In case you haven’t noticed, I am kind of burnt out and have been slacking. Too much going on and too much to do, plus kind of blogged out after the inaugural burst. At any rate, pets:
Remember that awesome video a while back of the dog on the water slide while the owner was away? I also really like cats that look like lions, for whatever reason. I also almost forgot, I am thinking about adopting a 3 year old cat who needs a home. He has been de-clawed (something I would never do), so I think I will wait awhile since I know those probably go pretty quick, and I will just pick up someone else if he is not around in a week.
PS- No, I don’t have an opinion about the stupid damned NY Post chimpanzee cartoon. I simply don’t care. Don’t buy the NY Post if it pisses you off.
Danton
Remember that awesome video a while back of the dog on the water slide while the owner was away?
Yes. Yes I do.
Stuck
Same here, but just received two BSG discs from Netflix, each with 4 episodes from season 2 I have never seen.
Henceforth, I will be spending the evening with my gurl hero Starbuck, and the rest of the wandering human persons and the crazy ass toasters. Best line evah from last disc: by Starbuck – "Bitch stole my ride" hey!
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
I guess this was the logical next step to the congressional republicans saying no to the stimulus bill.
Republican governors thinking about refusing stimulus money
FoxinSocks
Adopt! Adopt! I do pet rescue and with this economy, it’s so hard to find animals homes. And if someone adopts the cat before you do, I have a lion-like creamsicle kitty who could use a home. Total sweetie, former barn cat who was going to be shot. Name’s Leo.
And yes, I am a crazy cat lady. :)
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Can’t Tunch buy his own snacks?
SRSLY — it’s great that you’re considering adopting another cat. Do it! I think Tunch just might enjoy the company too, although if my experience is anything to go by, getting a spayed female might be a better fit. Same-sex cats tend to have a harder time getting along.
John Cole
@Gordon, The Big Express Engine: Let them. Let the voters in their states sort it out.
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: Maybe a girl would be better.
Ed Marshall
This is funny as hell.
Gus
I’m burnt, too. I think it’s this fucking endless winter. I’m so ready for spring. Oh, and adopt that kitty!
valdivia
I have two boy cats, and they get along great, but they were adopted together when they were kittens. So yes adopt, adopt.
gbear
Umm, won’t they need to be placed in protective custody if they do that?
ksmiami
Maybe it’s time for another John Cole recipe entry???
Joshua Norton
Adopt 8 cats. Octuplets seem to be the way to go this season.
John Cole
If I were to discuss something substantial in a post today, I would ask this question:
“Why do the lenders need to be enticed into re-writing loans? Isn’t it in their best damned interest right now to have people paying back loans, even if it isn’t what they had initially negotiated?”
Fern
Is Tunch declawed? Because the process of introducing a declawed cat to a cat that has claws on that cat’s own turf might be … eventful.
gbear
You sound like my sister.
I’ve got two adopted kitties, both Torts. One was 6yo when I got her and then three months later I got an itty bitty one. That was 8 years ago. I’m going to agree with the ‘no same-sex’ advice. I’ve got two girls. They hardly ever fight but they’re rarely the best of buddies either.
Martin
Please do. And refuse any federal funding beyond what your state pays in taxes. CA pays about $45B more in federal taxes than it receives in benefits. And whaddya know, that’s exactly what we need to fix our state deficit! Can we keep our tax dollars please since you asshats keep banging the table on that?
Litlebritdifrnt
I have boyz who get along just fine, fixed and unfixed so who knows (see previous thread about the new one that I appear to have acquired) I am with you John I has a sad, and I mean that literally SAD is kicking my arse right now and I long for the early days of spring when I can get out into my garden and start doing stuff and feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. I HATE the fact that it is almost dark when I go to work and dark by the time I get home. The sooner spring gets here the better. I went out last weekend and planted my late winter vegetable garden (in the rain and cold), I planted three rows of onion sets (red, white and yellow) I went out to check the other day and the kittehs had dug up EVERY LAST ONE and thrown them all about. I swear there were only about three left in situ. "WHOOOOO LOOK WHAT SHE DID SHE PLANTED THESE COLOURED BALLS IN THE GROUND FOR US TO PLAY WITH"
Meh.
gnomedad
Adding a new cat is always a crap shoot. We added a declawed (not by us!) male and the established (clawed) male mostly ignores him. Very occasionally there are shouting matches. YMMV.
John Cole
@Fern: Tunch has his claws. I would never do that.
RoonieRoo
I wouldn’t worry about gender. I’ve had every possible combo of "getting along" or hating each other in our cat household. Granted, I have more consistently had the boys get along best with each other and the girls just tolerate everyone else. All boys is usually my best harmony but when the cat was neutered has played a role in our herd. The younger they were neutered the higher the harmony with each other.
But, I would still ignore gender and concentrate on a good personality match for Tunch. Just know that the first couple of months they will fight and hiss and scream and just be patient as it will work out. They will sort out their pecking order just fine.
Litlebritdifrnt
@John Cole:
John strange story. I have a loan with American General Finance. December I did not make the payment for various reasons (not least of which was having to bail youngest step-daughter out of jail for charges brought against her by oldest step-daughter – long story, don’t ask) anyhoo. End of Jan I made one and a half payments, with intention to make another one and a half payment at the end of Feb. Today I got a call at work. Heart sank, thinking damn they are gonna be wanting money. Nope. The girl was so nice, she said "we were just calling to see if you wanted more money, you have paid down the loan and we can get you more money if you need it" I was thinking WTF? I thought people were not loaning, and yet they are willing to loan MORE to me even though I am half a payment behind. Very strange.
