Yesterday I asked a simple question on the internet:
why are all orange cats fucking mental
— John Cole (@Johngcole) June 10, 2022
MAN ARE PEOPLE DEFENSIVE.
I am sure your orange kitty is very sweet and lovable, but that doesn’t change the fact that it and every other orange cat is bonkers. My cat Oliver, who was around for about a year before running off into the ether, was a nutter. He was the one who lived with me and Tunch briefly and would do this thing where he would find wherever Tunch was sleeping, and then do laps around the house with every pas jumping over Tunch. He refused to be an indoor cat, and would bolt outside every morning as I was leaving, and then when I got home he would be sleeping on the top of the neighbor’s car waiting for me. He would disappear sometimes overnight. One night, I looked for him, gave up, and went to bed. As I was leaving the apartment, I heard two girls in the apartment above say “bye sweetie we’ll see you after work” and thought “?????,” looked up, and out sauntered Oliver out of their apartment. Then, one day, he just never came home.
Gerald’s cat, Dickhead, is a nutter. They tried other names for him, as he is a family cat, but none of them stuck because… he was always being a dickhead.
So again, why are all orange cats nutjobs?
Voting Access for All Coalition –
Tom Levenson
Because they are not tuxedo cats, and suffer under the humiliation of being always under dressed.
That’s Tikka and Champ’s story, and I’m sticking to it.
Bobby Thomson
Honey is not a nut job. She’s a classic therapy cat.
A couple of our black cats (Sid Vicious and Onyx) are total whack jobs.
Medicine Man
My mother had an orange tabby she named Rusty. This was a marvellous bit of pre-cognition. One time they went on vacation and my uncle (also a cat person) watched her animals. When they got back, Rusty started pissing on things habitually. Kept it up for four years before they finally ran out of patience after he urinated on the side of my step-father’s head.
I’ve had 2 orange tabbies. Jacob was a sweet heart but felt compelled to eat anything plastic or rubber he could get access to. Marty was a colossal dick head; hated everyone but me. Used to puke next to the bed where my wife would step in it when she got up in the morning.
Your story checks out, John.
Medicine Man
On the other hand, when I was very young we had an orange tabby named Sam Tiger. He was a good boy. Terrible mouser but a nice mellow cat.
trollhattan
Back in the day friends’ cat disappeared for a day, then two, and finally discovered in the washing machine where he had somehow got his paw trapped and closed the lid. He glared at Gail with that “Why did you do this to me?” look while she freed him. Mind you, they lived in an apartment and the slightest squeak or mew would have led them to his plight days earlier, but nooo, one’s dignity must be retained above all.
Andy the Ass was, of course, orange.
jeffreyw
You need to keep an eye on them, for sure.
schrodingers_cat
You couldn’t be more wrong. My late ginger kitty was an angel. Bosscat on the other hand was a terror and he was a brown tabby.
SFAW
JC –
Projection is a terrible thing.
Our (alas, departed) orange tabby was a pretty good guy. He also “kept the peace” between the two female cats in our household; once he was gone, they went after each other, non-stop.
Of course, there was also an orange stray around here who was certifiable. But our guy? Not at all. Well, except for when he’d swipe at you when you came near him while on top of his cat tree. But outside of that ..
trollhattan
Someone please tell me how many degrees there are between Russians and Republicans. Or, at least can we know who’s copying who?
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1535586566822936577?cxt=HHwWgoC-1Zf2v88qAAAA
Alison Rose
One day, many years ago, my mom and I were looking through a box of old photos, and I came across one of me sitting next to one of my brothers on our couch with a little orange and white kitty on his other side. I showed it to my mom and asked about the cat, because I had no memory of it. I was 4 in the picture, and the following year I would get my kitty Serena (a tuxedo) for my 5th birthday present. She said, “Oh…that was Honey.” And I said “Who the fuck was Honey?? What happened to her?” because it was pretty much a kitten in the photo, so I was like, did she die super young? My mom said they had adopted Honey for me, because basically since I learned to talk, I was asking for a kitty. (I was a Cat Lady™ from birth.) But from the first day they brought her home, she absolutely hated me and basically beat me up any time I went near her. She would scratch and hiss at me and bit me a few times. She was nice to everyone else, just not me. I’d asked if I was rough with her, since little kids sometimes can be on accident and cats hate that, and my mom said no, I was very gentle and careful. The cat just fucking hated my guts, so she said after a few weeks, they brought her back to the shelter. But of course, my dumb ass was all sad about it and cried and cried and kept asking for another cat. So then finally on my next birthday, I got Serena, who didn’t hate me.
So yeah, I’ll agree with this premise.
SFAW
@Tom Levenson:
I’ve seen your pics of Tikka’s baleful stares, so I completely understand your need to try to pump up his rep.
Bill Arnold
This piece weaves some Science(!) together, amusingly and maybe intentionally so. (Includes some paper links, for extra rabbit-holiness.)
