#cat vent

[traumafactory28]

Imma talk about my cat 😌

When my cat was younger and still skittish, I had no idea how to get her to sleep or be comfortable laying on me. So, the brilliant 14 year old I was, decided to start playing "come little children" every time she got tired because I thought it was a soft lullaby and it'd encourage her to sleep comfortably. It worked. Now, every time I play it, she comes over to sleep on me. I love her so much. She's forever a kitten in my eyes.

The way that i got her used to me physically was to lay down with her in her kennel everyday while she was healing her broken paw.

The only "disadvantage" of this is that she is afraid of everyone except me and codependent. I'm working on fixing her social anxiety tho by carrying her out of my room and holding her while guests are there.

She's such a smart kitty. I've kind of taught her commands. Cats are smart, just like dogs, they just choose to ignore people most of the time. My kitty likes me, so she listens.

The commands she knows are:

(Edit: some of these aren't even commands, just different ways we communicate with each other)

*Prolonged whistle* : come here (urgency depending on pitch and volume of note)

*Two sharp kissy noises* ??( I don't know how else to describe it than that): get up/move

Show me your belly?/flop?/laydown? (The questioning tone is important. She just thinks I'm talking at her if in a commanding tone): she flops on the ground for belly rubs

Up up *tap twice on specified surface* : jumps up on surface.

*Claw hand with spread fingers* : playtime

*headtilt* : what's wrong/needed (i usually do this when she's hurt, out of food, water or something is agitating her, she usually immediately goes to/point out the problem)

*Two nail taps in quick succession on a hard surface* or sharp and short whistle: look at me.

I haven't taught her anything else than that because everything else can be conveyed and communicated via slight nudges and eyecontact. She knows I love her and won't do anything to hurt her. She has literally let me put one of her paws in my mouth, as if I was going to bite her, then slow blinked, calling my bluff. (This morning) she knows me too well.

We have an amazing bond. My parents split up 2 years ago and were debating on who got what pets. They originally planned on my step mom taking all the cats, but immediately backtracked for the sole reason that "Mafalda is Elias's cat". This split also left my dad's dog in my care as well. He's a pit named mitch. He's a dumbass, but I'm teaching him the same way as mafalda but with more words and repetitions.

Mitch and Mafalda don't get along and usually stalks each other when one isn't looking, but they put their differences aside when I'm in the room with them. They both like to sleep with me, so they have a truce while in bed. He likes to sleep by my side and she like to sleep on me, so they kinda have to be close. The only exception to the truce is if mitches mouth gets too close to her, then she quickly reminds him to not even try it with a bap and a hiss. A quick "guys" gets them to stop tho.

She used to hate being picked up due to her fear of heights since breaking her paw, but she let's me do it. She did it only for short period of time at first, but once she realized that I would put her down at first sign of discomfort, she slowly got used to it and let's me pick her up whenever.

Recently, I've been made aware of the fact from my dad that while I'm out, mafalda will sit in the kitchen on the table and wait for me to return home. She always greets me at the door and let's me pick her up to my room.

She might as well be called Baby at this point with how little I actually call her mafalda when talking to her.

God I love her. Thank you for listening to me rant about my codependent tuxedo kitty named Mafalda.

Here she is. She's laying on me in all the pictures.

[crybabypupper]

I just wanted to mention real quick that today is probably the day that our cat Penelope is going to be euthanized. I just wanted to share a few photos of her real quick, to say goodbye on here to this wonderful kitty.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

average United States contains 1000s of pet tigers in backyards" factoid actualy [sic] just statistical error. average person has 0 tigers on property. Activist Georg, who lives the U.S. Capitol & makes up over 10,000 each day, has purposefully been spreading disinformation adn [sic] should not have been counted

I have a big mad today, folks. It's a really frustrating one, because years worth of work has been validated... but the reason for that fucking sucks.

For almost a decade, I've been trying to fact-check the claim that there "are 10,000 to 20,000 pet tigers/big cats in backyards in the United States." I talked to zoo, sanctuary, and private cat people; I looked at legislation, regulation, attack/death/escape incident rates; I read everything I could get my hands on. None of it made sense. None of it lined up. I couldn't find data supporting anything like the population of pet cats being alleged to exist. Some of you might remember the series I published on those findings from 2018 or so under the hashtag #CrouchingTigerHiddenData. I've continued to work on it in the six years since, including publishing a peer reviewed study that counted all the non-pet big cats in the US (because even though they're regulated, apparently nobody bothered to keep track of those either).

I spent years of my life obsessing over that statistic because it was being used to push for new federal legislation that, while well intentioned, contained language that would, and has, created real problems for ethical facilities that have big cats. I wrote a comprehensive - 35 page! - analysis of the issues with the then-current version of the Big Cat Public Safety Act in 2020. When the bill was first introduced to Congress in 2013, a lot of groups promoted it by fear mongering: there's so many pet tigers! they could be hidden around every corner! they could escape and attack you! they could come out of nowhere and eat your children!! Tiger King exposed the masses to the idea of "thousands of abused backyard big cats": as a result the messaging around the bill shifted to being welfare-focused, and the law passed in 2022.

