Origami Around
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he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
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we're not kids anymore.
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Xuebing Du
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occasionally subtle
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@the-brooklyn-babe
if you're having a bad brain day, would you like to see the least flattering photo of my cat that I have?
FUCK YES! BRING IT!
here he is!
Yes. Perfect. Thank you
Are other additions welcomed?
Please give me as many unflattering photos of cats as possible
I can provide So Many
And for giggles:
Idk what she thought she was doing but it was rude of me to interrupt
Brooke went to the vet today and they said that she weighs just over 8.5 pounds (3.9 kg)! This is a HUGE milestone for my girl because my petite little monster was 14 pounds when I got her. She’s lost a whole lot of weight and it’s been awesome watching her learn what she could do when she started to shed the weight. She went from not being able to lick where her tail met her body to a cat who can groom everywhere. She went from not being able to get onto a windowsill to jumping onto our high counters in a single leap. Yeah, she’s one of the most food-motivated I’ve met so far and still has terrible table manners, but she’s made an enormous amount of progress since I brought her home and I am just so so proud ❤️
More important baking from the Very Important Baker™️ @the-brooklyn-babe
She loves it when we scritch her chest and tummy
She really really wants to lick the plate
She loves to sit on anything you might want to be reading
This is TJ.
TJ was an outdoor cat who lived on our block. This cat was the most affectionate cat I’ve ever seen, and also the most matted. He loved to be pet but was honestly kind of disgusting to touch.
Two years ago, TJ went missing. This isn’t uncommon with outdoor cats, especially in the winter. I was sad but unsurprised at his disappearance. Fast forward to about 6 months later, I ended up talking to TJ’s owner about him, and his story surprised me.
TJ hadn’t been hit by a car or froze to death, but had been picked up by a construction worker working on a house a block away. He saw the friendly, matted cat (with a collar, mind you), and put him in his car and took him home in a town an hour away. He took TJ to the vet because he had bald patches and was matted, and low and behold when the vet scanned for a microchip they found one. They phoned the original owner to let him know where his missing cat was. He ended up letting the construction worker keep TJ because he had already given the cat to his young kids who had renamed it Pumpkin and loved it very much.
The construction worker very well could have refused to take the cat to the vet to get it checked for a microchip, and the original owner never would have known what had happened to him. I’m glad that TJ’s story had a happy ending that many outdoor cats aren’t lucky enough to get.
I’m not here to talk about whether or not it’s ethical to steal someone’s outdoor cat. What I am here to ask is that if you have an outdoor cat, is this a risk you are willing to take?
that’s how my family got our first cat, a beautiful orange giant we named Marmaduke. my sister saw him on the street with matted fur, scooped him up, and carried him home.
I was never entirely sure whether he was abandoned, or whether my sister just kidnapped a neglected cat, but either way Marm was much better off with us.
My cats are outdoor cats and while these stories are very heart warming if you see a collared cat, or a cat that’s a little to friendly towards humans please leave it or get it checked for microchips.
I would hate to lose oliver and mango just cause some kid picked them up and didnt care that they already had a loving home
(Mind you my cats arent matted or anything but still. I’ve had many instances where the neighbors grandkids have taken my Babies hostage)
As long as your cats are outdoor cats, there will unfortunately be the risk of them being picked up by someone else. People see “cute cat outside” and don’t always connect the dots to the fact it might have a family. Or maybe they do realize the cat has a family, but decide to take it anyways because they like the cat (this is particularly the case with purebred outdoor cats).
Like any other property you own, the best way to keep it safe from theft is to keep it secure somewhere. This could be in your house or an outdoor catio. You wouldn’t expect people to not steal your bike if you just left it on your front lawn with a sign saying “owned by _____”. Doubly so if you just left your bike laying in the middle of the sidewalk halfway down the block. So why would it be any different for an unsecured cat?
Theft is something that happens everywhere. A sign isn’t enough to stop people from taking your property.
It is also a very common thing for people to move and leave their indoor/outdoor cats behind. Like… really really common. That’s how I/my family got Puffycat and Amigo.
That’s exactly what happened to my Brooklyn! Her family moved away and just left her outside. While out there, she not only had a litter of kittens but also got one of her arms stuck in her flea collar. The resulting wound on her armpit was so bad that she had to get it stitched closed and she still has a great big scar there.
And that’s not even the worst I’ve seen. Two of my favorite neighborhood cats as a kid randomly went missing and one of them was discovered to have been eaten by a coyote. Another one was found nearly dead in the street from kidney problems that his owner didn’t even know he had, and then got wounded outside and the owner didn’t notice until the wound was infested with maggots and ultimately fatal. My own childhood indoor/outdoor cat drank coolant and I had to watch him puke twenty-eight (28) times before my mom managed to extract herself from work to rush him to the closest vet. I’m so grateful that he lived to be 19.
Now that Brooke is mine, she never, EVER goes outside. I so desperately don’t want to lose her. She loves to look through the windows of our screened in porch but I don’t even let her in there until I check the door to the outside to make sure it’s firmly locked. I love her to bits and I’m glad she’s in my care now (she blossomed into the most loyal cat you’d ever meet) but please please please keep your kitties indoors. They shouldn’t have to suffer like my girl or my neighborhood cats did.
theres just. something so UNBELIEVABLY funny about seeing a cats little paw suddenly explode out of nowhere and whisk around madly before retracting just as quickly
bastard spotted
This is usually one of my pillows, but I suppose I’ll be sleeping on the other side of the bed today
I was messing around in Instgram and accidentally discovered the perfect picture of Brooke’s bliss face
The moment when she realized I was watching
She’s not a lap cat but this is perfect anyway
They’re her boots now
What would be an appropriate response when a cat shows its tummy when cuddling? Ignore them? Touching usually results in getting bit or clawed.
