THE FOUR CATS OF GATTINA ...funny stories about my cats

POOKIE, the special cat

After all the presentations and stuff I'll talk about Pookie today. Pookie is a so called "real" cat. She has a round little face with huge green eyes .Unfortunately when she notices that I have my camera in my hands, she looks at me and then immediately closes her eyes. Because of the flash. Sometimes I am lucky and can get her by surprise but then the eyes are half closed. That's why there are no pictures with Pookie showing her huge green eyes.

Fortunately Pookie is spayed. Otherwise she would carry around at least hundreds of babies. She is very motherly. And then she wouldn't have missed any available lover. Already the way she walks ! Swinging her hips elegantly from one side to the other with her tail proudly up. I don't know why, but she makes me think of the girls behind the station, in the red zone, walking up the street and looking for clients. Only, Pookie would never have taken money or better said cat nips. No, that's not in her character. She is not a corrupted cat, not even with food.

It would have been like the two cats where one said to the other, "What ! you are again pregnant ? who is the

father ?" and the other replies "I don't know ! I had my head in the garbidge can !"

Everything which has been said about cat language concerning the tail, doesn't fit on Pookie. Pookie waggles, waves and swings her tail all the time.

- When you talk to her, tail waves from left to right (or the other way around)

- When you pet her, tail waggles happily

- When you play with her, holding a petty little foil ball in your hands, tail is swinging in big bows

- When you feed her (see above)

- When she watches a bird or a fly (she likes everything very small and petty) the tail wouldn't move only the top slightly.

Conclusion : Pookie's tail language must have been copied from a dog !

Pookie loving, but with a strong paw governs the household. She choose me as her favourite member and I serve her as nap and pet place. She likes to be petted all the time and can 't get enough of it. She never put her claws out on me or bites me. Our son sometimes is a little too rough, so she protests with miauws and then clamps her paws around his hand scratches and bites and then escapes.

She likes to play with Arthur the youngest of the group but only when she wants to, so poor Arthur never knows what will happen, and looks with his big yellow eyes, ears back very surprised when suddenly she hisses.

Kim is her baby even so she is much bigger then her. When our son brought her in his home, she immediatly took care of the little black fur ball and protected her against everybody and everything. And this is still the case.

Pookie & Baby Kim

Pookie & Kim now

With Max there were no problems at all

Max was a friendly, a little clumpsy male cat, who took the whole world for an easy place to live. He went along with all the cats and had never a fight. It was an awfull lost for us when after 19 years he died. But he was still there when Pookie arrived and didn't care who was the boss. He lived his life and didn't want to get involved in any territorial fights. So they became big friends.

With Lisa it was another story. When Pookie saw her first, she had immediately to put the tip of the top ! She hissed and spit and then they jowled together. Quite impressif. But then, they turned their back to each other and now Pookie ignores Lisa, but when we are there she really makes up a theatre scene. She fakes to be afraid, hisses and hides behind the sofa and Lisa makes big eyes and is really surprised by the effect she had created.

Pookie doesn't like to go out, only when her personal sofa is sitting in the garden. Or when she has to go for her buisiness. Otherwise Madame likes to stretch out her body on my bed, her favourite nap place. But sometimes, to my regret, she remembers that she is a cat and would go out for mice or other living stuff. Once she brought us proudly a mole baby which the can opener had to put back in the garden, as it was still alive.

Pookie is not a killer, not at all ! She prefers to show her hunting skills by bringing back her prey alive or worse half alive. And then she would ask us to get rid of it. Which is quite a sport for the canopener. He found a solution. If the mouse is still alive and squats under the sofa or elswhere, he would take a newspaper page, rolls it into a cylinder and tries to get the mouse in there. Sometimes it works. But we also hosted a mouse for several days under the closet in the living room. I had put some cheese under the table to get her out, but then saw the mouse coming out indeed, but just for eating the cheese and then washing her little face. Pookie had lost any interest and was only wondering why the man of the house was under the table on his four knees.

