Catscapades

April 6—tomorrow—is National Siamese Cat Day. If you’re like most long-time cat people, you’ve either had a Siamese cat or knew one well. My grandmother had Siamese cats as I grew up. Hers were the applehead or traditional seal point or classic Siamese. I adopted (rescued) a cat once that had the Siamese markings. In fact Siamese cats were quite popular and you saw a lot of them around, but then they all looked pretty much the same—cream-colored fur with dark brown points. The body style was similar, too.

Today there are many styles of Siamese cats, the applehead, classic, wedge head and they come in a wide variety of colors and shades. I believe the original was called seal point. Now we have variations of the original dark brown points—chocolate, for example. There’s also blue point, lilac point, flame point and tortie point as well as lynx point. I saw a Siamese online that’s known as a tortie-lynx point.

Whatever style Siamese that you love, today is the day to celebrate him or her.

I thought this was a good topic for Cuddly Kitten Day, which is tomorrow.  If there’s one thing a cat person truly loves to do it is to cuddle with a kitten or a cat. for some of us, it’s difficult and sometimes impossible to resist running your hand over a cat’s fur. But sometimes a cat doesn’t want to be petted. How do you know this? The cat might roll over and show her claws, slap your hand, bite you–either warning bites or serious bites, or she’ll just walk away.

Then there are cats with preferences as to how they want to be petted. Does she enjoy light petting, rough petting and ruffling, or would she prefer just gentle head scratches?

Does the cat want to be picked up and stroked or allowed to walk around you rubbing your hand as she strolls past and butting her head against your hand. Some cats adore the luxury of a full-body massage.

It’s been my experience that cats certain do have preferences and they will usually let you know them. Some invite tummy rubs. I had a pregnant female once who adored having her bulging tummy rubbed and petted and scratched, until she had the kittens. Then that tummy became off limits.

Cats will sometimes balk at seeing a hand come at them from above. Ever notice that? If you want to pet a cat you don’t know, be alert to her signals. And try to keep your hands where the cat can see them so she knows what to expect. While some cats adore having their head or chin or tummy scratched, others will avoid allowing hands where they can’t see them.

Many cats like being scratched at the base of the tail. Oh, but beware of those paws. It’s a pretty relaxed and trusting cat who will allow her paws to be touched, let alone massaged.

Then there are cat moods. A cat is not always in the mood to be petted, scratched, or massaged and this may depend on who’s doing the petting.

I read the other day that you should ask a baby if it’s okay to change his diaper—not just dive in and do it. Maybe that concept came about because of cats. You sure don’t want to intrude on the privacy of a cat who prefers not to be touched at that moment or who simply doesn’t expect it.

As for kittens, we’re in kitten season, which is generally from March through October, except in California where we often have a longer season because of the warmer weather. So if you yearn to celebrate Cuddly Kitten Day today or any day, visit your local animal shelters and help socialize kittens so they’re more likely to find the best homes with the best humans possible and live a good life.

This is also another good time to advocate for spaying and neutering

I’ve had a lot of cats over the years and some of them have unusual preferences in toys. Lily adored Beany Baby-type small stuffed toys. She especially enjoyed bringing her favorites to me each morning as a gift. She didn’t play with them, but she did decorate the house with them—dropping one here and another one there… You move one and she’d often find that toy and put it back where she had put it.

Max loved those larger white mice toys with a red pompom nose. He’d play with the mouse just long enough to get that pompom off, then that became his toy. His favorite game with that pompom was to kick it under the fridge. Then he’d lie on the floor with me, peering eagerly under the fridge, while I tried to fish it out using a yardstick.

Olivia loved colorful plastic springs as a kitten. She’d fetch them and bring them to me to throw again—a fetching cat. Recently she has taken over a piece from a finger rocket toy—the sponge part. She adores that crazy thing. She also likes wrestling with a plastic water bottle. Her toys are non-toys.

What toys strike your cats’ fancy?