“Tortitude” – The Unique Personality of Tortoiseshell Cats
Tortoiseshell cats are named for their distinctive coloring – a combination of patches of black, brown, amber, red, cinnamon and chocolate. The size of the patches varies from a fine speckled pattern to large areas of color. The term “tortoiseshell” is used for cats with brindled coats that have few or no white markings. Cats of this coloring with larger areas of white fur are called calicos. Sometimes, these colors present in lighter versions such as lilac or cream. Torties with this lighter coloring are called dilute torties. Occasionally, the typical tortoiseshell colors are also seen in a tabby (striped) pattern, and these cats are sometimes referred to as “torbies.”
Tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Tortoiseshell and calico coats are the result of the interaction between genetic and developmental factors. The occasional and very rare male tortoiseshell cat is the result of a genetic mutation.
In addition to their distinctive coloring, torties also have a reputation for unique personalities, sometimes referred to as “tortitude.” They tend to be strong-willed, a bit hot-tempered, and they can be very possessive of their human. Other words used to describe torties are fiercely independent, feisty and unpredictable. They’re usually very talkative and make their presence and needs known with anything from a hiss to a meow to a strong purr. These traits are stronger in tortoiseshell cats than in calicos – it seems as though these traits are somewhat diluted with the addition of more white to the color scheme.
As of the writing of this post, I share my life with Amber*, and those of you who’ve followed this blog for a while have gotten to know her in her Amber’s Mewsings posts. You will soon be able to read all about Buckley in Buckley’s Story – Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher. The photo above shows Buckley in the front, Amber behind her.
Prior to Amber and Buckley, there was another tortie in my life. Virginia was the first office cat at the animal hospital I managed. She was my introduction to torties, and my love affair with this particular type of cat began with her. She, too, had the “tortitude” I so love about these particular cats.
Do you have a tortie or calico in your life? Does she have “tortitude?”
*Sadly, Amber passed away on May 13, 2010, after a sudden, brief illness. I now share my life with Allegra and Ruby, two tortoiseshell cats who have their own columns here on The Conscious Cat, titled Allegra’s World and Ruby’s Reflections.
Photo ©Ingrid King, all rights reserved
Have any of you heard of a man named Navajo Red? I’ve Googled, but I can’t find anything. Maybe if one of you has better investigative tools, you could check him out? He’s some sort of Native American guru on Facebook. I’d love to know who he is in real life. I’d love to get back to my Native roots (I’m half native American, but was raised white), but I’d hate to end up getting spiritual advise from a fake or a quack. I’m such a skeptic, I know, but in this day and age you never know who or what to believe. I mean, what if he’s some white guy hiding behind a picture of Sitting Bull, writing poetry and doling out bad advice?! I need to know this! lol
Lynn, are you hitting the Crystal Head again
lol…nah, just wanting to know if this guy’s legit
Good news with Frankie
I saw Punky in the bedroom crouch down and wiggle his butt then lash his tail. He jumped out when Frankie came into the room. Frankie jumped back then brushed against Pumpkin. My 2 boys are playing. Finally.
And just tonight Frankie jumped onto my lap. Numerous times.
Progress is being made. By the end of the month I expect him to be sleeping in the bed.
Those are good signs of progress, however, if they both start playing like they are small kittens, it could get a bit rowdy
It seems, at least in my limited experience, when comparing neutered house cats, that there is a trend for the “boys” to get along better then the “girls”.
There are exceptions, such as Ingrid’s Allegra and Ruby who seem to get along quite well; especially two torties photographed together in relaxed, peaceful poses, when I saw the first photos, I did think “photoshop”
No photoshopping going on here
. But they do occasionally turn into wild women and “get their tortie on,”chasing each other through the house and wrestling with each other (complete with Ruby’s drama queen screams).
Its great the two of them get along, I am afraid Kasey is more like Steeler and Stirfry.
There is only room for one tortie, here; and everything else in the house of four legs treadeads lightly around the “Warrior Queen” but in her case, I think it is a nurture thing, more than nature.
Monkey’s more like Ruby and Allegra, I think. At first I thought she was a bully, but I’m seeing more and more that Peaches is my problem child, not Monkey. Monkey is fine with Shanks, she was fine with Dixie…of course, they were both kittens. Still, kitten or not, Peaches hated them both. The really telling thing was Olive, coming in as an adult. Monkey didn’t like her, but she wasn’t aggressive toward her, and by the time Olive left, Monkey was starting to show signs that they may have been able to get along in time.
I just have to add that my tortie girls have always more than tolerated each othe and have often been known to curl up together! Add to them my dilute calico Peaches when she was around and they were the tri-color trio who owned my desk!
That’s awesome Jay! As Glen said below, I’ve notice that male cats are generally more mellow and easy to get along with. Come to think of it, same with dogs and horses. I, being female, would ask where humans went wrong, but I’m sure you guys have a very different opinion lol
I still don’t understand females.
I think Punky is thrilled to have a buddy! Soon enough you’ll see an orange-white-gray-black-blur zooming around your house with Stir looking on disapprovingly!
Well, even though I can’t afford it I just ordered the Peacemaker for my babies. Last night was the final straw with Columbia. Rocky wandered into my computer room and Columbia was in there. I was in the livingroom and suddenly heard hisses, spits, growls, banging, etc. Rocky made a mad dash for the kitchen (his turf). My husband came out to see what all was going on and Rocky had a big tuft of his white fur that had been pulled out on his back where apparently it fell after Columbias attack. We checked and he wasn’t bleeding anywhere. A little later I heard her growl and spit again and this time she had an issue with her sister, who she normally gets along with.
My house was a haven if tortitude last night and some of it needs to stop
It IS kind of expensive. But it lasts a really long time. At only 3 to 5 drops each per day, it doesn’t go very fast, plus you don’t have to use it all the time, just until things calm down, then you can stop until the cats let you know it’s time for a refresher course. At least, that’s how it’s been at my place. Just the other day my girls let me know, but I hadn’t used it for about a month. Not sure how long ago I bought them, but it’s been quite a while. I gave the Bully to a friend, so I’ve only been using Peacemaker, and I still have half the bottle left.
Betty, I think you’ll be pleased with how it works. In addition to using Peacemaker, make sure that both Rocky and Columbia get a chance to play and burn off some energy. That way, hopefully, they won’t take the excess energy out on each other.
Will it be just as effective if the only way I can give it to them is on their fur?
They both have full run if the house (well except for Rocky as Columbia pretty much keeps him confined to the kitchen). However he has all his favorite toys in the kitchen and the other babies have running room and toys all over the house.
Betty, yes. That’s how I use the essences with my girls. You can also spray some in the areas where the altercations tend to happen most frequently.
Betty, I use Scaredy Cat on Kelly (yes, a frightened tortie, truly an anomaly) spray it on the palm of one hand, rub my hands together then give her a friendly massage from her head to her tail. She truly enjoys it!
thank you for the advice
The peacemaker arrived yesterday so I will attempt to put some on her today. How long does it take to start working?
Sometimes, you’ll see results right away. It depends on the cat and the situation. In most cases, you’ll see changes within a week.
I am debating as to whether I should put some on my Brad. He is the only one of the four that goes outside during the day. He has an 8:30PM curfew as far as going outside. He can’t go out again until daylight the following day. He is one of my pure black babies and I just don’t want him out in the dark if I can help it. Of course I would prefer he not be out at all but with having to let our lhasa out several times a day he would sneak out anyway. The lhasa is 11 and doesn’t move that fast and Brad gets a running start and leaps over her and out the door.
Anyway, the reason why I am thinking about giving it to him is some nights he has a “tantrum” about not being able to go out. His tantrum consists of finding my Janet cat and biting her backside near her butt. He has been doing it long enough that I was able to narrow down the reason behind it.
I’m weary of giving the peacemaker to him as since he does go out I don’t want to lessen his senses when a stray comes by and decides to corner him or pick a fight.
Opinions??
I don’t think Peacemaker is the right essence for Brad. The “tantrum” is the result of pent up energy and frustration, and the only way he can discharge it is on Janet. Since this is something you can somewhat anticipate, try and distract him when you see him trying to get out (this may also work with keeping him inside). Throw a toy when you open the door to get him away from it. You may also want to think about carrying your dog outside so the door doesn’t have to open as long.
Bernadette had some great suggestions a while back on keeping cats from running outside, maybe she’ll chime in later.
My husband is able to keep him away from the door by raising his somewhat gruff voice at Brad. I can use any tone of voice and Brad just ignores me as he knows his mommy too well. I am the one that feeds him and who he snuggles with, daddy is the discipliner.
As far as lifting the dog, I am unable to do that as she is a 35-40lb. lhasa plus I am not stable enough when standing to open the door and be thrown off by carrying anything. One hand usually has to be on the wall to avoid putting as much weight as possible on one leg.
For some reason, I pictured a really small dog when you said Lhasa, Betty. I couldn’t lift that much weight, either, even without the challenge of trying to keep the weight off one leg! Maybe Bernadette will have some other suggestions.
