Paw ​Tracks at Owl Cottage (Paw Tracks 2.) 0 csillagozás

You are never alone with a cat.

105. oldal - Carlos

Cats are conservative in their habits and do not take readily to change; they like an established routine and become stressed when a pattern is not adhered to.

185. oldal - Luis

Cats never forget a wrong done to them.

195. oldal - Max

Cats, like other mammals, are sentient beings and Maine Coons are reputed to be the most intelligent of all cats.

220. oldal - Max

One night I was watching Amadeus the story of Mozart's life, I was troubled to hear a discordant, rumbling interference to the soundtrack. I tried to find out where it was coming from until I realized that Max, who was lying behind me, was singing his purrs to accompany a piano concerto in the film. I was humbled by the discovery. Since then, we have found that Max is very fond of music and it was a revelation to both Catherine and myself to find that one of his favourite recordings is the soundtrack from the film South Pacific.

222-223. oldal - Max

My cats, especially dear Pablo, taught me the cat skill of silent watchfulness. So we listen and observe.

229. oldal - Endings

Since we got our boys I have found out that Maine Coons owe their existence to the actions of Marie Antoinette, the fateful Queen of France in the late eighteenth century. A virtual prisoner of royal protocol since her birth, she found solace and comfort in her pets and was especially fond of cats. She interbred some newly acquired Norwegian Forest cats, who were popular as rat-catchers aboard ships, with her long-haired pedigree lap-cats. Over saveral generations of breeding, a different type of cat emerged. These large and extremely handsome cats were considered to be exceptional because of the intelligence and affability. When the revolutionaries began to attack the French aristocracy, the Queen dispatched her beloved cats en masse by ship to the Americas, fully intending to follow herself. However, on her journey to the port, travelling in a coach bearing the royal insignia, she was stopped, taken captive, put on trial and ultimately guillotined. Her cats, meanwhile, survived and became most popular in that part of America called Maine on the east coast.

105-106. oldal - Carlos

During the hand-feeding period I was startled to be awakened early one morning by a robust small body treading my shoulder with needle-sharp claws. Strangely, it was Luis, come to give me a wake-up call despite the fact, unknown to him, that I had worked at my writing until after 4 a.m. Through half-closed eyes I stroked and welcomed him and then relapsed into a deep sleep. Awakening several hours later I felt a warm lump resting between my arm and my chest; it was Luis curled up against me inside the bedclothes. Immediately to my stupefied brain came the revelation that this cat, like the others I had known and loved, was somehow making it all right. He wanted to show me that there was no need for extraordinary tactics to affect a relationship and that a cat will decide in its own good time when to bond to a human – that it can not be rushed, especially if it is Maine Coon cat.

177. oldal - Luis

Whenever we came near one of the flower beds so carefully laid out by Catherine, Luis would bury his face, eyes closed in ecstasy, into the flowering blooms. Then he would flip on to his back and roll amongst them, which did not do a great deal for the flowers, though I did not stop him because he was so enjoying himself.

178. oldal - Luis

To gain the love of a cat is a most enriching and uplifting achievement and not to be viewed lightly.

181. oldal - Luis