Some cats just love to lick. Whether they’re grooming themselves, grooming their toys or grooming you, for some cats it’s just like an automatic reflex – if you stick something in front of their mouth, they’re going to lick it! Jelly’s been big on grooming from a very early age, and has spent many happy hours grooming our arms and fingers meticulously. The above video shows what Jelly automatically does if you stick a finger in front of her mouth!
October 18, 2011
For many cats, it only takes a whisper of the dreaded ‘V’ word to send them sprinting for the nearest hiding place. And can we really blame them? Being wrestled into a carrier, forced to endure a scary ride in a car and finally getting poked, prodded and jabbed by a complete stranger – it can’t be any fun, and our poor proud kitties certainly take a knock to their precious ego in the process!
But as we well know, every cat is different – and for some, a trip to the vets is no big deal. Our Sassy immediately springs to mind – while the majority of our cats are undeniably distressed by vet visits, Sassy glides through the process in true Ragdoll style, managing to maintain the same level of contentedness and the same ‘whatever’ attitude wherever she happens to be. We swear, sometimes that cat doesn’t even realise that she’s left the house at all!
But while Sassy might be great at staying calm and collected in the face of mortal veterinary-related peril (like she knows how to behave any other way), Oscar manages to take it one step further – our old man actually enjoys going to the vet. As soon as we arrive he saunters straight out of that carrier and flops over onto his back on the examination table, waiting for his belly rubs. No matter what he’s subjected to in that room, he purrs happily throughout. And seriously – what kind of cat reacts to a vaccination by rubbing up against the vet while he’s being injected? Something tells us he’s letting the feline race down!
So tell us, how does your cat react to a trip to the vets? Is your cat cool as a cucumber when the time comes, or do they undergo a violent personality change, and take their distress out on the nurse? Let us know in the comments!
October 3, 2011
Ever since Jelly was little, she’s always been very…well, let’s say orally fixated. As a youngster she seemed to enter that ‘rough play’ stage that many kittens go through, and would bite our hands (and anything else she could get her teeth into) almost constantly. However, she never seemed to grow out of it, and no amount of discouragement or distraction could deter her. Although her bites weren’t hard or malicious, the fact that she was doing it so often was strange and worrying. Being a rescue kitten, the first nine weeks of Jelly’s life were a mystery to us, and we wondered whether she came to us as partially feral. Whatever the reason, it soon became obvious that no matter what we did, Jelly’s biting was here to stay.
As Jelly has gotten older, her biting has evolved somewhat. While she still bites in play from time to time, she also enjoys nibbling us to show affection! That strange cat has spent many happy hours softly nibbling or gumming on us, all the while purring away contentedly. She’s also always been a big groomer, and regularly washes us as though we were extensions of her own body. She even tries to suckle on our clothes from time to time – a sad reminder that the poor girl was probably separated from her mother much too early before she was rescued.
Truly, it’s through her mouth that Jelly explores and understands her world. She ‘tastes’ almost everything she comes across – a habit that has forced us to be extra vigilant about the the things we leave lying around! As with many cats, Jelly’s absolute favourite thing to chew is cardboard. However, she also extends this fascination to books – if I dare to leave a book out in the open, I come back to find the corners missing. Sometimes we even come down in the morning to find that our mail has been chewed!
We’ve never been able to find a reason for Jelly’s behaviour – there’s nothing physically wrong with her mouth, she doesn’t have any kind of nutritional deficiency, she’s not stressed or anxious, and she’s certainly not bored. It seems she just loves to chew! Is she alone here? We know that it’s quite common for cats to enjoy chewing certain things, but do you know a cat with an oral fixation to rival Jelly’s? Let us know!
September 5, 2011
As of today, exactly one year has passed since we last laid eyes on our missing cat, Ruby. We’re still looking for her.
Have we spent the last year trying to adjust to life without her? Yes. Does the pain of her disappearance hurt any less now that a year has passed? Of course not. We’ll never truly be able to give up hope that one day we might see her again. There’s been next to no good news or positive sightings since she vanished, but we’ve heard nothing to convince us that anything bad has happened to her, either. So we’ll keep hoping, and we’ll never stop looking.
Ruby is almost all white, with a black tail, a black spot on her right side, and two black patches on either side of her head. She is microchipped, and may or may not still be wearing a black collar with blue hearts on. If by any small, albeit microscopic chance that you’re reading this and have spotted this cat in the Derbyshire or Yorkshire areas of England, please get in touch via a comment or our contact page. We’d really love to have her back.
Take care of yourself, Ruby, wherever you are.
August 26, 2011
Cat collars – are they necessary? Are they safe? Are they cruel? There always seems to be some sort of debate going on in the cat world regarding collars. Many cat owners refuse to outfit their kitty with one, branding them dangerous – even life-threatening – and firmly believing that it’s unfair to force a cat to wear one. Which side are you on?
Admittedly, we all know that some collars can pose certain dangers for cats. A badly fitted one, for example, can either choke the cat if too tight, and can catch on things like trees or bushes if too loose, causing the cat to become trapped. Collars that fasten with buckles rather than a safety clasp can also be dangerous for cats if they manage to get hooked on something, as they may have trouble freeing themselves without suffocating or sustaining neck damage.
Despite this, we like to think that the benefits of an appropriate, well-fitted collar vastly outweigh the dangers. We believe that as long as a collar is fitted correctly and checked regularly, it should cause no discomfort to the cat. We’re also huge advocates of safety collars, which snap free to release your cat if they happen to get caught on something. The main thing that attracts us to collars is that, coupled with identification tags, they hugely increase the chances of your cat being returned to you should they go missing. Many assume that their cats will be okay with just their microchip, but the fact is that most people automatically assume that a cat without a collar is a stray. If your cat goes missing and is found by someone without access to a chip scanner, you have to hope that that person is both kind and motivated enough to take your cat to someone that does! A collar could be all it takes to have your lost cat safely returned to you.
To be honest, having experienced the horror of one of our cats going missing (even though Ruby was wearing a collar and was microchipped when she went missing) we’re doubly paranoid when it comes to our cat’s safety. Even our indoor-only cats wear collars and id tags around the clock, just in case, and if they lose their collar (which we all know cats happen to be very good at!) it’s replaced as soon as possible. We just don’t think it’s worth the risk!
How about you guys? Are you strongly against collars, or do you wholeheartedly agree with using them? Perhaps you’ve never even thought about fitting your cat with a collar before! Let us know!
August 16, 2011
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About us…
You know those creepy people that spend an embarrassingly long time talking about their cats to people that probably don’t care? Well…
The Ninth Life is the internet-based baby of a cat-loving couple residing in the north of England. Their lives revolve around their cats more than is probably healthy, and this blog is an outlet for them to share their cat related ups, downs, ins and outs with the world. They’d love for you to come in, make yourself comfortable, and talk cat with them to your heart’s content. They don’t have anything better to do, anyway.
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