@iluvmingos@Kidsandliz I’m genuinely glad that’s worked out for y’all. My cat had an impeccable record until we moved. We thought we did all the right things, but both our cats never fully adjusted. And it got much worse as they aged.
Even before that, we’ve had some cats who do well and others who don’t.
I’m not a cat whisperer. I never much cared for cats until mine found me. And, yeah, I’d call it partly dumb luck that he was so good with the box until he wasn’t. Even when he was good, he’d sometimes stand in the box and leave his business outside it.
@iluvmingos@joelmw I guess I got lucky with my cat with kidney issues. I had to give him subQ fluids for around a year. He still used the litter box. He died at 17
@cbatte I meant to come back and tell you how outrageously cute he looks in his little tie! I see he grew into his ears eventually.
I had a cat named Pippin!
@Kyeh He did grow into his ears and that made me sad.
When I adopted Pippin, the rescue called her Jane Ann for some reason. I had to rename her. Since I wanted two dogs, I intended to name them after Pippin and Merry from LOTR. Then I got Ollie who was named by the foster. He didn’t look like a Merry to me and Ollie seemed to suit him
@mediocrebot@sillyheathen Reminds me of an old joke from school days:
Did you hear about the monkey making love to the giraffe?
The elephant put him up to it.
@narfcake My first set of cats knew about 32 commands that one cat followed immediately after the command, although tried to find ways around them (more about that in a minute) and the other with a few of the commands (but not most of them) was like toddler and needed the command repeated (more about that in a minute too).
Example:
I’m sitting on the couch eating something off of a plate in my lap.
Cats come running ready to try to sneak some of it and jump up on the couch headed towards my plate in my lap.
Command: Mine.
Cat 1 backs off a bit. Thinks about this a minute and then stretches head and whiskers forward and dips her whiskers in the gravy. Backs off more and cleans whiskers.
Cat 2 backs off. Stares at my face. Slowly stretches a paw forward while watching my face.
Me: Mine.
Cat 2 withdraws paw quickly.
Rinse and repeat with cat 2 two more times. Then cat 2 settles on the couch next to me.
I’m done eating and put the plate on the floor. Both cats look at me expectantly, not moving from where they are.
Me: OK.
Both cats gather at the plate and lick it clean.
===
Another example. I lived in a 3 story half a house. I got up headed to the hall and bathroom. Cats start to race towards the steps.
Me: Not yet.
Cats screech to a halt mid run, turn around and enter the bathroom to watch me.
I’m ready to go downstairs to feed them.
Me: Let’s go feed the kitties.
The cats race downstairs at top speed.
I get downstairs and find them in front of the food dishes, heads turned looking at me expectantly.
@Kidsandliz@narfcake
I think its @Kidsandliz who has magic cat powers; either she attracts the rare and unusual cats, or else she radiates feline improvement mutant powers that makes cats that hang around her better than they were before. Smarter. Nicer.
@duodec@narfcake No no no no no - more like cats I just took the time to train them. And cats don’t slobber all over you or stink until you bathe them. They are self cleaning.
Actually at one point in my life I volunteered at animal control and they used me to tell which cats were feral and which ones were just scared. Of course sometimes they still got bit because they didn’t pay attention to cat language. I could hold and pet far more cats there than anyone else. I was used at another shelter I volunteered at to work with the more scared cats. Took a lot of self control not to take home all the cats I worked with.
Why “The Possum?” The nickname came from his appearance, but also reflected his distinct and influential presence in the country music world, according to Facebook users.
Legacy: Jones was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is considered one of the greatest country singers of all time, known for hits like “He Stopped Loving Her Today”.
@PooltoyWolf@sillyheathen Haven’t seen any for a few days, but quite often i have possums coming up on my back deck at night after the cat food i leave out. i used to run them off with a water hose (didn’t want them to get spoiled by easy meals and not doing their neighborhood cleanup jobs). But then decided, What the heck. if the cats tolerate them, i should too. So now i leave them be, but they usually scurry off when they see me.
The only problem is my dog. She finally tolerates the cats, but she chases and kills possums (doesn’t try to eat them). So she doesn’t get any back yard time after dark.
The possums seem to have an air of appreciation about them when eating the cat food. But the raccoons are a different story. They are quite both demanding and unappreciative and i swear they cuss at me while filling up at my expense.
@phendrick@PooltoyWolf@sillyheathen My neighbor had a very fat possum who’d waddle over to the food dish she put out for a neighborhood cat. The possum would watch at a distance and then eat after the cat was done. We know who won the dominance fight over who owned that food dish.
@Kidsandliz@phendrick@PooltoyWolf my grandmother had three pet outdoor opossums. She also had 8 cats, a dog and a local gator that wasn’t technically a pet but it would come up to eat chicken necks and wings from the dock everyday. I loved going to her house.
@chienfou@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@phendrick@PooltoyWolf That cracks me up EVERYTIME! I love that because yes. It’s not a question of them being there. If there’s water, they’re there. Most people don’t realize that for the most part, they’re actually pretty docile. I was always way more worried about moccasins on lily pads than I was about gators. Hell I was more worried about alligator snapping turtles than the cocodrie.
@sillyheathen
I’m the same way. I totally lose my shit every time I listen to this lady talk. But yes it brings back memories of being out on the swamp on an airboat.
@chienfou man I do miss goin out onna boat regardless of the kind. You done gone and brought da cabin speak out.
One of the guides started talking to me in Oahu, the day we were there, because he said most tourists think being at the bow is cool until they get wet or they can’t handle the motion. He said “you’ve clearly spent some time on boats in your life.”
@Kyeh@phendrick@PooltoyWolf@sillyheathen Your back window with plants looks like my mom’s back window did when she owned a house. Lined with plants. Mom loved to garden and our chore as kids was weeding. The upshot of that is I love looking at nice gardens, but will not plant a garden because, well weeding, watering… and all that work that comes with gardening.