I saw this days ago and am just getting around to responding!
Betty, if you have the time, make leaving a game. My cats don’t try to get out the door now, but at one time I had seven cats all making a break for it. In order to get anything other than myself in or out the door, like groceries, I had to lock them in the basement.
But in leaving for work every day, I kept a drawer with toys by the door, some catnip, a laser toy and other distractions. I would open the inside door, distract them, then slip out. A handful of noisy, bouncy ping pong balls tossed across the room, the laser toy flashed around the room then off up the steps or into the kitchen so they would chase it, a pinch of catnip tossed as far as I could. Way back when I had a television (this is 20 years ago), I would even set the Cat Sitter video to a particularly noisy spot and turn it on with the remote before I went out the door. As a last resort, I would toss out a few treats or a handful of dry food, even though they’d just eaten.
They actually grew to like this, and over time I don’t know if they just lost interest in darting out the door or simply grew older and slower, but it was down to just one, my clever black cat, and I could keep an eye on him.
I tried the tossing a toy trick and got no reaction from him other than his “I want out now” look. Last night Lucy (the lhasa) wanted out past curfew time and Brad of course was right there ready to make a break for it. When Lucy got to the door just before I opened it I grabbed my mop and put it between myself and Brad and that scared him off to another room long enough for me to let Lucy out then back in again.
I was able to put money down on a Torti cat at the Humane League to get her a forever home
In had looked last week and found one called Teriyaki.
I figured with Stirfry that this was a sign.
But finally today the they let me know I could.
And then I found she found her forever home. Look at the pic below.
http://humaneleague.com/adopt/adoptedpets/
At the bottom :Teriyaki
So I saw they had 3 Torties but 2 were over 8 years old so are free but a 5 year old called Honeysuckle was there. So I put $20 down on her. I hope this helps.
No pics that I could find yet and I forgot my camera at home.
Aww, Teriyaki looks like a sweetie. How nice of you to put money toward her adoption fee. When I first started reading, I thought maybe you had decided to adopt her yourself!
No more for me (now). But in my heart there is always room.
I put money down on Honeysuckle. Hope they put up a sign saying she is a a special cat and “On Special – $20 off”.
And I did talk to a couple in there looking at cats and did have a Tortie. Told them about CC.
She looks awesome! What a great thing to do. When I was working at the rescue it seemed like black cats and torties were the hardest to find homes for.
She’s a beauty Jay! You rock for doing that
Okay, tortie family, you’re probably getting sick of me promoting this show, but make sure you tune in or set your DVR tonight at 8pm Eastern for the season premiere of My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet!
Awww! Torti alert on Pitbulls and Parolees. This couple is trying to adopt a Pitbull, but they’re trying to find one that will ignore their fiesty tortie who is hissing and growling at them. First one was good with the cat, but showed signs of anxiety in public places, Tia decided it wasn’t suitable for adoption. The second dog Tia felt was way too curious about the cat, which could turn into a problem. I’m waiting for the commercials to end to see if #3 works out
Nope, Tia decided #3 was too young and rowdy, and would upset the cat. Enter #4, Maxwell. YAY! Maxwell completely ignored the cat….looks like a good fit as long as they follow Tia’s instructions on making sure he eats and sleeps in his crate for a while. Tia’s so awesome
End of the show update says Buzz (the tortie) and Maxwell, while not yet friends, are sharing the house nicely
Okay, Cats from Hell now….later!
“while not yet friends, are sharing the house nicely”.
That really good progress for a Tortie.
Aww, my cat from hell was awesomr And now my other fave, The Pit Boss. Today is a good Animal Planet day for me
I madly love Sebastion
Wasn’t it great? And I was happy that my Ruby was sleeping peacefully on the cable box while Jackson helped the Ruby in the second segment! The cases on the show always make your own behavioral challenges look much more manageable, don’t they? Not that my Ruby has any issues
lol…nah, our cats are always perfect
Ummm, well, except for Shanks not being “easy to train”
And, well, Peaches being so evil that my friends bring crosses and holy water when they visit….
And, well, Monkey, my chub-muffin randomely (though she NEVER meows) sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor emphatically meowing “Meow! MeOW! MEOOOOOOOOOOW!” so I really thought something was wrong, but I opened the shower curtain, shampoo drlipping in my eyes and all, and she was just sitting in the middle of the room talking to herself
I learned something for the Cat from hell show last night. I am beginning to wonder why my Tortie is hiding under the bed all day long. I wonder if getting a Cat tree so she can get…up in the air and off the floor might help her feel more comfortable. That said my wife has no problem coaxing the cat out from under the bed. Yet when I try there is no response form the cat.
I’ll try putting up something that she can climb up on as I have very high ceilings in my house. I’ll let you know if it works at all.
A cat tree is a must for cats. It’s especially important in multi-cat households. Even if you don’t have room for a cat tree, creating some sort of vertical space (like they did with the little cat shelves in the segment with Ruby) usually makes a big difference. Let us know how it works out!
I want to put climbing shelves EVERYWHERE! Mine can already climb the mattress and get on the wall, but only Monkey and Peaches, and only one at a time since they hate each other. I have a big wide hallway that serves no purpose….I’m going to put up a bunch of climbing and jumping shelves
I just read a website that used Ikea shelving brackets and shelves to make a cat perch out of instead of using a tree thingy. Google IKea cat shelves, cause I forgot which website I was on…
If you make your own shelves, make sure you either carpet them, or glue some sort of mat/carpeting on the top of the shelf so your cats have some traction when they jump from shelf to shelf.
Paul, all I saw of my Kelly was two round, frightened glowing eyes under a table for months. She came in with another cat (who hated my guts, that’s another story), but she was always timid. They were in my spare cat room, which was my studio. My tactic with any new cat was to keep them in there for a period of time, often a month if I didn’t know their health history, and go in there to quietly work on something so they’d get used to my presence and be able to study and smell me without the threat of any interaction.
Especially with frightened kittens but even with adults, I sat on the floor to work.
The closed door seemed to help since the space was contained. It took some time with many of them.
But even with my Kelly now, 15 years later, I still have to provide a high spot since being on the floor seems to make them feel more vulnerable.
Hey tortie family, today is a very exciting day for me. I just received the March issue of Cat Fancy magazine in the mail – with my article “The Low Stress Zone” in it! My first Cat Fancy feature!
Congratulations, Ingrid!
Grats Ingrid! You so totally deserve it!
Nice. We just subscribed to Cat fancy but it said it would take 4-6 weeks to get here.
Ingrid, I could not think of a nicer gift to you for the New Year. Congratulations. Well deserved.
Thank you so much, everyone!
Way to go Ingrid. My brother gets it and I will tell him. When can we get it autographed ?
Coming to Pittsburgh soon ?
I love my Annabelle, my dilute tortie. She’s my first cat, and I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I’ve had her about six months, and I adore her. I also adore her “baby brother”, a buff tabby named Niko. <3
I’m sure the last six months have been a real education for you, Kathryn
Annabelle is such a pretty name.
Aww, I bet she’s beautiful
lol…Monkey has a new habit. None of my cats are ever vocal. But Monkey’s new thing is to sit in the bathroom and meow plaintively, as if there is really something wrong, as soon as I shut the shower curtain. WT???? lol Monkey never talks. NONE of my cats ever talk! lol
My wife thinks I am crazy when I “talk” to my cat. If I make a meow sound, he meows right back. We can do this for hours. Drives my wife nuts…..
Hey honey……Meow!
lol Paul, I do that too. On the rare occasion one of my cats meow, I always answer them conversationally; “Meow” “Pretty good, how are you?” “Meow” “No way! She really did that?” “Meow”
Lynn, she’s playing with your head.
lol….She always plays with my head. I guess I wouldn’t have it any other way. I finally broke down and ordered a new check card Thursday as SOMEONE in my apartment (lessee, Only Me, Monkey, Peaches and Shanks were here at the time of the crime, who could it have been?) made off with it and I hadn’t seen it in over two weeks. So, Thursday when I came home from work, it was laying in the middle of my living room floor. Yeah, she’s messing with my head lol
Well no progress on getting my little Eve to like me again. She stills stays under the bed when I am home. I went to look under the bed this morning to see if she was under the there, and when I picked up the bed skirt to look she hissed and took a swipe at my hand. Talk about Tortie Catitude I wasn’t happy, so I chased her out and then shut the bedroom door so she could not get back under the bed. I then went to work. When I came home she was in her little kitty condo thing and would not even look at me as I walked by. I tried playing with her with the little stick and a feathery thing on a string thingy, but no good. I did measure the walls for some cat steps and a perch for her to go to. I’ll try to build that this weekend. Bad timing as my wife and I are going to the Sundance film festival for a week in Utah and have to board the cats while we are gone. If things don’t get better with Eve I don’t know what to do next.
I am now officially depressed.
