HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: I feel SO guilty!
Date: 13 Oct 92 00:55:09 GMT
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <1992Oct12.223804.655@athena.cs.uga.edu>, maxfield@athena.cs.uga.edu (Joan C. Maxfield) writes:
> God, I feel SO awful!  This afternoon I noticed Angelica was limping.
> When I tried to look closer at her foot I could see that it wasn't
> good, she had torn up one of her pads and her foot was very swollen.
> I called the vet and took her in within the hour.  The vet said it
> looked like she may have gotten in a fight or tried to run across
> concrete very fast and tore up her pad and splintered several claws.
> Her foot was abcessed.  I felt terrible (probably worse than her).  ...

Cats are really terrific at hiding injuries, aren't they?  I sure wish
I could train my crew to come to me when they first get hurt, rather
than waiting till the infection sets in and the paw is the size of
a grapefruit...  They sure know how to convince me I'm blind as a bat
and a rotten cat person all in one short meow! ;-)

Joan, try not to take it so personally... My very first cat had to have
a toe amputated because of an infected pad that had abcessed into the
bone.  Since the kitten had never been out of the house, and we had
no other cats, we never could figure out who bit Grey's paw-- we 
finally concluded he'd done it himself!  (Yep, there was a nice
fang mark).

But I'm sure all the kitties will play Angelica's vet visit and
antibiotics for all the special treats they can manage!  Do you
suppose they conspire when we're not around? 
  "Hey, I can throw up for her." 
  "Naw, that's no good, then we get put on crunchies and water
     and hairball paste for a week."  
  "Ear mites are easy to fake."
  "No way!  She gets out the Mitox then.  No goodies are worth THAT!"
  "Well, a limp is always good for some tuna"  
  "Ok, who's turn is it?  Yuck!  Why do you have such furry feet? I always 
     spit cathair for a week after I bite you." 

  ;-)

dementedly yours,

  Kay
From: avi@rix.Corp.Sun.COM (Ann Adamcik)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Farting Kitten
Date: 15 Oct 92 23:19:05 GMT
Reply-To: avi@rix.Corp.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: rix.corp.sun.com


Just another bit on the subject - kittens tend to be gassy little creatures
anyway.  Mine have always outgrown it by about 4 months, though.

One day when Mango was a baby, just beginning to wobble around and play, she 
got a good case of the 'toots'.  Every time it would happen, she'd whirl around 
to catch whatever was behind her.  The bewildered look on her face was hilarious.
She really didn't know that *she* was making the noises.  ;^>

Kittens grow up too fast (sigh)...

-Ann
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: steubrow@wam.umd.edu (Sharon Teuben-Rowe)
Subject: Cats and newborns
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 05:17:47 GMT

I (and hubby) am pregnant with our first, due first week in December.  We
share our home with two Maine Coons, now five year olds.  They've had the
run of the house and so far haven't had any reason to share our attentions
with anyone else.

However, whenever friends drop by with their toddlers or young children,
Oscar, the male, takes off and hides in the basement for HOURS venturing
upstairs only to eat and drink.  Emmy, his sister, nervously walks the 
place and runs away, even when called by me.  Basically, they freak out.

Emmy and Oscar (yes, like the awards) are strictly indoor cats.  I am
beginning to grow concerned about how they may react to the baby.  Please,
spare me to "cats smother babies because they smell the milk on baby's
breath" stories.  Any advice on introducing and tolerating will be much
appreciated.

Sharon
From: debra@creatures.cs.vt.edu (Debra Potts)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: sad realities of cats running free
Date: 8 Oct 92 16:05:37 GMT

pd smith writes:

>We tried to stop for you kitty but you ran directly in front of our car going
>55 mph. We hit the breaks as we saw you
>
>This was the 1st animal my husband has hit and it was a tough experience.  So
>for all you animal lovers - keep your loved ones safely in your home and spare
>yourself the heartache of learning of their death and spare folks like us who
>were victims of circumstance just like the kitty. 

