Past me is going to be pissed!
I think that must have been a thing in the early 80s, cause there is a pic of me and my sister, taken at the local mall, with I think it was lion cubs or some such. I was like 3 or 4, I think.
3 Likes
Thatās shopped! I can tell by the pixels! 
2 Likes
Man, Stick Figure Heisenberg is mean.
1 Like
Lynx baiting is better than Marten-baiting
3 Likes
True storyā¦
When I was still in a scout platoon back in the good old days, we had a tribe of raccoons come through our camp one night. They evaded the watch, climbed through hatches on HUMVEEās and stole MREās, t-shirts, tins of chew and even an SOI code book.
I ran into one of them while on watch. It was in a clump of bushes, and not knowing what it was in the dark I tried to do sign\counter sign. Not getting an answer, I advanced, and its counter sign was bared teeth and hissing.
We searched the next morning for the SOI which we think they took because one of the guys had spilled some food on it, but only found an empty husk of an MRE with a huge pile or racoon shit next to it.
After that a mythology started up with them stealing radios and redirecting log packs into ambushes to steal supplies.
15 Likes
Ditto ā I feel sorry for the lynx. Why are stupid people doing stupid things like this? Cause theyāre stupid?
But Iāve seen a regular house cat who was as scary, if you proportion to size. Made about the same sounds but higher in pitch. Fortunately he liked his family, just not visitors.
2 Likes
Clicking ālikeā is not enough. I snorted out loud. 
2 Likes
Yes!!! Everyone, please go to a shelter!!!
One of the recent new ābreedsā doesnāt have great genetics either. The idiots who bred the Munchkin cat, which has very short legs, are selling a cat with genetic defects. If you breed a Munchkin with another Munchkin, the kittens donāt survive. You only get more live Munchkins if you breed one with a normal cat. Itās a dominant gene with bad effects.
4 Likes
The Martinās cousin seems quite lovableā¦
Who wants some wolverine kisses?
3 Likes
I think if they are raised from kittenhood with a lot of affection and handling, cats can be as tame as dogs. Of course they will defend themselves if threatened, but then so will humans. And their idea of play can include their claws and teeth, but it neednāt be dangerous. Humans need to follow some rules.
One of our cats (may she RIP) bit or clawed me only a few times over her 12 1/2 years, if I happened to scratch her belly too much (ordinarily she liked it). She would switch to predator mode and try to rake or nibble, possibly due to being ticklish. But she sat on my lap, liked to be picked up and held, purred easily, and basically loved attention. She followed me around, not quite like a dog, but close.
That said, are male cat is sort of like that lynx, only smaller, and a little less deadly. Though he can be very sweet too when he wants to be.
1 Like
Iāve had some pretty bad cat scratches in my years with cats. They were basically always unintentional, though, like two cats are playing and running around the house, and one of them decides to use my face as a springboard. Oops! Those back claws are sturdy and foreheads bleed a lot!
Training them that itās cool to climb up a blanket, but bad to climb up my legs, that sometimes takes a little while. My little guy, Manny Pearl about 4 months old, has finally figured that one out, I think.
1 Like
Not our kitty. He chases daddy long legs, but he will not touch them or rip them apart. I think a rat would scare the hell out of him.
But I also think if we were to die in our sleep, heād have no problem feasting on us. And as such, weāve formally given him permission to do so. 
3 Likes
Three of our four* cats never bit or scratched us, but one of the three bit the hell out of our pitbull (who had the great idea to catch him by his stomach). The dog ended up going to the vet for treatment and she afterwards gave a wide berth to all of her feline counterparts.
Weāve been lucky with our cats and their collective behavior despite our transgression in giving a dog a home. They all were affectionate and seemed happy. (We miss the three cats and our dog.)
*The fourth just bit me a couple of weeks ago after 15 years. I mean, he just sunk in his chompers in my chin. I think he was hungry and his blood sugar was low.
3 Likes
I obviously appreciate how stupid it is to try and keep a wild cat as a pet, but I feel exactly the same way about them as Archer.
3 Likes
So how long did it take the wolverine to claw through the guyās jugular and start to consume his entrails? 5 min, 10?
3 Likes
Things donāt end well for the cat.
2 Likes
Generally speaking, the best way to lower the birth rate is to improve the prosperity and stability of daily life. This is often associated with (1) establishing a rule of law that protects the rights of women and of religious and ethnic minorities and of political opposition and (2) improving the availability of affordable electricity, which in turn makes possible better water supplies and sanitation, and also enables people to make a living at other than subsistence agriculture. Iām in favor of both those things, the question is how to produce them.
6 Likes
The only serious bite Iāve had from the dozens of cats I know, one that broke the skin, was totally my fault. I put my arm between two fighting cats. Stupid. But I was worried about the cat who bit me by accident, she has crippled back legs, and was fighting with a mean cat my sister owned. Man she felt guilty. She wouldnāt look me in the face for hours and didnāt want me to touch her, but followed me around everywhere to make sure I was ok.
Re: cat and pet personality. A lot of it depends on the animal, but I think a lot of also depends on the human. How you raise and treat a pet has a huge impact on which parts of their personality end up more dominant and which parts show up occasionaly. Our most recent feline acquisition (who acquired us by trying to follow us out of the room where his enclosure was in the shelter) is extremely high energy and enthusiastic. But we made a big effort to discourage use of his claws when playing with the other cats, give him lots of constructive play and attention, and provide many toys for him to play with. We also never ever used our body parts as play things. Heās a sweet and mostly gentle cat now, though sometimes he forgets that socks have feet inside them sometimes. He doesnāt claw bare body parts, because heās learned those are not things to play with. If we hadnāt made such an effort, a high energy guy like him, 16 pounds of muscle, could have been a really trying cat to live with. His companion cats also helped by providing him with an example of the kinds of behavior that got rewarded with affection and which got dirty looks and possibly a spray of water.
By contrast, one of our other cats has security issues surrounding food. Itās a part of her personality we just canāt change. She has to be fed like 6 times a day, even if itās just a few kibbles in the dry food bowl. We also canāt let the kibble bucket (which is clear for this very reason) get empty. It causes her anxiety if the kibble storage thing is empty or if we donāt go with her to the food bowl 6 or more times a day. Iām not sure why she has this quirk. I adopted her at 12 weeks and in all our 16 years together, she has never gone without food but this hasnāt changed. Maybe she was starved before she came to own me. For her, the act of being fed is proof we love her. So we just live with it. Some things about a pet you just canāt change.
7 Likes
One of our cats wonāt go out onto the balcony. The wind once ruffled his magnificent mane and now heās afraid of the wind. He will sit by a door or window screen but run away if air blows inside. Strangly, he has no issues with fans.
15 pound majestic looking main coon mix and heās afraid of the wind. Heās also afraid of thunder.
6 Likes
