|
Post by jean on Apr 17, 2009 21:36:36 GMT
OM, I wish you luck with your Bantams, she is a beast
|
|
|
Post by Ruthie on Apr 19, 2009 20:40:50 GMT
OM, your Lu is a real character. No wonder all the rabbits are coming our way.................
|
|
|
Post by Ladygardener on Apr 20, 2009 12:16:48 GMT
I've been following this thread although never comented. Have you ever thought of writing a book OM. It would be a best seller.
|
|
|
Post by Dutchy on Apr 21, 2009 7:55:51 GMT
Ruthie those rabits your way are new ones as Lulu clearly would not let any escape. OM build a strong fence around, over and under the Bantams... Do you reckon she will allow you to train her that big birds that say things like pokpokpok or cluck cluck or crow alone and also leave well alone the little peep going ones... and go for long tailed ones or creatures with four legs?
|
|
|
Post by Amo on Apr 21, 2009 20:20:24 GMT
Why bantams? Why not one of the larger breeds? My Brahma chases the dogs around the garden and preens next to the Maine Coon (bestest of mates them). Mind you at least the bantams could fly away from her. Probably into the next county and you'll never see them again.
;D
|
|
|
Post by oldmoleskins on Apr 21, 2009 20:36:41 GMT
Ooooo, it is a worry. Or not.
It turns out they're not bantams after all (well, one is) so they have a bit of muscle on their side (and one unfortunate minute 'decoy' among their number who'll get it first). They were a present, so inevitable... I let The Flock out of their shed today for the first time, fairly confident that as they'd been contained behind a metre-high fence previously they wouldn't escape into the garden prematurely if I gave them a temporary arena surrounded by rabbit-fencing. It was warm and sunny, and I was impatient for a bit of free-ranging stock. Seemed a shame to keep them inside. The Beast, of course, laughs at such obstacles as a bit of fence: it drags corpses up and over buildings, may one day be seen on the very chimney-pots, swiping pigeons from the sky with a casual wave of a dreadful paw.
Or, as happened, it may 'wow' pitifully at them through the mesh, weaving its way through my legs and pleading with me to ignore them and feed me pleeeeeese or show me some smidge of attention at least.
I think it's going to be ok. It thinks they're pheasants, and it's moved on from pheasants.
Just the foxes to worry about, then.
OM.
|
|
|
Post by Amo on Apr 21, 2009 20:44:27 GMT
And the dogs, ponies, cattle....
Beast of the Broads they'll be looking for next you know.
|
|
|
Post by oldmoleskins on May 8, 2009 13:46:24 GMT
I still have little idea what's going on in The Cat's brain (assuming it has one) though its showing an alarming tendency to have misunderstood the nature of our relationship. I was under the impression that it was aloof, reluctant to be touched, positively feral and sometimes a pain. Actually it is all those things - what I meant was that it she has cultivated that image, as if it was a job description. So, there am I, planting up me lavender avenue, when I notice it slowly stalking me, initially from the cover of the old apple tree, then, forced into the open, in full Plains of the Serenghetti mode, all slow elbows and angles. Then it sits for a bit, watching, and then, astonishingly, it comes up to me, twines itself around my legs, wowing. And goes off into the shrubbery, rabbit hunting. I think it was trying to reassure me that though I was straying out of my territory and becoming dangerously close to Rabbit Hinterland, I should relax in the certain knowledge that it would protect me while so exposed. I am its Creature. It is my Protector. OM.
|
|
|
Post by Ruthie on May 8, 2009 19:28:35 GMT
Brings a lump to the throat..........doesn't it OM?
|
|
|
Post by Tig on May 9, 2009 11:10:25 GMT
She is 'some' cat that one OM! There is no way mine would tackle anything bigger than a sparrow or mouse - Lulu must be renamed Bon (aka the Beast of Norfolk!)
