Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    I once read, and this may be PURE fiction, that cats mark out their
    territory and regularly patrol this territory and its boundaries 
    to make sure "all's well."  Anyway, when you close a door, you are
    preventing your little "patroller" from being able to check out his
    territory and that bugs him/her.  Something to that effect, anyway!
    
    Then again, it just may be that they all can't stand to have a
    door between you and them!  :-)  Mine LOVE to be with me all the
    time (which is comforting AND annoying)  :-)))))
    
    Nancy
    
    

    Close a door between us and them!!!  Horrifying thought!!!! (-8E
    
    Closing the bedroom door meant we listened to it rattle
    until 2:00am, until we gave in and let the crew in.
    Closing the bathroom door means a pack of 4 hovering around
    the door, digging at it, with B.K. crying until he gets
    access.  I have company in my lap every morning while
    "doing my thing" !!!! (-;  (and evening, too!)
    

    We can't close doors either without seeing a bevy of furry colorpoint
    paws trying to tunnel their way in.  The only way to preserve the
    carpet is to let the cats go wherever they please; otherwise, they will
    pick at it with their claws until we open up the door.  I always have
    Taja, Kelsey, and Herbie in the bathroom with me regardless of what I
    am doing.  And, it never seems to fail that they sit/lay in the places
    I need to get at!
    
    -Roberta

    OK, herre goes...I hope this doesn't sound funny, but I don't close
    the door to "do my thing" as my bathroom is sort of out of the way, and
    if nobody can see me anyway, why close the door, right? So anyway, the
    cats will usually follow me into the bathroom when I go in there.
    
    Well, the other day, my sister was over, and of course, when I have
    company, I close the door! Well, Callie sat outside of the door WAILING
    away until I opened it. Once I didn, I figured she'd be so happy to see
    me, but she jumped back & gave me a look like, "WHAT DID YOU CLOSE THAT
    DOOR FOR! I'M MAD AT YOU!"
    
    Bonnie

    
    Bonnie, I am an open door person myself!  When company comes and closes
    the door my kids don't wail, they just sit at the door and glare at 
    the person when they open it to come out. They get their message 
    across...  :')
    
    
    
    

    You guys have it easy.  I have one (Carrie) who is on the wrong
    side of every door...even if it is open.  I can't for the life
    of me figure out what she is thinking as she's standing up on her 
    hind feet against and open door trying to scratch her way in.
    
    Jan

    If we didn't close a door now and then how would they play
    "Paddy under the door"?  You would think you commited a BIG
    crime against each one when you close the door but then it's 
    like a light comes on and they immediatedly throw themselves
    on the floor and start with the paws under the door. I love this
    when we have company and they are not familiar with cats and
    their little tricks. All's quiet and then you hear from the
    bathroom, "Hey, who's that, what's going on here?"
    
    We can tell our cats apart as Mocha has mitts on his front feet
    and Mr. Miyagi has the furriest feet I have ever seen on a cat,
    and Ming has dainty feet just like the rest of her.
    
    Are these fur faces fun or what?
    
    Barbara & her 3M's

    Ha ha ha ha! Thia is such a funny topic!!
    
    Barbara--->I know what you mean about visitors who don't really know
    the cats yet!! In my last apt, we had a two or three inch gap under the 
    bathroom door. If the door was closed, Tabitha would just squeeze
    herself under the door & join you. This was just so cute to us!!
    
    Well, we had a friend over one day, and I could hear her yelling &
    laughing from the bathroom, and I knew instantly that Tabitha must be
    trying to get into the bathroom! She comes out & sez, "Do you know what
    this cat just did?!?"  I pretended that I didn't believe her & that she
    must've been imagining things!  ;*)
    
    Bonnie

    Any of you have cats that are fascinated with people taking showers? 
    Taja can't for the life of him figure out why I would *want* to
    submerge myself in a sprayer bottle filled with endless amounts of
    water.  He gets all wide-eyed, peeking his head thru the curtain,
    screaming at me in Siamese fashion, and usually won't let up until I'm
    out of the tub drying myself off!  He's too cute when he does this. 
    And Herbie... he has this fetish about rubbing up against my wet
    legs ---> YUCK!  Talk about feeling like you need another shower!
    
