The Litter Box

Sonevol

1:32 AM

@JourneymanGeek Any idea why black cats are considered to be inauspicious in India?

Journeyman Geek

No

Actually what I picked up is that cats as a whole were seen as unclean, but eh, I'll pet a kitty anyway.

Sonevol

Here if black cat crosses the road, the driver stands still until another car zooms past it. He won't move on the road till then.

And on seeing black cats many people start taking name of Gods fearing something bad is about to happen.

Journeyman Geek

shrug I see a black cat, I see if its friendly, and pet it.

Or a white cat

Gingers... are nearly always friendly.

Sonevol

Nope black and white cats are most friendly

In India people think all black to be evil and all white to be good.

Do you know about tantrics? The people who are supposed to do all black magics? Many think they can capture black cats and possess it with evil spirits.

quora.com/…

Hillarious

Sonevol

2:39 AM

Here there is a place called "meow bari" meaning "meow home" in Bengali. When cat owners go somewhere like on a holiday, they keep their cats here, and the staff in meow bari take care of the cats. Of course they charge you for the service.

meowbaari.com

@trondhansen @RebeccaRVT @RichieACC Isn't it so nice?

I think the Western countries better catch up with us in cat care cuz we are zooming ahead :)

Sadly enough while some cats are getting VIP treatments, everyday street cats are getting killed by street dogs. This is why I hate dogs.

trond hansen

4:48 AM

@Sonevol lots of places have cat hotels where the cat can stay if the owner is away on vacation. and the reason why black cats are seen as bad luck is because crazy ca tladies was seen as whitches in medival times,if the woman was evil the cat had to be too.

@JourneymanGeek i do not think cats are seen as unclean anywhere(in history it is said that mohamad loved cats so he placed an M on the cats forehead of all cats and they have had an M between their eyes after this)

@Sonevol and cats are sort of magic they can appear out of thin air somtimes :)

Sonevol

@trondhansen what about my question regarding cat breed I need. Do you have any idea?

@JourneymanGeek The ancient Egyptians regarded Sphynx breed of cat as God and worshipped them.

Journeyman Geek

5:04 AM

@trondhansen heh. Apparently my folk don't like em ;)

Personally? Eh, its humans that are the problem XD

trond hansen

@Sonevol i do think the common street mix cats are better with less problems than is found in pure breeds,but this is just my opinion.

Sonevol

Cats were originally from middle east. They used us humans to conquer the whole world, even Antarctica. We are mere tools in their evolutionary strategy to dominate the world. @trondhansen

theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/cat-domination/530685

trond hansen

@JourneymanGeek humans are definitly the problem we are not able to live in peace with each other as the history shows.

Journeyman Geek

Yup

Sonevol

@trondhansen why some people spend such huge sums of money to buy some expensive pure breeds of cats?

Journeyman Geek

5:13 AM

So when I say "my folks think cats are unclean" - It dosen't mean I agree ;p

Just that... for some odd reason... they didn't like cats ;p

Sonevol

@trondhansen Nope chimpanzees are the problems, we have simply inherited the bad genes from Chimpanzees

user15026

@trondhansen Part of that is like...breeding purity is always going to be a problem because people breed for aesthetics mostly rather than safety/health/practicality

Journeyman Geek

@Ash and people are dumb and breed for... odd things

Like GSDs and their sloped backs

or... what bulldogs have become

user15026

GSD?

Journeyman Geek

with cats... IIRC the same gene that causes the scottish fold cats to have floppy ears also results in slightly ceappy joints

German Shepard dogs

(The breed standard is for a sloping back. Which is a terrible idea, biomechanically)

trond hansen

5:15 AM

@Sonevol for some it is status to have an expensive cat.and the cats health is compromised by doing so.

Journeyman Geek

My aunt's one is a straightback, and my granma's one is... erm... kinda adorable and has none of those silly show dog traits ;)

but I've seen ones that can't really walk correctly cause their spines are super super curved

user15026

I just think about my sister's Great Dane and how like...10 years is apparently old for them?

Journeyman Geek

ah yup

user15026

Like my cat will outlive her giant dog

Journeyman Geek

But that's kinda 'normal' and there's not much you can do there

Sonevol

5:18 AM

Chimps do all terrible things the humans used to do in Medieval ages. We are cousins having same behavior.

