I think I've developed the obsessive compulsive habit of needing to smell my cat's head whenever I pick him up.

I sold my cat because the superintendent is a jackhole.

>>378690
Most cats are infested with a parasite which when inhaled causes the target host (you) to release oxytocin, a chemical in your body which regulates how you feel towards other people. It's basically the love hormone.
Also it renders women more promiscuous, so the myth of the horny cat lady isn't a myth, although it also makes them hate men so it's horny lesbian cat ladies.

It's supposed to work on rats only, so that the rats will like cats and be attracted to them, thus causing a non-parasite-infected cat to eat the infected rat, thus completing the parasites life cycle.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070403-cats-rats.html
http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/fatal-attraction-parasite-renders-women-more-promiscuous-men-less-desirable/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

My sister abandoned her pet turtle because she decided one day she didn't care about it anymore (she was threatening to kill it before I stepped in and adopted it) and now she's begging my parents for a dog AND a cat, and they're okay with it.

This is my chocolate lab Rhuaidh. He is getting quite old and he has brain problems, he is the derpiest most cuddly dog I have ever seen. He looks sad all the time unless he is being fed or he is sitting on top of you. I draw eyebrows on him because it's really funny.

>>378709
I've been in a chocolate lab at one point, on a school tour.

>>378709
Dog eyebrows are the best brows.

>>378711

>>378702
.....What the fuck.

A long time ago, when I was very young, my sisters and I were allowed to keep a few hermit crabs as pets. We kept all three of them in a clear plastic tank with gravel and sand, and could never find the smallest one as it would always burrow deep into the sand.
Due to a combination of not knowing that hermit crabs are cannibalistic and being young, naive idiots, it never occured to us that it was hiding from the other two larger crabs.
We took the sand out, wanting to see the little one more, and the next day we found what little remains were left after the other two presumably had their fill.
Again being idiots, we kept the remaining two together, thinking they only wanted the little one and wouldn't bother each other, which led to us losing our second one.
Our third one died soon after having killed its companions. We theorize it died of loneliness.
There's a moral in there somewhere.

>>378821
thank you for sharing~
reminds me of when i was trying to raise caterpillars and had no idea they ate as much as they did... except they caterpillars didn't eat each other.
self-sage for not adding to pet thread.

>>378688

My old cat used to do that, I don't know if it's normal or the result of trauma. Mine was orphaned while still nursing, and was a Persian, and they're already needy breeds. Does he also knead you a lot?

>>378702

All part of the plan.

My dog died a little less than a year ago. He was my best bud and was oddly polite in a lot of ways. I still feel guilty for how he died and for not appreciating him when I had him. Thinking about him deeply makes my soul hurt.

The idea of ever having another dog is terrifying.

>>378806
It's only really a problem if you deal with cat poop a lot, as transmission is primarily through feces, which the rats eat (and that's how they get the parasite). Scooping after one or two cats won't lead to being infected, as long as you make sure to wash your hands right after and not touch your mouth/face or open sores before doing so. And even then the effects are usually fairly mild on people, only causing crazy cat lady syndrome rarely.

Even so, it's recommended that pregnant women stay away from cat feces because I guess there's a greater risk of the developing baby getting infected or something.

Of course, if you're like me and volunteer at a cat rescue and sanctuary, where you scoop a pound of poop or two a day (not to mention other messes), you are more likely to get infected. Of course, I loved cats before volunteering, so in my case there was probably no risk. Sadly, since I rent a room from a guy, I can't own any cats myself. :( Being at the shelter, where they're free-roaming, is a decent substitute in the meantime.

There was a cat at the shelter I really fell in love with but then he got adopted out and I miss him and I hope he likes his new home. ):

I used to own two cats. One died of kidney failure or something when it was only three years old, can't remember now. Poor thing just started losing immense weight and wouldn't eat anything and we decided to put her down. The other one lived a long life, I want to say 16 years, despite getting a stomach tumor. Eventually she succumbed to age and had to be put down as well.