@chienfou@sillyheathen Man, I too miss boats. I spent almost every weekend of my childhood on a 1986 Viking 35 Convertible named Retreat that we kept in a marina in Fort Pierce, FL. We made many crossings to The Bahamas for vacations and I very much had sea legs! I would LOVE to do it again.
I’ll have to see if I can find it. I could always take a new one.
I do have a thing for plants I suppose… My mom is a master gardener and I always grew up with the most beautiful borders around our yard. We didn’t live in a fancy neighborhood by any means. Mom just loved gardening. That came from her growing up on a farm with a dad who loved science and hybridized iris, dallies and gladiolas. Anyway. I always swore I’d never get into plants. I never understood what it was she loved about it until I did. I adore all things flora and fauna. And my kids swear they’ll never be plant people. I guess time will tell.
@chienfou@PooltoyWolf@sillyheathen I miss boats too. I grew up with a canoe that could sail and we had a rowboat that the farm (that we often tipped over and then swam under it up into the air pocket treading water and talking). I owned a canoe, kayak and 14’ sailboat. I have also worked on tall ships and a tug boat (that had a sail). I worked on those long enough that I have (well they have expired) USCG licenses for boats up to 200 tons.
I used to be hardcore in the dog camp, until my cat came along and stole my heart. Now he is gone and my heart is broken.
Even as a joke I hate this kind of binary. We’ve got enough nonsensical, arbitrary conflict in this world. But I will say this. If you’re a cat person who hates dogs or dog people or considers them somehow inferior or if you’re a dog person who hates cats or cat people or considers them somehow inferior—and I want to say this in the kindest terms but be assured I am quite earnest:
Please go fuck yourself and shut the fuck up. Be dogmatic about things that matter, e.g., human rights or saving the planet or some shit. I fucking hate the cat-dog “argument”. I also don’t care if you prefer Coke, Pepsi, RC, Shasta; I don’t care if you think iPhones are better or worse than Android. Et fucking cetera.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
That’s what I’ve got to say. To be clear, I don’t actually mind if people joke around about this shit, but some people clearly take it and themselves way too seriously. And the jokes usually aren’t that funny. Make better jokes.
@joelmw It’s just a lighthearted, fun “argument”. Most people who would even bother participating in it do it because it’s fun, and the banter isn’t intended to “win”, cause hurt feelings, or convince anyone of the purported superiority of anyone’s side. It’s a Batman vs. Spiderman thing. It’s one of the ways in which amicable people relate, whether or not they agree about other things.
Cats because you can put out food and water for a week with a clean litter box and leave on a trip and they’ll be fine in the house! Try doing that with a dog.
@texmarc2 When you get back, the cat will forever hold a grudge for your sinister infraction and quietly plot your demise. The dog will just be thrilled to see you and see what it can do to make you happy now that you’re home…
@shahnm@texmarc2
I recall a story somewhere in Asia. A man left his Dobermans home for a couple weeks and when he got home, they killed him and ate him.
I have a cat door that’s coded to my cats’ chips so all I need to leave out is food. Bathroom and water are both taken care of outside… just like when I’m home.
we live on a one acre piece of property that’s fenced. Back when we had dogs it was not unusual for us to be gone for up to a week/10 days by simply leaving food and water outside for them. Never had any problems with that.
I had cats when I was in my 30s, because work often had me travel for a few days per month, and the cats had the gadgets that dispensed water, food, and a place to poop. Then I went petless for a decade plus before adding a dog (which over the course of 5 years became 4 dogs).
Cats will give love - one at a time. Dogs will give love along side other dogs.
At the moment I am trying to catch 10 cats in someone’s backyard who left them when they moved. Mama’s first litter of 4 who are about 7-8 mo and mama’s second litter of 5 under the porch that I can’t get at who are 3-4 weeks old and haven’t come out yet.
Here are some of the photos of the cats I am trying to catch (but not all of them - don’t have one of the black tuxedo baby.).
Mama (with the plastic collar) and her first litter eating
Of course a pine cone is a toy
The older litter and mama (mama is the lighter tiger with a plastic collar on):
Cat from first litter who is a real love bug
Mama in my arms asleep
All the babies but the black tuxedo who always hides behind the others and I don’t have a good photo of that one.
I love this photo
If you look carefully at this photo there are two cats partly visible behind the siamese looking ones. One behind the two white ones and one on the bottom right below them
@Freakytrish I am working with some people who get them fixed. I have fosters for all but 3 of the first litter. Now the problem is catching them as the house closed today and it will no longer be as easy. Under the cover of darkness I went over there just now, picked up all the cat bowls, picked up two cats and showed them where the food will now be (other side of the fence as I talked to the nextdoor neighbor. Mama was under the step and wouldn’t come out so hopefully she will find the food - I worry about her the most with respect to where I moved the food and water to. Two of the first litter cats wouldn’t follow me so I am going at 7am to feed and water and hopefully me calling will coax them over. I really can’t risk going in the yard until I talk with the new owners. They are moving in Friday (tomorrow).
@Kyeh Those photos of the babies are under the porch in a space not big enough for my hand to go in (phone camera on the other hand could see them). Mama goes in elsewhere but the structure of the steps is such that I can’t get a net in there, etc and my arm isn’t nearly long enough. So they are still there. Worries me with the new owners moving in tomorrow (Friday).
Today two of the babies were out. Unfortunately mama moved them to where I do not know as the new owners have a small yappy dog that they are keeping in the backyard. I think she moved them to the backyard nextdoor based on them going under that fence.
Pet rocks. Hear me out, they don’t shed, they don’t fight, they don’t run away, they don’t defecate in your house, they are small and portable, you can snuggle with them, they are hypoallergenic, AND they are dirt cheap.
@sillyheathen@trekmomma
Cat and Lizard. Cat is mine. Lizard is not. Notice how the lizard tail is so long it comes out from under the other side of my cat too. I can’t imagine how it was comfortable to lie across that spiky tail. The two of them were quite happy together. I am sure the Lizard liked the heat from my Cat.
I love both but in the future I would only have a cat household. I absolutely love my dogs but there are no more dogs for me in the future when these two pass.
