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Conference misery::feline_v1

Title:Meower Power is Valuing Differences
Notice:FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY
Moderator:MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO
Created:Sun Feb 09 1986
Last Modified:Tue Jan 11 1994
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5089
Total number of notes:60366

455.0. "See the birdies!" by CLUSTA::TAMIR () Thu Jan 22 1987 19:48

    Honey spends hours everyday sitting by the window watching the birds
    (and the $%*!@ squirrels) that frequent my bird feeders.  I have
    one feeder that sticks to the window, and the little birdies come
    right up to it and eat.  This drives Honey bonkers!  He watches
    them so intensely and sometimes makes these little quivering meows,
    knowing he can't get at the birds.  He sits there all day watching
    the wildlife!  Is this cruel??  Am I driving him nuts by sticking
    what he thinks is lunch under his nose and not letting him get at
    it??  He'll sit in the sink, slouched down, and will pop up at the
    window when he sees a bird land on the window feeder (it's the kitchen
    window).  He looks ridiculous!!  I get a lot of laughs, and he seems
    to enjoy it, but am I gonna have a half-crazed looney on my hands
    some day???
    
    Mary
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
455.1'nuther bird watcherEMIRFI::KEENERFri Jan 23 1987 00:3515
    Honey sounds like my 10 year old female (spayed).  Her lower jaw
    quivers and she like to play the mighty hunter.  We have had her
    since she was four weeks old (her mother had seven kitten - never
    heard of that before, but Muffy was the runt and couldn't get enough
    to eat so a neighbor asked if I would take her and care for her.)
    She has gone bonkers for bird for 10 years and doesn't seem any
    the stranger for it.  She is a very loving cat - still plays like
    a kitten.  She will chase birds when she is outside.  I doubt you'll
    have a psychotic feline and I don't think it's cruel - all cats
    like to play 'mighty hunter', but when it comes down to the nitty
    gritty, the spoiled ones prefer a nap in the sun and a scratch on
    the chin.  Enjoy the entertainment.
    
    Ellen
    
455.2Bird calls!CADSYS::RICHARDSONFri Jan 23 1987 18:217
    I don't think watching the birds will drive the cat any crazier
    than it already is...  Nebula LOVES to watch birds out on the power
    lines outside the front windows (I live on a steep hill, so the
    power lines are just level with Nebula if she sits in the window).
    She will even do "bird calls" - which I'm sure SHE thinks sound
    like birds!  She chirps!  JFCL is too dignified for this, though
    she does watch the wildlife.
455.3They watch the cat, too...PARSEC::PESENTIJPSat Jan 24 1987 02:4711
	Zelda loves to sit behind the curtain at the sliding glass
	doors and watch the birds at the feeder on my deck.  When she
	is let out, however, the birds seem to take joy in watching her
	as they fly about where she can't get them.  Once a brazen 
	little chickadee actuall landed about 2 feet from Zelda's nose.
	The usually great hunter was so startled, that she bolted away
	from the bird!

						     
							- JP
455.4MASTER::EPETERSONMon Jan 26 1987 18:546
    
    One year my indoor/outdoor kitty had a bird that pestered  the life
    out of him every moment he was outside.  I mean the birdie would
    not only CHEEEEP her head off, but it would dive at him if he was
    in an open space.  He was so funny!  He'd just  down in the grass
    and roll his eyes.
455.58 cats, 3 birdsNEBVAX::BELFORTESteven's BEST halfTue Jan 27 1987 16:476
    My indoor only cats play mighty hunter throught the glass with the
    outside birds, too.  But................ when we had pet birds,
    they ignored them.  I guess if they were in the house they were
    "part of the family" to the cats.
    
    Mary-Lynn
455.6entertaining the chauffeursGLINKA::GREENETue Jan 27 1987 18:179
    Our vet (Boston Cat Hospital) has a large cage with about 3 very
    vocal birds.  One of them was whistling a long song the other
    evening:  quite beautiful.  Some cats are intrigued, some are
    frightened, and others seem not to notice even when carried
    directly to the cage!  My cats seem mostly to stare quietly,
    noticing especially any quick movements.
    
    The cats' chauffeurs, however, are invariably *delighted* with
    the birds chirping and singing!
455.7entertainment for all!BOEHM::SMARTINTue Jan 27 1987 19:487
    I have a bay window in my dining room that looks out onto the bird
    feeder in the front lawn.  provides lots of entertainment for the
    cats and us.  The cats trill and chirp and warble (being maine
    coons...) the humans grab the binoculars and the identification
    books and point a lot.  (Been having a beautiful red cardinal
    hang around the last couple of weeks!)
    
455.8Bringing them in the house makes it really fun!PUZZLE::CORDESJAFri Feb 27 1987 15:2922
    Last weekend I was up at a cat show in Fresno and stayed with a
    friend who just bought a house in the mountains in Coarsegold. 
    Here living room is decorated in oriental modern style and she has
    an absolutely wonderful birdcage in her living room!  It is very
    dramatic, painted all white with black manzanita branches for perches.
    The cage (if you can call it that) is the length of one wall in
    the living room, from floor to ceiling and is about 3 feet wide.
    They built it into a closet that they had no need for in their living
    room.
    
    My friend breeds Goldian (sp) finches which are very colorful, bright
    green with yellow necks and orange or red heads.  The effect is
    breathtaking. 
    
    My cat went wild!!!  She didn't leave the front of the cage the
    whole time we were in the house.  She just crouched at the foot
    of the cage licking her chops and practicing the kill bite.  The
    birds would of course tease her by flying down to the bottom and
    then back up to the top and Joui would go leaping up in the air
    in an attempt to catch them.  It was alot of fun for both of us.
    
    Jo Ann