	MANY sympathies, folks, I know that must've been hard on you.
	This is just a letter of moral support, cos it is VERY VERY
	heart-wrenching for "cat people" to hit any animal, much less
	a kitty.

	My hubby and I had our first (and so far, thankfully, ONLY)
	such experience a few months back.  It was night, we were on
	a dark double-highway interstate road with no shoulders to 
	speak of and fairly steep embankments on either side.  Just
	as we were behind another car in the passing lane, passing a slower
	car that was at this point almost right beside us in the right
	lane.  We saw the car in front of us, which was way ahead of
	both us and the slow car by this time (thus having both lanes
	"free"), take a VERY sharp veer.

	By the time we realized WHY (about a split second), all we could
	see were the frozen, terrorized eyes of the doomed feline.  I am
	weeping already as I write this, because that memory will never,
	EVER fade completely from my mind.  My normally strong husband
	became literally hysterical and when we reached the  lights and
	gas station borders of the next town just a couple miles away,
	we had to pull over to compose ourselves.

   I agree with the previous poster, unless you live in the most REMOTE
   area and are wealthy enough or rural enough to ensure that your STERILIZED
   and VACCINATED cat can play all over with zilch chance of happening
   upon any roads, please make a warm, big, and loving place INSIDE your
   home.  It only takes, as you say, one wrong decision for a kitty to
   forfeit his/her life and bring untold anguish and guilt upon the 
   folks who cannot avoid hitting him/her.


my sympathies, again,

debbie p.
From: nvonstein@memstvx1.memst.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Has my cat gone mad?
Date: 15 Oct 92 05:20:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: memstvx1.1992Oct15.112034.3685
Organization: Memphis State University

In article <1992Oct15.070959.20852@unislc.uucp>, erc@unislc.uucp (Ed Carp) writes:
> nvonstein@memstvx1.memst.edu wrote:
> 
> : Yes!!  My bed!!  And with 7 (yes - seven) cats it gets rather messy!  But I
> : love everyone of them.
> 
> Just 7???  Hell, the more, the merrier! :)
> -- 
> Ed Carp, N7EKG                  erc@apple.com                     801/538-0177
> "This is the final task I will ever give you, and it  goes  on  forever.   Act
> happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love,
> and do what you will."           -- Dan Millman, "Way Of The Peaceful Warrior"


Ed - Well there are more - besides 7 cats, there are two dogs, a ferret, and an
iguana.  But since this is rec.pets.cats, I only spoke of the cats - and the dogs,
ferret and iguana don't jump in my bed.  However, the Dustbuster vacuum is now
permanently attached to my right hand.  

BTW, one of my kitties is handicapped.  His name is Elvis - his front paws did
not form properly - just didn't bud out like they were supposed.  Don't pity
him - he can jump as high as anybody else, when he runs, the back legs are like
turbos and the front paws scoot ahead of him - he is really fast.  He also sits
up like a rabbit for long periods of time.  He's spoiled, independent as hell,
and he has my heart.  Anybody else have any handicapped cats?

Nancy VonStein
No sig. - just me!  Meow! Woof!  Humpdink!  and Ack!
From: nvonstein@memstvx1.memst.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: fun cat books
Date: 14 Oct 92 17:45:35 -0600
Distribution: na
Organization: Memphis State University

In article <1992Oct7.204334.7400@iscsvax.uni.edu>, klier@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
> In article <1992Oct7.223900.22400@a.cs.okstate.edu>, hamon@a.cs.okstate.edu (HAMON SHARON ANN) writes:
>>>James Herriott has a wonderful children's book out called "The Christmas
>>>Day Kitten".  The perfect gift for all you cat-lovers to buy your
>>>children or nieces and nephews for Christmas!
>> 
>> I found it rather sad, actually.  Did anyone else?
> 
> Yup.  Cried.  But I'm a real softy (soft-headed, some would say ;-) ),
> and Lassie had to be banned at our house when I was a kid because I'd
> get so upset.  I guess I saw the first couple of minutes of Bambi,
> but my mother hustled me out when she figured out what was coming...
> and Thomasina haunted my nightmares for weeks.  Guess that's why
> I'm a botanist?!?!?
> 
> Kay Klier


Did you see "Watership Down"?  I saw it with a date and couldn't leave the
theatre I was crying so hard - didn't want anyone to see me!  I think they
heard me sobbing though.  My date was very kind and waited until I said I could
leave.