And here is something for men :

Why you should better take a cat than a wife
they don't argue when you are late
she purrs and doesn't fight
she doesn't yammer all the time (except siamese)
she doesn't spend all the money for clothes
she is not hanging around at the hairdresser the whole morning
the bathroom is not occupied for hours
you can watch TV whenever you want
you only need one rag for shoes
you can choose her after age, race and type
you can go to bed with more than one
she doesnt' have an enerving mother in law
she never gets a headache

PRESENTATION OF MY CATS

Kim, the beauty, very shy and sensible. When friends arrive she is hiding

Pookie (also called PC Pookie, for personal cat), my little body guard, very clever and the boss in the house. She loves my computer and creates files and folders, prints and does things I don't know. She also is a very good hunter (unfortunately) and proudly brings her victim home most of the time still alive, so that my husband has to catch it and brings it back to the garden.

Lisa, already nearly 15 years old but still a young girl in her mind. She is a real nerve sewing machine and a walking stomac. Very affectionated !

Arthur, the only boy amongst the girls. He is a funny stoic cat, nothing bothers him. Besides that, he is very helpfull, especially when neighbours are working in their garden. He also likes to assist to whoever is working in the street, e.g. for electricity, telephone or water. He climbs in open cars to check if there is not a nice place to have a little nap. He also loves the neighbours beds and is not ashamed at all to lay in there for a while.

And I am the Director of the group together with my husband

who is also a big cat fan. He considers Arthur as his personal cat and when he presents him to people he insists that it is "his" cat. But I am not so sure that Arthur has the same opinion.

So we are living all together in the nice little city of Waterloo in Belgium, where Napoleon lost his battle. A few years ago up to today objects and bones were still found by the farmers on the surounding fields, the left overs of a bloodbath battle. Mr. Arthur has also tried to find some interesting things in our garden, but until now his researches were unsuccessfull.

I BECAME A MUM - and Piccola watched

After a while my little appartment became too small for us and we wanted to get married. So I was looking again for an appartment with a garden for Piccola. I found one very nice with a beautifull garden andPiccola was happy in her new home. Everything went smooth.

Then one day my doctor confirmed that I was expecting a baby. Of course some stupid people asked what I would do with "the cat", because cats are dangerous to babies by sitting on them and asphyxiating them. That really made me angry. We had never thought about such a stupid thing. When I bought the baby outfit I let her smell on everything so she got used to the odor.When I came back from hospital, she sat beside the changeing table and watched while I was changeing the diapers. She also sat beside me when I were hand feeding. Sometimes she sniffelled the little newcomer and laid down purring. Over the baby bed I had put a net. But she never tried to jump in. When he was a little older and sat in his "rocking chair" she stroke around and he tried to catch her tail (which never happened) and he was laughing with all his heart and his toothless little mouth.

Our son with Piccola, Bianca (the dog) and Pitsou (the guinny pig)

Bianca

Yes, we got a dog too. Our son dreamed about a dog and one day on the sunday market we saw a cude white little puppy sitting in a carton. We took it with us (it was a she). When I put the puppy on the floor Piccola jumped on him with a loud screem and for a moment I didn't know what to do, but then she sniffled at her and little Bianca knew who was the boss. They really became good friends sleeping and eating together, the only thing I had to watch about was not to be too close to the dog, then she became jalous. But as it was officially the dog of our son, there were no problems. So we had Piccola, Bianca and Pitsou.

Piccola was still in a very good shape, it was 1980 she was nearly 20 years old. Nobody wanted to believe that. And then beginning 1981 she suddenly declined, became skin and skinnier. The vet could only say that she had renal problems due to her age. In march then there were nothing to do anymore and I had to put her asleep. She crossed the rainbow bridge.

It was awfull, I never ever had or have cried so much than in this moment. And still today after so many years I can still feel the pain I had. She had shared the most important steps in my life, she married with me, became mother with me and shared my young independent life with me.

There were stupid people even friends who told me not to mourn that much because it was "only a cat" I could have killed them. It doesn't matter whom you moarn, human or animal. In your heart they are the same.

After Piccola came other cats. I loved them all, but I never found this intelligence, and complicity she shared with me. Until Pookie came in my life.

