~Cat Quotes~

Cat Quotes

the ebookhas

been compiled

primarily

from

http://www.catquotes.com/

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This collection comprises 4 sections :

Cat Quotes is a collection of over 400 quotes. I have tried to remove all the duplicates but in a couple of cases I have left a few which are so simular as to be the same quote, atributed to different people.

Cat Proverbs has a few sayings which can also be found in the gerneal cat quotes, but generally most are new.

Cat Sayings range from pithy proverbs (again a few duplicates), to some general expressions.

Cat Poetry (while the quotes section has several poetic pasages and even complete limericks) this section is comprised of over 100 poems and rhymes. When a poem is untitled, the first line serves as the indexing title.

This book is closes with a humorous litle poem called A Cats Prayer. Please email me with any errors you may find. DWFrancis@aol.com

CONTENTS

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Cat Quotes

Cat Proverbs

Cat Sayings

Cat Poetry

Cat Quotes

"You can't help that. We're all mad here."

- The Cheshire Cat, from Alice in Wonderland

"No matter how much cats fight, there always seems to be plenty of kittens."

- Abraham Lincoln

"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat."

- Mark Twain

"With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?"

- Fernand Mery, Her Majesty the Cat

"I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior."

- Hippolyte Taine

Actually, cats do this to protect you from gnomes who come and steal your breath while you sleep.

- John Dobbin

"I myself think that to have a cat is more important than to have a Bible."

- R.H. Blyth, from Zen and Zen Classics V4

"Cats love one so much - more than they will allow. But they have so much wisdom they keep it to themselves."

- Mary Wilkins

Don't think that I'm silly for liking it, I just happen to like the simple little things, and I love cats!

- Michelle Gardner

Everything I know I learned from my cat: When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you go to the vet's, pee on your owner.

- Gary Smith

Fans think they want to see more than the 10 to 20 seconds of Itchy and Scratchy that we put on the show, but my feeling is less is more. Once you've skinned and flayed a cat, ripped his head off, made him drink acid and tied his tongue to the moon, there really isn't that much to say.

- Matt Groening, 1993

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.

- Pablo Picasso

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

- Winston Churchill

I'm aloof, I like to run around outside, but I also like to curl up in warm spots. I eat fish.

- Megan Coughlin on why she'd make a good cat

The naming of cats is a difficult matter. It isn't just one of your holiday games. You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter. When I tell you a cat must have three different names...

- T.S. Eliot

The sun rose slowly, like a fiery furball coughed up uneasily onto a sky-blue carpet by a giant unseen cat.

- Michael McGarel

We need a word for all the kitty-prints that are all over my windshield because the cats like to lie on my hood when the car is still warm.

- Megan Coughlin

You can visualize a hundred cats. Beyond that, you can't. Two hundred, five hundred, it all looks the same.

- Jack Wright (of Kingston, Ontario, the Guinness Book record holder for the owner of the most cats at one time [689])

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

- Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio

"After scolding one's cat one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word. And has filed it for reference."

- Charlotte Gray

"A dog will flatter you but you have to flatter the cat."

- George Mikes

"You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals."

- George Mikes

"You own a dog but you feed a cat."

- Jenny de Vries

"Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well."

- Missy Dizick

"One is never sure, watching two cats washing each other, whether it's affection, the taste or a trial run for the jugular."

- Helen Thomson

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this."

-Anonymous

"A cat sees no good reason why it should obey another animal, even if it does stand on two legs."

- Sarah Thompson

"Cats are kindly masters, just so long as you remember your place."

- Paul Gray

"One must love a cat on its own terms."

- Paul Gray

"Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later."

- Mary Bly

I have noticed that what cats most appreciate in a human being is not the ability to produce food which they take for granted--but his or her entertainment value.

- Geoffrey Household

Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.

- Joseph Wood Krutch

"Anyone who claims that a cat cannot give a dirty look either has never kept a cat or is singularly unobservant."

- Maurice Burton

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.

- Jean Cocteau

There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person.

- Dan Greenberg

No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch.

- Leo Dworken

"When you come upon your cat, deep in meditation, staring thoughtfully at something that you can't see, just remember that your cat is, in fact, running the universe."

- Bonni Elizabeth Hall & Missycat

Cats can be cooperative when something feels good, which, to a cat, is the way everything is supposed to feel as much of the time as possible.

- Roger Caras

Like a graceful vase, a cat, even when motionless, seems to flow.

- George F. Will

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.

- Garrison Keillor

By and large, people who enjoy teaching animals to roll over will find themselves happier with a dog.

- Barbara Holland

A meow massages the heart.

- Stuart McMillan

Cats are the ultimate narcissists. You can tell this by all the time they spend on personal grooming. Dogs aren't like this. A dog's idea of personal grooming is to roll in a dead fish.

-James Gorman

If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.

- Martin Buxbaum

Cats always know whether people like or dislike them. They do not always care enough to do anything about it.

- Winifred Carriere

If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence.

- Will Cuppy

There's no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.

- Wesley Bates

The trouble with cats is that they've got no tact.

- P. G. Wodehouse

Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other.

-Stephen Baker

Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire, he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.

- Jean Burden

The mathematical probability of a common cat doing exactly as it pleases is the one scientific absolute in the world.

- Lynn M. Osband

Cats do not have to be shown how to have a good time, for they are unfailing ingenious in that respect.

- James Mason

Meow is like aloha - it can mean anything.

- Hank Ketchum

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.

- Ellen Perry Berkeley

How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven.

- Robert A. Heinlein

As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.

- Cleveland Amory

Two things are aesthetically perfect in the world - the clock and the cat.

- Emile Auguste Chartier

Even the stupidest cat seems to know more than any dog.

- Eleanor Clark

Kittens are born with their eyes shut. They open them in about six days, take a look around, then close them again for the better part of their lives.

- Stephen Baker

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

- Ernest Hemingway

If animals could speak the dog would be a a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.

- Mark Twain

The smallest feline is a masterpiece.

- Leonardo da Vinci

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

- Albert Schweitzer

You can't own a cat. The best you can do is be partners.

-Sir Harry Swanson

There are no ordinary cats.

- Colette

A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.

- William Lyon Phelps

In the beginning, God created man, but seeing him so feeble, He gave him the cat.

- Warren Eckstein

There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.

- Tay Hohoff

One reason we admire cats is for their proficiency in one-upmanship. They always seem to come out on top, no matter what they are doing, or pretend they do.

- Barbara Webster

The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.

-Jules Reynard

Most beds sleep up to six cats. Ten cats without the owner.

- Stephen Baker

The cat is domestic only as far as suits its own ends...

- Saki (H. H. Munro)

We cannot without becoming cats, perfectly understand the cat mind.

-St. George Mivart

Most cats, when they are Out want to be In, and vice versa, and often simultaneously.

- Louis F. Camuti, DVM

The phrase "domestic cat" is an oxymoron.

- George F. Will

By associating with the cat, one only risks becoming richer.

- Colette

Intelligence in the cat is underrated.

- Louis Wain

Way down deep, we're all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them.

- Jim Davis

Her function is to sit and be admired.

- Georgina Strickland Gates

I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through.

- Jules Verne

Of all animals, the cat alone attains to the comtemplative life. He regards the wheel of existence from without, like the Buddha.

- Andrew Lang

There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten.

- Jules Champfleury

One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don't come home at night.

- Margaret Mead

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!"

- Theophile Gautier

Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of."

- Sir Walter Scott

"Cats are a tonic, they are a laugh, they are a cuddle, they are at least pretty just about all of the time and beautiful some of the time."

-Roger Caras

"As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human mind."

- Cleveland Amory

"The cat seldom interferes with other people's rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life."

- Carl Van Vechten

"Even overweight, cats instinctively know the cardinal rule: when fat, arrange yourself in slim poses."

- John Weitz

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow."

- Jeff Valdez

"People that hate cats will come back as mice in their next life."

- Faith Resnick

"There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats."

- Anonymous

"Managing senior programmers is like herding cats."

- Dave Platt

"Cats are glorious creatures ~ who must on no accounts be underestimated...

Their eyes are fathomless depths of cat-world mysteries.

- Lesley Anne Ivory (from Glorious Cats, The Paintings of Lesley Anne Ivory)

"I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen, and see the cat smiling into her fur as she delicately combs it with her rough pink tongue.

Cat, I would lend you this book to study but it appears you have already read it.

She looks up and gives me her full gaze.

Don't be ridiculous, she purrs, I wrote it.

- Dilys Laing, from "Miao"

"A cat sees us as the dogs...A cat sees himself as the human."

- Unknown

"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a lot of ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia."

-Joseph Wood Crutch

"You can not look at a sleeping cat and feel tense."

-Jane Pauley

"There is the little matter of disposal of droppings in which the cat is far ahead of its rivals. The dog is somehow thrilled by what he or any of his friends have produced, hates to leave it, adores smelling it, and sometimes eats it...The cat covers it up if he can..."

-Paul Gallico

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."

-Unknown

"The cat has too much spirit to have no heart"

- Ernest Menaul

"The problem with cats is that they get the same exact look whether they see a moth or an axe murderer."

- Paula Poundstone

"If I die before my cat, I want a little of my ashes put in his food so I can live inside him."

-Drew Barrymore

"We have a theory that cats are planning to take over the world, just try to look them straight in the eye...yup, they're hiding something!"

-Dog Fancy

"When you are looking, a cat acts like a princess, but the minute they think you are not looking, a cat acts like a fool."

- KC Buffington

"Cats are designated friends."

-Norman Corwin

"Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want."

-Joseph Wood Crutch

Civilization is defined by the pesence of cats."

-Unknown

"The cat could very well be man's best friend but would never stoop to admitting it."

-Doug Larson

"If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer."

-Alfred North Whitehead

"His mind is like a steel trap--full of mice."

-Foghorn Leghorn

"The really great thing about cats is their endless variety. One can pick a cat to fit almost any kind of decor, color, scheme, income, personality, mood. But under the fur, whatever color it may be, there still lies, essentially unchanged, one of the world's free souls."

-Eric Gurney

"I found out why cats drink out of the toilet. My mother told me it's because the water is cold in there. And I'm like: How did my mother know that?"

-Wendy Liebman

"Prose book are the show dogs I breed and sell to support my cat."

-Robert Graves

"Winners are different. They're a different breed of cat."

- Byron Nelson

"The smart cat doesn't let on that he is."

-H.G. Frommer

"He [the cat] liked to peep into the refrigerator and risk having his head shut in by the closing door. He also climbed to the top of the stove, discontinuing the practice after he singed his tail."

-Lloyd Alexander

"Cats are notoriously sore losers. Coming in second best, especially to someone as poorly coordinated as a human being, grates their sensibility."

-Stephen Baker

Cats do care. For example they know instinctively what time we have to be at work in the morning and they wake us up twenty minutes before the alarm goes off."

-Michael Nelson

"You may own a cat, but cannot govern one."

-Kate Sanborn

"It always gives me a shiver when I see a cat seeing what I can't see."

-Eleanor Farjeon

"If you yell at a cat, you're the one who is making a fool of yourself."

-Unknown

"Of all domestic animals the cat is the most expressive. His face is capable of showing a wide range of expressions. His tail is a mirror of his mind. His gracefulness is surpassed only by his agility. And, along with all these, he has a sense of humor."

- Walter Chandoha

"A dog is like a liberal, he wants to please everybody. A cat doesn't really need to know that everybody loves him."

- William Kunstler

"An ordinary kitten will ask more questions than any five year old."

- Carl Van Vechten

"The reason cats climb is so that they can look down on almost every other animal...its also the reason they hate birds."

- KC Buffington

"If God created man in his own image, you've got to wonder; in whose image did he create the nobler cat?"

- Unknown

"Essentially, you do not so much teach your cat as bribe him."

- Lynn Hollyn

"There are few things in life more heart warming than to be welcomed by a cat."

- Tay Hohoff

"It is remarkable, in cats, that the outer life they reveal to their masters is one of perpetual boredom."

- Robley Wilson, Jr.

"Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun."

- Lloyd Alexander

"There is no cat 'language'. Painful as it is for us to admit, they don't need one."

- Barbara Holland

"Time spent with cats is never wasted."

-May Sarton

"The furry little buggers [cats] are just deep, deep wells you throw your emotions into."

- Bruce Schimmel

"Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most inconvenience."

- Pam Brown

"Cats have an infallible understanding of total concentration--and get between you and it."

- Arthur Bridges

"A kitten is so flexible that she is almost double; the hind parts are equivalent to another kitten with which the forepart plays. She does not discover that her tail belongs to her until you tread on it."

- Henry David Thoreau

"If the pull of the outside world is strong, there is also a pull towards the human. The cat may disappear on its own errands, but sooner or later, it returns once again for a little while, to greet us with its own type of love. Independent as they are, cats find more than pleasure in our company."

- Lloyd Alexander

"Cats were put into the world to disprove the dogma that all things were created to serve man."

- Paul Gray

"Cat said, 'I am not a friend, and I am not a Servant. I am the Cat who walks by himself, and I wish to come into your Cave.'"

- Rudyard Kipling, from the "Just-So Stories"

To err is human, to purr is feline.

- Robert Byrne

If you want to know the character of a man, find out what his cat thinks of him.

- Anonymous

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

- Colette

The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.

- Jules Reynard

If cats could talk, they wouldn't.

- Nan Porter

Every life should have nine cats.

-Anonymous

Dogs eat. Cats dine.

- Ann Taylor

...You are my cat and I am your human.

- Hilaire Belloc

A cat is there when you call her - if she doesn't have something better to do.

- Bill Adler

Since each of us is blessed with only one life, why not live it with a cat?

- Robert Stearns

A cat can purr its way out of anything.

- Donna McCrohan

My cat does not talk as respectfully to me as I do to her.

- Colette

It is in their eyes that their magic resides.

- Arthur Symons

A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.

- Hazel Nicholson

A dog is a dog, a bird is a bird, and a cat is a person.

- Mugsy Peabody

"The cat has been described as the most perfect animal, the acme of muscular perfection and the supreme example in the animal kingdom of the coordination of mind and muscle."

-Roseanne Ambrose Brown

"Poets generally love cats--because poets have no delusions about their own superiority."

-Marion Garretty

"Everything a cat is and does physically is to me beautiful, lovely, stimulating, soothing, attractive and an enchantment."

-Paul Gallico, from "An Honourable Cat"

"I think one reason we admire cats, those of us who do, is their proficience in one-upmanship. They always seem to come out on top, no matter what they are doing--or pretend to do. Rarely do you see a cat discomfited. They have no conscience, and they never regret. Maybe we secretly envy them."

- Barbara Webster, from "Creatures and Contentments"

"Any cat who misses a mouse pretends it was aiming for the dead leaf."

-Charlotte Gray

"If your cat falls out of a tree, go indoors to laugh."

- Patricia Hitchcock

French novelist Colette was a firm cat-lover. When she was in the U.S. she saw a cat sitting in the street. She went over to talk to it and the two of them mewed at each other for a friendly minute. Colette turned to her companion and exclaimed, "Enfin! Quelqu'un qui parle francais." (At last! Someone who speaks French!)

