Posted on 09/30/2007 2:00:02 PM PDT by Daffynition
Does your cat always seem to end up in the lap of the one visitor to your home who's allergic? Or maybe it's the one visitor who doesn't like cats? Why is it that, very often, your cat-loving visitors get passed over for the one person who doesn't want to interact with Fluffy?
Most cats are friendly to everyone who comes through the front door, but other cats are very concerned with potential territorial intrusion. These cats don't necessarily want somebody barging right over to pick them up and interact. So while your cat-loving visitors may be just trying to be friendly, the act of reaching down to pet or pick up your cat before the cat's had time to investigate this unfamiliar person can cause your cat to back away.
The cat-avoiding visitor, however, makes no move toward the cat, and usually avoids eye contact. That may actually allow the kitty to feel comfortable enough to come closer for an investigation of this stranger. As the cat inches closer to sniff the visitor's shoes, the visitor makes no overtures. This is another indication to the cat that there is no immediate threat. The cat may then jump onto the couch, sit next to the visitor, and continue to check her or him out.
If YOU have a cat who's suspicious of strangers, tell your guests to let the cat set the pace! As always, it's just at matter of looking at things from your cat's point of view, and learning to ... Think Like a Cat!
I’m good at leaving tags open.
On long posts, it was easy to forget a tag or three.
Which would make one very popular with the rest of the thread.
< BLINK > has to be the most reviled and obnoxious tag in HTML...outside of some of the animated GIFs I post. LOL ;-D
I don’t post very often because I’m well. . . shy. I like to read the Canteen and I loved the total take down of Blather.
BTW - I love reading your responses to most things. Aren’t you the Viking Kittie ZOT dude?
If so, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for the laughs. I just love this web site. So many laughs so little time!
I guess I missed it and am still using tags!
Lucky you! What kind/color, etc? I would get another one but I don't think my two would accept it. I'm pretty sure they would be very jealous, and might even hurt it.
I have 2 cats. We got the younger one 3 years ago and the old guy still hates him.
LOL! That is so cute. :o)
Lesson Purpose: To allow the student to gain a MUCH better appreciation of the term... BLOODY STUMP...!!! |
Where do Polydactyls come from?
Polydactyl cats have a long and interesting history. For many centuries they have roamed South Western Britain and there is evidence of Polydactyl cats in countries as far a-field as Norway, although reports in Europe are few and far between, due mostly to the perceived link between cats and witchcraft.
Polydactyly is an allowable trait in The Pixiebob Breed, which is classified as a Natural Breed, and which competes in Championship in TICA, The International Cat Association. (USA)
It was also a dominant trait in many of the early Maine Coons, and was considered to be helpful to those cats in navigating the heavy snows of the State of Maine winters! Breeders however, selected for eliminating the trait from that specific breed.
There are various reports of a folklore in Southern England, which claims that when people found cats with extra toes, they offered them to Ships Captains, who apparently considered them to be “lucky cats” and highly suitable for a sea-faring life. They were also considered to be gifted mousers, and because of their extra toes, better able to cope with life on moving decks.
Substantial populations of the cats with this mutation were noted in and around the Boston area, where they were commonly referred to as “Boston Thumb Cats”. An article in Cornell University’s “Cat Watch” in 1998 looked at studies done on Polydactyl cats from 1940 to 1970 and tentatively concluded that the trait probably occurred in cats which came from England to the Boston area with the Puritans in the mid 1600’s. These studies looked at the unusually high concentration of Polydactyls in that area, and in other east coast ports with strong shipping links to the British Isles, such as Halifax, and Yarmouth, and in Nova Scotia, where there were also higher concentrations of Polydactyl cats.
Author Ernest Hemingway is also recorded as having been given a polydactyl Maine Coon cat by a sea captain, and this cat it is believed, is the progenitor of the very many polydactyl cats now being cared for by the trust setup for them on the authors home island in the Florida Keys. This apparently led to Polydactyl cats sometimes being referred to as “Hemingway Cats”.
There are currently three independent private registries in the USA with whom the breeders of Polydactyls may register their stock. These cats are most often referred to as the “Native American Polydactyl”.
In truth however, it would be highly conceited to consider them to be solely a native of the United States when their history is more likely to be associated with the many ship cats which traveled with immigrants from England and Europe to the United States and other parts of the world between 1620 and 1900. Even the famous “Mayflower” was a merchant ship before her well known voyage to the USA and in those times she made several trips between England and Norway before being chartered by the Pilgrims.
Well thanks! The only reason why I mentioned it is because we had a “dactyl” cat and when she was in for shots, the vet told us the legend, pretty much as you annotated, that the cats in New England were descendants of Boston Thumb Cats and possibly go back as far as the Mayflower. I liked to believe that that cat had a unique provenance because she sure was special!
Funny, I’ve lived in MA all my life, had cats all that time, 90% of them strays, and have never had a polydactyl cat.
I live rurally and many of the cats literally came in the back door - not as if I chose non-Boston Thumbs.
Thanks for the interesting stuff, Daffynition!!
*shrugs*
There’s lots of VK’s.
Now the tags are automatically closed for you should you forget one.
So we will no longer see blinking, scrolling, italicised and bolded text.
*sniffle*
They also, if memory serves, removed support for Marquee and blink.
For obvious reasons.
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