#pet death cw /

[incendavery]

ive lost three pets in the past year (all of old age, which is cold comfort) and the cumulative grief is getting hard to bear

[intriga-hounds]

oliver is being PTS tomorrow afternoon. ❤️ some of you have followed me since before the silkens, when it was just houston and oliver. we’ve had him since i was 17. i will miss him so much.

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

Our Queen Jellie will never be forgotten.

[altschmerzes]

we very suddenly and unexpectedly lost my little grey cat hotdish today. having, uh, a bad one.

[wildfairies]

ruby: aka little rubes, ruby tooby, smushy, ruby tuesday, screamy, little smush, wooby tubes, and many other nicknames. thank you for opening your tiny heart to me.

we adopted ruby when i was in high school. i fell in love with her picture on the animal rescue website. she and her mom (who we also adopted) were very skittish and took a lot of time and trust-building to warm up. i loved her so much, but she didn't truly become my baby until i moved back home after college.

i was in the worst place of my life in summer/fall 2022 when she began seeking me out. you might say she knew i needed her, but she wasn't really that kind of cat 💀 we were all subject to her whims. she started spending time with me because it was exactly what she wanted to do, which makes me feel just as special as if she actually meant to soothe me. ❤️ she would come lay on my bed by the window where the afternoon sun would make it warm, eventually dubbed "her sunny spot."

it became our daily routine. she would wait all day for me to get home from work or class, and i would call for her to come snuggle as soon as i walked through the door. she would trot up the stairs after me and hop onto my bed. she would nuzzle my arm and resettle herself about three times before falling asleep. we would lay with my face against her fur while i gave her scratchies in all her favorite places. she would breathe quietly and make little trill noises when she was extra happy. i tried to never take a moment of this for granted, always thinking how lucky i was, but we never have enough time with our pets.

she would start purring as soon as i laid my cheek against her, even before being pet. she loved christmas bows and would always steal them to play with so we found them strewn around the house. she loved watching the leaves fall from the window. she was obsessed with the attic and could play up there for hours.

we said goodbye yesterday after finding out she likely had a brain tumor with few viable treatment paths. my heart is absolutely at peace knowing she is finally comfortable again, but now comes missing her so terribly. it's hard to accept that i was expecting 10 more years with her.

i love her perfect pink nose, her multicolored toe beans, her little ears, the brown spot on her tummy, and the way she looks like a white cat someone poured gray paint on top of. she was stubborn and mischievous, an absolute thief. her favorite food was cheese and she would do anything to get it. she was kind of a brat and obsessed with feathers. i love her and miss her so so much.

she also snored:

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for banning a child from my house?

It's not my child, btw- it's my cousin, an 8 y/o autistic boy. I am 15 and it's technically not my house.

For context, my cousin has EXTREMELY severe autism, to the point where he quite literally cannot form any connections with people and does not sit down at all. He is always running around, yelling in garbled speech, and doesn't understand words, sentences, or commands. He only responds to his name when his mother calls it. He isn't intelligent mentally, either. I do love him a lot in spite of how he has never paid attention to me or treats both me and everyone else around him as though they don't exist.

I have (had?) a cat. I have raised this cat for 3 years and I got this little furball when he was only 2 weeks old. I gave him milk and cared for him so, so much. He was a Persian-British mix and was, frankly, pretty dumb and sleepy all the time. Like a little doll.

My cousin also, apparently, decided that my cat, Velvet, was doll-like, because he grabbed Velvet and refused to let the cat go. I was in the bathroom at the time and only heard the cat's mewing. Nobody else was home. My cousin thought it would be nice to throw Velvet out of the window. Our 4th-story window. Velvet was a spoilt little thing and had never really lived outside of a house, and consequently, died. My cousin? Didn't care. Just went away from the open window and went back to running around the house.

I came out only a few seconds later and was very confused as to just WHERE was the previously mewing cat, and obviously I couldn't just ask my cousin, since he can't talk and wouldn't be able to think of it either. My mom found the fucking CORPSE when she came back home. I was horrified and, while I don't think this was the proper thing to do to a little boy who has absolutely ZERO awareness of his surroundings, I proceeded to absolutely scream my head off at my cousin while grabbing his arm, which resulted in an absolute meltdown from him and my aunt (who had also just arrived) having to physically pry me off him as I was crying. I don't think I can be really blamed for being upset over my cousin KILLING my BELOVED PET just because he was born wrong. I also sort of yelled at my aunt to never come here or bring her son here ever again. My mother has severely chastised me for that and had ME grounded. What the fuck. Mental illnesses aren't all sunshine and rainbows, y'all. Ugh. I feel like I AM the asshole, but honestly. Consider the circumstances. I hate it here and I miss my fucking cat.

