It’s amazing how grownups degenerate into baby-talking idiots with their pets. I’m probably the worst of the bunch.
“Come see Mommy!” “Give Mommy some loveys!” “Who is Mommy’s sweet baby?”
And all cats are babies, whether little kitten balls of fur, or the huge majestic Bengal tigers. Babies! They all are babies!
Congrats to Miss Goo!
~VOW
I tend to speak normally to the cats, and baby talk to the dogs. The human equivalent age of dogs is two; cats, 45.
Mrs. L.A. says older cats already have a personality; so yes, you know what to expect. Goo has quite the personality!
Mrs. L.A. says ‘goo’ means ‘shit’ in Korean. I tried to look it up, but didn’t find anything like it. However, she was stationed there and I wasn’t. Every so often when she’s exasperated she’ll say, ‘Ai goo.’
I got some hotdogs (in a zip-top bag) and a burger patty (in plastic wrap) out of the freezer, and put them on top of the dishwasher to thaw. I just went to the kitchen, and asked Mrs. L.A. what she did with the burger patty. She said she didn’t do anything with it. I found it on the floor, still mostly wrapped.
None of our other cats ever got onto the counters. Goo is a jumper/climber – and apparently, a little thief.
.
Awww, she’s beautiful. She doesn’t look mean to me. She looks like she’s been through a lot and is tired. I’m volunteering at the shelter again and the place is wall-to-wall kittens. The older cats don’t have a chance, so this is great!
There was that one weeks-old kitten that looked at me so adoringly and hopefully as I walked past the cage…
But we – especially Mrs. L.A. – look for older cats because they are often overlooked. I’d hate to think of Tonka, having been 8 six years ago, living the rest of his life in the shelter. 
Both cats I’ve had during my married life were shelter adoptees, both young adults (Felix was ca. 2yo, Allie was 14 months). Young enough to have a good long time with us, old enough to be past the Tasmanian fuzzball stage, housebroken, etc…
I was worried that Goo mightn’t get enough food, as Tonka used to push Creamsicle away when she first arrived. It turns out that Goo is the bully. We leave kibble out all day, but I think Goo was spoiled in the shelter because they put out so much gooshy food. She’s small-ish, but very solid. Tonka is large, but a bit soft… and 14 years old. She’ll steal Tonka’s gooshy food, so I have to physically restrain her until he’s done eating. Last night, before I even started dishing out the food, she had Tonka backed up into a corner and wouldn’t let him pass. She really needs to know her limits: Letting Tonka eat in peace, and staying off of the counters.
If she’s smart, I found that Scat Mats worked really well for teaching my cats not to jump on counters or the dining room table (or into the crib - just don’t leave it in there when the baby arrives!). We set up the crib a couple of weeks before the baby was due, and found that Cobalt was starting to use it for naps. I will never forget the look on his face when he jumped in and got a shock, but it took one zap and he never tried again. For the dining room table, he figured out what the mat looked like and that it was safe to jump on the part that didn’t have a mat on it. So I turned it up a little and put it under a tablecloth. That probably took three times of getting zapped before he was convinced never to try again, and the training lasted for sixteen years and several moves.
My cats were younger than Goo, so it probably will take a little longer before she’s convinced, but they do work.
How are Goo and Tonka getting on together? Is Tonka feeling OK?
Tonka’s taking it in stride. As I said, he’s slowing down in his old age. He spends a lot of time on the deck, snoozing in one of the chairs; he wanders off to make his rounds of the yard and the neighbours’ yards; he eats; he sleeps on the ottoman or the back of ‘Mom’s’ chair. He’s not scruffing Goo, as he did Creamsicle.
We’ve seen them touch noses. Last night, ‘Mom’ let Tonka in, and Goo came running over to him and they touched noses. On the other hand, Tonka was on the back of the chair and Goo jumped up into the chair and tried to sniff him. Tonka hissed and batted her away. Goo hissed back, and sat there with her mouth open and a surprised look on her face. Still, they get along by staying out of each other’s space… except at the food dish, where Goo is ruthless.
OMG Becky! Look at that!!!
:eek:
Oh – A couple of times as Tonka and Goo were waiting for their gooshy food, Goo started licking Tonka’s face – grooming him, as it were. We thought it was sweet.
Awwww! My kitties get in a tangled grooming pose, each licking each other. It usually ends in a fuss. Hissing and spitting. Lovely pair of Cats I got.