Fern
@gnomedad:
True – I have twice had to make other arrangements for cats that I simply could not integrate with the others.
srv
Not as funny as the Iraqi PE video, but five minutes of an Army Soldier motivating the IP with as many explicatives as he can muster.
h/t defensetech
Litlebritdifrnt
BTW the first kitteh in this post looks just like my Arnamade.
bago
slag
I know I’m generalizing, but I have to say: You must have been a horrible Republican.
gbear
1. They’ll have to talk to the home owner rather than just sending notices.
2. They’ll have to justifying the terms of the new loan to their dickheaded managers and supervisors.
3. There won’t be an opportunity to try to sell them a bigger loan or any sort of equity products.
They’re not just going to do all that for free…
Stuck
@John Cole:
The way it was explained to me once, is that they would rather take the immediate charge -off from a defaulted loan on their taxes, than have the loan payed back with lowered payments over a longer time. Solution- change the tax codes to make it hard to charge off when the borrower is willing to make lower payments they can afford.
**I swear to God I don’t know how that strike appeared. Ignore it please. WordPress insane
Litlebritdifrnt
@slag:
declawing a cat is akin to hobbling a ballet dancer. It is abuse, pure and simple, it is now outlawed in the UK thank god.
bago
Ok, fine then.
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/comedy-goldmine/wake-your-cat.php
URL without decoration.
slag
@Litlebritdifrnt: Agreed. And Republicans aren’t exactly known for concerning themselves with such things.
Fern
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Has that had the effect of reducing the numbers of cats adopted?
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@John Cole: The loan on the books has an asset value which comprises part of the bank’s capital base. If you restructure the loan so it is worth less to the bank (by the lowering the interest rate for example), then you have to write-down the asset. If you do that enough times, then you bump up against the capital adequacy ratios and require a capital infusion from somewhere (likely the govt now as that is the last resort).
The banks are walking a fine line between keeping loan service ongoing at "current" asset levels, providing relief to people who need it and maintaining the minimum capital ratios required by the Fed.
This is happening on the corp level as well. Company runs into trouble, needs structural loan relief and if it gets bad enough, the banks have to take a reserve which hits the capital base as a partial write-off. I believe that S&P is forecasting that default rates on corporate debt will hit double digits. If so, expect more pain in the banking sector.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
Stuck hit on other legit reasons as well.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Fern:
I don’t believe so, I believe that anyone that would adopt a cat would not discriminate because the poor cat has been abused by a previous owner. Most cat lovers (me included) have rather more affection for their cats than they do for their couches (and you would only have to see my couches to understand that) anyone who is more concerned about their couch that they would have their cat declawed has NO FUCKING BUSINESS owning a cat. Cats and dogs break stuff, it is the nature of the beast so to speak. Damn, the bottom spindle of my staircase is about the width of a matchstick right now cause two of my cats insist on using it as a scratching post. Oh well I’ll replace the spindle at some point.
For a perfect example of this see any of the Simon’s Cat cartoons on Youtube, the cartoon is drawn by a true cat lover, look at the bed, look at the couch, they are scratched all to hell, pet lovers just live with the fact that everything is going to be scratched all to hell (cats) or chewed all to hell (dogs).
Annie
Definately get another cat — a kitten. It’s good for Tunch to have a friend, particularly when you are not home.
After 5 years, we got a kitten for our first monster cat. She spent the first month trying to kill him (she is a street cat we rescued in Sarajevo after the war, so she has street instincts), and he is a "pet store cat" (with absolutely no street instincts, although he had enough instinct to hide when she was trying to kill him!).
After 5 years, they still fight (he has gotten quite possessive of me lately), but at times they do sleep together and share kisses the first thing in the morning, before they go to their respective kitchen corners.
I think, all in all, they are happier having each other, particularly when we are gone all day — I see evidence of playing when the area rugs are suddenly in different rooms.
Go for it, and let us know how Tunch is coping. Tell Tunch to email his side, so we get the full picture.
Brick Oven Bill
Smart meters suck. The reason smart meters suck is because I lived through the birth and childhood of a new government from a highly personal perspective. Everything is well intentioned at the beginning.
Although my thermostat is set low, my government should not have the ability to know my thermostat settings and monitor my energy usage patterns. It disturbs me that the modern left is not willing to challenge this or the electrification of personal medical information.
Those people in Boulder are easily led.
gbear
One of my cats was declawed when I got her, only weighs about 7 pounds, only has 1/3 her teeth left and is now about 14 years old. The other is 8 years old, 15 pounds, has all of her claws and teeth. Guess which one rules the house? (clue: she’s a pushy little thang)
I am lucky that the big kitty with claws has ripped 3 scratching posts to absolute shreads but doesn’t care about furniture or stereo speakers at all. It only took a little cajoling to convince her that it was her idea all along.
Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
The electrified trains MUST run on time, BoB. you of all people should know that. And BTW, since Obama plans to adopt Bush’s policies, I wouldn’t say anything important on the telephone.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
BOB is Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues right about now…
Litlebritdifrnt
Speaking of pets we are having a thunderstorm right now so Lucky (my black lab/cocker spaniel cross) is sat in my lap with his head under my armpit shaking like a leaf.
PS) this is Lucky btw, he is a little more grey right now, this shot was taken about a year ago. He is 13.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/MsNick40/Pets%20and%20miscellaneous/DSC01586.jpg
srv
What the hell happened with the Blog Amnesty roll? Did it come and go?
