I am willing to ship, anywhere in the lower 48 states, my cat…you pay postage!!
Three weeks ago I went to the local animal shelter and found a highly unattractive, five-year-old, altered, declawed, male cat. He has fit in nicely in our home, especially with all the pet rats we have…that is, until just two days ago.
Whereever I go he loves to sit on my chest, sometimes just an inch or two away from my face. Two days ago I picked up a whistle and started to play it. He IMMEDIATELY attacked the end of said whistle and started chewing on it. When I stopped playing he stopped chewing. Two times since that incident he has attacked my whistles while they were being played. Any whistle, high-D and higher are not safe around him.
There used to be a web site, maybe it was a parody, called something like BESNA, Brother Ellis Society of North America. I think it’s still up on an archive page, but without the disturbing photos. All I’m saying is, be careful about giving pets free to a good home.
Surely there is a better solution to giving the cat away. Practice in another room with the door closed. Send the cat out to buy groceries THEN practice while he’s gone. The animal survived one shelter, and they are hell, the likelyhood of it surviving another isn’t great.
Another thing to bear in mind, is that cats (or most non-human animals) have acute hearing, and that the shrill sound of a whistle is pretty tough on them…not the cats fault.
You made the choice to be responsible for this cat, and everything that comes with it, therefore you should see it through to the end. I think it petty, and small of somebody to get rid of a living being just because it won’t let you practice your whistle.
…oh, and next time, get a dog…or better yet…a goldfish.
We have 3 annoying cats that are cherished members of our family.
All were shelter rescues.
Cats require little else but clean food, water, and companionship on their terms.
Stick with this bad boy, and practice your whistle in the bathroom, like the rest of us…
Or maybe, it’s a comment about your playing that the cat is objecting to!
You are lucky to have such a devoted cat. He likes you, but can’t stand your whistling!
Yes…of course I am kidding…sort of! I love cats…they taste just like chicken.
Actually when I play the Highland pipes, the guitar, the fiddle, the piano, or the organ the cat does not mind AT ALL. Beside my bed I have several low whistles that I play every night and the cat doesn’t mind any of them. But, after experimentation, any whistle from a high-D and up he hates. And it doesn’t matter what notes I play he still attacks the whistle.
Just for measure we tried out the entire range of whistles on our four rats. No affect whatsoever. Next we tried the dog for which the whistles had no effect either. Finally we tried a friend’s two cats…(drum roll)…nothing!
Test results show that this is just a freak cat! I think I will take the advice and practice while sending the cat out shopping. The mall is pretty close and we do have a good bus system.
And, just for the record, I WAS going to have the envelope stamped FRAGILE before mailing it!!
May I just give you a ideal. Buy that whistle that can’t be played off ebay and hang it like a punching bag so your cat can release it’s anger on it.
By doing this you are also saving the poor child tha may have got it as a gift.
I knew I liked that cat, I can’t stand a high D and up either! Actually, I’ve heard very few high D’s I like. My ears just aren’t built for piercing tones. I did hear a Ralph Sweet wooden D in rosewood that I did like a lot. Sweeet!
Same with a bluegrass banjo-too much pop for me to play-I need to be about 30 feet away or more to appreciate the sound! Or a loud commercial on TV!
Some of us are just sensitive creatures, and there’s not much we can do about it! Sorry about that wifey!
The second whistle I ever bought, a Sweetones high D, I was demonstrating for a friend when her little chihuahua stood up, pawing at my knee, whining and barking as if pleading with me to please, please stop! Of course, I had only been playing for a few months, and the dog could just be a music critic.
Are you SURE the cat hates it? Is he growling and hissing? Some cats chew on things they’re playing with (like fingers, if you play too rough with them as kittens).
I have two cats who are sisters and littermates. The big fat one comes up, meows, bats the whistle, and tries to rub against it, but the normal-sized one couldn’t be less interested in anything either musical or noisy. But the big cat doesn’t growl or hiss, though I think it may hurt her ears. Or, perhaps, it’s just irritating in a fingernails-on-chalkboard way.
Steven, did I say whistle? I’m sorry, but that should have read OBOE! Sorry for any confusion. Your whistles are safe once again…
M, the cat is probably about 5 years old and has a broken purr box, at least I have yet to hear it go off. I bought him a fishing pole with a little feather covered toy attached by a rubberband. He doesn’t care about the toy, he sits on it and chews on the rubberband. Hence, this leads me to believe that he is not playing around when it attacks the OBOEs.
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
Last night I laid down and started playing a low-G OBOE when he immediately attacked it. (So much for the nothing-below-D theory.) Then theory #2 came to mind…
black Burke composite low-G in the bed - attacked…
black Clark Sweetone D in the upstairs bathroom - attacked…
black Walton’s Little Black OBOE D in the downstairs bathroom - attacked…
silver Overton D beside the family room computer - NOT attacked…
silver Overton low-D in the bedroom walk-in closet - NOT attacked…
This leads me to believe that either the cat doesn’t like black OBOEs or he doesn’t have any tolerance for cheap whistles!!
If you would like to help me to further this ongoing study, please send all of your expensive OBOEs (especially Copelands and Abells) so I can test each one individually…on the cat of course!!!
Quote: “If you would like to help me to further this ongoing study, please send all of your expensive OBOEs (especially Copelands and Abells) so I can test each one individually…on the cat of course!!!”
Hmmm…methinks I detect an evil whistle (I mean Oboe) stealing scam. The cat is just a decoy…
Not one but two adware/spyware packages you’re asked to install and at least one of them hangs you in an endless loop “install… yes or no” - “you must answer yes to view this content” “install… yes or no” - “you must answer yes to view this content” with no escape. I had to use the task manager to kill IE to escape.
Lock the cat in a room for several hours every day with a CD constantly playing whistle music. With luck he’ll soon be trained to run when he spots your whistle coming to your lips!
I had to do a little housework today so I put on my favourite mix of uilleann pipes and whistles CD to help pass the time. When the first tune with Laurence Nugent playing a D whistle came on the cat just went SPASTIC. First he ran to me to chew the darned whistle to pieces. When he saw I didn’t have one he just sat and howled through the whole tune! It turns out there are only certain frequencies that set him off…that’s why one of the lower whistles give him fits also.
I guess my only solution is to either put electrical tape over the affected holes and play unique versions of tunes, or build my own tabor pipe that is “cat friendly”. Or maybe I could just put the electrical tape over the cat’s ears…
