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Saturday, January 21, 2012

What If You Camp With Your Cat?

I know someone who camps with their cat. They have a van camper and a regular RV site. They have trained their cat when they travel that the van or (recreational vehicle) RV is home or point 0, 0, 0, 0. The cat investigates the world and must come in at night time.

The catdad has Temptations cat treats. Each night, at nightfall, he calls to his cat and shakes the bag of cat treats. The cat has a hunting and exploration range of about 300-400 metres. His catdad calls her in right at the time he expects coyotes to be coming out. When she comes in it is time to settle into sleep for the night. He shakes the cat treats. He calls his cat's name. "Zoe," he says. "Come, Zoe."

His cat comes bounding in from the distance. He comes over hills, through grasses and bushes. He runs with 8-12 foot bounds in one step. His catdad is exceptionally impressed his cat does this. When his cat has arrived, he opens the door to either his van or his RV, and pets his cat's head and gives him 6-8 cat treats for being an obedient cat. This cat could do with a lot of excercise much like our Lucius. His age is between Lucius and Martius. He is a marbled black, grey, and white tabby. His tummy is all white from the neck to the tail. This is one of my family's cat. I am one of his relatives, so to speak. This brings to light that there is hope to vacation with your pet. In Canada, camping is one of the popular types of vacations. It is nice to know cats can adapt to regular camping routines.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Imagine the Control of a Cat Claw

Imagine the control of having a cat claw. I don't need the control. I am not a control maniac. I am just saying - imagine having the control of a cat claw. Our little cat occasionally inserts a few claws. Then, his movement moves or conditions ours. We move counter the force of his claw or in such a way that it does not go deeper. His movement is friendly. There is no danger. It is a soft latent sort of direction that moves us like a product down an assembly line. He is the production coordinator.

Would we not all want that kind of control? We look at our cat as a small sweet-tempered carnivore. Imagine having all his cat hunting skills and having this small additional gift too. He drags his claws across our skin ever so softly, bumping or skidding along. He has such a small but effective implement.

Although I have been at times concerned my cat would not fair well with a magpie, as he demonstrates control, strength, and mastery of grip with his claws and using them to control us once in a while, my fears are melting away. He will be fine. Not all times one is grabbed by a set of claws do they go in. They are a persuasive directional force leading us to not move in unsavoury directions. The cute little cat has both pet parents coordinated into his master plan.

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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Lucius Van Lancelot

Lucius Van Lancelot is a Young Cat Warrior

Lucius Van was bought a lance by his CatDad the day he was brought home from the pet store. CatDad wanted Lucius Van to have his own special possession, one that had no smells or remnants of any other cat than him. CatDad gave him one of his favored weapons of war.

This lance is basically an 18 inch piece of plastic which was originally bought for the feathers and tinsel on the end of it. At the beginning of its days, it was beautifully decorated. Now, with the age of battle upon it, it looks tattered, worn, bears no feathers, and has three or four pieces of tinsel left. It looks like a de-feathered bird.

Since his arrival home, CatDad and Lucius Van have played a lot with Lucius' lance. CatDad walks about or turns while he is swinging the end of the lance. There was no string on this particular cat weapon. Both had fun practicing for battle. As the feathers and tinsel diminished though, Lucius began to notice CatDad's strategies and began to attack at the level of the end of the plastic lance (the handle of the toy). CatDad had to come up with new strategies of training.

Lucius Van spends his morning and early afternoon hours raging about the house doing all the required practice to keep up his cat-fu skills and maintain core body strength. Lucius values Middle Age combat techniques which were valued by King Author's court. He engages his brother Martius in wrestling. He does aerobic excercise hurdling objects including his brother in practice jousts which don't include his lance.

To Keep Up His Cat Warrior Skills Lucius Jousts

Alas, there were times CatDad had to work and attend to other things. His practice with Lucius led Lucius to fully understand how to use his lance. As a creative and intelligent cat, Lucius picked up his lance and carried it in his mouth as he ran across the house end to end. The streak of Lucius lightning was preceded by his lance. He discovered he could run into things with his lance and it would resist and sometimes fall. Then, he would pick it up and keep going. This is how Lucius self-entertained. Lucius hit walls, furniture, and baseboards. The process gave him a fake combattant he could play with.

As time went on, Lucius discovered something else. He could joust with his lance and get the tip of it under things. He would joust the bath mat and the front entry carpet. The tip would go under and he could then adjust for the imaginary enemy. He began this new type of training. He would run with his lance in his mouth, hit the mat, and fight to get control of his lance back from the enemy.

Please don't get the impression that CatDad left him alone all the time to permit him to be psychotically changed. CatDad has to work sometimes. So, when work breaks arrive, CatDad and he would shift to a new cat training strategy which did not include the lance. He might say shift to throwing a soft ball to give Lucius some other type of exercise.

During Jousting Lucius Van Tore His Lance to Shreds

Much of what is left of this cat weapon of war is the handle. It looks like it has a metallic accent on the very tip. As Lucius would play and tear at the decorated end, inevitably he tore off peices with each battle he engaged in. The lance is more or less indestructable, but the decoration has been torn to shreds.

The process of tearing it to shreds was not overnight. It was slow. The bits of attention getting light shimmer products and feathers were effective in drawing his eyes to the end of the lance for quite a long while. Mostly during periods of self-play with the lance, pieces were torn off the end. CatMom would run and pull the stuff out of his mouth as she was worried he might swallow it. She would make her "ah-ah-ah" sound and run and grab him and reach down his throat to pull out the feathers and tinsel.

What the toy did train him to do is think he had to attack feathers. It was almost a relief that pieces tore off as there was less to worry about for CatMom. It is a good thing that Lucius is a creative cat and gradually found new uses for his lance.

It is Time to Retire this Lance for a New One

His pet parents feel bad. The toy is not attractive as it used to be. These toys must be meant to be replaced. CatDad went searching for a new lance for Lucius Van at Christmas time. He could not find one which was exactly like the one he bought before. His first toy was $14. Now, they were made with replaceable tops that connected part-way back. This shortens the lance. The ends are replaceable. These toys are now $20.

CatDad has not bought one just yet as he is not sure the lance on it is suitable to Lucius' type of play. It's nice to have feathers, tinsel and all, but is it going to maintain his interest in the long run? CatDad is actively looking for another lance for Lucius. He's not found the right one yet. He has to find a good quality lance that will meet both his and Lucius' expectations and quality demands for long term lance practice.

Looking Back to the Arrival of Lucius Van

If one recalls the original scenario, CatDad was not sold on an unevenly marked tabby. It took awhile before CatDad through play fighting and seeing Lucius roll and rest on his back that he really noticed he had full stripes somewhere on his body. What is nice is CatDad did buy young Lucius Van a lovely gift even though he was not sold on him at first.

With all the months of battle now bonding them and bonding Lucius and Martius, Lucius - even if he did not have stripes has earned them. He is a 6th degree cat-fu artist trained in multiple combat styles including the art of ancient jousting from the times of King Author. He won CatMom's heart instantly and CatDad's through sessions of battle proving his valor and endurance. He's going to be able to protect the whole pride with his battle skills.