I couldn’t sleep, and earlier in the day I promised my friend Gigi a thread in her name, so here it is.
BTW- there are times I think I should get another cat to be a friend for Tunch, and then there are times I think what he really needs is a boxer.
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The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
Tunch needing a boxer? What does he do that makes you think that?
Studly Pantload, Would Be Minion of John Cole
Kitty needs company! One of my cats I originally brought home as an only kitty. When I’d get home from work, she’d meow her li’l head off at me. Then, she got a brother, and I could tell by the fact that she no longer meowed up a fit when I got home that she appreciated the company when I was away.
Oh, and the two bonded like brother and sister. To this day, over 10 years later, they still lie together and give each other baths about the ears and head.
Another kitty would quite likely enrich both Tunch’s life and yours.
OriGuy
Mt. Redoubt has a few words for Bobby Jindal.
Tattoosydney
A box of what?
Andre
Tunch needs a kitty treadmill!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVjzd320gew
AnneLaurie
Bit you again, did he? Or is he just being overly helpful with your not-sleeping issues? Get him a kitten of his very own… because revenge is a dish best served cold.
bago
Rachel Maddow.
She’s not only cute in the physical sense, but she’s smart as a whip and asks the right questions.
If this is the kind of talent the general bias against "teh ghey" has been denying us, then f-it.
Comrade Vida Loca
John,
The only boxer I’ve ever known personnally was a wonderful dog in every way but one: he would have cheerfully mauled any cat he could have caught. He hated cats, and I’ve read that this is not atypical in the breed.
You may find other more knowledgeable people here who disagree but my $.02 worth would be to get a different breed if you want a non-cat companion for Tunch. Hell, get a Jack Russell — you know what you’d be getting into there.
DanJoaquinOz
In my experience, adding another cat makes both cats more catty. They emphasize eachother’s slyness, sloth and self-sufficiency. Kevin Drum’s are perfect examples.Those happen to be things I really like about cats (along with their obsessive cleanliness), but if you’d like to enhance Tunch’s sociability and engagement with the outside world, definitely add a dog. A boxer could be great because their singular flaw (apart from some health issues) is their abject neediness. Even more than most dogs they suffer from loneliness and a need for dominant affirmation. With a few quick scratches and some feline disdain, Tunch would have the boxer joyously, slavishly fetching his catnip. You do realize you’ll have to walk a boxer twice a day though? Not such a bad thing, but 730 walks a year is more of a commitment than I’m willing to make for any living creature…
cleek
our first cat reacted to our second cat with fear, anger and resentment. two years later, little has changed – though first cat will sometimes slip up and start grooming second cat. that always ends in hissing and running, though, since second cat generally responds to attention with playful biting.
MMM
John Cole is becoming an old cat lady.
gnomedad
@Andre:
John already tried this, but attempted to suppress the video of the experiment. Thanks to the Intertubz, the truth is out.
gnomedad
I’ve had both experiences. I think the favorable outcome is more likely, but the odds are worse the older the cat is. Tunch’s biological clock is ticking.
Krista
A dog wouldn’t be a bad idea, but there’d be some heavy-duty socializing that would need to happen. If you can find an adult dog at a shelter who was raised around and likes cats, you’d be halfway there. But the question lies with Tunch — how is he around dogs? Did he spaz out when the JRTs visited, or was he cautiously curious, or did he just ignore them and act imperious?
Get a dog, John. I saw a Jack Russell Terrier named Gizzy listed at the Parkersburg Humane Society. He’s leash-trained, loves to cuddle, and is good with kids, dogs and cats. Another JRT with a "G" name…it’s meant to be.
Montysano
@bago:
Then add in the pot smokers who stay on the fringes because of fear of the pee bottle.
Paulie Chestnuts
Fixeded.
Dennis-SGMM
Cue the screaming:
U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms
Look for the wingers to go to Defcon 1. Beck will broadcast from an undisclosed location in full camo.
harlana pepper
What kind of tease is this? You drop a comment like with no corresponding Tunch pic?? wtf?