Nicole
All I know is Lost seriously sucked tonight. I am chagrined.
Phoenix Woman
John, I know the feeling about feeling burnt out. ((((hug))))
Thanks for the pet pix!
Cain
@slag:
It must have been awkward at Republican gatherings when they talk about the music they like and John says he liked the Grateful Dead and played with barbies.
:-)
cain
Litlebritdifrnt
damn the edit time limit
this is Lucky he is a little more gray right now, this shot was taken last year, he is now 13
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/MsNick40/Pets%20and%20miscellaneous/DSC01586.jpg
Cain
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I put out scratch toys out for my cats to use. But my older cat likes to use our chair, and he knows he’s doing something wrong. He does it so that I would kick him out eg if he’s obnoxious I’d kick him out. Smart bastard. I’m not sure how to stop him of the habit. I usually threaten to spray him with a water bottle (I never do.. but just pointing it at him is enough to get him to stop)
cain
valdivia
Nicole–I watched Lost and the one thing that got me was Ben reading Ulysses on the plane. But I am interested to know why you thought it sucked?
Indylib
Please tell me that because Sebelius is currently serving in office her family taxes have been vetted.
AhabTRuler
@FoxinSocks: I was at one of the big box pet stores this weekend, and there were many kitties that needed homes. Momo came close to having a new friend, but it is too soon and we are too poor.
@Cain: She’s also been pretty good, so far, about using the ROUS for her clawing needs. Hopefully that will continue.
burnspbesq
Listening to Jane Mayer talk about the al-Marri case and the Office of Professional Responsibility report on Yoo et al. Worth a listen.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100809161
Cain
This is snickers, our second cat. The headlines on the paper was by accident, but I thought it was appropriate.
snickers
She’s a cutie.
cain
Delia
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Aw . . . . what a sweetie. Hope my Pippin makes it to that age in good health.
AhabTRuler
Britty & Cain: What sweeties.
Wayne
Bob the water dog makes the big time. He lives for the pool and riding in my truck.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cain:
I am afraid that I am a total member of staff when it comes to the cats…, whatever they feel inclined to do, is good with me. I do get pissed off when they barf up a hairball on something but then again I think of the cats I have lost and think that I would pay to get them back to barf up just one more hairball. I have some old girls right now, Lari is 13 and Alpha is 12, I tend to give them all sorts of leeway seeing as they are not going to be with me forever, and every little minute I spend with them is precious, particularly Alpha who has gone through more than you would ever believe
http://crittersbybritty.blogstream.com/v1/date/200610.html
Third post down "does anyone else have a cat like this"
Martin
BOB,
It’s all a liberal plot to reduce global warming by turning off your heat in winter. And what happened to the tractors? I thought we were supposed to monitor our tractors, not our thermostats. You’re getting off message…
And how would they know your thermostat setting? All it does is radio back your meter setting and usage rate (I have one). Among other things, it allows them to not hire a little man to visit your house each month and we get a discount on our rate for having it. If we keep usage during energy spikes below a certain level, we get a further discount.
Anyone want to take odds that BOBs house isn’t even heated by electricity, and so even if they could read his thermostat it wouldn’t mean a goddamn thing?
Indylib
I wish I could adopt another kitteh, my overly-chubby 5 yr old male could use a playmate (we have a dog, but they don’t acknowledge each other’s existence), but it’s already hell to move 2 pets every 3 yrs, I honestly can’t see adding another one. Anybody in the Milwaukee/Chicago corridor want 2 large goldfish, a huge plecostomus and a kuli loach? I’ll never be able to move a damned aquarium and fish and expect them to survive.
valdivia
@burnspbesq:
thanks for that link, I respect Mayer a lot.
Brian J
It sucks to be a person in a state where the governor might turn down money to help the state meet its needs during a tough time, but I’d almost rather them actually do it if they are going to bash the stimulus so thoroughly. By acting like it’s the worst thing ever but then still accepting the money, they get to have it both ways, much like the congressional Republicans who are actually cheering on spending for their districts that they voted against. The provision that Clyburn inserted may have the effect of letting them get away with this nonsense, unfortunately.
You know, I don’t agree with a lot of what these people are saying, but there is a legitimate case against the stimulus, and assuming that some Republicans, somewhere, are using at least part of that argument, I can respect ideological disagreements. But it’s beyond frustrating that they can try to have it both ways, so I hope the DCCC, DNC, DSCC, and the Obama administration all remind the constituents of these people that they actively worked against helping them. It’s only fair.
Bob In Pacifica
No pictures of pet chimps chewing faces?
Brian J
I caught a little something on NPR where they had two (conservative?) economics professors, a bankruptcy attorney from Legal Aid in Florida, and an economics writer from BusinessWeek on, discussing the different facets of any sort of program to help homeowners. I understood a pretty decent amount of what they were talking about, even if I don’t come away nearly as informed as I would like, but one thing is definitely clear, as if it wasn’t already: this is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Leaving aside the question of what makes economic sense, there looks to be a huge number of legal questions involving who owns what, who is responsible for what parts of sliced up securities, and how anybody can be forced to do anything.
