#tnr is not always enough

[never-forget-viva-la-pluto]

A note on the Barn cat programs/Working cat programs; they are designed for feral cats only or cat that are aggressive toward humans.

Barn cats are not something people go to a pet store and adopt a cat for(people do do this obv but its not what barn cats programs entail), they are usually feral colonies that would be killed otherwise, or sometimes they move the cats to a Barn location so that they can hunt things that are less at risk of ruining the ecosystems of the area where they originally were found.

They are at risk of some wild animals and to some wild animals, of course, but those cats are just ferals that need a steady source of food and a vet and these are NOT PET CATS. They aren't meant to be treated like pets, and it is sometimes the only chance a cat has, because otherwise they get euthanized bc no one wants a cat that is completely feral and a city's response to growing cat colonies is poison. But these are not meant to be pets, they are meant to keep the cat population in an area contained and not infested!

Any other cat need to be kept inside at all times, because that is a pet.

Barn cats are not pets, they are ferals that need to be monitored in a location where their exposure to endangered species is reduced and it goes without saying that these programs will get them all fixed before letting them take to the barns. ALL OTHER CATS SHOULD BE KEPT INDOORS! Saying your cat is a barn cat/Working cat is outright false if it is treated like a pet you let outside sometimes. A Barn cat is a feral cat that lives in a Barn. They are not pets.

Keep your pets inside.

If you say you have a semi-indoor barn cat, not you don't, you have a pet. If you say you have a barn cat who is cuddly and lives in the barn, no you dont, you have a pet that you let suffer in a barn when it should be inside the home.

Barn cats are cats that cannot be pets and have no where else to go.

KEEP YOUR PETS INSIDE!

you tell a bitch to keep their cat indoors and suddenly their town is the first in the world to have eradicated every viral, bacterial and parasitic disease, they invented completely harmless cars, dogs and predators dont exist either but somehow the native songbird population is fine since the cats in this place have lost the hunting instinct, there's no pollutants or toxic plants and human cruelty has ceased to exist. and mr mittens has a chip in his brain that will explode if he doesnt go outside 10 hours of the day

[cacw]

I RUSHED HERE TO ASK OPINIONS ON THE FROSTPAW TULPA (PLUSH)

frankly I'm at a point where if she was being sold seperately I might be tempted to expend the $30 and some change it would take to own her. not sure what this could mean for me

[lockea]

I've been seeing a lot of Discourse around outdoor cats that talks past one of the biggest problems addressing community cats/outdoor working cats so I thought I'd chime in with my two cents.

Many arguments I see just... don't think about the cats at all? Or don't consider the logistics of actually addressing the feral cat problem in a humane way. It's always about how outdoor cats shouldn't be outdoors, which is neither realistic nor helpful.

I used to volunteer at an municipal animal shelter in the USA that had a TNR program (Trap, Neuter, Return) and also adopted out community cats to local farms and businesses. Here's my side of the story.

"Your cat doesn't need to be outside" -- Yes, correct. Your domesticated (non-feral) house cat does not need to go outside at all. They can have a fully actualized life safely indoors. When I see this argument, proponents of indoor only cats are correct in most or all their arguments regarding this.

"Outdoor cats are the largest invasive species in the world, and decimate bird populations." -- This is also correct, and part of the reason why you can help by bringing your house cat indoors. Cats are the largest invasive species. Spay and Neuter your cats, bring them inside, and socialize them so they don't become feral.

"TNR doesn't work." -- False. Whether we like it or not, feral cats exist. We have two methods by which we can address the feral cat population -- decimating them (humanely euthanizing the whole colony) or TNR. For a long time, euthanasia was the preferred way to address the feral cat problem. Afterall, if the cats aren't there, doesn't that save the local wildlife population?

Except that we found, studying these colonies, that when a colony is wiped out, the cats of another colony will spread into their territory and continue to have kittens and the population of feral cats is neither controlled nor diminished.

Hence, TNR. What we found performing TNR on cat colonies was that this controlled the population of the colonies, allowing them to stay in their territory, which kept other colonies from spreading (especially colonies we hadn't performed TNR on yet). We at the shelter felt this was the most humane way to control the feral cat population and safely deflate their existence without dealing with the population blooms that euthanasia caused.

"What about kittens?" -- Kittens from these colonies were brought into the shelter, socialized, and fostered out until they could be adopted. Some of these semi-feral kittens needed special homes to be adopted into, but this was the best quality of life for these cats.

"What about cats that get missed during TNR?" -- We would return to the colony several times over a period of several years to perform TNR on the same colony. We mark cats that have been neutered by clipping their ear (this is done humanely, but is the most reliable way to tell if a cat has been neutered so the poor thing doesn't have to have surgery 3-4 times in their life). Also, during the TNR process the cats would be vaccinated to ensure disease did not spread from the colony (i.e. rabies). Still, even getting 60% of the colony TNR'd would dramatically reduce the number of kittens being added to the colony each year. This controlled the population by allowing the territory to naturally deflate in size over time, buying us time to address the larger feral cat problem.

"What if the colony was in an unsafe location?" -- There were two ways we addressed unsafe colony locations -- remember, we know that when the colony is removed, a new colony will move into its place, so we tried not to move the colony unless we really felt the cats or the public was unsafe -- one was to move the whole colony to a new location. Preferably someplace like a warehouse where we have an agreement with the owners of the warehouse. Some of the cats were even relocated to shelter grounds as our community cats. If the colony was small enough we would bring them into our Feral Cats room and adopt them out as community cats.

"What is a community cat?" -- The way the program worked, was that anyone who needed a working cat could apply to the program. These were often rural farmers or businesses with warehouses that needed rodent protection. We trained the farmers and businesses on how to acclimatize the cats to their new home, and as part of the agreement, they had to care for the cats (veterinary care, vaccinations, food and water). This gave businesses and farms an alternative to expensive and environmentally unfriendly rodent control, and also gave these feral cats good places to live out their natural lives.

"Can't you just adopt out feral cats?" -- No. Cats that have not been socialized around humans as kittens, or who have several generations of feral cat in them could not interact with humans in a way that did not cause them undue stress. This was not a humane way to handle feral cats. However, when a cat was brought into the feral cat room, they would be monitored for up to a week. If the cat displayed signs of being semi-social or fully social (hanging out outside of their den, allowing staff to pet them, showing interest in staff in the room), then we would either move the cat into the adoption room or place them in foster to be socialized before adoption. Feral cats who displayed signs of being able to live full and healthy lives with human companions were NOT adopted out as community cats. We also observed this behavior during TNRs and would do the same for those cats too.

"But aren't cats bad hunters?" -- Compared to other species, cats are not the most effective form of rodent control. This is true. However, you have to understand that feral cats exist. There is no "undo" button we can push to stop them from existing. We have to deal with the problem we have right now, which is to safely and humanely decrease the number of feral cats in our communities. And yes, we do that by using cats as rodent control in the community.

