#thisoleking

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: actually the real reason this is my labyrinth is...

every single person who works at blick specifically is so rude no matter who you are and idk why ive never met a nice employee there

[furiously typing “dick blick labor rights violations” into google]

[godzillabreath]

your icon and header are censored and tumblr is saying yr blog contains sensitive content. idk if u know or not but im hoping u dont get deleted over smth trivial

Thanks, I’ve sent tumblr staff a request to... do something. Annoying whatever thing they implemented, especially since I don’t post explicit content whatsoever.

[strangebiology]

what about moths, butterflies, spiders and bugs in general? ive heard that they dont feel pain but i dont know any of the science behind it

It’s tough to say. 

[parakavka]

do you have any idea why shibas in the States seem to be less fluffy than those bred in Japan?

I would say it’s a combination of gene pool + preference.  The vast majority of shibas in America have had their ancestors in America for several generations and are subject to the preferences of the breeder/the slightly different breed standards of the AKC vs the JKC.  There’s also the unfortunate truth that the majority of shiba puppies come from puppy mills and backyard breeders who are just breeding with whatever dogs they have without much concern for conformation.  

[pluralthey]

if duper were to stop gene therapy would the effects be reversed, or are some/all permanent? Is the gene therapy completely analogous to HRT where they would continue for the rest of their life or once they are satisfied with the changes can they stop?

I FORGOT to fix my typo i cant believe i typed duper ooh my god 

super duper...........................................gene therapy effects CAN be reversed if you stop treatment too early and you’re unlucky. there’s a chance the cells unaffected by the therapy will divide more than the ones with the new genes and change your body back over time. the changes are also reversible on the level that you can have... your old genes made into a virus and inject them back. changes to bone structure are almost always irreversible, though.it’s normal to just stop gene therapy once you’re satisfied and , dupe is just never satisfied and has a couple of genetic quirks which make them resistant to treatment.

[dullard]

blueueue

what do you do when you’re sad?usually snuggle mike and call with a friend or go to sleep 

what are some things you do when you can’t sleep? take melatonin or keep doing what i was doing before

what was the best (non-romantic) night you’ve had? the last night of camp in my last year… candle sharing until way early then hanging out with ruthie then watching the sunrise… i managed to sleep through the Bad person’s stuff too i didnt see him that night. also looking at stars on the basketball court and sneaking down to the lake and a little bit of crying

what kind of covers µdo you have on your bed? generally just whatever they sell at target and then soft blankets because autumn likes the really plushy ones. right now its that. 

who is the last person you told a secret to?you, because i consider the third question a secret, lol 

[furcoat]

hey man do u have any favorite blogs cos the ones i follow dont rly match w what i like to c n i rly like ur content

ty i put sum of my favs below ! i luv all my mutuals though......i also made my following list public they R all good@patronsaintofpissandcum @sorrytobugyou @sluthoney @thisoleking @fiberglassinsulation @elderberrycoughdrops @toadcircus @deadmutt @dandelionmilk1998 @monst3renergy @peebong @rosecoloredtears @ocimumtenuiflorum @witchweedz @saintjohnswell @bongnurse @cighag @mothball-eater @vampireswilneverhurtyou @milkeyedmilkmaid @satanicpornocultshop @nice2meatyou @wembleyfraggle @sweetsicks @groke

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #14

Another mixed bag of 20 questions and comments from you Vetlings. I hope I’m not overloading you with answers lately. Many of these questions and comments pertain to posts made earlier in the week.

Anonymous said: Dumb question but do you draw? I looked at the FAQ and realised most of the questions have been vet stuff so I wanted to ask something non-vety... If you do draw, can we see an art?

Unfortunately i do not effectively draw, and I’m profoundly jealous of those that can. I can manage an unconvincing kidney or an overly complicated scribble on an endocrine system, but they are better described as ‘a spider falling into ink and having a seizure across the paper’ than ‘art’.

Anonymous said: Talking about drug seeking behavior: My mom use to work in a human urgent care and once a lady walked in saying she's new to town and doesn't have a vet yet but her poodle has SEVERE anxiety and NEEDS some kind of drug to help the dog and the poodle just happen to weigh as much as the lady. What a coincidence. Needless to say she didn't get drugs.

Rightfully so. What sort of poodle weight as much as a grown woman? That’s a poorly thought out ruse if ever I saw one. That said, I’ve had someone come into the clinic and ask to take home a syringe full of euthanasia solution for their dog at home, which happened to be human sized. We firmly declined.

@ jbbarnes-rogers said: I wanted to say that I really liked hat you compared surgery to hand sewing :^). I've always wanted to be a surgeon or a vet but gave up on that when I was in middle school because I inherited my mother's shaky hands, but I'm pretty proud of my ability to sew.

It’s a fair comparison for soft tissue surgery, which is the more common surgery. Facial surgery takes a little more finesse, but orthopedic surgery is more like carpentry.