Anyway, I’ve often wondered the same thing, and based on what reading I’ve done about this, the answer seems to be that if it made sense to rewrite the loans, the banks probably would have done that already.
burnspbesq
@valdivia:
The frustrating thing about the al-Marri case – well, one of the many frustrating things about the al-Marri case – is that by all accounts, he was quite likely to be convicted on the original criminal charges, and spend a reasonably long time in a maximum-security Federal prision. WTF were the Bushies thinking about when they yanked him out of that situation and made him a test case?
gwangung
Y’all assume they WERE thinking, instead of indulging in casual sadism….
valdivia
@burnspbesq:
what they were always thinking? that rule of law is for wimps and that the whole construction of the War on Terror would not have any credibility if this case was successfully tried in criminal court? and yes–absolutely infuriating.
burnspbesq
@Brian J:
Except that one the loans have been securitized, the banks don’t care – they are out of the deal, unless they have retained the servicing (which, BTW, is incredibly profitable if one has enough volume to take advantages of economies of scale). If all you have left is the servicing, you are largely indifferent to what happens to the loan – you just keep spitting out statements and collecting 25 basis points (on the original loan amount) a year as a fee for a service that costs about six basis points to perform.
burnspbesq
@gwangung:
Point taken.
ChrisB
John,
I watched WV beat Notre Dame tonight. WV was much more athletic (not saying much against ND, I know) and Ruoff had a great shooting night. They looked pretty good.
Brick Oven Bill
Oil heat does not work without electricity. This I learned this winter during an ice storm. Any basic meter could be made to monitor burner on time. Utility easements could be used for retrofits. This access has been granted on subdivision maps and could be legislated for the rest of us.
Do not confuse freedom with indiscipline. The trains can and should run on time. Discipline good. Amtrak bad. Obama is rewarding Amtrak.
Those who talk of gun control, or the fairness doctrine, or FCC appointees making administrative changes, or electronic medical records, are liberals, not to be confused with Liberals, the ones I respect.
gnomedad
@burnspbesq:
If criminal prosecution actually worked, it would undermine their clash of civilizations narrative.
Well, yeah, that too.
Brick Oven Bill
You are the one getting confused Martin. Tractors have very little to do with global warming. Tractors are responsible for female voting rights, and these fruits of their empowerment.
burnspbesq
@gnomedad:
Worked pretty well on Ramzi Yousef, IIRC. Life in the Federal Supermax in Colorado.
South of I-10
Re: Republican Govs not taking stimulus money: it’s not up to them, that’s the legislature’s responsibility, at least in LA. The rest is posturing.
All of you seem to be in need of a Border Collie who has made it her job to keep cats from scratching furniture. I fussed at the cat about 3 times in front of the dog and she took over. What, you’ve never seen a border collie herd a cat before? I highly recommend it.
gnomedad
Sometimes B. O. Bill sounds like James "Connections" Burke on a bender.
Brian J
@burnspbesq:
The discussion went on for at least fifteen to twenty minutes, and had started before I began listening in, so it’s very possible they were talking about a few different things. Needless to say, I am just not sure, so they were either talking about a bunch of stuff and/or I don’t understand this entirely.
Are you familiar with any sites that explain this process in more detail, for an outsider like me? A few of the economics books I’ve been reading seem to go into something about it, but I’m specifically curious about the process of securitization and what happens when things go bad. There once was a blog that someone recommended, but like an idiot, I forgot to bookmark it.
gbear
Tim Pawlenty was on Rachel Maddow last night representing conservative governors’ use of the stimulus money. When I saw his face on the screen and heard him start talking (by telling Rachel that she was ‘funny’) I could tell that my monitor was in imminent danger of severe damage and I shut the program off. Does anyone know what smarmy hypocrite TPaw said? I really can’t watch him.
edit:
Video please oh please.
burnspbesq
@Brian J:
This is probably as good a place as any to start, unless you have access to continuing legal education materials from someplace like PLI.
http://www.vinodkothari.com/secart.htm
Nicole
@valdivia: Well, I feel about tonight’s episode the way I felt about last week’s BSG- you know, I’m fine knowing the Cylons have a plan; I really don’t want to know what the plan is. Whenever shows go all explainy explainy it gets really boring. Too much talky tonight. And I thought all the talky was lazy writing- Jack’s totally good with taking a complete stranger’s advice about hopping on a plane to get magically back onto a time-shifting island, but bringing along his dead dad’s shoes? That’s just crazy and by God, he’s going to take 15 minutes agonizing about how crazy it is! Just pack the damn shoes already and why the hell was your grandfather even there? And what? Jack has a grandfather? And why the hell did he have the shoes?
And the big cliffhanger is Jin driving the VW van? Really? Really?
And all of next week is apparently "Omigawd! Why Locke killed himself!" Because he was told he had to to get everyone back on the island. They explained all that a few weeks ago. And apparently he got everyone back on the island and now I have to watch a whole episode about him actually offing himself? Oh show, I gave you all these years of my life and this is how you’re bringing things to a close?
Okay, yeah, so I hated this week a lot. Bad idea to base an entire episode around footwear, if you ask me.
valdivia
@Brian J:
if I may make a rec. This may be too basic but i find their non use of jargon very good and an excellent at giving one a good grasp of it all.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
burnspbesq
Or there’s the definitive Subprime Primer
Stuck
Here we go.
Conservatively Liberal
If you are a real lover of teh kittehs and love to read good fiction, Tad William’s Tailchaser’s Song is an excellent read. It’s a story about a young cat who lives outdoors, is torn between that and living with "m’an" and losing his identity, falls in love with a house cat whose owner moves away and his decision to strike out and try to find her. It weaves together a fantasy world that ties in all kinds of strange cat behaviors we all see into a world they live in.
