#ferret the cat

[shadowinthefir3]

My cat, my Number One as a mermaid. Koi fish base with artistic liberties.

[saritawolff]

Phew. This one took, uh… a bit longer than expected due to other projects both irl and art-wise, but it’s finally here. The long-awaited domestic animal infographic! Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough space to cover every single domestic animal (I’m so sorry, reindeer and koi, my beloveds) but I tried to include as many of the “major ones” as possible.

I made this chart in response to a lot of the misunderstandings I hear concerning domestic animals, so I hope it’s helpful!

Further information I didn’t have any room to add or expand on:

🐈 “Breed” and “species” are not synonyms! Breeds are specific to domesticated animals. A Bengal Tiger is a species of tiger. A Siamese is a breed of domestic cat.

🐀 Different colors are also not what makes a breed. A breed is determined by having genetics that are unique to that breed. So a “bluenose pitbull” is not a different breed from a “rednose pitbull”, but an American Pitbull Terrier is a different breed from an American Bully! Animals that have been domesticated for longer tend to have more seperate breeds as these differing genetics have had time to develop.

🐕 It takes hundreds of generations for an animal to become domesticated. While the “domesticated fox experiment” had interesting results, there were not enough generations involved for the foxes to become truly domesticated and their differences from wild foxes were more due to epigenetics (heritable traits that do not change the DNA sequence but rather activate or deactivate parts of it; owed to the specific circumstances of its parents’ behavior and environment.)

🐎 Wild animals that are raised in human care are not domesticated, but they can be considered “tamed.” This means that they still have all their wild instincts, but are less inclined to attack or be frightened of humans. A wild animal that lives in the wild but near human settlements and is less afraid of humans is considered “habituated.” Tamed and habituated animals are not any less dangerous than wild animals, and should still be treated with the same respect. Foxes, otters, raccoons, servals, caracals, bush babies, opossums, owls, monkeys, alligators, and other wild animals can be tamed or habituated, but they have not undergone hundreds of generations of domestication, so they are not domesticated animals.

🐄 Also, as seen above, these animals have all been domesticated for a reason, be it food, transport, pest control, or otherwise, at a time when less practical options existed. There is no benefit to domesticating other species in the modern day, so if you’ve got a hankering for keeping a wild animal as a pet, instead try to find the domestic equivalent of that wild animal! There are several dog breeds that look and behave like wolves or foxes, pigeons and chickens can make great pet birds and have hundreds of colorful fancy breeds, rats can be just as intelligent and social as a small monkey (and less expensive and dangerous to boot,) and ferrets are pretty darn close to minks and otters! There’s no need to keep a wolf in a house when our ancestors have already spent 20,000+ years to make them house-compatible.

🐖 This was stated in the infographic, but I feel like I must again reiterate that domestic animals do not belong in the wild, and often become invasive when feral. Their genetics have been specifically altered in such a way that they depend on humans for optimal health. We are their habitat. This is why you only really see feral pigeons in cities, and feral cats around settlements. They are specifically adapted to live with humans, so they stay even when unwanted. However, this does not mean they should live in a way that doesn’t put their health and comfort as a top priority! If we are their world, it is our duty to make it as good as possible. Please research any pet you get before bringing them home!

[spicymochi]

june shop update is now live!! lots of new charms are now in my shop!

[knifebun]

look. so many people use the classist card for this, but if you can't afford to feed an animal a diet that's not going to cause serious medical issues that will either kill it or require medical treatment for the rest of the animal's life, then maybe you shouldn't own this animal. "poor people deserve to have animal companions too" yes absolutely i agree, but maybe not at the expense of the animal's health.

[bluebellowl]

I had this great realisation that Sneasel sounds mad close to ‚weasel‘ and whoops I went deep into the Japanese folklore of the Kamaitachi, which are lightning fast blade wielding weasels who cut your legs in cold climates.

There‘s a great 16 min youtube podcast that explains the folklore far better. Go show them some love!