Journeyman Geek

Its worth remembering though, wolves live about 8 years in the wild

and in a sense, its not that dogs are short lived, but they kinda often live longer due to smaller sizes or even better care

user15026

nods

user15026

My mom has a purebred Himalayan cat (not because she cares, her other cats are all rescues, it was just a "he came into her life at the rtight moment" thing), and he has a lot of issues eating and like...gets runny eyes and things a lot with his flat face

user15026

I just...I never understand the whole "aesthetics over all" mentality

Sonevol

Ancient cats drove ancient dogs into extinction

smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/…

Cats are always the winners

trond hansen

5:30 AM

we humans do try to change the looks of ourself too,the ideal woman is the look of a teenage boy skinny and tall.

Sonevol

I myself is constantly trying to change my look and so does my lady love. She has decided to undergo full face cosmetic surgery to be a look alike of Miss Universe

Journeyman Geek

@Ash hah....

Well " "he came into her life at the rtight moment" is a good reason to caretake a companion beastie ;p

user15026

@JourneymanGeek I mean he's cute enough, I suppose, but I'd not pick him out necessarily given a choice

Journeyman Geek

and better someone who got him cause of those reasons

hah. The best pets are the ones you don't have a choice about initially XD

user15026

@JourneymanGeek I got my cat because my mom went "I found a kitten, he's small, he was outside, dad picked him up and he PURRED and it's JANUARY and I don't have room for a 5th cat"

Journeyman Geek

5:36 AM

Sounds right ;p

user15026

so that's how me and my then wife went to her hours for Christmas dinner and then found ourselves unexpectedly with another cat

Journeyman Geek

XD

trond hansen

@Sonevol it is not good to allways try to be somebody else.many teens and adults do struggle mentally because they try to be perfect whatever that is.

user15026

(And then in the breakup a few years later, Norbert came with me because he's always been very much more attached to me)

Journeyman Geek

I'm a adopt don't buy guy myself, but its a bit tricky in singapore.

Unless you get the right dog ;)

user15026

5:37 AM

And I am glad for that, because he's kept me going through some pretty hard stuff

Journeyman Geek

"One indeterminate terrier, slightly used"

(or cat)

user15026

having a pet to take care of gets you out of bed, and sometimes that's enough

Journeyman Geek

hah. Sometimes literally ._.

Sonevol

@trondhansen well I am getting bold slowly and I plan to do extensive hue treatment to maintain dense beautiful hair

@trondhansen sorry I mean bald

user15026

@JourneymanGeek yep, have had days where "the cat's food dish is empty" is what made me emerge from my depression nest

Journeyman Geek

5:39 AM

@Ash oh... Ash (the dog) kinda has a schedule that needs to be maintained...

....

So when I was unemployed (which was a lot) it kinda added a little structure

user15026

@JourneymanGeek Yeah, that's always nice - the idea that "oh well we walk the dog at this time" or whatver

user15026

instead of "I've been playing video games in my pjs and no longer know what day it is"

Journeyman Geek

hah

I know those days

or staying up watching horrible 80s fantasy

(I don't even remember half of what I watched)

trond hansen

@Sonevol nobody can stop time why try?

Sonevol

@trondhansen I always wonder there are the billionaires like Donald Trump who has a bald spot at back of head. Why don't they do hue treatment? It is definitely giving good results over here.

@trondhansen well nano technology can. In about 20 years there will be so much advancement in nano technology that slowing down the process of human ageing will be possible.

trond hansen

5:47 AM

@Sonevol i have seen some results where it did not go as planned in hair transplant.is it a goal to be as old as possible and look as young as possible,people are living too long as it is.

Sonevol

@trondhansen nanotechnology is being considered as a cure for death itself with a potential to make humans immortal

sanvada.com/2017/01/13/…

user15026

@Sonevol I suspect a lot of this is a looooong way off, if we ever manage it

trond hansen

but why live if you are not going to die at some point.

Sonevol

@Ash the article claims whoever manages to live till 2050 can take the help of advancement in nanotechnology to live till 3000

user15026

@Sonevol I suspect that's a lot of guessing, though

user15026

5:52 AM

They don't really explain much to actually back any of it up

user15026

I mean I don't think I'd want to live forever anyhow

Sonevol

But I would :) why should I want to die? :)

Journeyman Geek

"What we do in life echos in eternity" ;)

Sonevol

You just need billions of dollars to afford quality nanotreatment. Then you are immortal.

Science is crazy, humans will become immortal, mars will be made artificially life supporting planet populated with synthetic organisms and probably synthetic pets too

trond hansen

when climatechange realy hits we are better off if we have some thing to look forward to like death.

