driver said. When he paid me, I could hear the idiot dogs throwing themselves against my car as they continued their frenzied barkathon. I'm used to dogs barking at me, but having them hurl themselves against the side of my car was a new one on me.

The same night, I delivered to a house that had three cats on the porch eating their supper. As soon as I rang the bell, the cats stepped off the porch, all three heading directly to my car.

They all jumped on it and walked all over it, completely checking it out. I don't know if they just liked cars and took the opportunity to examine a new one, or if they just smelled pizza fumes emanating from it, but either way, I found it funny as hell.

Last night, I was driving slowly in a poor neighborhood. I always drive carefully in such areas at night, as residents there have a tendency to walk slowly out in the middle of the road at all hours, and are many times nearly invisible until I'm almost right on them.

But it didn't occur to me to look out for dogs, too. While driving through last night, I nearly hit a dog that was sleeping directly on the double yellow lines in the middle of the street. If I'd been driving normal speed, there wouldn't have been any way I could have avoided it. As it was, I had to step on my brakes and squeal tires to keep from hitting him.

At the sound of my tires squealing, the dog just got up and calmly trotted off. Didn't faze him a bit, as he had no idea that he'd come within an inch of becoming road kill.