- Anonymous

"A cat isn't fussy--just so long as you remember he likes his milk in the shallow, rose-patterned saucer and his fish on the blue plate. From which he will take it, and eat it off the floor."

- Arthur Bridges

"It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that whatever you say to them, they always purr."

- Lewis Carroll

"One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home."

- Pam Brown

"To some blind souls all cats are much alike. To a cat lover every cat from the beginning of time has been utterly and amazingly unique."

- Jenny de Vries

"There are people who reshape the world by force or argument, but the cat just lies there, dozing, and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience."

- Allen and Ivy Dodd

"Places to look: behind the books in the bookshelf, any cupboard with a gap too small for any cat to squeeze through, the top of anything sheer, under anything too low for a cat to squash under and inside the piano."

-Roseanne Ambrose-Brown

"A cat can maintain a position of curled up somnolence on your knee until you are nearly upright. To the last minute she hopes your conscience will get the better of you and you will settle down again."

-Pam Brown

"Cats like doors left open--in case they change their minds."

- Rosemary Nisbet

"Many a cat can only be lured in by switching off all the lights and keeping very still. Until the indignant cry of a cat-locked-out comes at the door."

- Pam Brown

"The trouble with sharing one's bed with cats is that they'd rather sleep on you than beside you."

- Pam Brown

"A cat allows you to sleep on the bed. On the edge."

- Jenny de Vries

"All cats like being the focus of attention."

- Peter Gray

"When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me?"

- Michel E. de Monaigne

"People meeting for the first time suddenly relax if they find they both have cats. And plunge into anecdote."

- Charlotte Gray

"Nobody who is not prepared to spoil cats will get from them the reward they are able to give to those who do spoil them."

- Compton MacKenzie

"If you shamefully misuse a cat once she will always maintain a dignified reserve toward you afterward. You will never get her full confidence again."

- Mark Twain

"It's very hard to be polite if you're a cat."

- Anonymous

"When addressed, a gentleman cat does not move a muscle. He looks as if he hasn't heard."

- Mary Sarton

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

- Robert A. Heinlein

"Again I must remind you that a dog's a dog--a cat's a cat."

- T. S. Eliot

"It is in the nature of cats to do a certain amount of unescorted roaming."

- Adlai Stevenson

"Most cats do not approach humans recklessly. The possibility of concealed weapons, clods or sticks, tend to make them reserved. Homeless cats in particular--with some justification, unfortunately--consider humans their natural enemies. Much ceremony must be observed, and a number of diplomatic feelers put out, before establishing a state of truce."

- Lloyd Alexander

"The cat of the slums and alleys, starved, outcast, harried, ... still displays the self-reliant watchfulness which man has never taught it to lay aside."

- Saki

"When anyone mistreats it, the cat wants nothing more to do with that person and will remember him or her for a long time. It doesn't believe in the doctrine of turning the other cheek and won't pretend that it does."

- Lawrence N. Johnson

"A cat is the only domestic animal I know who toilet trains itself and does a damned impressive job of it."

- Joseph Epstein

"I purr, therefore I am."

- Anonymous

"Cats are living adornments."

- Edwin Lent

"What greater gift than the love of a cat?"

- Charles Dickens

"People that don't like cats haven't met the right one yet."

- Deborah A. Edwards, D.V.M.

"I called my cat William because no shorter name fits the dignity of his character. Poor old man, he has fits now, so I call him Fitz-William."

- Josh Billings

"Always the cat remains a little beyond the limits we try to set for him in our blind folly."

- Andre Norton

"A cat doesn't know what it wants and wants more of it."

- Richard Hexem

"For me, one of the pleasures of cats' company is their devotion to bodily comfort."

- Sir Compton Mackenzie

"It was not I who was teaching my cat to gather rosebuds, but she who was teaching me."

- Irving Townsend

"I saw the most beautiful cat today. It was sitting by the side of the road, its two front feet neatly and graciously together. Then it gravely swished around its tail to completely encircle itself. It was so fit and beautifully neat, that gesture, and so self-satisfied, so complacent."

- Ann Morrow Lindbergher

"If there was any petting to be done...he chose to do it. Often he would sit looking at me, and then, moved by a delicate affection, come and pull at my coat and sleeve until he could touch my face with his nose, and then go away contented."

- Charles Dudley Warner

"People who love cats have some of the biggest hearts around."

- Susan Easterly

"The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself. Of course he wants care and shelter. You don't buy love for nothing. Like all pure creatures, cats are practical."

- William S. Burroughs

"Is it yet another survival of jungle instinct, this hiding away from prying eyes at important times? Or merely a gesture of independence, a challenge to man and his stupid ways?"

- Michael Joseph

"When your cat rubs the side of its face along your leg, it's affectionately marking you with its scent, identifying you as its private property, saying, in effect, 'You belong to me'."

- Susan McDonough, D.M.V.

"Although all cat games have their rules and rituals, these vary with the individual player. The cat, of course, never breaks a rule. If it does not follow precedent, that simply means it has created a new rule and it is up to you to learn it quickly if you want the game to continue."

- Sidney Denham

"A cat is never vulgar."

- Carl Van Vechten

"I rarely meddled in the cat's personal affairs and she rarely meddled in mine. Neither of us was foolish enough to attribute human emotions to our pets."

- Kinky Friedman

"Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance."

- Dan Greenburg

"Cats are successful underachievers. They only need to purr in order to get free food and TLC. What other creature can lay around the house doing nothing beyond purring, and still get free food and TLC?"

- Jim Aites

"Could the purr be anything but contemplative?"

- Irving Townsend

"Cat people are different to the extent that they generally are not conformists. How could they be with a cat running their lives?"

- Louis J. Camuti, D.V.M.

"Sleeping together is a euphemism for people, but tantamount to marriage with cats."

- Marge Percy

"Any conditioned cat-hater can be won over by any cat who chooses to make the effort."

- Paul Corey

"You can tell your cat anything and he'll still love you. If you lose your job or your best friend, your cat will think no less of you."

- Helen Powers

"Cats are much like they were when they were first domesticated. They are very independent because they had to be to survive."

- Dr. Raymond Hampton

"Cats are connoisseurs of comfort."

- James Herriot

"A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings."

- William Ralph Inge

"Cats come and go without ever leaving."

- Martha Curtis

"The way to keep a cat is to try to chase it away."

- E. W. Howe

"Are cats lazy? Well, more power to them if they are. Which one of us has not entertained the dream of doing just as he likes, when and how he likes, and as much as he likes?"

- Fernand Mery

"A little drowsing cat is an image of perfect beatitude."

- Jules Champfleury

"No one can own a cat, but they will bless you with their company, if they choose."

- Frank Engram , 1952

"He seems the incarnation of everything soft and silky and velvety, without a sharp edge in his composition, a dreamer whose philosophy is sleep and let sleep."

- Saki

"All cats are possessed of a proud spirit, and the surest way to forfeit the esteem of a cat is to treat him as an inferior being."

- Michael Joseph

"There is no such thing as 'just a cat'."

- Robert A. Heinlein

"There is, indeed, no single quality of the cat that man could not emulate to his advantage."

- Carl Van Vechten

If the Torah had not been given to Israel, we could have learned modesty from the cat, intimacy from the dove, respect from the rooster, and integrity from the ant.

- Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 100 b

"Even if you have just destroyed a Ming Vase, purr. Usually all will be forgiven."

- Lenny Rubenstein

"Does the father figure in your cat's life ever clean the litter box? My husband claims that men lack the scooping gene."

- Barbara L. Diamond

"Every cat is special in its own way."

- Sara Jane Clark

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there, lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore."

- Mark Twain

"If by chance I seated myself to write, she very slyly, very tenderly, seeking protection and caresses, would softly take her place on my knee and follow the comings and goings of my pen -- sometimes effacing, with an unintentional stroke of her paw, lines of whose tenor she disapproved."

- Pierre Loti

"A cat is nobody's fool."

- Heywood Brown

"Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs."

- Desmond Morris

"My cat speaks sign language with her tail."

- Robert A. Stern

"A home without a cat, and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat, may be a perfect home, perhaps; but how can it prove its title?"

- Mark Twain

"When I raise a cat from kittenhood, it learns to read me so well that it can con me and predict what I'm going to do. A young adult cat doesn't know what to expect from me and I don't know what to expect from it, so we immediately have each other's attention."

- Karl Lewis Miller

"Just as the would-be debutante will fret and fuss over every detail till all is perfect, so will the fastidious feline patiently toil until every whiskertip is in place."

- Lynn Hollyn

"Another cat? Perhaps. For love there is also a season; its seeds must be resown. But a family cat is not replaceable like a wornout coat or a set of tires. Each new kitten becomes its own cat, and none is repeated. I am four cats old, measuring out my life in friends that have succeeded but not replaced one another."

- Irving Townsend

"I am indebted to the species of the cat for a particular kind of honorable deceit, for a great control over myself, for characteristic aversion to brutal sounds, and for the need to keep silent for long periods of time."

- Colette

"A cat's got her own opinion of human beings. She don't say much, but you can tell enough to make you anxious not to hear the whole of it."

- Jerome K. Jerome

"The whir of a can opener or the bark of an unfamiliar dog...will send even the most deeply dozing cat bounding into the kitchen or under the bed."

- Barbara L. Diamond

"If you would know what a cat is thinking about, you must hold its paw in your hand for a long time."

- Jules Champfleury

"If stretching were wealth, the cat would be rich."

- Unknown

"Cats are smart. You know it and I know it."

- Debbie Mertens

"Many cats simply pounce to their own drummers."

- Karen Duprey

"Cats, like butterflies, need no excuse."

- Robert A. Heinlein

"The domestic cat seems to have greater confidence in itself than in anyone else."

- Lawrence N. Johnson

"Any household with at least one feline member has no need for an alarm clock."

- Louise A. Belcher

"Cats conspire to keep us at arm's length."

- Frank Perkins

"Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything."

- Robert A. Heinlein

"When Mother Nature saw fit to remove the tail of the Manx, she left, in place of the tail, more cat."

- Mary E. Stewart

"The way to get on with a cat is to treat it as an equal - or even better, as the superior it knows itself to be."

- Elizabeth Peters

"Cats look beyond appearances--beyond species entirely, it seems--to peer into the heart."

-Barbara L. Diamond

"He lives in the halflights in secret places, free and alone - this mysterious little great being whom his mistress calls 'My cat.'"

-Margaret Benson

"The cat is the only animal which accepts the comforts but rejects the bondage of domesticity."

-Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

"A cat doesn't 'roll' well with a change of someone else's making."

- Carole Wilbourn

"One cat just leads to another."

- Ernest Hemingway

"A cat's behavior is a direct reflection of his feelings."

- Carole Wilbourn

"Kittens believe that all nature is occupied with their diversion."

- F.A. Paradis de Moncrif

"Cats have intercepted my footsteps at the ankle for so long that my gait, both at home and on tour, has been compared to that of a man wading through low surf."

- Roy Blount, Jr.

"My husband said it was him or the cat...I miss him sometimes."

- Unknown

"I cannot deny that a cat lover and his cat have a master/slave relationship. The cat is the master."

- Arthur R. Kassin

"Cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human mind. They realize...that we have an infuriating inability to understand, let alone follow, even the simplest and most explicit of directions."

- Cleveland Amory

"To understand a cat, you must realize that he has has own gifts, his own viewpoint, even his own morality."

- Lilian Jackson Braun

"In my next life, I'd like to come back as a cat."

- Patti J. Moran

"A cat will do what it wants when it wants, and there's not a thing you can do about it."

- Frank Perkins

"It isn't always easy being a father to a cat."

- B. L. Diamond

"A cat with kittens nearly always decides sooner or later to move them."

- Sidney Denham

"If the claws didn't retract, cats would be like Velcro."

- Dr. Bruce Fogle

"The purr from cat to man says, 'You bring me happiness; I am at peace with you.'"

- Barbara L. Diamond

"You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me."

- T.S. Eliot

"I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worth while?" Death thought about it. "Cats," he said eventually, "Cats are nice."

- Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

"The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something that can be learned in no other way."

- Mark Twain

"It doesn't do to be sentimental about cats; the best ones don't respect you for it."

- Susan Howatch

"The cat, which is a solitary beast, is single minded and goes its way alone; but the dog, like his master, is confused in his mind."

- H.G. Wells

"Some people own cats and go on to lead normal lives."

- Unknown

"The cat is mighty dignified until the dog comes by."

- Unknown

"You never saw such a crazy cat. 'Up the wall' took on a literal meaning."

- Arnold Hano

"Who needs television when you have cats?"

- Lori Spigelmyer

"More than likely it was the cat who first coined and put into practice the sage advice: 'If you would have a thing done well, you must do it yourself.'"

- Lawrence N. Johnson

"Bless their little pointed faces and their big, loyal, loving hearts. If a cat did not put a firm paw down now and then, how could his human remain possessed?"

- Winifred Carriere

"Some animals are secretive; some are shy. A cat is private."

- Leonard Michaels

"He has become a much better cat than I have a person. With his gentle urgings, he made me realize that life doesn't end just because one has a few obstacles to overcome."

- Mary F. Graf

"In reality, cats are probably better off remaining indoors and sending out their humans to deal with the outside world."

- Dr. Phyllis Sherman Raschke

"The key to a successful new relationship between a cat and human is patience."

- Susan Easterly

"I would gladly change places with any of my cats."

- George Ney

"It's really the cat's house--we just pay the mortgage."

- Unknown

"Among animals, cats are the top-hatted, frock-coated statesmen going about their affairs at their own pace."

-Robert Sterns

"Most cats are not shy about letting their people know what they want."

- Karen Duprey

"A cat's name may tell you more about its owners than it does about the cat."

- Linda W. Lewis

"If I called her she would pretend not to hear, but would come a few moments later when it could appear that she had thought of doing so first."

- Arthur Weigall

"Four little Persians, but only one looked in my direction. I extended a tentative finger and two soft paws clung to it. There was a contented sound of purring, I suspect on both our parts."

- George Freedley

"Cats are creatures that express a multitude of moods and attitudes."

- Karen Brademeyer

"The cat does not negotiate with the mouse."

- Robert K. Massie

"Cats often devise their own sets of rules that they think we should live by, and they may be quick to chastise us if we fail to adhere to these rules!"

- Margaret Reister, D.V.M.

"The constant challenge to decipher feline behavior is perhaps one of the most fascinating qualities of owning a cat."

- Carole Wilbourn

"At dinner time he would sit in a corner, concentrating, and suddenly they would say, 'Time to feed the cat,' as if it were their own idea."

- Lilian Jackson Braun

"No one shall deny me my own conclusions, nor my cat her reflective purr."

- Irving Townsend

"One of the quickest ways to a cat's brain is through its stomach."

- Ian Dunbar, Ph.D.

"A cat...would check to see if you brought anything to eat, and if not, would turn and walk away, tail held high."

- Mike Deupree

"If a homeless cat could talk, it would probably say, 'Give me shelter, food, companionship and love, and I will be yours for life!"

- Susan Easterly

"The cat has always been associated with the moon. Like the moon it comes to life at night, escaping from humanity and wandering over housetops with its eyes beaming out through the darkness."

