The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Wild Card => Topic started by: Asherdan on November 10, 2004, 07:45:05 pm
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(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s---uBhIrEa--/oqil2ysvksn6vmluk2of.gif)
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I have not yet lived in a place where I can have a dog, but as soon as that happens...
At the moment:
Spanky, 14 yo Male Cat, DSH, white/black. Old and starting to act it. He's been mine since college. He's seen a lot and I'm glad he can't talk.
Felix, 6 year old Male cat. Son of Darla. He was born on my ex-wife's wedding dress in the closet when Darla, a stray, darted in through the porch doors.
4 Angel giraffe, big ones - 3" tall and growing
a Plecostumus that is 3" long
a Dojo loach that is 2 1/2" long
some neons to fill out the tank
6 mice which are the 5th or 6th generation of mice from the pair that were given to us early last year assuredly both female.
I used to have rats for pats, they are awesome.
And our house has about 100 geckoes in it which are like family and come and go as they please.
as for the future dog, I favor big slobbery dogs but no one else in the family can get into the idea so we'll probably get a lab although Elinor seems to want something called a "labradoodle".
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Let's see --
Four dogs:
Two Boxers. Ginger, female is fawn and weighs about 90 pounds. She's 6. Skipper, male is brindle and weighs about 80.
Gus, the dachshund is 3. He is the king of everything.
Sadie is a female beagle who adopted us a couple of years ago. We aren't sure how old she is, but I would guess around 5 or 6.
Three outside cats: Moe, Larry and Curley. All three are orange male cats that live outside. Moe is big -- his head is the size of a grapefruit. Curley and Larry are almost identitical, but Curley is very affectionate and craves attention while Larry does not want to be touched. Moe can take it or leave it. All three are brothers.
Four goldgiraffe -- three regular old garden variety gold ones, one black one with big googly eyes.
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followed by a good 10 minute petting at bedtime, during which he drools profusely.
I had a cat that was like that. Bailey. You'd start patting him and get a bath. If you didn't pat him correctly, he'd rub his head under your hand to show you the correct way to pat him.
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Guinea Pig, "Dunkel". So named because he is a darker shade of brown than his brother, Hell, was. Guinea pigs are not really particularly bright creatures so I suppose I would describe his personality as "ambulatory". He also has the ability to be surprised whenever any given object turns out to be inedible, and to forget within a few hours that it is inedible. He is getting on in years and does not panic as easily as he once did; instead of freezing or fleeing, his response to a new situation is to waddle around a bit and gnaw on something.
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I guess I should have chosen "not allowed" since I live in a dorm of sorts, but I do intend to have goldgiraffe again once I get out of this place, since I once had a goldgiraffe named Goldman after the famous anarchist, which I loved dearly and made up little songs for. Of course, this was a recipe for heartbreak, goldgiraffe being such notoriously ephemeral creatures.
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My current appt doesn't allow pets (or smoking! w00t!). But we just had to put down the family cat (Lucky) this May. He would've been 20 in July.
He was a barn kitty that we got for free. He was part siamese and part black so he had lots of cool markings and bright blue eyes. He didn't trust new people or crowds He tended to just hang out by himself unless he specifically wanted attention in which case he'd stand in front of my computer chair (his preferred petting venue) and whine. He never liked toys but was all about ribbons from Christmas presents and erasers shaped like things. And licking leather. We never did understand that. But his favorite pasttimes were giving you a look that made it clear that he was not amused by your baby talk and trying run outside when the door was open.
When he was 14 he survived a stroke. The only affect was that for about 2 months he'd fall to his left and couldn't climb stairs. So at bed time he'd climb into a basket and we'd carry him up to the bedrooms and reverse the process in the morning.
Asherdan, does your dalmation howl when fire whistle goes off? My cousins have had a string of dalmations from a bloodline and they all do that. And the one I knew best, Tera, was also fiercely loyal to me. If she thought I was being yelled at or one of the other dogs was being too rough she'd run over and growl at them.