[webzkinz]

[kaccvcate]

we're big fans of miss nyancrimew

[cocopudu]

some more beanie baby commissions 🎾🐶‼️☀️

(these are all based on real life pets or original characters :3c)

[the-owl-tree]

Longtail is such a funny name it’s like his mom looked at her newborn son and was just… “holy shit that’s a long kitten.” When he’s older she’ll tell him she named him that because she wishes he’ll live long and experience a lot when no it’s just because of her initial reaction.

[plaguedocboi]

I think we should all take a moment to really appreciate this picture

[cranneo]

Ferret Cats!

[shadowinthefir3]

Commander Ferret is my second in command- my Number One. He loves food, cuddles, and kisses. He is in charge when I'm gone but has a more hands off approach.

[serpentface]

The polecat is the most common domesticated ratter and companion animal in the eastern Inner Seaway lands.

Their wild ancestors are less solitary than most mustelids, though do not have particularly complex social structures. Females (usually related) will accumulate in groups of 2-10 individuals (up to 30 in exceptional cases of high prey availability), sharing a territory and den site. Males form their own territories, which will overlap heavily with those of females.

The social hierarchy of these groups is mostly based upon age, with the eldest individuals claiming the best den sites and access to resources and mates. Their social behavior includes allogrooming, sharing of dens, and occasional sharing of prey. Their social bonds are not strongly reinforced, however. They provide no mutual care for young (and dominant females are known to kill the young of low ranking females when prey is scarce), and colonies will readily divide and disperse when their population wholly outstrips prey availability. They often move over open terrain in loose groups as means of defense against predators, but do not hunt cooperatively. Their favored prey is rodents, but they will take birds, small lizards and snakes, and the occasional large insect. They will occasionally coordinate group attacks against large threats (particularly snakes, which threaten their pups within dens).

It is not clear where or when they were domesticated. They likely domesticated themselves in conjunction with early farming practices, preying on the rodents that were attracted to grain stores and gradually being accommodated to and appreciated by human farmers. Wild polecats that could ostensibly be their ancestors can be found on both sides of the Mouth of the seaway, and evidence of domesticated polecats stretches back to prehistory on both sides as well. This would suggest either separate domestication events, or an unrecorded crossing of the Mouth by boats and possible human settlement event during the neolithic period (as most human settlement east of the Inner Seaway occurred in the paleolithic and was a long, slow, roundabout dispersal over land).

Domesticated polecats are frequently kept around as ratters. They are not as efficient as cats over open terrain, but are fairly effective with their ability to fit into confined spaces in pursuit of prey. The domestication process has rendered them more inclined towards close socialization than their wild ancestors, and they readily bond with their owners and with other unrelated polecats. Feral colonies are most distinct from wild colonies in that they form tighter social bonds and practice extensive alloparenting, with mothers often allowing unrelated young in the same colony to suckle, and sometimes even adopting orphans. Feral polecats have interbred with and/or displaced wild ones in many parts of their range, and true wild polecats are increasingly rare.

The Burri deity Tingari is the goddess of granaries, and she is often depicted as a polecat, or with one in each hand. Polecat figurines are placed in granaries to confer the goddess' protection from rodents, insects, rot and disease. This practice has been naturalized in many places formerly colonized by Imperial Bur, though often as a general ward against grain pestilence or integrated into native religious conventions rather than as representations of the Burri god.

[unamusedyams]

why does this little mouse keep getting paired with his natural predators someone save her

[frogmansides]

some more mgs mobians and bonus resevil ones

[moomeecore]

Hello!!! I decided to relent and start an Etsy because I'm not making many sales on my Website Store...The hope is that maybe more people will be interested if it's on a site were theyre also buying Other Things? or at least a site theyre familiar with ... I'm selling way less stuff than I am on my regular store, and it's all about a dollar more because Etsy wants to take my money, but I put up some of the stuff that people have expressed more interest in on tumblr !

ETSY LINK!!

ive got most of my sticker designs on there, including the cats that are definitely not inspired by any popular book serieses.

Plus ive got a few prints up - ones people on tumblr seem to like lol

(for things that aren't on my etsy you can visit my website store!)