"What can I do?" -- Stop saying community cats shouldn't exist. That's not helpful and doesn't solve the problem we have. Bring your cat indoors. Spay and neuter your cats. Adopt from shelters. Volunteer with a TNR team. Support TNR efforts in your community. Recognize that those of us actively dealing with the community/feral problem are trying to do what is in the best interest of our communities and the animals we love. We aren't sitting over here saying these cats should exist -- a feral cat will not have the same quality of life as one that is indoors with a family -- but we have to address the problem in practical terms. We don't have the moral high ground to just do nothing while pontificating solutions that have no basis in actuality.

And yes, it's okay to celebrate community cats. If your local farm has a couple of working cats, that means that farm is helping participate in the safe deflation of the feral cat population. Don't shame a farm or business for using community cats. We're all doing the best we can to solve the problem that we have.

[zoomzooml]

Dragons:TNR Jörmungandr redesign (rework?) concept

(Also I know that my design pushes beyond limits of TNR animation in more than one way but here I just had fun lol)

I feel like he is not intimidating enough in original. He is very small for an "Apex predator of all dragons" (and let's remember that TNR has Giants Realm so-). I expected him to slide way longer when he was escaping his prison. He also had a lot of troubles with catching dragons (it was honestly sad to watch) And yes, as far as I know snakes are expecionally challenging to rig and animate and TNR doesn't have movie-level budget, but c'mon. It's The Final Boss. (*I think that in concept art he actually is longer so perhaps they shortened him to make animation easier (and cheaper??) considering mad speed seasons were coming out)

Sidenote - that poor danger noodle had so little of any kind of build up. It's really sad. And the first time we see him live he: did shitty jumpscare (build up was actually decent imo, but sound effect and bad animation humbled it), had short, off-screen fight with Sky Torcher after which he didn't even kill him (though he did at least leave some nasty scars and broke Torchie's tooth), and then fucked away. For me it was very underhelming.

Low quality clip for those who didn't watch (I hope Tumblr won't take it down).

Coming back to the design. I really don't like his colors. He got wings but to compensate I decided that he's not a good flier. In my mind he is an ambush hunter. And I know that THE Jörmungandr, the spawn of Loki from the myths, did not have wings, and this is pretty consistent as far as I know, but it is not THE Jörmungandr, so yeah

He is in some way mix between King Cobra, Moray Eel and sea snakes (Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait mostly). I changed his hood to be more similar in construction to a king cobra. In short, it is a bit of loose skin and ribs with the ability to move. In my design, the tips of some of the ribs poke through the skin. Now I don't think TNR would be able to animate it (But i'm not very familiar with 3D animation, especially for shows) so in show he probably would just have hood always flared. His head and sail are inspired by mooray eel because they are dope and I love them. I feel that aspects of sea snakes have died in design - they have a paddle at the end of the tail, but this has already been included in the OG design, so I don't feel the need to talk about it. However, like Sea Krait, Jörmungandr is semi-aquatic. He is much slower on land than in the water, but the difference is not as great as with Sea Krait.

I increased his size - and if he wasn't inprisoned he probably would be about 15-25% longer by now. He's old enough to be a Titan Wing but he isn't normal size - he stopped growing a bit after outgrowing average dragon of his species (let's remember that Red Death is Titan Wing as well!).

*Jörmungandr is longer but Red Death is more massive. Avarage serpents are slightly shorter than Red Death as well.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I didn't overkill it with his size. On the one hand he is large, on the other hand he is mostly long and not that massive. Idk

In addition to the scars, I think Jörmungandr would also be covered with small amounts of moss and other vegetation that started growing on him when he wasn't really active (his cave is very wet/moisty). To survive he spent almost his entire life in a state of brumation, being more active when he sensed meal approaching his reach.

Now, in my mind The Jörmungandr is the name of this particular dragon, not the whole species (Midgard Serpents? IDK), and at the same time he is not a "real" Jörmungandr from the myths. Because words cannot describe how I hate that plot.

I don't know how exactly he got his name but I think it was not because of how big he is, but because of his intelligence and mischievous soul. Again, idk.

Jörmungandr is a tragic dragon. In my version he was not trapped by Hiccup (in my version Hiccup never come back to Hidden World, because c'mon. I don't really like THW but if TNR is continity to that franchise they should follow established canon and not wreck last movie and make it completely insignificant. It loses all it's value if Hiccup, his family and perhaps other vikings, just come back and maybe even lived in the Hidden World anyway! If we have to have human marks and structures, etc. in the Hidden World, I would do it more in the style of “Haddock's Cycle” than “Hiccup and Tom.” Essentially, the creator of these changes is perhaps one of Hiccup's descendants, Tom's ancestors - the "soul of the dragon" that Hiccup and before him his mother had, summoning them to the world of dragons to see "Is it finally time? ”, but it never is, not yet anyway. Idk, I'm trying lol)

I have two concepts: There was once a main entrance to his part of the Dark Realm accompanianed by the waterfalls of magma, but now there's only basalt wall. This would make the closure possible for natural reasons and give Tom an opportunity to show off his geoligical knowledge some more.

Or he was caged in human-build prison, but not by Hiccup. I did that little sketch of how his page in Dragon Book could look in this scenario. Clearly different artstyle than Hiccup's to show that he was not the one to write about this individual (tho in show there's already different styles so--) But at the second thought it can be just illustration for species as whole, so anyway

In both cases, there are ways to enter his personal prison but he is too large to use them. They are still usefull as this is the only way prey will come to his reach. Not many dragons can escape his jaws.

He has spent most of his life in a rather hostile environment to which he was not adapted, which has left scars on his body and psyche. When he's not hunting, he sleeps. Hunger has halted his growth.

Jörmungandr is a damaged, dangerous dragon, the victim of fate and unknown past.

The psychological damage has made him hyper-aggressive, even by the standards of an already aggressive species. I don't think he could ever satiate his hunger either - if he could he would hunt and eat until he consumed everything in range or died of overeating.

For this dragon, it seems too late for a happy ending, unfortunately.

Now about the Midgard Serpents (placeholdern name, I have no idea how to name them) as a whole. Apex Predator may be a bit much, given the existence of dragons like Red Death, Purple Death or Bewilderbeast. However, Midgard Serpents remain one of the dragons that feed almost exclusively on other dragons (and sometimes even other members of their own species - they're cannibalistic), and they're damn good at it. When they feel best in the water, they can follow their prey in the sky or on land. They grow quite large and still are able to take down prey more massive than themselves (mostly thanks to venom and poisonous gas).

I think they are the main predators of 'Deaths and Bewilderbeasts (and other equally large dragons) in the earlier stages of life.

[jackactuallywrites]

All Seeing, All Knowing, All Loving part 4

Rating: Fine, no sex or explicit violence

Warnings: You get followed at night

Summary: You’re being stalked, but Ghost is innocent this time! Sort of.

