Your cats have a lot in common with my three. I could tell you a million cat stories, I grew up with Siamese in the house since I was a toddler (and I'm now 39) and they are different from other cats, their personality is like a mixture of busy two-year-old child with a bit of cat and dog thrown in for good measure. When I got my first cat of my own, when I was in university, I liked her, but felt something was missing. She was a tabby who came from a shelter. I was so used to Siamese that anything else didn't seem like a "real" cat to me, and as soon as I could, I got one. I used to have one who could turn the doorknob to get out of a room, by jumping up, wrapping her paws over the top of the knob, then twisting her body to turn the knob. Most of the Siamese I've had, have all come from the same breeder and bloodlines, and they all have the natural tendency to fetch. One used to fetch only wooden clothespins, others I've had preferred bits of pipe-cleaner or twist ties, and cloth-covered ponytail elastics. My sister owned one who had a fixation for anything that was purple - he liked to sleep on a purple towel, and loved to steal and rip up slips of paper that were purple. I live in Canada, where $10 bills are purple... so you can imagine what happened to those if they were left where he could find them! His name, by the way, was "Cellostino" which is Italian for "little blue". One of the Siamese I have now, a bluepoint named Skye, loves ponytail elastics and beanie babies. The trouble is, she likes to try and eat the things she fetches! She ate the feet off of a rare beanie baby my daughter had, one that was worth over $1000 apparently... we found it in her food dish. That's where she stores her toys if she's not playing with them. We have to keep her favourite things away from her though, for obvious reasons. If I do give her a ponytail holder to play fetch with, then get distracted after she brings it back, she will claw at my feet (gently at first, then harder and harder****il I start throwing it for her again. Once the game is over, I have to take the toy away... she knows where I keep them though, and will go to any lengths to get at them. I have to keep them in a tightly-sealed tupperware container, as she can open closet doors and many drawers. She is our most vocal cat, she converses with my daughter especially, they have long conversations that consist mainly of "nang" and "nack", back and forth to each other. It's funny watching Skye's face during these conversations, as she always looks like she's saying something very serious and important. The funniest part is when she seems to go to great effort (with the serious look on her face) to push out a meow, her mouth opens, but no sound comes out! Piper, my male lilacpoint, loves any small bits of plastic he can find, including the plastic water bottle caps. He stores these in my bed, he digs his way under the covers and puts them there. When I go to bed at night, and take down the covers, I usually have to brush off an assortment of things like water bottle caps, twist ties, and those little inserts that come in cartons of fruit juice (little round things with a ring on them). Piper is very slim, athetic and active, but also a troublemaker, he often likes to try to bully the other two cats just to make trouble! He's funny-looking too, with a long nose, very round, deep-blue eyes, and huge ears. He always looks very surprised! My daughter calls him "Bat-rat-cat" because his huge ears are always turning around like a bat's ears, to catch the smallest sound, his tail is long and skinny like a rat's, and he has "webs" of skin under his front legs that look like bat wings. We adopted him as a retired show cat, from a breeder. He's a lovely cat and did extremely well at the shows, however, when she tried to breed him, he had no idea what to do with the ladies! All he wanted to do is play. So, the breeder reluctantly decided to get him fixed and offer him for adoption. He's 4 years old now, but still thinks and acts like a kitten. His name Piper comes from the fact that he has an extremely tiny, high-pitched voice. He "pipes up" mainly when he smells his favourite foods, or wants you to throw his latest little plastic toy for him. My third cat is the Maitre d' of the cat society in our house. His name is Jinx and he's a big, sturdy tuxedo cat. He's got a square face (my daughter sometimes calls him "TV-Head", and a funny splotch on the side of his nose that looks exactly like a splash of black paint. He's got the usual white chest, muzzle, four paws, belly and tail tip - but the tail tip is just the tiniest spot of white on the end, it looks like it was barely dipped in white paint. He's also the only cat I've ever seen (or my vet has ever seen) who has a black spot in the middle of his pink tongue, as well as a black patch on his lower lip, and a black spot in the middle of the roof of his mouth (which is also pink). He has a peculiar coat - not long, not fluffy, but very dense and thick, like the coat of a bear. It stands straight out from his body, and he has very heavy furry "jowls". His tail looks fat and stubby because the hair is so dense, even though its length is normal. Jinx does not like to be picked up, though he's affectionate and will come up to head butt and purr loudly. Yet, when my daughter was a toddler, she used to dress him up in her doll clothes, lay him on his back and push him around in the doll stroller, and he'd lie still and tolerate it. But, when I try to clip his claws or pick him up for any other reason, he yowls as if he were being murdered! Jinx likes water as well, and in fact we can't put down a regular water dish for them (it has to have a "lip" facing inwards around the rim) because he splashes in it with his paws. He often climbs up on the toilet so he can reach in and splash there too. His favourite places to sleep are inside the round bathroom sink (even if the tap is dripping, and for that he has the nickname "Sinx") and on top of crackly plastic grocery bags. He makes a little "nest" for himself out of those.