Why Orange Cats Are So Special, According to Science – Research suggests that orange male cats may enjoy greater social status. (September 27, 2020, Karen Wu Ph.D.)
Almost Retired
Our orange tabby, Iggy, was especially mental. He had a knack for identifying possessions that were especially dear to us, so that he could shred them, knock them over or pee on them. I’m relatively certain that had there been Ebay in the 1980’s, he would have sold all of our furniture below cost when we were at work.
azlib
Our orange kitty, Rocky, is generally a sweetheart. He used to get the crap beat out of him by our Maine Coon, Bobbie, and we thought Bobbie was the aggressor. We finally found out Rocky would swat at Bobbie’s butt which was the way the altercations usually started. So I guess Rocky is bonkers or is at least a masochist.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Holy cow. I was just offered the opportunity to edit azlib’s comment at #14
Benw
Some orange cats are nuts, some aren’t. My orange cat, Shelby, is a fucking loon
Dorothy A. Winsor
This is pretty funny. Chuck Todd evidently asked Don Young (AK-dead) to be on his June 10 show.
Scout211
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’ve seen that several times, as others have here. Apparently, it doesn’t work. It just looks like it would. I never actually tried it but a couple of jackals did, to get more information for WaterGirl. The update with the edit never appeared. Thank goodness.
Ella in New Mexico
Mr. Orange Juice (his brother’s name is Grey Goose) is a sweet, sleepy cuddly guy but he does dissappear for days at a time which always makes me worry he’s gone for good. He also kills a lot of rodents when he’s home and leaves them in various snack stations throughout the house but all my outdoor kitties did that so, not sure if that’s “nuts”.
I’m guessing your anectodal evidence may not be particularly valid in this situation.
Redshift
My good friends used to have an orange cat who was so crazy they decided he was actually four aliens in a cat suit.
MagdaInBlack
We had a orange one, born with 3 legs, named Peg (sorry) who was the sweetest little ball of fur ever. The nuttiest thing she did was sleep on the wet laundry when I took it out to hang. Hang a towel, turn around, cat curled up on the wet stuff.
Another Scott
I don’t recall having an orange tabby. We mostly had mutt-kitties. A memorable one was Cinnamon who was mostly a Siamese (apparently he was red when he was very young). Great cat.
Because it’s graduation season…
That’s a memorable picture!
(via gavmacn)
Cheers,
Scott.
Tenar Arha
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t watch Chuck’s show(s) at all anymore. I would get too frustrated that he was too obviously operating by the standardized formula to not ask any difficult questions that could cut into those commercial breaks.
Anyway, I’m just taking this as proof that Todd &/ his producers are so checked out they’re now forgetting to take out the dead “reliable sound bite” people from their Rolodexes.
ETA I should probably note that I have no basis for current comparisons, I stopped watching most “Newz” shows most of the time bc I got tired of spending my weekend mornings (or anytime weekdays) yelling at my tv.
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor: If that’s not Peak Chuck Todd I do not wish to be present for actual Peak Chuck Todd. OTOH what could possibly go wrong?
Steeplejack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Some people have reported that they tried to edit such comments and were apparently able to do so, but the changes didn’t “take.” So it appears to be not a huge problem.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That’s what happens when you’re not over prepared.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@trollhattan:
See the very quiet patron
Perhaps they were just aiming for a calm, introspective episode.
Butch
I have two orange boys out of four rescue cats total. We found Boxer huddling along our rural road where someone had dumped him, and Woody was discovered cowering in our woodpile – so young we had to bottle feed him for three weeks. We never did figure out how he got there, because we searched and searched and couldn’t find momma cat or any other kittens. They are both lovable, energetic, affectionate, and totally nuts.
Betty Cracker
Aren’t orange cats overwhelmingly male (and calicos female)? If so, maybe there’s your answer. I don’t know. But I had a very sweet orange cat who was female and not at all nuts, though she did have the terrible habit of bringing me live cockroaches as a tribute.
opiejeanne
My family’s experience with orange toms is that they are all bums. They love everyone, will climb into a stranger’s car, mooch from several houses around the neighborhood.
Debg
It’s the marmie gene. I have two gingers among my clowder of 5, and while the orange ones do have their own special quirks, they do not especially stand out among the weirdness of the pack. I’ve loved gingers since I first got one at the age of 5.
Keith P.
There’s an orange female(!) across the street that I constantly find hovering over my outside cat hissing and making a racket. They’ve been having a multi-year territorial dispute but it never seems to devolve into fighthting – the orange cat tries to intimidate my cat until she gets tired of it and goes back home.
I see a male orange feral who comes around for food every day, and he’s just a normal feral…hisses when he sees me but whines for food.
MisterForkbeard
@opiejeanne: This is my orange cat. He’s adventurous and loves on EVERYONE, but he’s also always been a colossal dickhead to other cats.