Word count: 3,006

ao3 link

TNR was the fucking worst.

Trapping cats wasn’t so bad, and neutering them was grim, but releasing them absolutely sucked. You hated having to release them back into the streets. Yes, the shelter was full, yes, it was the responsible thing to do, but you just felt rotten. You still had haunting dreams about that big orange doofus that you’d never seen again. He’d never been brought into the shelter; you’d never seen him adopted or fostered, and it bothered you.

But it was the best you could do.

So, you were out in the cold, setting up cosy traps with straw- not blankets; they’d freeze- and covering them with tarps in the darkest, shadiest alleyways, which always seemed to be where you found yourself looking for cats. Last time you were in a place like this, you’d been accosted by a soldier pointing a gun at your heart, an experience you weren’t keen to repeat. Then again, you had gotten Soap out of the deal. Though there were some heavy strings attached to that cat.

Ghost.

That man always seemed to be nearby, just out of sight but never out of mind. The fucker really did live up to his name, constantly haunting you no matter where you were. You were fairly sure that he hadn’t broken into your apartment over the last few weeks, but you could never be sure. You’d done the classic spy trick of placing a hair over the door, and it hadn’t been moved, but you had an uneasy feeling that Ghost was clever enough to notice it and replace it.

No matter where you were, you always felt as though there was someone watching you. You were constantly looking over your shoulder, sleepless, with nightmares of Ghost breaking in, though you’d always startle awake before he killed you.

So, not only did you have the unease of being in a dingy alleyway, as well as the general upset that came with TNR, but now you had the further fear of Ghost being somewhere nearby, watching, waiting.

At least you were almost done, having set up the last trap, your fingers stiff from the cold. You shoved your hands back in your woolly mittens, said a silent prayer that you wouldn’t catch any rats, and then set off for home.

And there it was, that overwhelming feeling of being watched. You’d been wondering when Ghost would show up, when he’d make another grand entrance like a cartoon villain, and here he was. You couldn’t see him, of course, but you could feel an ominous presence, one that made all the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you were fucking sick of it. You grabbed your phone, then pulled off one of your mittens with your teeth so you could actually type.

‘Subject: Stalker

STOP FUCKING FOLLOWING ME.’

You pressed send so aggressively that you almost dropped your phone, then shoved it back into your pocket, pulled your glove back on, folded your arms across your chest and shoved your numb hands into your armpits as you stomped down the streets. What was it about you that made Ghost so obsessed with you? What could you have possibly done to draw such attention? God, if only he would get hit by a bus. Or step on a landmine. Whatever it took to give you some peace.

Apparently, even the mere thought of peace was enough to magically summon the man, your phone vibrating in your pocket. You’d already predicted that you’d see the caller ID of ‘Ghost’ on your screen, and so you did. Infuriating. You clicked the lock button to reject the call, but the second it was rejected, it started up again. You could have blocked him, but you had a feeling that he had an endless supply of burner phones, so you picked up.

“What.” You were surprised to hear that level of venom in your own voice. On the other end of the phone, you could hear the slam of a car door and the rev of an engine. Then, there was that familiar voice. “Stop walking.” You hadn’t intended to do what he demanded, but you were so puzzled by his words that you stopped in your tracks. “I- what?” His voice was calm, “Listen.” “For what?” “Footsteps.” You huffed, “What the fuck are you on about now?” “Do it.” You’d be lying if you said you weren’t tempted to throw your phone into the gutter, but you resisted the urge. You listened.

There was nothing at first, just the silence of the street with the noises of the city in the background, but then you heard it. The scuff of a shoe on pavement. You pursed your lips, leaning your weight on one foot, “So you wanted me to know that you’re following me? Great. Thanks.” “That’s not me.” “What?” “Listen carefully. Walk to the end of this alley, take one left, and then another left.” “Ghost-“ “Do it.” You could feel an uneasiness in your gut. If Ghost wasn’t the one stalking you, then you had a bigger problem.

Christ, you had one stalker already, and now there was another one? The fuck kind of vibes did you put off? Adrenaline crept through your veins, your muscles tensing, and you clutched your phone a little tighter as you sprung back into walking, trying not to look too much like you were fleeing, not wanting to trigger a chase you’d most likely lose, “Okay. Who is it?” “I don’t know.” “What do you mean you don’t know? How do you not know?” “Keep walking.” You chewed the inside of your cheek. How was it that your safety lay in the hands of the man who was stalking you? “Left.” “What?” “Turn left.”

As commanded, you took the left, dismayed to see that it was an empty street. This didn’t exactly feel any safer. You were hoping for a brightly lit, well-populated street. You swore that the footsteps were closer, and your heart had crept further up your chest until it was in your throat. There was nothing for you to do other than keep walking, so that’s what you did. You walked slowly as though you were having a casual chitchat with a friend, even though you knew it was obvious how uneasy you were by the tension in your body. “Left again.” At least this alleyway was a little brighter, though you couldn’t see what exactly was supposed to be any safer about this place.

“You see that CCTV?” You looked around the street, and your eyes landed on a bulky-looking street camera perched over a closed vape shop. “I see it.” “Now, repeat after me. ‘You can see me on the camera?’” You didn’t question him, obeying his command yet again. “Oh, you can see me on camera?” You upped the charade, waving at the camera, “Hi!”

You could hear an engine now. Thank fuck, you could hear an engine. That meant there would be a car, someone else in the street! Let them come closer. For the love of God, let them inexplicably turn down this dead-end street.

The headlights of the car illuminated the street you were on, and you had to resist the urge to leap up and down and scream for help. Instead, you just waited. The car was far too fast, doing at least 40 in what you were pretty sure was a 20 zone, and you began to wonder what kind of trouble had found you now because your luck seemed to be fucking awful as of late. Then it hit you. You knew who was in that car. There was no one else it could possibly be.

You weren’t surprised when Ghost got out of the car, dressed in black trousers and a dark jacket, that same skull balaclava on, but you were surprised when he pointed to his car. “Lock the doors.” He didn’t stay. Instead, he immediately stalked off into the dark, leaving you to contemplate what on earth had just happened. He knew you could drive, right? He had given you the keys to what was presumably his car and then fucked off. What was supposed to stop you from stealing his car?

Of course, you didn’t. You had immediately gotten into the passenger seat as directed, but you still questioned the sanity of Ghost’s actions.

What were you supposed to do in this situation? It felt like you’d jumped from the fire into the frying pan; you’d escaped whatever creep was following you in the streets, and now you were trapped in Ghost’s car. At least it was warm. It smelled surprisingly nice too, at least it was nice until you recognised the scent. It was the one you’d caught lingering in your hallway. Another mystery solved.

That settled it then; if Ghost was allowed to pry through your apartment, you were allowed to pry through his car. The centre console was bland enough, like every other car, it had a few pound coins in for the trolleys and a packet of gum. You took a piece, feeling a little vindictive as you did. Then, you went for the glovebox, curious to see what you’d find inside.