Sonevol

6:05 AM

Isn't it nice to have an escape route like escape to Mars if earth becomes inhabitable or an asteroid is about to it earth? @trondhansen

trond hansen

7:37 AM

@Sonevol mars might have life nasa have found sesonal variations of methane in the atmosphere,it might be volcanic in origin but the amount needed is large for it to last until now.so right now the chances of biological/volcanic origin is split 50/50%,if life is found it will be a major showstopper for humans to go there.for a realy long time just see what we are doing to this planet.

and the question is do we think our life have a higher value than the life that might be on mars.

Yvette Colomb

Sonevol

8:07 AM

@trondhansen Darwin's theory of evolution is survival of the fittest. The less adept one has gone extinct throughout the the history of earth. Like large number of ancient dog species got extinct because of ancient cat species. Do you think that, if aliens who are much more intelligent than us who are in search of a new home will spare us?

Henders

@YvetteColomb Oh wow, looks like a model shot :P

Need a slow mo of it :P

Morning Pet-ers!

Sonevol

Morning @Henders

Journeyman Geek

@YvetteColomb totally glorious mane :p

Henders

Exactly!

@Sonevol Morning! :)

Sonevol

@Henders What would you do if you have the chance to become immortal?

Henders

8:14 AM

@Sonevol This isn't really the place for that kind of question. We generally want to keep the topic based around pets here. A lot of people create their own rooms to talk about their own topics :)

Sonevol

@Henders Well what about genetic engineering to create synthetic pets who are immortal as well who are supplied to Mars duellers and they have lots of questions about their pets?

Henders

@Sonevol You know what I mean :p

Masked Man

@Sonevol There was one anime/manga Hunter x Hunter where the exact same question was brought up. A mutant species called Chimera Ants became more powerful than humans, and when some humans begged to spare their lives, the Chimera Ant King asked the same question, "did you spare the lives of cows, sheep and other animals when they begged for it?"

JAD

Well, evolution doesn't care as much about staying alive as it does about procreation

Henders

9:02 AM

Anyone have a daily pet?

Count the shrimp ^ The clear ones are pretty well hidden :P

Sonevol

@Henders daily pet "alien dog"

Henders

Fictional pets don't count :p

JAD

9:38 AM

there you go

Henders

@JAD Is that Snakie? I struggle to tell them apart :P

Hmm, now I'm thinking Snor. I don't know :p

JAD

snor

sorry, crappy photo

snakie is bigger (still)

Henders

Daily Pet 2018-06-26 (Snor)

2

JAD

hard to see in this photo, but Snakie is brown-black, snor is brown-red ish

that's the only photo I have with both of them :P

Martin James

9:55 AM

@JAD lol, 'get knotted' is a [mild] insult in Britain, but I guess with that pair it's normal )

JAD

oh that's nothing

Martin James

@JAD I believe you:)

Henders

@JAD Ah yeah, I see now! Snor is much more red coloured!

They look so nice together. Do they interact much?

Henders

10:16 AM

@JourneymanGeek - got anything from the Ash Archives?

Journeyman Geek

10:42 AM

@Henders there you go

Henders

@JourneymanGeek In the suitcase?!

That's so cute!

Journeyman Geek

lol ua

he dosen't like people leaving

Henders

@JourneymanGeek Wow, great detail here. His nose is the same pattern as the chair.

Journeyman Geek

lol yup

finest cold, jelly like wet leather ;)

Henders

And the dog wash, fantastic :P Take your car for a car wash then your dog for a dog wash!

Journeyman Geek

10:50 AM

sadly its closed at the moment :(

renovations it seems

Henders

Maybe they're putting in the 'Dog-Matic 3000' though...

Journeyman Geek

;p

the conditioner smells sooooo goooood

JAD

11:03 AM

@Henders we rarely have them out together

but they tend to ignore eachother

most snakes are solitary species. These species are at least

Henders

Fair enough

JAD

I think I made this picture to show the size difference between the two

but that's getting smaller and smaller

Rebecca RVT

@Sonevol ya it's a good thing to have! We have a few cat boarding facilities.

@Sonevol dogs gotta eat, circle of life sadly. I know in some areas, people who do not have food need to resort to eating stray cats. It's sad but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive.

JAD

11:29 AM

we have those for dogs, probably cats as well

JAD

11:41 AM

@Henders it's kinda funny, many people keep more than one snake in a single enclosure and get all excited when they are lying together: "Aww they're cuddling." Not really, they just both like to lie in the hotspot.

Sonevol

12:47 PM

@RebeccaRVT The dogs don't eat the cats. At least I have not seen so. They just kill them, probably to eliminate competitors to limited food supply.

