Being a confirmed crazy cat lady I sing to my cat. She doesn’t appreciate it (if you heard me sing you wouldn’t appreciate it either).
Doesn’t stop me though.
Obviously I customise the songs just for Miss Fiss.
Sometimes I croon the old hits:
I will be your hero kitty
I will feed you all the food
I will cud-dle you forever
You can catch my mice for me
Sometimes I get carried away with the possibilities of a really bad pun, and update the newest chart topper:
17 inch frame, RATs along her back
When she calls your name, you know she’s wanting snacks…She told me she was out of food,
but when I checked her bowl it was all a ruse…She told me she wanted pets,
but when I touched her tum all I got was bites…We don’t talk about gatto, meow meow meow…
Oh, we don’t talk about gatto…
(look at that magnificently unimpressed face. She’s so adorably offended).
And then sometimes I go back to the old classics:
Furry tum, my little love
Furry tum I say
Fuzzy paws, my little love
I’m going to kiss them all day
Nose as pink as a summers rose
Eyes of changeable green
She’s the darling of my heart
Even when she’s mean
Some come here to get all the pets
Some come here to play
Some come here to get all the pets
I come for cuddles all day
(do I sing that second verse to her when she bites me, yes I do)
What do you sing to your pets?
I used to sing Your Feet’s Too Big to my Maine Coon mix, Erich. “Up in Tabor at a table for two/There are SIX of us here– Me, your big feet, and you!”
I’m a fluffy cat and I’m OK.
I dash all night and I sleep all day.
She’s a bad, bad cat
And she bites and claws and slaps.
Etc.
She complains bitterly about my singing, which is not unjustified. My own mother used to tell me I should sing more quietly.
Frisco Bisco Kitty Cat
You’re my Friend how about that
or
Hello Frisco, whatcha knowin?
Or
Kitty Cat, Kitty cat, oh pretty Kitty Cat
The cat is unimpressed but my kids are exceedingly annoyed…
I do this too! Cariad loves it. We have a medley of “I’m in the mood for love”, “Can’t take my eyes off you” and “My girl.” I substitute the word ‘Baby” for “kitty” and by the time we get to the end of the medley, Cariad is on her back on my lap, purring like a motor and flexing her paws in ecstasy. Cwtch, on the other paw, is generally not amused and puts her ears backwards to show her disgruntlement. My neighbour does it too. Nobby is cradled in my neighbour’s arms at bedtime while she sings “Oooh a diddy diddy dum diddy do”. We also have special voices that we use when talking to our cats. We’ll save that embarrassment for another time.
Oh, how you made my day! Miss Felicity, you should be delighted that you are crooned to. Yes, we do it too, and currently three of the kitties that have ever been our companions have their own songs.
A sample, the third verse from Nutmeg’s song:
“Our little kitty is so speedy,
We clocked in the house going 93;
She can run faster than you or me,
There she goes again: timer, please!”
Nutmeg also loves the piano, too. When I play, she meows and circles, then hops up in my lap and investigates the keys rising and falling. Next it’s time to make her own atonal music by stepping up on the keys, and at times she lies down and attempts to paw and bite them or to get at whatever is chirping so tantalizingly close. After making a circuit behind the music stand, it’s down into my lap again to curl up while I attempt to continue to play. Play quality takes a dive, but we’re both too happy to care.
Long may you sing to her, and my sympathy for New Zealand’s COVID fight. Thankfully it was kept at bay long enough for the vaccines to settle in and a number of treatments to be available.
Very best indeed,
Natalie across the pond in KY, where the first daffodils are blooming, but as usual, it is expected to snow next week
@Felcity Awww!
You’re welcome to adore my stash any time you choose!
@Natalie Someone else with cats like mine. Yay!
My Missy (Artemisia) also loves the piano and will flounce about across the keys for attention and/or entertainment. She especially loves the 2nd & 3rd 8ves above middle c and will wonder about there composing mid-c20th serial music. When it’s attention she’s after, she hits the bass. Felicity would understand her penchant for finding my silk and merino spinning fibre and pulling the lid back over herself to hide her misdeeds
Have you seen the cat-certo composed as homage to a piano teacher’s cat? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zmLuEkpij5E (sorry Dreamstress, but that’s worth the link)
Lakshmi, on the other hand likes to sit between my feet and the cello spike when I practice – nice for a beginner to have such an appreciative audience.
purely adorable. cat people are good people, i love them so.
i do sing to my darlings, whether my voice and delivery are…er…worthy of appreciation.
we have some family favourites: “kitty stew, kitty stew, you’re going to get some kitty stew”. then there’s the immortal “kitty, kitty, you’re so pretty/ with your dainty feet/ oh so bitty, so petite/ kitty you’re my favourite treat”
our feline overlords do the equivalent of rolling their eyes, but graciously accept the tributes.
thanks for sharing lovely miss felicity.
Mama’s little baby loves kitten chow, kitten chow.
Mama’s little baby loves kit-ten chow.
