Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / By Request: Ric and Zooey’s New Vests (Open Thread)

By Request: Ric and Zooey’s New Vests (Open Thread)

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Ric and Zooey have been wearing their new vests for two days now – ten minutes yesterday and twenty today. They are not fond of them. The vests seem to unbalance them, and they walk kind of drunkenly. Sometimes they just fall over on their sides and lie there. But there are periods in between when they act almost normal. They are also trying to figure out how to get them off, but a thick velcro band under the stomach and another around the neck are hard to get out of if I fasten them tightly enough.

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115Comments

  5. 5.

    Warren Terra

    I feel like I’m missing something. The cats hate the vests, and I can’t see what useful function (for example visibility / traffic safety, warning prey creatures, or identification) these vests provide. What is the idea here, other than cat-shaming?

  7. 7.

    Miss Bianca

    They are also trying to figure out how to get them off, but a thick velcro band under the stomach and another around the neck are hard to get out of if I fasten them tightly enough.

    Hmm, maybe I need to modify Luna’s collar. Seems like every few months, she chews hers off in a fit of pique. Gets a trifle spendy.

  8. 8.

    EBT

    Since this is the open thread, have an updated video demo of my stupid little interactive fiction project. Video shows off most of the visible features of the engine I wrote and one path from the first cluster of prompts.
    https://youtu.be/QdluuKzgUNs

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    When I had cats as a kid, falling over on their sides was the “DO NOT WANT – TAKE THIS OFF ME RIGHT NOW” posture.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    I just wanted to thank everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers. My sister is home from the hospital. This time last week I didn’t think that she would leave the hospital of her own volition.

  16. 16.

    pat

    I wonder if it is a good idea to let them know there is an “outside.” I prefer my cats to stay indoors and not lurk at the door waiting for a chance to dash through it when it opens.
    Just my 2 cents.

  17. 17.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Warren Terra: I want to be able to take them out on leashes. I’ve trained a cat to a leash before. He started out staggering and falling on his side too and then got with the program, liked traveling with me.

  22. 22.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @pat: These guys had two years in the outside, or something like that. Animal Control picked them up. They are less eager to get out the door now than when they first joined my household. We’ll see how controlled “outside” goes.

  23. 23.

    jl

    I didn’t know this was one of the premier cat-vest blogs too.

    ” Sometimes they just fall over on their sides and lie there ”
    Probably many BJ commenters can identify with that problem.

  24. 24.

    A Ghost to Not

    @pat: Never say that in front of my cats.
    They will not take kindly to it.
    They consider the dusk to dawn curfew an imposition necessitated only by mountain lions.

  27. 27.

    Keith P.

    As a lifelong cat owner, I am utterly baffled by the concept of walking a cat on a leash. That’s like bathing them or taking them in the car to someone else’s house for a visit. I’ve never owned a cat who would be amenable to any of that stuff. (of those, I’ve only ever tried bathing a cat and wouldn’t ever do that again unless the cat is covered in shit or something…I’ve got 10+ year old cat-bathing scars on my stomach)

  28. 28.

    pat

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    I have to admit, my present cat Pablo got outside when he lived with his other Mommy (he goes back there when we travel) and sneaked out a couple of times here. I tried that thing with a vest but it was too small for him and the first time I took him out in it and tried to control his movements, he was all You’re Not The Boss of Me, managed to get out of the vest (it was too small to fasten tightly) and that was the last time I tried that.
    Now we close the door of the room he’s in if we are bringing in groceries, etc.
    Good luck..

  30. 30.

    Gelfling 545

    No matter what type of harnessing I employed, I never could get any of my cats to take to a leash. They generally put on such a display that I feared arrest for cruelty.

    Your two look quite handsome in their vests, though.

  31. 31.

    TenguPhule

    @Keith P.:

    As a lifelong cat owner, I am utterly baffled by the concept of walking a cat on a leash. That’s like bathing them

    And this is one of the reasons I prefer dogs.

  34. 34.

    A Ghost to Not

    @Keith P.:
    I actually had a cat as a child that loved water, and would jump right in the bathtub with us. Never had a cat that would willingly walk on a leash.

    You must be very patient, Cheryl.

  35. 35.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    In a series of tweets this month, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. McConnell publicly, then berated him in a phone call that quickly devolved into a profane shouting match.

    During the call, which Mr. Trump initiated on Aug. 9 from his New Jersey golf club, the president accused Mr. McConnell of bungling the health care issue. He was even more animated about what he intimated was the Senate leader’s refusal to protect him from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Republicans briefed on the conversation.

    Heh!

    The relationship between President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has disintegrated to the point that they have not spoken to each other in weeks, and Mr. McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises.