    Kelsey has this awful habit of sitting on the counter with his tail
    swishing back and forth in the sink.  Always when I want to brush my
    teeth or wash my face.  Or, he decides, "hey, this is a good time to
    take a nice long drink from the faucet" and I have to wait until *he's*
    through before I can start on me.
    
    Sheesh!  And *I'm* the one who works to support them!
    
    --Roberta
      

    Re: When company's over......
    
    Well, I have to admit it; I don't close the door either.
    The crew of 4 are just so used to joining Dad or Mom in
    the bathroom, that I forget that they will do it with
    company, too.  My M-I-L was (past tense, she now even likes
    them! (-8 ) petrified of the cats.  She went to use the
    bathroom, and, of course, in trotted the crew with her.
    She started yelling for help, thinking they were trying to
    corner her and attack her or something.  It was so funny.....
    
    

    
    
    	Roberta, I'm dying.  Since I've 'met' Taja I can see
    	him doing exactly what you're saying!
    
    	And Sasha likes rubbing up against wet legs too....eesh.
    	Nothing like trying to get cat fuzz off of wet skin.
    
    	JJ
    

    
    Roe, I get into the shower and the Bales and Calzone sit there in front
    of the shower curtain.  I get out one side, they pop in the other side.
    Callie plays and Bales just sprawls. They get SOAKED.  When I was using
    Everclean Bailey would hop out of the shower and into the litterbox. 
    Clump city!  It would take me 15 minutes to clean him off!  By this
    time  I was covered with Everclean needing another shower!
    
    

When Bill and I take a shower, we close the door to keep the heat in and the
cold out.  Afterwards, we open the door.  Of course, the first thing the cats
want to do is rub against MY legs (not Bill's :-)) so I start exclaiming
"I've been furred! I've been furred! :-)"

We also don't close the bathroom doors most of the time.  But our 1/2 bath
(most conveniently located) is the current "cat free zone", full of dried
arrangements and other stuff we have to figure out what to do with.  If I
don't close the door, the critters come in (once all 4 were in here with me!)
and start checking out the forbidden stuff.  Since I'm occupied at the time,
I can't do anything about it :-)

Jill

    Jill,
    
    Our half-bath is off-limits to cats too!!  It is decorated very
    guest-like, and I won't allow the cats in there under any
    circumstances.
    
    This morning, while getting ready for work, I laid out my angora rabbit
    hair/lambswool sweater on the bed.  Taja decided to get comfy on it, so
    now I am wearing a 70% angora rabbit hair, 20% lambswool, and 10%
    Siamese fur sweater!!  Good thing Taja has ivory colored fur (the
    sweater is light pink).
    
    Can't keep those furbags off anything it seems!
    
    --Roberta
    

    Roberta,
    
    My Bear is just like your "kid."  I have a tremendous collection of
    Mohair sweaters that I just adore.  Inevitably I lay one on the bed
    and go shower and when I return I have Bear sprawled across this thing,
    and it takes me a good 10 minutes of fussing over her before I have the
    heart to move her.  She just looks so comfy and happy.
    
    What spoiled brats!
    
    Nancy

    Speaking of cats in tubs...I have one that loves to go in the tub 
    after your done and lap the little wet spots.   I use to let
    her...but now I fear she might get sick from the residue left
    by the stuff we use to clean the tub with?   Comments...could
    it be dangerous???
    
    Sandy           

    Nancy---->My friend Dee thinks I'm crazy for letting the cats sit where
    they please. One night she was over, and we were sitting at the kitchen
    table talking & stuff. I got up & left the room, but when I came back,
    callie was crashed out on my chair (must've been warm). I said, "Excuse 
    me little one, but I was sitting there. Can I please have my seat
    back?" I nudged her behind, but she didn't budge. So I just let her
    have the seat & I sat in a different chair. My friend dee looked at me
    & said, "Oh my god, Bonnie! you're *NOT* going to let that cat take 
    your chair?!?!? PUSH HER OFF!" I asked "Why? then she'll just get up &
    go away. I like to have her near me & I can just sit in this seat
    instead." She told me I was spoiling Callie, and I told her that Callie 
    was such a good little sweetheart that she deserved to be spoiled, and
    she's right, I DO SPOIL HER! so?  ;*)
    
    Sandy--->I stopped letting Callie lick water spots out of th tub too,
    not only cuz of the cleaner I use on it, but because my conditioner
    sometimes leaves a residue on the tub surface too.
    
