9..8...7...6..5..we Have Ignatius! Options

[Jon730]

But where's Iggy's trident???

Sorry. Hic trident Ignatiae est.
He hastily borrowed it from his Greek buddy, Posiedon.

And this one will be a good place to stop!

[oldanteeks]

Hi ...First time looking through your posts and I just wanted to say you made my day!!Those pictures just cracked me up. Its the first time I have laughed in a while. Keep it up...You really should make a book, I am sure it would be a best seller!! Barbara

[Jon730]

Hi ...First time looking through your posts and I just wanted to say you made my day!!Those pictures just cracked me up. Its the first time I have laughed in a while.

I am SO glad others on here can laugh with me.
I keep thinking back to the time my wife said, You NEVER smiled or laughed after Miles dies, till Iggy came here.
I never realized it while it was going on, but obviously I was profoundly depressed.

Iggy really is an eleven-pound kitten. His memories from kittenhood are amazing. He tries to fit into places he KNOWS he used to go to..but disaster strikes. He tries to get into the cat tower cubby holes, and go from hole to hole, but he does not fit, and always lands on the floor on his back. When he manages to get inside, his head and tail are sticking out. He tries to jump onto the kitty condo, and knocks it over, sometimes after he is inside.

We have a little footstool in the living room. During dinner, he POSES on it and stares and begs like a dog. We call it the "Begging Station".

I finally had to put him on a little diet because he got into binge eating...inhaling his food, then the other cats' as well in one frantic Roman Orgy of Gluttony (Io, Ignatius Maximus! Nunc ad Vomitorium!) and of course, uneats it while BACKING UP, to arrange the mess in a continuous straight line so it can be ADMIRED.

The diet is working.
He is my best buddy and a great friend and clown; He knows I will not STARVE him.

I really love this cat.

[LoveThem]

I really love this cat.


Iggy emailed me and said to tell you that "The feeling is mutual!! "

Watch out for Iggy kisses!

[Jon730]

Iggy emailed me and said to tell you that "The feeling is mutual!! "

That makes me glad he opened his own account!

Watch out for Iggy kisses!

You mean waking up to THIS? I have, often.

However, as with all cats, he does delight from time to time reminding me there is ANOTHER little pink dot at the other end.
THOSE mornings are not as pleasant.
WHY do cats do that? It's perverse and unwelcome.

We had a freind staying over, years ago. he was too tired and it was too late for him to drive home. We were unaware that he was SCARED of cats.
Nico was our first cat..a big fat Siamese outcross.
His telling of the story kept him in laughs and drinks for years:

" I was trying to sleep on the couch, and was just drifting off, when I felt a huge weight on my chest. I thought it might be a heart attack, and turned on the light. IT WAS HER! I was afraid to call out because I was afraid I would startle her and she would attack me. I do not know how long we stayed like that. I think I finally drifted off to sleep.

The Sun came up, and she was still there.

Then, she looked me right in the eye, stood up on my chest, turned around
And SLOWLY began lowering her hindquarters onto MY FACE.

IT WAS WINKING AT ME!!!!!

That was when I screamed and they got up and put her in the bathroom!!!"

[LoveThem]

OMG!!! Started to smile..........then laughter totally erupted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Jon...............Laughter is always the Best Medicine!

Of course, Iggy is good medicine too

[Furkidlets' Mom]

You asked. Me answer, whether this was rhetorical or not (cuz I'm not entirely sure!). Cats "do this" for a few reasons:

1.) Cats' sense of smell is entirely different from, & much more profound than ours. Why do you think they don't mind our morning breath and such? In essence, it's another level of information for them. (and we should be so lucky! once again, another species tops our pitiful sensory attributes)
2.) Similarly to dogs, it's part of their social context and a means of identifying and communicating through the sense of smell.
3.) It means you're TRUSTED enough to turn their back on you and still feel safe.....so it's a big compliment!
4.) They're not human (!!), as much as they can take on our 'stuff' by their close association to us. Sheesh.....as Iggy would probably say.

And he'd probably follow that up with, "It's not an insult. Get over your thilly human selves."

[Jon730]

3.) They're not human (!!), as much as they can take on our 'stuff' by their close association to us. Sheesh.....as Iggy would probably say.

You know, I think that is it.

Because we are SO close to them that we actually get to be able to read and enjoy their facial expressions, I wonder if at some level we actually can forget they are not human. We learn that every animal has a different and unique personality, and genuine memories from earlier, and self-awareness. We have seen them plan for future actions, including elaborate plots to steal food, etc. (Iggy is at present making plans for some cream cheese from this bagel-I can SEE him thinking.), feuds and grudges, and obvious displays of affection that there is a point where the lines between species begins to blur.
Add to that my wife's calling Iggy my "Son" all the time implanting the subconscious suggestion.

One of the apes who was taught sign language described in detail her capture and being taken from her mother. At what point do we draw a distinction between "Dumb brute" and "Human"?

We do have the differences in cultures. Cats think we go out and kill their food and bring it home after the hunt to share with the pride- Struggling all day, climbing over mountains and swimming rivers to chase down and kill the wily can of Fancy Feast! Dogs think the alpha is sharing with the pack.

OK, you convinced me. I am going to go shove my butt into his face.
Reading papers and human history, I think I would rather be a cat, anyway.