I used to keep bantams (as a child) lovely little eggs, quite jealous - again ...
x Tig
|
|
|
Post by Cheerypeabrain on May 9, 2009 19:28:04 GMT
It's good to know that you can sleep safe in your bed Moley Dear...aware that Captain Lulufish is protecting you from those pesky sabre-toothed rabbits....
|
|
|
Post by oldmoleskins on Dec 4, 2009 18:03:09 GMT
What I miss is Lulufish's reaction to your absence or does the self declared Queen of Greenhouse PT and grounds no longer consider you a necessary servant? We had seemed to reach a happy accord, Cat and I. It she went off hunting most of the day, I gave it breakfast beforehand and the remains of her daily tin at teatime - when, rather endearingly, it would run from a considerable distance if I whistled. Almost as good as a dog. A recent blot on the horizon was a big black cat that would brazenly muscle in on either meal if I turned my back. Disappointingly for a Proud Huntress of the Serengeti, she seemed to be in awe of the Panther and let it muscle. Since my remit is distinctly not to feed two bleedin' cats and since it (the Panther) seemed immune to me shouting and on one life-threatening occasion (for me, not the Panther) chasing it for a hundred yards I had to hang about while it she Lu ate. Which always seemed to take an age. In the week before I went off to France, Something Happened. It turned up ok on the Sunday for feeding, but was missing for both meals Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday I looked in all outhouses and around the Killing Fields, whistling, wowing and finally found her, crouched under the bench in the PT. She seemed unable/unwilling to come out, but eventually did, staggering, shivering - and very much not the fluid cat I'm used to. I must have come over all compassionate, cos I scooped her up and carried her indoors, went into the stable where her igloo is and bunged her in it, down on the warm kitchen floor. It's a measure of her weakness that she allowed that. She would normally writhe and howl and spit. She stared at me, balefully from the depths, making pathetic, tiny wows. For the rest of the week, I tried to get some interest in food (no luck) though from time to time and increasingly, it would stagger to the door, wow feebly, and go outside to drink from an overflowing plantpot round the back of the house. Then sit down to be carried back after a tiny further wander. So, I knew it could drink. I watched her choose her normal route up onto a low wall and walk along its rounded top rather than the gravel path below - so I knew she hadn't had a stroke. But it was not a happy animal, and I guessed trauma - chased by a fox, or maybe the Panther. I know rabbits can die if chased. Maybe cats do too. Anyoldhow, quite contrary to our agreement (food in exchange for rodent control, each to pay our own medical bills) I went off to the vets with it, where for a mere £26 (!) and in the absence of any obvious symptom or informed diagnosis it was given an injection of painkiller with the interesting side effect of improving appetite. I could have done with one myself. The next day it was interested in food, and walked off further after drinking from its flowerpot than it had ever done before. So I skipped off on hols with a clear conscience, briefing the house-sitters who actually like cats and saw Lu in a damaged state as a bonus responsibility, not a liability. Here we are, nearly two weeks later, and though much more robust, there's still not quite the sparkle there once was. She's relocated to the (enclosed) porch from the kitchen, gets fed four or five small meals a day and spends pretty well all her time in the Igloo, up on a bench. I sit there and watch her feed at my feet. Sometimes we have a little conversation, she seems to like that. I am her Creature. She will be well, I'm sure. OM.
|
|
|
Post by Ladygardener on Dec 4, 2009 18:54:22 GMT
That's awful news OM I wonder what the problem is? I take comfort from the fact that she seems to be coming round or has come round a bit but would be worried that she is clearly not her usual self. I wonder if she does not continue to make progress, if it would be wise to take her back to the Vet for another, perhaps more thorough check up and perhaps some blood investigations.
|
|
|
Post by JennyWrenn on Dec 4, 2009 19:03:32 GMT
Oh yes I agree with Lady - she needs to have another check up at the vets Not pregnant is she
|
|
|
Post by Dutchy on Dec 5, 2009 10:34:20 GMT
ooh I was thinking amongst those lines but surely she would be very interested in food were she with a bun in the oven. Oh dear OM I do hope she recovers well.
|
|
|
Post by Tig on Dec 5, 2009 12:56:08 GMT
Are her teeth OK OM? Could she have had an abcess perhaps? Did her breath stink worse than usual?
|
|
|
Post by oldmoleskins on Dec 7, 2009 9:08:22 GMT
That's awful news OM I wonder what the problem is? I take comfort from the fact that she seems to be coming round or has come round a bit but would be worried that she is clearly not her usual self. I wonder if she does not continue to make progress, if it would be wise to take her back to the Vet for another, perhaps more thorough check up and perhaps some blood investigations. Oh yes I agree with Lady - she needs to have another check up at the vets Not pregnant is she ooh I was thinking amongst those lines but surely she would be very interested in food were she with a bun in the oven. Oh dear OM I do hope she recovers well. Are her teeth OK OM? Could she have had an abcess perhaps? Did her breath stink worse than usual? Thank you for your concerns - pregnancy is unlikely if the owners advice is to be relied upon "neutered" and Tig, how very dare you - 'worse than usual' there's nothing stinky about it, despite a diet of fish supplemented by choice rodent parts. Noooo, I think deep shock covers it, and recovery continues... OM.