It depends very much on the specific cat, and how much you know about it’s preferences.
A cat you don’t know much about or have an established relationship, ignore.
A cat you’re building a relationship with, maybe lightly try touching nearish the tummy on an area that’s known to be ok, and proceed according to their reaction: if they seem to find it pleasant, move closer to the stomach in small amounts for short durations of contact; if they seem annoyed or start to show signs of getting amped up (emotional arousal), abort.
If you know the cat well, proceed based on that knowledge - but don’t do too much at any one time, or pet vigorously. Overstimulation even from a positive stimulus can cause a cat to bite or swat.
Most importantly, remember that what just because one person can do belly touching with a specific cat doesn’t necessarily mean that cat will tolerate the same interaction from all people. It’s a very relationship-based interaction because it’s a vulnerable area for cats. They have to both trust you and not find the stimulus overwhelming or unpleasant for it to be a positive interaction, and that type of relationship takes time to create.
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Just needed a quick little sheet for my CAT ORACLE. She sits on her ORACLE PAD facing in different directions and I thought it would be funny if each direction had a different meaning
Do you have any advice for training cats? Are there untrainable cats? Particularly I'd like to teach my cat a recall and targeting. Any tips are greatly appreciated, thank you
Despite my best efforts, I haven’t met all the cats in the world yet. By this, I mean I can’t say FOR SURE that every single cat in the world is trainable. But, in my experience, most can learn a few tricks. It’s just a matter of finding what motivates them. Dogs tend to learn quickly because we designed them that way. We bred them to WANT to please us (for the most part; shiba inu may not apply). Cats basically designed themselves. Purebred cats were never really bred for obedience or a desire to learn from humans; we basically bred them for appearances sake, not for a job.
So, to start training your cat, first find a good motivation. For some cats, it’s food. For others, it’s a preferred toy. Others are highly motivated by attention. Most are food motivated, and it’s just a matter of finding their Absolutely Number One Favorite. Fish is a good place to start, unless your cat is on an iodine-restricted diet.
Rub some fish (or whatever food they love) on the end of a target stick (which doesn’t have to be a fancy target stick, tbh; you can use a pen, or pencil, or even your finger, although I don’t advise that last one because cats have very sharp teeth and will try to bite the target at first). When the cat sniffs the stick, immediately reward them with a treat. Once they begin poking their nose (or paw; some cats will paw quickly, otherwise will prefer using their noses) at the target regularly, start attaching a word to it (”Touch!” is my go-to word). Eventually, they’ll realize that the word touch means ‘touch this object’.
From there, you can use the target stick to direct their attention to whatever you want them to touch (like a hand for high-fives). They’ll learn that ‘touch’ means ‘touch this NEW object’. It’s a bit slow, but cats can learn it quite well. This is the technique I generally use to teach cats to give me a high-five— to switch your cat from nosing a target to using their paw, just move the target a bit higher. They’ll naturally want to pull it down to their nose and try reaching it with their paw. Just start rewarding that action.
Recall is easier. Just give them a treat whenever you say their name and pretty soon they think their name means they’re going to get fed.
Tips!
1. Keep sessions short. Cats generally don’t have very long attention spans. They get bored of doing the same thing and will generally wander off after 3-4 minutes, no matter how good the treats are. This is fine.
2. Try to end training sessions on a good note. Your cat has managed to touch the target once? Good enough! That’s an excellent place to stop. You DON’T want to overwork your cat into frustration. If your cat seems frustrated, stop and try some playtime instead.
3. Keep portions in mind. You don’t want to overfeed your cats treats or risk unbalancing their diet.
4. Keep rewards as just that: a reward. You’re going to want to ONLY use these special treats in training sessions to raise their value to the cat.
What I shall soon be doing with the Sundew.
And Shiba Inu are using a feline operating system on canine hardware.
hey I have a cat question! I grew up with cats, and now that I'm out on my own I'm thinking about adopting one or a pair as soon as I can support them. I'd like to try to give a less "adoptable" cat a home, since I've got some experience. So, what kinds of cats tend to get overlooked in shelters? I know black cats and seniors do?
Yup, seniors and black cats. Cats with resting bitch face; cats with missing limbs or eyes; cats that just aren’t that pretty, or have medical issues; cats that hide in the back of their kennels or hiss at people who get too close.
I suggest you tell a shelter worker exactly what you told me, when you go to look. Think about what types of issues your space can accommodate (does it have low/no stairs for arthritic cats, could you set it up for a blind cat to navigate safely) and what accommodations you’re willing to make for personality (will you be okay with a super-shy cat, or one that doesn’t like to be touched) and then give them that info, too. Ask them to point you to an overlooked cat who fits what you’re able to provide - they’ll be happy to help you make a match.
This this this. People are always wanting kittens because they’re cute… but kittens grow out of the utterly adorable phase in just a few months and then they just look like a cat. I’ve also had people point blank ask which kitten will always be healthy.
Anything over 3 years old seems to take much longer to adopt out.