Nancy VonStein
From: isc40041@nusunix1.nus.sg (LOO KOK HOE)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: fun cat books
Date: 9 Oct 92 04:01:35 GMT
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Michele L.D. Gaudreault (mgaudrea@afit.af.mil) wrote:
: 
: James Herriott has a wonderful children's book out called "The Christmas
: Day Kitten".  The perfect gift for all you cat-lovers to buy your
: children or nieces and nephews for Christmas!
:

I have problem looking for that book in the book store ...
( I have read most of James's books )
can any one tell me which year it is published &
the publisher ?  Thanks !


george

 
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: amo@cbnews.cb.att.com (arlene.m.osborne)
Subject: Re: The amazing standing cat?
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 18:21:46 GMT
Summary: Titch, the circus cat

In article <3884@unisql.UUCP>, collene@unisql.UUCP (Collene Pearce) writes:
> In article <1992Oct06.020435.32720@watson.ibm.com> yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo) writes:
> >My neighbor's cat does something that I have never seen a cat
> >do before now.  And I was wondering how common it is.
> >The cat (without any training) will stand up on its hind legs
> >and rub her head against your hand.  All you have to do to get
> >her to stand is to put your hand over her head where she can see it.
> >Is this rare or somewhat commonplace? 
> 

My blue-point Himalayan, Titch, sits up all the time.  You don't even
need to be close to him.  He will sit up on the other side of the room
and grumble so you look over at him in hopes of getting a goodie.  

In fact, all FOUR of my Himalayans sit up, but none like Titch.  It's
very easy for him to do, and you can go over to him and pat his head
or stroke his back while he's sitting up -- in fact, sometimes he'll
wash his face while sitting up!   It really freaks out guests who've
never seen a cat sit up!  (He sure looks like a big fat, GREY woodchuck!)

Another odd thing about him is that he has a BEARD on his chin!  It's
about 3/4 to an inch long and curls slightly forward.  Some years
ago it got cat food on it and as I was trying to wash it off, the
hairs in the beard came off!  But it grew back!  My vet says he's the
only cat he's even seen with a beard!!

Anyone else have a cat with a beard?
Arlene Osborne
Organization: Editing, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats,rec.gardens
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 11:02:20 -0400 
From: Terilyn Gillespie <tg0r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Herbal repellants?


Other than the use of Bitter Apple/Orange, or cayenne pepper that is
recommended in the FAQ, are there other things to use a repellants to
keep cats away from plants?

I'd be particularly interested if someone knows of an herb I could grow
to keep them away.  Thanks.

Terilyn Gillespie
tg0r@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: erc@unislc.uucp (Ed Carp)
Subject: Re: sad realities of cats running free
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 20:37:55 GMT

People who like to run over animals are sociopaths, just a step away from Hitler
in their mentality.  How far away from "it's just a stray cat" to "it's just a
stray human"?
-- 
Ed Carp, N7EKG                  erc@apple.com                     801/538-0177
"This is the final task I will ever give you, and it  goes  on  forever.   Act
happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love,
and do what you will."           -- Dan Millman, "Way Of The Peaceful Warrior"
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: lhuffman@stsci.edu
Subject: re: cat's eye
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 11:20:45 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.233158.20580@midway.uchicago.edu>, smhawkin@quads.uchicago.edu (stephanie mia hawkins) writes:
> oh -- one thing i forgot to mention.  i've been treating the eye 
> problem periodically with neobacimyx-h (veterinary antibacterial 
> ophthalmic ointment) and that may have helped get rid of some of 
> that redness.  
> 
> but i'm still stumped as to why his eye is glowing.  it glows in
> the way that a cat's eye shines in the dark.  could it just be that
> it's dilated???  i don't know much about feline optics.....
> 
Is the tear duct working? If it isn't, the membrane around the eye also appears
dry. He may not be producing enough tears and need artifical tear drops put 
in his eye routinely. (Just a suggestion for you to investigate further.)
From: hannah@pomponio.ai.sri.com (Marsha Jo Hannah)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: an embarrrassing tail
Date: 7 Oct 92 20:02:45 GMT
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
In-reply-to: nev@Turing.ORG's message of 7 Oct 92 17:43:22 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.174322.26486@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> nev@Turing.ORG (Niles E. VanDenburg) writes:

   The following is being posted by request of a friend :
   ...
   I had never gotten a good look at Whiskers - he keeps his tail so close
   and is very private.  So I picked him up and for the first time he let
   me really look.  And he is a SHE! ...  The vet never corrected us on
   either visit.

   Jill M. Willson   willson_j@cho006.dnet.ge.com

This is not uncommon, especially with long-haired cats.  Some friends
of ours had to rename their long-haired white cat, several months
after they got it (walk-in adult).  Seems one day the lady of the
house noticed that "Suzy Cream-cheese" was washing a clearly male
appendage....  When they asked their vet, it took him two tries to
come up with the right answer, too.  The cat was thereafter called
"Suzy Sex-change".

Marsha Jo Hannah
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: HOW LONG CAN A 9-WK. KITTEN BE ALONE?
Date: 7 Oct 92 20:32:11 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <92280.224343U58100@uicvm.uic.edu>, <U58100@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
> I *thought* that eight weeks old was a sufficient age that a healthy kitten
> could be left alone, but Hendrix is pretty rambunctious and unfortunately
> i work almost 12 hours a day sometimes, though i try to come home for lunch
> to play and feed him, which usually works out fairly well, and we play
> for about an hour at night.  Then someone who is *apparently* knowledgable
> about cats said that they have to be 6 months old before they're moved
> and that *if* i am going to be away for many hours of the day that it is
> actually *kinder* to the cat to lock it in the bathroom with plenty of
> toys, food, et.al.  Theoretically he's supposed to feel more "in control"
> of his domain or territory...  Intuitively this sounds a little strange to
> me, but then, I'm just a paltry human.  Any comments?

Sounds a bit strange to me.  All my kittens have taken over the entire
house ASAP.  I suspect if I tried to confine them to the bathroom on a
regular basis, I'd wind up with no paint on the inside of the bathroom door
and stranger cats than I've got now! ;-)

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: myers@nosc.mil (Margaret E. Myers)
Subject: kitty and the wall clock
Keywords: cat time pounce
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 06:48:09 GMT


Hmmm. Just as I sit down to read rec.pets.cats tonight I see Tinker on
the kitchen counter (bad kitty!) intensly stalking something on the
kitchen wall. He pounces and catches...the second hand on my kitchen
clock. (There is no face plate on my wall clock, it is basically a
tile with clock hands...). I wonder if this is the explanation for
that clock suddenly being 10 minutes off the correct time.   :)

Margaret
& Oliver
& Tinker -- the time warping kitty
From: feldman@flash.crd.ge.com (Sandra F Feldman)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: how much to feed
Date: 8 Oct 92 20:13:53 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center

Lhuffman states that his cat got blood in the stool from science diet lite.
Questions for you:  was this cured by switching to a different food?  What did
you switch to?  We have a cat who has recurring blood problems, has been
dewormed and deparasited to death, and the vet can't figure out what the problem
is.  (We've considered taking him to the clinic at Cornell, but it is 3 hours
away and it seems that as long as the cat is in no pain and is not ill that
any more examination would be overly invasive.)