[incendavery]

HI IM BACK DID YOU MISS ME HOW HAVE YOU BEEN

[bogcreacher]

guy who’s about to go John Wick on his ex

[landgraabbed]

while they were out fudge passed again :( cookie aged up too

[galedekarios]

this is probably a bit out of left field, but i wanted to thank everyone who sent me a message, be it a lore or character question or simply kind words.

i promise i'm getting back to answering them soon.

between monsieur's passing, family emergencies and work, i've been struggling to form coherent thoughts in the little free time i have, much less put them into words.

anyhow, i just wanted to let you know that you aren't being ignored and i do appreciate it when people interact with me on here. 🖤

[princehoneytea]

my beloved cat has to be put down tmrw. im doing bad! doing really really bad! doing catastrophically bad! quite possibly never been this bad in my life! hoo wee!

[wildfairies]

we have to put my kitty to sleep 💔 I haven’t stopped crying I literally don’t know how to deal with this. it’s scheduled for saturday morning wtf am I supposed to do until then…. I’m so heartbroken she’s only 6

[geniusphilester]

lying about when norman died so as not to ruin the holiday season is bde (big dad energy)

[plumdale]

:(

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not putting a bell on my cat?

Cw for discussion of animal death and injury in vague terms.

So I live in a neighborhood with a lot of stray/outdoor cats. In fact, it's sorta that way all over the city. A few weeks ago as of writing this, I picked up a stray because I saw that it had an open wound on its neck; since it was amicable to being handled I decided to take it to the vet to be treated (and neutered, since I'd already gotten hold of it and obviously we don't need more strays.)

Recently, my cat of 15 years (we had him for 15 years, he was about 17-18 though) passed of old age, so I wasn't expecting my family to be willing to take a new cat in so soon. We even still have most of his stuff, so I figured it would be a matter of keeping the stray indoors until it was healed, then letting him go about his business. We all ended up getting attached over his two weeks of recovery though (if anyone is curious, it was a burst absess. While he was there we got him vaccinated and checked for other problems. Aside from ear mites, he was fine) so we got him a microchip, named him, and that was that.

My previous cat was also a rescue, though we picked him up from a shelter. At the time we also had a dog and a dog door, so keeping him inside would have been a logistical struggle we just... didn't care to bother with. By the time the dog passed, he'd had access to the outside for years and we saw no reason to suddenly cut him off from that. We obviously had to keep this new cat completely inside while his staples were in, but the plan was always to open up the dog door once he was healed and let him decide where he wanted to be. I don't like taking care of a litter box, my dad doesn't like the smell of cat, 3/4ths of the house is allergic (though that didn't stop us before), and this cat is much younger than our previous was, and has much more energy (vet estimated him at 6mo-1yr). At the beginning of last week (again, as of writing this) I got the go-ahead from the vet to let him outside and gladly did so. He hasn't gotten the hang of the dog door yet (our previous had the advantage of watching the dog go through to learn how to do it) but will go through open doors/windows and will return to the door or enter through the window if it's still open.

With context out of the way here comes the trouble: our neighbors. Our house is on the corner of the block and to our left is a house that takes tenants every so often. They've been here for as long as I (22m) have been alive and have been a nucance for probably longer than that. Their yard is atrocious, they planted bamboo that grew under the fence and into our property, and the woman who owns the house (presumably. Her husband might but I've never spoken to him) apparently has some moral issue with outdoor cats.

Sometime into owning our previous cat, she suddenly became very concerned with the bird population and insisted that we collar our cat and get him a bell so that he wouldn't catch birds. I'd like to point three things out: 1) our previous cat only had one eye, 2) we had tried to collar him before and he lost every single one so we gave up (breakaway collars so he didn't choke, 3) he caught birds despite both of these facts. Needless to say, I was not fucking thrilled about unsolicited advice from a woman I'd never spoken to, who let her unmitigated mess of invasive plants invade my garden, but whatever. She spoke to my little (10yro) sister about it at the time, only once, and never to me, so it wasn't an issue.

So I let this new cat out, right? I opened the dog door for him and he waltzed right on out, but I wasn't convinced he really knew how to operate it. About an hour or so without hearing him come in, I head through the back door to look for him. I got him from a different neighborhood, across town, while visiting a friend, so I figured I was allowed to be a little worried about him getting lost or overwhelmed. As soon as I step out onto the porch, the neighbor-lady calls over and asks me if my cat got out or I let it out.

I tell her I let him out. She asks me to put a bell on him. In an attempt to remain civil I ask her why. She says something about it being stupid, I ask her why it's stupid, she says cats eat birds and the bird populations are declining. I instantly want to call bull on cats being a leading reason of bird population decline, but I just tell her that I'll have to look that up, and ask her if she saw which way he went. (I'd like my restraint during this interaction noted, thanks.)

Anyway I don't find the cat but I get a good few patrols around the block, and eventually he comes back to the house sometime in the late-night early-morning. He does not use the dog door and waits for me to open the door instead (back door is on the way to the bathroom, I saw his stupid little face pressed against the glass when i went to piss).