|
|
|
Post by Ruthie on Dec 8, 2009 17:45:57 GMT
Oh Poor Lu! I hope she continues to improve so she can enjoy her Christmas Dinner (you will be making her a special Christmas Dinner won't you OM?) I think you got away with a relatively cheap visit to the Vet. I never seem to come away with much change out of £50! Please keep us posted on her progress.
|
|
|
Post by JennyWrenn on Dec 9, 2009 6:30:51 GMT
Me neither Ruthie Hope she gets better soon OM - you are her only hope for recovery and am sure she loves you to bits Bet she brings you a choice rat - left on your doorstep - for Christmas
|
|
|
Post by Dutchy on Dec 12, 2009 12:15:22 GMT
Has her ladyship started roaming her Serengeti again?
|
|
|
Post by oldmoleskins on Dec 13, 2009 11:06:31 GMT
Only this very morning, in the weak-but-welcome winter sunshine, I looked up from my breakfast to see it her Lu emerging from the distant shrubbery, the Rabbit Hinterland, onto the uplit Plains of the LavAve - very much shrew territory - and looking most purposeful... She's currently sitting by the composting cut-grass heap, tail twitching, so yes, I think we can safely say roaming and hunting are back on the itinerary, though only when I harden my heart and force her outside. She's developed this way of darting through my legs as I turn to open a door and sitting, very firmly on an underfloor-heated and inaccessible bit of kitchen, beneath a bench. Extracting her from there is difficult, sometimes.
OM.
|
|
|
Post by JennyWrenn on Dec 13, 2009 16:58:29 GMT
Oh Phew so glad she is on the mend What you bought her for Chrismas
|
|
|
Post by Dutchy on Dec 13, 2009 17:21:43 GMT
I suppose the underfloor heated and inaccessible bit of kitchen is all she wanted for Christmas so Santa came early for Lu. Good to hear that when she does roam the Serengeti plains that she takes herself serious as ruling feline. Twitching tail eh? Good very good.
|
|
|
Post by Ruthie on Dec 13, 2009 17:28:53 GMT
Yep, sounds like she's on the mend. That's a relief, I've been a little worried about her..........
|
|
|
Post by Amo on Dec 13, 2009 18:20:47 GMT
Cor! Poor Lu!! Sounds to me like a poisoning. Glad she's on the mend though.
|
|
|
Post by oldmoleskins on Dec 18, 2009 16:56:35 GMT
The Cat is not at all impressed with snow. It picks its way gingerly through the grass, shaking it's paws and grumbling (I imagine) but did emerge from the henfood store with a consolation mouse gnu and ate its head sitting in the weak sunshine on the front doorstep, before retiring to the depths of the IglooLu where I took a chance and disturbed it with the flash. As it's a trifle churlish at the mo, this may be as close to a "Happy Christmas" from the Huntress of the Serengheti as you'll get this year... OM ps I may just let her back into the kitchen while the snow's about...
|
|
|
Post by Dutchy on Dec 18, 2009 18:01:40 GMT
Interesting choice of cat basket. I just realize that you have an old scarf in there. Yours once upon a time? And letting her into the kitchen. You are going softer and softer on her eh? Anyhow letting her in the kitchen as in giving wider range of roaming whilst Serengeti is frozen over is only a good idea if no food is left on any workspace or the stove. Assuming there is nothing else to hunt in there. Go on then just imagine breakfast and a doting Lu around your feet ( providing she isn't one paw in your breakfast bowl). It will be fun for you and Mrs OM.
|
|
|
Post by Ladygardener on Dec 18, 2009 21:22:26 GMT
And a very merry Christmas to lu too ;D It's good to see her in such good form.
|
|
|
Post by Ruthie on Dec 22, 2009 21:37:57 GMT
You, OM, are an old softy ;D
|
|
|
Post by JennyWrenn on Dec 23, 2009 6:09:26 GMT
Oh lovely photo she looks warm and cosy in there
|
|