HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: crystal@glia.biostr.washington.edu (Crystal)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: What kind of cats do I have?
Date: 2 Sep 92 22:31:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: glia.crystal.715473113
Organization: University of Washington

In <1992Sep2.183911.28453@gateway.novell.com> lyndap@Novell.COM (Lynda Peterson) writes:

>In article <4q0FqB4w165w@ailanth.UUCP> ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com (Ailsa  
>N.T. Murphy) writes:
>> crystal@glia.biostr.washington.edu (Crystal) writes:
>> 
>> >
>> > You have ordinary domestic felines of the household pet variety.   
>Since there
>> > are no papers for any of them, they cannot be of any specific breed.  
>They may
>> > look *similar* to a known breed, but to call them such would not be  
>correct.
>> > Veterinarians often err in this respect.  They have been known to give  
>breed
>> > names to cats that were nothing at all like the breed itself.
>> >
>> > So, in short, you have domestic longhair household pets.
>> >
>> 
>> oh balls.  the maine coon cat is just a mutt with an attitude.  breed  
>papers
>> are just nice things to label somethign that already exists, in some  
>cases.
>> and tha maine coon does not require some silly society to give it  
>permission to
>> exist in particular.
>> 
>>                                            -ailsa
>> 
>> p.s. the maine coon cat predates the attempt to give it a breed  
>standard..


>YEAH!!! (owner of a Maine Coon cat, not papered, who cares?)

Nowhere did I mention the Maine in my post.  However, since it has been
brought up, yes, the Maine predates the attempt to give it a breed
standard - AS DO ALL OTHER CATS WHO CAN BE DESCRIBED BY BREED NAMES.

A breed name is merely a convenience.  But BECAUSE of the standards,
when one mentions they are looking for a Siamese cat, they expect to 
get a pale cat with dark extremites that looks a certain way - not a
long haired Black and white bicolor (as one Veterinarian described a
Balinese).
 
Therefore, to refer to your cat as a Maine Coon, without the papers to
back up the  actual structure and pattern of the cat, you may have a
tabby Persian-like cat or an Angora-like cat that does NOT fit the 
description of a Maine Coon. 
 
 And the Maine Coons were just Domestic Longhair household pets until
 someone gave them a name for show/breeding purposes.  Hence, my description
 still stands.  The cat is question is a Domestic Longhair household pet,
 NOT a Maine Coon, because only Maine Coons have papers.

Sorry...but it took me a long time to understand this concept, too. And
knowing genetics helps (believe it or not).

Crystal
  ;>
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: lyndap@Novell.COM (Lynda Peterson)
Subject: Re: Why Do Cats Sit on Paper?
Organization: Novell, Inc.
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 17:18:47 GMT

In article <AedVOOS00WBO01a=tW@andrew.cmu.edu> cb30+@andrew.cmu.edu (Carol  
A. Buckner) writes:
>On 02-Sep-92 in Why Do Cats Sit on Paper?    
>user Karen Schneider@panix.co writes:
>This has probably been addressed before, but why is it that
>cats will zero in on the teensiest piece of paper and plop themselves
>down on top of it?  Not that I'm complaining--it's just that after
>twelves years with His Royal Highness I'd like an answer, and he's
>not forthcoming...

I always thought it was because it was cooler and smother than the regular  
ol' bumpy carpet. My cat will sit on anything that is on the floor. She  
especially loves books because she leans up against them so it looks like  
she has an "elbow" up on it. Or, she just rests her chin on the book. Her  
favorite papers are my husband's BIG notebooks he draws in or the horrible  
junk mail that is forever showing up in our box.

lyndap
From: johnson@ut-emx.uucp (Karen Johnson Morgan)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Chimneys (was Cries...)
Date: 26 Aug 92 19:09:41 GMT
Organization: U. Texas Center for Space Research

In article <1992Aug21.163737.12246@gateway.novell.com> lyndap@Novell.COM (Lynda Peterson) writes:
>In article <exuptr.362.714347792@exu.ericsson.se> exuptr@exu.ericsson.se  
>(Patrick Taylor) writes:
>> In article <cosulliv.714253964@sfu.ca> cosulliv@fraser.sfu.ca (Christina  
>Marie O'Sullivan) writes:
>>
>> Anyone out there have a cat that falls into chimneys?