You should have known you’d find a gun in there. You’d never seen one before; it was like finding a rattlesnake in there; you didn’t even want to go near it. Was it even legal for him to carry it in public? Right beside the gun were more weapons, half a dozen throwing knives, scattered on top of the car manual. You were beginning to regret this; everything you found was just making you more uneasy; what was next, thumbscrews?

Thankfully, it wasn’t so terrifying; in fact, it was pedestrian- a plain black leather wallet. It would have served him right if you stole it from him. However, that wasn’t your style, so you contented yourself with nosing through it instead.

Ghost seemed to be a fan of physical currency; there wasn’t a single bank card in there, just notes and a lot of them. Apparently, the man was flush. There was one card in there, though. Rigid plastic, you could feel it through the leather. It had been neatly tucked in the card slot, so you hadn’t seen it at first. You were quite excited as you wiggled it out the slot; this could finally give you some information on the man, something other than the fact he was a fucking psycho in a military uniform.

You should have figured all the useful information on his ID would have been scratched off. His picture had been gone over so aggressively that there were deep indents in the plastic from whatever he’d used to scratch it away with. Ruined the point of identification, in your opinion. There was a shiny metal chip at the top, probably what he used to get around wherever he went; no doubt he was infamous enough that he didn’t need to show full ID. Yet, not all the details were gone. On the left-hand side, there was a veritable treasure trove of information. His birthday had been removed, but everything else was intact.

‘LT.

##/##/##

189cm

S.

Riley’

You could practically feel the veil being pulled back; little by little, you were beginning to know the man. His height was no mystery to you; the man was huge, but now you had a name. ‘S. Riley’.

You were so engrossed in trying to figure out what the S stood for that you didn’t notice him until he was opening the driver-side door and getting in. You startled and dropped both wallet and ID, caught in the act of rifling through his things, the glovebox still wide open. Ghost was breathing heavily, as though he’d been running, slamming the car door behind him, and resting his hands on the steering wheel as he leaned back in the seat, his eyes closing as he rested it on the headrest, his chest rising and falling dramatically as he took off his gloves and tossed them into your footwell. You were still frozen on the spot, but your eyes darted to his hands, seeing the split skin on his knuckles.

“What the fuck did you do?”

The question spilt from your mouth without you meaning it to, but there was no catching it now. He grunted, flexing his fingers, “Wanted to know who was following you.” You shifted in your seat, eyes flicking back and forth between him and the contents of his wallet in the footwell, “I assume you found him?” “I did.” You chewed your lip, “You didn’t kill him, did you?” “‘Course not.” You looked at his knuckles again. You weren’t sure if you believed him or not.

“Had a good look?” You’d been hoping that question wouldn’t come up. You bent down to pick up his ID and wallet from the floor, tucking the ID back in the card slot, “Yeah.” He gestured to the glovebox, “Put it back then.” You carefully placed it next to the knives, then closed the glovebox, sealing its secrets within once more.

It was impossible to know whether he was angry with you or not; he always looked as though he was half a step away from murdering you, and the balaclava never helped you decode his emotions. With his eyes closed, there was even less for you to see, though now you could see that he did have annoyingly beautiful lashes. His eyes snapped open as he straightened up and reached for the keys, putting his seatbelt on, and you quickly averted your gaze back to the empty street as you buckled your own seatbelt.

Ghost turned the keys in the engine and started off down the street without another word to you. It was a stark contrast to the speed he’d come hurtling down the street, practically a crawl, even using his indicators as he rejoined the main road. It became quickly obvious that he was driving you home; of course, he would know the route, stalker that he was. You decided not to complain, instead quietly texting your colleagues to let them know that you were safely homeward bound.

The silence ensued until he pulled up outside your apartment block, pulling the handbrake and unbuckling himself, “Come on then.” Naturally, he would want to escort you back to your front door. It was really fucking weird, actually, the whole gentleman act, as though he hadn’t just beaten a man half to death in a dark alleyway. You didn’t voice these thoughts, of course, instead quietly getting out of his car and back into the cold night air.

He was silent until you reached your front door, leaning against the wall as you unlocked it, “You got that deadbolt?” You jiggled the keys a little, the lock stiff, no doubt from him using the picks too often, “You should know I haven’t.” “Why not?” The door finally opened, and you walked into your apartment, “Time, money, effort.” He followed you in, resting his arm on the doorframe as he watched you take your shoes off, “You install it, or I will.” You were too tired to argue with him, putting your shoes on the rack, “If you’re so concerned, you install it.” Soap had come over to greet you now, rubbing against your legs before doing the same to Ghost. “I’ll be here tomorrow night then.” “Fine.” If you were going to be stalked, you were at least going to get some free labour out of it.

With your coat off and on the rack, it was time for him to leave, and you turned to face him, arms folded over your chest, “Goodnight, then.” He tilted his head at you, “What, not going to ask any questions?” “About what?” “You don’t want to know what the S stands for?” You shifted your weight from one foot to the other, “Were you actually going to tell me?” His mask shifted around his mouth as he smiled, “No.” You rolled your eyes, “Right.” He shifted so his shoulder was against the doorframe, folding his own arms, “No thank you?” You grimaced, “Really?” “I was a knight in shining armour tonight.” It was strange; you were still scared of him, yet you didn’t fear bantering with him, “Go on then, give me the lecture about being safe and not going out at night and jog on.” Ghost snorted, “Like it was anything to do with you. Cunts like that will always find a reason to creep on a woman. Doesn’t matter what they’re doing.” He reached into his jacket pocket, and brought out a small canister, holding it out to you. You raised a brow as you took it, “Deep heat for muscle ache?” “You didn’t want a taser.” You frowned at the spray, “So you got me muscle spray?” “Perfectly legal to carry around. Y’know, for sudden muscle aches. I would advise against getting it in your eyes though. I imagine it would burn worse than pepper spray.”

It only took you a second to cotton on to his meaning. You looked at the spray again, “Worse than pepper spray, huh?” “Keep it on you at all times, yeah? Never know when you’ll have random pain.” He winked at you, which might have been more surprising than him giving you a weapon, then bent down to pet Soap, who was still noisily purring around his ankles, “Good to see ya, Johnny. Keep our girl safe.” There it was again, Johnny. The man was an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a murderous psychopath with a penchant for cats. He picked Soap up and handed him out to you, and you took the squirmy cat, holding him tight against your chest so he wouldn’t bound out into the hallway. Ghost turned to leave, but he leaned back to give you one last note.

“Simon.” “What?” “S is for Simon.”

[local-dragon-haunt]

What are your thoughts on Night Lights becoming a species of their own and sort of...replacing Night Furies and Light Furies entirely?

Honestly my biggest gripe is HTTYD3's portrayal of Grimmel as having "wiped out all Night Furies". I feel it would have been sufficient to have had him kill at least one to establish him as the "Anti-Hiccup" but leave the continued survival of other Night Furies ambiguous. Because if all the black genes came from Toothless alone? That is one inbred population.