Roger Moore
Because all cats are nutjobs.
E.
I actually obtained my lovely orange kitty, Curly, this way. Woke up one morning next to a strange cat. He’s been here ever since. Moved in from down the street.
pluky
@Betty Cracker:
Don’t know about ginger coat and male, but calico cats are almost exclusively female.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_cat
Liminal Owl
I have never had an orange cat but have known several. All of those were sweet cats, good to humans and other cats and rhe occasional dog. And they all are the reason why my FB feed includes the group “All orange cats share 1 brain cell.”
Omnes Omnibus
I am not a cat expert, but isn’t Jorts orange?
Scout211
This whole thread seems like a thought experiment used in psych 101. Are you trolling us Mr. Cole?
Maybe my sociology and psychology background is showing but this type of generalized statement about one type of group (yellow cats) is a common thought experiment to highlight prejudice and discrimination in freshman sociology and social psych classes. At least back when I was a college student.
But I’m sure that isn’t what’s going in here. Is it?
HumboldtBlue
I’ve never had an orange cat but these folks at the Sydney Morning Herald are assholes on another level. This is appalling journalism.
Redshift
@trollhattan: Feedback loop.
Arclite
I don’t know if my orange medium hair male is a nutter, but he is definitely an outdoor cat. He sits wistfully at the window all day looking at the birds flit about. If one gets too close to the glass he goes into murder mode. He hunts and eats any critter that gets inside including flies and spiders
My gray and white by contrast wants nothing more than to sit on your lap and be petted all day.
Ken
@Scout211: There is of course an XKCD for what you’re feeling.
Scout211
@Scout211:
oops
Correction:
yellow catsorange cats.ETA: yellow cats, orange cats. I’ve heard cats are all alike anyway.
tokyokie
The best cat I ever had, Cat 9 From Outer Space, was an orange tuxedo kitty. He was also the most stubborn cat I’ve ever had. And something of a drama queen. And he once killed the neighbor’s dog. And he used to sleep at night curled around the top of my head. So yeah, I guess he was nuts. But he was a sweetie.
But Siamese are especially nuts. We now have two meezers, Marvin, an old, fat lilac-point, and Franco, a young, scrawny seal-point. Marvin used to be nuts, but he’s mellowed with age and weight. But Franco is nuttier than Marvin ever was. But he, too, is a sweetie. Although he likes to chomp on my elbow when I walk past him and he’s on the bed.
I’d like to get a flame-point Siamese, which would be a combination of orange and meezer, so it’d be maximum nuttiness. Because nutty cats provide the most entertainment.
Mike in NC
We adopted an orange rescue kitten and named him Jefferson. A beloved indoor and outdoor critter who left us at ten years due to kidney disease. My favorite cat ever.
zhena gogolia
Mine (William of Orange, Willy to his friends) was sweet as could be but nuts
satby
My son has one orange cat from a litter I rescued 12 years ago and I have the other. Both orange tabbies: I have the male (and kept mom until she died a few years ago), he has the female. The female is a bitch, but I blame that on being declawed (over my objections). The male is a snuggler. And my latest street rescue is a glorious tawny orange long hair, and he’s the sweetest tomcat ever.
zhena gogolia
‘@Omnes Omnibus: yes
PBK
@E.: Are you the baker who moved from CA? Hope things are going well for you.
Mo MacArbie
My orange tabby was generally pretty mellow, though I guess he had his nuts side too. I always thought he had that confident cool of the guy on the football team that everyone liked regardless; he knew he could fuck you up and you knew he could fuck you up, so there wasn’t any point in dominance displays.
It was true that—though many cats have that way of lashing out when pet too much—he was particularly vicious about it. Petting him required one’s full attention lest he snap. But he was otherwise outgoing and well liked around the neighborhood.
One time an old roommate brought his just-walking son over, and the boy was excited to see the cat. The boy was a bit nuts himself though, and kept trying to touch the cat’s eyeball. We tried discouraging him several times, but, nevertheless, he persisted. So we shrugged and decided that he was apparently going to learn an important lesson about cats today. Cats do seem to know that the little humans require more patience, but he did reach his limit. He didn’t make his usual lightning-quick attack though, but instead it looked like something out of a cartoon. He raised up his paw, extended his claws almost one by one, and brought it down in a slow, graceful swipe on the boy’s arm. Message sent.
He did get drooling stupid on the ‘ol nip though. And I did have to keep the bathroom door closed to prevent him from licking the minty residue from my toothbrush.
