Clever Claws

I am now covered in blood - mine! Kitty has just caught a wood-mouse, which I rescued and it thanked me by biting three of my fingers as I took it to safety!!!

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And We Humans Think We Are Top of the Food Chain !!!

Just Remember to Check Your Tetanus with your GP whilst they are Jabbing You in One Arm with Your COVID Booster and the Other Arm with Your Seasonal Flu

'Cos If You Get Lockjaw You Will Be a Sorry Loss to the MX5 O.C. Forum

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Yep, thanks. Tetanus up-to-date, necessary as it’s in the soil locally and it can be caught by a scratch or cut whilst gardening, as well as the numerous critter bites!

Now Making link in my head to Monty Python Song

“I’m So Worried” :smiley:

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PS…Silent Sparrows is when they Play Dead after being caught ?
Twittering Sparrow Bush is When They Warn Each Other of Danger ?

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PPS…Really Appreciate You Starting this Thread :smiley: :smiley:

Showing the Brilliance of Animals…Cats & Dogs :heart:

Like Us Humans …They Are All Individuals with Similarities and Differences

[Recently saw a video where a chap in New Zealand had trained his Cat to Do things that normally only Dogs were thought to be able to do]

Darn if I can do the linky texty fingmebobbiethingmegypy

Now Salivating at Microwave Ping like Pavlov’s Dogs :scream_cat:

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Most times small bird sit still and remain quiet when they KNOW a predator is about so they don’t draw attention to themselves. If they are unaware of the predators presence they will carry on as normal, (twittering amongst themselves if they’re sparrows). If the predator dives into the bush, be it “quiet” or “twittering”, the small birds erupt like an explosion making a lot of noise to warn others. When caught most small birds remain silent, shock or playing dead, don’t know the reason. Pigeons/doves are generally silent and starlings make a heck of a row, probably due the differences in their larynx and the noises they can produce.

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What amazed me about the dog with the paper using the crossing and the cat using the lights is that the dog was almost certainly taught but the cat using the traffic lights must have worked it out for itself.

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I do think that cats watch and learn. Years ago we had a dog and tabby cat, both “walk-in, make yourself at home strays”. The dog would push against closed door that lead into the rest of the house to open it, without success, the cat after watching us I guess realised that the “thing” half-way up the door needed to be pushed down as well. So when they both wanted to go through the door when it was shut when the dog started to push the cat would jump up onto a small unit next to the handle side of the doorway, reach over and push down on the handle. That’s how they managed to wake Mum and Dad up in the middle of the night because they were bored/hungry. Had to move to unit so they could get a decent night’s sleep. They found out how it was done by waiting for the door to open and seeing the cat on the unit.

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My little Indoors Sparrow goes silent when I need something done.
The “it” goes into epic Twitter-Mode when “it” needs something done.
Funny that…

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Similar Story ?
Myself & Sweet Cocker Moved In With A. N. Other & Intact Mature Ginger House Tom
Initially Ginger Tom Leapt on the Back of Sweet Cocker like a Lion Taking Down a Gazelle
Traumatic Experience for Cocker and Humans
Yet Over the Forthcoming Months
Ginger Tom started to Beg Like Cocker at Human Meal Times [Became Part of the Audience]
Then Started to Share Dogs Water Bowl and Even Eating His Butchers Tripe Mix !
Eventually us ‘Slow Humans’ realised They Were Working in Tandum
Eventually Snuggling in the Dog Bed Together [I Say Snuggle…Cocker Always Nervous of Cat]
But the Cat Was ALWAYS leading the Rest of Us in Our Behaviour
AGAIN…We Think Us Humans Are the Top of the Food Chain and Dogs Are Smarter than Cats
We Were All Prioritising the Cats Needs First

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They can also be brave and protective. Last winter I was taking some food to feed my vixen who comes when she’s nursing cubs. Vixen was sitting in her usual place waiting for me, but this particular time she must have bee really hungry because she came trotting to meet me - black flash past me into the gap between me and the vixen - Kitty fur fluffed up, tail standing erect, growling like I’d never heard before. She though the vixen was going to attack me so she stood between us in attack mode. Anyway the vixen went back, I put her food down, Kitty and I went back in where I petted my loudly purring defender, and the vixen ate her food. Animals never cease to amaze me!


Said vixen on another occasion.

Kitty.
Comparative sizes.

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We had a Burmese who had learned from his mother how to open doors.
He could not only open doors that opened away from him, he could open doors that opened towards him too.
His technique was to jump up and hang on the handle with front paws and claws, while pushing against the door frame with a back paw, so the door swung upon with him on the handle.
He was amazing… .

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I wondering whether this is genetic ? SuziQ opens and releases the Sheba Cupboard Door.in the Kitchen…Bang Bang Bang when she’s hungry…but also when she wants the back door openned. I’ve noticed if I’m not there quick enough she’s starring at the door handle as if she’s about to jump up onto it !

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WOW…WOW and More WOW !
You Clearly Are a CountryBoy
Amazing pics
SuziQ lets my next door but two neighbours cat saunter across ‘her’ back garden every day and they often sunbath together
BUT any other cat that passes in the front garden from further afield …then she’s out there hissing and spitting at them !

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When I was small we were allowed a rescue dog from RSPCA. He was big, fully mature and had survived for quite a long time as feral, but when we selected him from the many yappy, orbiting, jumping up and down masses he was the only one who sat there aloof and calmly watched us. And he was pleased to see us and amenable when close up during familiarisation.

However, first night home, after a nice long relaxed walk and once we were all in bed, he opened every unlocked door and window in the house - apart from our bedrooms. He even managed the fanlight windows!

Fortunately all the windows had burglar bars so he was unable to escape. He turned out to be a good friend and companion for many years. He was even highly successful in his guard-dog duties on three occasions.

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And We Think We Choose Them !
Advice I Was Always Given is Wait…and They Will Choose You

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That’s very true! The dogs always went to Mum. When I was young I said I don’t like cats and yet all our cats have been strays/abandoned locally and I was always the one they came to initially, none went to Dad or my sisters, although once they had adopted us they were amiable to them, funny that.

We had a Burmese stray turn up, but we couldn’t keep her because the tabby we already had hated her, so my sister and her husband had her. Weird cat, used to climb trees, sit on a branch and drop onto your head if you were daft enough to walk underneath. She also used to sleep on the top edge of an open door, so if you forgot and closed the door there’d be a yowling, spitting, snarling “THUD” the other side of the door.

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When we were children we had a mongrel (I hate this modern term cross-breed!) that had a fox-terrier mother and he was an incorrigible “ratter”. My sister (the elder of the two) and I used to take him for long walks and let him rummage around if he got a scent. On one occasion he caught a rat that managed to give him a nip and disappeared down its hole. We waited for about half an hour while he dug furiously, then we got bored, put his lead on and went home, about a mile. He was no problem trotted along with us, but when we got home and took his lead off he was gone! So we went back and there he was still digging furiously. He never caught that rat, but he certainly reaped revenge on any of its kind he came across.

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