Anonymous said: My cat, Arrow, has been with us for about 10 years and she's got a few adorable habits. When she's sleepy, you can pick her up and move her somewhere else and she'll remain purring and not be disturbed even slightly. She also seems to have figured out petting, somewhat; when she wants you to pet her she'll raise her paw and slowly claw your arm until you start petting. She doesn't seem to realise we don't like claws, but she never tries to hurt us or deliberately break skin. She's a good kitty.

All kitties are good kitties, according to their own definition.

Anonymous said: My cat really likes to eat grass. Is that ok for her?

If it’s not sprayed with anything then eating a little bit of grass is probably fine. Some cats just like to chew it, some like the novel taste or texture. A little bit wont hurt her.

@thisoleking said: ive known the issues with the Scottish fold breed for quite some time, however id like to know if Scottish straights are generally of better health?

I’d never heard them called ‘Scottish Straights’ before this site. I’m sure there’s a joke to be made from that name somewhere. They lack the gene for osteochondrodysplasia but are equally likely to develop the genetic heart and kidney diseases.

@ vilkasdaina said: Do the American Curl cats have the same risk as the Scottish Fold because of their ears?

If you mean whether they also get osteochondrodysplasia, then it doesn’t appear to be so at this stage. This s a relatively new breed though, and I’m yet to see one in Australia, so will await further data.

@dracus16 said: Quick question: what does feeding a cat a banana do?

Quick answer: You will have fed it a banana.

It eats a whole bunch of starch and potassium that won’t do any harm to a normal cat. It’s far from a balanced diet, but the occasional banana nibble doesn’t concern me.

Anonymous said: Why does eating too well cause so many problems in horses?

Someone who’s still studying this can go into more details, but asides from potentially getting colic from either pasture which is too lush, or stomach ulcers from feed which is too rich in easily digestible carbohydrates, horses (and ponies) that are fat are at increased risk of laminitis, where their hoof can basically fall off.

@lunalcvegoocl said: Hi! Thankyou for all your advice and time and effort you put into this blog! I had a check out of previously answered questions but i dont think youve answered anything along these lines before! My pregnant dog (she is in her second term, getting regular vet check ups) has recently started going mad whenever there are certain foods around, foods she has never bothered about before, also foods that are poisons to her, chocolate is one of the biggest reactions, is it like the dog version of cravings? we have kept her on her regular food, the vet recommended one, yet while she has never begged before she will now growl and bark and whine if anyone has anything (like chocolate, or weirdly, eggs and cheese) that she wants. Is this normal or should we be worrying about her not having all her proper vitamins needed? do you know if theyre any way to find out what it is she is lacking in? (she is a shih tzu, just turned 4 years old, this is her only litter)

You can get blood levels for various vitamins and minerals checked (they’re expensive though), but I would suspect this is more likely behavioural, especially because she’s after chocolate and it’s easy to ‘spoil’ a dog who’s pregnant for the first time. I wouldn’t give in to her, especially with regard to teh chocolate.

Anonymous said: I know breeders would never let it happen, but what would you think about making the puggle the new pug? Their faces are still a little smushy but at least they have an actual visual nose, and they get also get more proportional legs from the beagle as well. I just think any pug/English bulldog/etc are unethical to breed since, ya know, they literally can't breathe, and they need to figure something out, and for pugs making the puggle the actual pug might be a solution?

A pug x beagle is not a ‘new pug’. While such a cross reduces some problems, It’s not going to solve all of them and is a lazy, short term solution. This is particularly the case if you have breed standards, and public desire, striving towards a flatter and flatter face.

I have talked about this before here.

What I personally would like to see is new gene infusions from multiple suitable breeds, then back crossing those mixes to pug lines, selecting for better faces, hips and spines. This will take a global effort and a lot of work to organize, but it would be the best long term solution.

Anonymous said: Hey Dr Ferox, I was wondering, how often have you seen yellow cats aka cats with yellow nose, gums, inner-ears etc.? One of our own turned to that shade and, without going into detail, he couldn't be helped. Just wondering if it's a common occurrence. As for the question tax: came for the breed evaluations, stayed for the fantasy biology and vet stories. I like reading your posts that come by on my dash!

I don’t see really yellow cats very often (they look like their blood has been flooded with yellow highlighter), but I have about a 50:50 track record for getting them to survive. By the time they’re that jaundiced, the poor things are very, very sick.

@phenolphthaleinfuchsia said: Do you find that cats that started their lives as strays tend to get more health problems later in life even if they are kept inside once they are adopted? My mom thinks it's true based on the four cats we've had but I'm not convinced. Her argument is they are exposed to more pathogens outside that could lurk in their bodies and cause problems later in life. And question tax: what did you choose as your first starter Pokemon?

I tend not to see this. For young kittens their main problems from being strays are parasites and malnutrition, which you can correct with some parasite treatment and good tucker. Older cats may have picked up viral infections, FIV and Feline Leukaemia being the most important too, but if they have avoided these specific diseases then they’re pretty hardy. Pedigree cattery cats may avoid the malnutrition, but they’re not guaranteed to be free of these diseases, and it’s common to see them with cat flu, so they’re not notably better off.

Anonymous said: Do you recommend getting pet insurance? Specifically, do you recommend getting it for sighthounds?