The Big Cat Public Safety Act created a registry, and anyone who owned a private cat and wanted to keep it had to join. If they did, they could keep the animal until it passed, as long as they followed certain strictures (no getting more, no public contact, etc). Don’t register and get caught? Cat is seized and major punishment for you. Registering is therefore highly incentivized. That registry closed in June of 2023, and you can now get that registration data via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Guess how many pet big cats were registered in the whole country?

97.

Not tens of thousands. Not thousands. Not even triple digits. 97.

And that isn't even the right number! Ten USDA licensed facilities registered erroneously. That accounts for 55 of 97 animals. Which leaves us with 42 pet big cats, of all species, in the entire country.

Now, I know that not everyone may have registered. There's probably someone living deep in the woods somewhere with their illegal pet cougar, and there's been at least one random person in Texas arrested for trying to sell a cub since the law passed. But - and here's the big thing - even if there are ten times as many hidden cats than people who registered them - that's nowhere near ten thousand animals. Obviously, I had some questions.

Guess what? Turns out, this is because it was never real. That huge number never had data behind it, wasn't likely to be accurate, and the advocacy groups using that statistic to fearmonger and drive their agenda knew it... and didn't see a problem with that.

Allow me to introduce you to an article published last week.

This article is good. (Full disclose, I'm quoted in it). It's comprehensive and fairly written, and they did their due diligence reporting and fact-checking the piece. They talked to a lot of people on all sides of the story.

But thing that really gets me?

Multiple representatives from major advocacy organizations who worked on the Big Cat Publix Safety Act told the reporter that they knew the statistics they were quoting weren't real. And that they don't care. The end justifies the means, the good guys won over the bad guys, that's just how lobbying works after all. They're so blase about it, it makes my stomach hurt. Let me pull some excerpts from the quotes.

"Whatever the true number, nearly everyone in the debate acknowledges a disparity between the actual census and the figures cited by lawmakers. “The 20,000 number is not real,” said Bill Nimmo, founder of Tigers in America. (...) For his part, Nimmo at Tigers in America sees the exaggerated figure as part of the political process. Prior to the passage of the bill, he said, businesses that exhibited and bred big cats juiced the numbers, too. (...) “I’m not justifying the hyperbolic 20,000,” Nimmo said. “In the world of comparing hyperbole, the good guys won this one.”

"Michelle Sinnott, director and counsel for captive animal law enforcement at the PETA Foundation, emphasized that the law accomplished what it was set out to do. (...) Specific numbers are not what really matter, she said: “Whether there’s one big cat in a private home or whether there’s 10,000 big cats in a private home, the underlying problem of industry is still there.”"

I have no problem with a law ending the private ownership of big cats, and with ending cub petting practices. What I do have a problem with is that these organizations purposefully spread disinformation for years in order to push for it. By their own admission, they repeatedly and intentionally promoted false statistics within Congress. For a decade.

No wonder it never made sense. No wonder no matter where I looked, I couldn't figure out how any of these groups got those numbers, why there was never any data to back any of the claims up, why everything I learned seemed to actively contradict it. It was never real. These people decided the truth didn't matter. They knew they had no proof, couldn't verify their shocking numbers... and they decided that was fine, if it achieved the end they wanted.

So members of the public - probably like you, reading this - and legislators who care about big cats and want to see legislation exist to protect them? They got played, got fed false information through a TV show designed to tug at heartstrings, and it got a law through Congress that's causing real problems for ethical captive big cat management. The 20,000 pet cat number was too sexy - too much of a crisis - for anyone to want to look past it and check that the language of the law wouldn't mess things up up for good zoos and sanctuaries. Whoops! At least the "bad guys" lost, right? (The problems are covered somewhat in the article linked, and I'll go into more details in a future post. You can also read my analysis from 2020, linked up top.)

Now, I know. Something something something facts don't matter this much in our post-truth era, stop caring so much, that's just how politics work, etc. I’m sorry, but no. Absolutely not.

Laws that will impact the welfare of living animals must be crafted carefully, thoughtfully, and precisely in order to ensure they achieve their goals without accidental negative impacts. We have a duty of care to ensure that. And in this case, the law also impacts reservoir populations for critically endangered species! We can't get those back if we mess them up. So maybe, just maybe, if legislators hadn't been so focused on all those alleged pet cats, the bill could have been written narrowly and precisely.

But the minutiae of regulatory impacts aren't sexy, and tiger abuse and TV shows about terrible people are. We all got misled, and now we're here, and the animals in good facilities are already paying for it.

I don't have a conclusion. I'm just mad. The public deserves to know the truth about animal legislation they're voting for, and I hope we all call on our legislators in the future to be far more critical of the data they get fed.

[tomkittycat]

meow :(

[dumplingsjinson]

List of “sweet and intimate actions which make me go feral and have me folding like a folding chair” prompts 

Character B carding their fingers through Character A’s hair and playing with the strands.