    Bonnie

    re:  the tub residue
    
    	In our house there's a chamois in the bathroom...wiping
    the walls and tub after a shower is mandatory.  Then, when you
    really have to clean, it's a very, very easy job.
    
    re: the cat in the tub
    
    	The tub is my Jabba's favorite toy.  He has a tennis ball in 
    it, and can often be heard lobbing the ball around the tub...makes
    quite a racket in there, too.  Most of the time he just goes into the
    tub to play.  Yet, I've seen him suddenly run away from kitten-play
    with his siblings, race through the kitchen and into the tub to slam
    the tennis ball around.  ... Almost like going to the club to work
    out his aggression/frustrations.
    
    Jo-Ann

    Bonnie,
    
    Kelsey and Dana always fight for Dana's chair at the dinner table. 
    Dana has his favorite chair by the window, which is also Kelsey's
    favorite.  It never fails at dinner, if Dana gets up for something,
    Kelsey jumps into the chair and settles down.  Dana will move him into
    another chair but if he gets up again... Kelsey moves right back in. 
    On several occasions, Kelsey has actually raced Dana to the chair and
    they both end up sitting on it together!!
    
    One day, we had his parents over for brunch <Dana's, not Kelsey's! :^)>. 
    They are... umm, a bit on the snobby side... shall we say.  We only 
    have four chairs at the dining room table and after the meal, Kelsey
    decided to take my chair so I ate dessert standing up.  Dana's mother
    couldn't believe I wouldn't remove him from the chair and commented on
    it to Dana in private.  She's always thought I am a bit eccentric where
    the cats are concerned :^) :^).
    
    --Roberta
    

    My dear dead Tina was a pain at night:  she slept with us 
    but wandered in and out.  Her peregrinations regularly woke
    us up.
    
    And so I decided to close the bedroom door and leave Tina on the
    outside. That way she could have the whole couch to
    herself, and we could sleep.  But, 
    
    "Scratch.  Scratch!  SCRATCH!"
    
    
    Kept waking us up.
    
    So I decided to use the water pistol.  When she scratched
    on the bedroom door, I would open it and spray her.  That
    way, I reasoned, she would soon learn not to do it.
    
    
    It took her two times to catch on.  She would scratch,
    I would open the door and aim.  She would skitter out of
    the way.
    
    On the third night I found myself in my birthday suit at
    4 AM running around the house after Tina, who scooted 
    behind chairs and couches and under tables as I scurried
    after her and fired round after round of H2O.  My adrenaline
    was pumping hard and I could not return to sleep.
    
    I realized that I had achieved the goal opposite my
    original intention: to sleep.
    
    
    Score:  cats   -- 1
    
            humans -- 0
    
    I opened the bedroom door and took the kitty back.
    
    --Jane
         

    	ref .20
    
    	Roberta,
    
    	I would have said something too! How could you eat in front of your
    poor cat like that!? Sounds like cat abuse to me.
    
    Mike

    The other night I had opened the door to let some company leave
    and left the door open with just the storm door closed.   Well,
    I kept hearing this THUD THUD THUD...  I finally went to the door
    to see the cat standing at the door!  The poor thing, I always 
    wondered how she was making that noise.  She's banging at the door.
    
    Oh cats are such a mysterious creature.  She also has taken up
    "washing" me when she's with me.  
    
    b

    My neighbors' cats come and "ping" my screen door to let me know they'd
    like a little nibble too when I feed my own cats.

    This morning when I was taking a shower I had Limoges in the bathroom
    with me.  She was just lounging on the side of the tub, whiling away
    the time, when all of a sudden she went nuts and wanted out NOW!!!  She
    was crying at the door, scratching it, and generally being a loud
    nuisance.  So, I climb out of the shower and let her out only to see
    Ken walking by with a plate of canned cat food for the kittens.  Mogee
    must have smelled it wafting in under the door all the way from the
    kitchen! :^)  You can't sneak any morsel of food past this cat.  And
    Ken hadn't even used the electric can opener. :^D
    
    Jo

    Snoopy's never been able to figure out why I sometimes shut her out of
    the bathroom when I'm in there.  If I let her in, she just has this
    business-as-usual look (after all, I get to see her pee if I happen to
    be near the box when she has to.)  She tends to avoid the shower
    entirely, and stays away from the toilet or sink if I'm running too
    much water, but she likes to help me brush my teeth (sits on the back
    of the potty and watches.)
    