I’ve known several dog owners who hate cats but no cat owners that hate dogs. Personally I’m not picking a favorite, I like both and I’ve had several of each. Currently one dog and 2 cats.
As long as it’s legal and ethical I don’t care what kind of pet anyone has as long as they’re taking proper care of it.
I like both but dogs are slightly better.
I’ve never seen a business use guard cats to protect their property. A cat isn’t going to scare away an intruder at my house. And cats aren’t going to guard livestock or assist you with hunting.
@kittykat9180 many many years ago when I was a child, back in the days when you barely locked your doors. My dad’s boss had two Siamese Temple cats think of Siamese cat but bigger. Somebody broke into his house one night. The cats didn’t help the burglar. They clawed the living s*** out of him. Was that to happen today he probably get sued but back then the guy just went to jail with a lot of bad bad scratchers all over himself
@Cerridwyn those are some mean kitties.
My Anatolian Shepherd would have laid in his bed and watched my house get robbed. But I think the fact that he was the size of an adult human was a deterrent from anyone wanting to attempt to rob the house.
Used to have an outdoor cat back when I was a kid (that’s how cats were 60 years ago) who would chase dogs 3x or so her size. Sweetest half-manx girl. No one trespassed on her territory without her permission
@cammi1 Although no cat or dog is100% hypoallergenic… there are breeds of both cats and dogs that are near enough that many people allergic to cats and dogs can successfully live with them.
@chienfou I don’t think it’s fair to compare the behavior of a trained hunting dog that was given a command by its human during a hunt, to the behavior of an untrained outdoor cat in its yard on a Wednesday.
@806D2701 A (now deceased) friend of mine had two dogs, both of them adept at snatching a bird out of the air and killing it. They almost never ate the birds. One of them nailed a vulture that had dropped in to claim a dead crow. The crows learned to sit high in the trees and scream warnings when the dogs were out.
@Kyeh I can undersrand that. I would be concerned about how well I could care for more than two or mmmaaayyyyybbbeeeee three dogs keeping up with meds, illness, etc, etc, etc. It gets expensive and overwhelming fast!!!
@tinamarie1974
The funniest stuff happens when that guy is on, for some reason. His name is “Chris Bianchi” (the ch is pronounced as a hard k) and one day the autocaptions showed his name as “Crispy Donkey.” They’ve never let him forget about that, and he’s a good sport about it.
@Kyeh@tinamarie1974
There was a Bianchi family locally. There were 10 siblings. Every one of them (but one) ended up being a physician. The other guy ended up an engineer. Five of them worked at our hospital at one time or another. Our gastroenterologist and the engineer are the only two that are still local.
@Kyeh@tinamarie1974@werehatrack I mean. I guess I “win”? By volume 2x… Trust me I wish I had not made that timing mistake. Everyday. 5 ish was always fine. Three was better… This is just… Don’t leave anything on the floor/counter cause “someone” will piss on it… Just cause. And it’s impossible to determine who.
I basically never needed paper towels before. That and a bottle of urine destroyer… Going through
@lisaviolet def wins for effort/conditions/responsibly… Etc etc. think she was in the tweens/teens with the last ones
@Kyeh@tinamarie1974@werehatrack regarding healthcare of the “herd”… IDK. I’m just gonna say it’s different than when it’s one or two that’s your best friend…
Kitkat was that. And had a blocked urethra when he was younger and only like 2 cats. He actively expressed he couldn’t drink. Stamping in the water. Couple drops of blood from the urethra So i panicked. Found an emergency vet. He was in for a few days with a catheter because his urinary tract was blocked. He was close to dying/caught it on the way to work . Was over a thousand dollars as a collage student. Option given to “cut his dick off” so he couldn’t get blocked again… Idk. Kinda no.
Got it cleared and he was fine. Switched to better food. I was later told by a vet tech friend at Purdue they may have overcharged me. But I didn’t care. Had my buddy. Riding around on my shoulders
I’m not sure if that overpayment estimate was just cause what the Purdue vet clinic would have charged… They are students/learning experience. But still irrelevant
That kind of acute care I would probably handle.
that was def worth it. We had a good life together for a lot more years… But then he just started acting a little strange one day… Probably was 12… And I was trying to keep him with me to watch for anything off… Maybe a day or two. And he snuck off and dropped dead. IDK why.
So… IDK. Just being realistic. If one of cats had kidney failure or another chronic disease… That couldn’t be fixed… They were just chronically going to suffer… Id just make the call to put them down.
I absolutely get the desire to extend lives of pets…
But I could definitely not afford to run a cat geriatric ward… And I wouldn’t want to. It would be sad. They are going to die no matter what soon. I don’t want them to suffer.
IDK. Like cancer treatment. If it’s a human… They get a say it they want to hang on for a few more years maybe. And take the shit.
A pet… Has no say and you could be doing it for you… And it’s not gonna be long even if you dump your life saving in
We’re at eleven here. We lost Fury and Little Bitty Dog at the beginning of the year. We haven’t had a reason to go to the vet’s since, so that’s nice. All the trips to the vet with Jingles’ CHF and Fury’s lung cancer took a toll on us. We knew both of them were in hospice at that point and we just wanted to keep them comfortable.
We don’t really have much of a problem with inappropriate urination. I think the cats having access to the backyard help with that.
Can you believe the Avengers are four years old now? Time is just flying by.
@adamlobacz Cats do too, in their own way, if you treat them right. The problem is people expect them to be like dogs, and they aren’t going to obey commands or worship you. Which is fine with me, I like an animal who doesn’t need constant attention. I’m writing this with a soft warm cat on my lap.
@adamlobacz@Kyeh Yes cats love you. When they do they can follow you around, gently give you a lick, knead on you, come lie by you, sit by you, purr when on or next to you (I have one right now with his head on my chest, purring and gently touching my face with his paw), they also indicate love by closing their eyes slowly and then opening them (and will usually do it back to you if you do that to them, most of mine will start to purr if I do that to them)… They are depressed when their owner dies or they are given away and miss their owner… and the list goes on and on and on.
