Email Elizabethtessa the ocicat
Can You Hear The Sound When Your Cat Purrs?
There’s this cat in London who purrs as loud as a lawnmower. His name is Smokey. This cat purrs at 73 to 80 decibels. depending on which news report you read. If I had a cat like that, I’d kick him out of bed. Heck, I’d banish him to the garage. Or at the very least, I’d make sure I never petted him unless I wore earplugs.
Like all Sacramento real estate transactions are different, all cats purr differently. My cat who died December of 2010, Brandon, had a very loud purr. He used to sit on the bench near me at the breakfast table, and when we would have overnight company, our guests could not figure out where that sound came from in the morning. Brandon was content to just sit there and purr like a popcorn popper. I didn’t have to pet him to induce a purr. But he was no lawnmower.
Pica, our marbled ocicat — the throwaway nobody wanted because he wasn’t born with spots — he used to purr very softly. You could not hear him unless you glued your ear to the top of his head. His purr was so quiet it was almost a whisper. The sound was soft as his velvety coat, yet steady and long. He could purr for a good 30 minutes, especially while brushed. We had to euthanize Pica several years ago due to diabetes complications, but I still miss him everyday.
Pia, the cinnamon spotted ocicat, she also used to purr quietly but loud enough that I could hear her without smushing my ear into her body. I’d say her purr sounded like an electric razor. Sort of buzzy and raspy. She would purr for as long as she was stroked. Once I stopped petting her, she would stop purring almost immediately. She died from a sudden heart attack years ago. Scared the crap out of us. Who knew cats had heart attacks?
Jackson is a loud purring machine. He sounds like a coffee pot percolates. It’s a steady sound and tends to get louder as he gets closer to stopping. His purring, in fact, woke me up this morning. I must have rolled over or wiggled my toes or done something that made him realize there was life in the bed, and I wasn’t dead, because he was purring away like there is no tomorrow. I think he was just happy to see a live person.
Now Tessa, she is a nonstop. She is a manipulator, like most felines. She knows exactly what to do to get attention, or maybe we are just trained too well by her. If I ignore her while I’m working on my computer, she’ll plop herself in front of my monitor and stare at me. Then the purring starts. It’s like she’s saying, can’t you see how incredibly cute and adorable I am?
Thank goodness none of them purr loud enough to be mistaken for a vacuum cleaner.
While Elizabeth is visiting Pearl Harbor today, this is a reprint from 2011, previously published elsewhere.
Guess We Are Gonna Keep Horatio the Cat
Horatio the cat loves his new leopard Mondo condo.
Horatio the cat just grows on you. At first you might think, oh, he’s kind of cute in an odd sort of way. Like some drunk person fired paintballs at him. After a few days, you begin to think of him as a treasured work of art, worthy of a portrait hung in the Louvre. He purrs, he follows two-legged individuals everywhere. He talks. And I knew today that when I put a collar around his neck, with a reward tag, that he’s hanging out with the Weintraubs for the rest of his life. That’s a really good feeling. Even better than placing in the 3 top agents at Lyon Real Estate.
He is no ordinary cat, this Horatio the cat. I suspected it from the moment I laid eyes on him online. We decided to adopt a rescue cat, a mutt cat who needs a home. Not a purebred. But not one of those cats who lost a leg or was abused or found on the side of the road because some jerk threw him out of the car — because introducing a cat to our two other cats would be difficult enough. We were not ready to tackle other issues. Bless those people who do. We just wanted a cat who needed a nice home where people would dote on him. Horatio was born and raised at the sanctuary. I can’t believe he was there a year before he found his forever home.
At first I was a little worried, maybe because the sisters who run Sisters Animal Sanctuary in Elk Grove seemed a bit hesitant. They screen all the possible adopters who want a cat to make sure the cats are well matched. They kept telling me we could bring him back if he didn’t work out and they checked in regularly to see how Horatio the cat was faring with us. I’ve gotta hand it to those two, Julie Lindsey and Kathy Monahan, they invest a lot of money and effort into the Sisters Animal Sanctuary. They are thoughtful, caring and simply lovely people.
What a fun place to visit, too, 50 cats live there, and they all seem so happy. But they don’t have a human to cuddle with at night, no comfy bed where they can spread out, no place to truly call their own where they don’t have to share toys or attention. Not like Horatio the cat. We even transitioned Horatio from the World’s Best Cat Litter to our preferred Tidy Cats Breeze Pellets without a hitch.