Elie
My orange cat Nemo is a nutter. He likes going after my ankles both biting and scratching- not to hurt me but his view of getting me to play with him. I have scabs on the back of my ankles. He wants more attention than I give him
mquirk
Growing up we had an orange Manx that was about 20lb of pure muscle. We’d only let him out on a harness but when he wanted to he’d slip out and torment the neighborhood dogs: if they were out on a chain he’d figure out how long their reach was and sit *just* outside their range and reach in to smack them on the nose when they got near him.
tokyokie
@Mike in NC: After losing several kitties to kidney dysfunction, I learned that cats are strict carnivores and that they cannot digest grains that are used as filler in some commercial cat foods. The grains eventually destroy their renal function, so check ingredients before buying food for your kitty.
zzyzx
I thought the general assumption was that orange cats collectively have one brain cell and every now and then your cat might get to use it.
Mine is very sweet but very rarely has the cell.
kalakal
I’ve had 3 orange cats over the years, they were all very sweet. Sadly the 2 youngest ( siblings) loved to wander and met sad ends on the road. It was idiotic, they had acres of space in every other direction.
The crankiest cat I ever had was a tuxedo
Salty Sam
Hah! This checks out well from my experience. At my grandfather’s farm, the hay barns were chock full of field mice, kept under control by a contingent of feral cats. The cat population was lorded over by one big orange tom, “Smitty”- the rest of them were his harem of females, and there were always kittens in abundance, so Smitty led a pretty good life. He as the only one who would approach the house for a quick rub or ear skritch- all the females were extremely skittish. Those were the only times I ever saw him, so I can’t comment on any quirky behaviors.
Chris T.
@Roger Moore:
Got it in one. But:
@Bill Arnold:
It’s true that cat’s crazy coat-color genetics seem to correlate somewhat with behavior.
I’ve never had an orange boy kitty, though not from lack of desire, it’s just that almost all my kitties have been shelter ones chosen by the “go there, see who wants / needs me” method.
JaySinWA
The edit bug (allowing an edit of someone else’s comment but not actually doing it) sounds like one that came up during the first conversion to the new site. Watergirl might have some memory of how that was resolved.
trollhattan
Meet Penny, the pub pigeon.
Gin & Tonic
Best cat we ever had was orange. Sweet, affectionate, mellow at home but one *hell* of a hunter outdoors. Dismayed at our inability or unwillingness to hunt, she did twice as much work as necessary bringing us offerings.
Cathie from Canada
The nutty cats I remember from childhood were our white ones – culminating in Zippy, who would tear out of the front door whenever it opened.
One day it was pouring rain. Zippy dashed out as usual, got half-way down the front walk, realized he was soaked, turned around and tore back into the house while my mom held the door open, laughing.
Then he went to our back door and sat there howling to go out, under the theory that it wouldn’t be raining on that side of the house…
brendancalling
I would generally agree with you, but my dad’s cat Smalley is an exception. He is a very mellow cat who just wants scratchies, food, to go outside (which he does), and to be allowed on the dining room table (which he is not, but that doesn’t stop him from trying).
Other than the table thing, he’s a wonderfully behaved cat.
trollhattan
@Cathie from Canada:
You’ve captured the tao of cat. Anything that might go wrong, it’s going to be the human’s fault and necessarily must be fixed immediately.
Chris T.
@Mo MacArbie:
Some cat-types say that cats think of us as big funny-looking cats, and our kids as big funny-looking kittens. This is wrong: they know we’re not cats. But they do use cat behaviors on us, because they’re cats, and cat behaviors are what they do. So yours was just giving the small one a lesson, as adults do when the kids overstep.
TriassicSands
Orange cats are nuts?
A gross generalization. I volunteer at a cageless, no-kill shelter and have known many, many orange cats. None struck me as nuts. Often, they are the sweetest, most agreeable fellows, because, yes, most orange cats are male.
In my experience, neutering a male cat seems to have a far greater effect on the cat’s behavior than does spaying a female cat. Males mellow out, while feisty, strong-willed females who have been spayed are still likely to be feisty and strong-willed.
In the cat world, tortoiseshell cats — almost always female — have the reputation — “tortietude” — of being the most headstrong and difficult. But some of the nicest, sweetest cats I’ve known have been torties.
Cats are individuals and their environments will also have an effect on their personalities and behavior.
Starfish
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You turned down the job because it did not pay well?
WereBear
I have some thoughts :
Unbreeds: the Red Spectrum
Spanky
It took 34 comments before Roger Moore stated the obvious.
Chris T.
@tokyokie:
OK, moment of seriousness here. It’s not that they can’t digest them. It’s that (a) too many carbs are bad for them just as they are for some people; (b) as desert animals, cats run their kidneys hard, and even the best diet and genetics may may not save them from kidney issues if they live long enough.
It is a good idea to eat well (for both yourself and your kitty). But don’t beat yourself up too much about not doing so. I don’t have actual numbers, which would matter for Real Science, but I’ll say with a fair bit of confidence that—barring accidents, trauma, cancer, and the like—your genetics set a range: you’ll live between X and Y years and have problem set Z by the time you die. For cats as a whole, that’s generally “10 to 20” (X and Y) and “kidney and/or thyroid” (set-Z). Individual cats vary a lot, and there are some breed characteristics (some are longer-lived on average than others) and so on.