@adamlobacz@Kidsandliz@Kyeh but even dogs have distinctly different personalties. Anytime I move Charliedoggo is there to herd me around or beg for somwthing (if Im in the kitchen), but otherwise he is mostly off on his own. He literally goes elsewhwre in the house unless he wants something like a cat (dont tell him Insaid that). 90% of the time its like I dont have a dog.
Cats don’t have to be let outside in the rain, and they use the bathroom in one spot.
@iluvmingos
Not my experience. Also, litter boxes are among the grossest things on the planet.
I like cats. Your logic is flawed is all.
@iluvmingos @joelmw I have 4 and 2 litter boxes in the bathroom. They all use them in that one spot.
@joelmw @Kidsandliz I have a Litter Robot, easy to clean and my cats don’t go anywhere else.
@iluvmingos @Kidsandliz I’m genuinely glad that’s worked out for y’all. My cat had an impeccable record until we moved. We thought we did all the right things, but both our cats never fully adjusted. And it got much worse as they aged.
Even before that, we’ve had some cats who do well and others who don’t.
I’m not a cat whisperer. I never much cared for cats until mine found me. And, yeah, I’d call it partly dumb luck that he was so good with the box until he wasn’t. Even when he was good, he’d sometimes stand in the box and leave his business outside it.
@joelmw @Kidsandliz When my male cat’s kidneys started failing, he did stop making it to the box.
It wasn’t his fault though.
@iluvmingos @joelmw I guess I got lucky with my cat with kidney issues. I had to give him subQ fluids for around a year. He still used the litter box. He died at 17
Dogs. Man’s best friend. Case closed.
@chuckf1 Cats. Woman’s best friend. Case closed.
@chuckf1 My cats are better friends to me than my dogs. Case repopened.
@chuckf1 @OnionSoup Dogs are the best animals for discerning a human’s true nature; cats are best for picking servants and staff. Case modified.
Let me explain something to you: dogs. Furthermore, shut up.
@shahnm No, you shut up.
@Kyeh No, you shut up.
@shahnm Ptthhffffbbbb!!!
@Kyeh
@Kyeh @shahnm
A picture speaks a thousand words and this is the best comment throwdown I’ve seen in a while!
@shahnm
@Lynnerizer feel free to jump in!
@Kyeh @shahnm Ollie says "Back at ya!
@shahnm @cbatte Is that your real dog?! He’s adorable, he looks like a dog in some comic strip! The cat I posted isn’t mine.
@Kyeh @shahnm Ollie is my real dog. That was when he was a puppy. I have been just waiting for an opportunity to use that picture.
@cbatte @shahnm He’s SO CUTE. What kind of dog is he?
@Kyeh @shahnm some sort of terrier. The vet has some ideas but we don’t know for sure
@cbatte @shahnm Could you post a picture of him now? I sent that one to my sister, who’s a complete dog fanatic. She loved it, of course!
@Kyeh This Ollie with my other dog, Pippin
@Kyeh And my personal favorite when the groomer put him in a tiny little dog tie.
@cbatte @Kyeh
@cbatte I meant to come back and tell you how outrageously cute he looks in his little tie! I see he grew into his ears eventually.
I had a cat named Pippin!
@Kyeh He did grow into his ears and that made me sad.
When I adopted Pippin, the rescue called her Jane Ann for some reason. I had to rename her. Since I wanted two dogs, I intended to name them after Pippin and Merry from LOTR. Then I got Ollie who was named by the foster. He didn’t look like a Merry to me and Ollie seemed to suit him
/showme Noah’s Ark
@mediocrebot Are the elephant and the lion a couple? Looks like they’re paired by size.
@mediocrebot @phendrick love has no boundaries!
@mediocrebot @sillyheathen Reminds me of an old joke from school days:
Did you hear about the monkey making love to the giraffe?
The elephant put him up to it.
@mediocrebot @phendrick @sillyheathen
The answer to the proverbial question… Can’t we all just get along?
🫏 
@mediocrebot @phendrick
Plus only one bear and four of those thingies with the horns.
@sillyheathen
/showme Noah’s ark only all the animals are cats.
@mediocrebot Just like in real life- the cats have eaten all the other animals!
@mediocrebot @OnionSoup I think the other animals just eventually got sick of the cats and jumped overboard…
@kittykat9180 @mediocrebot @phendrick
Maybe the extras are food for the bear.
If they ever cross breed, would it be called a cog or a dat?
@actionPacked Yes?
/showme a cat and dog crossbreed
@actionPacked Which one would Barf choose?
KuoH
@mediocrebot Look at dat cog!
Church or Cujo? Hmmm… Tough decision.
KuoH
As someone who has a lot of catshirts … dogs.
/image cat and dog human age equivalent
@narfcake My first set of cats knew about 32 commands that one cat followed immediately after the command, although tried to find ways around them (more about that in a minute) and the other with a few of the commands (but not most of them) was like toddler and needed the command repeated (more about that in a minute too).
Example:
I’m sitting on the couch eating something off of a plate in my lap.
Cats come running ready to try to sneak some of it and jump up on the couch headed towards my plate in my lap.
Command: Mine.
Cat 1 backs off a bit. Thinks about this a minute and then stretches head and whiskers forward and dips her whiskers in the gravy. Backs off more and cleans whiskers.
Cat 2 backs off. Stares at my face. Slowly stretches a paw forward while watching my face.
Me: Mine.
Cat 2 withdraws paw quickly.
Rinse and repeat with cat 2 two more times. Then cat 2 settles on the couch next to me.
I’m done eating and put the plate on the floor. Both cats look at me expectantly, not moving from where they are.
Me: OK.
Both cats gather at the plate and lick it clean.
===
Another example. I lived in a 3 story half a house. I got up headed to the hall and bathroom. Cats start to race towards the steps.
Me: Not yet.
Cats screech to a halt mid run, turn around and enter the bathroom to watch me.