I look up bird population decline articles. Most of them mention cats as a factor, along with clear windows. Primary factors are listed as deforestation and invasive species, pesticides, etc. I don't consider getting my cat a collar because I don't appreciate my neighbors input, especially when she's going to be hypocritical and ignore that planting native species may help bird population more than putting out fifty fucking feeders and complaining that the stray cats see her yard as a buffet. Anyway.

I let him out again yesterday, this time through the window in my room, which leads to the back porch. I felt comfortable leaving it open since I work at my desk and would hear if anything not-cat came inside. (Allergies were a problem, but I'd really rather he have a way to get inside if he wanted/needed, and he STILL will not open the dog door on his own. Obviously I'm not helping by continuing to give him alternatives but I am soft-hearted.) Sometime in the evening my dad comes in and tells me that when the cat next comes back, I should keep him inside because "The neighbor lady is being a bitch and I don't want to deal with it." I assume she said something to him, so I agree and when the cat comes in for the night I close the window.

This morning I saw what had ACTUALLY got him.in a twist, because not only did she say something but she printed out and taped a note to our door. Oh, how I would love to send a picture of it here, but I don't know how to embed photos in asks so you'll just have to deal with my transcription:

CAT FACTS

Cats kill birds. Cars kill cats.

Here's some links to look up.

[I won't type the links out. First one is an article titled "how long do outdoor cats live indoor vs outdoor cats" and the second is "faq cats and their effects on birds". I have not read either of these.]

Ask Kelly about Dixie. Ask Jean about Madeline - wait don't - she ran over her with her own car and broke her pelvis because the cat was older and couldn't hear well.

You have a very beautiful young cat. He deserves a safe loving home. Act like you care for your cat or give him to a home that will. I have four indoor cats - three are orange boys. I have a soft spot for orange boy cats. They are very happy as inside cats.

Be responsible.

[Handwritten at the bottom:]

Your cat is sleeping in my backyard. Why are you forcing him to be an outdoor cat!?

[End]

The amount of violent rage this fills me with is unreal. Kelly is our across-the-road neighbor, I assume Jean is another neighbor (I'm bad with names) and I CANNOT imagine that either of them appreciate being. Used like this. Also, I'm very glad her cats are happy indoors but this cat is not, he wants to go outside, he has been crowding the window all morning waiting for me to open it. (I respect me father so I won't, but I disrespect my neighbor so I really, REALLY fucking want to.)

So AITA for disregarding the safety/happiness of my cat and the decline of the bird population by not putting a collar on him and heartlessly forcing him outside? I'm no further inclined to force him indoors or get a collar, especially with her continued insistence, and in fact I'm so far making an active effort to restrain myself from going over and talking to her because I just want to turn it into an argument.

[wraithsoutlaws]

[ SUBJECT INTERVIEW: "DRAGULA" ]

NAME? I was given a name that is no longer relevant. NICKNAME? Dragula has existed in the net since 2071. GENDER? I never put stock into it. Male, I suppose. STAR SIGN? It spans 330 to 360 degrees of celestial longitude.  HEIGHT? Six feet. Or 182 centimeters. I find the metric system to be more appealing.  ORIENTATION? Meat is meat, it serves a function either way. FAVORITE FRUIT? I can almost remember the taste of a pear but the harder I think about it, the more it feels like ash on my tongue. FAVORITE SEASON? I’m partial to the autumnal equinox. Cooler temperatures provide the illusion of cleaner air and the cooling system in my unit is perpetually malfunctioning in the heat, but all things considered, I like to watch the leaves die. FAVORITE FLOWER? The Titan Arum, which blooms only once every decade and smells of rotting flesh. I would very much like to see one some day.  FAVORITE SCENT? Fresh rain on the concrete. For a few brief moments it covers the city in something real.  COFFEE OR TEA? Matcha. I’ve blackmailed a cafe in Kabuki to supply it to me free of charge.  AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP? I try for several. I rarely get more than few.  DOG OR CAT PERSON? My mother had a dog when I was still a child, a relentless creature that barked at every whisper. One day the door was left open and I watched it run into the street where a Mackinaw eviscerated it on the pavement. I’ve not seen one since, nor would I want to. Felines have a calmer presence. Quieter, too.  DREAM TRIP? Away. FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER? I used to watch a cartoon robot on tv. He would take his head off to end unfavorable conversations. I wish I could do that now. NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH? I don’t. This city is an inferno, in fact, I’m not convinced these aren’t the very fires of Hell.  RANDOM FACT? A snake driven mad will devour itself whole. Like a glitch in it’s self-preservation, something inside compels it. Have you ever witnessed such a beautiful act of destruction?

tagged by: @chevvy-yates (ty for giving me a reason to do this again!). not tagging anyone specifically now, but if you'd like to participate (or play again) please feel free to tag me!