I know it’s frustrating, and can be very slow going, to get a cat to trust you, but don’t give up, Paul. It’s hard not to take it personally, but what you’re seeing is not directed at you. I’m pretty sure that Eve is working through something that happened in her past. I wouldn’t chase her out the next time she hides under the bed – she’s only going to associate that with “bad” things happening as a result of her interaction with you. Right now, under the bed is her safe space. Keep up the playing with the interactive toys. When she does engage, reward her with praise and treats. If she doesn’t feel like playing, try again a little later.
I am concerned about you boarding the two of them for a week, because Eve is just getting used to her space, and I worry that that’s going to set things back. Do you have the option of having a pet sitter come to your house a couple of times a day instead?
But what I don’t understand is that when we brought her home she would come and sit next to me and me only. She loved to get petted by me and would jump up onto my lap if I were sitting on the couch. She also would sit on the back of the couch by the window right behind my head. Ever since we put the kitty condo upstairs she would then go and sit on the top of the kitty condo. Now this has changed to being under the bed. We tried closing the bedroom door so that she would not go under there and now she is back to the kitty condo but huddling in the lower hole of the condo. so I am just wondering what changed, because now she ill run right up to my wife and as long as my wife is sitting on the couch she will come and sit with her. If my wife gets up…off Eve runs and does not want anything to do with me.
Oh and yes we are also looking at a cat sitter but because we are in the middle of nowhere here in NH it is more pricey than to board in the next town over.
Paul, It may feel stupid, but sing to her. Even if you can’t sing. Anything soft and repetative, even if it’s not sung well….I can’t sing to save my life, but I do well enough that I’ve tamed several feral cats by sitting near their food bowl and singing softly while they ate.The best things
that have worked for me were Patsy Cline “Walking after Midnight” and Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive” But anything mellow with repetative sounds shoulld work. It may take a while, days or weeks, but if you just sit in the room and sing, but don’t approach her, she WILL come to you
How about the “Stray Cat Strut” song
? Seriously, though, that’s good advice. Singing to her softly, or talking to her in a soft voice, can work wonders.
This is definitely one of these situations where we all wish cats could speak human language. In Eve’s mind, her actions and reactions make perfect sense.
For me it’s always been “You Are My Sunshine”.
lol Ingrid, I love Stray Cat Strut…one of my all time favorites! Never tried it on an actual stray cat, though.
Bernadette, I can definitely see where that would be a good one too. Probably not for me, though, I have some higher register issues that might scare them off, so I tend to pick stuff that stays in the lower range lol
BTW, Ingrid…have you ever thought about Stray Cat Strut in a technical way? He’s supposed to be a real lady’s man, yet he’s black and orange, meaning he’s most likely sterile….just one of those things that make you go hmmmm, lol
She’s definitely working through something in her past, the only thing you can do is try to gain her trust. I’d agree with Ingrid that boarding would not be the best thing to do at this point… I wish I lived nearby
Well thanks again for the replies. Yes, we were able to find a very nice woman up the street from us that is going to take care of the cats for the week that we are gone. Wheeeew!
She can only come once a day, but she will feed, clean the litter boxes, and add water to the automatic water thingy I bought.
We did add a second litter box upstairs for EVE so that she does not have to do battle with the Male, (Jumper) when she attempts to use the downstairs box.
I started on the perch for her and it is looking good. My wife told me that once I left for work she (Eve) came out and inspected how my construction was going so far.
I did have a minor breakthrough last night. Eve did wake me up at about 5 am with a little nudge and a soft bite to my hand to get a little chin scratching. I’ll take what I can get. Maybe time WILL be my friend…..
Paul, that’s big! The fact that she’s comfortable with you when you’re (almost) sleeping tells me that she’s trying to overcome whatever keeps her from being comfortable around you at all times. I have no doubt that you will be friends. I’m chuckling about the fact that she waited for you to leave before she checked out your shelf construction. Maybe that’s what the early morning soft bite wa for: a sign of her approval!
And I’m happy to hear you found someone to come to your house to take care of both cats.
“Eve did wake me up at about 5 am with a little nudge and a soft bite to my hand to get a little chin scratching.”
Kasey bites my fingers, too.
Not hard as to hurt or break the skin, just nips lightly.
It’s awesome that you found someone to come over instead of boarding, Paul, and also true what Ingrid says. I’m sure she smells you all over those boards and was giving you a little “thank you bite” All cat bites aren’t bad. When Monkey bites, (she bites me ALL THE TIME!) it’s always gentle, and seems to mean “quit typing and pet me”. When Peaches bites me it’s quick and vicious like a snake and it obviously means “I’m done being petted, and if you touch me again I’m ripping out your jugular, SO BACK UP OFF ME!!!!” lol
Ingrid, do you think that the Scaredy Cat essence that Bernadette mentioned would help with Paul’s issue?
I would actually go with Safe Space for Cats for Eve. It sounds to me that her behavior is caused less by fear than by some sort of boundary issue. For some reason that only makes sense to her, she feels uncomfortable whenever Paul gets too close.
No, Kelly is the scaredy cat with other cats but not with me.
Actually, it’s only that there are four cats together, individually and face to face she’s actually fine with them. But she came to me as a timid kitty years ago.
Shanks is growing into the wierdest looking cat, his fur is glossy, jet black, silky and beautiful, but it’s short everywhere except for the ruff around his neck and his big fluffy tail. Plus he has a tiny face and HUGE brown eyes. He looks like a tiny black lion except for his long fluffy tail
Peaches has more of a mini tiger build, big boned, big paws, big head, she’s a big girl, not fat, just big
Monkey has more of siamese type build, with the tiny paws and the little triangle shaped head, if you guys had seen her before she was plump…………………
Alllegra has an oriental build, too, she’s tall and lanky. Ruby is more like the little teapot in the childrens’ rhyme: short and stout!
That’s funny, Ingrid, it’s what I’ve always said about my tortie girls–Kelly the long, lithe girl and Cookie, my little round girl.
Well, I have Monkey, the long lithe girl gone to chub, Peaches, the big boned farm girl gone slim, and my tiny black lion, Shanks.
So wierd though, how a cat can be both long and short haired. In my experience they are long, medium or short haired. I’ve never seen one be both short AND long. Then again, although I’ve seen very few online, I’ve never personally seen a brown-eyed cat either. The Shankster must have a pretty messed up gene pool lol
Lynn, Angora-style cats don’t grow into their full coat until they are at least one year old, and when they are kittens and juveniles are just like that, a nice ruff and tail, sometimes really deluxe ear hair and even toe hair, but their body is sometimes just like short hair, but usually a little fluffier or thicker. They also tend to shed out a lot of the long body hair in warmer weather as adults, but still maintain somewhat of a ruff, always a lovely tail.
Lynn – black Turkish Angora: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=black+angora+cat&view=detail&id=57063AD9BD60DE514E2176A7C2F77C90520A1E05&first=0
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Turkish+Angora+Cat&view=detail&id=1BCF66DDD7482C77ECA46BE9666DCAC0792B1F84&first=31&FORM=IDFRIR
This one looks exactly like Shanks except for the brown eyes
Welll, not EXACTLY. his body hair is shorter, but he looks pretty close to that. I actually did find out where he came from. His mother was the adult cat I rescued, now named Olive, who’s people abandoned her, she’s a short -haired tuxie. I’d love to know who the daddy was (so I could catch and neuter him) lol
Actually more like this, except black, because his tail is puffy like this rather than flowy like the black one
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Turkish+Angora+Cat&view=detail&id=D2DB1E20876296DF15D90B51FCD4A06ABA1C3A79&first=61&FORM=IDFRIR
Ah geez, forgot the link lol
Bernadette and Harry…so cool, every pic of a Turkish Angora I see looks exactly like Shanks except for fur and eye color and even his eyes are probably dark amber…the ears, the body shape, the shape of the head, the positioning and shape of the eyes, the texture and gloss of the fur…toe fur, everything! He’s not one, obviousely as I know his mother, she’s Olive, the abandoned one who is living with Sarah now. But he must have a Turkish Angora in his gene pool that came out really strong in him.
I know that’s not very uncommon.
When I was a kid my parents bought a purebred German shepherd, they saw both parents, and he ended up being some crazy looking long-haired muttley thing lol
Lynn, I took in a momcat who was white with black tabby spots just wherever, and she gave birth to the two most beautiful kittens who looked like short-haired Birmans, except for the short hair, they had the exact markings in the breed books. Genetics are amazing.
lol Bernadette, crazy how genetics work. Probably SHanks Had a quadruple removed great great great great grandfather who was a Turkish angora once removed, and he just randomely got the gene lol….because I swear, head shape, eye shape, body shape, fur texture, EVERYTHING looks EXACTLY like these purebred cats, and I know for a fact he isn’t one lol
Lynn, I was owned by a white angora kitty for 15 years, and they will always be special to me, that’s the only reason I know about them. Sally was a real free spirit. She would have been a real metal kitty.