My family has always owned Chows. First died by escaping the fence out in the country and getting hit by a semi when I was 4. Second got a bit senile in her older age, bit my sister, and we decided to put her (the dog) down when I was 14 or so. Third one I kind of threw into a door when it was a puppy and messed up its leg. :( I still feel horrible about that. I might have done something to her brain, too, as she was always a bit off. We bred the first two but never got a litter out of the third. After about a decade of life, she got arthritis and had trouble going up and down the stairs to get into the backyard of my folk's home, and eventually she just lost all energy and laid in the same spot all the time and pooped, causing my folks to put her down as well. My dad has horrible allergies now so they won't be getting another pet, though now that all five of us kids have moved out I think it would do my mom some good (but her new job has her flying a lot, so maybe not.)

Great dogs, but you have to make sure to train them properly.

Now I sads.

>>378878
I've buried my share of pets over the years. I know how you feel.

>>378690
>obsessive compulsive habits
If I see any eye-crust on my cat, I need to pick it out.

>>378917
Same here.

>>378917
Don't know if this would count, and I feel kind of bad for doing this in retrospect, but when my cat would bother me by getting too clingy I'd pick him up and kiss him repeatedly on the head like "MWA MWA MWA MWA MWA" until he'd get annoyed and try to get away.

>>378872
He doesn't really knead me a whole lot, but he is very clingy and loves attention.
He's also very vocal, and his meows are comically low-pitched and sound like "brongowowowm" or something.
In my case, I don't think he had any kind of trauma; he's just kind of weird and requires a lot of attention as he seems naturally clingy.

>>379073
> "brongowowowm"
My cat goes "unnk"
When I pick him up or squeeze him he goes "HUNGF"

>>379073

Well, that's better than the cat that'll demand loudly you feed it then run away when you try to pet it. ;~;

>gabu gabu?
>renyenyennyao~!

Are we now describing what our pets sound like via onomatopoeia?
Because then "echblechhckckck kack" would be my family's dog.

We have a cat at the rescue with chronic respiratory problems, but she's quite loving and okay with being held. When she purrs, it sounds like a rough motorcycle engine, and if you pick her up when she's purring she makes a squeak like a squeak toy.

I have no idea how to type either of these sounds.

>>379182
Not my pet, but I talked to a someone who mentioned that he adopted his cat from a shelter, where he was known as Murphy by his caretakers.
After he adopted him, he gave him a different name, but soon found out why they called him Murphy, because whenever he was excited he would go, "MERF" really loudly.

Rabbits don't sound like you'd expect. Granted they don't really vocalise often like dogs or cats, but most people seem to think they'd sound sqeaky; instead they sound like small pigs, oinking and grunting rarely. I'm told they can scream bloody murder under intense stress but in all my years around them I've never heard it.

>>379308
Rabbits caught in a trap sound EXACTLY like a crying baby.

>>379308
>>379315
I've heard them scream, it's eerie, much louder than a baby but similar. Even squirrels are so much louder than you expect such a small animal to be.

Makes people react weird, almost paralyzes them.

Screaming Rabbit

>>379329

Ooh boy, flashbacks on that sound.

>>379201

I swear cats can talk. It might just be mimicry instead of actual language, but its eery. My cousin's cat would call for her and it'd sound exactly like "mom! mom? Mom? Hey mom?"

>>379326
Well, small dogs can be pretty damn loud.

So why do cats like to sit on random things that differ from their surroundings?
I can understand sitting on something if it's comfortable, or if it happens to be occupying my attention as a not so subtle plea for some attention of their own, but sometimes I'll have a bulky bag, a book, a piece of paper, or other such random object placed on the floor, and they'll just go up to it and sit on it.
Does it make them feel special to have a "throne" or "chair" of some sort?