It has politics, royalty, storytelling (from the kitteh pov), good overcoming evil (he helps to save the world from the evil dogs!), battling (and making peace!) with squirrels, getting stoned (catnip OD), unrequited love and the ending is a real laugh. If you like cats you will love this book, no doubt about it. It’s a quick read, the story pacing fast and adventurous. Lots of cat/human/dog humor along with other species that cats interact with. It also includes a dictionary of cat ‘words’ which you will need to read the book, though I did have fun reading it first and then seeing how well I interpreted what I had read.
One final note: Cats created us. We’re just defective.
valdivia
@Nicole:
LOL. and thanks for the reply. Shame-faced that I do not watch BSG but I get what you mean with the explainy explainy episodes. I always find that this sort of episodes I have to go back later and it makes sense only then why they had to set it up this way. Obviously (or not?) since Jack’s dad came back to life (or seemed to) I guess this means Locke will too now that they are back?
Wile E. Quixote
Kat question. I’d like to get a cat, or actually a pair of cats. However I don’t like having my furniture scratched up. How do you keep cats from sharpening their claws on your couch, leather recliners, speakers, piano, etc without having them declawed?
Wile E. Quixote
Kat question. I’d like to get a cat, or actually a pair of cats. However I don’t like having my furniture scratched up. How do you keep cats from sharpening their claws on your couch, leather recliners, speakers, piano, etc without having them declawed?
Wonk
@South of I-10:
What, no pictures?
My last dog was a BC mix, so I know from herding. She had the "eye," too.
And since there’s way too much cat in here tonight, I have to point out that the doggie up there in the picture looks like s/he is walking on water, and having way too much fun.
Dogs rule!
Mnemosyne
If everyone is neutered/spayed, two females have a lot harder time getting along than two males, actually. In domestic cats, the females are usually dominant over neutered males, and even out in the neighborhood, females are often dominant over the less-dominant males.
It’s also a lot to do with personality — if the personalities mesh, everyone gets along just fine. As long as the new cat likes other cats (as opposed to preferring to be a solitary cat), things will work themselves out even if one of them is not overly enthused at first. Our current pair were acquired a year apart, but we made sure that we found a kitten who liked other cats — in fact, she preferred our other (neutered male) cat to us for quite a while. It’s worked out great.
My mother-in-law had four females and one of them decided she wanted to be the new dominant one. That was ugly — the former head of the "pack" ended up having to be shut away most of the day so the other one wouldn’t try to kill her.
Mnemosyne
Scratching posts and scratch boxes. Many many scratching posts. We have at least four to accommodate two cats.
Also, enforcement. If you catch the cat scratching what it’s not supposed to, you say "No!" and put it in a really boring place with no toys (like the bathroom) by itself for 5 or 10 minutes. If you catch the cat scratching its post or box, praise it to the skies, preferably with petting and/or food. They’ll catch on pretty quickly that if they scratch what you don’t want them to scratch, they end up by themselves in a very dull place, but if they scratch what you do approve of, they get lots of positive attention and praise.
It’s not going to be 100 percent — they sometimes scratch at the carpet to try and entice one another to play, and it drives my husband insane — but you should be able to prevent them from destroying the furniture.
CatStaff
@Wile E. Quixote: I recommend Soft Paws. They’re little plastic rounded nail caps that go over the cat’s claws. They come in tons of neat colors, and although the first time could be somewhat rodeo-like, after a couple of minutes of worrying at them, the kitties won’t pay a bit of attention to them. They’re safe, non-toxic, and humane. Since the tips are rounded, kitties can scratch away to their heart’s content on anything, and can’t do any damage. The website is http://www.softpaws.com.
I’ve had them on all 8 of my cats, and they work like a charm without hurting my beloved kitties.
Conservatively Liberal
@Wile E. Quixote:
If you are fast, use a cattle prod. If you don’t like to get up, use a tazer. That gets a cats attention! ;)
Mnemosyne gives good advice for dealing with it. You do your best to discourage clawing in the wrong places and reward/encourage it in designated places. When it comes to carpet and cats playing, forget it. When teh kitteh goes on a tear (and it sounds like velcro as it tears across your carpets), you pretty much have to live with it.
Cats love carpet, especially carpeted stairs. Every single cat I have owned loves the carpeted stairs. Tommy figured out how to open the bathroom cabinet, discovered that tampons have a little ‘tail’ on them, and that he can have hours of endless fun playing on the stairs with his ‘toy’.
We took the first one away and he just went and grabbed another one. We watched him rip it open and pull it out, and it was clear that he was proud of his accomplishment. We let him have it but ended up putting a catch on the cabinet because he started pulling more out. He loves that thing and if he loses it under something he will pester you to death to get it.
Cats is odd. ;)
CatStaff
@John Cole: John, when you bring your new kitty home, you might want to get some Feliway. It comes in a spray, too, but the one I use is a plug-in (like an air freshener plug-in). People can’t smell it, but it’s a soothing cat pheromone-like substance that works pretty well to destress felines. It’s also useful for cats who are marking outside their litter box.
You could also try some Rescue Remedy in their water bowls.
I’ve also heard of putting vanilla on a cloth and rubbing both cats with it so they smell something the same to each other initially, but I’ve never tried that.
And if you’re looking for a very sweet orange tabby lion kitty, the Prince William County (Va.) animal shelter has just what you need. His name is Noah, and he’s just a dolly. I volunteer at the shelter, and just took his picture and wrote up his description for Petfinder on Sunday. We also have an adorable white Manx named Sugar with fabulous green eyes and the most adorable personality. I’m just sayin’.
gbear
@Wile E. Quixote:
I’ll second what Mnemosyne said. I never put then in a bathroom, but I scolded them if they used the furniture. I’ve got two of those scratching boxes (great) and a couple of carpeted perches that they’re allowed to scratch (or rip to shreads leaving a snowbank of carpet fibers on the floor, as the case may be). They’ll learn the message although they might rebel. I’m lucky that my cats are really good about it. My JBL L-100s are also very happy about that.