I recommend everyone have a financial plan for if their pet ever gets sick, and for most people that’s insurance. However, I’m not a financial adviser so I don’t recommend any brand in particular.

Anonymous said: Does heat effect the gender of all reptile eggs, or is it just for some reptiles?

I’m not a herpetologist, but firstly reptiles don’t have a gender, they have a sex. In many species it has been determined that temperature does play a role in skewing the percentages of either sex (pH and other water parameters can do this in fish too). Wikipedia has a good starting article.

Anonymous said: Do you get foxtails in Australia? Inspired by a very recent incident in which my cat got a foxtail in his eye.

Yes, we have that type of grass seed, but we don’t often use that name. They’re just a grass seed or an *expletive* grass seed.

@ mushymaman said: Do you often see working animals such as seeing-eye dogs or therapy pets or even police dogs or horses? Have you made any observations regarding them? I assume that they have to be especially well for their jobs and I always wondered what vets think of animals being relied on for important tasks.

The police usually have their own vets they prefer, but I see the occasional guide dog or seeing eye dog. They have a few extra challenges when it comes to medicating them, because instructions like “administer half a mil” is a challenge when you’re vision impaired.

I have treated a custom’s dog before, and had to write him a medical certificate to excuse him from work while he was healing after surgery.

Anonymous said: Can cats crack their knuckles? My cat uses his teeth to pull at his toes very hard when he's cleaning them, and I can hear an audible "pop" sound before he lets go. He does each toe very methodically. There are no wounds/scratches on close examination, touching and handling the toes produces no pain reaction, he is not limping or showing any sort of injury. Vet check reveals nothing out of ordinary. He does it about twice a day for all the toes. I've honestly never seen anything like this before

It’s possible, you could technically ‘crack’ any articular joint. I suppose he might also be cleaning his claws, but I can’t really speculate more than that.

Anonymous said: Going anon because I speak for all of us vetlings on a very important matter.  May I politely demand more Trash Bag?

If you’re willing to come to my house and tell the little scamp to sit still more often for his photos, then sure. He’s a constantly moving target.

@ actual-dullahan said:  A little "question tax" if you will, heh! If you could live in any video game for a day, what game would it be and why?

That’s an interesting and difficult question because video games either have very short days or lots of bad things happen and you’re likely to die

While there is a certain appeal to survival games where literally all you’re expected to do is find yourself some food and not annoy the monsters, I would probably choose the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time. I’m still hugely fond of that game from my childhood, it was very pretty and the danger levels were manageable. And it was just pretty and peaceful a lot of the time.

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: i went to go check out which lesbian characters i...

i support your cast of characters getting a complete overhaul so everyone is lesbians

felix is a lesbian and brigitte is comp het trauma in a slightly different (lesbian) way now, harley is a lesbian and has a discourse blog exclusively to argue with nicole (another lesbian with a discourse sideblog), monday and kim aren’t lesbians but marina is a lesbian for deadpan lesbian representation and ollie is a lesbian for annoying lesbian representation, the entire cast and plot of borderline is lesbians arguing about just fucking pronouns discourse now and the-

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: haven't posted my dog in a while but this is why...

thank goodness, you hadnt posted her in so long i was ready to unfollow

i tried unfollowing myself and realized i couldn’t so i knew What I Had To Do

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: anybody: gray i really like how your “paintings”...

idk anything about nofna but this made me think “nofna”

apparently i’ve described it really well because that is canonically accurate

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: i wish i could somehow transmit my sense of...

19 is a weird age for me because i feel so much “wiser” for a lack of a better word, than i did even just a year ago. And even though i rationally know i have a long way to go my 19 year old brain still thinks its hit peak performance and i feel like thats just the 19 y/o condition

that sounds about right on target for a 19 year old, you’re doing good bro

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: i’m gonna resist the urge to shitpost too much...

i hope im not misinterpreting this but ive been reading a lot about trauma and its changed the way how i think about my brain’s functioning. like, even tho the ways it works arent really helpful in every day situations, i cant be mad and say that my brain is wrong or broken. because it does those things cause they were helpful for me to survive rlly tough situations.

it’s okay, you’re right and this is a good way to think, although i will say to be careful about labeling parts of yourself “maladaptive” because it CAN escalate to labeling more than just behaviors maladaptive. being gay can be maladaptive coping to a therapist. feeling sadness can look like maladaptive coping to you b/c it’s not a palatable emotion. etc. which is related to what i’m trying to say but i still have a hard time wording these sentiments in a way that doesn’t require me to kind of outline the nature of my issues publicly

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: yoccu replied to your post: i...

have you heard of EMDR?

i’ve heard about emdr in the same way i’ve heard about deep breathing and drinking water to stay hydrated

[gynandromorph]

i don’t go on insta but that’s the kinda post that was making me think of it cuz i saw a tweet thread like that lmao

[gynandromorph]

thisoleking replied to your post: alright i finished doing my taxes and they are….....

do you have other commissions open besides the sketch pages? if not thats ok and id love to order a sketch page from u if you have any spots still open. i can email you on monday if they are still open then

i am at this point yeah, i still have to respond to an ask about teeth/tears commissions saying those are open