Chloe, the Bad Baby, fell down our chimney last April when she was
about 8 months old.  At first we thought she had crawled up from
the inside and fallen between the metal insert and the outside
brick part.  All we knew was that she was somewhere behind the
fireplace inset, crying to get out.  It wasn't until the next
morning (yes, she was still in there but had slept some; we didn't
hear her cry all night) that we figured out she had gotten into
the attic from the opening in the garage ceiling, and then she had
fallen through a gap between the attic floor and the chimney insert.
By this time, after a restless night and a trip onto the roof to
discover that we have a cover on top of our chimney that is bolted
down with about 200 little screws, I had called a chimney sweep who
agreed to come out and remove the fireplace inset to let her out
(for $75!!).  (Actually I had called *several* chimney sweeps and
this was the only guy who would even talk to me about animal rescue!)

My daughter and I were in the garage looking for some way to seal off
the hole in the ceiling which she had crawled through, when the silly
little kitten casually walked over to the hole and said, "Mrrow?"  I
didn't know whether to hug her or kill her!  All along she could have
gotten out by herself, but we think she stayed in the chimney because
she could hear us talking inside the house.

At least I was able to call the chimney sweep in time to cancel his
trip out!

All of this was bad enough in itself, but it happened the night
before my daughter was supposed to check in to the hospital for
pituitary surgery, and I was practically at my wits' end
already.  I knew exactly how Job felt back in the Old Testament
days!  Fortunately, today as I type this, 4 months later, cat
and daughter are both fine and dandy.  Chloe is still the most
troublesome cat we've ever had, but we love her. :-)

Karen

-- 
        karen@louise.ae.utexas.edu   -or-   johnson@emx.utexas.edu
 "It's no wonder politicians don't listen to their conscience.  They don't
      want to take advice from a total stranger." --Alfred E. Neuman
From: ehp@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU ("Didi Pancake")
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Naming cat behaviors
Date: 1 Sep 92 15:50:14 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia

In article <kecaJCC00WBOQ4vG5B@andrew.cmu.edu> Diane Gibson <dg0q+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>In several posts, the following position was mentioned (parts excerpted):
>
>>Great list, Marie, but you left out "sitting like a bug".  This is
>>when they scrunch down, almost in sphinx position, but their front
>>pays just kind of collapse underneath them.  
>
>I had to add my $.02 -- I've always called it the "Grasshopper" pose.

I prefer Diane's "grasshopper" pose for the one where all feet are
underneath but knees and elbows are way up above the back. If I see one
of mine doing this twice in two days, it changes to the "tummy hurts"
pose.

--
|  Didi Pancake         |     "How do you kill mud?"                     |
|  ehp@virginia.edu     |           --Dean Jagger in "X the Unknown"     |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  All the usual disclaimers about the origins of these opinions apply.  |
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: pdsmith.mitre.org (Pat Smith)
Subject: what to do with cats while on vacation
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 14:06:31 GMT

We are planning a 16 day vacation in the near future and I was seeking advice 
on what to do with our two cats.  One is kind of standoffish and prefers to
be left alone, the other is a people kitty who is scared of anything that is
not in our house or anyone other than us.  We take her outside and she is 
frightened of wind, grass, etc.
We have several options: 1.  to hire the 15 year old next door who loves cats
but cannot have one due to his parents allergies to them, 2. boarding at
a reputatle kennel with nice large cages that both cats can be together, 
3. move the cats to a friends house.

I prefer the 1st option as the cats can stay in their own environment.  My
concern here is that the older cat has a tendancy to get mad when we leave 
her and pee on the carpet.  I fear coming home to a smelly house if she is
mad at us.  I am not sure if this kid will satisfy my cats need for human 
attention or it is us she wants around. The other time she peed on the carpet
was a year ago when we were gone for 2-5 days at a time for about 6 weeks. 
Poor cats were all messed up and I sometimes took them with me in the car if I
could not find them a sitter.  All our lives were upside down during this
time due to a family crisis.  Striper began peeing on the carpet and she
stopped this obnoxious behavior once we got back to a normal schedule.  I 
even had her checked by a vet but he felt she was just upset with us.
From: amd@space.mit.edu (Ann M. Davis)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Naming cat behaviors
Date: 26 Aug 92 14:23:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: athena.1992Aug26.142317.19113
Reply-To: amd@space.mit.edu (Ann M. Davis)
Organization: MIT Center for Space Research


I don't know if anyone has mentioned this one yet:

My kitten does something I call "conducting", or "the marionette".