- Patricia Dale-Green

"The majority of people who still have back doors don't let their cats go through them."

- Charlene Beane

"A cat cares for you only as a source of food, security, and a place in the sun. Her high self-sufficiency is her charm."

- Charles Horton Cooley

"Each one of our cats is a distinct, four-footed little person with an individual personality."

- Ira B. Rubin

"Always turn and look when your cat gazes behind you with that intent look in her eyes. Some day there might actually be something there."

- Anonymous

"The cat is above all things, a dramatist."

- Margaret Benson

"If you yell at a cat, you're the one who is making a fool of yourself."

- Unknown

"A cat will assume the shape of its container."

- Unknown

"A cat determined not to be found can fold itself up like a pocket handkerchief if it wants to."

- Louis J. Camuti, D.V.M.

"Your cat may never have to hunt farther than the kitchen counter for its supper nor face a predator more fierce than the vacuum cleaner..."

- Barbara L. Diamond

"In performing a variety of intellectually demanding tasks, cats usually emerge as clear winners (over dogs)."

- Dr. David Greene

"At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial challenge roughly comparable to herding cats."

- The Washington Post Magazine

"No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife."

- Aldous Huxley

"If your cat favors the left paw, chances are good that it possesses psychic ability to some extent."

- Dr. David Greene

"Cats may, indeed, be the thinking man's pet--because living with cats certainly keeps you on your toes!"

- Barbara L. Diamond

"Don't let anyone tell you loving a cat is silly. Love, in any form, is a precious commodity."

- Barbara L. Diamond

"I think I'll come back as a cat."

- George Ney

"When a cat chooses to be friendly, it's a big deal, because a cat is picky."

- Mike Deupree

"Surely the cat, when it assumes the meat loaf position and gazes meditatively through slitted eyes, is pondering thoughts of utter profundity..."

- Mij Colson Barnum

"I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night."

- Maria Corelli

"How nice it is to think that feline dreams, like our own, are painted with creative brush strokes from time to time. Perhaps my cats and I even share the same dream: a world where all kittens are wanted and loved, and where every cat has a safe, warm place to sleep...and to dream."

- Barbara L. Diamond

"No heaven will not ever be Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me."

- Unknown

"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God."

- Jeff Valdez

"Is it true cats wont stay in a house when it's haunted?"

- Jeff Valdez

"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer."

- Bruce Graham

"The last thing I would accuse a cat of is innocence."

- Edward Paley

"Nothing's more playful than a young cat, nor more grave than an old one."

- Thomas Fuller

"Some cats are blind and stone deaf but ain't no cat wuz ever dumb."

- Anthony Henderson Euwer

"If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air."

- Doris Lessing

"God made the cat in order to give man the pleasure of caressing the tiger."

- Unknown

Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

- Unknown

When God made the world, He chose to put animals in it, and decided to give each whatever it wanted. All the animals formed a long line before His throne, and the cat quietly went to the end of the line. To the elephant and the bear He gave strength, to the rabbit and the deer, swiftness; to the owl, the ability to see at night, to the birds and the butterflies, great beauty; to the fox, cunning; to the monkey, intelligence; to the dog, loyalty; to the lion, courage; to the otter, playfulness. And all these were things the animals begged of God. At last he came to the end of the line, and there sat the little cat, waiting patiently. "What will YOU have?" God asked the cat.

The cat shrugged modestly. "Oh, whatever scraps you have left over. I don't mind."

"But I'm God. I have everything left over."

"Then I'll have a little of everything, please."

And God gave a great shout of laughter at the cleverness of this small animal, and gave the cat everything she asked for, adding grace and elegance and, only for her, a gentle purr that would always attract humans and assure her a warm and comfortable home.

But he took away her false modesty.

- Lenore Fleischer - The Cat's Pajamas

"I am as vigilant as a cat to steal cream."

- William Shakespeare, Henry IV

"Most of us rather like our cats to have a streak of wickedness. I should not feel quite easy in the company of any cat that walked about the house with a saintly expression"

- Beverly Nichols

"I don't mind a cat, in its place. But its place is not in the middle of my back at 4 a.m."

- Maynard Good Stoddard

"When you're special to a cat, you're special indeed...she brings to you the gift of her preference of you, the sight of you, the sound of your voice, the touch of your hand."

- Leonore Fleisher

"Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes, you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"With dogs and people, it's love in big splashy colors. When you're involved with a cat, you're dealing in pastels."

- Louis A. Camuti, D.V.M.

"Chances are that a man who can nuzzle a kitten is also open and caring in other facets of his life."

- Barbara L. Diamond

"The cat lets Man support her. But unlike the dog, she is no handlicker. Furthermore, unlike Man's other great good friend the horse, the cat is no sweating serf of Man. The only labor she condescends to perform is to catch mice and rats, and that's fun."

- Vance Packard

"A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It's a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys."

- Barbara Holland

"The great charm of cats is their rampant egotism, their devil-may-care attitude toward responsibility, their disinclination to earn an honest dollar."

- Robertson Davies

"If a cat spoke, it would say things like, 'Hey, I don't see the problem here'."

- Roy Blount, Jr.

"Cats speak a subtle language in which few sounds carry many meanings, depending on how they are sung or purred. 'Mnrhnh' means comfortable soft chairs. It also means fish. It means genial companionship...and the absence of dogs."

- Val Schaffner

"Who hath a better friend than a cat?"

- William Hardwin

"Which is more beautiful--feline movement or feline stillness?"

- Elizabeth Hamilton

"Every dog has his day -- but the nights are reserved for the cats."

- Unknown

A kitten is the most irresistible comedian in the world. Its wide-open eyes gleam with wonder and mirth. It darts madly at nothing at all, and then, as though suddenly checked in the pursuit, prances sideways on its hind legs with ridiculous agility and zeal.

- Agnes Repplier

Because of our willingness to accept cats as superhuman creatures, they are the ideal animals with which to work creatively.

- Roni Schotter

[A cats] friendship is not easily won but it is something worth having.

- Michael Joseph

It is impossible for a lover of cats to banish these alert , gentle, and disciminating little friends, who give us just enough of their regard and complaisance to make us hunger for more.

- Agnes Repplier

My little grandson is a darling, but he can never take the place of my cats.

- Anonymous Grandmother

In Egypt, the cats...afford evidence that animal nature is not altogether intractable, but that when well-treated they are good at remembering kindness.

- Aelian

Female cats are very Lascivious, and make advances to the male.

- Aristotle

Cats at firesides live luxuriously and are the picture of comfort.

- Leigh Hunt

All cats love a cushioned couch.

- Theocritus

Cats as a class, have never completely got over the snootiness caused by that fact that in Ancient Egypt they were worshipped as gods.

- P G Wodehouse

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity, there never was a cat of such deceitfulness and sauvity.

- T S Eliot

You may have a cat in the room with you without anxiety about anything except eatables. The presence of a cat is positively soothing to a student.

- Philip Gilbert Hamerton

Cats too, with what silent stealthiness, with what light steps do they creep up to a bird!

- Pliny the Elder

I love cats. I even think we have one at home.

- Edward L Burlingame

We brought with us in the ship a cat, a most amicable cat and greatly loved by us; but he grew to great bulk through the eating of fish.

- St Brendan

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

Alone, important and wise

And lifts to the changing moon

His changing eyes.

- W B Yeats

Cats Are Not impure; they keep watch about us.

-The Prophet Mohammed

I was only a small child when the seeds of cat enchantment were sown within me.

- May Eustace

A common cat is four legal pence in value...

A Pound is the worth of a pet animal of the king.

- Hywel Dda

There are cats and cats.

- Denis Diderot

The city of cats and the city of men exist one inside the other, but they are not the same city.

- Italo Calvino

Who hath a better friend than a cat?

- William Hardwin

I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.

- Edgar Allan Poe

A cat is an example of sophistication minus civilization.

- Anonymous

In the middle of a world that had always been a bit mad, the cat walks with confidence.

- Rosanne Amberson

A cat is a tiger that is fed by hand.

- Vakaoka Genrin

Kittens believe that all nature is occupied with their diversion.

- F.A. Paradis de Moncrif

If he is comic, it is only because of the incongruity of so demure a look and so wild a heart.

- Alan Devoe

Cat lovers can readily be identified. Their clothes always look old and well used. Their sheets look like bath towels and their bath look like a collection of knitting mistakes.

- Eric Gurney How to Live with a Calculating Cat

In its flawless grace and superior self-sufficiency I have seen a symbol of the perfect beauty and bland impersonality of the universe itself, objectively considered, and in its air of silent mystery there resides for me all the wonder and fascination of the unknown.

- H. P. Lovecraft 1890-1937

Twenty-seven cats at one time hints at monomania, but in may case it was simpler. If you like cats and have some, you get kittens; and if you like kittens and enjoy having them about, they grow up and you get more cats.

- Paul Gallico 1897-1976 Honorable Cat

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with more than I with her?

- Michel De Montaigne 1533-1592 Essays, Book II

My sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands.

- Shakespeare 1564-1616 Two Gentleman of Verona act 2, scene 3, line 7

I could endure anything before but a cat, and now he's a cat to me.

- Shakespeare All's Well That Ends Well act 4, scene 3, line 266

The cat, with eyes of burning coal,

Now Couches 'fore the mouse's hole.

- Shakespeare Pericles, Prince of Tyre act 3, scene 1, line 5

A cat will never drown if she sees the shore.

- Francis Bacon 1561-1626

The playful kitten with its pretty little tigerish gambole is infinitely more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world.

- Lady Sydney Morgan 1783-1859

A Cat, with its phosporescent eyes that shine like lanterns and sparks flashing from its back, moves fearlessly through the darkness, where it meets wandfering ghosts, witches, alchemists, necromancers, grave-robbers, lovers, thieves, murderers, grey-cloaked patrols, and all the obscene larvae that only emerge at night.

- Theophile Gautier 1811-1872

The Behaviour of men to animals and their beahviour to each other bear a constant relationship.

- Herbert Spencer 1820-1903

Nothing is so difficult as to paint the cat's face, which as Moncrif justly observes bears a character of "finesse and hilarity." The lines are so delicate, the eyes so strange, the movements subject to such sudden impulses, that one should be feline oneself to portray such a subject.

- Champfleury (Jules Husson) 1821-1889

What's virtue in a man can't be virtue in a cat.

- Gail Hamilton 1833-1896

I must have a cat whom I find homeless, wandering about the court, and to whom, therefore, I am under no obligation. I have already selected a dirty little drunken wretch of a kitten to be the successor to my poor old cat.

- Samuel Butler 1835-1902

Cats are oppressed, dogs terrify them, landladies starve them, boys stone them, everybody speaks of them with contempt. If they were human beings we could talk of their oppressors with a studied violence, add our strength to theirs, even organize the oppressed and like good politicians sell our charity for power.

- William Butler Yeats 1865-1939 A Vision

I want to create a cat like the real cats I see crossing the streets, not like those you see in houses. They have nothing in common. The cat of the streets has bristling fur. It runs like a fiend, and if it looks at you, you think it is going to jump in your face.

- Pablo Picasso 1881-1973

Perhaps a child, like a cat, is so much inside of himself that he does not see himself in the mirror.

- Anais Nin 1903-1977 The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol II

"Oh. Auntie. isn't he a beauty! And is he a gentleman or a lady?"

"Neither, my dear! I had him fixed. It saves him from so many undesirable associations."

- D. H. Lawrence 1885-1930 Puss-Puss

People with insufficient personalities are fond of cats. These people adore being ignored.

- Henry Morgan

The human race may be divided into people who love cats and people who hate them; the neutrals being few in numbers, and, for intellectual and moral reasons, not worth considering.

- Ascribed to "an acute thinker"

by Agnes Repplier 1855-1950

The Fireside Sphinx

A cat can climb down from a tree without the assistance of the fire department or any other agency. The proof is that no one has ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree.

- Unknown

Recently we were discussing the possibility of making one of our cats Pope, and we decided that the fact that she was not Italian, and was female, made the third point, that she was a cat, irrelevant.

- Katharine Whitehorn Leicester University Magazine January 1965

Cats can be very funny, and have the oddest ways of showing they're glad to see you. Rudimac always peed in our shoes.

- W. H. Auden 1907-1973

The cat is the only animal without visible means of support who still manages to earn a living in the city.

- Carl Van Vechten 1880-1964

Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties.

- Walter Lionel George 1882-1926

The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.

- Jules Renard 1864-1910

The artist is uncomfortable with his success and with the blizzard of fan mail it has produced. Kliban's recent collections have been conspicuously empty of cats. "Cats are wonderful," Kliban once said. "It's drawings of cats I get tired of."

- J. C. Suares Great Cats

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.

- Arnold Edinborough

Curiosity killed the cat, but for awhile I was a suspect.

- Steven Wright

The trouble with a kitten is THAT Eventually it becomes a CAT.

- Ogden Nash

...But nature does not say that cats are more valuable than mice; nature makes no remark on the subject. She does not even say that the cat is enviable or the mouse pitiable. We think the cat superior because we have (or most of us have) a particular philosophy to the effect that life is better than death. But if the mouse were a German pessimist mouse, he might not think that the cat had beaten him at all. He might think he had beaten the cat by getting to the grave first.

- Gilbert Keith Chesterton

"Cats don't like change without their consent."

- Roger A. Caras

People who belong to Siamese cats must make up their minds to do a good deal of waiting upon them."

- Compton Mackenzie

"Beware of those who dislike cats."

- Traditional

"Cats, like men, are flatterers."

- Walter Savage Landor

"Those who'll play with cats must expect to be scratched."

- Cervantes

"To respect the cat is the beginning of the aesthetic sense."

- Erasmus Darwin

"When all candles be out, all cats be gray."

- John Heywood

Cat: A pygmy lion who loves mice, hates dogs, and patronizes human beings.

- Oliver Herford

A kitten is the delight of the household; all day long a comedy is played out by an incomparable actor.

- Champfleury

God made the cat in order that man might have the pleasure of caressing the lion.

- Fernand Mery

The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard cats.

- Anonymous

If there is one spot of sun spilling onto the floor, a cat will find it and soak it up.

- Joan Asper McIntosh

For every house is incomplete without [a cat], and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.

- Christopher Smart

Cats never strike a pose that isn't photogenic.

- Lillian Jackson Braun

There is nothing in the animal world, to my mind,

more delightful than grown cats at play.

They are so swift and light and graceful, so subtle

and designing, and yet so richly comical.

- Monica Edwards

Cats, no less liquid than their shadows, offer no angles to the wind. They slip, diminished, neat, through loopholes less than themselves.

- A. S. J. Tessimond

The only mystery about the cat is why it ever decided to become a domestic animal.

- Sir Compton MacKenzie

Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.

- Mark Twain

Cats possess so many of the same qualities as some poeple that it is often hard to tell the people and the cats apart.

- P. J. O'Rourke

Women, poets, and especially artists, like cats; delicate natures only can realize their sensitive systems.

- Helen M. Winslow

A baited cat may grow as fierce as a lion.

- Samuel Palmer

One of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping.

- Cleveland Amory

No tame animal has lost less of its native dignity or maintained more if its ancient reserve. The domestic cat might rebel tomorrow.

