The pet thread

[Arutema]

I'm surprised we don't have a general purpose pet thread, so here's one.

I'm adopting my first dog in 7 years so so tomorrow. I'm torn between being nervous about having everything in the house dog-proofed and feeling like a proud dog-parent.

Here she is meeting me at the adoption event:

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[Crow]

Congratulations, she is beautiful.

[The_Snark]

I don't know, a pet thread is a big responsibility; is the forum ready to take care of it?

(Silly joke aside, she looks very sweet. Good luck!)

[Fri]

We used to have pet thread.

Here're my cats. They're very dumb.

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But so fluffy and warm. I don't know what I'd do without these silly creatures.

[enderlord99]

Here're my cats. They're very dumb.

I'm sure they feel the same about you.

Because they're cats. Cats think everything's dumb.

[cobaltstarfire]

Cat's walk that weird line, where they can be somewhat smart if they stop to actually think about things. But usually they prefer to run on only their base instincts most of the time instead.

I've got four cats, sometimes they have smart moments...most of the time they have lots of incredibly dumb, occasionally entertaining ones. Ours are really weird too, the three newer ones we have are a mother and two kittens we ended up taking in, all of them decided they loved our first cat unconditionally, which doesn't make any sense. He of course hates them, he's learned to tolerate them, usually with a sad grumble as one uses him as a cushion, or cuddles him against his will.


Also have a planted 20 gallon long with some cherry barbs, cherry shrimp, and a bristlenose pleco. It's relaxing to watch, and the shrimp (when they aren't hiding) are really cute.

[tantric]

my last real pet was a ferret, ms. ahimsa dharma. the name means something like 'the lesson of peace' in sanskrit. ferrets are terribly destructive, but never mad or hateful. i loved her very much. litter trained her with raisins - then, the wily creature, learned to fake using the litter pan to get a treat. i made her a ferret bubble pool, a cracked 55 gal aquarium filled with those edible packing peanuts, then dryer pipe to get in and out. she died from cancer a few years back. now she awaits me in the bardo, doing the weasel wardance for the bodhisattvas.

i once had four goldfish in a 40gal tank. they were big as softballs and only ate imported japanese goldfish food. hitomaro, named for the japanese poet-saint, was a calico oranda. li po, named for the famously drunken chinese poet, was a chocolate ryukin. the empress jemmu, who famously swallowed a pebble to delay her pregnancy so she could invade korea, was a grey lionhead. and lady murasaki, who wrote the world's first true novel, was a black moor.

[golentan]

I have a guinea pig named Percy, fully a year and a half older than his maximum life expectancy and weighing in at 2.5 kg at my last health check of him. Not that he's obese, he has a good body fat score, he's just HUGE. I dunno what breeds guinea pigs come in, but whatever line gave rise to Percy is about twice as long as your average Piggy.

I also have a cat named grandpa, who is... somewhat older than 14. Not sure exactly, he was a feral rescue who got adopted by my school as a lab cat, and then when the school administrator decided that a veterinary technician program had no need of live in cats in the school lab... I adopted him. He's got exactly 3 teeth, some dementia which manifests mostly in losing track of what time it is, occasionally running into walls or mirrors, and panicking whenever a towel, blanket, or jacket passes near him. He is also a tremendous sweetie pie who likes licking my face, snuggling up against me on the couch, and getting headscritches... But panics if I shift my weight because he's crushing my tendon or if I go to pet him rather than let him come up to be petted. It's okay. He's had a hard life, and he's old and deserves to be a little eccentric, and the occasional piece of fresh chicken or steak together with the massages of his slight bald spots that he loves so much.

[Lemmy]

My 1-yeard old cat (named Dominó) learned how to open unlocked doors a few days ago... She runs up to the door to my room and jumps onto the doorknob, pulling it down while her weight pushes the door forward.

It's cute and allows plenty of velociraptor jokes ("Clever girl"), but it's a bit troublesome when I need her to stay out of my work space for one reason or another.

[Calthropstu]

Is this thread going to be your new pet project op?

[noparlpf]

"Dad, I'm hungry."
"Bamboo, I just fed you. Trust me, you're not starving."

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"I'm sooo hungryyy what do you know"
"Listen, which one of us is going to be the doctor here?"
"Well, if I sit on your notes so you can't study and fail your exams, not you."

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Then he got backup.

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Slightly better photo of Nora.

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They're actually pretty cute together. (Unless Bambi gets bored and starts bullying Nora.)

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[cobaltstarfire]

They're "helping" can't you tell? How can you be a proper doctor without having had cat butt all over your notes? It'll improve your memory capabilities, truly!


One of our neighbors had a cat that would "help" by pushing everything off his desk if she felt he wasn't giving her the attention she deserved.

[noparlpf]

They're "helping" can't you tell? How can you be a proper doctor without having had cat butt all over your notes? It'll improve your memory capabilities, truly!


One of our neighbors had a cat that would "help" by pushing everything off his desk if she felt he wasn't giving her the attention she deserved.

I got to use the line "my cat ate my homework" in undergrad biochem. I still had the homework, just with some taped-together claw and bite marks in it.

[utfifa2016]

Congratulations.