Character B peeling back the neck of Character A’s turtle neck sweater to trail gentle kisses down their neck. (This!! It is so hot, and it's everything I didn't know I needed until now, and I cannot stop thinking about it wlkfnlkwe)

Character B placing their arm around Character A’s waist while in public, resting their chin on Character A’s shoulder. “Hello,” they say in a teasing tone as Character A tries to grab ahold of their hand to keep it there but fails a few times before successfully doing so. 

Leaning against each other while in public.

Spooning and back hugs.

Character B letting Character A rest their head on their chest; lets them listen to their heart beat. 

Character B whispering sweet nothings into Character A’s ear.

Character B checking in on Character A to make sure they’re comfortable and okay with the way things are going; to make sure they’re not being too much. “You’re not,” Character A would reassure, repositioning themselves to get closer to Character B.

Just cuddles and snuggles in general.

Neck kisses.

Kisses littered all over the face. (!!! It's one thing to read about it and one thing to experience it wlejbfewljn)

Character B tucking Character A’s head under their chin while they’re cuddling.

Character B nuzzling their neck and breathing in Character A’s scent/fragrance, and commenting on how nice they smell.

Character B making sure Character A gets home safe by driving them home.

Character A telling Character B to message them when they get back home safe, and once Character B gets home, they follow through by sending a message to let Character A know they’ve gotten back home safe.

Taking naps together, from day till night, waking up every now and then to get more snuggles in. 

That soft exhalation of adoring laughter leaving Character B’s mouth after kissing Character A (this shit had me folding so fucking hard it’s not even funny. I Am Weak). 

That soft exhalation of laughter once again just because Character B is so content with having Character A in their presence, and Character A just basking in how cute that sound is and how happy it makes them. 

Character B entangling their legs with Character A’s, pressing their bodies flush against each other’s, leaving little to no space between them. (It’s almost like they can’t get enough of Character A.) 

Kissing so many times, to the point where they lose track of how many times they’ve kissed already. 

Holding hands and lacing their fingers together while they’re cuddling.

Comparing hand sizes and giggling about it together.

Character B stroking Character A’s hair while they’re asleep. (Or uh, pretends to be asleep DJSKKSKDSK but it’s so FUCKING CUTE WHEN HE DID THAT IM GONNA SCREAM, me thinking moments like these only happen in Korean dramas or some shit anfkakfksk-)

The sweet little banters in between; Character B being all cheesy and Character A playfully deflecting their comments only for Character B to playfully push back with an “Is something wrong with that?” or “But I’m not lying.”

Falling asleep in each other’s arms, both not wanting to leave the bed for the entire day and wanting to stay comfortably snuggled up against each other instead.

Character B placing their hands on Character A’s shoulders, and Character A, with a grin on their face, gently grabs Character B’s hands and wraps their arms around their neck while leaning back into them. Character B reciprocates by hugging them closer to them.

The soft noises of content Character A makes when they snuggle closer to Character B, or when they want Character B to hold them closer to them, with Character B happily obliging. 

Character B rubbing their cheek against Character A’s.

Character B trying to not wake Character A up because they look so comfortable when sleeping. (His words, not mine.) 

Soft, repeated pecks on the lips, causing Character A to laugh/smile against Character B’s lips. 

[styrostuff]

okay you know what

1,000 notes and i’m gonna make an active attempt at getting clean and trying to figure out how to learn to enjoy life.

i don’t mean this in an attention seeking way! well kind of. i think i would be a bit more incentivized to recover if i had a couple hundred eyes on me instead of just my friends and family.

i’m tired of being sick. i’ll still use this account to vent but i wanna prove to myself that someday i’ll be more than my addiction and mental illness

i’m at a day right now, which is a very big milestone for me. i hope i can continue to make strides towards somewhere better.

[thebreadmantm]

More cats! This obsession will never stop-

I only realized halfway through that @ultramarinaa already made an official cat!sasha deign but I was so attached to the tabby and I really wanted Tim to be grey so I cheated. I guess this is just my own headcannon of it-

I mostly did this for my own reference though so it’s not too serious I guess

Anyway Elias is miserable with all his cat employees and Jon is a silly little guy who doesn’t know how to cat

[whats-this-mustelid]

This is BARELY related to this blog but I just saw a post in a local fb group from someone who hired a pet setter, and while they were out of the country she intentionally let their indoor cat out, didn't tell them when it went missing, and then when they found out and confronted her she argued that keeping their cat indoors was cruel. I am filled with homicidal rage.

The cat was last seen three days ago please send good vibes

Edit: the cat is home safe, and back indoors!

[skuffypaw]

he stood still before he lunged and i — rather foolishly — thought i was safe

[wildfane]

spontaneous combustion

[vurelly]

how am i meant to ha wahoo yippee through life in these conditions

[dangans-ur-ronpas]

obsessed with this 4koma. what do you mean that's your first friend. i mean im guess im not surprised but are you serious

[sweetscribbles]

Yuh oh!!

[vardir1sebebi]

Ruhumuzu toparlayacak bir şeylere ihtiyacımız var..

[kawaii-dream-blade-girl]

:3

[styrostuff]

“don’t trust any negative thoughts you have past 9 pm” girlies when they have negative thoughts before 9 pm