For most of their time as a breed and even before, they were only white, in part because it is said they came from one isolated monastery, perhaps even descended from the same pair of cats. But they were also interbred with Persians to soften the Persian’s coat, which tends to matt easily, and then the breed organizations began accepting other colors, beginning with black, so the Angoras other than white have a lot of genetics behind them, so more chances for the characteristics to show up.
Country people call that a throwback
Bernadette, there is a Huge difference in their coats. Peaches has really long straight hair, and very little undercoat, just a DLH, Monkey has long hair with a woolier texture, maybe a little persian type, Shanks’ fur is MUCH softer and shinier than either
I had never even heard of a Turkish Angora, until LDCRF took Pearl out of the shelter. She was found wandering the streets of a town about an hour south of here, sick and hungry. After we foster failed with her, and took her to our vet, the receptionist took one look at her and said “well, we have a Turkish Angora thing going on here, don’t we?” The Angora is a natural breed, just like the Maine Coon, so there are a lot of those genetics out there in the general alley cat pool, and a lot of cats that show those breed characteristics. Pearl’s personality is dissimilar to any cat I’ve had before or since, and very much like what they say in the breed standard, to th extent those standards are observations more than wishes. Anyway, it wouldn’t surprise me if Shanks has some in him. Does he like water?
lol…just my luck, I’m an animal lover who is allergic to animals, and I WOULD end up with three long-haired cats lol
It’s not the fur… when I’m not in the office at 9:30, I’ll explain in more detail. Or maybe Ingrid, if she hasn’t retired for the night, will jump in.
Harry, he seems fascinated by water, when I turn the shower on he ALWAYS walks in, but runs back out immediately. I read that they’re very hard-headed, and Shanks is DEFINITELY THAT! lol Maybe what I’ve been seeing as “not very bright” is actuallly hard-headedness. And in my googling, I’ve also found that when they’re young they can be really clumsey, something about their body length and tail length not balancing. So….maybe everything wierd and wrong about Poor Shanks can be explained away by genetics lol
I know, it’s pet dander, not actually fur. But still, how did I end up with not one, not two, but THREE long-haired cats!? lol
Sally often got in the shower with me.
Paid no attention to me. Of course, she was also deaf, but I often wondered if that was selective.
Yup, water is another Angora thing. Pearl plays with the stream from the sink, and gets soaked – doesn’t mind. It’s not the dander, either – it’s a protein in, among other things, the saliva, though the fur and dander are carriers for the protein. The more a cat grooms, the more saliva it produces. So, the more you comb, the less they groom… the less you’re allergic.
Peaches music…anybody’s music, Bon Jovi Dead or alive http://youtu.be/SRvCvsRp5ho
I was wondering how common torties are.
Has anyone ever seen any rough numbers or percentages of torties in the general cat population.
(I am sure it would be a tough thing to determine)
It was about 1992 when we began vacationing regularly in Cape May, NJ – Cape May is the southernmost tip of New Jersey, with the Delaware Bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other – it’s actually an island. At the time, they had a considerable population of feral cats – nearly everywhere you looked. At that point, I had never seen a tortie before, and I was surprised that the majority of cats in Cape May were torties or dilute torties. We called them “Cape May kitties” until we learned what the coloration was called. (20 years later, the feral population is well-controlled, and the last few ferals we saw were not tortiseshells.) I guess what was going on was a lot of in-breeding, and that made the tortie pattern more common than usual. If I had to guess – that’s all it could be – based on what I see in rescue, I’d say maybe 10% of cats are tortie or dilute tortie or calico. But that’s just a wild guess.
My guess is that they’re pretty rare as well. In my twelve years of working in veterinary hospitals, torties were definitely the least common cat – even less common than calicos. I think Harry’s 10% guess is probably pretty accurate.
Thanks, I was wondering about that.
I first noticed them when I saw Kasey for the first time at the compressor facility, years ago.
At the time, I thought she was quite unusually marked, compared to what I was used to seeing.
Little did I know at the time, she would be coming home with me one day.
We had someone come in to an adoption event and specifically ask for a tortie. Dad and I were like…”Uhhh you don’t mean like a calico or something?”
lol, right? Because most people have no idea what a tortie is….I just had to explain it to the lady at the bank the other day. I was ordering a new bank card, she asked if it was stolen, and I said; “Well that depends. I know no PERSON has it, but I’m pretty sure my Tortie stole it, because she’s horrible like that” She laughed and asked “what’s a tortie?”
Turned out, the guy knew of what he spoke. He’d had torties before, and couldn’t imagine having anything else
Of course, we didn’t have a single one at that moment. I just looked at the next transport coming Wednesday from WVa. and it’s tortie-heavy…
A tortie-heavy transport – has the ring of a movie title to it!
Metal of the day;
Peaches Music….this means it’s safe for all but the BIGGEST rock and roll haters…
http://youtu.be/a_EIufhjHsE
Seriously! Who doesn’t love the Catman? Although, I confess to being a huge fan of the Starchild.
LOL Ingrid….for real…..And now a Kiss song from the Monkey music (AKA the dark side, although this IS fairly mellow by Monkey Music standards….) music library
http://youtu.be/SYjlisHj6EM
That barely qualifies as Monkey music – way too mellow!
True dat, I was trying to give you guys a break! lol
Okay. THIS IS Monkey music FOR REAL!!!! lol
(disclaimer; people who are not into SERIOUS METAL AND/OR SCREAMER CHICKS DO NOT CLICK THIS! Me and Ingrid will not be held responsible for any trauma of either the mental or physical type caused by listening to this link)
Good enough?
http://youtu.be/CFofmenanm8
That’s too much even for me.
I madlly LOVE Allyssa White Gluz (the lead singer of the Agonist)But I am sad she Is so young and impressionable, she’s a PETA supporter, but she doesn’t know any better. She drank the kool-aid, and she thinks she’s doing a good thing. I guess she IS doing a good thing if you[‘re a lab monkey, a lab rat or a chicken. But does she care that there are millions of dogs and cats all over the world who will soon be euthanised?
lol…I was always a Gene Simmons fan, but I suppose everyone here already guessed that lol
Paul was the lover
Ace was the Sci fii dude
Peter was the cat man
Gene was the psychotic demon with the awesome shoes lol http://youtu.be/SYjlisHj6EM
Oops, wrong link…I was trying to show those awesome boots, lemme try again lol http://www.ebay.com/itm/KISS-GENE-SIMMONS-DESTROYER-COSTUME-BOOTS-size-10-11-/300470017292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f5689d0c#ht_1463wt_952
I’m sure they look much better on stage, but I would TOATALLY wear them to work just to make people go “hmmm” lol
My workmates already think I’m a little crazy (but they generally like me anyway) because I listen to metal, dress in black and wear rock t-shirts all the time, have six ear piercings and a tat and wear “Gothic Hooker red” lipstic
They look pretty much like that on stage. I saw them from my second row seat the last time KISS came through here…
BTW…”Gothic Hooker Red” is a deep dark blood red like Avon’s “Black cherry” which I wear now
Ingrid, seeing Kiss Live is on my bucket list…but as they get older, It’s looking more and more like it’s not gonna happen
Nah, they’ll still be performing when they’re in their 70′s…LOL… You have a few more years!
Update on Frankie
I haven’t been on lately. Been busy.
In the last week Frankie has caught and killed 2 mice (Punky was upset as these are his buddies) but Pumpkin and Frankie have been chasing each other and one will hide and pounce on the other.
Stir has chase him and told him wh the Boss is. But he sometimes ignores her hisses. (Big mistake I found out)
Bernie was down over the weekend and we went to the Pa Farm Show in Harrisburg. Not just animals and tractors she found out. My favorite was the wine tasting.
After a few drinks she saw a cop who was drinking coffee and asked him if he had a Donut to go with that.
Tortie owners are VERY unpredictable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway – we had a good time.
I’m so happy to hear that you and Bernie had a nice time at the farm show.
Berta was like that – you could dress her up… but you couldn’t take her anywhere
At least she didn’t buy a tractor, and try to drive it home on the PA Turnpike. Tell me she didn’t do that.
I am considering that Tractor.
It just occurred to me that I am possibly the most bizzarre-accident prone person in the world. I thought I’d share the laughs with you guys….don’t worry about offending me, in a lifetime, you learn to see the humor. I just thought all you guys could get a laugh out of my lifetime of woes…I’m sure y’all will remember me posting a few of these when they happened
I went to the grocery store today after work and bought only bacon, butter, and a fifth of CC, so they were already looking at me funny, then on my way out, I wasn’t paying attention. I was apparently pushing the cart faster than the auto-doors were opening, and I crashed into them and knocked them off the track…they both swung open…I was so embarrassed, all I could do was laugh…so then everyone in the front of the store was REALLY gaping at me…then a bag boy came charging over and started trying to wrestle them back into place…all I could do was gasp…OMG I’m SO sorry! I guess I didn’t come here to shop, I came to tear the place up!” between nervous giggles,and get the hell out as fast as possible
My all time greatest moment was back in the day when I was younger, slimmer, and had the cutest ghetto-booty…I was walking past a laundromat, glanced in, and there were two nice looking guys in there, so I grinned at them, threw my hair back and put on my sexiest strut. And yeah….there was one of those low, below the waist dividers between the in and out doos. I strutted right into it and endoed. When I got up they were both staring at me in open mouthed shock…I almost peed myself laughing
Then there was the time I got stuck in the snow….WALKING!
