The Pet Shop

[McGrandpa]

M-C thanks, enjoyed those vids!   

Cats do have 'talk' that is for their Tribe.   Meaning their Human and maybe cats in the immediate family.  Like Tattoo accepted Mogwai immediately.   Never been a problem between the two.   Tattoo does hiss when he's hurting, like when his allergies really get to burning and itching him.   Sometimes he does when its uncomfortable using the bathroom.   He cracks his Vet Doc up.  Very expressive cat!  When we are sitting in the waiting room I get him out if the place is empty.  So, rather than run around, he hops right in my lap, looks around, turns back at me and starts his 'talking', combination of meows, trills, twittering and even low barking like sounds.   Remember, he is a hybrid, F5 Bengal.  That is natural for them.
When I used to go walking, he just HAD to go too.  But he would 'shadow' me, from across the street where he had a clear view of me.   I moved, he moved.  I stop, he stopped.   When I sat down, he came up and hopped in my lap.   We really enjoyed those outings.  Except for the dogs.   Then he was on top of my head clinging tight.  Ow.   He wears a collar and tags fine.  No leash though.  He fights against any leash when I try leading him.   But like I said, he will stay abreast of me from across the street, no matter where I walk off to!
There is one sound they didn't show us in the videos.  Spitting!  Sounds like a 9mm with silencer!  And, Tattoo got surprised by a big Great Dane puppy from next door, it put his nose right into Tattoo's face.  Instant machine gun spitting, all fur puffed right out, and he became grafted to my left arm instantly.  Another Ow.  THAT'LL make your ears wiggle!   Tattoo is very muscular, strong and incredibly quick.   He has had many animal fights and has never lost one.   Even taking on dogs.   He'd rather NOT fight, but if something jumps on him, IT'S ON!  And over very fast.   He turns 11 years old next month.  My Old Man!  Love the guys!  :)

[Scouseaphrenia]

Ikea...



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[thelufias]

LOL.....That is some pose LOLOL

[McGrandpa]

[moving this post here from the Poser 11.2 thread, where it  didn't belong!]

I got to see Mogwai getting some great exercise yesterday.   He was scrambling like crazy after what I thought was some imaginary prey.   Turned out it was him chasing a bug.   It must have had 8 legs at one time, and they were quick legs too, for him to be moving like that.   He never took his eyes off it until his paw had it.   It looked like it used to be a Wolf Spider, but black.   Will have to look that up.   But HE gave it the WHOA MULE! STOMP and SPLAT!  And he looked up at me, his face SO proud and pleased!  HE GOT IT!  I gave him all the positive encouragement and praise I could think of, then got him some treat food.   Yup, he was doing it to it!  I cleaned it up like any ol kitty 'accident'.  eh HEM.  Yes.   So he has the right idea.
Even if it's a Jumper, he/they will both be praised and rewarded for all bug and spider kills.   I WANT them to treat them all that way, so none of the bad ones get treated nicely, yaknow?   I don't doubt their abilities.   I do seriously doubt mine in being able to teach them the difference between good and bad spiders.   So for their safety especially, STOMP is an excellent response.

[thelufias]

Glad you did it because I was going to after I got done with my stroll in here..... 

Believe me....I spend a LOT OF TIME moving my threads from one place to another 

[thelufias]

Oz decided he wanted a shower I guess.  Didn't even see him sneak in until after I shut the glass shower door.  And the look on his face says...he didn't care if he was shut in there LOLOL

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[Agent0013]

[moving this post here from the Poser 11.2 thread, where it  didn't belong!]

I got to see Mogwai getting some great exercise yesterday.   He was scrambling like crazy after what I thought was some imaginary prey.   Turned out it was him chasing a bug.   It must have had 8 legs at one time, and they were quick legs too, for him to be moving like that.   He never took his eyes off it until his paw had it.   It looked like it used to be a Wolf Spider, but black.   Will have to look that up.   But HE gave it the WHOA MULE! STOMP and SPLAT!  And he looked up at me, his face SO proud and pleased!  HE GOT IT!  I gave him all the positive encouragement and praise I could think of, then got him some treat food.   Yup, he was doing it to it!  I cleaned it up like any ol kitty 'accident'.  eh HEM.  Yes.   So he has the right idea.
Even if it's a Jumper, he/they will both be praised and rewarded for all bug and spider kills.   I WANT them to treat them all that way, so none of the bad ones get treated nicely, yaknow?   I don't doubt their abilities.   I do seriously doubt mine in being able to teach them the difference between good and bad spiders.   So for their safety especially, STOMP is an excellent response.