Just prior to attacking something, she stands on her hind legs and
waves her front paws in the air.  Kind of like she is trying to find
the right angle with which to pounce.

	Ann
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: tastewar@athena.mit.edu (Tom Stewart)
Subject: Re: Catnip question
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 15:51:03 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.203107.1@cc.curtin.edu.au> cmickan@cc.curtin.edu.au writes:
>I gave my cats some fresh catnip last night for the first time after
>reading so much about it in this group.
>
> [description of cats on 'nip deleted]
>
>I'm going to get a couple of plants now that I know they love it but can I
>give it to them everyday without doing any harm other than Fatstuff losing
>his dignity and behaving like a kitten?
>
I have heard that they will become accustomed to it, and its effect will
be diminished if it is given often.  I'd suggest giving it as an occasional
treat.  Have Fun!!

Tom


Organization: Business Systems, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 14:30:38 -0400 
From: Diane Gibson <dg0q+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Naming cat behaviors
	<1272@ncrclm.ClemsonSC.NCR.COM>

In several posts, the following position was mentioned (parts excerpted):

>Great list, Marie, but you left out "sitting like a bug".  This is
>when they scrunch down, almost in sphinx position, but their front
>pays just kind of collapse underneath them.  My mom named that nearly
>a million years ago and I still think it's appropriate for that
>position..............

>My mom called the position the "Christmas Card Cat"  (like those cats on
>Christmas cards that sit this way in front of fireplaces).

I had to add my $.02 -- I've always called it the "Grasshopper" pose.

Diane & Suki
Carnegie Mellon University
From: ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com (Ailsa N.T. Murphy)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Cat show people; was Re: What do you think?
Date: 2 Sep 92 01:16:42 GMT
Organization: Ailanthus Project

donrm@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Don Montgomery) writes:

> In rec.pets.cats, maverick@topgun.b29.ingr.com (Maverick) writes:
>
> >    The worst part was when I saw a lady sharing her sandwich with the cat
> >    by allowing it to take a bite, then she takes a bite.
>
> Right.  Two minutes before, when she wasn't looking, kitty was doing
> some *very personal* grooming.
>
> I love my cat, but I won't share food with him out of the same dish.
>

me either, what if she caught something?  (a cat's mouth is MUCH cleaner than a
hunman one, which is quite the toxic sink.)

                                        -ailsa

p.s. i kiss people who have been doing *very personal* grooming...

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
                    ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com
 I wish her insight to battle love's blindness            ________
 Strength from the milk of human kindness         Silence \      / Action
 A safe place for all the pieces that scattered      =     \    /    =
 Learn to pretend there's more than love           Death    \  /    Life
                                  that matters               \/
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: grenade@ozrout.uucp (Kate McDonnell)
Subject: Mystery allergy - help!
Organization: Andre P. Ozrout
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 21:56:08 GMT
Keywords: itchy itchy 

Perhaps others have dealt with a similar problem to this one.

My 16-year-old cat began washing and scratching much more than
usual this summer. She goes outside, but I saw no signs of
parasites, so I didn't take her to the vet until last week. The
vet confirmed this: she has neither fleas nor ear mites.

The vet said everything pointed to an allergy. Most of the
suggested possibilities didn't apply. I haven't just moved,
acquired another pet, or begun washing the floors with harsh
chemicals. I try to use non-toxic substances like vinegar and
soda for housecleaning, in fact.

Nor had I changed Ebony's diet. She's flourished for years on
Purina cat chow, so I've gone on buying it. But it occurred to me
later that _they_ changed the formula recently. Does anyone know
if they made other changes when they started omitting the food
dyes?

I should perhaps mention that I live in downtown Montreal, and
that Ebony's always been healthy, and no other changes have been
made in our living arrangements recently.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions.


Kate

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kate McDonnell, infographiste                      grenade@ozrout.uucp
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: bonni@snoid.cray.com (Bonni Ensminger)
Subject: Re: How about kitty noises?
Originator: bonni@snoid
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 3 Sep 92 06:02:14 CDT


