Cats And Goldfish

Gaven Kent · May 2, 2017

While cleaning with my dreaded Henry Hoover I had a slight mishap where the cats bowl of water and bowl of biscuits were knocked over and reduced to a sodden mess. Rather than throw them away I thought that Carter and Hugo would be quite happy to donate them to the fish. Species cooperation and recycling all in one go! The goldfish went mad for them and the surface of the pond was almost bubbling with activity. Both cats then spent the afternoon with their eyes glued to the pond with the occasional meow cackle as they tried to convince the fish to leap up into their jaws! Within 20 minutes all the biscuits had been eaten. The pond is about 3m by 1.5m but is about 2m deep. It came with the house and over 8 years they have multiplied and grown quite large for common goldfish. There must be between 75-100 fish in there and it's turned into a wonderful little ecosystem. Carter and Hugo looked at me as if the fish were a huge secret that I've failed to share and that giving away biscuits is a huge betrayal. I was wondering if fish love the dreaded Dreamies/Temptations as much as cats?

mama africa · May 3, 2017

Do the fish meow or purr now ?

Gaven Kent · May 3, 2017

Both! And swim around like maniacs while frothing at the mouth!

dustydiamond1 · May 7, 2017

Lovely pond set up and such a clever solution to the spill. :thanks:

for sharing story & pics. Beautiful fur baby, is it Hugo or Carter? :catrub:

Gaven Kent · May 8, 2017

dustydiamond1 said:
Lovely pond set up and such a clever solution to the spill. for sharing story & pics. Beautiful fur baby, is it Hugo or Carter?

Thank you! Hugo is the three year old medium haired tabby but with all the different tabby markings. His fur patterns look as if they're from twenty cats! Carter is a seventeen year old, half Burmese black cat. His mum was a brown Burmese who had slipped out and hooked up with next doors rough and ready black Tom! She had four boys, two black short haired and two black medium haired. From what I remember Carters mums owner was absolutely furious and wanted rid of the kittens as soon as possible. We bought Carter and his longer haired brother who we called Sebastian. Sebastian was stolen when he was two by our then neighbour. He dissapeared and we searched everywhere. A year later we see Sebastian sitting by the neighbours window. It was 100% him but when confronted the woman denied it. We called the police but they said it was a civil matter/he said-she said etc. Sebastian was microchipped but she refused to let us check. A year has gone by and he was no longer our cat as he had settled in. We left it at that but told the woman that we were fully aware of what she had done. We drove past our old place a few months ago and saw him on her windowsill. I'm happy he's around still and for all her madness and cat stealing she doted on him and he's clearly been looked after. It illustrates that there are some crazy cat thieves out there and that the police in the UK have no interest in dealing with cats that are stolen. Another mini story from Carter and Hugo!

Gaven Kent · May 8, 2017

dustydiamond1 said:
Lovely pond set up and such a clever solution to the spill. for sharing story & pics. Beautiful fur baby, is it Hugo or Carter?

I'd love to take credit for the pond but it came with the house. It was the only thing that the previous owners hadn't destroyed or neglected. The garden was trashed and I'm amazed that the fish survived but they've thrived in the pond. I can only think that this is because it's so deep and full of plant an other pond life that it's become self sustaining. The fish are common English goldfish but some of them are huge. There's been a few casualties over the years due to natural causes and the net is there to stop the local Heron from eating them all but mainly to stop Hugo from jumping in. When he was a kitten and had had his vaccinations we took him for walks in the garden in a harness. It worked brilliantly. One day he saw the flash of a fish and launched himself at the pond. He landed on the net and was suspended about 1cm above the water. After that I pegged the net into the ground so that it is really tight. I've gone so far as testing it with bricks to see if they'll take the weight of a cat. If he should ever repeat his kitten hood shenanigans then I'm confident that he won't fall in! Carter takes them in his stride and only takes an interest in them if I'm feeding them something. Since sharing their wet biscuits with the fish last week I've been putting all the waste dry food that ends up on the floor in the pond and the fish devour them. The cats give me looks that could kill as I'm giving away their precious dinner!