A neighborhood dog was hit and killed a half hour or so ago several yards down the road from my driveway.
I was on the way back from my sister's house down the street and saw it in the distance as I slowed to pull into mine. I pulled up to it to make sure it wasn't just laying down, honked the horn, and then took a close look at and saw it wasn't moving but in the face, front legs.
I backed up the entirety up into my driveway and fetched my little sister who knows where the owners were specifically. I just knew they lived around.
When I took her down there to make her believe and check for a phone number on the tag, a fellah had pulled to the side and was checking it out. Seems like he's the one that hit it. I pulled it off the road so traffic could normalize and no one would run over it again because they couldn't wait to go around when the oncoming was clear.

We went down to the place and alerted the owners. A young girl like 19 answered the door and hollered back to presumably her younger sister in the house somewhere that Izzy'd been hit and killed. She started bawling and me and sis broke out back to the dog. A new lady had pulled up there and was petting and checking the dog. We tried to figure out what to do with it, since none of us wanted to leave it there. Some Mexicans in a truck come up to sis and the lady and volunteered to put the dog in the bed and take it to the house down there.

Don't let your dogs run around outside free style if you live near a busy road.

>>379453
Cats like to sit on stuff they like.

Speaking of cat behavior, my cat has changed 4 "favorite places" in the first year of her life.

>>379489
Forgot image.

I wish cats wouldn't see fit to bring me their kills, especially if they're decapitated or otherwise leaking all manner of rotting gunk. I presume one cat just randomly left a carcass on the porch and all the other cats smell the scent no matter how much I clean the area.

>>379489
For my cat it's not so much that she has or develops favorite places to sit, or even sits where she likes--the minute I set something on the floor, even if it's uncomfortable like a bag of groceries or something, she immediately goes "Imma go sit on that shit."

>>379505
Being an old indoor cat who's kind of squeamish and actually somewhat afraid of the outdoors, our cat satisfies her hunter/killer instinct by bringing us "kills" consisting of articles of clothing she finds in the laundry hamper. She'll be carrying a sock in her mouth, lay it at our feet, and meow proudly to show off her gift to us.
Finding this behavior hilariously adorable, we encourage it by hiding a scarf in a random place, which she will hunt and bring to us periodically, presumably when she feels the need to validate her existence, and we'll always coo and pet her and tell her what a fierce hunter she is.

>>379520
Haha that sounds adorable

>>379454
...;_;

Our Siamese Cats at Shower Time
Siamese cats unhappy about their human taking a shower.

>>379552
>cats concerned over their owner taking a shower
Wat.

>When I finish a meal at home, I'll sometimes give my plate to my cat so he can lick at or eat whatever crumbs or leftover scraps that he might want
>He ignores the small piece of chicken I left especially for him
>Eats scrap of kimchee

Cat, you're weird.

>>379552
>cats caring
Wat.

>>379552

>>379553
>>379625
Siamese are really social. I think they're just friendly aliens disguising as cats.

>>379623
One of my cats doesn't eat meat scraps. He prefers bread and sugary things which I refuse to let him do more than sniff. One time he climbed all over me trying to steal a marshmallow. He's also a catnip addict and is surprisingly non-vocal. I get stupid excited when I hear him purr. His name is Bruce and his brother is Clark because I am a massive nerd. Their names are pretty accurate though.

Pic is Bruce refusing to let me study.

>>379893
Yeah, you want to keep the starches away from them for the most part. Now and then aren't bad, but over indulgance can do worse to them than to us, IIRC.

Great name choices, btw.

>>379893
My cat likes to eat cucumbers. And her kitten too. I don't know, maybe they like it because of crunchiness?
Also, don't let him to get the chocolate, because something from its components is poisonous to cats.

