GANEIDA'S KNOT.

Go mbeannai Dia duit.

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Quaker by conviction, mother by default, Celticst through love, Christ follower because I once was lost but now am found...

Monday, June 15, 2009

Tuesday's Trivia.


"Happy is the home with at least one cat" - Italian Proverb
In ancient Egypt killing a cat was a crime punishable by death. I wonder if that included abandonment? Abandonment is such a cruel betrayal.

Introducing a second cat is always stressful & we are having to do it. We've been adopted & even Dearest, who has held out the longest, has caved & was busted handing out tit~bits to our hungry visitor. Cats are social but they are also extremely territorial & full toms get the largest territories. Iss is neutered & we have discovered to our consternation that Miss Ginger is actually a Ginger Meggs [ for non~Aussies Ginger Meggs is a streetwise cartoon larrikin & most definitely male]. His saving grace is that he is still a kitten, which is why I thought it might be female, though I know ginger females are rare; genetic quirk. A full grown tom would be 3 times the size of this animal.

Cat gut does not come from cats. It comes from horses, sheep & pigs. Reminds me of the toddler who calls everything with 4 feet a "doggie". An average cat meal is equivalent to 5 mice ~ assuming they don't lose their prey while showing off to their owners, like a certain cat who shall remain nameless.

Most deaf cats do not meow. This is a distinct disadvantage as hearing cats develop a range of communicative sounds ~ often a different greeting call for each person in the house. Make no mistake. I know Issi's greeting call, a very excited chirruping. I'm the only person in the house greeted that way but then I'm Issi's person though he is fond of everyone.

Cats have 5 toes on their front paws but only 4 on their back ones & have true fur which includes an undercoat & an outer coat. Cat saliva contains a detergent that keeps their coat clean. The colour of the coat is sex linked so it is rare for a male to have both black & ginger markings. When it happens the tom is always sterile. Being licked is a sign of affection. My mother's cat is a licker. Drives her to desperation!

The Egyptians weren't the only ones odd about cats. The Norse goddess Freya was supposed to have a chariot drawn by cats.

By far one of the nicest things cats have given us [besides the purr] is a collection of highly entertaining words: gib[neutered tom]; clowder [a collection of cats]; catling [yes, it is a word! meaning kitten] molly [a queen] & my personal favourite: moggie, from Maggie/Margaret a common name for cows & calves & later applied to cats during the Victorian era.

So we are considering names. Meggs is high on our list but Hagar & Pippin are worthy of consideration. Personally I'm leaning towards Meggs for being a not so obvious pun on ginger but Liddy objects on the grounds it sounds like a girl's name. Once he's been snipped does it really matter? Oscar is the top Aussie name but seriosly, that's a human name. Or how about Pekoe, an orange tea, or Quwilla, Irish for cub? Oooh, I just thought. Ribh is Irish for stripped cat. Add an "a" for calling the thing, pron., riva...I'll just go check if that's a good fit.

8 comments:

Allison said...

I like Meggs, but Pippin is cute too.
Impressed by Freya. Cats on a leash?

Unknown said...

I think Pippin or Pekoe sound great. I am sure in time dear Issi will learn to accept the newcomer as part of the family. Enjoy your new addition.

Diane Shiffer said...

well, i like all of those name possibilities.... i'll be most anxious to hear what you finally settle on.

our little jezebel is the sweetest thing. she actually comes when she is called... she comes scampering mrowling from wherever she is in the neighborhood when i go out to call her in. but here is the funny thing- she only comes like that when *i* call her. not for the kids. isn't that the funniest thing?

the kittens are getting so big too.. one much bigger and flufflier than the other♥

Anonymous said...

Ginger females aren't that rare, as it happens. About 40% of the ginger pusses through the shelter in the last 7 years have been female. Unlike tortoiseshell males (which _are_ rare; less than 1% of torties), ginger females are capable of reproducing.

My mother's ginger male was called Gath (that's pronounced with a long 'a') - Welsh for - you guessed it - 'cat'.

Siano

Anonymous said...

Hi Ganeida,
I like Pippin, but also Pekoe. What a beautiful cat it is, so it definitely needs a beautiful name!

A fridge magnet that we have says, "A house is not a home without a cat."

Have a wonderful week.
Blessings,
Jillian
<><

Ganeida said...

HSmum: I agree, a house is not a home without a cat! Liddy says *Pippi* & as I have to smooch up to Iss she will get the incomer so that's fair though Ditz is still lobbying for Hobbs! I don't care about the name, only that the cat was terrified & starving & in the end Dearest couldn't stand it either so in it came. I have 2 cats eyeballing each other & Iss is yowling. Hope he stops at some point tonight.

Siano: I bow to your greater experience with all things catty. My reference site is undoubtedly wrong, which wouldn't surprise me in the least. lol. Now how did I guess Gath?

Molytail said...

And what exactly is wrong with a male cat having a most decidedly female sounding name, my Mr. Moly wants to know LOL (when he was little, I thought he was a girl and named him "Molly".. discovered otherwise, but it was too late, he knew his name. I dropped out an L, but it's still said the same *grin* )

I knew you'd adopt the little sucker. ;-)

Is that him in the pic?

We had a deaf cat stay with us for a while, back about six years ago.. she was an older stray, taken in during a storm. Found her a good home with a vet student - our place, with the kids and other cats, wasn't the nice quiet home that she really needed. Now that I think about it, she never really 'talked' to us...

Ganeida said...

HSmum & moly: my camera is on the blink [well technically it's liddy's camera] so that's NOT our puss, just a cute random pic. Our boy doesn't have the white bib. He is answering to *Issi* ~ which is NOT making that gentleman at all happy. lol Libby is calling him Pippi ]as in longstocking! after all her fussing about meggs] & Ditz is calling him Mozart. I actually think he *looks* like a Mozart.