    On the wrong side of a door, Snoopy shoots her little paws as far under
    as they go, saying "MEOOOWWWW! MEOOOWWWW!" with interesting results if
    the dog is on the other side to bark at these mysterious paws in the
    door. (interesting == loud, like an argument.)
    
    Lisa Dean and Snoopy

    The Family Circus cartoon a few days ago was so cute, that
    I have to share it w/you....
    
    Billy and Dotty (?) are sitting at the kitchen table eating
    lunch.  "Kittycat", the pet cat, is also sitting at the
    table.  Dotty calls to her mom "Couldn't Kittycat have
    a sandwich, too?"
    
    

    Cute.

    This is a great topic.  Misha hates closed doors, he always afraid
    he'll miss something, (and he's right).  We try to separate the cats
    when we give Lizette her special canned food.  The boys (Misha and
    Marnie) of course, want some too.  They get to have what Lizette
    leaves.  I'll put them in my room with Misty and close the door, so
    Lizette can eat in peace.  Misha wails the whole time.  Marnie and
    Misty are very relaxed and quiet.  
    
    In the morning, I alway have company while 'doing my thing'.  Usually,
    Marnie races in first and jumps on my lap and curls up and purrs.  If
    Misha comes in first, he leaps on my lap and snuggles with his head
    tucked under my arm.  If Lizette get there first, she's on my lap 'making
    bread'.  If Misty comes in and my lap is occupied, she looks hurt and
    walks out.  I call her back and pet her and soothe her ruffled
    feelings.  She always comes when called.  She likes to lick the water
    in the shower.  After reading previous notes, I won't let her.  She
    also drives us crazy licking plastic bags.  (Any of yours do that?)
    
    Lizette and Misty love the easy chair Bob sits on in the family room. 
    As soon as he gets up, whoever is near, leaps on the chair and curls
    up.  Bob hates to disturb them.  The same thing happens with our chairs
    in the kitchen.  It's like musical chairs, if you get up your chair is
    taken.  Misty loves to spend the morning with me as I get ready for
    work.  She sits on my vanity chair.  When I need it, I tell her I'm
    sorry to disturb her, I pick her up gently and put her on my lap when I
    sit down.  That works well.
    
    All four cats enjoy paws under the door games.  Lizette was especially
    adept at it when we had her in the guest room with her kittens.  We had
    the door closed, so the kittens wouldn't get out.  Lizette managed to
    pull the door open with her paw under the door.  The door opens into
    the room.  
    
    One time I was at a friend's house.  In addition to cats, and dogs, they
    also have large birds, macaws and parrots.  (The cats don't bother
    them.)  I was in the bathroom, door closed, suddenly the door opened
    and in walked Joey, the macaw.  I was wearing sandals, and he was
    heading right for my toes. :-( (I much prefer cats walking in.)
    
    Just to show how spoiled they are and what a soft touch Bob is;
    although Misty starts out at night, at my head purring me to sleep, she
    usually ends up snuggled next to or on Bob's legs.  She pushes him to
    the edge of the bed, and cramps his legs.  If he wakes up during the
    night, he doesn't have the heart to disturb her.  His legs ache in the
    morning when he gets up, but he says that her comfort is more
    inportant.  What a guy! 
    
    Guess you know who's important in our house! ;-)
    
    Steffi, 3M's and a L   
                                                

    Hi Steffi! It sure sounds like you have a happy crew!!
    
    My kids know who the bosses are too, and they make sure they let ME
    know it as well!! ;*)
    
    This is about open wondows, not closed doors, but it seemed like a 
    good place to tell my story!
    
    Yesterday, it was 60+ degrees outside, so I went home at lunch to open
    the windows for the cats. It's been about 6 weeks since they've been
    able to sit in the windows, so they were psyched!! Whenever I leave the
    house, I always tell them "momma loves the girls!! Bye girls!" and
    that's their cue to come out, say good-bye, and for Callie to block the 
    door so I can't go (like she always does! ;*)). Well yesterday, I said
    goodbye to them & they just sat there in the living room window.
    Tabitha looked at me, acknowleged my leaving by a single nod of the
    head & stared back out the window. HARUPMF! Boy did I feel slighted!
    ;*)
    
    Bonnie