Ferret's Business

Hello! I'm in my 30's, male, and my pronouns are he/him/himself. You can call me Bluebell, if you want. I work at a cat foster home/boarding facility. I'm partnered with a few rescues and primarily work with kitten social development and behavioral management with adult cats. You can see lots of pictures of cute cats in my 'work' tag. I also reblog a lot of reptile stuff. Well, animal stuff in particular. But reptile stuff in specifics. I'm lucky enough to have 3 leopard geckos (Aurora (W/Y Bell, f), Amp (Hypo, m), and Bantam (W/Y Bell, m), a bearded dragon (Ngarehu), a gargoyle gecko (Theta), and a crested gecko (Twinkie). I also have three cats (Kaylee, Yardstick (yes, THAT Yardstick) and Saia), and a dog (Truffle). They have their own tags. I'm happy to answer questions about reptile care or cat behavioral inquiries! If i can't answer a question, I'll do my best to direct you to someone who can.

[followthebluebell]

ok, new rule. 

I’m no longer going to answer asks along the lines of ‘What do you think about X Youtuber?’

I feel like I’ve already made it clear that I don’t watch ANY pet youtubers.  I don’t WANT to watch any pet youtubers.  I’m not going to watch them just so I can form an opinion on them.  That’s homework and I’ve earned the right to never do homework again.

[nattousan]

"But surely you've at least wanted to try using AI-"

[mckitterick]

Deadly egg recall

The FDA has upgraded an egg recall issued last month to “Class I,” its highest risk level, as it warns the public that consuming the products could cause “serious adverse health consequences or death.”

The recall of 1,589,577 dozen white-shell eggs and brown cage-free shell eggs was initially issued by Midwest Poultry Services in late July, which warned they might be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis.

According to the company, the eggs were produced and distributed from farms in Texas between June 6 and July 3 and have sell-by or best-by dates between July 20 and August 17. The recalled egg cartons have either the code P-1950 or 0840962 and Julian Dates between 157-184.

source: X

[prof-grace-aspen]

Recalled eggs were shipped to foodservice and retail customers in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.  Recalled eggs were available to consumers at Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana; Brookshire Grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and other smaller retail and foodservice outlets in these states plus Mississippi and New Mexico.

Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and New Mexico are the currently affected states.

[farm-paws]

Beastie

[followthebluebell]

Hello Bluebell! I hope Yardstick is feeling better

(if he isn't you might want to ignore this ask, I completely understand if I don't see it answered)

You posted before about a QOL survey thingy for knowing when the time to say goodbye comes, my little girl was just diagnosed with heart failure (HCM but she doesn't seem to be in full failure yet, I don't think; the vet has talked to me about it but I was overwhelmed and didn't think to ask what stage / how long do they think she has left, she's not in pain thank god)

I know how quickly cats can go down; it's been just over a week since the diagnosis and i know I need to set those QOL markers while I still can face it, knowing it could be months to years away

I will be discussing this with her vet on Friday too

Thank you for all your advice over the years, you have helped made her life a lot better since I took her in ❤️

Thank you for thinking of my boy. We've had some good days. We've had some very bad days.

My most simple QOL check is to ask myself what my pet's five favorite things are. When they can no longer do three out of five of those things, it's time for that final vet visit. I don't want the last day of their lives to be the worst day of their lives. I feel like this works best for chronic diseases like renal failure or cancer, where there's a slower decline.

For HCM in particular, you'll want to look for rapid breathing (over 40 breaths per minute), labored breathing, lethargy, and a drop in appetite. You'll also want to watch for labored movement--- is your cat stopping to rest frequently? Have they lost interest in food? Are they hiding all the time?

Laps of Love has a really good assessment.

I think it's also important to consider the human element too. Caring for a chronically ill pet (especially one with a timeline) is incredibly stressful. Are YOU worrying about staying away for more than a few hours at a time? Are YOU losing sleep because you're afraid you'll wake up to your deceased pet? I don't think quality of life is only about the pet's life; it's your life too and that needs to be weighed in the balance.

[followthebluebell]

Should I try to discourage my adult cat's suckling?

Tapioca is three years old and has what I call "cloth mother", a fluffy leopard print house coat she likes to sleep in.

She sleeps in it, kneads it, and occasionally suckles it. Its the only thing she'll suckle, she​'s never done it to anyone or anything else the entire time ive had her.

I dont want to take it away from her, but I've seen people say its unhealthy for grown cats to still be suckling at all

nah, let her be. It's harmless.