Steeplejack
@Wile E. Quixote:
I second the advice about (a) giving the cats a good scratching alternative to the furniture and (b) training/enforcement. I have had various cats over the years, from found-on-the-street strays to purebred Russian blues, and I’ve never had a real problem with them scratching the furniture. I have had a cat occasionally show me how irritated/pissed it was by deliberately plinking away on a forbidden surface for a few moments, but of course that was just a cry for help.
I am not a big fan of the "commercial" scratching poles, surfaces, etc. Usually I have great success with a real piece of wood, e.g., a big piece of firewood or (memorably) a large piece of driftwood I found on the beach. The key thing is that it is stable (tastefully deployed on the floor somewhere) so the cat can get on it and really whale on it.
I had one cat who loved rubber flip-flops. Go figure. Every summer I would buy a few extra pairs for him and dole them out one flip-flop at a time.
FoxinSocks
I’ve seen my beagle mix herd my cats, all four of them. Because I do rescue, I usually keep my permanent cats in one part of the house, away from any fosters.
Well, one time when there weren’t any fosters in the house, I let them roam wherever they wanted to. The beagle mix was very confused and spent the next 45 minutes trying to get them back into their area. She’d nudge one cat back and by the time she had gotten the second one in, the other had run back out. But she kept at it and finally had all four corralled.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
If you want your cat to minimize scratching carpet and such, you need a neat texture, maybe a little incline, some heavy drugs and helpless prey.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Feline Overlords: The Cosmic Alpine Scratcher. This is a cheap, tacky looking cardboard arrangement that cats actually use, even after the catnip fades. The cardboard scratching unit itself is reversible and replaceable. If your cats really dig into it, placing a small dumbbell inside the unit helps anchor it to the floor.
Cain
@Conservatively Liberal:
I read that long long ago. (when I was part of the sci-fi conference scene..yes, I get along.. only indian there among pale white ghosts. :-) Tad’s best work was Memory, Sorrow, Thorn although I hear it nearly killed him to write it. His other stuff is all well written. Of course, now I’m on a Jim Butcher bender, reading the furies series. Good stuff.. I’m always up late reading…
cain
Cain
@Mnemosyne:
Man, that’s not what I see. My female is routinely beaten up by my male. She’s learned to run right towards me and hang around knowing that I’d throw the other one out. Again, he beats up on her so that he can get himself kicked out. (he’s got a number of tricks, scratch teh furniture, beat up on the other cat, make a lot of noises, and finally get in my face) My male likes to be dominant, both outside and inside. But he’s an absolute sweetheart with us. He has never used his claws on us. He’s charmed most of the neighborhood with his sniffing of flowers and hanging out and watching the folks go by and then trotting up to them to get a pet.
cain
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Cain, is your male a Burmese? Fergus was beating the crap out of the older female cats in our house when he was a12 week old barely weighing a pound. (They were reluctant to fight him back with all their strength, of course, but I remember the tabby actually SCREAMING, jumping straight up in the air, and running away the first time he really went for her. She wanted to kill him — and he deserved it — but he was a kitten, and she was the most maternal cat ever who never had a litter of her own, so she was way conflicted.)
He spent several more years being a complete little shit to both girls, even the little black one who just wanted to love him and groom him. But after we spent a few months training him as if he were a Rottweiler, he was sweet as pie with humans.
J. Michael Neal
If you get a second cat, I recommend putting her in a separate room from Tunch for a few days. I’ve found that they adjust better if they learn each other’s scent before they interact.
As for scratching, leather and wood furniture generally stops any problems. Neither are very satisfying to a cat. My leather couch is pretty badly scuffed up just from people running around on it, but no big rips.
Eddie is very frustrated, because he hasn’t figured out a good way to use the scratching posts with only one front leg. He can’t balance.
I bought a laser pointer yesterday, and great fun has been had by all. I confess that one reason for getting it was a sort of physical therapy for Eddie. He loves it, and runs around without any self-consciousness. The only problem is that he really isn’t very bright. When I put it away, he spends the next 15-20 minutes trying to find the little dot of light.
AnneLaurie
John, two arguments in favor of Tunch getting a girl roommate: One, the new boy might "spray", either out of fear or just to establish his role in his new home. And if New Guy schpritzes, then Tunch will start schpritzing in response, even though he’s never shown any graffiti inclinations before. Yeah, fixed males are not *supposed* to "mark", but with an adult adoption, you can’t be sure he hasn’t picked up bad habits (and a schpritzing cat is harder to re-train than a leg-humping dog — they’re fast & sneaky & deeply, deeply determined).
Second, it’s more expensive to neuter a female cat, which used to mean that it was harder for the girls to find homes. Now that shelters are routinely spaying very young kittens, this might not be as much of an issue (our most recent shelter adoptee has been with us for ten years).
Either way, a kitten, or even an adolescent, will be easier for Tunch to get used to… but the odds are excellent that he’ll adapt to almost ANY feline roommate, given time. Especially since he’s been letting you know that he’s bored spending so much time alone — he may put on an entire Italian opera when first presented with "the competition", but even a symphony of resentment, spite & disbelief will provide the healthy exercise he’s not getting as an only furchild.