A really good diet and exercise and self-care and medical care regime will push you to the Y end and keep the Z problems small. A terrible diet, lack of exercise, etc., will push you to the X end and make the Z problems big. But you’re born with X, Y, and Z predetermined, genetically, and some lucky (?) souls have X and Y near each other and large with a near-empty Z, and some have X and Y far apart and/or a tragically heavy Z. And nobody knows who’s in which category (yet) nor what the actual numbers are (yet), although science may someday provide some details.
So if your cat has kidney issues, sure, do what you can. If not, sure, feed a good diet. But don’t blame yourself too much, maybe your cat had a bad genetic destiny. And consider that a short, high quality happy life is probably better than a long terrible one. Don’t go overboard with a CRON diet (for yourself or your kitty) if it’s going to make you miserable.
I say this as someone who’s had a couple of kidney failure case kitties, and kept one around too long with Too Much Medical Care and went a little overboard with not giving her the treats she loved. I’m sure we got an extra 3 months this way, but now I think it was the wrong trade. Other kitties went more suddenly, from cancer or, in one case, we think heart attack, and it’s been an ongoing life-long lesson in how and when to let go.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I remember reading something by Temple Grandin where she classifies cat personalities by coloring. She is firmly of the opinion that different colored cats have characteristic personalities. Can’t remember what she says about orange ones though.
My daughter has an orange cat who is incredibly chill and friendly. Even I like hanging out with that cat, and I’m only a cat person by marriage.
I can’t help noticing that this now-famous cat is orange.
James E Powell
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Chuck Todd is not the biggest bozo in media, but it certainly seems like he is the most universally disrespected. So why does his employer insist on keeping him? It’s not like he cannot be replaced.
wonkie
I’m a volunteer at a sanctuary for unadoptable domestic cats. I can’t say that any are mental though about a third are so afraid of humans that they hide when I show up–even though I have been maid and chef for them for years. Our orange cat is a lover, which is a problem because he sheds profusely and triggers my allergies. I recently had an odd but heartwarming experience with a cat who is not orange. Barry is a tuxedo cat. I trapped him five years ago. He previously was a stray that had lived as a wild animal in a neighborhood–making babies, of course. He lives now in a cottage with an enclosed yard. I have been making food deliveries and cleaning up for him daily for the last five years. So what is the odd event? After staying as far as possible from me for all this time, he suddenly came purring up at me and now we are friends. I sit and pat him every day. The cat I never even thought about touching. He gets ecstatic. I have to be careful though because when he really gets excited he suddenly swats me and he has clawses in those pawses. But he isn’t trying to hurt me. He just is making up for never having been petted before.
Bort
There’s a reddit group called One Orange Braincell. We have one. His name is Harvey and he’s nuts. And very sweet.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@brendancalling: Several years ago one of our two cats decided the dining room table was where she wanted to lie down. We spent several fruitless months trying to discourage her, and finally gave up. She lays up there all the time – it is her favorite spot. As Lazarus Long says in Time Enough for Love, “Never try to outstubborn a cat”. The other cat occasionally will sit on the table, just to see what is so special, but he’s not really interested. Ayla is a spotted brown tabby with soft rabbit fur – one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever had. I think she has a hidden Siamese gene though: she talks (a lot), especially to demand attention, and she taught me to trow a catnip mouse so she can retrieve it.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@TriassicSands: As a lifelong cat lady, I have also noticed neutered males tend to be the mellowest cats (not always the brightest, but definitely loving and chill). I think they tend to be simpler personalities, whereas females are more complicated.
JaySinWA
I believe that cats discriminate on the basis of color. The strength of reactions of our cats to other cat intruders seemed to correlate with the coloring of the intruder. Some are barely acknowledged and others foster open aggression, but it seemed that similar coloring elicited similar responses.
Of course my sample size is small.
The one orange cat we had was a street fighter and took on everyone and everything however.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@TriassicSands: In my experience, cats, just like people, vary in the personalities they are born with. But how much they are handled in kittenhood, especially between 3 – 6 weeks, can make a huge difference in how friendly to humans they are. The default in cats is suspicion of humans (fully seen in unhandled ferals), but if you handled them enough in kittenhood, they will be friendly. I foster kittens for our local animal shelter, and my aim is to produce kittens who will purr when you pick them up (friendly kittens get adopted first).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Starfish: I felt inadequate to the task
Dorothy A. Winsor
@James E Powell: It’s just sad to see incompetence rewarded everywhere.
J R in WV
We have had a lot of cats — being on a farm back when we kept livestock it was important to have hunter cats to deal with the rodents that the feed attracts. When we moved out here, we had a really big white tom with big red spots, he was named Ralph because he would say that coming and going.
