<p>Lol, I have a slight variation of the story. Mr B is allergic to some cats, and he knew that I loved cats so in theory, if we could locate a cat that would be somewhat less allergenic, he was all for us having a cat. I know that cats produce different amounts of the proteins that cause the reaction, so we tried to “visit” with prospective kitties to see if some will not make him sneeze as much. 
Using this method, we were able to find a wonderful white cat that I fell in love with after she decided to play wih my braid. The white kitty moved in with us, but Mr B knew that I loved calicos, so he decided to get a second cat. We spend several weekends in a row traveling to pet shelters all over the state looking for that calico! An, the pre-Petfinder days! More later. :)</p>
<p>Calico shave always held a very special place in my heart. My first one was mother cat on the farm named Sally… I let her inside when she was very pregnant and she had 7 kittens in my grandparents closet! </p>
<p>Cats are demonstrating how little privacy we now have in today’s internet age:</p>
<p><a href=“http://iknowwhereyourcatlives.com/about/”>http://iknowwhereyourcatlives.com/about/</a></p>
<p>For those who have loved ones who are allergic, how do the symptoms manifest themselves? I’m very allergic to cats - I can’t even get into a car where a cat has been - but I don’t get respiratory symptoms - rather my eyes / tear ducts swell. Neither H nor I care for cats (sorry) so it’s a moot point, but I really don’t know how I could ever live with one! </p>
<p>I have heard all calicos are female because it is a genetic mutation that makes them calico and it only occurs in females. I have also heard that all ginger cats are male - but that came from a friend who has a female ginger cat. She told me her ginger is very unique because she is female. I have a ginger male, he’s my second ginger male. So maybe she’s right. I have found that gingers are the friendliest cats - and they love, love, love to eat.</p>
<p>There are male calico cats, but they are sterile.
<a href=“Are There Male Calico Cats? - Vetstreet | Vetstreet”>http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/can-calico-cats-be-male</a></p>
<p>Pizzzagirl, my Mr has the same issue with cats - itchy eyes (and burning skin if a cat touched him with her nose). Some cats are worse than others; it all depends on the level of allergy causing proteins in the saliva etc. Some cats are truly hypoallergenic - there is even a co call Allerca that breeds cats that lack the genes that are responsible for the production of these allergens. We did it the old fashioned way instead of spending $5K on a kitten - Mr B would hold a kitty at a shelter, and within a few minutes he would know if that cat would be a problem or not. </p>
<p>Visited D1 this week in her grad school town and finally met her cat, which is very cute in photos. In person, she is tiny! And really, really adorable. She doesn’t meow-she chirps. </p>
<p>Some of you may have seen the video of the cat who likes to be paddled with ping pong paddles on youtube; this cat likes it too, only it is just D1 lightly paddling her with her cupped hands. I thought I was going to have to change clothes, I was laughing so hard.</p>
<p>One of D’s cats is really tiny! She is not adorable in photos, but she is a sweetheart in real life. She is just like me - looks better IRL than in photos. :)</p>
<p>Just stepped off a AA plane, and this essay that i read in the inflight magazine made me smile:</p>
<p><a href=“http://hub.aa.com/en/aw/chasing-bodega-cats”>http://hub.aa.com/en/aw/chasing-bodega-cats</a></p>
<p>My ragdoll kitten, now 18 weeks old, is about as big as your average full grown cat, though not as heavy (he weighs just over 6 pounds). Every time I look at him, I recall the words of my breeder: “He’s gonna be a big boy!” Until Taemin came home with us, H and I had not had a cat in over 30 years. Now, guess whom the entire house revolves around? He could serve as the poster child for ragdoll kind: a sweet-as-candy lap kitty who follows us from room to room, meets us at the door when we return home, loves being amidst a houseful of guests, and is as floppy as can be. How did I live the last 30 years without one of these guys in my life?</p>
<p>Question: How much water does your cat drink? I’ve heard (and read) that cats tend to drink very little water, but this little guy drink a LOT of water daily, which troubles me. Should I be concerned? He seems perfectly happy drinking water from his dish, which I replenish with fresh (to keep it aerated) throughout the day. I’ve been eyeballing a ceramic pet fountain that Petsmart stocks, but it’s around $80 (yikes!). </p>