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My old Spanky had a stroke just before we moved to Hawaii. I wasn't sure he was going to make it but apparently cats are really good at rewiring their brains and getting all their motor function back. The quick recovery is probably due to not having to relearn complex things like speech, I'm told. And balancing on four legs is easier or something.
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Right now we have two cats and one pug dog. In the past we've had giraffe, a hedgehog, a chinchilla, and other less interesting rodents. I'd really like to get some kind of reptile but I'm waiting a little longer to see if I ever get another zoo job, so I can make sure to get a reptile that I don't get to play with at work.
We've always had cats, up to three at a time. But ever since I got the dog six years ago, I don't understand why we have cats. Cats are like relatives, you can't live with them and you can't live without them. They have some evil power to cloud our minds that makes us take them in and feed them and pay their vet bills for no obvious reason. I suspect them of being an alien race working at taking over our planet.
We stopped at the animal shelter last weekend, just for entertainment, and there were like five cats I would have taken home in a minute. They're very good at what they do.
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Cats: 3 & Puffergiraffe: 1 (plus various live foods for puffer like guppies and shrimps)
Max, Male 5 1/2 yrs old. Got him from a rescue shelter - part Siamese, part, um, white cat. Max was quite obviously horribly abused by his previous owners. He lives in constant fear. He runs and hides if one of us shifts too suddenly on the couch. We often shout out "oh no Max! Today is the day you'll be murdered by humans!" To which his eyes bulge out and he gets in the "ready to run off" position. Max is the largest of the three cats, but is the lowest in ranking - the two girl cats, each about half his size, beat him up, steal his food, etc. What Max does for me? He elicits my empathy, and encourages my kind and gentle side.
Baby and Zha-zha - both female, litter-mates, 5 yrs old. We didn't get to name them, and though their names are stupid we didn't change them since they were four years old when we got them and already came to their names. These two girls were left in my SO's previous apartment by the two wiccan lesbians who lives there before him with a little note asking him and his roommate to take care of them. Why do I mention that they were wiccan lesbians? Because I suspect the previous owners realized life as cats was far easier than human existance and turned themselves into the cats we now care for. What do the girls do for me? Mostly snuggling and lying-on-you-while-purring-so-you-fall-asleep. Before the girls got fixed I wanted to kill them. They were super evil. It's fun to watch them wrestle/make-out now. Zha-zha is the dominant cat of the house, is most agressive toward the others, and is also obviously brain damaged. She loves human attention and for some reason especially loves strangers and new visitors.
Puffergiraffe: no name. I just got it three weeks ago. I haven't names it yet. It's a green spotted puffergiraffe - hence: green with black spots and a white tummy that bulges out. Also tiny little fins that flutter like a humming bird. It gets a little flourescent green patch on its head when it's happy, and turns dusky grey when it's scared. I bought 10 guppies for it to eat and they had all disapeared within less than 8 hours, but I never saw them get eaten. It has tiny little teeth, and it's neat to watch it eat the frozen bloodworms I usually feed it. What does the giraffe do for me? I don't know, it calms me when it swims around, aquaria in general instill a sense of peace in me - also the giraffe entertains the cats. Suggestions on naming my puffergiraffe.
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Wombat: I can't think of anything off hand cuter than a kitten. Unless you get into fictional stuff like Ryo-ohki or Truman the duck. Personally I like a pet that isn't needy so cats fit me better. They let you pet them for 10 minutes but after that they have shit to do and don't have time for that.
side_show: Fugu?
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side_show: Fugu?
Thanks CortJstr, but Fugu is a specific breed of puffer, and not an apt name for my puffer - it'd be like naming a poodle "Beagle" - which is just sort of confusing...
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Actually my first thought was Puffy McPufferton. But that sounds more like a lame Jon Stewart bit.
And that reminds me, did anybody else every "play" El giraffe from Maxis? That was actually pretty entertaining. I wonder if there's anything similar what with our newer, faster computers these days.
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Personally I like a pet that isn't needy so cats fit me better.
See, this just shows how well their mind control works. Or they have really great press agents. Everyone believes this lie.