[felinefractious]

[Image Source]

Clinical, Histopathological and Genetic Features of a Cutaneous Adnexal Polycystic Syndrome in Lykoi Cats: A Prospective Study of 10 Cases

Objectives

The Lykoi is a recently recognised feline breed with a unique coat phenotype caused by six variants of the Hairless (HR) gene. A specific severe cutaneous comedonal syndrome has been reported in this breed. The aim of the study was to carry out a clinical, histopathological and genetic characterisation of this syndrome.

Methods

Prospective data collection included clinical evaluation, skin biopsies for histopathology, trichoscopic examination of hair shafts, blood sampling for haematology and biochemistry, cutaneous swabs for bacteriological culture, and buccal swabs for DNA extraction and genotyping.

Results

In total, 11 privately owned Lykoi cats were enrolled, including those with varying degrees of skin involvement and one healthy cat. Cats were aged 1.5–7 years at the time of diagnosis. Clinical presentation was characterised by papular lesions and comedones, ranging from severe generalised forms (n = 6/10) to moderate regional forms (n = 2/10) and to mild scattered forms (n = 2/10). Histopathological lesions from skin biopsies revealed infundibular follicular cysts (n = 9/10), sebaceous gland (duct) cysts (n = 10/10) and sweat gland cysts (n = 5/10). Genetic analysis identified 5/6 described HR variants among the 10 affected Lykoi and the control Lykoi.

Conclusions and Relevance

This cutaneous syndrome shows a variable clinical severity that is not fully explained by genotype alone. The consistent presence of cysts from all three adnexal structures, even in clinically unaffected skin, supports the recognition of a novel skin condition, which we propose to name cutaneous adnexal polycystic syndrome (CAPS) in Lykoi cats. Further research is needed to elucidate its pathogenesis.

>>[Read Full Study]<<

I strongly encourage you to read the full study, it’s extremely interesting - although be warned, it does have visuals.

I’ve talked about the Lykoi breed before and I’m glad they’re finally getting more attention, I hope further research is done into CAPS.

Something I thought was interesting was how the asymptomatic Lykoi had an isolated sebaceous duct cyst, she is 3y at the time the sample was collected and the most common age of symptom onset appears to be 3.5y - 4y.

Will she still be subclinical a year from the study?

[punishedsaints]

[dontbelasagnax]

Mentioned to my mom I'm asexual a couple months ago and today.... we got into the car and she hit me with, "So you use they/them pronouns now?"

I went, "What. no. she/her."

"How does that work? With she/her/hers and they/them?"

I stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Well you came out as-" and I said, "I'm asexual."

She replied, "Like an amoeba, I know."

"Oh. My god. No. Mom. It doesn't- it's not the asexual you learned about in biology. I didn't come out as a single celled organism."

With heavy relief, she said "Oh, it has a different meaning?"

"Yes, mom."

[savetheworldkissaplushie]

[terrierthing]

normal noises for an animal to make

[bees-with-swords]

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

[hearnoweevil]

Last year I finally had an excuse to illustrate this simple little Tumblr story I've had bookmarked forever for class.

I hope you like it :]

[followthebluebell]

Norbert is very happy about his sweater today.

[followthebluebell]

The very shy Scottish straight (named Oreo, btw, evidently by someone who has never seen one) is making very good progress. He meowed at me today and ate churu from a bowl. He even headbutted my hand.

[kay-outside]

Sooooo spooky 😱

[seungkw1]

"mOnEy WoN't SoLvE aLL yOuR pRoBLeMs" speak for urself $5000 would heal me

[khayr]

coworker adopted this incredible little creature this past week. just look at him.

[tiktoksthataregood-ish]

[pantheratigrisaltaica]

for those curious, this is joanne, a 15-year-old sumatran tiger currently living at phoenix zoo. it's very sweet to see her playing and tumbling around like this at her age -- she's got some people taking care of her if she still has this energy at that age.

i did see some users in the notes who were concerned about her looking 'scrawny', or wondering if she's maybe a juvenile -- far from it! at 15, joanne is very much considered a geriatric tiger; she's a grandma. she is, however, a sumatran tiger (panthera tigris sumatrae) -- sumatrans are the smallest extant subspecies of tiger, built more for the sweltering jungles of sumatra than the blistering cold of the amur river or the dense forests and mangrove swamps of south asia.

when you're used to seeing amur or amur-bengal hybrid ('generic') tigers on television or online, most of which are often overfed and overweight, a sumatran is going to look a bit weird, but joanne looks to be in wonderful shape -- look at those muscles flex and that coat shimmer when she moves! that's a healthy old lady for sure. props to joanne's keepers for taking such good care of her.