And if you’re looking for a boxer, helloo? I’ve been offering my lovely, "mature" tortie as a companion for some time. And she can box, my friend, she *can* box.
passerby
Today, Obama has issued a global editorial which ran in 20 publications around the world. Here’s a link to the text from the Baltimore Sun.
passerby
@Montysano:
This is so true.
harlana pepper
Dennis: I hope he will be wearing a satellite dish on his head a la Al Franken.
harlana pepper
In all seriousness, if you are going to get another pet, make sure it is a kitten or puppy. Since Tunch is grown, he is much more likely to bond with a "baby" because he won’t feel threatened.
cleek
this is one of the first times our first cat got a good look at our second cat (who was just an 8-week-old kitten at that point).
much swatting and arching followed.
passerby
Obama is asking congress to expand the powers of the US Treasury to include the ability to seize non-bank entities. Here’s a link from the Washington Post.
From the article:
"The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document. The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
"Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process."
And:
A reminder that Obama is conducting a press conference at 8pm EDT tonight at the Whitehouse.
2th&nayle
@harlana pepper: Yeah, I agree, a kitten or a puppy might trigger some dormant nurturing instinct that Tunch doesn’t even know he possesses. Might not be so inclined to ‘kill on sight’. OTOH,…..
harlana pepper
2th: Just don’t get a 3rd kitteh. . . TRUST me, thees is mistake!
Completely OT, but vaguely related to a previous recent post, my friend’s boyfriend is losing his job in a couple of weeks (works in engineering) — he is now trying to get a job in Afghanistan.
Keith
This is just a single experience, but when I introduced a year-old kitten/cat into my house, only one of the existing ones was OK with the level of play the kitten wanted (it led into a hunting partnership, which is odd in cats). The rest of the old guard found the young one annoying more than anything, although now he’s accepted but just at the low-end of the cat totem pole.
However, 6 months earlier, I introduced a pit bull puppy, and the old guard seemed to enjoy the "ownership" of the dog, as if they gain some sort of satisfaction in being able to lift a paw and have the dog lie down & pout. Now, there are caveats to that (like I avoided a female dog due to aggression, and I got a pit bull from a very passive bloodline), but IMO the older cats liked raising the dog moreso than the young cat.
BTW: John, I can’t thank you again for recommending the Furminator in an earlier set of threads. All 4 of my cats LOVE the thing, and it genuinely has improved their moods.
Dork
Porsches are expensive.
harlana pepper
Keith, thanks for reminding me – I am ordering my Furminator 2day! it’s shedding time now
Also, my friend wants to go to Afghanistan also, b/c of the monies. Desperate times.
Punchy
Get Tunch a retired racing greyhound pal. I kid you not–he’ll be whatever is the opposite of obese in 2 weeks flat. And probably sleep-deprived and exhausted to boot.
harlana pepper
Is Tunch indoor/outdoor? That would be a factor as to whether to get a greyhound. I like how John throws this stuff out there and then expects all of us to figure this shit out for him.
:)
jibeaux
Who is AlfonZo Rachel, and why must "President Zobama" and the "Zonation" as a whole share in his affinity for the last two letters of his first name? Bring back the tea party ads. Surely there’s going to be more tea parties, right, after their raging success before…?
jibeaux
@Dork:
isn’t that a Boxster?
Shinobi
I got my first cat a second cat when she started dragging cat shaped stuffed animals around the house and wrestling with them. It was sad, I’d come home and she’d have a stuffed husky in the middle of the floor and be wrestling it and licking its ear.
Oddly enough she did not greet the additional kitty with open arms until she realized they could play. And it did cure her of a lot of her annoying habits like yowling incessantly at nothing.
However the second cat…. she is perhaps even more annoying than the first cat ever was.
I got them a Husky. (he’s partially blind, this is otherwise not recommended.) This really hasn’t changed much except the cats generally fear for their lives more than they used to. (Though after nearly 2 years they will now walk past him, very very very slowly.) And now I have to keep their food up on the counter, so they have gotten in better shape, though my fat black cat is still roughly equivalent to Tunch.
