Random Thought Thread

This is funny that you would find an online sales group from from such a small town in NE Arizona. This particular town holds a special place in my heart. And I agree spelling is a problem.

 

I assure you, if I ever have a megadollar, bet your ass I'll refer to it as such.

 

People who say they are not "a cat person" have never experienced kittens

 

I've had three cats for a total of about 20 years between them.

Do you want to know my word for someone who's had that many cats for that long?

Spoiler

A dog person

 

It is easy to find local Facebook groups to buy and sell goods locally. I seem to kinda
making a hobby out of finding the more comical misspelled adds to have fun with,
and it is more Forum friendly than the crazy stuff that can be found on Craigslist.

 

lol

I have 5 cats now (technically 4 feral kitten litter & 1 domesticated feral cat) and I've probably had 5 cats prior throughout my 26 years

[I live on a ranch, so there are a lot of predators. To put it in prospective: a mountain lion got my rotterweiler, Peking duck, and 12 goats in a period of three weeks. From the big cats to the coyotes to the hawks & owls, only really clever cats stay alive but still with shorter life spans than their domestic counterparts.]

Anyway, I'm also allergic and my mother severely so (has been rushed to hospital).

And yet we just adopted 4 feral kittens.

But then, we have 5 dogs and a parrot and a bunch of chickens, a quail, etc. We're kinda just "animal people."

If I could legally have a pet Red Panda, I would.

 

Man, I thought I was crazy, but I just want to kill all the homos*

Spoiler: It's much worse than you're thinking

We've already evolved or extincted out homo erectus, homo floriensis, homo habilus, homo heidelbergensis, homo naledi, and homo neanderthalensis. Only homo sapiens left, and then there will be lasting peace.

 

Okay, all you cat people, riddle me this...

Two new kittens. Adopted at about eight weeks (I know it's a little early, but their mom was quasi-feral, so we needed to get them socialized to human company while still young). They're both lovely, pretty well tamed, and healthy.

And they LOVE trying to nurse on my (male) dog. He's a lab, a lovely gentle old guy, and I really don't think he'd ever deliberately hurt them, but he clearly doesn't like it, so I'm trying to break them of the habit.

So far I've just been lifting them away from him whenever they start, but they're VERY persistent and I think maybe they think the lifting is a game. So I've started locking them out of the room we're all in for a few minutes. They definitely don't like that (lots of pitiful mewing) but when they come back in they're upset and seem to want comfort, which they seem to think they'll find by sucking on the fur of the closest large, hairy mammal.

I bought them a sheepskin and put it on top of a hot water bottle, and they loved it and sucked on it, but as soon as the hot water cooled they were back to the dog. Maybe a heating pad? But I'm a bit paranoid about leaving that turned on and wrapped in something potentially flammable when I'm not around (right now I'm keeping dogs and kittens separated when I can't supervise).

Any ideas?

 

That's pretty whacked out.

 

If you go to the vet, she can hook you up with some sour apple nipple paint.

Seriously.

We had a spayed female cat, about two years old or so, then got a kitten who started nursing on her. She was so cool with it that she started giving milk, apparently the stimulation can be enough to trigger the process. It was cute for a while, but he didn't stop, got bigger than she was (tiny little calico girl), so the vet gave us some pills to dry her out and some nipple paint to make him dislike the experience.

 

I'd have to paint the whole dog, though... like, they prefer to latch onto his belly (no nipples that I'm aware of... do male dogs have nipples?) but if they can't get to that they'll just grab whatever part's handy... his ear, his back, his ass, his face... it'd be funny except for how much he doesn't like it...

But, yeah, maybe I need to give the vet a call. Stupid kittens.

 

Well most male rats don't have them. And apparently male horses don't either.
But things like the echidna and platypus don't have nipples, but secrete milk through
small openings in the skin.

Also this is really weird we are having a discussion of nipples, those to paint, and those
that don't have them at all.

 

Let it be known that I am partial to cats since this seems to come up as a choice topic often on this here forum.

Some humans however make me wish I liked dogs, especially big mean ugly mutts with characters to match my mood when I have to listen to someone whose memory card is full and of a low capacity to boot. I am hearing everything twice. Hell, their thoughts were superfluous the first time around.

 

Male cats do, one of ours had an inverted nipple that needed to be periodically squeezed out to express the accumulated sebum (think that's the right stuff). He was pretty chill about it, except when he wasn't, but that's just cat behavior.

 

Squirt bottle: give them a command & squirt them in the face or butt each time they perform the negative action.

"Leave it" is a wonderful universal command for anything you'd like them to cease. If they don't respond to the command, give them a squirt.

The biggest key is to be consistent & never waver. Cats remember patterns & schedules and won't trust you if you aren't consistent in repercussions. Always be firm in your resolutions & discipline: they respect this.

If you wanna do what I do, you can hiss/snarl at them & give them a light flick on the nose (cats hate this—doesn't cause pain, but strong discomfort; with kittens you need to be super gentle with the flick). I probably would just do a ferocious snarl to explain in their own language it's off limits.

It's how I've gotten all my feral cats to listen to me, and it works perfectly. Usually I can just politely tell them "no" or "leave it" after the first day of snarling.

But the first with squirt bottle is what I suggest for city folk & domestic cats.

 

I wonder just how strange this whole conversation would look to a newb?
And no I am not going to make the obvious dirty joke that is glaring out
of this mess. (But you can bet your ass the implication is there.)

 

Ditto on the squirt bottle, and don't be surprised when they hop onto your lap all upset that they got wet somehow, needing love and cuddles to make the sads go away. Cats don't hold grudges about water, for some reason.

 

Excellent! It's a double-whammy... I've been trying to figure how to transfer their affection from the dog to myself... not that I want to nurse them, but, you know... snuggles would be nice... non-nursing snuggles...

 

Just watched Song of the Sea. 1 1/2 hours of getting whacked in the feels by the cutest bat.
Kinda counter intuitive, since I am right in the middle of making my poor characters get
their asses torn to shreds.

In other news:

 

I love that the Brits have a dialect called cockney.

 

They also eat Spotted Dick, the very name of which makes me want a buttload of penicillin.

 

And, though I hesitate to mention it, they have these:

 

I'm not sure which is more perplexing, the item itself or the brand name. Mr. Brain's? That does not bode well as a food brand.

 

Don't forget the Bangers and mash.