The Amazing Life of Cats Read Online Free PDF Page B

Gippsland where they gave shelter to a Timmy look-alike. She lived outdoors except in the winter months. Being a real eighties cat, she also developed a passion for dim sims. One night Dad informed her that there would be no more such treats unless she paid her way by dealing with the burgeoning mouse population. The next morning and every day thereafter there were two ex-mice on the doorstep—not unlike the Mouse Police in Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman novels, although their diet is much more impressive.
    Returning to my original theme, then, cats and dogs can form firm friendships. On the other paw, there are both cats and dogs with attitude. I have heard of dogs—even guide dogs—crossing roads to avoid cats, and although my guide dog Dori never quite went that far she was not at all impressed by things feline. It is the custom in many guide-dog-training establishments to employ a resident kennel cat in order to encourage a little cross-species tolerance. It doesn’t always work. Shortly before I finished training with Dori, the kennel cat was returned home after surgery, wearing an Elizabethan collar— the ones that look like upside-down lampshades and are favoured by vets to deter animals from aggravating their wounds by licking them. All Dori saw was a cat minus its head; she was seriously displeased and said so.
    Years later she was forced by circumstances to gain a practical understanding of the concept of compromise. Dori loved heaters; she usually managed an annual dose of conjunctivitis by lying too close to them in winter. On the day in question she was staying with friends on the New South Wales south coast while I was overseas. There she lay, guarding their heater and enjoying a well-earned slumber after a hearty beach run, when she became aware that something, or someone, was lying on her head. Opening her eyes carefully she spied our friends’ cat.
    What to do?
    If she moved she would dislodge the cat; however, moving would also entail losing pride of place in front of the heater. No prizes for guessing who won. Let’s just say they both spent a warm evening, though if either of them actually enjoyed it they kept the information to themselves.
    If you are both a cat and dog person, and you have both these animals in your life, I hope they get on together. If there is room for improvement, take heart. Animals can resolve conflicts peaceably, even if self-interest is the initial inspiration.
    Elaine Harris

Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There
    is more passing in their minds than we
    are aware of.
    Sir Walter Scott



Cat Saves Baby’s Life

    A cat saved the life of a newborn baby abandoned on the doorstep of a house in Cologne, Germany, in the middle of the night, by meowing loudly until someone woke up, a police spokesman said.
    ‘The cat is a hero,’ Cologne police spokesman Uwe Beier said. ‘Its loud meowing got the attention of the homeowner and saved the baby from suffering life-threatening hypothermia. The homeowner opened the door to see why the cat was making so much noise and discovered the newborn.’
    Susan Raymond

Independence

    The cat with unrelenting grace
    Ignores my outstretched hand,
    Lithely disdains my proffered lap—
    Than there debase himself to nap
    He’d much prefer to stand.
    But when my supplications cease,
    I lie in soporific peace—
    Oh, then he comes with silent pace
    And firmly sits upon my face.
    Alison Williams

Oscar the Psychic Cat

    A cat with an uncanny ability to detect when nursing home patients are about to die has proven itself in around fifty cases by curling up with them in their final hours, according to a new book.
    A geriatrician and assistant professor, Dr Dosa, at Brown University, said that five years of records showed Oscar rarely erring, sometimes proving medical staff at the New England nursing home wrong in their predictions over which patients were close to death.
    Oscar was adopted as a kitten at the Steere House Nursing and