Pookie about 2 months old

From cat to cat :

If an italian designer would invent an animal, he would certainly create a cat, she is beautifull (mostly)and elegant. A dog is beautifull too but he dripples.

A life without cat is like fish without chips.

A dog sits besides you when you work- A cat sits on your work

There is a big difference between cat and dog, dogs have owners, cats have servants.

Closed doors are an insult to a cat because she always needs something which is just behind this door.

MY CAT POOKIE

Here they are ! As usual...almost sleeping

four ...

Pookie came into my life maybe because of an awfull grey and rainy automn afternoon. I was in London visiting our son. We sat in the living room and I sighed "there is not even a cat here", the son got up, disappeared and came back with a little grey tabby kitten. Plus the whole equipment food, litterbox included. I was quite some surprised !

Pookie showed to be a very intelligent and activ cat ! Piccola was a noble cat, Pookie is a country girl. She liked to clean up the ashdrays, pulling out all the butts and sometimes ran around with one in her mouth so that she really looked very mondaine. She also liked to apport little things, e.g. a very littly foil ball, coming from the cigarettes pack. She could do that nearly for the whole day.

She also liked to drive in a car and didn't bother about anything. She was friendly to everybody and not shy at all (she still is) Then our son had to go to Amsterdam for his work and took Pookie (and Kim) with him. Pookie liked the life in the appartment, sitting on the balconee and looking out on the canal, watching the birds and the seven cats living on a houseboat on the canal, just beneath. But Kim was very unhappy.

Finally he couldn't keep them anymore, he had troubles with the owner so he asked me to shelter them for a while. Pookie moved in without any problem, as if she had been living with us ever since. She knew me and apparently wasn't surprised at all, to find me at another place. She immediately took over the hole household, and had some differences with our old Lisa. They finally made an agreement : they ignore each other !

Arthur was happy to have a young girl at home and started immediatly to play with her. It's still this way, but sometimes she hisses, and teaches him who is the boss !For me her arrival was something special, I found in her the same complicity I had with my first cat Piccola. Pookie considers me as her own human and is almost glued to my legs. Of course she sleeps besides or around my head which I appreciate especially in sommer time. So that's the way I inherited Pookie.

About cats :

SWAP MAN AGAINST CAT

why you better should take a cat :

There are many reasons you better share your life with a cat than with a man :

Cats are not thinking about cars and football all the time

They are not sitting in front of the TV for hours

They don't leave their clothes everywhere

they always eat what you prepare

they don't smell beer when they cuddle in bed

they don't snore but purr

they don't block the whole fridge with beer cans

they don't have to be hospitalized for a little cold

MY FIRST CAT

This is the picture that I carry always with me. It's like "wash and go" only here I have three in once. Doesn't take much room. So what happened the last days ?
Pookie moved from my bed which she squats since 3 years to the new sofa in my husbands office. and sleeps there. But as a caring cat to her food furnisher she comes during the night in my room jumps on the bed and verifies with her paw on my face if I am sleeping well, while purring softly in my ears. Unfortunately she chooses 3 am, when I sleep like a baby to check on me. And when she is sure that I am still alive, then she returns without a noice back to her sofa. And I turn in my bed and try to fall asleep again.

Arthur too changed his usual napping post. He now sleeps under my computer desk, so I nearly put my feet on him because I didn't see anything and now I have to work with my legs besides the table.

Kim is mostly in the garden watching, but not hunting, she has such a little mouse heart that I am sure she is afraid of both birds and mice.

Lisa as usual spends her days sleeping somewhere, nobody knows exactly where, but if one of us dares to put a foot in the kitchen she arrives running as if the devil would be behind her, from nowhere and claims for food. This cat is a very good actor, somebody who doesn't know her could believe we would never feed her.

How did I come to a cat



As Piccola is dead since 1983, I have no many pictures of her. They are all stuck in an album. But this one looks almost like her.

Cats for me as a child or even later were cude animals to pet and that was it. When I was 23 a girlfriend of mine had a cat and I found this funny and liked to play with her. Maybe that once I dropped the words "If I had a cat ..." but I really don't remember.