I’m ready to go downstairs to feed them.
Me: Let’s go feed the kitties.
The cats race downstairs at top speed.
I get downstairs and find them in front of the food dishes, heads turned looking at me expectantly.
I put food in the dishes and the kitties dig in.
===
Cats are smart.
@Kidsandliz @narfcake
@Kidsandliz @narfcake
I think its @Kidsandliz who has magic cat powers; either she attracts the rare and unusual cats, or else she radiates feline improvement mutant powers that makes cats that hang around her better than they were before. Smarter. Nicer.
You know, more like dogs.
@duodec @narfcake No no no no no - more like cats I just took the time to train them. And cats don’t slobber all over you or stink until you bathe them. They are self cleaning.
Actually at one point in my life I volunteered at animal control and they used me to tell which cats were feral and which ones were just scared. Of course sometimes they still got bit because they didn’t pay attention to cat language. I could hold and pet far more cats there than anyone else. I was used at another shelter I volunteered at to work with the more scared cats. Took a lot of self control not to take home all the cats I worked with.
Cat of course.
@yakkoTDI Cat: remorse
Dog of course.
i’ve laughed more over cats;
i’ve cried more over dogs.
@phendrick You mean, when they pass on?
/giphy kidding
Opossums! I am a Florida man, after all.
@PooltoyWolf that’s my nickname!
@sillyheathen Awesome
POPSOCKETS! SPROCKETS! DAVY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
@PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen
‘possum’ - You don’t look anything like George Jones, do you?
@PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen Haven’t seen any for a few days, but quite often i have possums coming up on my back deck at night after the cat food i leave out. i used to run them off with a water hose (didn’t want them to get spoiled by easy meals and not doing their neighborhood cleanup jobs). But then decided, What the heck. if the cats tolerate them, i should too. So now i leave them be, but they usually scurry off when they see me.
The only problem is my dog. She finally tolerates the cats, but she chases and kills possums (doesn’t try to eat them). So she doesn’t get any back yard time after dark.
The possums seem to have an air of appreciation about them when eating the cat food. But the raccoons are a different story. They are quite both demanding and unappreciative and i swear they cuss at me while filling up at my expense.
@phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen
I see it - he does, kinda. Sillyheathen does NOT!
@phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen My neighbor had a very fat possum who’d waddle over to the food dish she put out for a neighborhood cat. The possum would watch at a distance and then eat after the cat was done. We know who won the dominance fight over who owned that food dish.
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @PooltoyWolf my grandmother had three pet outdoor opossums. She also had 8 cats, a dog and a local gator that wasn’t technically a pet but it would come up to eat chicken necks and wings from the dock everyday.
I loved going to her house.
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @Kyeh
I could be. The resemblance is uncanny!
@Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @kyeh I’ll have to break out the guitar and polyester suit in a bit so we can get a true comparison!
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen
Silly!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf and you know this!
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen
I do love silliness!
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @sillyheathen Sounds like a regular zoo!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @sillyheathen Face reveal!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen
This sound familiar?
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf That cracks me up EVERYTIME! I love that because yes. It’s not a question of them being there. If there’s water, they’re there. Most people don’t realize that for the most part, they’re actually pretty docile. I was always way more worried about moccasins on lily pads than I was about gators. Hell I was more worried about alligator snapping turtles than the cocodrie.
@sillyheathen
I’m the same way. I totally lose my shit every time I listen to this lady talk. But yes it brings back memories of being out on the swamp on an airboat.
@chienfou man I do miss goin out onna boat regardless of the kind. You done gone and brought da cabin speak out.
One of the guides started talking to me in Oahu, the day we were there, because he said most tourists think being at the bow is cool until they get wet or they can’t handle the motion. He said “you’ve clearly spent some time on boats in your life.”
@chienfou that was supposed to say Cajun not cabin.
@chienfou @sillyheathen She IS wonderful! “You grab dat water”
@Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen Your back window with plants looks like my mom’s back window did when she owned a house. Lined with plants. Mom loved to garden and our chore as kids was weeding. The upshot of that is I love looking at nice gardens, but will not plant a garden because, well weeding, watering… and all that work that comes with gardening.
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen–you should show her a full view of that window, you’ve posted it in the past but I can’t remember where!
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen As a Floridian I have always used this test for if a body of water has gators in it.
Is it bigger than a bathtub? If yes it has gators.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI Even that is not certain.
@chienfou @sillyheathen Man, I too miss boats. I spent almost every weekend of my childhood on a 1986 Viking 35 Convertible named Retreat that we kept in a marina in Fort Pierce, FL. We made many crossings to The Bahamas for vacations and I very much had sea legs! I would LOVE to do it again.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf @chienfou
I’ll have to see if I can find it. I could always take a new one.
I do have a thing for plants I suppose… My mom is a master gardener and I always grew up with the most beautiful borders around our yard. We didn’t live in a fancy neighborhood by any means. Mom just loved gardening. That came from her growing up on a farm with a dad who loved science and hybridized iris, dallies and gladiolas. Anyway. I always swore I’d never get into plants. I never understood what it was she loved about it until I did.
I adore all things flora and fauna. And my kids swear they’ll never be plant people. I guess time will tell.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf
Grab dat watta! If it’s wet….
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf Crazy Cajun Lady’s plant Problem is somewhere around 6am on March15th?
@chienfou @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen I miss boats too. I grew up with a canoe that could sail and we had a rowboat that the farm (that we often tipped over and then swam under it up into the air pocket treading water and talking). I owned a canoe, kayak and 14’ sailboat. I have also worked on tall ships and a tug boat (that had a sail). I worked on those long enough that I have (well they have expired) USCG licenses for boats up to 200 tons.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @sillyheathen sorry, SH, i just don’t see the resemblance. And that’s a Good Thing.
I have both.
She’s sweet, but one dog is enough.
Cats, I have four but would adopt more if the city would let me.
I used to be hardcore in the dog camp, until my cat came along and stole my heart. Now he is gone and my heart is broken.