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Heh-heh....I see it's another "can o' worms" moment. So maybe it's time to go beyond the basic species behavioral explanations I'd given!

...there is a point where the lines between species begins to blur.

I like to think that point is a good jumping-off place to start exploring for myself. And obviously, so do some current scientists (finally) -->

At what point do we draw a distinction between "Dumb brute" and "Human"?

Why do we have to draw one at all, really, except for the physical purposes of helping us provide for their comfort and safety, and certain kinds of behavior issues? See Animal Feelings & Consciousness and The Spirituality of Animals (this website has many other excellent articles, too)
And for just a hint of what some (new) science is beginning to uncover and delve into in "nature" (which really includes every living organism on the planet), see this interview with Rupert Sheldrake, on Morphic Fields (see his own website for much more, including his experiments with N'kisi, the African Grey parrot) Also see points 2,3 & 4 in a discussion of Lynne McTaggart's The (Zero Point) Field , and even more enlightening, from Lynne's Blog, Learning From Animals.

I'd have to say that I believe that in essence, humans don't yet know (remember) squat about what we, or any other living creature, really is, or how expansive all of our natures really are. More and more 'human' consciousnesses are beginning to experience just how wonderfully blurry those seeming lines can be, as Dawn Baumann Brunke shows us in her newest book, Shapeshifting with Our Animal Companions.

So I like these blurry lines. Who's to say we aren't as much something/one else as we are 'ourselves' then? These more surface considerations really only serve us for the daily practicalities of physical experiences on this plane, but do us and all of life a disservice in the wider sense.

Oh, and I'm positive I was a cat, at least once before, and still retain residual memories/senses of that incarnation. Mrrrow!!

And hey, Jon, let us know how your own little experiment goes, eh?! Maybe you'll end up publishing a paper on it! (but I think cats might actually get more of da goods on us from our well-worn shoes and slippers since those are what they carefully examine when unknown humans come calling)

[Jon730]

Oh, and I'm positive I was a cat, at least once before, and still retain residual memories/senses of that incarnation. Mrrrow!!

I thought we were supposed to keep getting BETTER with each incarnation.
Can you think of anything you may have done to deserve coming back as a human?

And hey, Jon, let us know how your own little experiment goes, eh?! Maybe you'll end up publishing a paper on it! (but I think cats might actually get more of da goods on us from our well-worn shoes and slippers since those are what they carefully examine when unknown humans come calling)

Forget the paper. He was, as usual, in my chair. I backed up to him and all he did was just give me his universal response.

He purred.

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Can you think of anything you may have done to deserve coming back as a human?

Yah, exactly, eh?

So you must have done the purrfectly right thing! Iggy must be so pleased that his 'Washoe' [human/chimp DNA] got his lesson so quickly! Now he just needs to teach you to sign!

[Jon730]

It's been stupid around here. We had a long power outage, and I learned that Iggy is afraid of the dark.

"You can't be afraid of the dark! Stop cowering-Be a MAN! You are semi-nocturnal, aren't you????
You are when you ATTACK MY FEET at night!"

It was just the strangeness and departure from "Normal". Iggy is a true creature of habit. He has his little rituals and routes.

THIS is how weird it was- The routers and modem are running from a UPS and we could use our laptops on their internal batteries for a while:

When those batteries croaked, we gave up, went into the camper, and started the 4KW generator, cooked supper and watched TV.

For true entertainment, I called the power company, and pointed out that Baghdad now has more reliable utilities than my neighborhood.
(We live in the woods. Squirrells like to chew on the 13,8-'s and blow themselves up. There was a bad windstorm, for this week's excuse.)

All is as normal as it can be around here, now. Iggy looks funny in the dark:

[IGNATIUS THE GRE...]

Hey! I ran into THIS on the Internet!

"The first cat in the new world was a Tuxedo cat named Asgerd who accompanied (some literature indicates she led) early Viking expeditions to the North American continent."

Nonsense.


We know better.

The First Cat to North America was Igward The Pink. Some people thank him for bringing Lutfisk to North America.

Most do not.*

IGWARD THE PINK DISCOVERS AMERICA

*Just kidding. Remember, you were going to save some lutfisk for me this year.

[Jon730]

Iggy seems to be on a roll. Always full of mischief.
He just showed me this confession.

[IGNATIUS THE GRE...]

Yup! It was me all along! Meow!

"Did small white feet, in present time,

Walk upon England’s mountains green ?"


Your Cat Of All Nations!

[Jon730]

We always suspected...

[LoveThem]

WOW what a picture..............Iggy is definitely ready for the Holidays!

That other picture you posted of him with the surrounding black background so all his
black blended in.......scary....

[Jon730]

That other picture you posted of him with the surrounding black background so all his
black blended in.......scary....

He really does look something like that. AllI see down the dark hallway is the eyes and the white parts. It ruins his game of ambushing me.

I have not heard back from my friend in Norway about Igward the Pink, yet.
It should be interesting! (Despite the Lutfisk joke.)

[oldanteeks]

I LOVE IGGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jon730]

I LOVE IGGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He thanks you. He does that to people. Yesterday we had strangers visiting for business. He presented himself to the Shop and made a grand entrance, whereupon he was promptly picked up and petted because he reminded them of a departed cat of theirs. He ate it up without any shame, and put on a purring show for them. He is VERY affectionate and friendly.