He was in our house in town one evening after the guy who came to work on the washing machine let him in, said he really acted as if it was his house, so in he came with the mechanic. Twenty pounds plus, not much fat, very athletic, good hunter, affectionate, always acted as if he was smart enough to deal with anything.
Not long after he died of being really elderly, I stopped at a neighborhood gas station / hardware shop on the way to work, and a young white tom with red spots walked out from under my car and rubbed on my ankles. I asked about him, Tom (the owner, not the cat) said he just showed up a couple of days ago, wasn’t “owned” by anyone. So I left to drive on to work, after a couple of miles I turned around and went back for the cat, called in to let work I would be running late.
He got named Rufus, for the red spot on his head. Would sit at the dinner table, on his chair, and wait patiently for someone to give him a tiny taste of whatever meat/fish/cheesey food the two-legs were having for dinner. Very well mannered, was welcome if we had neighbors to dinner, never made a fuss. I think white tom cats with lots of red spots are the supreme cats available. Maine Coons are right next to them, just one tiny notch below the white toms.
We have had an orange tom, he was quite small, a city alley cat being fed by a co-worker whose landlady was going to call animal control because tiny orange tom was “fighting” — actually playing with — landlady’s kitty. He came home in a cardboard box, and was V V unhappy about the trip. When I got his box into the house and let him out, he was down the stairs into the basement and gone. We knew he was down there, the kibble was going away. Then one day a couple of weeks later, a small orange tomcat showed up at the top of the basement steps. We named him Harvey, for the giant invisible rabbit in the movie that no one but Jimmy Stewart could see. HE was so Very sweet once he determined this was his new house and his new people.
The most cats we ever had was 9 (nine!) after a young Maine Coon cat had 5 kittens long before she was supposedly a reproductive age. 3 of them born on Wife’s pillow, one in the kitchen, was cold and motionless when I found her, but woke right up when warmed up and inflated by my breath. Mom kitty was somewhat shocked to give birth!! but did a great job raising her troop of kittys!
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: @Scout211:
Yeah, that was a bug that showed up during testing months before we went live with the site rebuild, and the programmer fixed it but I don’t recall how. :-(
So I haven’t been too worried about it because I know that even when offered the edit window, you couldn’t actually edit it, even if it looked like you could.
When things settle down with the site hosts I will ask about this, but in the meantime, I believe it’s a harmless artifact.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
Is there any work ongoing to recover the long and gormless history of Balloon Juice? I miss being able to just Google for comments when I see a ‘nym that I don’t recall off hand.
Miss Bianca
@TriassicSands: am laughing/crying a little from.flashing back on Pancho and Lefty, aka The Store Kitties. Pancho, orange and white, goofball opportunist universal smuggler, is still alive and living a laid back hunter-gatherer existence in my friend’s ranch.
Lefty, the tortie, who was my darling, was feisty and taking reckless chances up to the day she disappeared from friend’s ranch shortly after relocation there. I am guessing a hawk or some other predator got to her.
Still get to see Pancho once or twice a year. Always a love fest. Still miss Lefty, tho.
CaseyL
I’ve had three oranges in my life: Precious, among our first cats when we moved to Florida when I was 12; Copper, who a co-worker gave me when he had to relocate; and Pamela, a rescue who came to me already ill and elderly.
All three had some kind of trauma in their background.
Precious was very ill as a kitten, recovered but was food-anxious the rest of his life (he used to sleep curled up around his food dish). He was definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but we always figured it was because he’d been so sick as a baby and his brain had been affected. He was delightful, fun and affectionate, but oh so unintelligent.
Copper’s trauma was going from being an only cat to one of three, where the other two hated his guts and made his life a living hell that I didn’t know how to deal with. I have always felt enormous guilt over Copper, though his last years were happy ones because my paramour at the time became his special buddy/protector.
Pamela was a lady marmalade, who was abandoned by her human family when her main human died. Some neighbors took her in but could not keep her, and I soon found out why: she had a chronic, low-grade urinary tract/kidney internal infection that no amount of medication could knock out totally. As long as she was on powerful antibiotics, she was fine – but you can’t keep a cat (or anyone) on that indefinitely. As soon as the medication stopped, she would pee everywhere, and I do mean: everywhere. I had to replace a sofa; had to, at one point, cover everything in the living room with tarps. She had kidney failure twice. Once I nursed her back to health; the second time, I could not, and she died. I gave her the best life I could, but cannot deny I was relieved when she died.
So, three oranges, three difficult cats – but other than Precious, I can’t say the trouble was intrinsic to their being orange kitties. Though it’s possible Pamela’s health problems were genetic in nature related to being a female marmalade (she also had malformed ankles, which made her look funny when she walked).
Miss Bianca
@J R in WV: I also had a tiny orange tom! When I was in college. Named Ronco, as in the Ronco Pocket Kitty.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
You feed them they want to lovingly return the favor.