McG, I have to give you a warning on cats treating all spiders that way. The real baddies make webs, usually funnel webs. these include fiddle-backs, brown recluses, grey recluses, and the infamous black widows. Because of this, they are not spiders that move fast if found on the ground or other surface. They can move fast in their webs, but that is when they have snared prey, or when they perceive being attacked. Often times pets will inadvertently disturb these deadly spiders, and sometimes the spider will end up somewhere on the pet. If further disturbed, they will bite, and the consequences will be devastating.
Personal example:
We had a black female cat named Midnight in 2009. she was a sweet girl that loved all of us (Mom, Pop, and myself). There was a black widow we could not reach living under a heavy cabinet in our house, and we had discovered her by shining a flashlight under the cabinet. We needed to go find something we could use to pull the spider out from under that cabinet and deal with it, but before we could, Midnight had crawled under it. About fifteen minutes after she came back out from under the cabinet she was very sick. I picked her up and was petting her to comfort her, while Mom was trying to concoct something to make her feel better. Midnight continued to get worse, and then I discovered a bump between her shoulder blades on her back. I moved the fur out of the way to see what it was. It was a spider bite, and I instantly knew it was from the black widow. So we took Midnight to the vet, hoping to save her. The vet told us there was nothing he could do with what he had on hand, and there was no time to get what was needed. By that time she was suffering really bad. It was super hard to have to see her like that. The vet said our best option would be to euthanized her and end her suffering; otherwise her suffering would only continue to get worse. So that was what we had to do. We were all crying as we stood around and watched the vet administer the dose that ended her life. We buried her in the back yard in a little pine box I made for her.


My point is that not all spiders can be treated with the stomp to get rid of them. The web makers usually require more elaborate means, and they can make that difficult. The real baddies mentioned above are particularly hard to deal with; and for that reason I recommend keeping your pets away from them as much as you possibly can. The best one to deal with those deadly spiders is an exterminator, but if you cannot wait for that (and I advise not waiting), find a way to deal with them yourself. Make sure you get any egg sacks they have also. This will reduce the amount that may be lurking in your home or around it. I dealt with the one we found under the cabinet by finding a brush I attached to a broomstick, sticking it under there and sweeping the bitch down and out from under. There were three egg sacks that came out with her, and I made sure to grind her and the egg sacks into the floor. (Yeah, I was being vengeful!)


While I am an advocate for the "Live and Let Live" policy, the really bad spiders do not get to stay where I and my pets live. Rather than moving them to distant locations, those get treated with extreme prejudice. I kill every one I find in or around my home. Besides, I don't think it is good to take such a spider to another location, adding to the danger to animals and people there.

[McGrandpa]

Oz is a beautiful Bombay, TL!   Simply beautiful.   And as long as they are loved, they don't care a whit what they look like.  Still, we folks around here do have a pile of beautimous felines!   You, Cleve, Me, J!  Yep, that gives me a warm happy feeling :)

[McGrandpa]

Hey Cleve, I get you on the spiders, the web weavers, and how different they are from the active hunters that get out and about daily.    Jumpers and Wolf spiders are the two main hunters we have here.   True, there are a lot more species of the web-weavers, and those ones tend to be dangerous to both us humans and our pets.   best way to handle them is with Broom & Vacuum!   Man I am still a scaredy cat with those like the fiddle-back (recluses), black widows and others.  The huge Garden Orb Weavers (family - Argiope) are poison, make us sick, but they avoid contact with us big time.   They are beneficial, and always outdoor type.  And have HUGE fangs!   Though when you step outside early in the morning and run afoul of some webbing you never even saw it is likely theirs!   They eat *LOTS* of bugs...like flies, mosquitoes, wasps and (yup!) spiders. 

Tattoo definitely noticed Mogwai getting his praise and extra goodie too.   Though he is just as likely to hunt something down, bring it to my door alive, then make sure I'm SEEING him do it, and kill whatever it is.   So HE gets tons of praise and goodie too.  And he's just turkey enough to be sure he gets praised longer than Mogwai was.   Yeah, he can be a turkey at times!
I think it WAS a wolf spider, and looked black cause it was all, um, wet.  Its own juices.  Ichor its called?
I don't leave webs around FOR the boys to get into.   I see one in construction....sweep, vacuum, wash.  There, nice. ;)

[McGrandpa]

I have seen Lynx spiders and Wolf spiders kill and drag off mice and small birds.   Nobody believed me until I found a photo online of a Wolf Spider leaping off a flower onto a hummingbird, biting it in the head, and hanging onto it as it fell, paralyzed, to the ground.  Lynx spiders are smaller than full grown Wolf spiders.   But they must have very potent venom, because even though smaller,prettier they are every bit the bad azz hunters the Wolfs are!
Jumping ON a bird, and killing it in mid air!   Wow.