In article <1992Aug27.220138.29987@gateway.novell.com>, lyndap@Novell.COM (Lynda Peterson) writes:
> First, here is my edition of Naming Cat Behaviours:
> 
> Beggar: when they run in front of you when they think you are going to the  
> kitchen. Because naturally, every time you go to the kitchen you ARE going  
> to feed them, right?
We also call this the starving cat, that is, if someone else saw him, you'd 
think he never got fed!
> 
> Rude driver: when they want attention and run in front of you and cut you  
> off which usually leads to tripping on them or stepping on them. And then  
> you get the "Stupid driver look" that says, "How could you do that?"
> 
> How about cat noises:
> 
> HOWL: "when are you going to feed me?"
> 
> HOOOWWWL: "I said, when are you going to feed me"
> NNNH: squeaky little sound made when landing after a jump
What about   EEEEEEE, just before they jump to the top of the fridge (ie
 ninja kitty)
> 
> CHIT, CHIT, TCHT: a noise made while chasing or seeing a bug, spider,  
> bird, or other moving creature
> 
> _____: no noise made, but it looks like a MEOW
> 
> ME: a cut off MEOW, like they ran out of breath or don't want to be  
> bothered with a WHOLE MEOW.
Winston has an inverted version of this, more of an OW? as if he's asking a
question.  In this mode, if I meow back, he'll answer,  over and over.:-)

My cat also makes a noise I don't think I can describe very well.  It's the
'aren't I so cute you want to give me anything I want' noise.  It's kind of
a meow and a purr mixed together, similar to a pigeon cooing.
> 
> lyndap
> 
>  /\ /\
>    o


Bonni
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: dsrobins@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Daniel S Robins)
Subject: Welcoming home kittens....I need help!!!
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 19:17:08 GMT

Hello all:

I've been reading this newsgroup for well over two months and realize that
there is a wealth of knowledge out there for the asking.  I'm about to welcome
two...2...kittens into my home in the two weeks.  From all my reading, I
believe that two is a better number than one given the fact that I will spend a
good portion of the day working and it is only me at home.

Here is my question:  what thing(s) should I do to prepare for these kittens
beyond the obvious?  I plan to purchase a the same food, scratching post,
litter box, maybe a sleeping basket (???..will they use it?).   One question I
have is regarding litter box filler.  Are the advantages enough to warrant
spending a few more bucks on the "clumping" (Everclean ???) litter than the
standard fill?  My biggest worry is with the litter box and the problems that
could exist.

Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed.  I have never had a cat.  In fact, I
grew up with dogs and was sort of down on cats.  Over the past several months,
I have found that I had given cats a bad bad rap...sorry.  So...you see....I
need all the help I can get.

Thanks,
Dan
From: pdsmith.mitre.org (Pat Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: dog hates cats
Date: 26 Aug 92 14:06:05 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation

In article <1992Aug25.173429.11795@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>, myerse@spot.Colorado.EDU (MYERS ETHELLA ANN) writes:
> 
> In article <1992Aug25.140713.24485@linus.mitre.org> pdsmith.mitre.org (Pat Smith) writes:
> >In article <BtIDvH.BKB@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, kjt34420@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kristin J. Thommes) writes:
> >> 
> [ description of cat hating dog deleted]
> >> 
> >> Any success stories out there?  A marriage may be at stake here if I
> >> can't break him of this awful habit.
> >> 
> >
> >I hope you realize that the dog is doing what he instinctly does - pursue cats.
> >I might question your relationship with your SO if a dog being a dog is about
> >to end a relationship.
> 
>   I don't agree with this.  My cats are my responsibility and I would
>   never expect them to live in a situation where their lives were
>   in danger 24 hours of the day.  When I moved in with my SO his
>   dog was also a cat killer.  If we hadn't been able to train the
>   dog to live peacefully with the cats, I was fully prepared to move
>   out.

agree with what you want.  I also agree a responsible pet owner insures the 
safety and care of the animal but what if you and your SO have a baby and 
the beloved pet poses a threat to the baby - threaten physical harm or the kid
is allergic.  What are you going to do - get rid of the baby?  My point was
keep things in perspective.  I love animals too but an  animal is an animal 
and a person is a person. I am certainly glad my husband did not leave me 
cause my dog almost killed his cat.  We worked the situation and they get 
along fine now.  If we could not have worked the situation, I would have found
a goog home for either the dog or the cat, not my husband.  To each his or
her own I guess.  Good luck
> 
>   If Kristin can train the dog to stop attacking cats, great! But
>   if for some reason she can't, I wouldn't expect her SO to put
>   his pet in danger.
> 
>   It's a very hard situation, but I firmly believe that people
>   should take as much resposiblity for their pets as they would
>   for their kids. By getting a pet, you are agreeing to care for
>   and protect that animal for the rest of its life.
> 
> 
> >                       How you two react to the dog/cat situation may be
> >the bigger problem.  Anyway - I spent 4 months training a 3 year old husky that
> >had killed skunks and tried to eat a cat to live with a cat.  It was a lot
> >of hard work but we succeeded. I posted my story on this BB so look for it.
> >If you cannot find it - let me know and I will send you the story.  
> >It can be done.
> >> 
> 
> 
>   I've also managed to train a cat hating dog to live with cats.
>   Pref was ~5 years old and a confirmed cat chaser.  Now, he
>   not only doesn't chase the cats, but he will let them eat out
>   of his bowl with him and occasionally sleep with him.
> 
> -Ann
> 
> 
> 
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: bonni@snoid.cray.com (Bonni Ensminger)
Subject: Re: Funny walks
Originator: bonni@snoid
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 26 Aug 92 06:42:51 CDT