And the time I got bitten by a mole
Oh yeah! And there was the time I got bitten by about 30 baby boa constrictors, jerked my hand out of the tank and had at least 10 or 12 of them still hanging from it….
I once walked a few country blocks with a live snapping turtle attached to my shirt sleeve
I mean, seriously, who has ever dropped a case of beer on their foot and broken it (not the beer, my foot!) Me. WHo has ever lived in an apartment building and found a random hamster in their bathtub, and didn’t own any hamsters? Me. Who has ever opened their shower curtain (same apartment) and found a sparrow? me. . I will never again have a pet door in any house because I once had a possum come in and hibernate behind my packed away winter clothes
I’m just one of those people that bizzarre things happen to. Maybe bad Karma from another life. I have NO clue lol….but these things have been happening my whole life. WHen I was a teenager I hit a speeding car. No, It didn’t hit me, I hit IT! WALKING! Seriously, if all that Karma stuff is true I must have been HORRIBLE in my past life….like, Hitler horrible. But I’m used to it. I’ve learned to laugh at myself, and generally the shocked look on people’s faces (because it almost ALWAYS happens in front of people) is hilarious
Lynn, I think you lost Bernie when you mentionioned those Boas.
She does not like anything Snake related from worms on up.
But I loved the mental pics of all those things.
Covered in Cat Hair
Dr Larry says to stay the course and continue the antibiotics. Meanwhile, the DOOD is still not eating much. I’m going to weigh him tomorrow. He looks thinner.
This isn’t our male torti “DOOD”, is it?
Nope! that is Robin’s foster (failure!) cat!
You have all heard the saying “Speed Kills”
Well tonight going home “Speed saves lives”. As I passed a farm going 65 on a 45 road I saw a blur come towards my car and a Woof. By the time he got to my car I was passed him. Any slower and the dog would have hit the side of my car or I would have run him over, I am always watching for cats and other critters but this is the 1st time I saw a dog after midnight.
Awww, my little Shankster is all grown up! He finally made it onto the wall this morning for the first time! Of course, I had to rescue him from the closet twice (The closet is open on top too, and if they don’t hit the wall just right….well, there’s a high shelf, plus clothing I never wear to break the fall, so they won’t get hurt….) but he made it! And now I officially have a peeping Tom…he strutted around up there like a proud peacock the whole time I was in the bathroom getting ready for work this morning
Awww,I bet he was so proud of himself!
Yes…it’s like he’s developed more confidence overnight! His original name was Flash, and I probably should have kept it because he’s SO quick. But he used ro be really shy too, and yesterday’s wall run seems to have REALLY boosted hid\s confifence. He’s nowhere as squirrely as he was lol
Well now, the little one has a sense of himself. Um peeping tom character. Love it.
lol, he won’t be a peeping Tom for much longer, he’s getting fixed the second I do my taxes. Not when get the money back, but the second I know how much I’m getting back
Awe you are going to take his fun away from him, but then maybe not. Peeping Tom is a character issue and I think Shanks is a real character.
Ok Tortie family.
I am feeling like I miss you folks too much. So Steeler just clawed me and ordered me to get back here. So I will be popping in as I can.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all your love and support during the past few months. There are to many name, but each of you know who you are and I have read every post put up here. This is truly a family, not just of Torties, but of true friends.
Enough of that now. Will be entertaining you all with tales from the Steeler Queendom soon.:)
Bernie, I’m glad you’re back! When I was posting on The Creative Cat tonight and featuring photos “from a year ago” I found that I had also posted an article about Steeler being so famous on Channel 4′s website on January 20! What a happy memory. Even though the Steelers are done for this season, I think she still wants the attention. Watch out!
Bernadette I feel good about posting tonight. Steeler has been demanding attention from everyone and anyone these days. I think she probably called Cookie or Kelly and planted a seed for them to get that into your mind. I thank you. It’s time to be here. Thanks
Whadda ya mean, “done for this season”? Don’t tell that to the cat, or she’ll shift from chair legs to Bernie legs.
Yea Harry you go. You are so right. Done for the season, never. Steeler has no seasons end. She is a year round terror.
So good to see you back here, Bernie! I knew Steeler would eventually reign supreme and get you back here. The Power of the Tortie!
I have to admit Steeler has been at me so much lately I needed to get back here just to keep her at arms length. Talk about demanding me to pay attention to her. Geez she has found new ways to get me moving.
Great to see you again Berns, you’ve been sorely missed!
My Wild Child I have been following all your little ones antics (your’s too)). You do just fine without me. Love the expressive way you tell the stories. Can visualize seeing the goings on in the house. The Crystal Skull, I do believe played a role
somewhere along the way.
“So Steeler just clawed me and ordered me to get back here. So I will be popping in as I can.”
Kasey sends her greetings!
Those two share similar markings and temperament, like sisters from different litters.
But I doubt a meeting would go well
Glen, Steeler has been marking me like Kasey marks you. Just enough to make you sit up and take notice, but not enough to draw blood.
They do seem to have that quiet temperament with the the “I will get back at you later” approach.
Torties seem to have a long memory.
I can assure the meeting would be a bad day. We once tried a play date with another Tortie a couple of years ago. Never again.
Give Kasey some extra scratches from us.
The notion of “tortitude” makes me chuckle. I wrote a novel in which a tortoiseshell cat is one of the main characters – FIFTH LIFE OF THE CATWOMAN – and the cat in the story is definitely full of the same tortitude I’ve seen in my three tortoiseshells over the years. I had no idea others have had the same experience with them!
The book is currently out of print but easy to find on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Life-Woman-Kathleen-Dexter/dp/0425186180/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327189826&sr=8-1
Kathleen, welcome to The Conscious Cat! I’m definitely going to add this to my list of must read books. Any plans of reprinting?
My agent is shopping the book around for a new publisher, but if she doesn’t find a home for it, I’ll reprint it myself.
If it gets republished/reprinted, please keep me in mind – I’d love to review it and help you spread the word.
Thank you – I appreciate the offer. The book suffered from a lack of attention when it was first released – Penguin bought it on the day before the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. To put it mildly, both the publishing house and the world were somewhat distracted, and Penguin’s publicity efforts were nil. The book managed to garner a very passionate word-of-mouth audience, but not a large enough audience for Penguin to keep it in print. Perhaps the next publishing house will take it more seriously.
And yes, it was written under the very wise counsel of my tortoiseshell of that time, the immortal Lily Putian. I still miss her.
Welcome Kathleen,
The notion of “tortitude” makes me chuckle” -you haven’t seen Stirfry yet have you
I will definately get you book.
Oh sweet, I’ll have to buy that!
Ah darn, I tried to order it, but MY Tortie, Monkey, (I’m almost positive) stole my check card, I hadn’t seen it for a month, I finally ordered a new one. The same day I ordered it, I found the old one lying in the middle of the living room floor, of course. But anyway, I couldn’t find a pay pal link, so I guess I have to wait until I get my card. You should look into Pay Pal though, it’s guaranteed plus there’s a safety net
Kathleen, wanted to make sure you saw this tortie video….lol http://youtu.be/8e4VQ7yN6DA
That’s too much!
A Tortie
Cat Waltzes Up Stairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY87P-rDHus&feature=colike
Now that is one really smart and Tortie, with all the right moves.
LOL That’s cute!…
Can’t beat the original and all time metal tortie tough…..Let us not forget;
http://youtu.be/8e4VQ7yN6DA
LMAO
LOL….torties are just wierd, huh? lol
My wild child, that is an understatement. I hope Kathleen gets to see a picture of Stirfry. That is what real Tortitude is. Stir is in a class all by herself.
I am right now getting clawed by a Tortie. Steeler is pulling at my shirt to get my attention. Yep, it works.. Her claws are getting thru.
Well, I have to say that I have the world’s two nicest tortie girls. I just gave them both baths, and I’ve been treating Cookie with B12 injections, liquid vitamins, various medications and subcutaneous fluids and I don’t have a scratch on me. After the last outbreak of fleas in the warm weather it’s what’s been bringing Cookie down and Kelly is sensitive to them too. I put Scaredy Cat essence in Kelly’s bathwater and gave them both soothing treats afterward. They are nice and toasty warm and licking each other in addition to themselves.
Poor Kelly is pretty freaked out by Cookie’s illness and my stress as well. She’s so timid, and I’m sure she thinks the world is ending.
Bernadette, I am truly sorry to hear that Cookie is still very ill. Kelly and Cookie are two Torties that show affection for each other like no others. The black set are gorgeous too.
I can imagine all the stress you are feeling for your little ones. They are your babies. I wish I had an answer or a remedy to make Cookie better. I would surely give it to you. I can send you my prayers for all of you.
