It's fun reading about your family cats and sharing their pictures is a special treat. Our pet friends are such an added bonus to us solitaries. My Fortress of Solitude has been truly solitary for me since my Kritter passed on, and as I've mentioned in previous comments, will likely remain so. But I still have my fond memories.
There's a stray/feral cat that hangs around one of the grocery stores I shop at. I feed him every time I go (as so do others) and he's now fatten up. Very talkative when I see him. Let's me know about his ventures and how he's feeling. He has a hard life for a cat but life seems to have gotten easier for him. Luckily on South Florida he rarely will have to be cold.
Next time I will try to remember. He’s all black and black cats are hard to find a family to take care of them. But he’s bold and a survivor. He uses his personality to survive!
I’ve long found that along with human intelligence comes a proportionate reprehensible potential for evil behavior, i.e. malice for malice’s sake. While animals, including cats, can react violently, it is typically due to reactive distrust/dislike or necessity/sustenance. But leave it to we humans to commit a spiteful act, if only because we can. With our four-legged friends there definitely is a beautiful absence of that undesirable distinctly human trait.
Meanwhile, in the city (Surrey, B.C., Canada) neighboring mine, there were an estimated 36,000 feral/stray/homeless cats, very many of which suffer severe malnourishment, debilitating injury and/or infection. That number was about six years ago. I was informed four years later by the local cat charity (Surrey Community Cat Foundation) that, if anything, their “numbers would have increased, not decreased” since then.
Their TNR program is/was the only charity to which I’ve ever donated, in no small part because of the plentiful human callousness towards the plight of those cats and the countless others elsewhere. The city's municipal government as well as too many uncaring residents have done little or nothing to help with the local non-profit trap/neuter/release program, regardless of its (and others’) documented success in reducing the needlessly great suffering. Clearly, along with individual people, collective society can also be cruel toward such felines.
Meanwhile, I was greatly saddened when told by the non-profit via email that, “Our TNR program is not operating. There are no volunteers that are interested in trapping and there is no place to recover the cats after surgery” without a feeding-station site.
… Then leave it to classic human hypocrisy to despise and even shoot or poison those same suffering cats for naturally feeding on smaller prey while municipal governments and many area residents mostly permit the feral cat populations to explode — along with the resultant feline suffering within.
Cat DNA tests are a thing, if you're curious about his breed mix. I've never had one done for a cat so I can't vouch for how precise or interesting they are.
Did one for my rescue dog, out of curiosity, and he turned out to be purebred. The only interesting result was that he scored high on "wolfiness" (genetic markers shared with wolves). Which is absolutely hilarious since he's a tiny fru-fru lapdog with no wild instincts at all.
Josh! Thank you SO much for being part of my and so many others recovery from progressivism’s Cluster B permeation of our culture and lives. I heard you reference Grover Nordquist recently, and having gotten to know you and your work for the last two or three years I thought you would really ENJOY this essay. I took my time with reading it twice and dang I basically agree. It is perhaps hard-core, exhilarating and well written, see what you think please! Thanks again, Russell (I miss VT especially the people and culture who are all but gone)
Wow Josh, thanks for sharing the back story on your cats. I don’t currently own any cats - but my daughters do - and I did when they were growing up. Shredder sounds adorable - and so does Mina! You are a very caring cat owner who really takes care of your brood.
You're an excellent companion to your furry charges, Josh. Not only do they look well loved and well taken care of, but they actually are. Lucky animals. You nailed the obligate carnivore care. Both of your clawpanions are beautiful, with Shredder having an add-on descriptor - majestic.
I wonder if Disaffectants are more likely to be cat people? I am a cat person and I tend to prefer cat people to dog people. A neighborhood dog ran up to me and bit me on the back side for no reason in November. The owner was present and let the dog off the leash. It was mainly a very bad bruise with swelling and just a small amount of blood. No medical care was needed, but I had pain and discomfort for weeks. There is a leash law here, but dog owners don't care. We called Animal Control and they had to pay a ticket. The owner was very nice to me when it happened and was apologetic, so I took no further action. She admitted that her dog had bitten someone before, but she let it off the leash anyway. She is an attorney and State Senator. I saw her a couple weeks later and she said she still wants to let the dog off the leash, but knows she can't. I told her she must take not the dog off leash as it could attack a child. There are many small children in the area.
Shredder is gorgeous. Congratulations on returning him to carnivory and to non-obesity. If you ever lack content in the future, more cat photos would be a pleasure.
I have a ginger cat, named Macavity, after the character in TS Eliot’s book of cat poems titled Old Possum’s Practical Book of Cats. I think it’s Eliot’s best work. Cats (the musical) infantilized the book, IMO.
😆No, he’s more like Bustopher Jones in size; he even has white spats. M’s top weight was 23 pounds, when I was free-feeding him. He now weighs 14 and a tad.
I love when people take the time and learn how best to help their pets heal. You take such wonderful care of your furbabies.
I'm glad you wrote about the importance of meat and fat for cats- especially as diabetic treatment. It also keeps them mentally strong. It's so heartbreaking to see an animal whose diabetes isn't treated properly and all the emotional and neurological problems they suffer with as a result. It's so encouraging (and sweet) to see yours them together and how beautiful they are.
He is beautiful. ❤️
He's very handsome and majestic.
He's the most handsome cat I've ever met in real life.
^This is the correct answer to, "What kind of cat is he?"
Of course. All cats are handsome/beautiful and majestic. Even when they're derpy.
It's fun reading about your family cats and sharing their pictures is a special treat. Our pet friends are such an added bonus to us solitaries. My Fortress of Solitude has been truly solitary for me since my Kritter passed on, and as I've mentioned in previous comments, will likely remain so. But I still have my fond memories.