Even as a joke I hate this kind of binary. We’ve got enough nonsensical, arbitrary conflict in this world. But I will say this. If you’re a cat person who hates dogs or dog people or considers them somehow inferior or if you’re a dog person who hates cats or cat people or considers them somehow inferior—and I want to say this in the kindest terms but be assured I am quite earnest:
Please go fuck yourself and shut the fuck up. Be dogmatic about things that matter, e.g., human rights or saving the planet or some shit. I fucking hate the cat-dog “argument”. I also don’t care if you prefer Coke, Pepsi, RC, Shasta; I don’t care if you think iPhones are better or worse than Android. Et fucking cetera.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
That’s what I’ve got to say. To be clear, I don’t actually mind if people joke around about this shit, but some people clearly take it and themselves way too seriously. And the jokes usually aren’t that funny. Make better jokes.
/giphy jesus fucking christ
@joelmw
“but some people clearly take it and themselves way too seriously”
Ahem…
@joelmw Woh.
@joelmw It’s just a lighthearted, fun “argument”. Most people who would even bother participating in it do it because it’s fun, and the banter isn’t intended to “win”, cause hurt feelings, or convince anyone of the purported superiority of anyone’s side. It’s a Batman vs. Spiderman thing. It’s one of the ways in which amicable people relate, whether or not they agree about other things.
Go for a walk or something…
Cats because you can put out food and water for a week with a clean litter box and leave on a trip and they’ll be fine in the house! Try doing that with a dog.
@texmarc2 When you get back, the cat will forever hold a grudge for your sinister infraction and quietly plot your demise. The dog will just be thrilled to see you and see what it can do to make you happy now that you’re home…
@shahnm @texmarc2
I recall a story somewhere in Asia. A man left his Dobermans home for a couple weeks and when he got home, they killed him and ate him.
@kittykat9180 @shahnm @texmarc2
Two points:
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @texmarc2 So what you’re saying is that your dogs did not in fact kill you and eat you like they do in China? Well that’s nice.
@chienfou @shahnm @texmarc2
I found the article.
It was Indonesia and 7 dogs (believed to have originally been 9).
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/abandoned-for-two-weeks-starving-dogs-eat-owner-idUSTRE78640W/
@kittykat9180 @shahnm @texmarc2
So the first 2 to go were members of the pack…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @shahnm @texmarc2 Kind of served him right - 2 weeks with no food?!
@kittykat9180 @Kyeh @shahnm @texmarc2
Yeah. Kind of deserved the comeuppance
By the way. This was over 14 years ago
I have 4 dogs. That’s it
@TikoMyster20
@shahnm @TikoMyster20 I win too as I have 4 cats. The Win is for 4.
Dogs drool. Cats rule.
@ETFrisco Dogs Rule! Cats are cruel!
@ETFrisco Dogs bark, cats hork up nasty gooey hairballs
@duodec @ETFrisco Dogs bark, cats barf?
I had cats when I was in my 30s, because work often had me travel for a few days per month, and the cats had the gadgets that dispensed water, food, and a place to poop. Then I went petless for a decade plus before adding a dog (which over the course of 5 years became 4 dogs).
Cats will give love - one at a time. Dogs will give love along side other dogs.
@gordondkane My 4 cats (and I used to have more) give me love alongside my other cats.
I have 4 cats. Nuf said.
At the moment I am trying to catch 10 cats in someone’s backyard who left them when they moved. Mama’s first litter of 4 who are about 7-8 mo and mama’s second litter of 5 under the porch that I can’t get at who are 3-4 weeks old and haven’t come out yet.
Here are some of the photos of the cats I am trying to catch (but not all of them - don’t have one of the black tuxedo baby.).
Mama (with the plastic collar) and her first litter eating
Of course a pine cone is a toy
The older litter and mama (mama is the lighter tiger with a plastic collar on):
Cat from first litter who is a real love bug
Mama in my arms asleep
All the babies but the black tuxedo who always hides behind the others and I don’t have a good photo of that one.
I love this photo
If you look carefully at this photo there are two cats partly visible behind the siamese looking ones. One behind the two white ones and one on the bottom right below them
@Kidsandliz If we can, for a moment, overlook the part about how cats suck 'n stuff, those are some great photos!!
@Kidsandliz You are an angel! Please get them all spayed or neutered.
@Kidsandliz
UGH, what’s wrong with people?!
Good job coaxing those kitties out, I hope you’re able to get them all into safer situations. They’re gorgeous!
@shahnm Thanks.
@Freakytrish I am working with some people who get them fixed. I have fosters for all but 3 of the first litter. Now the problem is catching them as the house closed today and it will no longer be as easy. Under the cover of darkness I went over there just now, picked up all the cat bowls, picked up two cats and showed them where the food will now be (other side of the fence as I talked to the nextdoor neighbor. Mama was under the step and wouldn’t come out so hopefully she will find the food - I worry about her the most with respect to where I moved the food and water to. Two of the first litter cats wouldn’t follow me so I am going at 7am to feed and water and hopefully me calling will coax them over. I really can’t risk going in the yard until I talk with the new owners. They are moving in Friday (tomorrow).
@Kyeh Those photos of the babies are under the porch in a space not big enough for my hand to go in (phone camera on the other hand could see them). Mama goes in elsewhere but the structure of the steps is such that I can’t get a net in there, etc and my arm isn’t nearly long enough. So they are still there. Worries me with the new owners moving in tomorrow (Friday).
@Kidsandliz Oh, wow. I hope they (the new owners) are sympathetic types who’ll let you keep coming to try to rescue them.
@Kyeh @shahnm @Freakytrish
Today two of the babies were out. Unfortunately mama moved them to where I do not know as the new owners have a small yappy dog that they are keeping in the backyard. I think she moved them to the backyard nextdoor based on them going under that fence.
@Freakytrish @Kidsandliz @shahnm Oh, they’re beautiful! I hope they’re in a more accessible place now.
@Freakytrish @Kyeh @shahnm So do I but right now we don’t know where they are.