I could not bathe Steeler if she were covered in motor oil. I’d get clawed just thinking about that one.
I hope Cookie’s health improves, its a big concern when they are not well.
” I could not bathe Steeler if she were covered in motor oil. I’d get clawed just thinking about that one.”
It took about a year before I could trim Kasey’s claws on all four feet, in one sitting.
Glen you have really made progress with Kasey> “It took about a year before I could trim Kasey’s claws on all four feet”. I have had Steeler almost 2 1/2 years and still can’t trim one foot.
She is downright big cat mean when I try. I give enough blood with her as it is. I don’t want to add to my donations. Her claws do fall off frequently. So I don’t get to concerned about the tips. She needs her sharp claws to crawl up the bedspread to get onto the bed. That is the only way for her to get higher.
She and Kasey would probably have a horrific tales to tell if they could speak and tell us what they have been thru. Now they are so loved and protected, they will never have to fear anything again. We on the other hand, have to stay on guard.
I am sure they could tell some tales, in my case, I have a pretty good idea of what she went through because I am familiar with her previous location and the individuals involved.
There’s just something in her temperament that allowed me to “tame” her about claw clipping. I don’t know why she is good about it now, but Taz thanks me
Something in Kasey’s earlier life left her unable to jump, too. She can hop just over 1 foot, so I have a small trunk for her half the height of the bed, she hop up on the trunk, then on the bed. She always jumps from the bed to the trunk, to the floor; I assume a jump directly to the floor hurts too much. It took her no time at all to learn to use the trunk as a step, she is pretty smart.
“Pretty smart?” I think Kasey just might take offense at that. I’m sure she thinks she’s brilliant
Yeah, Kasey is quite smart, she demonstrates it in many ways.
She also has a wide range of human words she understands and responds to.
Hey, “Pretty Smart”, I hope Kasey doesn’t understand those human words. Steeler doesn’t hop at all. She does like to climb up the spread. I had ramps for her to come up and down and eventually she started climbing again, so I just let her do it her way.
I know Steeler responds to many human words. As far as Torties and smart go, I do believe with all they can survive and get away with, they are definite Mensa candidates.
Steeler now longer bites me, although she will claw me in a heartbeat. The odd thing is she does this to get attention, to get me off the phone and if someone is visiting, she claws the chair I am on. So I believe her claws are getting rounded off, although less than the oak chair legs.
Steeler can tell the difference between a $100 chair and a $4000 dresser. That’s pretty smart. She knows what will get your attention faster. Who needs a $10 scratching pad
” Steeler doesn’t hop at all. She does like to climb up the spread. I had ramps for her to come up and down and eventually she started climbing again, so I just let her do it her way.”
They are certainly individuals when it comes to behaviour and preferences.
I built a carpet covered climbing post that goes up to a shelf in front of a basement window.
I realized Taz and Morgan can climb up there (Kasey can’t) but then they would have to jump 5 feet to the basement floor to get down – not good.
I built a ramp for them to get down and put am old card table as an alternative, they could split the jump down in two; from the shelf to the table, table to floor.
Taz uses the table, Morgan uses the ramp. I have NEVER seen one use the other’s choice for getting down from there.
You are so right about Kasey and Steeler being “individualists”. Steeler goes up the staircase and into one of the bedrooms. She found a bedroom chaise she can crawl up onto then she steps on the hot water radiator (turned off now), then she can step right on the window sill to look out over the land. The windowsills are very deep, as the home is over 200 years old. So she not has a couple of spots to crawl up on to see outside. Each are upstairs. But that does give her more exercise to go and down the stairs. She and Kasey find their own way in their world. Stirfry does the same. I have watched her sit on a chair for hours, then run like a lightning bolt. She also strikes the same way. So Torties will always find a way to prevail, despite any hardships they face.
Jay is right about Steeler’s choice of furniture. For a slow response from me she heads for the oak chair legs. When she is really miffed she has started going after an antique double stack victorian marble tall dresser. At the point, she gets my full and undivided attention while I am in mid air to get her away from that piece of furniture. They sure know their stuff.
My girlfriend suggested I train Steeler not to go after the furniture. Everyone laugh. I did. I explained I don’t teach Steeler a whole lot. She has a mind of her own and she knows what to do with it. She is definitely not a good student.
Not sure how Cookie will end up, but I’ve seen this resolve and I have a few more things to offer her.
My Sally was my wild child, that pure white Angora who ripped my shirt off me the one time I tried to trim her claws–just reached up and ripped my t-shirt open down the front but didn’t touch my skin at all, then looked at me: “Next time, it’s your face.” I was concerned that when she grew old and would need to be treated for something I’d never be able to handle her, but I did, fluids, pills and liquid medications, eye drops, all sorts of things. They know.
And nothing ever stopped Cookie from getting anywhere in the house she wanted to go, she’d just find a series of steps and she’d be on the refrigerator waving her tail around and purring, or draped off the corner.
Kelly, on the other paw, can still jump straight up to the top of the refrigerator, and has a little story to tell about everything she does.
Cookie is a glowing example of what I am talking about. These girls that can’t sure can find a way to turn that into a can. So I just set back and let her find her way. Each time she achieves a new way of getting onto something, I am just as amazed as I was the first time she did something new.
“Kelly still jumping to the top of the fridge”. Good heavens, what does that little lady have for vitamins?
I just saw this on the pictures section, I like the markings
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=258727094198577&set=o.58092011935&type=3&theater
We have a beautiful 7 year old torti named Little Lady Lulu and her brother (of the same litter) Baxter. Baxter is a tabby w/ white mittens, so I have to assume their father was too-and their mother was a torti like Lulu. Luie has tortitude in EVERY sense of the word! She also believes she’s a human baby-I am convinced!
I love the name Little Lady Lulu – a name that befits a tortie! Feel free to post photos on our Facebook page, we’d love to see her.
I am fostering a tortieshell named Sammy, she’s a lovely girl, quiet, observant, she likes to keep me in her sight. She tends to growl if you make noises, or show her a toy. She has a lovely soft purr, but I’ve never heard her meow, neither did the previous foster. I wonder why? She tends to stay in the bedroom alot, lying on the bed and looking out the window.
That’s interesting that Sammy has never meowed. How old is she? She sounds like a real sweetheart.
Cookie was with me for more than a year before she said her first word, not even a silent meow–she just made faces and purred loudly. I thought she was mute because of her difficult childhood and other physical issues, but she was not. Her vocalization, though, was mostly a senior cat thing.
It is so nice to see new people owned by torties posting about their babies and their tortitude. It truly brightens my day each time I read the posts from both those that have been here a while and the new ones
Ok, now for my first week update on the Peacemaker essence and Columbia. It was seven days yesterday that I received it and starting putting it on her. I have put it on her a total of five times in those seven days and put it on Rockie twice.
Unfortunately week one was a failure as last night Columbia took off after Rockie with a vengence as usual. I can only hope that in week two things change and she stops going after him.
Betty, you need to use it consistently. Use it twice a day for both Columbia and Rocky, and give it a week or two. You can also mix a few drops in with their water each day.
Thank you good to know I can use it more frequently. I didn’t know if you anything would happen if I used it too often or not.
The only thing about putting it in the water dish is that all 4 babies drink out of it as well as the dog sometimes.
It won’t harm the others.
Today I put food in dish and Frankie (little hoover) came over. As he started to eat Stir came up behind him. She looked him up and down ( he is no quite twice her size( and then she smacked mim on his back leg twice. Bernie can testify that Stir has a strong left paw. Well Frankie left that spot real quick. He looked at me with a real hurt look and a quiet meow.
I told him no one messes with Stir. He will learn.
Hey Tortie family, I can attest to Sir’s left hook. I have never been hit so hard by a kitten. She throws a hard left hook. Even bruising. Just don’t try to outdo her, she will beat the daylight out of you. I can just see little Frankie looking like, Dad, I didn’t do anything. “Why did she hit Me.”
Answer “Stirfry, because I can.
Heavy Metal to start the morning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNG_Kn-m73M
Steeler and I will stick with the quiet of the morn. She is resting right at the moment. So no noise in the house for the little one.
Hi folks, I have never did this before, however after reading this article, I thought, hum must be a Tortie. Please read the article and get a smile for the day.
A cat, Ripples, got loose on an Air Canada flight and managed to delay it for four hours, reports Kelland Sundahl at CTV News.
How did it happen? Air Canada allows passengers to carry pets on its planes if they’re under 20 pounds and are kept in a crate underneath a seat.
The crate wasn’t closed properly after a security inspection, and the cat jumped out during the boarding process.
Then, it scampered into the cockpit, ran past the captain and went through a panel into the wiring of the airplane, where it stayed. They called maintenance crews to come remove the panel and retrieve the cat, and then had to make sure the cat didn’t damage anything, grounding the flight for over four hours.