@RebeccaRVT And yeah I have heard people in besieged towns of Syria eating street dogs and cats

Only don't get the point, why put up the resistance and not surrender, when you are in on the verge of dying from hunger and disease

Henders

@JAD Heh, yeah, they just want the warmth :P

JAD

@Sonevol you're implying that those dying from hunger and disease are the ones deciding whether or not to surrender

Sonevol

of course, if they decide to surrender to government forces, their towns will no longer be besieged

Martin James

1:09 PM

@RebeccaRVT Like the The Koh-i-Noor Indian takeaway in the high street?

Sonevol

@MartinJames ???

Martin James

There was one in Edinburgh that had a sign in the door 'Guaranteed, no cat, no rat'. I was never sure if it was a joke or not.

@Sonevol British fast food:)

Sonevol

How can it be "no cat, no rat", I mean if there is "no rat" then there is "no cat", right?

I have a deep desire for a scorpion pet. Problem is my gf will never allow with kids around. I love scorpions

Henders

An interesting pet, that's for sure

Sonevol

In Europe proper standards are maintained, but in India and China there is no standards. In Europe only non lethal scorpions are allowed to be kept in pet stores but here lethal ones are in more demand.

Henders

1:21 PM

Yeah, that's a bit scary :(

JAD

@Sonevol it's not that easy. government can't tell the rebels from citizens, rebels won't let anyone leave to surrender in the first place.

Sonevol

Interestingly all spiders are non lethal, and spiders are a part of scorpion diet

@JAD Sorry I disagree, they are not rebels, they are CIA trained agents who take direct orders from Washington D.C.

Henders

but again, this is not the topic of this room so let's not get into a big discussion about it :)

@Sonevol I really liked your answer on the scorpion here.

Sonevol

@Henders thanks

JAD

@Sonevol potato potato

^that really doesn't work in text :/

Journeyman Geek

1:32 PM

@Sonevol @JAD no politics please!

Mod hat strictly off, and avid chat user helmet very very firmly on....

Well, this place works a lot better for a lot of us if we're vaguely on topic and well...

if we weren't constantly reminded its a terrible world.

If you know its going to be a bummer, or the main point of a topic is to get a reaction... ehhh....

Pet pics on the other hand, always welcome ;)

Sonevol

Let's chat about genetically engineered pets to be supplied to future Mars colonies @JourneymanGeek

Journeyman Geek

Also, I'd note there's folks with a lot of different kinds of companion animals...

saying nasty things about them is not cool too

Henders

Journeyman Geek

dang

Henders

Look at those beauties. They're not mine

Journeyman Geek

1:39 PM

@Henders one of yours?

Henders

Not even my picture

but my goodness I'd like some

Journeyman Geek

That's kinda perfect XD

even the fish out of the frame work perfectly

Henders

Yep, I think I like them more than the single coloured ones, to be honest

Journeyman Geek

well and the contrast with the primary colours of each fish

Henders

Yep, incredible. Hard to keep though, you have to have pristine water.

Journeyman Geek

1:42 PM

ah

erm. My brother had problems with guppies for school..

parents used that as a reason not to have a pet for years ;p

Henders

Bah! I was never allowed a pet as a child.

:/

Journeyman Geek

nor were we ;p

I got ash when I was... 22?

Sonevol

hobbyfarms.com/genetically-modified-pets-are-here

Genetically engineered pigs and dogs have already been made to be kept as pets

Henders

@JourneymanGeek Yeah, I started keeping fish probably around the same age.

JAD

I've had a bunch of rabbits in the past

Journeyman Geek

1:49 PM

PAF/WAF/HAF is important ;p

Henders

@JourneymanGeek Eh?

Journeyman Geek

Ok..

Henders

@JAD That was your first pet?

Journeyman Geek

WAF is Wife Acceptance Factor...

PAF is parental acceptance factor (what I deal with)

and HAF is me being non sexist XD

Sonevol

@Henders I am going to confess something today. Once I did a terrible thing.

I brought a 2 weeks old kitten given to me by one of my neighbors

It had no mother to take care

JAD

1:52 PM

@Henders as far as I can remember yes

Sonevol

I had absolutely no knowledge of cat care at that time.