Honestly I don't think my answer is going to be some big thought-provoking statement. I generally like the nightlight designs from THW. I've read a bunch of posts about people complaining that genetics doesn't work that way but at the end of the day, it's a fictional species from a fictional world who's target demographic is 6-13 year olds.

Now what I CAN generally speak on (gesturing awkwardly to my bachelors degree in Animation) is that the canonical Night Light designs make the most sense story-telling wise. We get exactly one scene with them in THW. The best way to convey that these are Toothless and Light Fury's children in the three minutes of screentime they have (since they cannot speak) is to have them mirror Toothless' traits —that being his black scales.

And unfortunately...it was also the most efficient way to convey it in TNR. Don't get me wrong. It's very poorly executed. And the implications of inbreeding are there for anyone with a hint of media literacy, but again. TNR has a target demographic of 6-13 year olds.

I do agree that Grimmel's whole "ive killed all the night furies" schpiel isn't believable at all, though. How to Train Your Dragon as a franchise did not drop enough foreshadowing, worldbuilding, or backstory for us, the audience, to believe that. Grimmel's role as an antagonist does not give us any confidence that he's telling Hiccup, and us, by proxy, the truth. In fact, I've always found that line of his to be a bit??? Ironic? To me, it's always had a tone of overconfidence that implies Grimmel isn't as successful as he thinks he is. Kind of like Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda II.

And that's ALSO why don't think we have enough evidence to say that the Night Lights "replaced" the Night/Light Fury species (though you'll have to take what I say with a grain of salt because I haven't watched all of TNR). I think it's much more likely that the show had a small scope and an overarching idea to focus on Hiccup and Toothless' descendants. There could very well be more Night/Light furies out there, but they aren't important to the story that HTTYD or TNR wanted to tell.

[jenthebug]

I just walked a mile and a half and I am wore the fuck out. My legs hurt, my feet hurt, and that place where my thighs rub together? That hurts, because I wasn’t thinking and wore a dress. Come on B vitamins, work your magic!

The big drama at home is that Soba and Momo saw a KITTEN this morning; a little black and white spotted kitten about half the size of Soba (so, 4-6 months?). Soba was very interested. Not sure if he wanted to play with the kitten or kick its ass.

I think it’s one of the neighborhood tuxedo cat’s offspring. I kinda think Soba is Tuxedo’s son, too. Tuxedo doesn’t belong to anyone and doesn’t let anyone get close. I’d love to TNR Tuxedo and the kitten (Ramen? lol), because as much as I love kittens, a feral colony in this neighborhood (heavy traffic, foxes, coyotes, hawks) is no place for them.

(Got distracted looking up TNR info; looks easy enough but it costs money that I don’t have yet)

Anyway, I’m still recovering from my walk, which seems off. I’ll track symptoms like always and ask my primary care doctor if this continues.

[bunnis-monsters]

I'm so sorry your kitty is sick, im glad its back with you (cuddles and love!). This ask is mostly directed to your followers cause I just know some people are thinking the wrong thing.

The better term to use for cat AIDs would be FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus). So—For the people getting the wrong idea, no! Bunni's cat did NOT get it from humans, nor can it be transfered to other species— it's biologically impossible. FIV acts like HIV and attacks the immune system, you might also hear it be called cat HIV.

Similar ≠ Same

- 🐇

Yes, this is all correct! My vet(I live in the south) personally called it cat aids(most likely to help us better understand what it was) so that’s the term I’ve been using!

We have two other cats that have also been bitten in the past(we DID use to let them outside, but stopped once we were informed about the dangers of letting them out). Our vet said because they were bitten, they most likely also have FIV.

He said that there’s probably an outbreak among the strays, and that’s how they got it.

I would get them individually tested but it’s $160+ per test. For us, that’s a lot of money and our vet said it’s unnecessary because the likelihood of them having it is very high.

I personally would like to test and possibly rehome any of our cats that don’t have it… but that’s not a possibility for us rn. Sad, but that’s the truth of the situation.

This is why it is imperative to keep your cats indoors and I will always be an advocate for that. Not only can they get run over, attacked, or infected with disease, but cats can also become a public nuisance. They eat native wildlife, attack other cats and get them sick, and so much more.

Kittens are born on the street, sickly and dying of disease. Baby kittens, barely old enough to have babies of their own become mothers during their first heat. We have a terrible stray problem, I see kittens that have been run over everywhere.

I would like to start some kind of program to TNR(trap, neuter, release), but I don’t know where to start. Our town has no funds, and northern Louisiana SUUUCKS!

Anyways… spay, neuter, and keep your cats inside unless you take them outside wearing a harness/or have an enclosed space for them like a cattio!!

[the-owl-tree]

I wish that warriors made the point of like, one reason u don't want to be a kittypet is bc sometimes when u get caught u get sent to this place where theres more cats in small crates and sometimes you see humans there but only the good cats get adopted and its very much known that cats only have a certain amount of time for a human to choose them before they get euthanized

Because yeah TNR is sometimes an option but humane euthanasia is another, maybe a clan cat encounters a kittypet and they talk about their time in a shelter and how a feral cat wasn't capable of being turned to a pet so they euthanized them that would scare the shit outta me and i would never get close to a kittypets house again

Like the clan cats say "reject the soft life of a kittypet' but do they have even that? Completely at the whims of their owners, and at any point they could be given away for a variety of reasons, like oh sure they always have food and a house to go back to and have better medicine options but honestly, what choice do they have thats truely their own and not their owners? They could've put more emphasize that kittypet life was an easy but more risky choice of a clan cat to choose if they didn't like their current life. Sure there IS a chance that you could get adopted and in a loving home but theres also a bigger chance u get taken to a shelter and not all shelters are non kill ones

I generally think the idea that the Clan cats would reject a kittypet life is actually fairly understandable, though rarely explored beyond fatphobia and xenophobia. It makes sense to me that these cats would value their autonomy (even if for whatever reason the authors are weird about like. giving the clan cats freedom) and freedom, whereas comparatively safety and lack of challenge in hunting for food would be a decent enough lure/reason to stay for other cats.