Ripples’ little adventure comes in the midst of some existing controversy about pets on planes in Canada. Air Canada recently said that it can’t comply fully with a ban — meant to protect passengers with allergies — because of “air travellers who need to fly with an ‘emotional support animal.’”
The affected passengers seemed to handle it quite well, but would you be mad at someone if they delayed your flight for four hours because of their cat?
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-cat-got-loose-on-an-airplane-scampered-into-the-cockpit-and-delayed-the-flight-for-4-hours-2012-1#ixzz1kbHuAJAZ
I read this yesterday and found it terribly upsetting. I can’t imagine what this poor woman went through. I guess traveling with pets isn’t safe even when you have the pet in the cabin with you.
As for the Canadian ban on pets in the cabin: don’t even get me started. How about we ban women who wear so much perfume you can barely breathe within ten feet of them? It seems absolutely ludicrous to me to ban pets. I understand that some people are allergic, but come on – they still have to live in the world. People are allergic to millions of different things and there’s simply no way to protect them from all of them. Singling out pets? That makes no sense to me.
Now your talking. Some aromas can choke an elephant. The cat did however show it had a lot more smarts than the people on the plane. It was able to move around on the plane. We humans can’t do that.
I never did agree with putting small pets in the cargo bay on planes. I always felt they should be crated and allowed on the flight with the owners. To many small animals, especially cats. So I agree with you on this.
But I do love the gettaway kitty.
This cat was not in cargo. She was with her owner.
I know this kitty was with it’s owner, as it should have been. My objection is exactly what you are saying. The pets that are in carriers/crates should be with the owners.
This one was, but somehow the owner didn’t latch it’s carrier correctly or the little one found a way to unlatch it.
So I agree 100% that pets should be allowed with the owners on the plane.
As you know in Germany and other European countries pets are permitted in restaurants. I like that idea. Of course they are leashed.
For those of you who use Spirit Essences, I was able to increase the discount to 10% effective immediately. Good on any product, all orders, all the time. Same code: CONSCIOUSCAT.
Hi, I have a tortoiseshell cat, her name is Mila and she’s just over a year. I’ve never owned a tortie, and we adopted her as a kitten from a shelter. She definitely has the tortitude! She’s strong willed, and gets even ANGRIER if you tell her “no”.
It’s kind of cute, but she’s been acting a bit aggressive lately. She only does it to me, never to my husband. I do feel like she has a closer bond with me since I am home with her for far more time than him. It seems at some point she became so comfortable with me that she had begun trying to “play fight” with me. She has always liked to put things in her mouth, and as a kitten it was cute to have her gently gnawing on your finger when she cuddling happily in your lap. But now, once in awhile she will lunge for my head or my arms. Although she doesn’t actually use teeth and claws (too much claws at least) she is not being a purring cute kitty when she does it. (Ears back etc) This never happens after giving her too much attention, I’ve lived with cats my whole life and know that too much petting can get you a swat…. She just gets in a playful mood and lunges at me. Or, if we are petting her and she wants to gently gnaw, we tell her no which brings out the tortitude. If we gently tell her no, she gets this look in her eyes like “Are you kidding, did you just tell me no???” And then her ears go back and she lunges for my hands.
I don’t know if she will grow out of this… We are just afraid because we’d like to start having kids and don’t know what we will do if she is like this around a baby.
She never does this to my husband! Although, when he tells her “no” she usually listens to him. I have also tried making sure I win staring contests with her, and making myself seem more dominant than her. This all started after we moved across the country and had her shipped by plane. Either that, or it started around the time we built her a scratching post that’s almost taller than me. My husband suspects the fact that she can sit on a scratching post that’s taller than makes her feel more dominant than me…
Any ideas?
It sounds like Mila could benefit from a little play therapy, Danielle. You’re paying the price now for letting her play wit your hands when she was a kitten – I know it’s hard to resist when they’re babies, unfortunately, they have long memories and once they associate something with fun, that’s it!
I recommend instituting structured, daily play sessions with her. Twice a day, 10-15 minutes each. Use interactive, fishing-pole type toys so she learns to play with the toy, and not your hand.
Holding staring contests or trying to establish dominance won’t work with a cat. Your husband has the right idea that she likes to sit on the scratching post because it makes her taller than you – that’s because cats like vertical space, and sometimes, if there’s not enough in a home, it can cause behavioral issues like the play aggression you’re seeing with Mila. If you can, add some more cat trees, or even cat shelves for her.
I’ve been through this with Allegra, and with the input from a feline behaviorist, a lot of play therapy (which is fun for both of us!), and Spirit Essences, we’ve made huge progress.
I will say, though, the one thing that has made the biggest difference with Allegra was adopting Ruby, and it’s probably the first thing a lot of experts will tell you: get another cat so Mila can have a playmate. It certainly worked for us and it works for a lot of cats, but there are never any guarantees when it comes to adding another cat to your household.
Here’s a recent article I wrote about my experience with Allegra: http://consciouscat.net/2012/01/03/allegra-gets-advice-from-jackson-galaxy/
This is a post about what was going on from Allegra’s point of view, written when the problems first started, a couple of months after I adopted her: http://consciouscat.net/2010/07/02/allegras-world-4/
I hope this helps!
Danielle, I hate to tell you this but I have had Stirfry for 12 years. She acted the same way to NO !!!! . And she does play by hitting and biting. Harry just posted an e-mail about cat aggression. Hopefully it will help you. But Torties are strong willed and they do not back down.
Mila sourds likes Stirfry’s sister all right.
Danielle, while Jay is right that torties are strong willed, that does not mean that you can’t, or shouldn’t, work with them. If you follow the suggestions I outlined above, I’m positive that you’ll see an improvement in Mila.
Thanks Jay and Ingrid,
I think she will always have an “attitude”, but I do see an improvement in her behaviour a bit. I am making more effort to find “play time” throughout the day, instead of just in the evening. She is an AVID hide-and-go-seek player. My husband or I will run and hide in another room and she will come looking for us. Reversely, we will be watching TV and suddenly we’ll hear her meowing from another room. Then we go looking for her, and she is hiding in the bathtub! When we find her, she gets all excited and runs away. It’s sooo cute, although she is not very creative, and the bathtub is so far her only hiding spot.
Although she can be a pain sometimes, she’s very special to us. About five months before we got her, we actually adopted a female ginger kitty from the same cat rescue clinic. Apparently female ginger cats are rare, and she was the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. She had the best personality, she wasn’t afraid of anything! We called her Ginger.. She was very small, and didn’t grow much, but when she first went into heat the vet at the clinic said it was time to spay her. Unfortunately, she was very feisty, and they had problems while putting her to sleep. Her heart stopped and she didn’t survive. It was really sad, she was only four months old. She was actually the favourite of the entire staff at the clinic, so it was really hard for everyone. They said the chances of it happening are incredibly small, but I guess someone has to be the one in that small percentage right?
Three weeks later they called us and said there was a new litter just rescued if we were interested. We went in and there was Mila with her litter. She has amazing colours! A good portion of her left side of the face is ginger, and her entire left chest and arm is ginger. We picked her because she was so unique. The vet later told us that they had found Mila’s father on the same native reserve were Mila’s litter AND Ginger’s litter had been rescued, and that most likely they shared the same father!
The clinic shut it’s doors while Mila went to get spayed so there was no other patients during the surgery. Also, we were told that because of what happened to Ginger, the third-party company that designs the anesthetic practices for that region revised their procedures, and this actually saved the life of a cat in that clinic a week later.
Anyway, that is our sappy story about Mila. She’s definitely worth putting the time and effort into helping her improve her behaviour a bit!
Thanks guys
I’m so sorry about Ginger – how devastating to use a young kitten like that. Mila was clearly meant to be with you.
I’m happy to hear that the “play therapy” is already makign a bit of a difference! Mila probably thinks she’s quite clever about her bathtub hideaway.
I put up a few video’s of Pumpkin and Frankie playing on FB
http://facebook.com/JayDavenport1956
They are having a great time together
[...] by one of our favorite blog authors over at the Way of Cats. Another one of our fav bloggers, Conscious Cat, goes into incredible detail and depth about this magical coloring and personality combination. She [...]
Well a little bit of an improvement with my little EVE. She has been jumping up at night and allowing my to pet her under the cover of darkness for the last two nights. She did however jump back on the bed this morning while my wife was downstairs making coffee. She hasn’t been near me without my wife being present for quite some time. Anyway, I was getting dressed at the time but EVE still jumped up and let me pet her in the daylight….Yippee. As soon as I went to tie my boots up though she jumped back under the bed. I sat still for a few minutes and called out her name and she jumped back up. So I layed back down and she walked around a bit and lied down with her back towards me and let me pet her again…..Damned near made me cry I was so happy. So maybe there IS hope! Sigh!
Congrats Paul.
Torties come to you when they are ready. And they love with all their heart.
Eve has decided that she wants to be part of the family.
That’s wonderful news, Paul! Small steps
Hi Tortie Family!
I haven’t posted in awhile but have been lurking.