And you turn your nose up at their attempt to be kind.
Rusty
John speaks the truth. We have had a lot of cats over the years, the two orange ones were easily the most nuts. Sweet and lovable cats, but nuts. My best friends orange cat when we were growing up was bat shit crazy. When our two current cats pass on, I would love to get another orange tabby. It will be crazy.
NotMax
‘@Betty Cracker
You do know if you’d just once fashioned a pair of palmettto bug earrings and worn them around the estate, the creature would have been satisfied and ceased binging them, right?
//
opiejeanne
@Cathie from Canada: The Door Into Summer.
Mark Lass
Testosterone
Most orange cats are male
Neuter your male cat!
see Jackson Galaxy videos on the youtubes
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV: Great stories.
JoyceH
Maybe it’s already been mentioned, but speaking of orange cats, if you’re not following @jortsthecat on Twitter, you’re missing a lot.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Our new model 9 month old ginger kitty just raced into the garage and came to a quick halt (his back legs came off the ground), mrrr’d at me, shook off (it’s raining outside and he’s soaked), then turned and raced back outside. He’s an intense little shit, Scottish Fold but straight eared (he’s our Morty’s nephew) and absolutely loves water like his uncle. You can plop him in a sink of water and he bursts into purring. Same with his uncle Morty.
My experiences with five gingers over the years is that they are rowdy as hell, love the outdoors and are real lovers when it comes to dispensing affection.
BigJimSlade
Cue Cartman saying, “because he’s a ginger!!!”
Albatrossity
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1535293409832976391?s=20&t=FgDYmxaYnlL6TYEDZG4QNQ
Skepticat
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ann Marie
@Odie Hugh Manatee: My red Hugh did not go outside, but he did like water. He would put his head right under the water from the faucet and only eventually turn his head to drink it. My other cat at the time, Louie, learned to do this from Hugh and continued to do it after Hugh died.
Aside from this, Hugh was pretty smart and not really crazy — except under the influence of nip, especially Werebear’s “special” nip. I once came home and found him on my sofa surrounded by nip from a bag that had spontaneously exploded around him. Or so he wanted me to think.
He was a very loving cat. He would sleep above my head at night, and pat my head or cheek from time to time.
eversor
Let me tell about my little demon.
I was to get married but then covid happened. My wife to be proudly said she wanted a male kitten. A coworker knew a girl who stole kittens from a feral cat colony. We went to see them, cat on the cheap! The males all spent their time with each other but there was this tiny little runt, this tiny thing that couldn’t really walk. But she limped over to me, laid down, paws on my hands, eyes to mine and then… shat hershelf. While I didn’t want a cat, I don’t really like them, at that moment I knew “this is the one, this is our little monster”.
She’s a tuxedo cat. And she follows me around staring at me. She’s the most loving, and destructive thing I’ve ever met. Thousand dollar sound systems (60k worth of speakers, 20k of amps and dacs, 10k of cables) all taken out. Electrocuted herself a few times. I hate this silly bitch. I tried to calm her down by putting on cat TV when I left and she wrecked the screen on a 3k OLED TV. I gave up on speakers and got a sound bar and she pissed on it. My desktop still has my high end gear but she seems to know not to fuck with me there.
And yet I love the little fucker. She’s been great for my mental health, and all those thing can be replaced. She’s also, despite her love for chaos, very sweet. She’ll pass out in your arms if you tickle her in the right way. She bites, all the time. Yet we spend hours a day “playing the ball” and she fetches, rolls over, sits, comes, heels, like a dog.
I’m not sure what to do, she might be too much for me/us, but I wouldn’t trust her with anyone else because she’s tough and she’s, well, she’s she.
I just keep in mind that she was feral and grew up harsh and we stole her from her mom when she was very young. So she will never be entirely tame. She attacks everyone, never draws blood, but it’s not a love tap. It’s a “come out and play, motherfucker, let’s go” bite. It’s fun in zoom calls to have your face tackled and everyone cracks up.
I’m going to keep her, she needs to be here where I get it. Someone she can bring a ball to, and then fang in the feet when they don’t play the ball. As I told my fiance “you are you, I am me, and she is she, and together we are we, and that is how it shall be”.
CaseyL
@eversor:
You are a hero: giving that little demon a loving home that she otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. From how you describe her as a newly-captured kitten, she may not even have survived.
Matt McIrvin
I have a very ornery black cat, and I end up noticing other black cats that are very ornery and concluding “black cats are like that, full of beans and trouble” but I suspect this is just seeing a spurious pattern based on small-N prompting.
zhena gogolia
@eversor: great story. I love tuxedos
eversor
@CaseyL:
She was on her way out. Couldn’t walk constant shitting, kinda fugly. But tiny and beautiful. I have tons of picks.