I also think humans in this universe are pretty awful at handling cats, Graystripe didn't even get snipped before getting shipped off to be a housecat lol

[kohiandie]

hi your lifestyle?? is literally so inspiring can i ask like. how did y'all do all that...

ok but more specifically i guess how long did it take you to work/get the funds to 1. buy a house(?) rescue space? and upkeep everything?

sorry if this is a repeat question you get a lot!

asgkdlhadsg this is incredibly sweet thank you TT to be totally honest with you, we're still figuring stuff out on the daily / weekly / monthly! we've been individually self-employed & selling at cons for over ten years now & being partners has exponentially made things easier alongside having (somewhat?) supportive parents. i don't think either of us could grow to the level we're at now and handle everything we're handling on our own! we would definitely need an employee or something, LOL. we feel so lucky to have been able to find each other, since so many of the things we love are aligned -- conventions / artist alley / making merch / media we like & how we consume it, rescue, etc.! UHHH THIS CAME OUT a way longer response than i meant it to so more below the cut

even now, i wouldn't say we're at a place where we're 100%. this past year we've been able to make huge strides in paying off debt that we accrued through covid & originally moving into this house -- our credit scores are finally starting to recover. as for the house itself, we were living together with jasmin's family for a while & just using the money we made to remodel different parts of the house bit by bit because it was really falling apart -- we cleaned and gutted so much of it, haha. our merch barely fit. summers were dreadful without central ac in the office. but we had our own little place and her family was okay with us fostering. it let us get our foot in the door, volunteering with different rescues, learning more about TNR, and saving lives in our area. we learned a lot and ultimately, that's kind of how it still is, even if we've upgraded these days. my (andie) parent's were sent to work in europe but weren't ready to sell their current house, so they basically gave it to us to live in as property managers here in tx. we would take care of the house, pay a smaller portion of the mortgage, & move out when they came back. texas is a lot more affordable, especially our city, and we're both really fond of san antonio, the people, the culture, food, etc. i lived here for a few years when i was younger, a few years before i moved in with jas, and jas used to fly back and forth to visit. it was already a second home, so it was kind of perfect. it's sort of the issue we're running into now, haha. my parents will be moving back this summer & we need to find a place since we now have so many fosters & the rescue / our home & business has grown so much. we can't stay in an apartment, but don't have enough to get our dream house yet, so the biggest likelihood is that we'll get a place we aren't too attached to and work to getting our dream place. or maybe buy this off my parents? there are so many messy options atm, sorry for rambling LOL for ex: this house is historic, property taxes have jumped up the last few years, but we might be able to get exempt because of the non-profit. because my family isn't actually planning to retire here long term, there might be an opportunity to keep this place, because the home we have now is soooo not affordable to purchase anymore (but was, years ago) we'd love to keep it, tbh. our income is definitely more than it ever has been, but it's still 'average' i'd say, split between two people and the rescue. we've been really lucky with the circumstances we've been given & not everything's perfect but!! we're still figuring stuff out every day HAHA. constantly thinking about the long term even though things are always changing as for upkeep, man............ with the fosters, it's basically like running a zoo, haha. we're in a constant routine of buying / getting huge amounts of litter, food, etc. transporting cats, traps, medicating anyone who needs it, cleaning poop, pee, vomit. taking care of babies, not sleeping because they gotta eat every few hours or there's a health scare / emergency. handling people in our community who reach out to us for help.

most of the staff at our humane society & veterinarian are pretty familiar with us because of how often we go.

being a team of two makes a world of a difference -- ex. jas doesn't like putting away dishes, so she washes & i put them away. when a kitty is sick, she stays home & i go to con. we worked nearly 20 cons a year for several years together. handling manufacturers, new products, different store fronts, emails, taxes, socials, loss. new ideas! we always talk through disagreements because we're in this together. it's not just about us either, it's about the cats, the rescue, the community, etc. jas is way better at talking to people in person than i am while i tend to handle all the online / email stuff. we've just really learned how we fit together over the years and we're always improving or making mistakes and learning. SO TLDR; LOTS OF TIME, EXPERIENCE, MISTAKES, TRAVEL, TALKING TO PEOPLE, LEARNING, EXPLORING NEW THINGS, DECIDING WHAT WE LIKE / DON'T LIKE, TALKING, BOUNCING IDEAS. nothing happens overnight and ofc there are always those times where we sit and just kind of mourn that we aren't exactly where we want to be, but like?? it's abt the process. the goals. there are joys every step of the way and obstacles, ofc, but! nothing happens overnight and breaking things into steps / small accomplishments really helps you enjoy the more i think!

idk I'm sorry LOL this journey is still ongoing and has had so much pain and tears along the way but also lots of positives & happy moments.

[themetalvirus]

dgmw shadow and sonic DO have a mutual respect for each other, they have a mutual understanding of each other, and they can work together well if they play nice. i think their friendship is, in fact, good. i just think they can only stand each other in Doses. maybe they'll do coffee or something just to catch up, maybe a race or whatever, if they run into each other while looking for a place to broodily stare into the sunset they can broodily stare into the sunset together.

they both value earth and nature and believe in the inherent value of life. they go about protecting the things they love in similar ways.

my personal interpretation of sonic (ALWAYS CONTROVERSIAL WHEN TALKING ABOUT SONICS, IF YOUR SONIC IS DIFFERENT THEN THATS FINE) is that he thinks this stuff is all fun. it's FUN to fight for the world, he knows he's good at it, and no matter how bad things get, he'll always bounce back. he has his friends to help if things are too much to deal with on their own, and he believes everything will work out. he'll kill if he thinks it's necessary. eggman is still alive not because of any batman-esque morals but because he values their adversarial relationship in its own twisted way. he's casual about this, all of it.

shadow has seen when things do NOT pan out and it haunts him every day. he is intimately aware of what can happen when systems go awry, when people simply don't care about others, when there is malice at play. he shops local, he's TNR trained, he gives to local charity. he takes every single worldly problem deadly seriously and treats it with care. sometimes violence IS the answer when it prevents others from being harmed, and because of his complicated experiences with violence, he can easily go too far. he thinks eggman should be dead.

i dunno if any of this makes sense i just think their values are JUST dissimilar enough that they really, really chafe at a core level. sonic's blasé attitude does not and will never mesh with shadow's experiences.

[shensation]

My back yard is a popular hotspot for neighborhood cats- some outdoor pets, some strays. I've seen at least five DIFFERENT cats drinking from my frog pond. Recently I had been seeing this little black cat a lot more than usual.

So about a week and a half ago, it was pouring rain and I looked onto my deck and what do I see but THREE FERAL KITTENS PLAYING. I think they were born in the bush next to our deck and she took them to high ground when the rain made it swampy. I took the above video where I realize why I'd been seeing that cat so much.

You can also hear in my voice at the end as I wonder what the Hell I'm supposed to do now. Do I... do I just leave the kittens?? The mom will be back when Im gone.

I decided to take them in. Better to be raised in a warm house than grow up feral in my back yard, right? I still believe this but I couldn't help but feel like a kidnapper when I caught them.

I only managed to catch two. The third hid where I couldn't reach him, and the mama came back and took him away. I haven't seen either since. I'm gonna try calling TNR and see if they can find her. I hope that third kitten is okay.

MEANWHILE NOW I HAVE TWO KITTENS.

My pal @squimoo fosters kittens so I yelled at her and she gave me some advice. She said they looked about 4 weeks, which is old enough to be raised away from mom. I gave them warm towels and boxes to hide in, and some of my cat's wet food, and gave them some space.

