So glad I found you guys!

[Pooka1]

No. I just couldn’t replace BK.

Came close on a bengal at a cat show...they breed gold into the ends of each hair shaft, their coats are amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_(cat)

Also looked at chausies, both hybrids. They are a little bit mountain lionish, wouldn’t you say?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chausie

Ed

They are beautiful. I love cats. I think they are a type of people. (smiley face)

Another boarder at the barn is a cat vet. She won't take these hybrids as clients. I forget the reason.

Are they fully domesticated?

[Elisa]

I absolutely LOVE cats. I love all animals but in the last three years since we've been up here in CR I've gotten to love them even more. It all started with my daughter being very lonely when we first moved here and she asked if she could get a kitten and I said yes so within ten minutes a car pulled up to our driveway and dropped off a little black female kitty.

She'd been talking online to someone who was giving away kittens and when the dad got a yes from a mom he zoomed over here. I met him in the driveway and his daughter handed my daughter the kitten and I asked if she had any 'stuff' and he said no. I asked if she had a name and the daughter said yes her name is Alice. Zoom off they went. Hey, at least she came with a very cool name. She really is 'our' first family cat but my husband is a total cat lover and has had several before we met.

Since then we adopted Molly and June which both had miserable lives and were near death when we got them, especially June. They're lovely now.

We also have the neighbour's cat Leo who pretty much moved in when Alice came along and he won't go back home and it has caused some upset with the neighbours but we have a cat door for our girls and he just thinks he lives here. I wish he would go home but he won't.

That cat in the second link that Ed posted looks a lot like Leo except Leo has no tail; he's a Manx, as is Alice but she has a stubby tail. He's friggin' HUGE and lazy and my girl cats hate him and hiss and swat at him but he won't go home. I wonder if he's a hybrid as well or just a Manx.

[jrnyc]

well, then i just have to put up a favorite picture of Cat...
i rescued him from the street...the vet had to sedate him to clean up the 4 huge bites he had on him at Xmas time! he has been with us ever since...
my puppy likes to play with him...Cat likes to play too..then when he gets tired of puppy, Cat just jumps over the fence and takes a break...

jess
http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/...t-twst-bod.jpg

[foofer]

I absolutely LOVE cats. I love all animals but in the last three years since we've been up here in CR I've gotten to love them even more. It all started with my daughter being very lonely when we first moved here and she asked if she could get a kitten and I said yes so within ten minutes a car pulled up to our driveway and dropped off a little black female kitty.

She'd been talking online to someone who was giving away kittens and when the dad got a yes from a mom he zoomed over here. I met him in the driveway and his daughter handed my daughter the kitten and I asked if she had any 'stuff' and he said no. I asked if she had a name and the daughter said yes her name is Alice. Zoom off they went. Hey, at least she came with a very cool name. She really is 'our' first family cat but my husband is a total cat lover and has had several before we met.

Since then we adopted Molly and June which both had miserable lives and were near death when we got them, especially June. They're lovely now.

We also have the neighbour's cat Leo who pretty much moved in when Alice came along and he won't go back home and it has caused some upset with the neighbours but we have a cat door for our girls and he just thinks he lives here. I wish he would go home but he won't.

That cat in the second link that Ed posted looks a lot like Leo except Leo has no tail; he's a Manx, as is Alice but she has a stubby tail. He's friggin' HUGE and lazy and my girl cats hate him and hiss and swat at him but he won't go home. I wonder if he's a hybrid as well or just a Manx.

I'm wondering how your kitties get along with your chillies? Just doesn't seem like a good mix. Beautiful cats, though...all of them here.

I'm working up the wherewithal to get another one...we lost ours last winter and have not wanted to do that again. The mice are getting too sassy here though...

[Elisa]

I'm wondering how your kitties get along with your chillies? Just doesn't seem like a good mix. Beautiful cats, though...all of them here.

I'm working up the wearwithal to get another one...we lost ours last winter and have not wanted to do that again. The mice are getting too sassy here though...

The cats and chinchillas never see each other. The cats roam the house and the chinchillas have their very own room downstairs with two locking devices on the door. In my chinchilla room I have a love seat, TV and a radio I leave on for them in the night. Let me dig up a couple of pics of my chin room.