Libby
You’re going to adopt Muhammad Ali?
Cat Lady
@MMM:
It’s a feature, not a bug.
/old cat lady
schrodinger's cat
My older cat, he is 6 now, was quite lonely when he was our only kitty, we got another cat, a tiny orange kitten (female) when he was about year and a half, they both get along well most of the time, however there are occasional hissing and spitting matches, but I think they are playing since they never hurt each other or draw blood. Go ahead get Tunch a kitty friend, he is probably lonely, my cat used to play rough and bite me when he was the solo kitty but now he does that rarely if at all. He harasses his kitty friend instead.
Cris
Tank hay-veyn, four leetle GUURLS
tess
Late to the party, but how old is Tunch? Sometimes older cats don’t cope too well, especially if they are pretty happy with having the place to themselves. You’re home a lot, so I don’t know if Tunch really requires a buddy. I think you’d know if he were feeling lonely a lot–you wouldn’t be able to get anything done.
That said, males often take to a new animal better than females do. We have an 8-year-old male we adopted from the neighborhood who was primarily an outdoor cat, and he spent a couple of years hanging out with and playing with this younger cat from the neighborhood. When the friend showed up, he was maybe a year old to Bub’s 3 or 4, and they would chase chipmunks (we watched Bub teach the other cat to hunt) and generally hang out. It surprised me–my two old lady cats from college never really hung out together and certainly weren’t happy when we started to allow Bub inside and regularly smelled like him. I think he really missed his friend when the family moved away.
Steeplejack
@Punchy:
Uh, I don’t think getting a greyhound, especially a retired racer, would be a good idea. Think about it: they spent their entire career chasing small(er) furry things in the hope of killing it. And they’re fast.
My brother has a retired racer and a whippet, and neither is cat-safe. They take that whole "sight hound" predator thing way too seriously. They are sweet as can be around people and other dogs, even small children, but give them a peek at something that looks like prey and they go nuts.
Cris
I introduced two kittens to my single-cat household two years ago. My big guy was 11 years old at the time, and he took to them pretty well after the expected adjustment period. But he has entertained house guests several times in his life, so I’m sure it really depends on the particular cat.
Delia
Cats are totally unpredictable. Some will tolerate or even like other cats. Some will not. Some will accept cat tolerant dogs. Others will hate them. I’ve had both in my life, and as far as I can tell it’s a total crap shoot.
My vet thinks that you have better luck bonding a male with a female, even though they’re both neutered. If you go to a shelter, look for a cat that’s known to be tolerant or to like other cats. That’s the sum total of my knowledge on the subject.
PS: If Tunch has never lived around dogs, I’m not optimistic about him adapting after his life habits have been set.
The Pale Scot
Gigi?? Gee, that sounds cute.
Comrade Nikolita
@cleek:
That`s what happened with our two cats. :( Although I suspect it’s because we didn’t introduce them properly.
The first one was an only cat for about a year and a half, with me, and was spoiled rotten. When my boyfriend and I moved, we got a kitten. Thankfully over the past year he’s learned that she doesn’t always want to be touched, or just wants to be left alone, but there are times where he’ll chase her or jump on her just for the hell of it, and she’ll hiss and growl right back.
I’m hoping that as he gets older they’ll both mellow out, because I feel really bad for my first cat. We got her another cat to be a companion, but she hated him from day 1. At least she’s been declawed in her front paws, so she’ll only swat at him and play-bite him.
Shell Goddamnit
Here’s how to deal with this: become a foster cat home for a rescue. Or a foster dog home. Or both. Basically, you are taking a creature in for a limited time; you can find out how Tunch deals with other creatures of the dog & cat kind. Rescue people won’t put a cat-killer dog in your house; if you choose rescue cats, with any luck they will move through your house on a semi-regular basis; you can find creatures that get along with Tunch and each other and keep them.
http://www.petfinder.com
oh, er, warning: this is how I ended up with three cats, a dog and two geese. be very very careful…