Out of the bag, straight from the box,
baby loves his kitten chow all around the clock.
Such sweet pictures of Miss Felicity–thanks.
I sometimes walk into a room and sing “what’s new pussycat, waa-ooo-waa-ooo-waaaa-oo” and the cat (whichever it is) gives me a look like “push off, I’m trying to sleep here.” Not much new there.
Jack and I go with the classics. “Loverman, oh, where can you be?” (Sometimes he tells me.) “He’s my man.” “Someday, he’ll come along, the cat I love.” “Jack, you is my kitten now.” We might edge towards a little Tom Jones with “What’s new, pussycat?” And go Little Millie Small with “My cat lollipop.” I’m a rotten singer, but he doesn’t care, bless him!
This is the best post! It’s wonderful to read everyone’s comments. As for my family, we have a glorious dog, Ivy. And we make every single song about her. The whole family plays along, especially our 7-year-old “puppy” (human-kid, yet definitely also Ivy-dog’s puppy), and especially to TV show theme songs. Most recently “The Great North” became “The Great Dog!”
What a swell post! Thank you, everyone!
Oh he’s a kitty-cat and he’s okay,
He sleeps all night and he sleeps all day.
He loves to run around the house and play,
Catching lizards while we’re away.
Or the classic: Rock the catbox! Rock the catbox!
Oh my goodness: Rock the catbox!
We sing to ours too. Our signature song was composed when my partner drove from south eastern Missouri to Kingston, Ontario with our kittens: Cats swam across the Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi. Cats swam across the Mississippi, M I S S I S S, I P P I Mississippi, Cats swam across the Mississippi. The tune is original too. We now sing it whenever the cats go out in the car with us (usually for vet check ups) and it keeps them quiet.
When I sing with a cat in my arms at home, they will often put a paw softly against my lips to hold them still. I don’t think that my singing is appreciated.
When I was riding my grey horse I’d sing “My Lovely Horse” from Father Ted and Dougal’s Eurovision entry.
He didn’t even mind when I made the train noise at the end!
Monk the cat has a rhythm we chant while she rides around on my shoulder:
“Monk a-monk-a-monk-a
monk-monk-monk
monk-monk-monk
monk-monk-monk
Monk a-monk-a-monk-a
monk-monk-monk
monk monk-monk monk-monk”
Somehow it just doesn’t seem the same written out like that… You’ll have to imagine the little dance that goes with it.
This is such a wonderful, cheerful post. It is a comfort to know how many others sing to their pets. I sing a repertoire of Mr. Rogers songs to my farm and house animals.
“You are my friend, you are special, you are my friend, you’re special to me!”
“It’s youuuuuuu I like……”
My tiny dog sings with me at this point and I swear this is why the chickens lay eggs year round despite being ancient.
I don’t sing with lyrics. I whistle to our cats sometimes, because Karel Čapek observed that it fascinates them, and I try to see if I can get the same effect. Most often I whistle something by Händel we always sing at Easter, I’m not sure what it’s called in other languages (it’s not the Halleluia chorus).
When there is a full moon I sing to my llamas:
Llama girls won’t you come out tonight
Come out tonight
Come out tonight?
Llama girls won’t you come out tonight
And dance by the light of the moon?
(To the tune of Buffalo Gals)
The cats like it too
Where have you gone? Sincerely missing your posts, especially rate the dress.
Oh, we love our kitties, don’t we. We adore them so much we write and sing songs especially for them. Boy, they must think we’re stupid. Can you imagine if your cat(s) were human, what would he be thinking! Whenever I’d sing a song to my kitties, that’s what I always thought. I’d look in their eyes and watch their movements to guess their thoughts. I imagine him or her thinking, “What the heck is she doing? Man, she is some stupid broad.” In my version of life, that’s what a male cat would think, you know, the dominant male species (so they think) But the loving kitten or sweet female cat is always waiting to hear you speak or sing those loving words, showing them you truly love them and saying in their meow way, “Ha, ha you other cats, this is my creature and this is all for me. Don’t stop, mommy.”
I actually did not come on your site to post words about our almost human cats and their pet humans.
There is just so much I love to share about cats. I have had a cat with me since I was nine years old. But then, my last cat died and I couldn’t bear to have another cat to love so truly only to depart from me once again. Now that hurts so much. My Rosie has been gone for
3 1/2 years. I still cry and miss her so much. Oh I have so many stories about each one of my babies.
Now the reason I came to your site is about dyeing shoes you discussed way back in 2011. You taught us how you died your satin shoes to match the Emma dress. But I wonder if that dyeing process applies to high-heeled canvas dress shoes as well. If you see this, I do hope you can provide an answer. You’re so knowledgeable in beautiful past clothing and how to do everything, from creating to protecting and everything else in-between.
I also want to share with you that my niece is getting married in late summer and having a degree in fashion design, she is creating her own gown as well as the bridesmaids. Her theme? The Gilded Age. I’m so excited for her!