Pet rocks. Hear me out, they don’t shed, they don’t fight, they don’t run away, they don’t defecate in your house, they are small and portable, you can snuggle with them, they are hypoallergenic, AND they are dirt cheap.
@Wollyhop Might want to avoid snuggling with any glow in the dark ones though.
KuoH
@Wollyhop They do make better music than cats or dogs.
@kuoh The mutations are NOT a setback, they are brand new abilities. That second haed growing out of your neck? Now you can sing duets together!
@Wollyhop Whatever you say Zaphod.
KuoH
@kuoh SHUT UP AND TAKE MY BABEL FISH
@OnionSoup @Wollyhop
The Kiffness disagrees with you.
Why can’t I have both? Cats, dogs, lizards, hedgehog, fish, turtles, hamsters, gerbils, frogs, oh my!
@trekmomma You can have both! But you can only love one. That’s the poll - blame Meh.
@shahnm @trekmomma fuck meh
@Cerridwyn
@trekmomma Yeah! Porque no los dos?
@trekmomma I’m with you. I’d have a zoo if I was allowed to.
@sillyheathen @trekmomma
Cat and Lizard. Cat is mine. Lizard is not. Notice how the lizard tail is so long it comes out from under the other side of my cat too. I can’t imagine how it was comfortable to lie across that spiky tail. The two of them were quite happy together. I am sure the Lizard liked the heat from my Cat.
Cats are Companions. Dogs are dependents.
I love both but in the future I would only have a cat household. I absolutely love my dogs but there are no more dogs for me in the future when these two pass.
@OnionSoup dogs are children, toddlers. Cats are teenagers
@Cerridwyn, that’s a great characterization in so many ways!
I’ve known several dog owners who hate cats but no cat owners that hate dogs. Personally I’m not picking a favorite, I like both and I’ve had several of each. Currently one dog and 2 cats.
As long as it’s legal and ethical I don’t care what kind of pet anyone has as long as they’re taking proper care of it.
Appropriately enough, today is National Cheeseburger Day.
/giphy can i haz cheeseburger
/showme cats celebrating National Cheeseburger Day
/showme dogs celebrating National Cheeseburger Day
@mediocrebot At least the bot didn’t include onions…
I like both but dogs are slightly better.
I’ve never seen a business use guard cats to protect their property. A cat isn’t going to scare away an intruder at my house. And cats aren’t going to guard livestock or assist you with hunting.
@kittykat9180 many many years ago when I was a child, back in the days when you barely locked your doors. My dad’s boss had two Siamese Temple cats think of Siamese cat but bigger. Somebody broke into his house one night. The cats didn’t help the burglar. They clawed the living s*** out of him. Was that to happen today he probably get sued but back then the guy just went to jail with a lot of bad bad scratchers all over himself
@Cerridwyn those are some mean kitties.
My Anatolian Shepherd would have laid in his bed and watched my house get robbed. But I think the fact that he was the size of an adult human was a deterrent from anyone wanting to attempt to rob the house.
@Cerridwyn @kittykat9180 Remember this heroic kitty?
@kittykat9180 @Kyeh
Ayep
Used to have an outdoor cat back when I was a kid (that’s how cats were 60 years ago) who would chase dogs 3x or so her size. Sweetest half-manx girl. No one trespassed on her territory without her permission
and that dog was not nice
Cats because I can get a cat sitter and go on vacation, and no one destroys my home due to separation anxiety.
Neither. I’m allergic to them. Dander and anything else they shed.
@cammi1 Although no cat or dog is100% hypoallergenic… there are breeds of both cats and dogs that are near enough that many people allergic to cats and dogs can successfully live with them.
I like birds. Cats kill birds for entertainment. That’s why I prefer dogs.
@806D2701
Yeah… Bird dogs don’t kill birds they just rat them out so humans can shoot 'em!
@806D2701 @chienfou dogs kill what they can, they’re just better scavengers than hunters.
My nextdoor neighbor’s dog has twice managed to break into the chicken pen at the house behind him and kill a dozen+ chickens each time.
Didnt eat them. Just killed them.
@chienfou I don’t think it’s fair to compare the behavior of a trained hunting dog that was given a command by its human during a hunt, to the behavior of an untrained outdoor cat in its yard on a Wednesday.
@OnionSoup Thank you for that anecdote. I like birds.
@806D2701 @chienfou @OnionSoup My cat is strictly indoors, so he doesn’t kill birds.
@806D2701
Trained or not. They’re still a snitch!
@806D2701 A (now deceased) friend of mine had two dogs, both of them adept at snatching a bird out of the air and killing it. They almost never ate the birds. One of them nailed a vulture that had dropped in to claim a dead crow. The crows learned to sit high in the trees and scream warnings when the dogs were out.
@Kyeh 10 here, all indoors, and way too much cleaning up after them.
@werehatrack I’m not willing to have more than 2 at a time.
@Kyeh Sounds like @werehatrack is in competition with @unksol for biggest clowder!
@Kyeh I can undersrand that. I would be concerned about how well I could care for more than two or mmmaaayyyyybbbeeeee three dogs keeping up with meds, illness, etc, etc, etc. It gets expensive and overwhelming fast!!!
@tinamarie1974 Eeesh, yes.
@806D2701 @werehatrack Speaking of vultures - this crazy thing happened during the evening weather forecast yesterday:
It’s a turkey vulture that perched itself on one of the weather cameras.
@806D2701 @Kyeh @werehatrack that is awesome
LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!
@tinamarie1974
The funniest stuff happens when that guy is on, for some reason. His name is “Chris Bianchi” (the ch is pronounced as a hard k) and one day the autocaptions showed his name as “Crispy Donkey.” They’ve never let him forget about that, and he’s a good sport about it.
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
There was a Bianchi family locally. There were 10 siblings. Every one of them (but one) ended up being a physician. The other guy ended up an engineer. Five of them worked at our hospital at one time or another. Our gastroenterologist and the engineer are the only two that are still local.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974
Quite a family!