P.S. I will second, or third, the effectiveness of Softpaws… which I first heard about from a house-proud Dutch lady, so that’s one way Europeans cope with the no-declawing ban.
Mnemosyne
You might want to try one of the scratch boxes since he can use it flat. Apparently one of the reasons they like scratching is to get a really good stretch, so flat might work for him.
I was hoping the best cat short story of all time, Fritz Leiber’s "Space-Time for Springers" was still online, but it looks like it’s been taken down again. Well worth seeking it out — one of the best-observed and unsentimental cat stories I’ve ever seen, with a little sci-fi/fantasy thrown in and an ending that breaks your heart (in a good way, not a cheap way).
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Oh — Gummitch! I loved that story, Mnemosyne.
AAAAND — archive.org is your friend!
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse:
YAY! Thank you thank you thank you! Made a web archive for myself just now.
It was very funny to find out that my husband and I had independently read the story and both loved it. We see a lot of Gummitch in our cat Keaton. The poor guy just gets so frustrated sometimes at the limits of being a cat.
JenJen
@gbear: Thank you! I’m a big-time "de-clawing is f’d up" person, as well. So, of course, my kitteh has his claws. Never had any problems, because I had crappy old college-type hand-me-down furniture I truly didn’t give a rip about.
But, years ago, I lusted after this sofa I found at the (now-defunct!) Sofa Express. I was absolutely horrified when kitteh decided to use it as a scratching post.
So, I had this brilliant idea! I bought him an *actual scratching post!* It was like a miracle; he suddenly lost all interest in my gorgeous expensive sofa. He might go through a scratching post or two a year, but it’s a small expense if you love both kitty-cats and having nice stuff.
It truly blows my mind that more people don’t realize what scratching posts are for… is it because they think they’re not so pretty and might screw up the decor? Then, they should definitely not get cats. And dogs? Ha! Fuggetaboutit. My beloved, raucous dogs have knocked over and broken more shit than one could imagine through the years, and every time it happens I stil laugh my ass off, only wishing to gawd I’d have recorded it for YouTube posterity.
One of the reasons I love my vet so much is that he has a big sign up in his waiting room that reads, "Interested In De-Clawing? Won’t Do It. Don’t Ask. Seriously." Seriously. Word-for-word. :-)
Krista
@JenJen: good for your vet — it sounds like he’s got his head on straight.
My childhood kitty, Shadow, was never interested in the scratching post, and fortunately wasn’t interested in the furniture, either. But the day we put down a mat inside the front door, his eyes just lit right up, and from that point on, you’d often see him scratching away blissfully.
And that kitty in the photo is gorgeous. He looks like Zartan, the spoiled-rotten kitty of a friend of mine.
Conservatively Liberal
@Cain:
Have you read his four book series "Otherland"? It is one hell of a lot to read but the story is excellent. A real twisted view into a ‘what if’ of computers and VR, tied together with corrupt military people from around the world, rich old people who want to find a way to live forever (no matter the cost), a ‘twist’ed, gifted Aborigine who likes to terrorize and kill everyone, kids literally hooked in the VR world on the internet, going into comas and dying when disconnected. The first book sets up the base of the story and gives the backgrounds of the characters and how they developed. The way it starts out leaves you in wonder as to what is happening (or has happened) to the first character in the book, which is left unanswered until the end. Each book leaves you wanting to grab the next to see what happened, with many stories interleaved within the main one.
The second book further develops the story as to what is going on in the character lives and how they start to interact with each other in the story (cause and effect, so to say). The third book starts the various ‘battles’ and builds on the events going on in the real world and the VR one, and the fourth book is the final battles and the final resolutions/outcomes. It is one hell of a long story with facets involving characters who don’t know each other and are from all over the world. Various groups form up, both good and evil and all pretty much unknown to each other at the outset, and the story bounces from one POV to another.
It is a very intricate story and very well told. So many times I thought I had figured out what was going on only to find out I was wrong. The more it happened, the more it intrigued me. IMO Tad WIlliams is a very good writer. He has a great ability to weave an intricate storyline and the way he bounces between the various threads in the telling of the story builds the whole thing up nicely.
Definitely not a boring writer. I am not a fiction nut, I just like reading anything that is well written. Service manuals, white papers on various topics, books, whatever. If it is well written and I am curious, I read it. Tis the curse of being an Evelyn Wood speed reader…lol
I am probably one of the few people who really enjoys getting books for gifts. Fiction, non fiction, science fiction or whatever, if it is well written and interesting I will read it.
DecidedFenceSitter
Squirt bottles. Our cats use the scratching posts, door hanging scratching posts, the carpet, the couch, the chairs, the carpet, the couch, the scratching posts, and yes I’m repeating it.
Definitely going to look into the claw caps.
grandpajohn
As a SC resident it good to note that not all our politicians are insane republicans bent only on self promotion and looking for political gain over the good of the state residents. Clyburn had a provision inserted in the legislation that allows state legislative bodies to override the political shenanigans of the idiot repub governors who might refuse the funds. This came about because he is well aware of the borderline insanity of Sanford.
and no doubt that the legislature would do so because since we are looking at even having to close schools and lay off teachers and other government functions.Sanford can’t even get half of his own legislation past his own party controlled legislature because his own party realizes that he is insane.
Shinobi
Hi five for not declawing cats. Sometimes they do need encouragement to not use surfaces besides the scratching posts. There is this great stuff that you can spray on areas they like called feliway. It stops scratching as a "marking" behavior. Also, double sided tape on areas they like to scratch a lot. Cats hate it and eventually realize that the scratching post is way better. So you really just have to make sure that the scratching post is the best place in the house to scratch on. It has worked well for me!