    Dems in Disarray!

    BWHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAAH

  36. 36.

    pat

    Oh, Pablo is a long-haired cat and looked absolutely ridiculous with that thing tight around his middle and his rear end sticking out.

  42. 42.

    A Ghost to Not

    @TenguPhule:
    Try being viciously attacked twice, once by a St. Bernard that chased me up on the roof of a car. Several other minor incidents.
    I have real trust issues with dogs, and often, their owners. Cujo was the hardest book I ever read, next to Henry James, of course, or Infinite Jest.

  45. 45.

    grammypat

    @Cheryl Rofer: Cheryl, I too travel and, when Mi’ja found me, I knew that training her to a leash would be the safest way to go. Like you, harness training was done s l o w l y before introducing the leash. However, she attempted the “well I’ll just lay down because I don’t like this” trick. This was overcome by picking up on the leash until her front feet just cleared the ground. With only her rear feet touching, she had no other choice than to get with the program.

  46. 46.

    feathers

    @Keith P.: My old house’s backyard was cat fight central, due to geography and the bruiser of a cat who used to live in our house. I knew our kitten needed to be an indoor cat only, so I followed a friend’s recommendation to leave the doors to outside open when it rained. Found the wet kitten and gave treats and hugs. Only took a few times before he gave open doors a wide berth. He’d run away from the door when we came in, then run up after the door was shut. He did like sitting on the window sill and watching outside, though.

  47. 47.

    Keith P.

    @A Ghost to Not: My brother’s Savannah (part Egyptian mau, part serval) LOVED water. She was like a dog…she ate naugahyde chews, “barked”, and would jump in the bathtub when she heard the water running.

  52. 52.

    JPL

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I think this is a tell

    But Mr. Hoffman predicted that Mr. McConnell would likely outlast the president.
    “I think he’s going to blow up, self-implode,” Mr. Hoffman said of Mr. Trump. “I wouldn’t be surprised if McConnell pulls back his support of Trump and tries to go it alone.”

    Since we have 2nd amendment rights, why not duel on the white house lawn. I would pay to watch that.

    Al Hoffman is a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee

  58. 58.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Trump’s Afghanistan speech last night was in prime position for ratings. It aired on every major news channel and it wasn’t up against anything; its primary competition was a bad preseason Cleveland Browns game on cable.

    Trump only managed to draw an embarrassingly paltry audience of 17 million viewers, far, far less than the 41 million who watched President Obama‘s December 2009 speech on Afghanistan.

    The key here is that even Trump’s own base largely didn’t care to tune in to hear him speak last night.

    Game show host Trump obsesses over ratings and Obama. IT’s gonna kill him when he finds out the numbers. It also shows his reality show is headed to an early cancellation.

  60. 60.

    MomSense

    Many years ago I had a black cat I rescued from the hotel parking lot where I parked my car as a summer employee. I would sit in my car with the door open and share my lunch with him until one day he got in my car and came home with me. He used to go for long walks with me without a leash and follow me wherever I went hence his name – shadow. He was my cat until my oldest son was born and then he decided to adopt the new baby as his own. You are supposed to keep cats away from babies in their cribs but somehow he always found a way to sneak in and sleep in his room. When my son started walking he would follow him. When my son was on the swing set the cat would sit under the slide. When he had friends over playing, the cat would be there too.

    He lived until my son was in 1st grade. By that time he only had a few teeth and his shiny black coat was full of white. He followed my son everywhere and always greeted him when he got off the bus. One of the seven great cats

  65. 65.

    Tenar Arha

    On a completely different note I walked by the local country club golf course this afternoon and there was a giant fan swiveling away near the green closest to the road. Why would you create a big wind where one has to putt, no matter how hot & humid the afternoon?

  66. 66.

    sharl

    @rikyrah: That’s great news about your sister! May she continue toward a full recovery and stay that way for a long time thereafter.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    My daughter’s indoor cat loves to go outside and chase bugs and smell the outside air. They put a harness and leash on him, which he accepts pretty well.

  69. 69.

    Mel

    @rikyrah: So thankful to hear that your sister is home. Sending good thoughts and hugs to you, your sister, and all of your family!

  72. 72.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    What a great cat! I had a cat that would have grown up to be the same, if she hadn’t thought she could leap off the roof of my three-story apartment building.

  73. 73.

    sharl

    @Tenar Arha: I haven’t worked in golf course maintenance since my school years decades ago – and that was a city-owned course to boot – but my speculation would be a waterlogged portion of the green that they are trying to dry out, or maybe trying to dry out an area where they applied a chemical solution (fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide). The latter may make more sense, because “natural” waterlogging would be a bigger issue that would require turf addition to eliminate a low spot (or something along those lines).

