From The Queen
Article I
I am the queen of Sheba.
How I love a lacy bed!
I choose the very best of things
To line my pretty head.
So please do not disturb me.
Just let me sleep instead.
For I will surely tell you
Just when I must be fed.
I have Queenie sitting here on my desk, demanding that I write an article about cats. She reminds me that she is top cat in this house, and it's about time I gave credit where credit is due. So, under her supervision, and with her dictation, I am going to give you a few CAT FACTS. I think I can qualify as somewhat of an authority. Cats have been a part of my life for as far back as I can remember.
Queenie wants me to tell you that she is a tortoiseshell Himalayan, and is very proud of the fact that she is beautiful.
FACT: longhaired breeds tend to be vain and are most content when they are the center of attention. Even now, after seven years of living in our house, and having to share the house with four other cats, one of them being her own kitten--Ernie, a ginger Himalayan--she still would rather be an only cat. She can barely tolerate the other cats, including the now, seventeen-pound-Ernie.
Queenie says that small kittens may be cute, but.. FACT: kittens that leave their mothers when they are too young, under twelve weeks of age, will be antisocial and more difficult to litter box train. Queenie reminded me that Ernie was only three weeks old when he and she came to live with us; she trained him to the litter box. She nursed him for a couple of weeks, until she had no more milk, and then we had her spayed. She kept on letting him suckle her, even though she constantly reminded him that it was useless.
Another FACT: that Queenie would like to endorse: indoor cats live longer, and are healthier than ones who are allowed to go out. The life expectancy of an indoor cat is from 15 to 20 years. That of an outdoor cat is about 8 years. And in a city, the life span is even less, about 3 years.
Here are a few FACTS on the wisdom of keeping your cat indoors that Queenie would like you to consider:
1. To keep your neighbor happy. Your neighbor may not like cats as much as you do. He may not appreciate a cat digging holes in his garden. Queenie says, "Can you blame him?"
2. To keep your cat from picking up harmful poisons, from weed killers and chemical fertilizers that people spread on their gardens and lawns. Do you want your cat to become ill, or die from these hazards?
3. To keep your cat from straying onto the highway or roadway. Queenie can attest to the wisdom of this. She nearly lost a "sister" a while back, when the naughty cat snuck out.
4. To keep your cat from killing birds and local wildlife. Queenie has seen this happen, although neither she, nor any of her feline siblings are guilty. But Queenie does think it strange that humans will praise a cat for killing a mouse, but scold or punish the same cat for bringing home a dead bird as a trophy. Queenie thinks that humans are very puzzling creatures.
FACTS about Toys, Scratching Posts, and Litter Boxes:
Queenie knows a lot about these topics. She will let you in on a little secret about cat toys. It is not necessary to buy rubber mice, toy birds, fancy catnip toys. Here are some suggestions from her for cat toys. And she is an expert. She and her housemates not only have a boxful of toys, but there are toys scattered all around the house, as well.
Here are the type of toys that make Queenie and her mates happy. Just roll a piece of tin foil into a ball about the size of a golf ball. Queenie loves that. She loves to hear the tin foil ball scooting across the floor, and loves to chase it.
For catnip toys, which Queenie and her mates all love, just take an old nylon sockette, and stuff it with inexpensive bulk catnip. When it gets old and grubby, replace it with a newly stuffed sockette. But Queenie says that the “old and grubby” ones do not bother her or her other cat-mates one bit! In fact, the older and grubbier the better.
The center of a toilet paper roll makes a wonderful scootable toy for the kitties. Queenie says that she and Ernie like to play with one of these at night, when everyone else is in bed, but in the daytime Casper and the others take turns batting it down the hall.
Wads of paper make good toys, too, Queenie reminded me. She wants me to tell you that her son, Ernie, loves picking up pieces of notepaper from our desks, and dropping them at the bedroom door at night. It's kind of like leaving us a love note. Oh, and speaking of paper, the edges from the old-type continual-feed computer paper is like "heaven" to the kitty population of the household. It is not only great to curl up and sleep in—piles of it—but what a wonderful mess it makes to scramble around in. Queenie knows that her slave—me—doesn't mind gathering it up again into a pile a dozen times a day.
Queenie says to tell you not to bother with elaborate scratching posts. A very simple solution for the scratching habit of cats is to buy a small sisal carpet. I always wondered why cats had this habit, but Queenie informed me that cats love to stretch and exercise their claws. Oh yes, you can build elaborate scratching posts, which kitty can climb, but my experience with those is: don't bother! Very few cats appreciate your love gift.
One last important subject to cover is litter. Where you put the litter box is up to you, as is the kind of litter you use. Many people have litter boxes in several places in the house, depending on how many cats are in residence. However, Queenie tells me that she is very satisfied with our arrangement, and the kind of litter we use. We purchased a plastic baby bath at a garage sale, and have filled it half full with clumping kitty litter. The litter box is situated in the bathroom. All the cats use the same one, and we scoop out the lumps several times a day. We freshen up the litter when necessary, and from the reports of many of our friends who call, there is no cat smell. Queenie approves, and so do Ernie, and the rest.
Queenie is tired of dictating for now. And you may be tired of reading, so I will leave a few FACTS for another time. Queenie and Helen signing off!
2005 Update from Helen: Sad to say, "there is a time to live and a time to die." Queenie is no longer with us, but she will always be remembered. No other cat will be able to take her place. Each cat has its own distinct "catonality."
© Helen Dowd