Nancy Darling
Since no one else is stepping up to grasp the nettle, I will. Until two years ago, I had never had a cat declawed, and thought I never would. I have always had inside/outside cats and lived in places where traffic was not a problem. Now I live close to a very busy country road. Max is a rescue kitten—my local vet always has cats and kittens available for adoption, and they encouraged the declawing after he started tearing up practically everything. Unwanted and abused animals are a huge problem in this neck of the woods. All of the shelters are perfectly okay with declawing if it means the cat will have a good home. Max is happy, well adjusted, and if he suffered any trauma from having his front paws declawed, it is not apparent to me.
All of you who are laughing and joking about your morbidly obese cats are guilty of animal abuse. I have never owned an over weight cat or dog.
Also, what kind of beef, pork or chicken do you eat? The horror of factory farming should give you serious pause the next time you are at the super market. If you can’t find a source of humanely raised meat, then maybe you ought to give it up.
Also, I use a shock collar on my dog who is also a rescue. I have 23 acres, and until I got the shock collar, I had problems with him taking off when we were on our walks up the hill. Running some farmer’s cattle will get you shot around here as it will in most rural areas. Also the collar is an easy way to keep him from getting too near the road. I have a dear friend who is horrified by shock collars, choke collars, and pinch collars—all of which I have used on Mijo. You know what?—one of her dogs got hit by a car and killed in front of her house on a much less busy country road. Who is the more responsible owner? I seldom have to shock Mijo now, and hope someday to be able to stop using it. He is quite excited when I put the collar on him as he knows we are headed up the hill for a run.
I also could put in a good word for hunting which I don’t oppose as long as you are a good hunter, hunt with a back up but still don’t take bad shots, and don’t hunt farm raised animals in enclosures, etc. That elk or deer had a very good life right up until he fell to the hunter’s rifle, He grew fat on sweet meadow grass and wild berries. In short, he lived the life he was created for unlike our factory farmed animals.
So have at me, folks. I am unapologetic.
Mike in NC
Ladies and gentlemen: Sanford/Palin 2012 !!!
Krista
Does a regular leash and harness not work to keep him taking off? Not that I necessarily have a strong opinion on other forms of collars, but I’m just curious as to why you had to go that route, instead of just using a regular collar or harness, paired with an extendable leash.
Nancy Darling
@ Krista
Mijo is a big dog who loves to run—needs to run. One of his favorite things is to run hell for leather and zip by me as close as he can without touching me. He has only miscalculated once and knocked me down. He is now obedience trained for when we go to town to walk around the square, but I would hate to keep him on a leash when we walk on my place. I don’t move very fast these days since I had a hip replaced 5 months ago. I know, I know. Old ladies like me should not have big dogs, but I have always had big dogs since becoming an adult, and a big dog seemed a better fit on my little farm. He is utterly devoted to me, as am I to him. If he is longing for a 12 year old boy owner instead of a 65 year old, he hasn’t said anything.
Also, he and Max, the indoor cat, are the best of pals.
DMG
@South of I-10:
I have lab/sheltie mixes who do the same thing. They always seemed to be in need of a "job" to do around the house, and herding our youngest cat away from the furniture keeps them fairly busy. It’s a win-win for me. They burn off energy and take over the scolding.
Cain
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse:
No, he’s just a tuxedo cat. (mutt?) I’m not sure where he got his instincts, but he’s a clever one. When he beats other cats up, he never makes a sound most of the time.
cain
Cain
@Conservatively Liberal:
I’ve read all his books. I’ve exchanged email with him when I decided to do a book report in college. He’s a cool guy. But his writing is excellent. The VR was pretty good, but that first series was something else. You should read the book "War of Flowers". It’s a single book and can be done in a couple of days. I’ve drifted away from scifi and moving towards vampire detective novels.
I’m kind of the same, but I’m very picky about my books though. But if I like something I’ll read it with a vengeance.
cain
Media Browski
@Brick Oven Bill: You’re an idiot. Really, STFU about things you know nothing about.
A list of all the things wrong with this:
1. Smart meter data can only legally go to your local electric service provider. No government and no private use of the data beyond the original company is allowed.
1.a The smart grid will generate so much data anyway (30,000 observations per household per day) that it would overwhelm the gov’t anyway.
2. Unless you sign a contract with your local provider, NO ONE will be changing your thermostat. If you sign a contract to be "interruptible," you will receive payments for that energy reduction.
3. The smart meter gives YOU the ability to personally react to energy prices, to participate in the market, it’s a part of electric industry DEREGULATION. That’s what the GOP likes isn’t it?
4. The data that your local provider gets will be used to increase reliability–not having blackouts–which has massive benefits to the country as a whole.
5. You’re one dumb bunny.
sus
My first cat was awful. I did everything the vet said to. But, she was destroying everything. So, I tried to get her a new home. No takers.
I had her declawed. She was young. I had shredded newspapers for litter for a couple weeks. She was supposed to be an indoor cat but would escape when the door was opened. Even without claws, she brought "gifts" to the door. Yuk. lots of them. birds, mice, whatever.
So, when I got stuck… er… adopted another kitten, I declawed him right away. The other one was declawed. What could I do? They were happy cats. One lived to be 18. The other to 16.
The current cat I got stuck with… er… adopted has her claws. She occasionally scratches at the area rug. Other than than, just her corregated cardboard scratcher thingy.
But… what do you do when they are totally destroying everything in sight. All cats are not the same.