- William Conway

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

- George Eliot

Confront a child, a puppy, and a kitten with sudden danger; the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy will grovel in abject submission, the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance.

- Saki

Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow.

- Anonymous

I have seen

How the cat trembles

while sleeping

The night runs over him

like dark water

- Pablo Neruda

My cat has got no name

We simply call him Cat;

He doesn't seem to blame

Anyone for that.

For he is not like us

Who often, I'm afraid,

Kick up quite a fuss

If our names are mislaid.

- Vernon Scannell

If you want to write, keep cats.

- Aldous Huxley

Cats are the tigers of us poor devils.

- Theophile Gautier

In his castle [a Cat] is King And I his vassal.

- Mildred R. Howland

There are people who reshape the world by force or argument, but the cat just lies there, dozing; and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience.

- Allen and Ivy Dodd

I think it would be great to be a cat! You come and go as you please. People always feed and pet you. They don't expect much of you. You can play with them, and when you've had enough, you go away. You can pick and choose who you want to be around. You can't ask for more than that.

- Patricia McPherson

No one can have experienced to the fullest the true sense of achievement and satisfaction who have never pursued and successfully caught his tail.

- Rosalind Welcher

To escort a cat on a leash is against the nature of the cat.

-Adlai Stevenson

Work - other people's work - is an intolerable idea to a cat. Can you picture cats herding sheep or agreeing to pull a cart? They will not inconvenience themselves to the slightest degree.

- Dr. Louis J. Camuti

A cat sleeps fat, yet walks thin.

- Fred Schwab

In my experience, cats and beds seem to be a natural combination.

- Louis J. Camuti, DVM

In spite of the veneration which the Egyptians had for the cat, we are told that the punishment for adultery by a woman in Egypt was to be sewn into a sack with a live cat and flung into the Nile.

- Mildred Kirk

One of the problems of taking things apart and seeing how they work - supposing you're trying to find out how a cat works--you take that cat apart to see how it works, what you've got in your hands is a non-working cat. The cat wasn't a sort of clunky mechanism that was susceptible to our available tools of analysis.

- Douglas Adams Author, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.

- Kyoya, 9, Advice from Kids

If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.

- Naomi, 15, Advice from Kids

In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.

- Dereke Bruce

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

- Collette

There is no 'cat language.' Painful as it is for us to admit, they don't need one!

- Barbara Holland

A kitten is chiefly remarkable for rushing about like mad at nothing whatsoever, and generally stopping before it gets there.

- Agnes Repplier

It is a matter to gain the affection of a cat. He is a philosophical animal, tenacious of his own habits, fond of order and neatness, and disinclined to extravagant sentiment. He will be your friend, if he finds you worthy of friendship, but not your slave.

- Theophile Gautier

A cat is there when you call her - if she doesn't have something better to do.

- Bill Adler

A human may go for a stroll with a cat; he has to walk a dog. The cat leads the way, running ahead, tail high, making sure you understand the arrangement. If you should happen to get ahead, the cat will never allow you to think it is following you. It will stop and clean some hard-to-reach spot, or investigate a suspicious movement in the grass; you will find yourself waiting a fidgeting like the lackey you are. But this is not annoying to cat lovers, who understand and appreciate a good joke, even when it is on them.

- Robert Stearns

What is the appeal about cats?" he said kindly. "I've always wanted to know." "They don't care if you like them. They haven't the slightest notion of gratitude, and they never pretend. They take what you have to offer, and away they go.

- Mavis Gallant

The cat lives alone, has no need of society, obeys only when she pleases, pretends to sleep that she may see the more clearly, and scratches everything on which she can lay her paw.

- Francois Rene

There wanst was two cats at Kilkenny,

Each thought there was one cat too many,

So they quarrell'd and fit,

They scratch'd and they bit,

Till, excepting their nails,

And the tips of their tails,

Instead of two cats, there warn't any.

- Anonymous

Cats know not how to pardon.

- Jean de la Fontaine

Cats are possessed of a shy, retiring nature, cajoling, haughty, and capricious, difficult to fathom. They reveal themselves only to certain favored individuals, and are repelled by the faintest suggestion of insult or even by the most trifling deception.

- Pierre Loti

Cats do not declare their love much; they enact it, by their myriad invocations of our pleasure.

- Vicki Hearne

Cats do not go for a walk to get somewhere but to explore.

- Sidney Denham

Passion for place - there is no greater urge in feline nature.

- Paul Annixter

For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.

- Christopher Smart, Jubliate Agno. From a study of the poet's cat Jeoffrey

Cats, by means of their whiskers, seem to possess something like an additional sense: these have, perhaps, some analogy to the antennae of moths and butterflies.

- Rev. W. Bingley

Cats don't belong to people. They belong to places.

- Wright Morris

It is remarkable, in cats, that the outer life they reveal to their master is one of perpetual confident boredom. All they betray of the hidden life is by means of symbol; if it were not for the recurring evidence of murder - the disemboweled rabbits, the headless flickers, the torn squirrels - we should forever imagine our cats to be simple pets whose highest ambition is to sleep in the best soft chair, whose worst crime is to sharpen their claws on carpeting

- Robley Wilson, Jr.

Cats seem to go on the principle that is never does any harm to ask for what you want.

- Joseph Wood Krutch

Its easy to understand why the cat has eclipsed the dog as modern America's favorite pet. People like pets to possess the same qualities they do. Cats are irresponsible and recognize no authority, yet are completely dependent on others for their material needs. Cats cannot be made to do anything useful. Cats are mean for the fun of it.

- P. J. O'Rourke

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

- Robert A. Heinlein

One of the striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.

- Mark Twain

Watch a cat when it enters a room for the first time. It searches and smells about, it is not quiet for a moment, it trusts nothing until it has examined and made acquaintance with everything.

-Jean Jacques Rousseau

The cat Bastet sat perched on the rim of the tub, watching me through slitted golden eyes. She was fascinated by baths. I suppose total immersion in water must have seemed to her a peculiar method of cleansing oneself.

- Elizabeth Peters

Now, as you all know, there is nothing a cat dislikes so much as water; just watch your kitty shake her paws daintily when she steps into a puddle, and see how disgusted she is if a drop of water falls on her nose and back.

- Agnes A. Sandham

Intelligence in the cat is underrated.

-Louis Wain

The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then, moves on.

- Carl Sandburg

I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through.

- Jules Verne

There was an old bulldog named Caesar,

Who went for a cat just to tease her;

But she spat and she spit,

Till the old bulldog quit.

Now when poor Caesar sees her,

he flees her.

- Unknown

Said a miserly peer at the Abbey,

"I fear I shall look rather shabby,

For I've replaced my ermine. Infested with vermin,

With the fur of my dear defunct tabby.

- Unknown

A kitten is a rosebud in the garden of the animal kingdom.

- Robert Southey

Cat Proverbs

"You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats."

-Colonial proverb

"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats."

-English proverb

"Beware of people who dislike cats."

-Irish proverb

"An old cat will not learn how to dance."

-Moroccan Proverb

A cat may look at a king.

- English Proverb

Happy owner, happy cat. Indifferent owner, reclusive cat.

- Chinese Proverb

A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays.

- English Proverb

"Happy is the home with at least one cat"

- Italian Proverb

"The cat was created when the lion sneezed"

- Arabian Proverb

"Curiosity killed the cat, Satisfaction brought it back!"

- English Proverb

"Books and cats and fair-haired little girls make the best furnishing for a room"

- French Proverb

"I gave an order to a cat, and the cat gave it to its tail"

- Chinese Proverb

"Cats, flies and women are ever at their toilets"

-French Proverb

"The dog for the man, the cat for the woman"

- English Proverb

The kind man feeds his cat before sitting down to dinner.

- Hebrew Proverb

The cat dreams of garbage.

- Hindu Proverb

All cats are grey in the dark.

- UNKNOWN

Settling a dispute through the law is like losing a cow for the sake of a cat.

- Chinese Proverb

Handsome cats and fat dung heaps are the sign of a good farmer.

- French Proverb

The cat laps the moonbeams in the bowl of water, thinking them to be milk.

- Zen Saying

A cat will teach her young ones all the tricks, except how to jump backwards.

- Netherlands Antillean Proverb

Life's like cat vomit; if you don't clean it up you're going to step in it.

- Xnterna

The cat which did not reach the sausage said: Anyhow it is Friday.

      - Georgian Proverb

A cat knows whose lips she licks

- UNKNOWN

The cat always leaves her mark upon her friend.

      - Spanish Proverb

Who cares well for cats will marry as happily as he or she could ever wish.

- French Proverb

In even a cat the Buddha-nature exists.

- Japanese Buddhist Proverb

A rat who gnaws at a cat's tail invites destruction.

- Chinese Proverb

It's for her own good that the cat purrs.

- Irish Proverb

Cats don't catch mice to please Khoda(God).

- Afgani Proverb

Fat cats and thin birds can share a yard, but thin cats and fat birds no way!

- Rosicrucian Proverb

When the mouse laughs at the cat, there's a hole nearby.

- Nigerian Proverb

One should not send a cat to deliver cream

- Yiddish Proverb

The dream of cats is all mice.

- Egyptian Proverb

The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry.

- French Proverb

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.

- Indian Proverb

Those that dislike cats will be carried to the cemetery in the rain.

- Dutch Proverb

"The cat who frightens the mice away is as good as the cat who eats them"

- German proverb

"A cat bitten once by a snake dreads even rope"

- Arab Proverb

"A cat may go to a monastery, but she still remains a cat"

-Ethiopian Proverb

"Ye shall not possess any beast, my dear sisters, except only a cat."

- The Ancren Riewle (Nun's Rule)

"The cat is nature's Beauty."

- French Proverb

When the cat is away the mice will play.

- UNKNOWN

The cat is honest when the meat is out of her reach.

- UNKNOWN

It takes a good many mice to kill a cat.

- UNKNOWN

A cornered cat becomes as fierce as a lion.

- UNKNOWN

If you don't feed the cats you must feed the rats.

- UNKNOWN

Wanton kittens make sober cats.

- UNKNOWN

The cat is a good friend but she scratches.

- UNKNOWN

There are many ways of skinning a cat.

- UNKNOWN

Even a cat is a lion in her own lair.

- Indian Proverb

It's better to feed one cat than many mice.

- Norwegian Proverb

To please himself only the cat purrs.

- Irish Proverb

"After dark all cats are leopards."

- Zuni Proverb

Cat mighty dignified till the dog come by.

- UNKNOWN

They agree like cats and dogs.

- UNKNOWN

Don't trust the weak appearance of the wolf or the disappearance of the cat: they'll both make a come-back.

- UNKNOWN

Kick the cat out; she'll come back sure enough.

- UNKNOWN

A good cat deserves a good rat.

- UNKNOWN

By scratching and biting cat and dog come together.

- UNKNOWN

It is a bold mouse that makes her nest in the cat's ear.

- UNKNOWN

Young cats will mouse, young apes will louse.

- UNKNOWN

Don't buy a cat in a bag.

- UNKNOWN

Care killed the cat.

- UNKNOWN

The cat that catches no mice does not earn his keep.

- UNKNOWN

A scalded cat dreads even cold water.

- UNKNOWN

Keep no more cats than will catch mice.

- UNKNOWN

At home an elephant, abroad a cat.

- UNKNOWN

When rats infest the Palace a lame cat is better than the swiftest horse.

- Chinese Proverb

He who plays with a cat must bear its scratches.

- UNKNOWN

When the cat and the calf play the fiddle, you are caught in the middle.

- UNKNOWN

Keep an eye on the cat and another on the frying pan.

- UNKNOWN

The cat in gloves catches no mice.

- UNKNOWN

The cat shuts his eyes while he steals the cream.

- UNKNOWN

The eye of the housewife makes the cat fat.

- UNKNOWN

The old cat refuses to admit that the face in the looking-glass is her own.

- UNKNOWN

If you give your milk to the cat you must drink water out of the sink.

- UNKNOWN

What joy fills the mouse when the cat is out of the house.

- UNKNOWN

When a weasel and a cat kiss, the future is not very bright.

- UNKNOWN

When the cat sleeps the mice play.

- UNKNOWN

The cat loves fish, but she's loth to wet her feet.

- Medieval Proverb

Lions are not terrified of cats.

- UNKNOWN

If the cat had wings she'd choke all the birds in the air.

- UNKNOWN

"Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the Gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; thou art indeed...the Great Cat."

- Inscription on the Royal Tombs at Thebes

Cat Sayings

A cat's a cat and that's that.

- American folk saying

"Honest as the Cat when the meat's out of reach."

- Old English saying

"A cat's eyes are windows enabling us to see into another world."

- Irish Legend

"Cat's motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to make it look like the dog did it."

- Unknown

"When the cat's away, the mice will play"

- Folk Saying

The cat is mighty dignified until the dog comes by.

- Southern Folk Saying

"Whenever the cat of the house is black, the lasses of lovers will have no lack"

- Folk Saying

"Who would believe such pleasure from a wee ball o' fur?"

- Irish Saying

"A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes."

- Indian Saying

In Ireland, if something is funny we say: "It would make a cat laugh."

Put (or set) the Cat among the Pigeons (British Informal)

Touch not a Cat but a glove.

What can you have of a Cat but her skin?

Cat and Fiddle.

Cat and Kittens.

Cat and Mouse Act.

To play cat and mouse.

Cat-o'-nine-tails.

Cat-call.

Cat-eyed.

Let the Cat out of the Bag

Rain Cats and Dogs

The Cat's Pyjamas (or Whiskers)

Look what the Cat dragged in

Curiosity killed the Cat

Nervous as a Cat in a room full of rocking chairs

Like a Cat on a hot tin roof

Fat Cat

Not enough room to swing a Cat

Better one cat today than no cats tomorrow.

To grin like a Cheshire Cat

Cat got your tongue

Cat Poetry

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat

Pussy cat, pussy cat

Where have u been?

I've been to London

To look at the Queen

Pussy cat, pussy cat

What did you there?

I frightened a little Mouse

Under her chair.

Mother Goose

Black Cat

A cat as black

As blackest coal

Is out upon

His midnight stroll,

His steps are soft,

His walk is slow,

His eyes are gold,

They flash and glow.

And so I run

And so I duck,

I do not need

His black-cat luck.

Author Unknown

Two Cats

Two Cats

One up a tree

One under the tree

The cat up a tree is he

The cat under the tree is she

The tree is witch elm, just incidentally.

He takes no notice of she, she takes no notice of he.

He stares at the woolly clouds passing, she stares at the tree.

There's been a lot written about cats, by Old Possum, Yeats and Company

But not Alfred de Musset or Lord Tennyson or Poe or anybody

Wrote about one cat under, and one cat up, a tree.

God knows why this should be left for me

Except I like cats as cats be

Especially one cat up

And one cat under

A witch elm

Tree.

Author Unknown

Cats Sleep Anywhere

Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair.

Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.

Open draw, empty shoe, anybody's lap will do.

Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.

Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.

Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965)

The Kitten and the Falling Leaves

That way look, my infant, lo!

What a pretty baby-show!