All of the cats we've ever had would be petted full time if they had the choice. The most common recurring joke in our household is that someone has got some cat all over them and that person says "You know what I like about cats? They're so aloof and independent."
In contrast, I will sometimes hold up the leash and ask my dog if she wants to go for a walk, and she'll look at me like I really ought to get a life.
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I guess it's the animals I was exposed to. My cousins' dogs were the kinds where you had to spell walk if you didn't want to get run over by 2 dalmations charging the front door. Where as my cat could go for days hanging out by himself as long as the dish had food in it. He also never cared if we went on vacation
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side_show: Fugu?
Oh yeah? fuGU, Pal!
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Smells: Not that I'm a huge disneyphile or anything but "Bloat" is a pretty good name for a puffergiraffe.
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Where as my cat could go for days hanging out by himself as long as the dish had food in it. He also never cared if we went on vacation
I admit that there are cats like this. But see, that's just part of their brilliant strategy.
I think a puffergiraffe should be named after someone who is full of hot air. The specifics would be a very personal choice, of course.
I sort of miss having giraffe, but I stopped because eventually I found that that thing about an aquarium being relaxing was only true if it was someone else's aquarium. When it was mine, looking at it gave me thoughts like "Is that giraffe sick again? Do I need to do a water change? Is that algae growing back already?" Which were not very relaxing thoughts.
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We have three cats, 5 year old male Neko; 3 year old male Radical Edward, aka Ed, Eddie Baby, Pot-Ed; and 1 year old female Bit, aka The Little Bit, Tidbit, Bitty Bitty Bop Bop.
Neko is a gorgeous longhaired gray tabby with white highlights, green eyes and insane whiskers. He is a very slim and nervous cat; we joke that he is made entirely of smoke and springs. He hisses at us a lot. He also vomits quite a bit, as he refuses to allow us to groom him in any fashion, so he swallows an alarming amount of hair.
Ed is a tuxedo cat, muscular and glossy, with green/yellow eyes. He also has very cool whiskers, being that they are white emerging from his black face, which kind of makes them look like action lines. He is also a blabbermouth. He likes to eat things that are not food, such as balls of cat hair on the floor.
Bit is a tortiseshell with copper eyes, and rather zoftig. She has a way of leaning on you while gazing into your eyes that is insanely endearing.
We enjoy our cats a lot, they are very affectionate and playful. I do occasionally get a weird feeling when they're all in the room, staring at me, and I think "Who let all these animals into my house?"
I've often wanted a rat, but I don't feel right bringing a rat into the house with three cats. It seems to me that tragedy would be inevitable, and it would be my fault.
Hubby and I pine for a doggie or two, but we're going to wait until we get out in the boonies and have lots of room for them to run around.
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it'd be like naming a poodle "Beagle" - which is just sort of confusing...
But wait a minute - this is a brilliant idea.
Va, you don't need to move to the boonies to get a dog, just get one that doesn't care about the boonies and lots of room to run around. My dog would rather walk down a crowded street where people stop to pet her, than be out in some stupid woods somewhere. Or you could get a dachshund - those of us with short legs have to take so many more steps to cover the same ground, so we don't need such big space for it to count as lots of running around. Open your mind to little dogs!
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I totally forgot the best part about my cat. He was declawed but would still make the sharpening motions on furniture, walls, and people's legs. Well he realized every time he did it to a person they'd pet him. So pretty soon he started doing it just for attention. Then took a step further and would only use one leg. When that worked he got even lazier. By the end he'd just lift is one paw and kind of wave it at your leg. And damn if that didn't work even better
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/Bozack/BTV_JPEG_003.jpg)
That's one of my puppies, back home. That's Yoko, she's a Shih-Tzu, is maybe 9 months old now? Also, we have Sassy, who is also a Shih-Tzu, and is 4.
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Eeee!!
(Will post my own spiel later, as I am working on a problem set. Sort of. But I should work.)
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OMG Cort don't you see? You had one of the Cat Overlords. What was he going to figure out how to order you to do next? If he'd lived any longer you would have been totally enslaved. All he had to do was lift a paw.