So thanks to circumstance, I have become the proud owner of not one but three dogs. Three large dogs who have all been living with me since January and it has been quite a trip. Two of them are technically my brother and mom's dogs, but one of them (my idiot brother) doesnt want his dog in his new house (jackass) and my moms pet deposit at her place is too high. i have a big fenced in back yard and no pet deposit. You see how i came to be in t his situation.

except i totally love it. its nice to have a fucking zoo greet me when i come home because theyre all really great, loving dogs. the only thing i hate really is DOG HAIR EVERYWHERE but i do what i can to keep it under control

This ones dinky, she's old and got hit by the mail man a long time ago so she's kind of fat these days but she's super low maintenance because she likes to wander around the neighborhood and visit everyone and they all love her. its very cute. (she lived out in the country for a long time so she's used to roaming to the point that she wont even go in the backyard so ive given up on fighting her)

diva is my moms dog and shes the youngest. she's a golden retriever-border collie mix who was born without a foot (you can just barely see it in the picture) but she gets around perfectly fine. shes probably the most affectionate dog ive ever known? she literally loves everyone. i dont have a picture of it but we shaved her for the summer months and her hair is so dramatically lighter right now its so hilarious. she's a year old this month!

(dinky is 9 for the record)

and then Booboo is mine! I adopted him back when I lived in Florida when he was 8 months old and it was a rough first two months because im pretty sure he was abused before i got him. he'd growl at me for everything, cry while i was gone, chew on my stuff until i had to cave and invest in a crate, and he's still scary defensive of his food. but i didnt want to give up on him because 1 fuck look at how cute he is 2 he was my walking buddy and 3 if i took him back they would have put him down i know it. and even when he was being hard to handle, he was still very sweet and protective of me like a good german shepherd should be.

ive had him for over a year now and hes pretty much the love of my life? he doesnt growl at me anymore, he's super loving, he sleeps with me pretty much every night (like literally curled up right against me like a baby) and he follows me all around the house when hes inside. the entire reason i live in my little shack is because its the cheapest place in town with a big fenced in back yard and seeing him run around back there looking so happy makes ME happy so i think its worth it.

Any bird owners? Love birds are wonderful. Messy, destructive little imps, but wonderful.

>>379453
>>379520
Boxes especially.
Though I suppose that boxes are more explicable, as they may feel safer and naturally drawn to small enclosed spaces.
The minute I put down a box they hop in it and sit contentedly.

I'm looking after my aunt's Burmese cat Cleo. She's awesome, so cute - she's champagne and really small even for a Burmese. She's really talkative and cuddly with a total attitude, she'll indignantly yowl at you until you pick her up and carry her around like a baby. Luckily she's small enough to perch on my chest.

>>379453
My cat likes box and the other usual stuff. He also likes stealing your seat the second you leave the dinner table (we're guessing he likes a warm bed).

Even more frustratingly, he can get downright suicidal in where he decides to nap, continually sitting on things like the bottom step of a flight of stairs and directly behind a roller chair.

Lucy, you've got some 'splaining to do!

>>381010
I am blind with elation.

>>381010
That dogs soul is crushed, you can see it in his eyes.

>why are you doing this to meeeee

This is Jasper. He is one of the dumbest cats you will ever meet. He farts a lot and raises hell around dinner time and picks fights with our other cat. He has three nicknames: Buddy, when he's good, Buster, when he's bad, and Mr. Knuckleboy, when he's REALLY bad. We love him to pieces.

>>381091
This is our other cat. She came to us with the name Gypsy, but we've sort of taken to calling her Princess because she is a BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS. One of the most enchanting cats I've ever known. So dainty and proper. That is, until she spies a bug, when she becomes a bloodthirsty hunter. She used to be in a gang of ferals at a zoo until the shelter picked her up. Now she mostly sits in a rocking chair by the window or in her cushioned basket and waits for people to pat her.

>>381092
AHG I JUST CAN'T DEAL WITH HOW ENDEARING HER FACE IS

Huh.
Whenever our cats would sit in this position so their paws aren't visible, my sibs and I would call them "cat loafs" or refer to it as "loaf position."