See the kitten on the wall,

sporting with the leaves that fall.

Withered leaves - one - two and three

from the lofty elder tree.

Though the calm and frosty air,

of this morning bright and fair.

Eddying round and round they sink,

softly, slowly; one might think.

From the motions that are made,

every little leaf conveyed

Sylph or Faery hither tending,

to this lower world descending.

Each invisible and mute,

in his wavering parachute.

But the Kitten, how she starts,

crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!

First at one, and then its fellow,

just as light and just as yellow.

There are many now - now one,

now they stop and there are none:

What intenseness of desire,

in her upward eye of fire!

With a tiger-leap half-way,

now she meets the coming prey.

lets it go as fast, and then;

Has it in her power again.

Now she works with three or four,

like an Indian conjuror;

quick as he in feats of art,

far beyond in joy of heart.

Where her antics played in the eye,

of a thousand standers-by,

clapping hands with shout and stare,

what would little Tabby care!

For the plaudits of the crowd?

Over happy to be proud,

over wealthy in the treasure

of her exceeding pleasure!

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

St. Jerome's Cat

St. Jerome in his study kept a great big cat,

it's always in his pictures, with its feet upon the mat.

Did he give it milk to drink, in a little dish?

When it came to Friday's, did he give it fish?

If I lost my little cat, I'd be sad without it;

I should ask St. Jerome what to do about it.

I should ask St. Jerome, just because of that,

for he's the only saint I know who kept a kitty cat.

Traditional English Nursery Rhyme

The Cat That Walked by Himself

"He will kill mice, and he will be kind to babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone."

Rudyard Kipling

On a Cat Ageing

He blinks upon the hearth-rug,

and yawns in deep content,

accepting all the comforts

that Providence has sent.

Louder he purrs, and louder,

in one glad hymn of praise

for all the night's adventures,

for quiet, restful days.

Life will go on for ever,

with all that cat can wish:

warmth and the glad procession

of fish and milk and fish.

Only-the thought disturbs him-

he's noticed once or twice,

the times are somehow breeding

a nimbler race of mice.

Alexander Gray

Pussy Can Sit by the Fire and Sing

Pussy can sit by the fire and sing,

Pussy can climb a tree

Or play with a silly old cork and string

To 'muse herself, not me.

But I like Binkie my dog, because

He knows how to behave;

So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was,

And I am the Man in the Cave!

Pussy will play Man Friday till

It's time to wet her paw

and make her walk on the window-sill

(For the footprint Crusoe saw);

Then she fluffles her tail and mews,

And scratches and won't attend

But Binkie will play whatever I choose,

And he is my true First Friend!

Pussy will rub my knees with her head

Pretending she loves me hard;

But the very minute I go to my bed

Pussy runs out in the yard,

And there she stays till the morning-light;

So I know it is only pretend

And he is my Firstest Friend.

Rudyard Kipling

Cat!

Cat!

Atter her, atter her,

Sleeky flatterer,

Spitfire chatterer,

Scatter her, scatter her

Wuff!

Wuff!

Treat her rough!

Git her, git her,

Whiskery spitter!

Catch her, catch her,

Green-eyed scratcher!

Slathery

Slithery

Hisser,

Don't miss her!

Run till you're dithery,

Hithery

Thithery

Pfitts! pfitts!

How she spits!

Spitch! Spatch!

Can't she scratch!

Scritching the bark

Of the sycamore-tree,

She's reached her ark

And's hissing at me

Pfitts!Pfitts!

Wuff! Wuff!

Scat,

Cat!

That's

That!

Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965)

I'm Only a Cat

I'm only a cat,

and I stay in my place...

Up there on your chair,

on your bed or your face!

I'm only a cat,

and I don't finick much...

I'm happy with cream

and anchovies and such!

I'm only a cat,

and we'll get along fine...

As long as you know

I'm not yours... you're all mine!

Author Unknown

Baggage (The Meaning of Rescue)

Now that I'm home, bathed, settled and fed,

All nicely tucked in my warm new bed,

I'd like to open my baggage,

Lest I forget,

There is so much to carry,

So much to regret.

Hmmm...Yes, there it is, right on the top,

Let's unpack Loneliness, Heartache and Loss,

And there by my perch hides Fear and Shame.

As I look on these things I tried so hard to leave,

I still have to unpack my baggage called Pain.

I loved them, the others, the ones who left me,

But I wasn't good enough - for they didn't want me.

Will you add to my baggage?

Will you help me unpack?

Or will you just look at my things,

And take me right back?

Do you have the time to help me unpack?

To put away my baggage, to never repack?

I pray that you do - I'm so tired you see,

But I do come with baggage,

Will you still want me?

By Evelyn Colbath(c)1995 Baggage All rights reserved

http://www.joysmountain.vze.com/

This Old Cat

I'm getting on in years,

My coat is turning gray.

My eyes have lost their luster,

My hearing's just okay.

I spend my day dreaming

Of conquests in my past,

Lying near a sunny window

Waiting for its warm repast.

I remember our first visit,

I was coming to you free,

Hoping you would take me in

And keep me company.

I wasn't young or handsome,

Two years I'd roamed the street.

There were scars upon my face,

I hobbled on my feet.

I could sense your disappointment

As I left my prison cage.

Oh, I hoped you would accept me

And look beyond my age.

You took me out of pity,

I accepted without shame.

Then you grew to love me,

And I admit the same.

I have shared with you your laughter,

You have wet my fur with tears.

We've come to know each other

Throughout these many years.

Just one more hug this morning

Before you drive away,

And know I'll think about you

Throughout your busy day.

The time we've left together

Is a treasured time at that.

My heart is yours forever.

I Promise - This old cat.

KC Sievert Bingamon

for Misty Dawn Copyrighted.

http://hometown.aol.com/gentleannie2/misty.html

Training Your Human

Training your human is a thankless task.

"Why bother with it?", some kittens may ask.

The fate of the world is the issue at hand,

as felines worldwide stake a claim for their land.

Make no bones about it, we cats own the joint.

We spray in the corners to drive home the point.

Some say the meek shall inherit the Earth,

But they've no fangs or claws, for what that's worth.

The cat is the ultimate species, you see,

We're poised to usurp man's authority.

These silly old humans who cannot play nice!

We cats are peaceful, we hate only mice.

Just what does training your human entail?

A host of fun things you must do without fail:

The sofas and rugs need a little makeover.

The La-Z-Boy's target for kitty takeover.

Then sleep on clean towels placed in the guest bath.

And make their best clothing a target of wrath.

Tear down those new drapes with a quick forceful tug.

Then tatter the pile of the new Berber rug.

And when they are sleeping, you block off their nose,

paw at their lower lip, chew on their toes.

Strut on the mantle. If they give any flack,

knock down their trophies and all bric-a-brac.

Shed on mom's new velvet black evening gown,

as she's headed out for a night on the town.

If they leave you home all alone for the night,

(Any human doing this can't be all that bright),

They're telling you by leaving, it's perfectly all right,

To totally redecorate 'til dawn's early light.

Knock over tables and chew up the fern.

Hurry, go faster! Soon, they'll return...

When they try to punish, you mustn't show concern.

(All attempts of discipline a pussycat should spurn.)

A snide flick of tail will convey no remorse,

but they will try harder to scold you, of course!

So, hide in the closet until they forget,

and then launch out just like an F-14 jet.

Tear up their ankle, their forearm, their hand,

then when they've had all the pain they can stand,

dart from the room while they call 9-1-1,

and celebrate victory: The felines have won!

To humans, however, the battle's begun,

as they steep in their anger and wish for a gun.

Pathetic and lumbering and clumsy to boot,

My friend, human dominance is really a hoot.

Take charge in your home. It's destiny, meow.

(The verses above have already told how.)

So sleep for an hour, and then grab some chow,

And then train your human, beginning right now.

Author Unknown

The Owl and the Pussy Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money.

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!

How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?'

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

Edward Lear (1812 - 1888)

If It Should Be

If it should be, that I grow frail and weak,

And pain should keep me from my sleep,

Then, you must do what must be done

For this, the last battle, can't be won.

Don't let your grief stay your hand,

For this day more than the rest,

Your love and friendship stand the test.

We've had so many years,

What is to come can hold no fear.

You'd not want me to suffer, so

When the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend,

Only, stay with me to the end

And hold me firm and speak to me

Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you'll see it is a kindness you do for me

Although my tail its last has waved,

From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Don't grieve it should be you who this thing decides to do.

We've been so close, we two, these years,

Don't let your heart hold tears.

SMILE, FOR WE WALKED TOGETHER FOR AWHILE.

Authour Unknown

I love my little kitty

her coat is so warm.

And if I don't hurt her

She'll do me no harm

I won't pull her tail,

Or drive her away

And kitty and I

Very gently will play.

Mother Goose

Cats are Wonderful Friends

Gentle eyes that see so much,

paws that have the quiet touch,

Purrs to signal "all is well"

and show more love than words could tell.

Graceful movements touched with pride,

a calming presence by our side

A friendship that takes time to grow

Small wonder why we love them so.

Author Unknown

Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat

There's a whisper down the line at 11:39

When the Night Mail's ready to depart,

Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?

We must find him or the train can't start.'

All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters

They are searching high and low,

Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble

Then the Night Mail just can't go.'

At 11:42 then the signal's nearly due

And the passengers are frantic to a man -

Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:

He's been busy in the luggage van!

He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes

And the signal goes 'All Clear!'

And we're off at last for the northern part

Of the Northern Hemisphere!

You may say that by and large it is Skimble who's in charge

Of the Sleeping Car Express.

From the driver and the guards to the bagmen playing cards

He will supervise them all, more or less.

Down the corridor he paces and examines all the faces

Of the travellers in the First and in the Third;

He establishes control by a regular patrol

And he'd know at once if anything occurred.

He will watch you without winking and he sees what you are thinking

And it's certain that he doesn't approve

Of hilarity and riot, so the folk are very quiet

When Skimble is about and on them ove.

You can play no pranks with Skimbleshanks!

He's a Cat that cannot be ignored;

So nothing goes wrong on the Northern Mail

When Skimbleshanks is aboard.

Oh it's very pleasant when you have found your little den

With your name written up on the door.

And the berth is very neat with a newly folded sheet

And there's not a speck of dust on the floor.

There is every sort of light - you can make it dark or bright;

There's a button that you turn to make a breeze.

There's a funny little basin you're supposed to wash your face in

And a crank to shut the window if you sneeze.

Then the guard looks in politely and will ask you very brightly

'Do you like your morning tea weak or strong?'

But Skimble's just behind him and was ready to remind him,

For Skimble won't let anything go wrong.

And when you creep into your cosy berth

And pull up the counterpane,

You are bound to admit that it's very nice

To know that you won't be bothered by mice -

You can leave all that to the Railway Cat,

The Cat of the Railway Train!

In the middle of the night he is always fresh and bright;

Every now and then he has a cup of tea

With perhaps a drop of Scotch while he's keeping on the watch,

Only stopping here and there to catch a flea.

You were fast asleep at Crewe and so you never knew

That he was walking up and down the station;

You were sleeping all the while he was busy at Carlisle,

Where he greets the stationmaster with elation.

But you saw him at Dumfries, where he summons the police

If there's anything they ought to know about:

When you get to Gallowgate there you do not have to wait -

For Skimbleshanks will help you to get out!

He gives you a wave of his long brown tail

Which says: 'I'll see you again!

You'll meet without fail on the Midnight Mail

The Cat of the Railway Train.'

T S Eliot

The cat went here and there

And the moon spun round like a top,

And the nearest kin of the moon,

The creeping cat, looked up.

Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,

For, wander and wail as he would,

The pure cold light in the sky

Troubled his animal blood.

Minnaloushe runs in the grass

Lifting his delicate feet.

Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?

William Butler Yeats

To Mrs Reynold's Cat

Cat! Who hast past thy Grand Climacteric,

How many mice and Rats hast in thy days

Destroy'd - how many tit bits stolen? Gaze

With those bright languid segments green and prick

Those velvet ears - but pr'ythee do not stick

Thy latent talons in me - and upraise

Thy gentle mew - and tell me all thy frays

Of Fish and Mice, and Rats and tender chick.

Nay look not down, nor lick thy dainty wrists -

For all the wheezy Asthma, -and for all

Thy tail's tip is nicked off - and though the fists

Of many a maid have given thee many a maul,

Still is that fur as soft as when the lists

In youth thou enter'dst on glass- bottled wall.

John Keats 1818

Cat Hair

Cat hair on the bedspread,

Cat hair on the chair.

Cat hair in the casserole,

Cat hair EVERYWHERE

Cat hair on my best coat,

Even on the mouse!

You live and eat and breathe cat hair,

When cats live in your house.

author unknown

Kittens! Kittens!

Kittens kittens everywhere

Kittens chewing on my hair

Kittens climbing up my jeans

Kittens hanging from the screens

There's a kitten on each shoulder

Will they do this when they're older?

Kittens fighting on the chairs

Kittens tumbling down the stairs

There's a kitten on my head

There's a kitten in the bread!

There's a kitten in my shoe

I don't believe we just have two!

William Wordsworth

Cat Kisses

Sandpaper kisses

On a cheek or a chin

That is the way

for a day to begin!

Sandpaper kisses

A cuddle and a purr.

I have an alarm clock

That's covered in fur!

Author Unknown

You seek fulfillment

Through love, wealth, travel, career.

Have you tried kittens?

Pat Welch, Catku

Goes out

,

comes back-

the loves of a cat.

Kobayashi Issa, Contemporary Haiku

Whiskers of the cat,

webbed toes on my swimming dog:

God is in details.

Dean Koontz, The Book of Counted Sorrows

The Housecat's Grave

I've changed my ways a little, I can no longer

roam with you in the evenings along the shore,

except in a kind of dream, and you, if you dream a little

you see me there.

So leave a while the paw marks on the front door,

Where I used to scratch to come in or go out,

and you'd soon answer, leave on the kitchen floor

the marks of my drinking pan.

I cannot lie by your fire all evening

On the warm stone, nor yet at the foot of your bed

no, all the night through,I lie alone.

But your kind thought has laid me less than 6 feet

outside your window, where firelight so often plays,

and where you sit to read, and, I fear, often grieving for me--

every night your lamplight lies on my place.

You, Man and Woman, live so long,

it is hard to think of you ever dying!

A little cat would get tired, living so long.

I hope that when you are lying

under the ground like me, your lives will appear

as good and joyful as mine. No, dears, that's too much hope...

you have not been as well cared for as I have been,

and never knew the passionate, undivided

fidelities I knew.

Your minds are perhaps too active, too many sided,

but to me you were true.

You were never Masters, but Friends. I was your Friend.

Deep love endures to the end and long past the end...

If this is my end, I am not lonely. I am not afraid.

I am still yours.

Author Unknown

Why Own A Cat

There's a danger you know.

You can't own just one, for the craving will grow.

There's no doubt they're addictive, wherein lies the danger

While living with lots, you'll grow poorer and stranger

One cat is not trouble, and two are so funny,

The third one is easy, the fourth one's a honey

The fifth is delightful, the sixth ones's a breeze.

You find you can live with a houseful, with ease.

So how 'bout another? Would you really dare?