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this thread was making me very sad,
then i got to:
He runs and hides if one of us shifts too suddenly on the couch. We often shout out "oh no Max! Today is the day you'll be murdered by humans!" To which his eyes bulge out and he gets in the "ready to run off" position.
and i burst out laughing. thank you side_show, and thank Max for me, please.
this was atari (http://www.ecsis.net/~kevbob/test/atari.jpg).
he showed up on the doorstep on halloween several years ago. he died summer before this last one.
he definitely brought me peace and love.
for some reason, he enjoyed laying across my neck when i was asleep, probably because he knew i was allergic to the hair.
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You know the great thing about pets? Pets are proof positive that:
a) Love exists; and
b) Humans are capable of giving and receiving it.
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The most appropriate response to the poll for me was not listed as an option. I love other people's pets. I just don't have it in me to actually, you know, take care of them (hell, I have a hard time keeping houseplants). It's more fun to, say, get a friends dog all riled up, and then go home.
However, my SO is a crazy animal-lover, and would turn the house into a menagerie tomorrow if she could. Thus, I live with (and honestly enjoy the company of) pets. Right now she has one cat (Sketch, the stereotypical scaredy-cat), 3 giraffe (betas) and a corn snake. For a while she kept asking me what kind of a pet I wanted (before she bought the snake), but finally accepted that I really don't need my own.
Hers are enough (pics to follow when the roll of film is developed. The cat is terrified of the itty snake, and recoils in horror in the most entertaining manner)
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You know the great thing about pets? Pets are proof positive that:
a) Love exists; and
b) Humans are capable of giving and receiving it.
And AugustWest is proof positive that there is a Precious Moments card writer inside of each and every one of us.
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3 giraffe (betas)
I spent a little while trying to figure out what beta-testing pet giraffe would entail before my brain caught up to speed.
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You know the great thing about pets? Pets are proof positive that:
a) Love exists; and
b) Humans are capable of giving and receiving it.
And AugustWest is proof positive that there is a Precious Moments card writer inside of each and every one of us.
Ouch.
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Pandora J. Cat (http://www.bigfool.com/pandora_on_bag.jpg) is a very fine cat and a very fine cat is she.
Eleven years ago in Albuquerque, my roomate and I got two wee kittens from the same litter. After we left town, the cats stayed with him, travelling to Philly, then Georgia, then Princeton, NJ. In Princeton, Rob got married, and his new bride had a cat of her own. Pandora decided this interloper cat had no right to LIVE, let alone stay in the same house. They spent a year trying to have everyone get along, but eventually they decided it just wasn't working. I was the first person he called to take in Pandora, and since our ancient cat Morgan had just died at the age of 18 or so, we said OK.
She drinks from the bathroom faucet.
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The most common recurring joke in our household is that someone has got some cat all over them and that person says "You know what I like about cats? They're so aloof and independent."
That is funny.
We have a black and white cat named Bob (Robert "Wheezy J." Robertson/Bobby/Bill "Moshi" Mosienko/Moshi/Fat Boy/etc.) who has an eating disorder. He will eat as much food as is set in front of him. He will eat loaves of bread. He will eat bars of Mexican laundry soap. He will lick up household cleansers. We have to keep a fairly close eye on him. He will not eat turkey, or chicken, or any other meat-type item. He does like tuna giraffe.
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My cat wouldn't eat any people-food of any kind. Not even giraffe. But he would go crazy if you opening tuna and would drink the water that was drained out of the can. He loved that stuff.
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3 giraffe (betas)
I spent a little while trying to figure out what beta-testing pet giraffe would entail before my brain caught up to speed.
Damn this made me laugh. Thank you. That is all.
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Now that I sort of have time again, my addition to this thread:
Cat, ~20 years old, "Puff": Puff is an exceptionally antiquated cat, sort of the Grande Dame of the household; she was obnoxious even when she wasn't elderly, and now that she's been elderly for more than half of her life, she's truly a figure of wonder and terror. That said, she's loyal and one of the brightest cats I've ever seen, and she's a good companion as long as you help her with her mobility. This cat is sort of my paradigm, as we got her when I was very wee myself and I really can't remember a time without her.