They slowly got more comfortable and we moved them to the office where we had a little more environmental control. The next day I took them to the vet. Both healthy- no mites or worms or anything, got their shots and flea meds- both girls!

(Husband was a tiny bit sad- he wanted a boy cat lol)

So we have now adopted two precious baby kittens! Over the past week they've warmed up to us a lot, and we're seeing their personalities!

Husband and I each named one. He named the dark one Gally, after his favorite manga Battle Angel Alita.

I named the blonde one Azrael, the angel of death but also Gargamel's cat from the Smurfs. I always thought that was a badass name for a cat lol.

Azrael is cautious and shy but she'll purr for chin scritches. She loves to climb, as high as she can- she'll be the first to knock over our Christmas tree.

Gally is playful and friendly. She loves attention and wet food and attacking our toes. She loves belly rubs and keeps trying to climb up after her sister but isn't as sure of her footing yet.

And that's the story of how I have two new kittens and they are my life and I love them

(Alchemy is displeased. We're working on that.)

[lumiidragon]

So now that I've seen the last season of the Nine Realms, I can finally give my own personal review on it, and the last seeing as how this was the last season and TNR is officially over.

So needless to say SPOILERS BELOW! PLEASE STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LATEST SEASON AND DON'T WANT SPOILERS!!!

So let me start out on a, sadly poor note with this: this season was super disappointing... The big finale, the end-all, the conclusion to The Nine Realms was...flat. Boring. Pointless. Like, this was actually probably one of the more poorer seasons...

So let's start with The World Serpent (Yeah, I can't spell the other name, so I'll just refer to it as 'The Serpent' for ease. This dragon was honestly a really cool design, but not as a "predator of all dragons and the destroyer of The Hidden World". First off, a top-tier predatory animal that is meant to destroy all dragons and the dragon ecosystem...doesn't make sense. Why would an animal like that exist??? If The Hidden World is supposed to be this perfect dragon paradise, then why is there a dragon that literally goes against this notion. Also, this dragon was literally seen poorly trying to catch a terrible terror in a flock of three that was just casually flying around its face like a cat trying to catch a fly and not doing very good at it. This is the dragon that can supposedly take down any dragon such as a Red Death? A bewilderbeast? Any titan-class dragon? No, I don't think so. The poisonous gas attack it has is powerful, but this dragon just doesn't scream "Destroyer of The Hidden World" to me. Not that a dragon that is destined to destroy the world all the dragons that are damned there forever makes sense anyways, but still. On top of that, this dragon spent most of its time "defeating the Riders" by hitting them with the same amount of power any other dragon enemy has and then just taking off. That was pretty much it. It hit once or twice then ran away. The series literally only made this thing to be "unbeatable" because they made the Riders' dragons have 2 HP per battle and have the bad guy dip afterward, thus drawing this out through the entirety of the season. This dragon wasn't powerful, it was long-winded. Finally, the final battle was so.......boring? The group brought in an "Army Of Dragons" to defeat this thing, which would have been cool if it weren't for the fact that they basically just brought one or two dragons a piece. That's not an army and if a handful of common dragons with two special bosses (the Faultripper and the Sky Torcher) is all that it took to beat this thing, then this dragon was never the ultimate dragon destroyer the legends made it out to be. I could really go more into how The Serpant and the battles with it were pointless, boring, and just anti-climatic, but this section has gotten long enough, so I'll leave it at this.

Next up, Tom and Jun. Their romance drama was so pointless and added literally nothing to the story. This is the last season and it's only 6 episodes long. They don't need teen romance side-drama this late into the series, they need to concentrate on what was supposed to be the issue at hand. That, and Jun breaking it off with Tom over him doing the same thing he's always done since Season 1 really shows their compatibility as a romantic duo. But yeah, their whole romance here was just completely pointless and added nothing to the series. Also, Alex and Eugene was also completely unnecessary with what they were trying to build.

Then we have the villains. So Buzzsaw's goons and Linda are the most pointless characters in the villain side of things. The bumbling side kicks to a villain can be charming, but when every villain's group are just kids in adult bodies that still need to be babysat or else they can't do anything right, then it gets annoying and kind of pointless. Linda was probably the worst of them. As for Buzzsaw, his redemption was too much a play off of Dagur and, in my opinion very unnecessary. It felt like they only redeemed him because they didn't need him anymore, but didn't have the time to properly deal with him. As for Sledkin, she was actually a decent villain for what the series was giving, but ultimately fell into the weak trope of "I'm so desperately obsessed over my final goal that I am just throwing self preservation out the window so I can be pointlessly reckless despite being a very intelligent individual" and ended up getting killed over it (which I'm surprised TNR actually had a human death in this).

So let's finally move to my final complaints with this season:

-Thunder being "alpha" is bullshit. There is no way the night lights (yes, even the Elder Night Light) are the "Kings of Dragons" when most dragons didn't give them two glances. So there is no way Thunder is an alpha. I'm sorry, but no. Also, with the Elder Night Light passing, it's nice to see how literally no one cared since Thunder can glow like a radioactive lightbulb now, I guess. They grieved Sledkin more than this dragon. Thunder hardly even cared. Along with the night light thing, Thunder's family is not only useless in the series, but seeing as how we never get a real reason as to why night lights are breeding with each other, I am not convinced that this family line isn't just a messed up family wreath than a family tree at this point. Nothing was explained, so the fans only have the fact that there were only 3 night lights from Toothless (Toothless who was basically never mentioned in this series) and the Light Fury (who wasn't mentioned at all) and no others exist, but we see night lights having kids with each other....I....ew.

-The Raker episode was literally just not necessary and could have been left out altogether and nothing change. This is the last season, we don't need pointless spoilers.

-Olivia was being built as a true character earlier in the series, shame she was basically forgotten about. Same for the other parents.

-The Gods Realm was boring and really uninteresting to look at. Like...it might as well have been any chamber in any cave around the world, not the "Lungs of the Hidden World", which the dragonite still makes no sense and there's no way they would have run out of oxygen in that massive chamber that quickly with the stone removed. None of that made sense.

-There's no way Tom would have ever learned how to communicate with dragons with Valka's staff. I don't know where they got this "Hypnotizing" thing from, but Valka lived alone with dragons for 20 years. She communicated and learned their language that she developed replications of in her own way. Tom cannot learn that in a short montage because Valka's power with dragons came from her connection and understanding from more time of experience with dragons alone than Tom has even been alive for. The staff was a tool, not the power itself. That, and Hiccup would never use his mother's staff. That's A. not his approach to dragons anyway, and B. his mother's. Valka most likely would have had her burial with that staff. Oh, and it's nice to see yet another thing just be casually destroyed and not cared about.