They're really quite easy, but Oh Lord, the hair!

With cats on the sofa and cats on the bed,

And crates in the kitchen, its no bother, you said.

They're really no trouble, their manners are great.

What's just one more cat and one more little crate?

The sofa is hairy, the windows are crusty.

The floor is all footprints, the furniture's dusty.

The housekeeping suffers, but what do you care?

Who minds a few noseprints and a little more hair?

So let's keep a kitten, you can always find room.

And a little more time for the dust cloth and broom.

There's hardly a limit to the cats you can add

the thought of a cutback, sure makes you feel sad.

Each one is special, so useful, so funny,

The food bill grows larger, you owe the vet money.

Your folks never visit, few friends come to stay,

Except other cat folks, who live the same way.

Your lawn has now died and your shrubs are dead, too.

Your weekends are busy, you're off with your crew.

There's cat food and vitamins, grooming and shots

And entries and travel and motels, which cost lots.

Is it worth it you wonder? Are you caught in a trap?

Then that favorite comes up and climbs in your lap.

His look says you're special and you know that you will

Keep all of the kittens in spite of the bill.

Some just for showing and some just to breed

And some just for loving, they all fill a need.

Late evening is awful, you scream and you shout

At the cats on the sofa, who refuse to get up.

The cats and the cat shows, the travel, the thrills

The work and the worry, the pressure, the bills.

The Whole thing seems worth it, the cats are your life.

They're charming and funny and offset the strife.

Your lifestyle has changed, things just won't be the same.

Yes, those cats are addictive and so's the cat game!

Author Unknown

Bubba

Deep, emerald eyes that comtemplate

Infinity.

What do they see within my soul?

Can they read my longing

To be more like a cat?

And "The Boys" respond in kind.

Franny Syufy

The Miracle of Me, by Bubba

I know I was designed to be

Adored by all who encounter me

With glossy fur and emerald eyes

My glory's sure to mesmerize

Those hapless humans who think that

A dog's a dog; a cat's a cat

Will surely come around to see

The miracle that is me.

Franny Syufy

A Plea for a Cat

Would you care for me, as I care for my cat?

Oh, I know she is treacherous

and her thoughts go no higher

Than mice and milk

and a place by my fire;

She is getting old and fat.

But when I sit alone in my evening chair,

I stroke her fur

I like to know she is there

and to hear her purr.

Of course, you could not care for me

Like that!

I can not purr as flatteringly

as a cat.

Anonymous

An Old Russian Prayer

Hear our prayer Lord, for all animals,

May they be well-fed and well-trained and happy;

Protect them from hunger and fear and suffering;

And, we pray, protect specially, dear Lord,

The little cat who is the companion of our home,

Keep her safe as she goes abroad,

And bring her back to comfort us.

Anonymous

Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat - Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes

Her conscious tail her joy declared;

The fair round face, the snowy beard,

The velvet of her paws,

Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,

Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,

She saw; and purred applause.

Still had she gazed; but 'midst the tide

Two angel forms were seen to glide,

The genii of the stream:

Their scaly armor's Tyrian hue

Through richest purple to the view

Betrayed a golden gleam.

The hapless nymph with wonder saw:

A whisker first and then a claw,

With many an ardent wish,

She stretched in vain to reach the prize.

What female heart can gold despise?

What cat's averse to fish?

Presumptuous maid! with looks intent

Again she stretched, again she bent,

Nor knew the gulf between.

(Malignant Fate sat by and smiled)

The slippery verge her feet beguiled,

She tumbled headlong in.

Thomas Gray

Hodge the Cat

Burly and big, his books among,

Good Samuel Johnson sat,

With frowning brows and wig askew,

His snuff-strewn waistcoat far from new;

So stern and menacing his air,

That neither Black Sam,

nor the maid

To knock or interrupt him dare;

Yet close beside him, unafraid,

Sat Hodge, the cat.

"This participle," the Doctor wrote,

"The modern scholar cavils at,

But," - even as he penned the word,

A soft, protesting note was heard;

The Doctor fumbled with his pen,

The dawning thought took wings and flew,

The sound repeated, come again,

It was a faint, reminding "Mew!"

From Hodge, the cat...

The Dictionary was laid down,

The Doctor tied his vast cravat,

And down the buzzing street he strode,

Taking an often-trodden road,

And halted at a well-known stall:

"Fishmonger," spoke the Doctor gruff,

"Give me six oysters, that is all;

Hodge knows when he has had enough,

Hodge is my cat."

Then home; puss dined and while in sleep

he chased a visionary rat,

His master sat him down again,

Rewrote his page, renibbed his pen;

Each "i" was dotted, each "t" was crossed,

He labored on for all to read,

Nor deemed that time was waste or lost

Spent in supplying the small need

Of Hodge, the cat.

The dear old Doctor! Fierce of mien,

Untidy, arbitrary, fat,

What gentle thought his name enfold!

So generous of his scanty gold.

So quick to love, so hot to scorn,

Kind to all sufferers under heaven,

A tend'rer despot ne'er was born;

His big heart held a corner, even

For Hodge, the cat.

Sarah Chauncy Woolsey (Susan Coolidge)

Little Ghost cat

,

Your footsteps pit-pat

In the hallway of my mind

The kiss of air, whisper-soft purr;

I hear the echos of your purr;

See your pouncing shadow everywhere....

And smile through my tears.

Author Unknown

The Rat-Catcher and Cats

The rats by night such mischief did,

Betty was every morning chid:

They undermined whole sides of bacon,

Her cheese was sapped, her tarts were taken;

Her pasties, fenced with thickest paste,

Were all demolished and laid waste:

She cursed the Cat, for want of duty.

Who left her foes a constant booty.

An engineer, of noted skill,

Engaged to stop the growing ill.

From room to room he now surveys

Their haunts, their works, their secret ways;

Finds where they 'scape an ambuscade,

And whence the nightly sally's made.

An envious Cat from place to place,

Unseen, attends his silent pace:

She saw that, if his trade went on,

The purring race must be undone;

So secretly removes his baits,

And every strategem defeats.

Again he sets the poisoned toils;

And Puss again the labour foils.

"What foe (to frustrate my designs)

My schemes thus nightly countermines?"

Incensed, he cries, "This very hour

The wretch shall bleed beneath my power."

So said a ponderous trap he brought,

And in the fact poor Puss was caught.

"Smuggler", says he, "thou shalt be made

A victim to our loss of trade".

The captive Cat, with piteous mews,

For pardon, life, and freedom sues.

"A sister of the science spare;

One interest is our common care".

"What insolence!" the man replied;

"Shall cats with us the game divide?

Were all your interloping band

Extinguished, or expelled the land,

We rat-catchers might raise our fees,

Sole guardians of a nation's cheese!"

A Cat, who saw the lifted knife,

Thus spoke, and saved her sister's life.

"In every age and clime we see,

Two of a trade can ne'er agree.

Each hates his neighbor for encroaching:

Squire stigmatizes squire for poaching;

Beauties with beauties are in arms,

And scandal pelts each others' charms;

Kings, too, their neighbor kings dethrone,

In hope to make the world their own;

But let us limit our desires,

Not war like beauties, kings, and squires;

For though we both one prey pursue,

There's game enough for us and you."

John Gay

Jasmine and Skooter

My cats do join me when I pray,

faithfully each and every day.

Two fur clad souls so devote,

Spirit guides there is no doubt.

An orange tabby monk so true,

and a Zen tortoiseshell guru.

Do they join me in my devotions?

Truly I cannot know their notions.

'Twere I as faithful as these the felines.

I be in constant ecstasies sublime.

These faithful cats I have been given,

to teach me how to live for heaven.

Daniel William Francis © 2005

Jubilate Agno

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry....

For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.

For he is of the tribe of Tiger.

For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.

For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.

For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.

For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.

For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.

For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.

Christopher Smart

Loving and Liking

Long may you love your pensioner mouse,

Though one of a tribe that torment the house:

Nor dislike for her cruel sport the cat,

Deadly foe both of mouse and rat;

Remember she follows the law of her kind,

And Instinct is neither wayward nor blind.

Then think of her beautiful gliding form,

Her tread that would scarcely crush a worm,

And her soothing song by the winter fire,

Soft as the dying throb of the lyre.

William Wordsworth

Gray Thrums

Which is the cosiest voice,

The piping droning noise

When the kettle hums,

Or this little old-fashioned wheel

Spinning gray thrums?

Gray thrums! What wheel, you ask,

Turns at such pleasant task

With a soft whirr?

Why, the one in pussy's throat

That makes her purr.

Listen the rippling sound,

And think how round and round

The spindle goes,

As the drowsy thread she spins

Drowsily grows.

What will she do with it

When it is finished? Knit

Some mittens new?

Or shuttle it, and weave cloth

As weavers do?

A funny idea that,

A spinning wheel in a cat!

Yet how it hums!

Our puss is gray, so of course

She spins gray thrums.

Clara Doty Bates

The Christmas Kitten

I once was a cuddly kitten,

But now I am a stray,

'Cause when I was no longer fluffy,

They sent me on my way.

They've kept their big watchdog,

As he can bark and growl,

But I could fly at strangers,

If I caught them on the prowl.

I slink around their garbage can;

I mew outside their door;

But it's clear from their behaviour,

They don't want me anymore.

Now I'm cold and hungry,

And getting very thin,

What have I done to hurt them,

Why won't they let me in?

I crouch in sheds and boxes,

In my bedraggle fur,

So shivery and dejected,

I cannot even purr.

They have another kitten,

Their children's whole delight;

But probably next Christmas,

It will share my wretched plight.

Author Unknown

The Naming of Cats

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

It isn't just one of your holiday games;

You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter

When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,

Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,

Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -

All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,

Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:

Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -

But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,

A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,

Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,

Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,

Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,

Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -

Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there's still one name left over,

And that is the name that you never will guess;

The name that no human research can discover -

But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,

The reason, I tell you, is always the same:

His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation

Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:

His ineffable effable

Effanineffable

Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

T S Eliot

A cat came dancing out of a barn

With a pair of bag-pipes under her arm;

She could sing nothing but, Fiddle cum fee,

The mouse has married the bumble-bee.

Pipe, cat; dance, mouse;

We'll have a wedding at our good house.

Nursery Rhyme

There was a crooked man

, and he went a crooked mile

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Nursery Rhyme

Diddlety, diddlety, dumpty

The cat ran up the plum tree;

Half a crown

To fetch her down

Diddlety, diddlety, dumpty.

Nursery Rhyme

Chang Tuan's Cats

Scholar Chang Tuan was fond of cats,

And had seven of them,

Wonderful beasts with wonderful names.

They were:

Guardian of the East

White Phoenix

Purple Blossom

Drive-Away-Vexation

Brocade Sash

Cloud Pattern

Ten Thousand strings of Cash

Each was worth several pieces of gold

And nothing could persuade Chang

To part with them.

After Wang Chih, c. 1100 C.E.

The Cat Who Walks Alone

They say on a bleak winter's night,

The lone wail of a wild cat

Rips through the darkness like light;

It carries a piercing isolation,

Like a new moon, or

Like an eclipse of the sun;

The cat who walks alone,

Belonging to no one

Searches forever for someone, anyone.

Sarah Chamberlain © 1998

Maneki Neko (Beckoning Cat)

Tama you came unto a temple so rundown,

The priest was poor but fed you anyhow.

Kindness you returned by friendship,

Not to him alone but to all a amiable meow.

Across from your temple shivering in a storm.

The wealthy lord found refuge underneath a tree,

Seeing him you returned the kindness shown,

And so in gratitude welcomed him without pity.

He saw you wave and knew what he must do,

In the temple to be with the priest kind but poor,

The lightning struck and the tree did fall,

But fortune and friendship that kindness bore.

Though you died, you kindness does go on,

Far and wide you welcoming image with scrolls,

Declare "Please come in. You are welcome!"

Reminding us kindness done, will save all souls.

Daniel William Francis © 2005

Cat

The fat cat on the mat

may seem to dream

of nice mice that suffice

for him, or cream;

but he free, maybe,

walks in thought

unbowed, proud, where loud

roared and fought

his kin, lean and slim,

or deep in den

in the East feasted on beasts

and tender men.

The giant lion with iron

claw in paw,

and huge ruthless tooth

in gory jaw;

the pard dark-starred,

fleet upon feet,

that oft soft from aloft

leaps upon his meat

where woods loom in gloom --

far now they be,

fierce and free,

and tamed is he;

but fat cat on the mat

kept as a pet

he does not forget.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Love Little Pussy

I love little pussy, her coat is so warm;

And if I don't hurt her, she'll do me no harm.

So I'll not pull her tail, nor drive her away

But pussy and I very gently will play.

She shall sit by my side, and I'll give her some food;

And she'll love me because I am gentle and good.

I'll pat pretty pussy, and then she will purr;

And thus show her thanks for my kindness to her.

But I'll not pinch her ears, not tread on her paw,

Lest I should provoke her to use her sharp claw.

I never will vex her, nor make her displeased -

For pussy don't like to be worried and teased.

Anonymous

St. Paul's Kittens

We are all in the dumps,

For diamonds are trumps;

The kittens are gone to St. Paul's.

The babies are bit,

The Moon's in a fit,

And the houses are built without walls.

Anonymous

Cat Winketh

When the cat winketh

Little wots the nouse

What the cat thinketh.

Anonymous

Hey Diddle, diddle

,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon,

The little dog laughed,

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Mother Goose

Kilkenny Cats

There once were two cats of Kilkenny,

Each thought there was one cat too many;

So they fought and they fit,

And they scratched and they bit,

Till, excepting their nails

And the tips of their tails,

Instead of two cats there weren't any.

Traditional

The Cat and the Moon

The cat went here and there

and the moon spun round like a top,

and the nearest kin of the moon,

the creeping cat, looked up.

Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,

for, wander and wail as he would,

the pure cold light in the sky

troubled his animal blood.

Minnaloushe runs in the grass

lifting his delicate feet.

Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?

When two close kindred meet,

what better than call a dance?

Maybe the moon may learn,

tired of that courtly fashion,

a new dance turn.

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

from moonlit place to place,

the sacred moon overhead

has taken a new phase.

Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils

will pass from change to change,

and that from round to crescent,

from crescent to round they range?

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

alone, important and wise,

and lifts to the changing moon

his changing eyes.

William Butler Yeats

Pinkle Purr

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

A little black nothing of feet and fur;

And by and by, when his eyes came through,

He saw his mother, the big Tattoo.

And all that he learned he learned from her,

"I'll ask my mother," says Pinkle Purr.

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

A ridiculous kitten with silky fur.

And little black Pinkle grew and grew

Till he got as big as the big Tattoo.

And all he did he did with her.

"Two friends together," says Pinkle Purr.

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

An adventurous cat in a coat of fur.

And whenever he thought of a thing to do,

He didn't much bother about Tattoo.

For he knows it's nothing to do with her,

So "See you later," says Pinkle Purr.

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

An enormous leopard with coal-black fur.

A little brown kitten that's nearly new

Is now playing games with its big Tattoo...

And Pink looks lazily down at her:

"Dear little Tat," says Pinkle Purr.