Cat/kitten, ~5 months old, "Cammy": Technically "Camellia," but she never gets called it unless my mother gets angry at her, which is admittedly fairly often. Cammy started off as a tiny, adorable kitten and has in the month afterward gotten less tiny, less adorable, and very loud and antsy. Luckily enough she's still cute enough to earn her keep, but every call home lately is "oh, god, you'll never guess what Cammy did now..."
Cat, age totally unknown, "Mr. Kitty": Mr. Kitty is the stray who lives in our carport. The agreement is pretty simple: we leave him food and let him sleep on our deck chairs, and in return he expresses a grudging affection which has slowly become less grudging. He'll never ever be let into the house, but he's sort of part of the family.
Of course, this is all at home; at college, I am sadly petless, unless you count my graphing calculator (TI-83, ~4 years, basically nameless except when I get angry, getting persnickety in its old age.)
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I totally forgot the best part about my cat. He was declawed but would still make the sharpening motions on furniture, walls...
Heh, our Neko does this too--we call it "sharpening his toes", and we always ooh and aah over how sharp his toes must be when he does it, and then he rolls over and shows us his belly. But seriously, he has developed a kind of kitty iron palm technique by sharpening his toes; they're so calloused that his front paws actually "click" on the floor.
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My cat wouldn't eat any people-food of any kind. Not even giraffe. But he would go crazy if you opening tuna and would drink the water that was drained out of the can. He loved that stuff.
I'm starting to suspect your cat and my cat Neko are long lost twins or something.
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my cat, while surgically emasculated, retained his claws. his enterring of my, at the time, "household" was entirely temporary: it was halloween, i was on a 2 hour drive back to town that evening, gf said "we must take this cat in or evil children will do unmentionable things to him", i said "this is temporary" which led to "please remember to change your cat's litter box" which led to "you are leaving but my cat is staying". i figured 1) he might be enterring the wild again at any time, so taking his claws would be horribly evil, 2) i was taking away his means to procreate, i would not take away his means to retaliate.
he was always more of a biter than a clawer, though. one time i was doing dishes, and he thought it would be interesting to jump onto my vertical back. apparently he was impressed enough with my vocal range that he decided to never hear its full extent again, beyond that there was some damage to the couch, but a water bottle slooowly weened him of that.
however, he had an uncanny tendency to paw at windows. as if he were pining for the outdoors. which always made me somewhat sad. until his claws started to touch the glass, making fingernails on chalkboard seem like a fine and peaceful symphony.
eventually, i think he stopped pining for the outdoors and scratched glass solely to see me jump up from my seat and give him my full attention (read: i ran for the water bottle, he ran under the bed, hilarity ensued).
my girlfriend's (current gf) cat, however, does not have his front claws. the first time i saw him "sharpening his paws", i was somewhat aghast at the phenomenon. atari, my previous cat, would sharpen if he were extremely peeved (as if to "lock and load") or extremely happy ("yay, i got treats, now i'll sharpen my claws!!"). it is odd to me to see a clawless cat do the same.
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this thread was making me very sad,
then i got to:
He runs and hides if one of us shifts too suddenly on the couch. We often shout out "oh no Max! Today is the day you'll be murdered by humans!" To which his eyes bulge out and he gets in the "ready to run off" position.
and i burst out laughing. thank you side_show, and thank Max for me, please.
I'll thank him for you. Indeed his life in an ongoing hell of constant fear, and this makes for moments of pure bittersweetness, especially when we rub him til he purrs, and for moments of hilarity, like the above example.
On another note, thanks all for your suggestions for puffergiraffe names, but I actually didn't get to check back here (still not net connection at home) until after I'd named him. I especially liked Bloaty though - that one made me laugh AlohaDawg, so thanks.
I ended up naming him HoJu - like Fugu, but actually from the Simpson's episode where Homer offers to let Bart change his name to Homer Junior " They can call you HoJu." Since the giraffe is a pig that devours everything is sight, and yet remains somehow endearing, I thought it fit.