There's a stray/feral cat that hangs around one of the grocery stores I shop at. I feed him every time I go (as so do others) and he's now fatten up. Very talkative when I see him. Let's me know about his ventures and how he's feeling. He has a hard life for a cat but life seems to have gotten easier for him. Luckily on South Florida he rarely will have to be cold.
Sounds like he's made himself a good living and has friends. I'm glad. What does he look like? If you could get a picture for us, that would be great.
Next time I will try to remember. He’s all black and black cats are hard to find a family to take care of them. But he’s bold and a survivor. He uses his personality to survive!
I’ve long found that along with human intelligence comes a proportionate reprehensible potential for evil behavior, i.e. malice for malice’s sake. While animals, including cats, can react violently, it is typically due to reactive distrust/dislike or necessity/sustenance. But leave it to we humans to commit a spiteful act, if only because we can. With our four-legged friends there definitely is a beautiful absence of that undesirable distinctly human trait.
Meanwhile, in the city (Surrey, B.C., Canada) neighboring mine, there were an estimated 36,000 feral/stray/homeless cats, very many of which suffer severe malnourishment, debilitating injury and/or infection. That number was about six years ago. I was informed four years later by the local cat charity (Surrey Community Cat Foundation) that, if anything, their “numbers would have increased, not decreased” since then.
Their TNR program is/was the only charity to which I’ve ever donated, in no small part because of the plentiful human callousness towards the plight of those cats and the countless others elsewhere. The city's municipal government as well as too many uncaring residents have done little or nothing to help with the local non-profit trap/neuter/release program, regardless of its (and others’) documented success in reducing the needlessly great suffering. Clearly, along with individual people, collective society can also be cruel toward such felines.
Meanwhile, I was greatly saddened when told by the non-profit via email that, “Our TNR program is not operating. There are no volunteers that are interested in trapping and there is no place to recover the cats after surgery” without a feeding-station site.
… Then leave it to classic human hypocrisy to despise and even shoot or poison those same suffering cats for naturally feeding on smaller prey while municipal governments and many area residents mostly permit the feral cat populations to explode — along with the resultant feline suffering within.
Cat DNA tests are a thing, if you're curious about his breed mix. I've never had one done for a cat so I can't vouch for how precise or interesting they are.
Did one for my rescue dog, out of curiosity, and he turned out to be purebred. The only interesting result was that he scored high on "wolfiness" (genetic markers shared with wolves). Which is absolutely hilarious since he's a tiny fru-fru lapdog with no wild instincts at all.
He looks like a Turkish Angora. I had one called Zippy with one blue eye and one yellow. Also eccentric!
He does look like one, doesn't he?
Josh! Thank you SO much for being part of my and so many others recovery from progressivism’s Cluster B permeation of our culture and lives. I heard you reference Grover Nordquist recently, and having gotten to know you and your work for the last two or three years I thought you would really ENJOY this essay. I took my time with reading it twice and dang I basically agree. It is perhaps hard-core, exhilarating and well written, see what you think please! Thanks again, Russell (I miss VT especially the people and culture who are all but gone)
https://open.substack.com/pub/barsoom/p/the-blitzkrieg-through-the-institutions?r=18ougb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thank you:)
Wow Josh, thanks for sharing the back story on your cats. I don’t currently own any cats - but my daughters do - and I did when they were growing up. Shredder sounds adorable - and so does Mina! You are a very caring cat owner who really takes care of your brood.
Shredder is magnificent 😻
Sweet floof.
You're an excellent companion to your furry charges, Josh. Not only do they look well loved and well taken care of, but they actually are. Lucky animals. You nailed the obligate carnivore care. Both of your clawpanions are beautiful, with Shredder having an add-on descriptor - majestic.
I wonder if Disaffectants are more likely to be cat people? I am a cat person and I tend to prefer cat people to dog people. A neighborhood dog ran up to me and bit me on the back side for no reason in November. The owner was present and let the dog off the leash. It was mainly a very bad bruise with swelling and just a small amount of blood. No medical care was needed, but I had pain and discomfort for weeks. There is a leash law here, but dog owners don't care. We called Animal Control and they had to pay a ticket. The owner was very nice to me when it happened and was apologetic, so I took no further action. She admitted that her dog had bitten someone before, but she let it off the leash anyway. She is an attorney and State Senator. I saw her a couple weeks later and she said she still wants to let the dog off the leash, but knows she can't. I told her she must take not the dog off leash as it could attack a child. There are many small children in the area.
Dog owners = no common sense.
Shredder is gorgeous. Congratulations on returning him to carnivory and to non-obesity. If you ever lack content in the future, more cat photos would be a pleasure.
I have a ginger cat, named Macavity, after the character in TS Eliot’s book of cat poems titled Old Possum’s Practical Book of Cats. I think it’s Eliot’s best work. Cats (the musical) infantilized the book, IMO.
Yeah, but is M Jellicle? :)
😆No, he’s more like Bustopher Jones in size; he even has white spats. M’s top weight was 23 pounds, when I was free-feeding him. He now weighs 14 and a tad.
I love when people take the time and learn how best to help their pets heal. You take such wonderful care of your furbabies.
I'm glad you wrote about the importance of meat and fat for cats- especially as diabetic treatment. It also keeps them mentally strong. It's so heartbreaking to see an animal whose diabetes isn't treated properly and all the emotional and neurological problems they suffer with as a result. It's so encouraging (and sweet) to see yours them together and how beautiful they are.
The pic with tiny!Mina is adorbs!
I love cat posts!
Shredder is a beautiful fluffy little beast.