Indoor Cats

[Kooky]

you mean you haven't first presented them with a drawing outlining all the places where you would like to put up hooks?

I ranted about this in TLC but briefly:

When he came round before our stuff arrived, I asked him if he had any paint leftover as I wanted to remove the existing hooks and they were painted over. I also warned him we would have to drill to put up 3 heavy mirrors and also had some paintings, but said we would obviously make good the walls on leaving.

He said he'd rather I used the existing hooks as, if everybody put their own up, there would be holes all over the place.

Silly old git.

[Aliya]

So how are you finding living in OZ then darlink?

[Kooky]

So how are you finding living in OZ then darlink?

Not much different from living anywhere, really. Amazing how quickly it becomes the norm.

[Aliya]

What about not living in a tropical climate did that bug you? That is the thing that bothered me the most in Godzone.

[Kooky]

What about not living in a tropical climate did that bug you? That is the thing that bothered me the most in Godzone.

Well I like not sweating as soon as I've had my shower (which may well come in about 6 months, I guess), but I hate the cold. I'm hibernating.

Can I just admit, my cats are officially dumb. Maybe putting their door in clear perspex wasn't such a good idea after all.

[Burbage]

You can get cat flaps that only let teh cats in, the cats have some tag on their collar that unlocks the cat flap. Means no other cats or possums can get in. Imagine letting in a Possum there would be carrot sauce everywhere!

The problem is when the cats bring their little friends in with them. There needs to be a gadget that only unlocks the cat flap if the cat's mouth is shut.

[Kooky]

We had that problem in Sg, Burb, made worse by the fact that the kits wouldn't go through the flap so we had to take it out. Last count was 3 rats, a couple of mice, one baby bird, and endless moths and cockroaches - oh and a couple of pieces of guava of which I never did determine the origins.

That's why I'm determined to keep the flap in this new one, although also why they're all currently sitting outside.

[chocolate]

i bet Fu is the ring leader !!!

[Kooky]

Fu was actually the last one out of the patio door yesterday, and sat shaking on a rock for quite some time before following the others to explore.

It's going well so far. Bo came in (from the bottom of OUR garden) screaming at sunset yesterday, hid under the bed growling, and has 2 pieces of fur missing. Han is the only one to venture out this morning (we locked it overnight) and has just done likewise. Fu has decided it's safer to stay in and on his heat pad, next to me, cuddled into his rat.

Cat fence coming up, if only to keep the neighbourhood bully OUT.

[Fat Bob]

Bunch of wimps. Bet you're so impressed you paid all those $$$ to have several gay cats in Sydney.

[Kooky]

...several gay cats in Sydney.

Most of the people I know in Sydney are gay, so they fit in so well.

[Fat Bob]

Ah, so these will be the closest the gay men will get to real live pussy then?

[Burbage]

The cat flap for one of these fellahs would be pricey.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 273330.htm

[Kooky]

The GBF told me about those just this morning, Burb. Whilst searching for the article, I found this one:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2005 ... 518331.htm

A 35kg "feral domestic" cat? No wonder mine won't go out.

Although at the moment we have high winds and they're totally spooked by flying leaves. Such townies, they are.

[Tas]

all that utter bullshit you have to go through with customs, and then this legally permitted stupidity re:the savana cat. they look beautiful, but utterly foolhardy to let them through.

[Burbage]

The problem is, which no one responding to that article seems to understand, that banning their import will not stop them getting in. It will only make it illegal. So there is much to be said for a controlled process for allowing those who want them to have them, but making sure that every individual cat is registered, de-sexed, DNA fingerprinted etc. So that if one is found in the wild we'll know who is responsible.

[baloo]

Lovely cats. I wonder if you can get one with Tiger markings.

[Burbage]

You could get a tiger.

[baloo]

Import laws and permits would be a bitch

[Burbage]

Are they not native to Singapore?

Getting it home to Australia would be a problem though.

[Kooky]

Not to mention the size of the litter tray you'd need.

[Tas]

By that logic, applied to the rogue element who carry out the action, they're going to get in whether there's a legal protocol or not. The ones that get out into the wild are not going to have dna finger printing etc one way or t'other because the rogue element aren't likely to follow the rules in the first place. The point has already made that cats are hard to control and catch in the first place in those articles. Why statistically increase the chances by allowing them in in the first place legally.

It's not dissimilar to the arguments on access and gun control in America ... laws schmaws, theres statistically a lot of guns out there and avaialable, increasing the likelihood of them being used intentionally or accidently. I am pretty comfortable with the argument that in Australia that gun control has worked to diminish statistically the number of guns avaialable and hence incidence - the rogue element will always be there, why help it along.

[Morrolan]

thing is, they shouldn't worry about some newly bred 'super-cat', that could or could not escape (besides: Bengals, which form 2/3s of the genetic makeup of that cat) are already bred all over Australia.
they should be worried about ferals filling the ecological niche that opened up and was never filled when the marsupial tiger died out. kooky's article shows just that: cats are already growing in size and strength given the abundance of food and the lack of competition.

evolution at its most vigorous...

[Tas]

I still think they're pwetty but.

[Kooky]

AQIS may be a bit busy dodging flak to worry about this at the moment, but you're right, Tas.

Do Aussies generally like hybrids, messing with nature, etc? I hear a lot about labradoodles and the like; had to bite my tongue a couple of months ago when the relo agent said she'd got some kind of hybrid dog 'cos she doesn't like hairs on her furniture. (Err, are you sure you want a pet?)