JAD

@JourneymanGeek this was tricky when I first got snakie

Sonevol

I put milk, meat in a mixer, created a paste and fed the kitten

JAD

my mom was on board pretty quickly, but my dad took some convincing :P

Sonevol

The kitten died the next day

Journeyman Geek

1:53 PM

@JAD we got Ash cause his ex-mom didn't talk to her husband about getting a puppy

Sonevol

I was so upset I took 30 sleeping pills and was admitted to hospital emergency

His name was "Khude"

I still have his pictures with me

JAD

@JourneymanGeek :'(

Journeyman Geek

@JAD well

Sonevol

And presently I am crying as I am typing this

Journeyman Geek

it was literally the only way we could have gotten a dog

She wasn't ready, clearly, Ash is happy with us, I think everyone won ;)

JAD

1:57 PM

Lucky outcome

Sonevol

khude

:'(

RichieACC

Hey

Sonevol

@RichieACC I am a bad person

Journeyman Geek

@JAD quite

XD. Used to follow any woman who wore the same sort of clothes she did a while...

then we saw his ex owner outside, and he turned his face around and refused to look at her, the poor scamp

Her loss ;p

Henders

2:21 PM

@RichieACC Hello :)

@trondhansen - How are the fish doing? Is the water still green?

RichieACC

@Henders, I think for once it's colder here than there. I'm struggling with today. 🙂

Henders

@RichieACC Heh, about 27-28 here today :P

Journeyman Geek

Is water being green good or bad? ;p

Henders

It's not bad or good really. The green-ness is algae which isn't harmful to the fish, it just makes it less nice to look at for some people.

There's a bit of a 'my water is clearer than yours' kind of thing in aquariums :P

Journeyman Geek

ahh

ArtOfCode

2:29 PM

@Henders I do believe we hit the hottest feels-like temperature in the UK at work yesterday, 34C

(not the hottest air temperature, though, some park in central London stole that from us)

Journeyman Geek

Rg=0_0

RichieACC

It feels sub-zero here today. But my phone says it's 17C

Journeyman Geek

@ArtOfCode that's hot even by tropical conditions

ArtOfCode

@JourneymanGeek aye, it was... quite warm

RichieACC

lol, that's our average for summer :)

ArtOfCode

2:32 PM

but if you look at where I was, you can kinda see why... that particular stretch picks up all the heat

Henders

@ArtOfCode Wow! I bet it is hotter at the top of a pole too! :p

ArtOfCode

@Henders aye, top of the course is basically the same temperature

also known as "[expletive deleted] hot"

Henders

Heh, you must get a mega tan though :p

RichieACC

2:50 PM

My betta has the blackest eyes I've ever seen :)

Henders

Wow, really does!

RichieACC

He's liking this tank much more than the other. He's actually out and about, socialising with the other fish. In the tank with the angels, he used to hide all the time.

Henders

@RichieACC Did you get that test kit to check the levels?

(not that I'm suggesting you should, just interested)

RichieACC

Not yet :( I can still only test pH. The results I'm getting are fascinating. One of my tanks keeps going acid, another alkaline, and the big one stays roughly neutral.

Martin James

lol, black eyes and gill-slits combine to form a silly grin)

Henders

3:03 PM

Aye, bigger tank is more stable. Maybe you've got a low KH so the PH is fluctuating because of that.

I think trond actually suggested that in his answer to your question.

RichieACC

I've built a filter for the smallest tank, which keeps going acid. I've put some crushed, baked eggshells in there. It looks ugly, but it seems to be working. I'm seriously contemplating that sump.

WARNING: Disturbing Post!!
https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/30798-news-cat-samosas-nakuru-gets-kenyans-talking

i hate javascript :(

Ceiling Cat

3:50 PM

0

Q: How much tuna is safe for a cat?

Me and my wife has recently got a male 9 weeks old kitten. It comes from a good house, so it's already been treated for fleas and (most importantly) litter trained. According to its old owner, it used to eat pretty much any brand of wet and dry food. However, the first days we had it it refused...

Henders

@CeilingCat Looks like a dupe of this: pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2590/…

trond hansen

5:03 PM

@Henders yes the water is still green but it is getting a lot better but right now i am doing some maintenance on one of my filters(it is the filter i made myself,it is made of steel plates)i need to treat it to avoid it rusting.we are having a new heatwave here so it is possible to clean and paint the filter now.

@Henders in my answer i only mentioned the general hardness i did not mention the KH but here is the link you gave me watersedge.com/greenwater.html.adding baking soda to a smal tank is a little risky if the GH is low,the PH might go stright up to about 8,0 so one need to be carefull.

here is the link watersedge.com/greenwater.html some of the text got messed up

Ceiling Cat

6:19 PM

1

Q: Black dots on betta fins

I have a giant veil tailed betta. Two days ago I moved him from a 2.5 gallon tank (filtered and heated) to a 10 gallon tank with a divider. One side of the divider has him and there is another male betta in the other side. At first they noticed each other and were mad but they don’t seem to care ...

fish betta

0

Q: How to get a good picture of pet fish?

It is often important to include a photo of your fish in your question. Based on some of the photos that have been provided this is not always easy. What are the steps to get a clear, good quality photo of a fish?