A. A. Milne

See the Kitten on the Wall

See the kitten on the wall,

Sporting with the leaves that fall.

Withered leaves - one - two - three

From the lofty elder tree.

Though the calm and frosty air,

Of this morning bright and fair.

Eddying round and round they sink,

Softly, slowly; one might think.

From the motions that are made,

Every little leaf conveyed

Sylph or Faery hither tending,

To this lower world descending.

Each invisible and mute,

In his wavering parachute.

But the Kitten, how she starts,

Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!

First at one, and then its fellow,

Just as light and just as yellow.

There are many now - now one,

Now they stop and there are none.

What intenseness of desire,

In her upward eye of fire!

With a tiger-leap half-way,

Now she meets the coming prey.

Lets it go as fast, and then;

Has it in her power again.

Now she works with three or four,

Like an Indian conjurer;

Quick as he in feats of art,

Far beyond in joy of heart.

Where her antics played in the eye,

Of a thousand standers-by,

Clapping hands with shout and stare,

What would little Tabby care

For the plaudits of the crowd?

William Wonrdsworth

A Cat's Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,

The king-size bed is soft and deep...

I sleep right in the center groove

My human can hardly move!

I've trapped her legs, she's tucked in tight

And here is where I pass the night

No one disturbs me or dares intrude

Till morning comes and "I want food!"

I sneak up slowly to begin

My nibbles on my human's chin.

She wakes up quickly, I have sharp teeth -

And my claws I will unsheath

For the morning's here and it's time to play

I always seem to get my way.

So thank you Lord for giving me

This human person that I see.

The one who hugs me and holds me tight

And sacrifices her bed at night.

Author Unknown

The Monk & His Cat Pangur

I and my white Pangur

have each his special art:

His mind is set on hunting mice,

mine is upon my special craft.

I love to rest - better than any fame!

With close study at my little book;

White Pangur does not envy me:

He loves his childish play.

When in our house we two are all alone...

A tale without tedium.

We have - sport never-ending!

Something to exercise our wit.

At times by feats of derring-do

a mouse sticks in his net,

while into my net there drops

a difficult problem of hard meaning.

He points his full shining eye

against the fence of the wall:

I point my clear though feeble eye

against the keenness of science.

He rejoices with quick leaps

when in his sharp claw sticks a mouse;

I, too, rejoice when I have grasped

a problem difficult and dearly loved.

Though we are thus at all time,

neither hinders the other,

each of us pleased with his own art

amuses himself alone.

He is master of the work

which every day he does:

While I am at my own work

to bring difficulty to clearness.

Eighth Century Irish Monk

The Rum Tum Tugger

The Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat:

If you offer him pheasant he would rather have grouse.

If you put him in a house he would much prefer a flat,

If you put him in a flat then he'd rather have a house.

If you set him on a mouse then he only wants a rat,

If you set him on a rat then he'd rather chase a mouse.

Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat--

And there isn't any call for me to shout it:

For he will do

As he do do

And there's no doing anything about it!

The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore:

When you let him in, then he wants to be out;

He's always on the wrong side of every door,

And as soon as he's at home, then he'd like to get about.

He likes to lie in the bureau drawer,

But he makes such a fuss if he can't get out.

Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat--

And there isn't any use for you to doubt it:

For he will do

As he do do

And there's no doing anything about it!

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious beast:

His disobliging ways are a matter of habit.

If you offer him fish then he always wants a feast;

When there isn't any fish then he won't eat rabbit.

If you offer him cream then he sniffs and sneers,

For he only likes what he finds for himself;

So you'll catch him in it right up to the ears,

If you put it away on the larder shelf.

The Rum Tum Tugger is artful and knowing,

The Rum Tum Tugger doesn't care for a cuddle;

But he'll leap on your lap in the middle of your sewing,

For there's nothing he enjoys like a horrible muddle.

Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat--

And there isn't any need for me to spout it:

For he will do

As he do do

And there's no doing anything about it!

T. S. Elliot

Little Paws Prayer

This is a prayer for little paws

All up and down the land,

Driven away, no friendly voice

Never an outstretched hand.

For weary paws of little beasts

Torn and stained with red,

And never a home and never a rest,

Till little beasts are dead.

Oh God of homeless things, look down

And try to ease the way

Of all the little weary paws

That walk the world

today.

Author Unknown

Stray Cat

Dear God, please send me somebody who'll care.

I'm so tired of running and sick with despair.

My body is aching and filled with such pain;

And dear God I pray, as I run in the rain

That someone will love me and give me a home,

A warm cozy bed, and food of my own.

My last owner left me alone in the yard...

I watched as they moved, and God that was hard.

So I waited a while, then went on my way

To rummage in garbage and live as a stray.

But now, God, I'm so tired and hungry and cold;

And I'm so afraid that I'll never grow old.

They've chased me with sticks and hit me with straps

While I run the streets just looking for scraps.

I'm not really bad, God, please help if you can,

For I have become just a "Victim of Man."

I'm wormy, dear God, and I'm ridden with fleas;

And all that I want is an Owner to please.

If you find one for me, God, I'll try to be good.

I won't scratch the carpet; I'll do as I should.

I'll love them, play with them, and try to obey.

I will be so grateful if they'll let me stay.

I don't think I'll make it too long on my own,

'Cause I'm getting weak and I'm so all alone.

Each night as I sleep in the bushes I cry,

'Cause I'm so afraid, God, that I'm gonna die.

I've got so much love and devotion to give

That I should be given a new chance to Live.

So dear God, please hear me, please answer my prayer,

And send me somebody who will REALLY care.

Author Unknown

What is a Cat?

Gentle eyes

that see so much,

paws that have

the quiet touch.

Purrs to signal

"all is well"

and show more love

than words can tell.

Graceful movements

touched with pride,

a calming presence

by our side.

A friendship

that will last and grow -

small wonder

why we love them so.

Author Unknown

The Song of the Jellicles

Jellicle Cats come out to-night

Jellicle Cats come one come all:

The Jellicle Moon is shining bright -

Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,

Jellicle Cats are rather small;

Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,

And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.

Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,

Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;

They like to practise their airs and graces

And wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise.

Jellicle Cats develop slowly,

Jellicle Cats are not too big;

Jellicle Cats are roly-poly,

They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig.

Until the Jellicle Moon appears

They make their toilette and take their repose:

Jellicle Cats wash behind their ears,

Jellicle dry between their toes.

Jellicle Cats are white and black,

Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;

Jellicle Cats jump like a jumping-jack,

Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.

They're quitet enough in the morning hours,

They're quitet enough in the afternoon,

Reserving their terpsichorean powers

To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,

Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small;

If it happends to be a stormy night

They will practise a caper or two in the hall.

If it happens the sun is shining bright

You would say they had nothing to do at all:

They are resting and saving themselves to be right

For the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball.

T. S. Elliot

Cat's Prayer

I hope I'm not asking too much, Lord;

All I want is a home of my own,

And to know when my next meal is coming

Instead of the scraps I get thrown.

I've been out in the cold for so long now,

Just coping as best as I can;

But it's not been so long I've forgotten

The touch of a soft caring hand.

I look in house windows at Christmas,

As cats doze by the fire, quite replete;

How I'd welcome a box in the kitchen,

And tasty food for me to eat.

For me there was tinsel and giftwrap,

But the fun didn't last very long.

They put me outside with the rubbish;

I still don't know what I did wrong.

I really don't want to be greedy;

At the moment I'm all skin and bone,

So would it be too much to hope for

That someone will give me a home?

Author Unknown

The Cat Carol

The cat wanted in to the warm warm house,

but no one would let the cat in

It was cold outside on Christmas Eve,

She meowed and meowed by the door.

The cat was not let in the warm warm house,

And her tiny cries were ignored.

'twas a blizzard now, the worst of the year,

There was no place for her to hide.

Just then a poor little mouse crept by,

He had lost his way in the snow.

He was on his last legs and was almost froze,

The cat lifted him with her paw.

She said "Poor mouse do not be afraid,

because this is Christmas Eve.

"On this freezing night we both need a friend,

"I won’t hurt you - stay by my side."

She dug a small hole in an icy drift,

This is where they would spent the night.

She curled herself 'round her helpless friend,

Protecting him from the cold.

Oooooo

When Santa came by near the end of the night,

the reindeer started to cry.

They found the cat lying there in the snow,

and they could see that she had died.

They lifted her up from the frozen ground,

and placed her into the sleigh.

It was then they saw the little mouse wrapped up,

she had kept him warm in her fur.

"Oh thank you Santa for finding us!

"Dear cat wake up we are saved!"

..."I’m sorry mouse but your friend has died,

there’s nothing more we can do.

"On Christmas Eve she gave you her life,

the greatest gift of them all."

Santa lifted her up into the night sky,

and laid her to rest among the stars.

"Dear mouse don’t cry you are not alone,

you will see your friend every year.

"Each Christmas a Cat Constellation will shine,

to remind us that her love’s still here."

Oooooooo

Bruce Evans ©1993

Cat Owner's Prayer

Because I'm only human,

It's sometimes hard to be

The wise, all-knowing creature

That my cat expects of me.

And so I pray for special help

To somehow understand

The subtle implications

Of each proud meowed command.

Oh, let me not forget that chairs

Were put on earth to shred;

And what I like to call a lap

Is actually a bed.

I know it's really lots to ask

But please, oh please, take pity;

And though I'm only human,

Make me worthy of my kitty!

Author Unknown

Lend Me a Kitten

I will lend to you for awhile a kitten, God said.

For you to love while he lives, and mourn when he's dead.

Maybe for twelve or fourteen years, or maybe two or three.

But will you, 'till I call him back, take care of him for me?

He'll bring his charms to gladden you and, should his stay be brief

You'll always have his memories as solace for your grief.

I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return.

But there are lessons taught below I want this kitten to learn.

I've looked the whole world over in search of teachers true.

And from the folk that crowds life's land I have chosen you.

Now will you give him all your love, nor think the labor vain?

Nor hate me when I come to take my kitten home again?

I fancied that I heard them say 'Dear Lord Thy Will Be Done'

For all the joys this kitten brings the risk of grief we'll run.

We'll shelter him with tenderness, we'll love him while we may.

And for the happiness we've known, forever grateful stay.

But should you call him back much sooner than we planned,

We'll brave the bitter grief that comes, and try to understand.

If, by our love we've managed your wishes to achieve,

Then in memory of him whom we loved, please help us while we grieve.

When our cherished kitten departs this world of strife,

Please send yet another needing soul for us to love all his life.

Author Unknown

A Kitten

He's nothing much but fur

And two round eyes of blue,

He has a giant purr

And a midget mew.

He darts and pats the air,

He starts and cocks his ear,

When there is nothing there

For him to see and hear.

He runs around in rings,

But why we cannot tell;

With sideways leaps he springs

At things invisible -

Then half-way through a leap

His startled eyeballs close,

And he drops off to sleep With one paw on his nose.

Eleanor Farjeon

Puss

Puss loves man's winter fire

Now that the sun so soon

Leaves the hours cold it warmed

In burning June.

She purrs full length before

The heaped-up hissing blaze,

Drowsy in slumber down

Her head she lays.

While he with whom she dwells

Sits snug in his inglenook,

Stretches his legs to the flame

And reads his book.

Walter De La Mare

Do You Know Me?

Why do you look at me in that forlorn way?

Are you cold and hungry in this winter's day?

Why do you gaze with tears in your clear green eyes,

They are so translucent under the matching skies.

You look so familiar, like someone I know,

But sadly, last year, he had to go.

He burrowed deep into my heart,

Made me cry when we had to part.

He invaded my home, when he had no right,

Yet I had to give in to those eyes so bright.

They were like yours, a pearly green,

With the deepest aura that I've seen.

He did things wrong but I didn't mind,

The will to throw him out, I couldn't find,

He wasn't perfect, and I liked him for that,

And I tried to correct him as we sat.

But he was so stubborn, so determined and willed,

I dearly missed his encouragement when he was killed.

Are you his spirit, here to haunt me again?

And die once more and cause me pain?

Well, if him you cannot be,

Why do you look as if you know me?

And the night we met, he too, was ragged and thin,

Miserable and abused near the garbage bin.

If you think I would adopt and care for you,

And then rear you up faithful and true,

Then only to lose another life once again,

You're right, so don't just stand there, come on in!

Author Unknown

Under the Table Manners

It's very hard to be polite

If you're a cat.

When other folks are up at table

Eating all that they are able,

You are down upon the mat

If you're a cat.

You're expected just to sit

If you're a cat.

Not to let them know you're there

By scratching at the chair,

Or a light, respected pat

If you're a cat.

You are not to make a fuss

If you're a cat.

Tho' there's fish upon the plate

You're expected just to wait,

Wait politely on the mat

If you're a cat.

Author Unknown

Growltiger's Last Stand

Growltiger was a Bravo Cat, who lived upon a barge;

In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large.

From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims,

Rejoicing in his title of "The Terror of the Thames."

His manners and appearance did not calculate to please;

His coat was torn and seedy, he was baggy at the knees;

One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why,

And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye.

The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame,

At Hammersmith and Putney people shuddered at his name.

They would fortify the hen-house, lock up the silly goose,

When the rumour ran along the shore:

GROWLTIGER'S ON THE LOOSE!

Woe to the weak canary, that fluttered from its cage;

Woe to the pampered Pekinese, that faced Growltiger's rage.

Woe to the bristly Bandicoot, that lurks on foreign ships,

And woe to any Cat with whom Growltiger came to grips!

But most to Cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed;

To Cats of foreign name and race no quarter was allowed.

The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear -

Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear.

Now on a peaceful summer night, all nature seemed at play,

The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molesey lay.

All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide -

And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side.

His bucko mate, Grumbuskin, long since had disappeared,

For to the Bell at Hampton he had gone to wet his beard;

And his bosun, Tumblebrutus, he too had stol'n away -

In the yard behind the Lion he was prowling for his prey.

In the forepeak of the vessel Growltiger sat alone,

Concentrating his attention on the Lady Griddlebone.

And his raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks -

As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their junks.

Growltiger had no eye or ear for aught but Griddlebone,

And the Lady seemed enraptured by his manly baritone,

Disposed to relaxation, and awaiting no surprise -

But the moonlight shone reflected from a thousand bright blue eyes.

And closer still and closer the sampans circled round,

And yet from all the enemy there was not heard a sound.

The lovers sang their last duet, in danger of their lives -

For the foe was armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives.

Then Gilbert gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde;

With a frightful burst of fireworks the Chinks they swarmed aboard.

Abandoning their sampans, and their pullaways and junks,

They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks.

Then Griddlebone she gave a screech, for she was badly skeered;

I am sorry to admit it, but she quickly disappeared.

She probably escaped with ease, I'm sure she was not drowned -

But a serried ring of flashing steel Growltiger did surround.

The ruthless foe pressed forward, in stubborn rank on rank;

Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank.

He who a hundred victims had driven to that drop,

At the end of all his crimes was forced to go ker-flip, ker-flop.

Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through the land;

At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on the strand.

Rats were roasted whole at Brentford, and at Victoria Dock,

And a day of celebration was commanded in Bangkok.