-And I think the last thing I've got for this massive post is the ending. Yes, the dragons leave. What a surprise. This time, the dragons choose to leave and more or less say "Sorry kids, you guys...eh, kinda suck.". The Riders were basically pleading with their dragons (mostly Tom) that there had to be another way and the dragons wouldn't even let them touch them anymore. They acted like they had their fun and it's gone stale so it's time to leave. Great...bond??? Of course, it was over "HOOMANS BAD." so why bother to fix the world when you can just hide in a dead-looking cave system forever? Right? Not only that, but the group itself also split up, expect for Tom and Jun of course, because how else can the series end off with the romance that they pointlessly shoved in.

So yeah, this season was......not good. I really had my hopes out for the series ending much more interestingly, but in the end, with the dragons shoving themselves away again, nothing came from this series other than Tom gets a girlfriend and the group learns the true power of video calls. So in all, I give TNR a personal 5-6/10.

[the-adventures-of-dave]

Genuinely worried, not a troll ask. Is TNR bad in all situations? I’m in an extremely rural area and have been working to TNR the local cat colony for about six years now. Most are feral, so it literally is ‘trap’ in that TNR and then handle the trap with puncture proof gloves, etc. I’ve managed to bring their numbers down from the mid twenties to about eight with only one litter born this spring, that I managed to catch and get to a shelter three hours away before they were too feral to handle.

Basically if I didn’t do TNR here, we’d just have a ton of feral cats and no birds at all? There are no resources. I’ve been trying for years to find someone willing to work with this area and we’re too far out in a zone with no resources in the one county shelter.

Hey there anon! I don't know if TNR is bad in all situations, I can just speak to what I've heard/read about and how it personally makes me feel. I'm glad that the method worked for you in your area and you were able to get that last litter to a good home! Regardless of my own feelings I'm glad it worked for you.

Below the cut are my thoughts on TNR. I don't mean it personally anon, I think that your care for the cats in your area is very honourable even if I don't quite agree with TNR as a whole. This is more of an explanation as to how TNR makes me feel than anything else.

Environmentally, you're still reintroducing the cats back into the ecosystem (just neutered). If TNR works exactly as it's supposed to and the cats don't die prematurely that's still years to potentially over a decade of dead birds killed by cats. There have also been studies shown that TNR doesn't always work as successfully as in your situation. People often see feeding stations as a safe place to dump unwanted pets, or else other intact strays can move in to fill in the gaps of deceased TNR colony members. [1] [2] [3]

My biggest concern with TNR though is the welfare of the cats. To use your colony as an example, in the course of six years you lost 15-20 cats. Some friendly kittens might have been adopted out, but what happened to the other ones that weren't adoptable? We keep our pet cats indoors to keep them safe from harm, but there's no way to keep ferals safe from disease, parasites, injuries, traffic, weather, or wildlife. Without an owner they're left wandering out there without vet care after being hit by a car, or getting frostbite, an infection, illness, etc. When they do die stray cats usually die pretty gruesome deaths, and personally I'm uncomfortable condemning a cat to that by rereleasing them with TNR. Even if TNR was a 100% effective way to minimize cat populations to me it seems kind of... cruel.

My sort-of jab at the author of that book was related to my feelings on those cats. Alley Cat Allies and other TNR groups often argue that if a cat is a part of a TNR colony it shouldn't be adopted out. TNR groups often advocate for these "community cats" to be left alone. Here's a screenshot from Alley Cat Allies in an article titled "5 Ways to Advocate for Cats in your Community":

Knowing that these cats can be injured/killed so easily and painfully and that they're being denied a safe, happy, and healthy life with a human owner just doesn't sit right with me. Not every TNR group advocates for this kind of practice, but it's enough of a pattern that I'm wary of them. It seems like the author of that book thinks it's better for your cat to be "happy and free" outdoors rather than inside.

[wholesomepostarchive]

the most wholesome thing is seeing that the wholesome post blog runner is probably one of the nicest people ever :3 i’m generally Terrified of sending asks especially to a blog that Does Things like this but seeing you talk in the tags instead of just reblogging and moving on makes you seem very friendly and approachable !!!! and i hope u know i appreciate that :] i hope you have a wonderful day and both sides of your pillow are always cool and that if you see a random cat on the sidewalk it won’t run away from U ♡

woah, META-WHOLESOME!! thank ya for the compliment, i try my best to carry out those kinds of traits i value!!!!! i’m SUPER super glad that ya did!!! THANK YOU THANK U!! always appreciating how much of an impact this lil blog has on top of appreciating u for sharing as much with me :-)

it’s always a TRIP getting to hear that something i do that i wasn’t even really mindfully doing makes all the difference?? i’m just really, REALLY grateful for all the different kinds of posts that get sent my way and seeing cool + uplifting + sentimental + OVERALL WHOLESOME posts that i express my thanks + ramble a bit in the tags haha !!

i ALSO hope you have as terrific of a day as you’re able to! and i hope you’ll enjoy seeing more posts pop up!

AND YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE but i got new pillow cases like a week ago THAT DO JUST THAT! AND THERE’S A NEW CAT ON THE STREET WHO HANGS OUT WITH ME SOMETIMES (i’ve been planning to see if he has a microchip, but i know for a fact that the neighbors who feed all the stray cats on our street already have a cage + are well-versed in TNR, so i’ve been thinking about asking them first because the thought that someone could be out there looking for their pal is enough for me to “do it scared”) !! SO THANK U NOT ONLY FOR THE SWEET SENTIMENTS BUT ALSO FOR THE UNEXPECTED HILARITY OVER THE FACT THAT THEY’VE COME TRUE???

[randomstealthteen]

I think I’m going to become a vet.

People would ask me “you’re going to be a vet right?” I would say uhh probably not I’m too stupid maybe I’ll be a zoologist or biologist or something. But honestly I’m not that interested in most of biology I’m only interested in studying animals and working with animals. I want to be a conservation veterinarian (or exotic vet). Meaning I work on wildlife that has been harmed due to human impact. But before that I’ll probably work in small animal practice (dogs and cats) then hopefully exotics, then hopefully wildlife. I’d also love to travel and participate in TNR (trap, neuter, release) programs or work on wildlife in different places or work with veterinarians without borders. All that and more. But I know it’s going to be very hard. School will be very hard. Then working with animals who are suffering will be hard, having to put animals down will be so hard.

I’m already becoming a VTA this year (while also in my final year of high school).

I hope to get my bachelors in zoology or animal science, maybe biology or wildlife science anything like that

I’ve been to the designated veterinary school where I live and toured it. It is a very cool place. I’m excited I know what I want to do. I always said I don’t think I’m good enough to be a vet. But I think I could be. I’m not good enough yet but that’s why I’m going to university (duh!). I want to tell my mom and I know she will be excited, she wants me to be a vet. She says she wants to be a receptionist when I have my own practice and she retires lol. My dad is a biologist also just fun fact ig.

There is also a lack of vets where I live and there is far fewer biology or zoology jobs. If I decide I don’t want to be a vet one day I still have biology or zoology. I’ll also make more most likely.