    Even on a cheap city course, golfers get cranky when their rolling ball gets slowed down by flooded turf (and in the worse cases may kick up a rooster-tail)… Anyhoo, like I said, just a couple guesses on my part.

  74. 74.

    MomSense

    @debbie:

    Oh no!! That must have been devastating for you.

    My middle son also had a cat like Shadow but he snuck out one night and I think was killed by coyotes.

  75. 75.

    JPL

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Although his aides are busy hiding the NYTimes
    article and the latest ratings, if he sees them, there will be hell to pay. The rally should be interesting.
    I do think he announces that unless there is money for the wall, he is not signing extension of the debt ceiling.

  76. 76.

    tobie

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: All we’re hearing these days is that Trump’s base is sticking with him so it’s actually heartening to see how few people tuned in to his address last night. Yes, it’s the horse race side of politics and all the rest but I’m happy for any occasion for Schadenfreude when it comes to the shitgibbon.

  77. 77.

    bystander

    Market closed up 196 points so count on that being mentioned tonight as proof of the Midas touch.

    Love the NYTimes story about McConnell and Trump having a profanity laden argument. Love when the vipers turn on each other.

  78. 78.

    JPL

    @MomSense: I love that story. My son had a stray that he allowed in the house, but it was terrorizing the maltese. He went door to door looking for the owner, while the cat walked along side him. No one claimed the cat, but they did find friends to take him in. It never dawned on my son that cats don’t normally follow you.

  82. 82.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    Yeah, she was my first pet and I had to go by myself (stupid boyfriend) to get her put down. Pets are better than people sometimes.

  84. 84.

    zhena gogolia

    @MomSense:

    I vary as to whom I hate the most. McConnell for the sake of Garland, I guess. Ryan for his sanctimoniousness that discredits Christianity every time he opens his mouth. But Trump above all.

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    @JPL:

    It’s so great that your son found a home for the cat.

    @Another Scott:

    I find myself of late preferring the company of dogs and cats to people.

    @debbie:

    Amazing how they stick with us. Do you have cats now?

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    What do I switch to when I’m sick from all the popcorn?

    If an email exchange that reportedly took place between Breitbart’s editor and an email prankster is any indication, it looks like the answer is “yes.” As CNN wrote Tuesday, someone with the Twitter handle @SINON_REBORN appears to have used the extremely convincing email address [email protected] to catfish Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow, who said he could have Javanka “out by end of year.”

    “Reading online about how i’ll be bringing forth my wrath on Ivanka and Jared,” fake Bannon wrote on Sunday. “I’d be doing this great nation a service if I did.” Marlow replied, “I spooked em today. Did five stories on globalist takeover positioning you as only hope to stop it.”

    In a later exchange, fake Bannon asked Marlow if he could have Ivanka and Jared “packed and shipping out before Christmas.” “Let me see what I can do … hard to know given your description of them as evil,” Marlow wrote. “I don’t know what motivates them. If they are semi normal, then yes, they out by end of year.”

  93. 93.

    Mike J

    Jonathan Martin‏ Verified account @jmartNYT 1 hour ago
    News: WH told Capito she couldn’t fly on AF One to Boy Scouts w/o committing to ACA repeal vote.

    She didn’t go.

    The Boy Scout jamboree was held in West Virginia. And the Trumpsters tried to use it to threaten Capito. How shitty do you have to be to make Capito look sympathetic?

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: My hand flew to my heart as I read your amazing story. So touching. Heartbreaking to lose a one in a million cat like that.

    Do you remember the story of the cat (I think it was a cat, not a dog) that was such a big help to the autistic boy? (I may well be remembering details wrong.)

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: Why am I thinking the timing of the article is intended to help throw Trump off balance tonught? As if he needs any help.

  103. 103.

    different-church-lady

    @trollhattan: Now that Breitbart has eclipsed Fox as wingnut disinformation central, it ought to be verrrrrrrrrry interesting to see which side of this spite-war prevails.

  106. 106.

    Gravenstone

    Don’t take this the wrong way, but those vests tend to enhance their … posteriors.

  111. 111.

    Sab

    @Cheryl Rofer: If they are happy inside why would you want them outside? My four rescues are horrified by the thought of outside, where they used to live with meager food and bad weather.

  114. 114.

    Mel

    @MomSense: What a good kitty, and what a great childhood feline friend for your son. So sorry he didn’t have more time with his kitty, but thank you for having given that sweet kitty a loving home and giving your son the loving menories of such a fine companion.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    So glad to hear your sister is going home… what a relief for everyone!

    So late, we have been on the road til late yesterday.

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