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give him a smooch

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Cats did evolve to eat raw meat, but they evolved to eat raw meat they'd just killed themselves. Raw meat that's been through the whole system by which meat is typically acquired to feed cats has been dead for much longer and has been exposed to many more bacteria, which have had much more time to multiply. Plus it was probably grown in tighter quarters than wild animals, which means more time for it to have picked up a disease while it was alive.

(also, wild animals do just die of eating contaminated meat sometimes. That's part of how a fair number of diseases spread. Wild animals doing something doesn't always mean that thing is best for them in human care, just that it's the most available option to a wild animal.)

The H5N1 (bird flu) virus is going around, and cats are proving especially susceptible to it. A big cat sanctuary in Washington state had TWENTY of their big cats (cougars, tigers, etc) die of bird flu.

There have also been cases of indoor-only domestic cats getting sick or even dying of bird flu after contracting it from raw cat food. And of course coming into contact with birds also puts your cat at risk.

To keep your cat safe:

Keep them away from birds, preferably keeping them entirely inside. If they are indoor-outdoor then remove any bird feeders from your yard to make cat-bird contact less likely.

Do NOT feed them raw food of any sort, including freeze-dried raw food. Freezing will not kill the virus!

A lot of raw pet food companies are using PR speak to assure customers that their raw food is safe. Remember that at the end of the day their priority is to make money and stay in business. Unless they are testing every bird carcass for the virus their assurances are meaningless, and they certainly are not testing every bird because it would be too expensive.

Cooking kills most viruses and bacteria, including H5N1.

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#looks like a hose (affectionate)

Coil aquired

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I got bit by a fucking thing

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Big-headed Turtle (Platysternon megacephalum), family Platysternidae, Hong Kong

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED.

photograph by Francis Seow Choen

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They eat a comical amount of fruit, to the point where their digestive system is specialized to handle eating potentially nothing but fruit for months on end. They'll also drink nectar and eat the occasional small bug, but over the winter they really do eat pretty much just various photogenic berries.

Cedar Waxwings by jocelynefeizo1 http://ift.tt/1RM3Kk0

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#frogs really are just mouths with legs and i love being reminded of that fact

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Sambar Deer (Rusa unicolor) and Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta Vagabunda) - Sariska National Park, India 

Photographed by Naveen Kumar Singh‎

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check out this dekay's brownsnake! a tiny beast with a crazy long tongue :p

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cats know keyboard shortcuts even microsoft doesnt know about

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redo print of a piece I made last summer :)

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baby hippo but make it a baby triceratops

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Extremely specific question: what about fossilized shark teeth? They keep their original enamel, though some minerals may manage to sneak in.

Not trying to be rude, genuinely curious, why are metal and wood not just earth?

Assorted Reasons off the top of my head:

Metal in this 5-element cycle accounts for all nonliving solids- metals, rocks, minerals, etc. Wood accounts for all Alive or Dead* solids.

*Dead being "Used to be Alive" Which is a really different thing than "Was never alive in the first place" in terms of physics, biology, and epidemiology.

Wood is neither properly a solid nor liquid. It's liquids trapped by malleable solids under pressure, which is a really different thing than "Solid" in terms of physics.

To Put it in ATLA Terms: Wood is it's own Element because Neither Earthbenders nor the Swamp Water Tribe can bend it. (at least once it's dead, and the Swamp Tribe was using Still-Living Algae, the wettest plant. Deceased Tree might be beyond them).

Also how Neither Earthbenders nor bloodbenders can bend Bone.

Putting Living Tissues solidly within either Water or Earth massively unbalances the Elements IMHO, hence, the separation.

the number 5 is in the Fibonacci sequence, and I can do silly numbers things with that :)

I like drawing Pentagram more than Square

This is actually about Magical Blood typing Hell, and two characters having an insane conversation about whether or not ice is a Mineral while their friend is bleeding out :)

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Checking on what my tarantula got up to overnight.

My Tarantula:

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Mt. Mabu Bush Viper (Atheris mabuensis), family Viperidae, endemic to Mt. Mabu, Mozambique

ENDANGERED.

Venomous.

photograph by Tim's Wild World