In article <6357@ucru2.ucr.edu>, kevin@ucrmath.ucr.edu (peter kevin lund) writes:
> Can cats walk sideways?  I don't mean physically, but has anybody ever
> actually caught one in the act?  Thanks...
> 
>      Kevin Lund (kevin@ucrmath.ucr.edu)

I don't know if I'd call it walking sideways, but Winston frequently dances
or skitters sideways when he's playing.

Bonni
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: puter@no1home.nashvil.ingr.com (PuterDude)
Subject: Re: Cat likes cantelope???
Organization: None, today. Thank you.
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 18:37:30 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.180928.16816@pbs.org> jlecher@pbs.org writes:
>
>Sherlock loves melon, too. In fact, he loves most fresh fruits, as long as
>they're easy to lick. We discovered this when we accidently left some 
>pieces of mango out on the table, and they were gone 1/2 hour later when
>we came home! So we experimented a bit. He loves mango, BANANA(one of his
>favorites!), applesauce, grapes(as long as we peel them first - aren't we
>the indulgent parents!), peaches....well, any fruit that's lickable.
>I've never seen this before in a cat, and I grew up surrounded by them!
>However, Tribble(now long-gone) used to love raw potatoes. If we were
>peeling potatoes, we had to throw him some peelings, or risk getting
>that *look*.(meow)

This is not really uncommon. Our pets (dog and cat) LOVES fruit, veggies,
and other "good4u" foods. Spock (11-month-old long-hair grey tabby) will
sit and eat a few little pieces of just about everythin'. We haven't
as yet found anythin' he DOESN'T like. :) He'll eat a piece or 3 then
go off and clean himself for 30-40 minutes. He just loves to have a
little of what we are doin'.

-- 
Puter	puter@no1home.nashvil.ingr.com	.sig by Generic Labels
(Put irritating title here)		(Put phone # here.)
(Put obnoxious quote here. Please make it as long as possible.)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: nunn@sura.net (Deborah Nunn)
Subject: Re: Exspot -- warning to cat owners
Organization: SURAnet, College Park, MD, USA, NA, Earth, Milky Way
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 22:45:49 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.130734.15337@rsg1.er.usgs.gov> ssnyder@sunai.er.usgs.gov (Steve Snyder) writes:
>In article <1992Aug19.234517.28433@newshost.unh.edu> K_LEPA@unhh.unh.edu (Kristen   Lepa) writes:
>>Saw this in rec.pets and I didn't see it in rec.pets.cats, so here it is
>>just in case...
>>
>>
>>In <1992Aug18.050430.25631@sco.COM> megm@sco.COM writes:
>>
>[stuff about bad experience deleted]
>>> 
>>> My vet says Exspot is known to be poisonous to cats,
>>> and she would suspect that rabbits can't handle it,
>>> either.  She doesn't think it is poisonous to dogs,
>>> but if i were using it i think i would be extremely
>>> careful to scrub my hands thoroughly after applying
>>> it no matter what animals were around.
>
>Pardon my ignorance, but what is Exspot??
>
>
>Steve     This disclaimer is invisible.

Exspot is a poison which you apply to the skin of your dogs which
poisons the bloodstream of the animal so that when the flea bites your
animal, it ingests the poison and dies.

Kind of poetic justic, don't you think?

**************************************************************************
  /\___/\                ___                     
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 \   ^   /__ _______  / /
  \_~^~_/           \/ /
   |                  /    Deborah J. Nunn       | Snail mail:
  /             /     |    e-mail: nunn@sura.net | SURAnet
 /   \/   |    _\     \    phone: (301) 982-4600 | 8400 Baltimore Blvd.
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