How are you giving the liquid medicine to your kitty? Are you using a plastic syringe without the needle? If so, I've found the easiest way to give liquid medicine to the "squirmy buggers" is as follows: 1. Wrap him up in a blanket, towel or sweatshirt so just his head is showing, and hold him on his back or side (for the little guys, sometimes a hand towel is good) 2. With one finger or thumb, pull gently back/down on one corner of his mouth so it makes a little "pocket" 3. Gently insert the tip of the syringe, and squirt or dribble the medication in between his back teeth. Don't squirt too hard or too fast, a little bit at a time is good, let him swallow what's in his mouth before squirting more in. Above all, be patient, and take your time, often they pick up on it if you're stressed or in a rush, and this makes things worse for both of you. If you don't have a syringe, you can get one from the vet, or the local pharmacy will have them. By the way, some cats will gag, sputter, cough and even foam at the mouth if you give them medicine and they hate the taste. The big things to watch out for are vomiting (not just spitting out the medicine), difficulty breathing, swollen eyes, mouth or tongue, or itchy skin/rash, these are possible signs of an allergic reaction and you should take him to the vet if you see them.

I'm pre-op and I've been wondering what I'm going to do with my two Siamese when I'm recovering... they both like to pile on to my belly whenever I lie on my bed, and sometimes they squabble over who gets to sit where! Skye thinks I'm her mommy and sometimes will sit on my chest and do the "kneading" thing on my belly. I wonder how she'll cope when I lose my weight and my belly isn't so nice and soft anymore? Also, Piper likes to use my belly as a trampoline (or at least a springboard) when he's leaping around the house first thing in the morning. Lucky he's very slim and not too heavy, but still... I guess if they can get used to my CPAP machine (they used to be terrified of the hissing) they can get used to my belly being off limits for a while! Here's a post-op cat horror story for you. A few years ago I had to have major surgery on my right shoulder, they opened it up from almost my neck to about three inches down my upper arm, and it was closed with a big row of steel staples. When I got home from the hospital, I had my right arm in a sling, and the incision was just covered with a single layer of cloth bandage, and I was wearing a tshirt over it. I was tired so I went right up to my bedroom to lie down, but just before lying down I walked over to the window to look outside. Unfortunately I forgot about Skye's habit of leaping up on my shoulder from behind so she can look out the window too! Well, you can guess what happened next... I ended up spinning around in circles like a mechanical bull, bellowing "GET HER OFF! GET HER OFF!" with the poor frightened cat stuck on my bad shoulder, claws hooked under the staples and unable to jump down, and me unable to unhook her as I only had the use of one arm! Lucky my daughter was there - once she got over her laughing fit, she helped get Skye untangled from my staples.

I have two actually........... First, as I was finally drifting off to sleep last night, the cat was sleeping close to me. All of a sudden, she jumped up, bit my arm, held on, shook her head and growled and then ran off. I swear, I did NOTHING. I was sleeping! I think someone fed my cat some crack. Ok Second... My boyfriend's parents are staying with us because they had to evacuate for the hurricane. THEY BROUGHT THE ASHES OF THEIR DEAD CAT. Why? BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE HER ALONE And those are my cat stories for today

since i have had this surgery my Bianca has never jumped on me. she does however climb or walk on me. today for the first time she actually leaped in air and landed on my tummy! first thought was OMG. next thing i realized it didn't hurt. wow i couldn't believe it. she is 11lbs of white fluff. just thought i would share.