Thanks,
  Sandy
From: tittle@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Help needed to save cat's life
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:14:15 GMT
Reply-To: tittle@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle Moore)
Organization: ICS Dept., UC Irvine

In <1992Oct14.202121.14579@udel.edu> rob@apache (Rob Jarman) writes:
>    He's been using the tub for quite awhile, but he's kept it confined to
>the bathroom where his litterbox is. Recently he's moved to the other
>bathroom which is what has my girlfriend so worried. I did look through
>the FAQ list awhile ago, but most of what was in it you have to catch the
>cat in the act to do anything. This cat is not dumb. He knows he's not
>supposed to do it, so he does it when no one is around.

>   I'll check the FAQ again and see if have been any changes to it.

What you want to look for is the section on confining the cat to a
small area with a litter box and gradually expanding the accessible
area as it's litterbox habits improve.  There isn't anything on
"correcting" cats because you can't "correct" cats.  Their minds don't
work the same way as a dog's.

However, with bloody stool/diarrhea, you should have the cat checked
by the vet.  It may all be a medical problem.  Get that squared away
first.

--Cindy

--
   Cindy Tittle Moore & Noisy Underfoot (bird watcher extraordinaire)

I post the rec.pets.cats FAQ (in three parts) every 25 days.  To get the FAQ:
ftp to pit-manager.mit.edu and look under /pub/usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/*
(part1, part2, part3), or send email to mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu with
send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/part1
send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/part2
send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/part3
in the body (leave subject line empty).  Send contributions and comments
to me; send questions not covered in the FAQ to the newsgroup.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: buckc@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Carolyn Buck-Gengler)
Subject: older cat + kitten + litterbox issues: advice please!
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 02:11:29 GMT

You guys give such good advice from your many experiences, I wanted
to ask for advice beyond what the FAQ was able to tell me.

This last Sunday we adopted an 8-week-old tortie to join our 1 cat
household (the older cat, Koshka, is 6 years old).  We are having
the expected problems with Koshka hissing and growling at Neko,
although it is getting better every day.  When we are not here, we
put Neko in her own room with food, water, and litter box.  Also
when we sleep.  

The main problem is Neko has not seemed to grasp the concept of
"litter box" yet.  She will sometimes make it to her box to poop,
when she is home alone or at night, but we have caught her squatting
where she is several times, and haven't been in time to prevent her
peeing at least 4 times.  She probably is not peeing in her box even
when in the room with it.

This morning we added a third box, upstairs (Koshka's box is in the
downstairs bathroom, and then there is the box in the room Neko is
put into).  She still has no clue to just mosey on over there
instead of squatting where she is.

We are also getting into just taking her there every so often;
sometimes it works and she goes.  Most times not.

We are seriously considering moving her back to the more confined
bathroom, and extending the period in which we expect to have to do
that (the main reason we put her in her own room is because of
Koshka).  We fear that the room probably has lots of little
piddle-places, and there are some in the main part of the house too,
where we were a second or two late.  When we do keep her in the
bathroom (no windows) should we leave a light on at all times?

Any ideas other than going back to the bathroom and expecting that
to last longer than a couple days?

Koshka, meanwhile, is either punishing us by not using her box (she
has always been good until now), or has been holding it.  On
specific occasions I have marched her down to her box and put her in
and she goes!  But then she doesn't use it until the next time I do
that!  (Plus who knows, if she finds Neko's misdeeds?)  Part of the
problem may be that over the summer, in her first time in her own
yard, she started peeing outside on the lawn (we didn't want her to,
but hard to stop) and she may be wanting to do it outside.

Any words of wisdom, sympathy, "this too shall pass" for either
situation?

Other than this, the kitten is just great! She is really pretty, and
is very sweet.  Wants to be around us all the time.  Sits in our lap
and *purrs* and *purrs*. (Buzzsaw) Or climbs to our shoulders
(sometimes from the ground!).  Very playful.  Right now (after playing
hard awhile ago) she is snoozing on my husband's arm.

Thanks so much!  Please email responses, as ucsu is currently having
a problem with its incoming news feed.

Carolyn and Joel and Koshka and Neko
buckc@ucsu.colorado.edu
gengler@fc.hp.com
-- 
Carolyn Buck-Gengler		Department of Linguistics
buckc@ucsu.colorado.edu		University of Colorado, Boulder