We are not renaming him, either. My sister wants us to. But let me tell you, she is a person who babysat for her neighbor’s chickens last fall and she renamed everyone of those chickens. Just gave them new names! Without permission. I still don’t think the owners know she renamed their pets. No wonder she wants us to rename Horatio.
Following are a few photos I thought you might enjoy. You can support the Sisters Animal Sanctuary, a 501(c)3 , by making a tax deductible donation on their website, or mailing a check of $1.00 or more to the address below:
Sisters Animal Sanctuary
11480 Fogg Road
Elk Grove, CA 95757
Kathy Monahan and Julie Lindsey, Sisters Animal Sanctuary, posed on my front steps.
Horatio the cat is day dreaming about his future.
Horatio hangs over the edge of the top condo to taunt Tessa.
The 3 Felines Who Got in the Way of Sacramento Real Estate
Horatio is one of 3 felines in the Weintraub household, and the newest member.
You know what they say about the best laid plans, especially when there are 3 felines involved. I had it all planned out yesterday that I would spend most of the day preparing for my listing presentations on Monday, organizing my desk and entering deposits into Quicken. Perhaps even following up with a few sellers who seem anxious to sell their homes in Sacramento next month and see if I can help to speed things up. But none of that happened, and above is one of those 3 felines who messed it up.
Horatio is the newest member of the Weintraub family. We’ve been grieving since August, after we had to euthanize Pica, and it takes a while to drum up the courage to face another cat. Tessa, in her own way, was suffering a bit from the loss of her buddy, Pica, too. She was becoming more aggressive with Jackson, trying to snare him into her wicked plans, and he was not eager to comply. That probably sped up our process to find another cat.
Like we take care of our clients in Sacramento real estate by putting their interests first, we do the same thing with our cats. Well, within reason. They can’t play pinochle on the dining room table, no matter what. But we do take their feelings and well being into consideration. We strive to do the right thing.
Jackson, one of the 3 felines in the Weintraub household, stares at Horatio.
For most of the week, Horatio has been staying in our guest bathroom, but Sunday we let him out and introduced him to Tessa and Jackson. Jackson is 6 years old, a flame point Ragdoll, and he does not like confrontation. He avoids it all cost. But yesterday, he growled and hissed at Horatio. There were no paws touching paws, no teeth on fur, no scuffle. When Horatio tried to crawl on top of Jackson’s scratching bed, that’s where Jackson drew the line. It became a matter of who sounded more fierce, and Jackson won that growling fest.
Although Horatio came from a rescue, Sisters Animal Sanctuary in Elk Grove, he wasn’t an abandoned cat. He was born at the rescue a year ago and raised there. We have discovered he doesn’t understand the word NO, and he has no boundaries, but he will adjust. He purrs, rolls on his back, rubs on us, and cats that are very affectionate can be trained to abide by rules, well, as long as you can see them. Once you are out of sight, though, don’t fool yourself, they’re playing pinochle on the dining room table.
Tessa, one of 3 felines in Weintraub household, initially kept her distance from Horatio.
Tessa was the least bothered. She is a 3-year-old ocicat, and a lot more easy going than Jackson. She runs the house, too. At first, she freaked out every time Horatio came around the corner, but she found herself very attracted to his his new condo bed on a post and immediately leapt to the top to conquer all that she surveys. Later, as I sorted clothing on the bed, she and Horatio sat a few inches apart without hissing at all. I predict they will be friends much sooner, and she will bond with him.
Trying to do what is best for these guys, I spent almost the entire day on Sunday with these 3 felines. Coaxing them from room-to-room so Horatio could explore and get used to his new environment. Distracting them and softening the introductions by dangling their favorite cat mice on a wire. Shooting treats across the floor. Lots of petting, brushing and praise. If your call went to my voice mail yesterday, blame it on these 3 felines.
Tip: If you are interested in adopting a cat, check out the Sisters Animal Sanctuary in Elk Grove. Real sisters (not nuns) Julie and Kathy and the volunteers are doing a remarkable job caring for and finding homes for the cats who live there. They have about 50 cats on the premises. I especially liked Door Stop Cat, but we have to draw the line at the number of cats who live with us.