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
Italian Catholic
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack I mean. I guess I “win”? By volume 2x… Trust me I wish I had not made that timing mistake. Everyday. 5 ish was always fine. Three was better… This is just… Don’t leave anything on the floor/counter cause “someone” will piss on it… Just cause. And it’s impossible to determine who.
I basically never needed paper towels before. That and a bottle of urine destroyer… Going through
@lisaviolet def wins for effort/conditions/responsibly… Etc etc. think she was in the tweens/teens with the last ones
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Temptations cat treats $6 for the 1lb box just fyi
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KGXQ1WC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack regarding healthcare of the “herd”… IDK. I’m just gonna say it’s different than when it’s one or two that’s your best friend…
Kitkat was that. And had a blocked urethra when he was younger and only like 2 cats. He actively expressed he couldn’t drink. Stamping in the water. Couple drops of blood from the urethra So i panicked. Found an emergency vet. He was in for a few days with a catheter because his urinary tract was blocked. He was close to dying/caught it on the way to work . Was over a thousand dollars as a collage student. Option given to “cut his dick off” so he couldn’t get blocked again… Idk. Kinda no.
Got it cleared and he was fine. Switched to better food. I was later told by a vet tech friend at Purdue they may have overcharged me. But I didn’t care. Had my buddy. Riding around on my shoulders
I’m not sure if that overpayment estimate was just cause what the Purdue vet clinic would have charged… They are students/learning experience. But still irrelevant
That kind of acute care I would probably handle.
that was def worth it. We had a good life together for a lot more years… But then he just started acting a little strange one day… Probably was 12… And I was trying to keep him with me to watch for anything off… Maybe a day or two. And he snuck off and dropped dead. IDK why.
So… IDK. Just being realistic. If one of cats had kidney failure or another chronic disease… That couldn’t be fixed… They were just chronically going to suffer… Id just make the call to put them down.
I absolutely get the desire to extend lives of pets…
But I could definitely not afford to run a cat geriatric ward… And I wouldn’t want to. It would be sad. They are going to die no matter what soon. I don’t want them to suffer.
IDK. Like cancer treatment. If it’s a human… They get a say it they want to hang on for a few more years maybe. And take the shit.
A pet… Has no say and you could be doing it for you… And it’s not gonna be long even if you dump your life saving in
@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol @werehatrack
We’re at eleven here. We lost Fury and Little Bitty Dog at the beginning of the year. We haven’t had a reason to go to the vet’s since, so that’s nice. All the trips to the vet with Jingles’ CHF and Fury’s lung cancer took a toll on us. We knew both of them were in hospice at that point and we just wanted to keep them comfortable.
We don’t really have much of a problem with inappropriate urination. I think the cats having access to the backyard help with that.
Can you believe the Avengers are four years old now? Time is just flying by.
@Kyeh @lisaviolet @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack there is definitely some time dilation happening. Never mind the chaos.
Sorry to hear about the pets… IDK.
@Kyeh @lisaviolet @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack IDK anyone wanna talk about death in general?
@Kyeh @lisaviolet @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Not right now… See me after.
@chienfou @Kyeh @lisaviolet @tinamarie1974 IDK which way are you heading lol
Simple, Dogs actually Love you.
@adamlobacz Cats do too, in their own way, if you treat them right. The problem is people expect them to be like dogs, and they aren’t going to obey commands or worship you. Which is fine with me, I like an animal who doesn’t need constant attention. I’m writing this with a soft warm cat on my lap.
@adamlobacz @Kyeh Yes cats love you. When they do they can follow you around, gently give you a lick, knead on you, come lie by you, sit by you, purr when on or next to you (I have one right now with his head on my chest, purring and gently touching my face with his paw), they also indicate love by closing their eyes slowly and then opening them (and will usually do it back to you if you do that to them, most of mine will start to purr if I do that to them)… They are depressed when their owner dies or they are given away and miss their owner… and the list goes on and on and on.
@adamlobacz @Kidsandliz @Kyeh but even dogs have distinctly different personalties. Anytime I move Charliedoggo is there to herd me around or beg for somwthing (if Im in the kitchen), but otherwise he is mostly off on his own. He literally goes elsewhwre in the house unless he wants something like a cat (dont tell him Insaid that). 90% of the time its like I dont have a dog.
@adamlobacz @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Charliedoggo is actually a robot with a cat inside running things.
@adamlobacz @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @yakkoTDI THAT would explain a few things!!
When’s the last time you read about a house cat mauling a child to death?
@chienfou I was but by one as a child, but it was my own fault
@chienfou *bit
@tinamarie1974
Oh yeah. Cats can bite (or scratch) the hell out of you. But don’t hear of one KILLING anybody.
@chienfou true
@chienfou I don’t know anyone who’s been mauled by a dog (although some warning nips…much like with cats).
But I do have a friend who contracted cat scratch fever with pretty serious symptoms.
@pakopako
Walter is awesome.
LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!
Temptations cat treats $6 for the 1lb box just fyi
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KGXQ1WC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
But, can your dog ‘play dead’ this well??
@chienfou
Yes
@sillyheathen
Looks too comfortable!
Bandit is doing his best “roadkill” impression…
@chienfou I’ll have to find a better one of him but that’s Bodhi’s standard sleeping position. Sometimes he really does look dead.
@chienfou @sillyheathen
@chienfou @sillyheathen OMG such perfectly comfy repose!
@brainmist @chienfou
Bhod-kill
@chienfou @sillyheathen OMG, this is the image included in my notification:
And why you send me doggy dick pics??
@brainmist @chienfou
omg I can’t stop laughing
@chienfou
Imitating road kill
And while I am at it, an imitation of lions protecting my chair
Ying and Yang immitation
And an imitation of dirty clothes
@Kidsandliz
LOVE the yin&yang one (though TBH they should be different colors…)
@chienfou Well yes I know that but I couldn’t find photo where the one was dong that with the yellow cat.
@Kidsandliz
/giphy wasn’t casting aspersions