T. S. Elliot

Lickety, Splickety, and the Old Tom Cat

Lickety, splickety, very pernickety

Mrs. O'Connolly hustles along on her

Rickety bicycle, cold as an icicle,

Treadalling pedalling meddling on!

And the old

tom cat

stretches slowly

by the fire.

What can the matter be, Mrs. O'Rafferty

Falling all over herself in her worry to

Get to the baker and pick out a cake for a

Jolly-good-gobble-it-down-in-a-hurry!

And the old

tom cat

pads slowly

up the stairs.

Oh what calamity, Mrs. O'Flamity

Falls out the window on top of a barrow -

it tumbles and jumbles up Mrs. O'Connolly -

Mrs. O'Rafferty slips down a narrow

Gap down by the gutter and falls in a pothole.

Oh mercy! The poor silly thing is in agony!

Mrs. O'Connolly's under a jag! Any

witnesses please to the dreadful calamity

Come to the Polis and please bring a bottle!

And the old

tom cat

rolls over, smiles, and sleeps.

Author Unknown

When God Created Kitty Cats

When God created kitty cats,

He had no recipe;

He knew He wanted something sweet,

As sweet as sweet could be.

He started out with sugar,

Adding just a trace of spice;

Then stirred in drops of morning dew,

To keep them fresh and nice.

He thought cats should be soft to pet,

Thus He gave them coats of fur;

So they could show they were content,

He taught them how to purr.

He made for them long tails to wave,

While strutting down the walk;

Then trained them in meow-ology,

So they could do cat-talk.

He made them into acrobats,

And gave them grace and poise;

Their wide-eyed curiosity,

He took from little boys.

He put whiskers on their faces,

Gave them tiny ears for caps;

Then shaped their little bodies,

To snugly fit on laps.

He gave them eyes as big as saucers,

To look into man's soul;

Then set a tolerance for mankind,

As their purpose and their goal.

Benevolent ... and ... generous,

He made so many of them;

Then charged, with Fatherly Concern,

The human race to love them.

When one jumped up upon His lap,

God gently stroked its head;

The cat gave Him a kitty kiss,

"What wondrous love," God said.

God smiled at His accomplishment,

So pleased with His creation;

And said, with pride, as He sat back,

"At last. . .I've reached purr-fection!"

Author Unknown

A Cat's Prayer to Bast

As I lay me down to sleep

I pray to Bast my soul to keep,

I pray to Bast my soul to take,

And transport it to the sandy lands

Where my forbears worshipped were,

Where my ancient kin were much revered

And where the cat first learned to purr.

As I pad on velvet feet

I pray Bast will give me mice to eat,

And as I use my litter tray

I ask that she will find me play,

In her bright heaven where all cats,

Are stroked by Bast's most blessed hands,

And bask and gambol in her care,

Remembering Egypt's ancient sands.

As I knead upon your knees,

I hope that Bast is greatly pleased

To see her child at rest and play,

Fed and cared for every day,

And when I reach that glorious place

And gaze upon her feline face,

I'll ask that Bast will grant you grace

To join me in eternal play.

Author Unknown

Cats

There's music in a hammer,

There's music in a nail,

There's Music in a tom-cat

When you tread upon his tail.

Author Unknown

Three Little Kittens

Three little kittens

They lost their mittens

And they began to cry,

Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear

Our mitten we have lost.

What! Lost your mittens,

You naughty kittens!

Then you shall have no pie.

Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.

No, you shall have no pie.

The three little kittens

They found their mittens,

And they began to cry,

Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,

Our mittens we have found.

Put on your mittens,

You silly kittens,

And you shall have some pie.

Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r,

Oh, let us have some pie.

Author Unknown

Two Little Kittens

Two little kittens, one stormy night,

Begun to quarrel, and then to fight;

One had a mouse, the other had none,

And that's the way the quarrel begun.

"I'll have that mouse," said the biggest cat;

"You'll have that mouse? We'll see about that!"

"I will have that mouse," said the eldest son;

"You shan't have the mouse," said the little one.

I told you before 'twas a stormy night;

When these two little kittens began to fight;

The old woman seized her sweeping broom,

And swept the kittens right out of the room.

The ground was covered with frost and snow,

And the two little kittens had no where to go;

So they laid them down on the mat at the door,

While the old woman finished sweeping the floor.

Then they crept in, as quiet as mice,

All wet with snow, and cold as ice,

For they found it was better, that stormy night,

To lie down and sleep than to quarrel and fight.

Author Unknown

The Purry Gates

It seems that I've reached Heaven,

or it's doorstep at any rate,

and been winding round St. Peter's ankles

by the Pearly Gates,

I've plucked the angels' harp strings

and made a merry sound,

But it's plucking at my heartstrings

that you are not around.

So I think I'll sit and wait here,

just outside the door,

And as the souls come floating in,

I'll tap them with my paw,

And when you seek admittance,

they'll rename this place -

It will become Purradise,

and these the Purry Gates!

Author Unknown

Pussy-cat Ate The Dumplings

Pussy-cat ate the dumplings, the dumplings,

Pussy-cat ate the dumplings,

Mama stood by,

And cried, "oh, Fie!

Why did you eat the dumplings?"

Nursery Rhyme

Pussy cat, Wussy Cat

Pussy-cat, wussy-cat, with a white foot,

When is your wedding? For I'll come to't.

The beer's to brew, the bread's to bake,

Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, don't be too late.

Nursery Rhyme

Pussy Sits by the Fire

Pussy sits by the fire,

How can she be fair?

In comes the little dog,

"Pussy, are you there?

So, so, my dear Mistress Pussy,

Pray tell me how do you do?"

"Thank you, thank you, little dog,

I'm very well just now."

Nursery Rhyme

Pussy, Pussy Baudrons

"Pussy, pussy baudrons

Where have you been?"

"I've been to London,

To see the Queen!"

"Pussy, pussy baudrons,

What got your there?"

"I got a good fat mousikie,

Running up the stair."

Scottish Nursery Rhyme

Oh, Lovely, Lovely, Lovely

The witch flew out on Hallowe'en,

Her hair was blue, her nose was green,

Her teeth the longest ever seen,

Oh, she was lovely, lovely, lovely!

Her cat was black and fit and fat,

He lashed his tail and humped his back,

He scritched and scratched and hissed and spat,

Oh, he was lovely, lovely, lovely!

They rode a cleaner, not a broom.

"Go left!" screeched Puss and spoke their doom.

She turned right-they hit the moon.

Oh, it was lovely, lovely, lovely.

Anonymous

Ding, Dong, bell

,

Pussy's in the well.

Who put her in?

Little Johnny Green.

Who pulled her out?

Little Tommy Stout.

Mother Goose's Melody

cat and I

eye to eye

curled in the covers

Michael P. Garofalo

The Cat

Within that porch, across the way,

I see two naked eyes this night;

Two eyes that neither shut nor blink,

Searching my face with a green light.

But cats to me are strange, so strange -

I cannot sleep if one is near;

And though I'm sure I see those eyes,

I'm not so sure a body's there!

W. H. Davies

GIVING A CAT A PILL - NOT BY DR. SEUSS

!

I am cat

cat I am.

I will not eat

My pill with ham.

I will not take it with a mouse,

I will not take it in a house,

I will not take it don't you see,

I will not take it. Cat is me!

I will not take it in the yard,

I will not take it in the car,

I will not take this pill you fool,

I will not take it in a pool,

I'll no more take this pill than ye

Would choose a store to take a p**

I will not take it if you plead,

I will not take it when you bleed.

I will not take it when you beg,

I will not take it with a keg.

I'll nae take it naer ye try,

I'll just flick it in yer eye.

I won't eat it, try again.

Won't eat it when yer on a cane.

Won't even take it when ye die,

No matter how ye try and try.

I will not eat it thank ye ma'am

I am a cat - I am I am!

Author Unknown

Had Tiberius Been a Cat

Cruel, but composed and bland,

Dumb, inscrutable and grand,

So Tiberius might have sat,

Had Tiberius been a cat.

Matthew Arnold 1822-1888

The curled cat twitches

paws over eyes

dreaming of flying

down teeming skies.

What does this mean?

"Imagining what we see."

Michael P. Garofalo

Mr Mistoffelees

You ought to know Mr. Mistoffelees!

The Original Conjuring Cat--

(There can be no doubt about that).

Please listen to me and don't scoff. All his

Inventions are off his own bat.

There's no such Cat in the metropolis;

He holds all the patent monopolies

For performing suprising illusions

And creating eccentric confusions.

At prestidigitation

And at legerdemain

He'll defy examination

And deceive you again.

The greatest magicians have something to learn

From Mr. Mistoffelees' Conjuring Turn.

Presto!

Away we go!

And we all say: OH!

Well I never!

Was there ever

A Cat so clever

As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!

He is quiet and small, he is black

From his ears to the tip of his tail;

He can creep through the tiniest crack,

He can walk on the narrowest rail.

He can pick any card from a pack,

He is equally cunning with dice;

He is always deceiving you into believing

That he's only hunting for mice.

He can play any trick with a cork

Or a spoon and a bit of fish-paste;

If you look for a knife or a fork

And you think it is merely misplaced--

You have seen it one moment, and then it is gawn!

But you'll find it next week lying out on the lawn.

And we all say: OH!

Well I never!

Was there ever

A Cat so clever

As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!

His manner is vague and aloof,

You would think there was nobody shyer--

But his voice has been heard on the roof

When he was curled up by the fire.

And he's sometimes been heard by the fire

When he was about on the roof--

(At least we all heard that somebody purred)

Which is incontestable proof

Of his singular magical powers:

And I have known the family to call

Him in from the garden for hours,

While he was asleep in the hall.

And not long ago this phenomenal Cat

Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!

And we all said: OH!

Well I never!

Did you ever

Know a Cat so clever

As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!

T.S. Eliot

Cats

They are alike, prim scholar and perfervid lover:

When comes the season of decay, they both decide

Upon sweet, husky cats to be the household pride;

Cats choose, like them, to sit, and like them, shudder.

Like partisans of carnal dalliance and science,

They search for silence and the shadowings of dread;

Hell well might harness them as horses for the dead,

If it could bend their native proudness in compliance.

In reverie they emulate the noble mood

Of giant sphinxes stretched in depths of solitude

Who seem to slumber in a never-ending dream;

Within their fertile loins a sparkling magic lies;

Finer than any sand are dusts of gold that gleam,

Vague starpoints, in the mystic iris of their eyes.

Charles Baudelaire

The Cat of the House

Over the hearth with my 'minishing eyes I muse; until after

the last coal dies.

Every tunnel of the mouse,

every channel of the cricket,

I have smelt,

I have felt

the secret shifting of the mouldered rafter,

and heard

every bird in the thicket.

I see

you

Nightingale up in the tree!

I, born of a race of strange things,

of deserts, great temples, great kings,

in the hot sands where the nightingale never sings!

Ford Madox Ford

Mice Before Milk

Lat take a cat and fostre hym wel with milk

And tendre flessch and make his couche of silk,

And lat hym seen a mouse go by the wal,

Anon he weyvith milk and flessch and al,

And every deyntee that is in that hous,

Suich appetit he hath to ete a mous.

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Manciple's Tale

The Gift

cat comes in the house

big gray rodent in his mouth

grateful gift for you

Maurice

Holding up my

purring cat to the moon

I sighed.

Jack Kerouac

Sitting by the Fire on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost's Cat

Whose chair this is by now I know. 

He's somewhere in the forest though; 

He will not see me sitting here 

A place I'm not supposed to go. 

He really is a little queer 

To leave his fire's cozy cheer 

And ride out by the frozen lake 

The coldest evening of the year. 

To love the snow it takes a flake; 

The chill that makes your footpads ache, 

The drifts too high to lurk or creep, 

The icicles that drip and break. 

His chair is comfy, soft and deep. 

But I have got an urge to leap, 

And mice to catch before I sleep. 

And mice to catch before I sleep.

Henry Beard, POETRY FOR CATS

I grope under

the

Door with a played paw; I know

You're in there. Come Out!

Deborah Coates, Cat Haiku

The flight of the bee

strainght into the clear marble:

behold, a cat's eye.

Joseph Gustafson , Catnips

bang!

robin feathers stuck to the frosty window

-- just the cat's tail moves

rhahn@u.washington.edu

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers.

Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Anonymous

A Rainbow Path

I could hear you say my name, in your very gentle way.

You told me that it was all right, I didn’t have to stay.

I was getting very tired, and the pain was leaving too

I closed my eyes a second, and a field came into view.

I still could hear you talking, but you seemed quite far away

Though I longed to be beside you, I just couldn’t seem to stay

For one moment I was with you, and the next I’m running free

I turned my head and there were others, running next to me.

We ran together through the field, and birdies filled the sky.

We chased and played together, then I turned and wondered why?

Why were you not behind me?  I wondered where you went.

Then someone was beside me, and He had a lovely scent.

He petted me and told me that I simply had to wait.

That before I ‘d time to miss you, you’d be coming through the gate. 

He said that very loyal pets, were granted special space

To wait for those who loved them, to see again their face.

So please, know I am waiting with dogs and cats, and many more

For the day that I can see again the face that I adore.

It’s really such a lovely place, there’s no sickness and no pain.

I’ll be so very filled with joy when I see you once again.

Thank you for setting me free.

 Carol Notermann © 2004

The Spirit of the Homeless Cat

The Spirit of the homeless cat peaked in a window pane.

The cat inside napped by a fire, while she felt only rain.

It made her cold and still she looked upon the scene inside

She wondered just how it would feel, to not always have to hide.

The Spirit of the homeless cat, moved on to the next home

She watched as this cat ate his food, he didn’t have to roam.

Her one great dream, to just feel love, started up again inside

How would it feel to know such love, she thought and then she sighed.

The Spirit of the homeless cat, moved further down the street

The rain had stopped and by one house she heard a sound so bleak.

She peaked in through the sliding door, a woman sat there all alone

She was packing up a kitty’s things, and softly she did moan.

She saw a kitty angel, sitting by the woman’s chair, 

The woman talked as if she knew, the kitty angel was right there.

The Spirit of the homeless cat, the kitty angel had just seen

And through the night it told its mom, while talking in a dream

The scared and frightened homeless cat, awoke to yet another day

She heard the humans coming; she so didn’t want to stay

Inside this cage, where she was fed, but no one had the time

To love on her and hold her close or sing a little rhyme.

But the woman from her dream last night was really standing there

The woman stopped and looked at her, the kitty said a prayer.

Then suddenly and not a dream, she was in the woman’s lap

The woman talked to her about, a chair where she could nap.

That night the cat and woman sat playing on the floor,

The angel kitty’s toys were strewn right by the sliding door.

Together they did fall asleep, each feeling their new love

And there beside the rainbow bridge a kitty angel smiled above.

 Carol Notermann © 2004

A Cat's Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray this cushy life to keep.

I pray for toys that look like mice,

and sofa cushions, soft and nice.

I pray for gourmet kitty snacks,

And someone nice to scratch my back,

For windowsills all warm and bright,

For shawdows to explore at night.

I pray I'll always stay real cool

And keep the secrect feline rule

To NEVER tell a human that

The world is really ruled by CATS!

Author Unknown

03A9