I had no idea that everyone else called it that too.

>>381152
I call them slippers.

>>381152
I like to imagine they're small cat-shaped topiaries.

this cat is awesome, i want one

>>381216
Have you considered catnapping that one?

>>381217
yes

>>381228
oh god is she the kind that purposefully hunts out your hand and does her best to get patted by it oh man i have one of those shes the patootiest.

>>381228
Read it poetry, maybe it comes home with you.

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

>>381296
She began purring when I spoke to her then just meowed throughout, but left at the beginning of the last verse. Maybe she's not ready to take it that far.

>>381296
I tried singing this to "Modern Major General", it almost worked.

>>381298
In a very round about way you and your cat got me to re-watch Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator and for that I thank you because this movie is fantastic.

Do your cats like being followed? My cat will meow for me to walk behind him around the house, and after a while he'll go off satisfied. If I stop before he wants me to, he'll meow until I follow him again. We walk around in circles sometimes. Or maybe he just wants something and I'm incapable of deciphering him.

Also, he sleeps funny.

>>381456
Cats know how to relax better than most aminals.

She looks like Soviet propaganda here.

So at the rescue I think I'm starting to fall in like with a pair of cats from a group of 18 we took in from a hoarding situation. We've adopted a lot of them out (including one I named Cheezburger), but six of the poor things are still here, and likely will be for some time as it is kitten season (and 95% of the people that come in want kittens.)

Anyway, I forget their actual names, but I call them Stocky and The Catfather. Stocky (shorthair tabby) is larger than your average cat, mostly in skeletal terms. But he is incredibly sweet; if you get down close enough to him, he will stand up and latch onto your shoulders and just rub his face all over you. Doesn't try to get you to hold him or anything, he just wants to hug. When he's not hugging, he has this cool pose where his front paws kind of dangle off when he lays on his favorite stool.

The Catfather (longhair... uh... gray) just reminds me of Don Corleone from the Godfater; its puffy, slightly sagging cheek hair and overall demeanor just fit so well. He's not as vocal or affectionate as Stocky, but he still loves attention and chills even more.

Fuck me I wish I had my own place so I could adopt these guys. ;_; Picture is Stocky, though in a different room than they're in now; that might be The Catfather in the back, but without seeing the face I can't be sure. Look at that damn cat just chilling.

>>381795
Oh my shit I want to snug that cat so bad.

My grandfather adopted a pommie that came from a hoarder recently. She's really sweet but obviously has the doge equivalent of PTSD. 80 dogs in one house. How.

>>381795
>The Catfather

need pix plz

>>381798
Ouch; it's bad when that happens to cats, but most dogs are far larger so I can only imagine how much worse it is.

These particular hoarded cats were "hoarded" in the technical definition only; all of them are well socialized and well cared for. When they came in they had ear mites and no other health problems (a cold or two, maybe.) The owner had a large garage (barn?) she kept them in (161, custom-built cages with 5-8 per), but never spayed/neutered, so we figure there was a lot of inbreeding. But they're all fairly happy, extremely friendly. She only got found out because she was moving and realized she couldn't take them with her, so she put an ad on Craigslist.

We did have another situation where a family had 36 cats in an 8x8 room. Threw in whatever slop they had on hand, never cleaned it, no litter boxes. When we took them in they had all sorts of health and personality issues, and we ere only able to find permanent homes for about 14 of them; the rest will be permanent residents until we can figure out how to get them acclimated to a new environment.

>>381803
I'll try to remember to get pics when I do my shift this weekend.

>>381798
>>381822

Honestly, the only fitting punishment for people like that is to do the same thing to them.

>that moment where your pet is clearly about to die any moment now but it never gets sick enough that putting her down feels right so you get more and more worried about her and secretly hope that she finally pushes herself too far and makes putting her down necessary just to get it over with
Fucking pets, man.

