Whew!!! I just saw Mittens and Scooter!! They're SAFE!!!

[Siwsan]

And I'm pretty sure I saw Spooky Jr running alongside the neighbor's house.

Such relief!!!

[Walleye]

1. Hooray! I know just how you feel. I saw a coyote in my backyard once, worried about my outdoor cat

He finally showed up and I felt so relieved. Amazing how we invest our emotions in these critters. I don’t care I love them. Thanks for the update

[Siwsan]

2. Mittens sends thanks for the positive vibes people sent

What I didn't say is that Skittish, Spooky Sr., Spooky Jr and Scooter were all here for breakfast, but no Mittens. So I've been kind of freaking out, all day because Mittens is usually the first one at the door.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. This pic is melting my heart

[chia]

6. What a face :)

[wnylib]

10. Mittens face and ears suggest that

somewhere in the generations there was a cat of the group referred to as "oriental" breed conformation, which could be Siamese, Burmese, Abyssinian, Oriental Shorthair, Egyptian Mau. In general, despite breed differences, they tend to have narrow faces, large ears, and longer than average body length.

[chia]

21. That's interesting and good to know, looking at my own cat's face, he doesn't

have the narrow face or the larger ears, everything is pretty proportional. Even setting aside his bit of 'middle aged spread' his kitty photos don't have that narrowness. Something to notice when I see other cats. Thanks!

[wnylib]

22. I noticed the ears and face traits in

my non pedigreed cat when she was a kitten. Then there were behavioral traits that were unusual in my experience with non pedigreed cats, so I read up on those traits.

Eventually I tracked down at least part of her ancestry to Egyptian Mau, which I was not at all familiar with before then. But that seemed highly unlikely since Maus are not very common and they are expensive.

So I contacted the woman that I got the cat from to ask about the mother. She had not mentioned any breed background to me when I got my cat. Sure enough, the mother's owner said she got the mother from a friend whose Egyptian Mau had got loose and returned pregnant from a stray. Most breeders neuter Maus before selling them as pets, but apparently not in that case. My cat's father was her older half brother.

As confirmation (without a DNA test), my cat has a trait unique only to Egyptian Maus. When excited about something she eagerly anticipates, her tail goes straight up and vibrates, from the tip all the way down to the rump.

Breed isn't important to me. But when a cat has significant traits from a specific breed, it helps to find out the breed because it has implications in health care and in anticipating the cat's needs in handling certain behaviors. Egyptian Maus, for example, are sensitive to sedatives, which have to be used carefully with them. Her vet made a note of that in her record.

[chia]

23. Wow, super interesting, thank you! Your cat has excellent and loving staff :)

I love my cat fiercely but he's such a butthead

[wnylib]

24. Mine is a delightful mix

of surprises and exasperation. She is strong-willed, clever, mischievous, a climber, a very fast runner (Mau trait), territorial, possessive with her toys, does not like being handled, but is very affectionate (always on her own terms and timing).

She is very loyal and protective, too. She has growled at people she didn't know if they got too close to me.

She is 5 now and has mellowed a bit in her activity level (thank God), but is still playful and active. She makes up her own games by herself, or creates games to play with me, mosly involving hide and seek, peekaboo, and leg ambushes.

[chia]

25. Sounds like an enjoyable companion. :) Mine's about the same age, don't know exactly because he was

a rescue cat, he came to us as older than a kitten but not full grown. He's a gray and black tabby with lots of beautiful white weighs about 15 lbs. and sleeps against the back of my knees every night. He too wants affection on his terms (like most cats, I think) but I respect that and he's always happy to be around me. He's a wonderful companion even when he's demanding or whining.

[wnylib]

26. They know that we are suckers

who will love them no matter what.

[chia]

27. Oh, exactly...

You should see his tail shoot up when I finally say "oh, okay" to whatever he's pushing for.

[chia]

28. dup

[calimary]

12. Awwwwwwwwwww... what a little doll!

❤️

[Trueblue1968]

13. SUCH A PRETTY LITTLE KITTEN CAT

[I_UndergroundPanther]

3. Hail Bast and Sekhmet

And the wisdom of cats,to stay out of harms way,may they be kept under your watch Bast and Sekhmet until that ground hog dies or is taken out of commission by animal control.

I'm so glad the kitties are ok.

[MLAA]

4. Omg, what a relief. Bet you did a happy dance!

[IcyPeas]

7. Yay! now it's a happy Caturday.

[Meadowoak]

8. Dang, I thought you meant mittens Romney and scooter Libbey.

[Siwsan]

9. Nah - to me those guy will always be Willard and Irving

[calimary]

11. Oh GOOD!

Relieved!

[XanaDUer2]

14. Wonderful! Nt

[dem in texas]

15. Lost some of my cats to the coyotes

About five weeks ago, a hail storm broke out a widow in one of our bedrooms and before we knew it, the cats were out the window. We got the window fixed and were able to get a few of the cats back in the house. The others are gone. My neighbor's alley video shows the coyotes in our neighborhood. Found one cat dead, all chewed up. The older cats were chipped.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. whew.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. whew.

[niyad]

18. Excellent news!!! I am so relieved.

[mikelgb]

19. I am happy for you but

my first thought when seeing this headline was what is Mitt Romney and Scooter Libby doing in the news and why are you glad they are safe?

[Siwsan]

20. You mean Willard Romney and Irving Libby?

Ok, I think I know how Willard got the Mitt nickname - He's originally from Michigan. Michigan looks like a Mitten. Mitt is short for mitten.

However, I kind of don't want to know how Irving got the nickname 'Scooter'. My visualization is of a dog scooting its butt across a carpet.