So what a surprise that on my birthday my girlfriend put in my arms a black little furry wool ball with two yellow spotlights, pointing up ears and an upstanding little tail. For once in my life I was completely speechless. Of course I found that very kind, but what should I do with that little thing ? I still lived with my parents and they would never accept a cat or something else. They loved animals, of course, but ... So I took the little thing with the accessoiries which went along such as litterbox, litter, food put everything in my car and drove to another girlfriend who lived alone and asked her if she could keep the cat until I found another solution. I didn't know anything about cats, their character nothing. It was completely newland to me. So what I did I spent my lunch hours with the little thing which finally I named Piccola (which means little in italian). Piccola, found immediatly the way to my heart, even so at the beginning I was sometimes a little afraid of her. I didn't know anything about cat language. But that stopped quickly and we became complices.

I took her with me everywhere, shopping, dancing (she waited in the car) to friends on the beach on holidays ...when I think it over today I don't know how I managed that. Piccola went on a leash or was sitting on my shoulders and on the beach she ran behind me. But we still lived separated. The day my girlfriend had to move out, I had enough. I took Piccola and her belongings went to my parents and said : "Or you accept her or I move out !" I could say that, because I earned quite well my life and could easily find an appartment. But at that time (1965) a girl had to stay home until the charmant prince took her away. So for their reputation my parents agreed.

But I didn't stay long with Piccola, I found a cude little appartment and we moved in.

That was the beginning of a long lasting life together.



From cat to cat Always sleep on the human at night so that they cannot move arround

Get enough sleep during day time so you are fresh for your nocturnal games

When you are hungry, meow loudly so they feed you just to shut up

When in trouble just purr and look cute

PICCOLA

this is one of the few pictures I could get from her in the computer. Then began another life. For the first time we lived together and alone ! So while I was working, she slept and when I slept she went on her nightly excursions. I didn't want to let her out during the day because of the traffic, but during night it was very calm. I bought her a beautifull basket put it on the windowsill so that she had a nice view on the street during the day.

Now when I went out, I wanted to leave her home. No way ! As soon as she saw that I took my purse and the car keys, she arrived quickly sat at the front door and looked at me with firm decision : I come with you ! So I opened the doors she ran to the car and climbed in, settled down and we drove away. She really loved driving in a car. She stayed in there, looking out watching people or slept, until I came back. Of course when I went to friends, I took the leash with me and she came with me. Very often when I came back from shopping, the car was surrounded by people looking at Piccola, and cried out "A cat in a car !" This, I must admit was very unusual.

When friends visited me she did a selection. The (in her eyes) nice onces, she payed special attention to. Striking around their legs, purring and asking for a cuddle. Then came the onces she ignored completely sat somewhere and looked untouchable, so the person wouldn't dare to approach her. The last categorie was the once she didn't like at all so she looked at me with an angry glance and left the room. And slowly I realized that she was always right. There were man who just pretend to like her to please me, the once who were falsly nice to her and as soon as I turned my back insulted her, and the once who really loved her. So I did the selection trusting in Piccola's judgment.

The day she met my husband for the first time, she agreed to him immediately. She smelt that he really loved cats. (I didn't know that). He did everything to please her, but it wasn't even necessary, she liked him. That was good for me.

After a while he complained about headache in the morning. He couldn't understand why and so did I. But one evening when I came home he slept as usual with the head under the pillow and who was sleeping on top ? Piccola. Now we understood. He tried to sleep with his head on the pillow and Piccola had to choose another place in the bed, but automatically he returned to his old habits. Finally she had enough and slept on his back.



in this outfit my parents met him for the first time ! (shocking)

next time.

Some cats wisdoms

The first day God created the cat

The second day God created the men to serve the cat

the third day God created all the animals in the world to serve the cat as food

the fourth day God created work and let the men work for the cats wellness

the fith day Gott created a sparkling ball so that the cat could play with it (or not)

the sixth day God created the veterinarians to watch over the health of the cat and ruin the man.

The seventh day God wanted to rest but he had to clean the cat's litterbox