Even today I would not call her tame. The fiancee still runs around at times screaming “ow, penny, ow, penny stop” and I’m all “you wanted a cat we got one”. She’s still tiny as an adult. Half the size of most cats.
For what it’s worth my monitors are 2400 bucks for the cheapest and I have 4, replacing what she takes out is a mess.
She eats cat food in the morning before we go and hand made meals on the table with us at night like a person would. She walks on a leash.
It’s odd, she’s just crazy wild and out of control and yet… so in control.
Either way, I think she knows she’s loved and safe, she also panics if she’s outside and I’m not about. There’s a severe amount of trauma in her that I don’t think is going to be worked though. But then, it’s not mine to solve. It’s mine to be there for. If that makes sense?
eversor
@zhena gogolia:
The litte devil. We don’t seem to have the insert picture command here.
PaulWartenberg
Orange tabbys are mostly male.
Calicos are mostly female.
Things balance out.
CarolPW
@eversor: You should talk to WereBear (our cat whisperer) about her – there may be something simple you could to bring down her sense of threat and make her even more perfect than she already is.
MissBarbie
@pluky: ginger cats are 80% male.
Bonnie
I had two yellow cats, both boys. Guildenstern did not live to see his second birthday; but, he was a cute kitty. However, Reggie, was the dumbest cat I ever knew. He was just never too bright. He did grow to 22 pounds, which made him the biggest cat I ever had My vet told me there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, either. But, the poor little guy was just never too bright. He lived to be 12 and was a scaredy cat all his life. I am presently catless.
karen marie
@James E Powell: Attention. His employers don’t care that it’s bad attention as long as he gets attention.
StringOnAStick
@CarolPW: I really recommend a Werebear consultation; worth every penny for us to understand one of our two orphaned at two weeks sisters, who has a quirk from the experience.
karen marie
My previous cat (all black), raised by my former dogs, would only go outside if they were outside. After they were deceased, she had no interest in the outdoors. There were a lot of feral cats in my neighborhood (the whole city – Fall River, MA – to be fair) and she felt she needed the protection, although she was a right bitch. The big Tuxedo in the video is a boy cat who fell in love with her and moved himself into our house, despite her protestations and the rage of the neighbor who thought she owned him.
It’s funny seeing this video after such a long time (she’s been “gone” since 2018) – I don’t remember her as being so chunky!
Chris T.
@eversor: She’s your soulmate. A “heart cat” as Werebear calls them.
She may mellow out a bit when older, and you almost certainly can get her to behave a little better. But probably only a little.
RepubAnon
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
“6th Sense Part 2”?
eversor
@karen marie:
This is her. Though she’s still like half the size of a full grown cat. She has a suitor, Puck! As I joke “here’s Puck and he wants to fuck”. But she tears his head off time to time.
eversor
@Chris T.:
I get that, but I don’t want her to be better. I want her to be her. I’m OK with that. My fiancee is OK with that. But, if something happens to us she can’t be rehomed. She’s too, well, not mean, but hyper and playful. She does not grasp the concept that people aren’t cats to be fought and bitten, and swapped at. She’s never drawn blood on anyone. And she will steal your food from under your nose.
So I just sort of laugh at the constant nipping, and swapping, and eating the pork out of my ramen or hue soup and the running off with brats. Or the jumping on my head on zooms and then bitting my nose. But other people won’t tolerate that.
She is my soulmate.
FluxAmbassador
Hah! I had an orange cat named Oliver, too! He was the must relaxed creature I’ve ever met. Would walk into a room full of strangers or loud kids and just roll onto his back and open up for tummy rubs. He used to let me suplex him and then just lay all flopped out.
Which, from a cat perspective made him a complete lunatic.
karen marie
@eversor: Mr. Mittens (named by said furious neighbor) adored our Gracie. I think secretly she liked being so loved by him. She’d smack him but never seriously.
eversor
@karen marie:
Penny, loves to dance about with her ass in Pucks face and then… smack him. She loves the attention and waits at the screen door daily for him to show up. And then, beats him.
Craig
I don’t know about orange cats, but 6131 my tortoiseshell was a cool ass nutjob, and so is every other tortoiseshell I’ve ever known.
Matt McIrvin
@Craig: My best favoritest cat ever was a weird little tortie named Niobe. A drama queen. Stubby legs and tufts over her eyes like a scotty dog that made her look perpetually angry. I still miss her.
Jerry Brown
We had an orange cat years ago who was mental. Although he was neutered and was given lots of attention, he was was neurotic. He preferred to stay outside rather than associate with us. Sadly, Azzie (short for Aslan) was killed by a coyote. I found only his beautiful orange tail the next morning.
On a brighter note, this old entry in Unencyclopedia is hilarious:
https://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Kitten_Huffing
Kitten huffing can be addictive, but as they warn, “The orange ones fuck you up REAL Good”.