PSA time. You know how when a lithium-ion rechargeable battery gets punctured, bad things happen really quick? Did you know that dogs might decide a portable phone charger makes a really great chew toy until suddenly it isn’t?
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Pets can get into things they shouldn’t, that’s for sure!
My mischief monsters did significantly less damage than that dog, but they found my stash of jumbo quail eggs that I was collecting for a customer. They were in a relatively hard to get to place for them and packed into a foam shipper. They managed to get teeth into the shell to pull one egg out at a time so they could drop it on the floor and lick up what came out. They did this to about 15 eggs…
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From Not Always Right:
When You’re Willing to Risk it All for the Snack
We used to have a built-in wine rack in our kitchen cupboard. One evening, I could hear scrabbling and whining from the kitchen and went in to find our spaniel with her head stuck in the f****** thing, trying to pull herself out and choking herself in the process.
All h*** broke loose.
My wife was screaming, trying to stop the dog from choking, and I was panicking, trying to find a saw. I found one and started sawing completely the wrong bit of the wine rack. Then, I got the right bit, and the dog s*** herself, copiously and enthusiastically, all over the floor and us. I slipped in the poo, yanked backward, and snapped the wine rack, and the dog was free.
She then stuck her head straight back in to grab the M&M that she’d been trying to reach and ran off, leaving my wife and me lying on the kitchen floor, crying and covered in dog s***.
I fixed the wine rack.
She did the same thing again a month later.
We got rid of the wine rack.
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Our old man Ollie (17.5) crossed the rainbow bridge a few weeks ago.
We are relieved that he isn’t in any more pain but it’s hard to sit on the couch without carefully moving the blanket he slept under.
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I’m so sorry for your loss. I know how I felt when Usagi and then Pig passed away in the last two years.
Thank you - yes, it’s tough.
He had a seizure at about 6pm while he was in his usual spot under the blanket, so we rushed him to the emergency vet. They did some tests, and by 1pm the next day they were leaning towards letting him come home with some anti-seizure meds… and then he had another one.
Given he was also in advanced kidney failure, we thought it grossly unfair (and let’s be honest, financially irresponsible) to put him through lots of tests and meds just to get an answer that wouldn’t really change anything - so we decided to let him go that evening.
This marks the first time in 17 years that we have been petless. We’ll stay that way until after Christmas at least, when we’re all settled into our new house and the financial dust has settled, and then we like the idea of looking at a pair of Devon littermates…
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It’s always the hardest decision to let them go, but it sounds like you made the right one. His quality of life just wasn’t going to be there. Renal failure is the top reason for older cat deaths. I can’t wait until the shot that’s in development now to prevent that becomes publicly available. Then perhaps more cats would live to see very ripe old ages like Widget.
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I thought about putting this under Web Find of the Day, but figured it went better here. I love these AI videos of Jiji.
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Fluffy’s person was 91 years old, when she suddenly fell ill. Her family was of course worried about her, but also worried about her companion of 9 years. I offered to take the cat in, provided she was spayed and up to date on her vaccinations to protect my current cats, and so, when her person passed away, Fluffy came to live with me.
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These two stories showed up two days apart. I presume this might be fairly common with cats?
About two decades ago, in the mid-2000s, I acquired a young grey tabby tomcat named Max. He was about eight months old and infinitely curious. One thing he was especially curious about was the toilet.
I was young, bohemian, fresh out of college with a teaching degree, and had a beaded curtain as my bathroom door. I had no way to keep the cat out of the bathroom while I was trying to pee. The cat, for his part, thought it was fun getting in the way of my urine stream and forcing me to stop and start again.
Finally, I was fed up, and when the cat tried to get in my way, I didn’t stop peeing and just pissed all over the cat. He didn’t like that at all, and he ran off, splattering pee everywhere that I had to clean up later.
He never got in the way while I was peeing again.
Early the next morning, around 4 AM, two hours before my alarm to get ready for work (I taught math at a nearby grade school), I woke up to warm, wet fluid being sprayed all over my face. The cat, presumably in revenge, sprayed pee all over my face and my pillow.
I never peed on the cat again, either.
I was in my home office working when I suddenly heard my husband yelling in the bathroom.
Husband: “Son of a b***! D***ed cat!”
Me: “What’s wrong?”
My husband comes out holding our cat, his paws wet.
Husband: “This demon-shaped cat has the annoying habit of trying to slap my pee stream whenever I go to the toilet, and today he was successful.”
Me: “Oh?”
Husband: “Yup, so I had to chase after him to wash his paws. So here, grab him so I can clean the bathroom.”
Me: To the cat. “Imhotep, why do you do this?”
Husband: “Wait, he doesn’t do that to you? He has a grudge against me or something?”
Cue me staring at him, trying to phrase my response.
Me: “Honey, think very slowly now. What do I have to do before I pee?”
Husband: “Pull down your pants?”
Me: “After that.”
Husband: “Sit… yeah, now I get it.”
He went to clean the mess, while I laughed at his brain fart and our fur-demon purrs in my lap.
Yes, that is typical cat behviour. Thank goodness it’s not something I have to deal with. They DO come into the bathroom every time I use it, though.
My cat, Usagi, was not happy during the months that we were homeless and living in a tent. She showed her displeasure by peeing on my head when I was asleep. I was up and out of that tent so fast it wasn’t funny. It was not fun washing my hair and pillow at 2AM with a hose.
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