And yes, I definitely would go out to your local shelter and give another kitty a wonderful home. I think I will always have at least one cat around. I am going to miss them SO much and have been cuddling them every moment I can. They all smell so good. I wish I could sneak one of them in my suitcase.

Jess, Cat is gorgeous! It's so neat he gets along so well with Sparky and that you rescued him from such an awful situation. I bet he thanks you every day.

[Elisa]

My photobucket is totally disorganized right now but here's a couple of pics of my chin room/cages. I love going down there to spend time with them, watch TV and get away from it all. I will miss all my seven chin puffs who give me whisker kisses too.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...e_01/017-1.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...e_01/007-6.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...NewCage007.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/100_4861.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/102_0073.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/102_0217.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f..._01/006-12.jpg

[Elisa]

My photobucket is totally disorganized right now but here's a couple of pics of my chin room/cages. I love going down there to spend time with them, watch TV and get away from it all. I will miss all my seven chin puffs who give me whisker kisses too.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...e_01/017-1.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/100_4861.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/102_0073.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f..._01/006-12.jpg

[jrnyc]

Cat thanks you, Elisa...he thinks he is pretty handsome, too!
he is learning not to nip me! no one ever taught him...
but on the other hand, after he eats, he rolls around on the rug and purrs at me, so i know he likes us!
it IS kinda neat that he and Sparky tussle and play...
except Sparky learned to climb the mountains of snow we had this winter...a bad habit he copied from Cat...
Cat is a great climber, pouncer and leaper!
i am trying to explain to Sparks that he is not a cat, and shouldn't try to climb the way Cat does!

is that a rabbit in your picture?...sorry for my ignorance....i don't really know what a chinchilla is...city girl that i am....

???

[titaniumed]

Sharon
It is wise to have a feline vet lined up to take care of your hybrid. Its almost like finding a scoli surgeon, you have to find the right vet. The cat show people will point you in the right direction.....That really goes for any animal.

I think you have to breed to a F4 to be considered domesticated....any “wilder”, and now you have a different situation, not a lap cat.

A breeder told me that some male chausie’s can get up to about 80# and can drop a pig. It’s not the kind of pet you put out for the evening. The local dogs would really have a problem with an overgrown pussycat running around.....Take them for a walk, run into a friendly dog, and it would be like having a chainsaw on a leash.

Elisa
I see that you are off soon. I would like to wish you two the very best. Please try to keep us informed on how everything goes. Oh yeah...nice cats!
Ed

[Elisa]

Thanks Ed. I'll do my best on the update department.

Jess, that's not a rabbit, it's a chinchilla sitting on my feet. His name is Carlos and he's a brown velvet that I got from the SPCA. The white one sitting in the dust bath is Pip and he's my very first chinchilla that my husband found outside hiding under his van one morning when we lived in Victoria. I've had him for about five or six years now I think. People don't realize that chinchillas can have a very long lifespan and can live up to 20 years. Linda here knows all about them b/c she used to have two. :-)

Looks like I double-posted and a couple of those pics are quite old and there have been some changes to the cages as well as I've added a bunch of other things to them etc. but you get the idea of their little room.

~Leaving tomorrow!

[jrnyc]

those are beautiful creatures!

good luck on your trip today...
i hope all goes smoothly and you get there safely...
this is the beginning of your son's journey to good health

hope you can keep this forum updated as things progress...
both of you will be in my thoughts and prayers...

jess

[tonibunny]

Cats are wonderful! Did I ever show you a pic of my own large cat, Ed? This is Monty :-)

[Pooka1]

With all these cat pictures and chin puff set up pictures, this may be my favorite thread. (smiley face)

We can send men to the moon but we can't figure out how to make my husband not allergic to cats. (sad face)

[Pooka1]

Cats are wonderful! Did I ever show you a pic of my own large cat, Ed? This is Monty :-)

That's a good one! The one you posted previously was him playing a piece on the piano as I recall.

[tonibunny]

Oh, that's right. Monty makes the (full-size) piano look small!

It's such a shame that your husband is allergic to cats :-( I have several friends who have managed to overcome their cat allergies by taking antihistamines and building up a tolerance somehow, but I don't know if that would be possible in every case.