<p>^^
One of my cats loves to play in water and drinks often…but not large quantities at a time. I think she is part Maine coon cat since she is huge, has huge paws, super long legs, and loves to sit in the sink and have water pour down on her head. My other cat NEVER drank water until she got older. Now she drinks about a 1/2 cup a day. She is 12yo.</p>
<p>I replace all my pets’ water twice a day to keep the bowls fresh and aerated. I dont like to see hair or anything floating around in their bowls. ugh.</p>
<p>Drinking lots of water could indicate kidney problems. If a cat eats mostly dry food they will drink more. </p>
<p>I’ve been feeding a stray since May. (May have mentioned I spent a few days in the hospital after she bit completely through my finger. Rabies precaution, IV antibiotics, IV toradol plus rabies shots = CDC requirement.) Cat barely drinks and, frankly, isn’t good at drinking from a bowl. I’ve learned to dilute the canned food with water to make it more gravy-like because she seems to need the water to get it down. She eats dry food as well, but not as much.</p>
<p>Odd thing is now she’s totally into affection. I have to rub her down before she eats and I often have to sit with her and rub her back now and then as she eats. She actually stands next to the bowl until I rub her all over and then she eats. That seems to make her feel safe, which must be an extra consideration when you weigh as little as she does. (She’s maybe half the weight of our actual cats.) Weird that I can pet this one outside and none of my other animals allow that, probably because they think I’ll pick them up and carry them in (which is true when I need to leave). Now our only “issue” is she gets so excited she hisses. If she gets super-excited she bangs her teeth against me but never even puts my hand in her mouth let alone scratches. It’s important to push her bit by bit to build trust: get them used to the touch of the hand and then to harder petting and as they trust you more to the roughness they crave when they’re not at risk of being hurt. (As in, one of my cats LOVES to be grabbed so he can fight his way out of the hold. He knows he can get out and it stimulates a bunch of his fighting instincts.) And I was able to flea/worm treat her directly yesterday instead of hiding it in her food. Our actual pets run when they see the little capsule that I press to their necks but she didn’t flinch and kept eating. Her fur has changed from dry to silky and she’s started a bit of involuntary kneading with her claws when I scratch her neck hard. And she likes her chin rubbed, which is adorable.</p>
<p>It’s humorous to see the cat to cat interactions, how they’re drawn to each other but don’t get too close unless there’s food involved. Our old “cat in charge” died and there’s a clear lack of leadership in the ranks about how to react to new animals. The old guy would decide and everyone fell in line because he was so obviously smarter than the rest of them put together. Now it’s all about the treats.</p>
<p>My cat always puts his paw in the water bowl before he drinks. What’s up with that???</p>
<p>^^^^My dog sometimes does that. Beats me.</p>
<p>Love your story Lergmom. And thank you for the links BunsenBurner. I learned a lot! My two large/fat cats share one water bowl and I clean/refill once a day. It’s never empty except when they dump it over which they do often enough that my husband put some weights around it to keep them from doing that. Our city water is retched and sometimes smells like sulfur so I don’t blame them for dumping but I have tried giving them bottled water and they think I’m weird and won’t drink it so they get the smelly stuff. But I can’t imaging filling and refilling throughout the day. I think I would check with a vet on that one. But Teddy does like to put his toy cat next to the food/water. I never had a cat that really liked his toys. But Teddy has two - a toy baby lion (from Lion King) and a blue teddy bear. When I give him other toys he ignores them, but these two (which he stole from my daughter) are always near by.</p>
<p>Pawing water can mean they are playing with it or trying to aerate it before drinking. It’s the nature of cats to like moving water to drink from. Change the water more often or get a fountain.</p>
<p>One of my cats refused to drink the fresh, aerated water. Just wouldn’t touch it. He would insist on going outside and drinking the black puddle water he found there. I guess he found it tastier. </p>
<p>My boy strongly prefers the water in my glass. I have been known to tip the glass a bit to make it easier for him.</p>