Your Cat — November 2017

http://www.yourcat.co.uk 13

CATCH-UP

I

’m looking after two Maine Coon

kittens named Chugger and

Mugger at the moment (interesting

choice of names). As with all

kittens, they’re fluffy, scruffy, playful,

excitable, and adorable.

As with all Maine Coon kittens,

they’re also flipping huge, compared

with what we’d normally describe as

a kitten. In fact, at 10 months old,

these two are already bigger than

my nine-year-old tortie Jojo.

This causes ‘situations’ when I’m

playing with them. It’s one thing having

a kitten climb up your back, claw its

way over your head, and playfully nip

your nose, but quite another to have

what’s essentially a full-sized cat do it.

When Chugger did this very thing,

I felt like I’d been pin-cushioned,

scalped, and nostril-mauled in five

seconds flat. With hindsight, collapsing

to the floor clutching my face probably

wasn’t a great move.

The problem with the manoeuvre

was that I’d just left myself in a totally

prone position... and Mugger hadn’t

had his turn yet.

As I started to get up, I realised he

was attached to my ear, and not in

a ‘Hey, I’ve grown really fond of your

ear; maybe we could hang out?’ kind

of way. More ‘hang off’, than hang out.

He’d accidentally hooked a curved

front claw into my lobe and had no

idea how to extract it.

As I sat wondering how to remove

my new Maine Coon earring, Chugger

jumped on Mugger’s back and the

three of us, led mainly by me, tumbled

sideways into their litter tray. Nice.

Talking of their litter tray, Mugger has

the strange habit of having impromptu

lie-downs in it. And not just little

lie-downs — full-blown naps.

This is a bad routine to be getting

into, especially as when Chugger

feels the need to use the litter tray,

nobody gets in his way, not even his

brother who’s fast asleep in there at

the time.

This provides me with an interesting

dilemma. You can’t tell a cat not to use

a litter tray — that would lead to

a future of badly stained carpets, so

you can’t tell Chugger not to pee on his

brother (sounds like I’m breaking into

a country and western song there,

albeit a very strange one) and you

can’t tell Mugger not to spend time

in the tray, even if he does think it’s

a bed. Any ideas?

I am actually typing this month’s

column while Chugger and Mugger are

skidding happily around the room’s

wooden floors. I should probably have

been a little more aware of what they

were getting up to, because a few

moments later, I looked up and realised

they were both slurping from a cold

cup of coffee.

Never serve coffee to a kitten.

Kittens are twitchy and manic enough

as it is, without the introduction of

caffeine. Considering taurine (the

other active ingredient in energy

drinks), is also an ingredient of cat

food, I’d just created two giant kittens

on Red Bull.

I’m now worrying what the next half

an hour will bring. If I thought pierced

ears and scalpings were bad... —

con

fess

ions^ of^ a^

Cat-sitter

Chris Pascoe has his hands full with double

trouble kittens, Chugger and Mugger.

BOOK SHOP

‘THE VOICE OF ANIMALS’ BY

MARGRIT COATES

Animals communicator Margrit Coates

shares her 10 life-healing lessons learned

from animals, both domestic and wild, so

we can discover our own calm.

Price: £12.

‘THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF CATS’ BY

HERBIE BRENNAN

This guide to cat lore looks at the history

and myths behind our feline companions,

from Egyptian cat goddess Bastet to

Macavity the Mystery cat!

Price: £10.

‘REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF MY

CAT HAS TAUGHT ME’ BY CYNTHIA

L. COPELAND

A heart-warming collection of life lessons,

with topics including intelligence, humour,

kindness and more.

Price: £9.

For your

chance to

win, turn to

page 82.

“...the three of us,

led mainly by me,

tumbled sideways into

the litter tray. Nice.”

to win

5

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