[Fri]

Here's my cat and my kitten when it's still a slightly smaller kitten.

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Notice the paragon cat expression.

Part of the her tail still doesn't grow fur properly even now with because all the chewing.

[Lemmy]

Looked away for a moment after ironing my shirts... When I looked back, Dominó was resting on the ironing board to enjoy the residual heat.

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[Fri]

Cat rack, for convenience in storing your cats. Available at the nearest store.

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[Peelee]

My cat, Erebus, just turned one year old! He's already clocking in at 12 lbs, so he may still have a little growing to do (we have reason to believe he is mostly Norwegian Forest Cat), but he's pretty content. Little dude is the best cat in the world, I tells ya!

Spoiler: Erebus, primordial deity of darkness, snoozing and looking all cute and fluffy

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[Fri]

I don't think my two cats even weighs 12 lbs in total

[Peelee]

I don't think my two cats even weighs 12 lbs in total

With both Erebus's size and general fluffyness, honestly, his tail is bigger than most cats under one year old. Dude's a beast.

[Grytorm]

My family has always had a lot of pets. I think at one point we hand around 7 cats and 3 or 4 dogs. Right now we are down to 4 dogs and 5 cats, so a bit better. But I only want to talk about two of them.

Oscar a dachshund who has been lucky to recover from back problems three times. He is kind of a dopey thing, really affectionate. I dropped him on his head when he was a puppy, and that might have left him a little dumb. Funniest thing he does is that he is pretty much on the bottom of the pile for socializing. Very polite. But occasionally on walks he will react extremely fiercely to other dogs. Once he chased off to dogs much bigger then him by himself. It was fun to watch. And one time I got to watch him figuring out that if he barked at our older dog Tobe he could have the collies food.

The other pet I want to talk about is Shell, my mothers cat for quite a few years. We put shell down a few years ago, but when she was younger she knew that she was allowed to eat on one counter but not on the main counter. So if no one was around and she saw something meaty that she liked she would grab it and carry it over to her counter. At least once she absconded with a pork chop from a pan.

[golentan]

With both Erebus's size and general fluffyness, honestly, his tail is bigger than most cats under one year old. Dude's a beast.

I love the big cat breeds. My favorite breed by far is the Maine **** in terms of appearance and temperament and general cuddleability, but I'm probably never gonna get to have one myself.

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Edit: Okay, I should have predicted that would get censored, sorry... But that is the actual breed name, same as my short-form name gets censored as an inappropriate body part.

[Peelee]

I love the big cat breeds. My favorite breed by far is the Maine **** in terms of appearance and temperament and general cuddleability, but I'm probably never gonna get to have one myself.

I think Norwegian Forest Cat may be my favorite breed. Not quite as big as a Maine ****, but not that far off, and I love their temperament (another reason we think our cat is a Forest Cat. His personality is word for word what I read about them online). I'd love a purebreed, but man, that's pricey.

[Grand Arbiter]

My cat, Erebus, just turned one year old! He's already clocking in at 12 lbs, so he may still have a little growing to do (we have reason to believe he is mostly Norwegian Forest Cat), but he's pretty content. Little dude is the best cat in the world, I tells ya!

Spoiler: Erebus, primordial deity of darkness, snoozing and looking all cute and fluffy

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I would be inclined to agree with Norwegian Forest Cat. From what I know, they're about as bit and fluffy as a Maine Coon, but have that silvery-gray color.

My family has a Maine Coon back home, weighing in at ~ 20 pounds. He's a big mush when he's in the mood for love, and I can't wait to see him at thanksgiving break.

[enderlord99]

...Why is the shortened form of "raccoon" considered a swear word?

BTW, I'm pretty sure "Maine Coone" has an "e" at the end.

[gooddragon1]

Why does no one have a picture of kitty in morph ball form?

EDIT: Only thing kitty is guilty of is wanting to be petted.

[noparlpf]

...Why is the shortened form of "raccoon" considered a swear word?

BTW, I'm pretty sure "Maine Coone" has an "e" at the end.

It used to be (might still be in some places?) a racial slur along the same lines as the n word.

And nah, it's 'Maine' that has an 'e' at the end, not the other word.

[Grand Arbiter]

...Why is the shortened form of "raccoon" considered a swear word?

BTW, I'm pretty sure "Maine Coone" has an "e" at the end.

Probably because somewhere out in the wilds of the internet it found use as an insult.

I just googled to double check; it does not have an "e" at the end.


EDIT: Ninja'd.

[Peelee]

Why does no one have a picture of kitty in morph ball form?

Let the blood be on your hands.

Spoiler: Dragoncat!

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[Fri]

Kitty!

In slightly related note, my smaller cat got infested with earmites recently somehow. It's fine now, the medication is really effective and it stops scratching in just a day. I'm just amused at tips I read online that you should take care of cat's tail as well when it has ear mites, because cats curl when they sleep and their tail touch their ears (as shown in the pics, that's what turn my mind on this topic). That way there might be mites on their tail that will reinfect their ears after you clean their ear.

Why this amuses me is because my kitten has nubby short tail, so its tail can't reach its ears. I live in asia, and the cat obviously is a, or at least has japanese bobtail blood. It's just the shortest nubbiest tail ever and so dang cute.