>>381887
Last summer my very elderly cat died the way she lived: trying to sit somewhere. She was pulling herself up into a chair when her heart gave out. No vet trip necessary. She lived much longer than anyone expected and we were happy to have had her.

On a much, much happier note, here is a video of a pug watching Homeward Bound.
Pug Watching Television

>>381803
Catfather haet pictures, this is the best I could do.

Also the cheeks are not as fluffy as I thought.

And when I went to take pictures of the Catfather, Stocky did his normal "come over here" meow, and I obeyed, and then he did his "stand on my hind legs and hug you" thing. But, in the middle of that, he went ahead and climbed up my shirt and laid across my shoulders. He didn't want to get down until someone started handing out treats.

Q_Q GUYS I WISH I COULD ADOPT HIM SO BAD

>>381970
>>381795
Also, I just realized that if I was able to adopt them, I would re-name them Stocky and Bullwrinkle.

So say there was a cat that visits our front porch every night that is extremely friendly and is aching to come inside our house. Also say that I am seriously considering bring up the option of adopting this cat.

What would this entail?

We randomly had a dog come up to our gate and whine, pawing at it like he wanted in. He wagged his tail and looked happy to see us when we went to the backyard and tried to shoo him away, he looked confused. He had no collar and we asked around everywhere, nobody claimed him so we took him in and named him Jack.

When the hell does a dog think they live somewhere else?

>>382340
Well, if the cat is just wandering up and has no collar, you can just sorta claim him up front. Take him to a vet, make sure he's not chipped, and put up fliers in the neighborhood that you found it (if it had a good owner, they're devastated it's gone.) Check local shelters for "missing" posters and so forth. If you due diligence and no one replies in 30 days or so, he becomes yours for good (AFAIK; local laws may be different.) Make sure to check local laws in general.

While you're at the vet, do a wellness checkup. It's good for your vet to know how an animal is in a "healthy" mood versus sick. Once it's yours, get it chipped.

>>382352
Seconded. Our cat just found her way into out backyard, and we claimed her for ourselves.

Well, our dog just died.
I was woken up at 1am by a call from some craigslist idiot asking 'were you dat one that done be selling da Fo- two fiddy?' and after ressauring I was not dat one, I saw my dad's text.

I was expecting it, to be honest. Our dog's been getting weaker for a while, and I left for Shanghai with the assumption she would pass on. She lived a good long time, 15 years of dog, and we drove her two hours north twice for special hip operations when she was seven that others would have put her down for.

I can't tell if me not feeling too emotional is just me accepting it or just being bad with emotions again. Death is a bit easier when you're expecting it and you don't have regrets, I suppose.

You know why her name's Katherine? This was when Power Rangers was huge, and the new Pink Ranger was being announced, so I named her after that. Not really sentimentalmeaning, but an intres- oh there wwe go theeers the tears

>>382650
Sorry about your loss.
I was more of a Kimberly fan.

>>382727
Well this was when I could still remember being in London outside of a few things, so a British Power Ranger was a big thing for me.

>>382650
My deepest condolences for your loss. :( I know how that feels, especially when it happens when you're not around...

This is Gally.

Gally loves everyone. Except for cats he doesn't know.

>>383028
Why would you name your male cat after an octopus robot girl?

>>383033
Because she was named after another character's cat

~(=3=)~

I feel a bit slow for just finding out that kittens from a single litter can have multiple fathers.
My two cats are siblings from the same litter, and I was curious as to why they looked nothing alike and appeared to be different breeds, and had completely different temperments--one is demure and needy, and her (half) brother is all friendly and crazy, and I love them both to pieces.

>>384885
Cats have no standards when it comes to mating.

Spamming him everywhere, but I adopted this ridiculous animal last month.

>>384934
From the thumbnail, I thought that was a dog.

All the cats I want to adopt keep getting adopted at the rescue I volunteer at.

It's kinda depressing. ._.