My girls are doing well except Nikita looks like she may have an eye infection or something. Her eye is getting gummy. So a vet visit is in the works. She is still acting like the usual loving and somewhat annoying anti tortie though. She has picked up a new personality trait…..jealousy. Anytime Luna jumps up on the couch for a bit of affection Nikita tries to run her off and if you are petting Luna and Nikita sees it she will give you the evil eye.
I’m not quite sure they even know their names because they both will respond when you call the others name. lol
I did give them catnip toys for the first time the other night and they went nuts for the 1st 2 days. Does the scent wear off or something though? They played with them non stop for 2 days and now they won’t touch them unless I throw one and Nikita plays fetch with it. They aren’t rolling around on the toys or biting them anymore.
Well, back to work for me. Take care!
Good to hear from you, Sue!
To answer the catnip questions: it depends on the quality of the catnip, but yes, the scent does eventually wear off. You can usually refresh it a bit by dampening the toys with water just a little bit, it releases a fresh burst of scent.
Glad to see you back on here Sue. Like Ingrid said, the catnip scent wears off. Even fresh nip only lasts 1 day before the cats don’t play with it.
And when I yell for 1 cat and mention food they asll come. I think they all think their middle name is “goodies”
For some reason my posts aren’t posting on the threads I’m posting them on
This is sometimes Peaches, sometimes Monkey, but at any rate they are both lying nearby, so I guess it’s a happy medium. Anyway, Linkin Park….I always forget how much I like this one
http://youtu.be/eVTXPUF4Oz4
Got home at 12:30 and my phone line is down and my mail system will not log on. Internet does work and the Cable TV is on so at least I know that is not down.
Bummer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also noticed reply posts are not being put under the correct spot . Must be a Tortie in the system.
The system is set to allow replies up to 5 levels deep, anything beyond that will post as a new comment. I don’t want to increase this setting as then it will get too unwieldy to follow conversations. If you don’t see a reply option below the comment you’re trying to respond to, just start a new comment and refer to the person you’re responding to.
Clearly, these systems aren’t built to accommodate a post as active as this wonderful tortie community!
Wow, Peaches was having a freakout night….for a change, Monkey wasn’t involved. Peaches was flipping out and attacking poor clueless Shanks every time he went near her. Shanks was kind of egging it on so I put Bully on my hands and petted him, then peacekeeper and patted Peaches. Then, even though Monkey was lying there not bothering anyone AT THAT MOMENT, I knew she’d get into it, so I squirted bully and peacekeeper on my hands and rubbed her down too lol….because Monkey is…well, she’s Monkey lol. They all seem to be keeping the peace now
I wonder what set Peaches off? I’m glad everything is peaceful again.
No clue. everything was normal, then Peaches suddenly lost her mind. I’ve been thinking they were cool lately, they wern’t friends,but they’ve been co-existing without any issiues
I wonder, people get dementia as they get old, I would imagine pets do too
Sadly, they do.
Maybe she saw something outside that set her off. It did sound like a classic case of redirected aggression.
I don’t think I’ve ever told you guys this, but I’m a high functioning autistic, A 32 on the scale, which is at the highest end of “normal” People like me are usually diagnosed with Aspergers, but that didn’t exist when I was a kid. I just wanted to say I’m sorry if I don’t always seem to feel empathy, and if I sometimes over-react to stuff. People with Asbergers can be blunt and rude without realizing it, and innapropriate. I know I can be that way and I’m sorry. lol. I guess I’ve played it off as normal for as long as I could
Thank you guys for accepting me for who I am
Normal is highly overrated
Bernie already said it perfectly: one of the things that is so wonderful about this group is that we couldn’t possibly come from more diverse backgrounds, and yet, we all accept each other for who we are. And it’s all because of these amazing torties.
Thanks Ingrid, as always, you rock!
I just thank goodness I’m high enough on the spectrum (32 is the bare minimum to be diagnosed as Asperers, most are between 40 and 59) to be able to be independent, because I’m really uncomfortable having to ask for help, and I REALLY like being by myself. I don’t really like or understand most people that much. People are too Illogical. I don’t understand why one person can do something and get run out on a rail, but another person can do the same thing and be revered, I’ve never seen Titanic, but I can predict I would not be emotional at all, however, I cried when I saw and read Cujo because the poor dog was not to blame, his irresponsible owner was. I cried over Old Yeller, I always cry over animals, whether they be cat, dog, rat, snake, spider…whatever lol
The symptoms I have that indicate Aspergers are; I count stuff that doesn’t really matter, I fold and hang up my clothing color coded, I wake up at precicely the same time every morning and do everything in precicely the same order and time, and if the time is off by more than 3 minutes it REALLY messes up my whole day. At work, everything I do has to be perfect. Bad because it makes me slower, good because my parts are always perfect, never any rejects on my account lol…SO, they give me all the stuff that has to be done perfectly, which raises the stress, and if I was lower on the spectrum I wouldn’t be able to deal.
I never run out of Cat food, there is always an extra bag, at least 3 weeks worth of wet food, and at least one 40 lb bag of litter, and awwww, Peaches is looking up at me right now with those HUGE green beautiful eyes and I have to give her all my attention even though I know in about 30 second’s she’s going to bite me lol
OK, I petted Peach, she bit me, we’re done lol
Lianimal — your family.
If a Tortie picked you as acceptable to be with, who are we to argue with that.
I will listen to an animal sooner than a person.
Torties are picky.
Ok my Wild Child here’s the deal. You have an illness. OK With this group, I don’t believe one of us could or would be defined as “normal”, whatever that is. You are just fine with me. I hope I am ok with you also. Any Tortie owner could not be labeled “normal”. So hey, what’s the problem? We don’t judge or question each other, we just accept each other as is. Oh by the way, the policy is no refunds, no returns!!!!!! Keep being who just you are.
<3
LOL I love you Berns!
Berns, you rock lol
Thanks, I think. You are ok yourself. Now you need to find a way to calm little Peaches.
Sounds like a Tortie, to me. No big deal.
Berns…it’s not really an illness though. I’m barely on the top edge of the spectrum. It’s more of a weird quirkiness. Think “Monk” or Doc House lol. My IQ is a respectable 142, and, since I’m so high toward the normal side, I’m able to function independently with very few problems. I am even tempered, can hold a job and do very well at it. I can live by myself and take care of myself. I’m just a little wierd. But Over the last 45 years I’ve learned how to make people like me anyway lol
There are theories that the massive outbreak of cases in the last 40 years or so is due to mercury being used as a stabilizer in combined childhood vaccinations. Not that vaccinations are bad, we absolutely need them….God forbid Polio and the like should rear their ugly heads and become prevalent again. But many children show up with Autistic symptoms shortly after receiving the broad spectrum immunizations. The theory is that some children are already succeptible to the problem, and the Mercury kicks it into gear.
” I am even tempered,” My wild child, did you really just say that. Let me see, weren’t you about to snap someone’s head off just recently? uumm Must have been someone else.
Hey kiddo, you don’t have to explain yourself. We want you just the way you are. There was a movie called “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. I think our montra should be “The Good, The Bad and The Ornery”.
Hey folks, here’s is a new one for Steeler and I. I have had to be away a lot for the past few months, leaving Steeler with a cat sitter who came in and out. Well today, I was just sitting at the
table and Steeler started with her form of meowing. She kept walking back the hallway and back to me. So I decided to see what was wrong. Well I started to follow and she kept looking back for me and meowing. We reached my room and she got up on the bed turned and meowed some more. Then she went on her pillow and lay dawn and meowing. So then I knew, she wanted me
to lie down with her. And that was exactly what she wanted. She purred a while then went off to sleep. Well my plans to go out this afternoon changed immediately. I just stayed with her. I am telling this story because this is just another example to show just how very loving and smart our Torties really are. She really makes me feel a little better.
“I am telling this story because this is just another example to show just how very loving and smart our Torties really are.”
I can sure picture that.
Kasey is very similar in that type of behavior.
It is funny how they can be fierce “little tigers” but still really need that attention and companionship.
Glen I marvel at her so much of the time. Our little Torties, as I call Steeler at times, my little Terrorist, show so much gentleness and love to us, when we least expect it. She is my rock.
Kasey had also been thru so much, then came you. Happiness is the love of a Tortie.
“Kasey had also been thru so much, then came you. Happiness is the love of a Tortie.”
Yeaqh, she could be anywhere in the house right now, but chooses to be here, nearby.
Right now, she is in a heated cat bed, kind of snoring; sort of a repetitive “Ooooo-Cooo” sound
Life is too short not to nap with your cat. Good call
Harry, you are so right. What a feeling to have her show me it was nap time. Then, again, she knew how to keep me home. Just gotta love those little feisty, lovable Torties.
I hope she will show me more of what she is thinking besides “let’s take a nap”. They are really very intelligent little girls. 
Awww, Steeler is taking care of you by making sure you take naps!
She knew you were not getting enuf rest.
“Listen to the cat” are words to live by.
I love you all, and you really do belong with us my wild child.