WE'RE pissing on company time

HEY real quick I just want to pop in here and say, if your neutered male cat suddenly starts peeing in the sink/tub/on the floor/in plants when he was previously always fune with the litterbox, GO TO THE VET IMMEDIATELY.

Fixed male cats are Very Prone to developing stones in their bladder, which can cause a blockage, which can cause death very fast. One prime way they show this is by not wanting to use their litterbox because the stones hurt, so they associate that pain with the litterbox. They may also seem to have abdominal pain, no energy, blood in the urine, difficulty/straining to pee, or not producing any pee at all.

I cannot stress enough how much of an emergency this is. It will not resolve without vet care and it is deadly if left untreated.

Sorry to be a wet blanket on a funny post but I nearly lost my cat to this years ago because I didn't know the signs. Thankfully he was okay after a couple of nights at the vet, but if I'd known the signs sooner I could have acted before it got so serious.

Good on OP for taking Jorts to the vet to be safe.

I just think that 'animals are living intelligent creatures that have feelings and deserve to be respected' and 'when done properly farming is beneficial to both people and animals and there's nothing wrong with raising and killing animals for food, clothing, and other products' are concepts that very much can and should coexist

so there's been debate recently if hamsters are actually ethical to have as pets, particularly in comparison with other rodents like rats and mice, and the answer is almost always a resounding no.

They run five miles in the wild every night and often try to escape their enclosures or go depressed being confined even in massive cages that are the size of a medium closet. they're also completely nocturnal and are often woken in the day by us. and lots of people mentioned how their hamsters either did not like human interaction or did not like it enough to justify keeping them as pets (for the debate)

meanwhile mice are happy in 50-75 gallon tanks and a wheel. House mice, the species fancy mice were bred from, typically don't go very far from their nests. 10-50 feet. rats go a few hundred feet, still not comparable to the MILES that hamsters run.

and then there's the tamability. both mice and rats can grow to truly love human interaction and most do with a little bit of taming. for example, all of my girls who were rescues and had horrible experiences coming to me warmed up to me less than an hour after getting in their new cage (except for two. I've had twelve mice.) rats very often are referred to as pocket puppies BECAUSE OF how affectionate they are. hamsters arent really like that.

I feel like hamsters are cute, yes, but they're sought after more because they feel less 'rodenty' than mice and rats (who almost every culture sees as pests and dirty), even though they really should not be kept as pets.

Important for spoonies with cats! Creams with Flurbiprofen are fatal to cats. Brands that use this chemical (Not a complete list): Myoflex Traumeel Capzasin If you have cats, check your pain relieving cream for this, and keep them from ingesting it, please!

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/mobileart.asp?articlekey=694

Oh no! Boosting for all cat owners.

All NSAIDs are toxic to cats - this includes ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin), Aleve (naproxen), Voltaren – which also comes in a gel form – (diclofenac), Mobic (meloxicam), aspirin… If you’re unsure, ask your pharmacist or check drugs.com.

Signed, your friendly local former pharmacist

This is potentially life saving information everyone should know.

No you guys this post helped me find my cat. He was missing for almost a month and I’ve had him for over 12 years. After seeing this I put his favorite blanket he always slept on outside hoping he would smell mine or his scent and he was back the next fucking day asleep on it.

When my cat got out, we called and called for him, and then, later that night, I remembered similar advice to this, and so put his little scratching pad, which he adores, on the front porch. Not even half an hour later, I heard a thump, opened the door, and there was his big butt, meowing at me.

Important and vital

I don’t care that I reblogged this today I’m reblogging it again

This is an exception to not being related to writing.

Bringing this back as we approach Halloween. Keep your pets indoors.

ok I know y’all probably have heard this before, but PetSmart is incredibly negligent for their care of aquatic pets. Especially Betta Fish.

This is how PetSmart wants you to see them:

A happy, healthy Betta Fish. Well, this is how they look in their stores:

Betta fish need a minimum 3 gallon tank, a heater, filter, plants and hiding places, and to be out of sight of other male bettas. These Bettas being sold are in literal plastic cups. They stay there until they are bought or die. They swim in their own waste, get fungal and bacterial infections, and even self-mutilate due to stress and boredom.

THIS is an ideal setup for a single Betta:

After feeling feisty today, I decided to interact with them to see how they’d respond:

They haven’t responded, which I totally expected. This is just a reminder that pet store corporations don’t give a shit about the animals in their care. Don’t buy Bettas from PetSmart, and if you have, do your research to provide them the proper care they need.

please be gentle to your pets, they trust you so much and believe that whatever youre doing for them is the best thing. they trust you to be kind and benevolent. small critter or otherwise, you have the trust of this animal, and i implore you to be gentle and decent. don’t betray that trust

Good information. I will add that you need to be aware of where you are getting your care info from. If you look online you will find lots of sites saying monkeys make great pets when in fact, they don’t. Your exotic vet is the best person to get information from and you should be speaking to them anyway BEFORE you get an exotic pet to make sure you will be able to get medical care.

No, your cat is not tricking you or setting a trap for you. You’re just misreading what she’s trying to communicate.

Basically, there are two ways that cats bond with their colonymates (and if you own a cat, you count as a colonymate): grooming, and play. Grooming is self-explanatory; play mostly means means wrestling, because cats are hardcore like that.

A cat who wishes to engage in bonding - whether grooming or play - is going to do one of two things: either she’s going to initiate bonding, or she’s going to solicit bonding. A cat who wants to initiate bonding will just walk up and start licking or wrestling with with you; conversely, a cat who wants to solicit bonding will indicate, in some fashion, that she wants you to be the one to start grooming or playing with her.

Now, here’s the trick: because play for a cat typically means play-fighting, one of the most common ways for a cat to solicit play is to deliberately adopt a vulnerable position, thereby communicating that her prospective partner should mock-attack her in order to begin a wrestling match.

Sound familiar?

Basically, if your cat rolls over onto her back and looks at you really expectantly, like she’s anticipating some action on your part, and you go in for a belly rub and get your hand shredded, it’s not a kitty prank. Rather, you misinterpreted a solicitation for play as a solicitation for grooming.

You’ll save yourself a lot of blood loss if you learn to tell the difference!

(It’s possible to teach a cat how to roughhouse with a human partner without causing injury, but it takes work. If you aren’t able to put in that kind of training time, it’s usually best to redirect to a different form of play when you recognise that your cat is trying to get a wrestling match going; a game of chase is a popular alternative.)

“cats don’t act like dogs and therefore are assholes” is a thing basically only said by assholes

can confirm the thing about training your cats to wrestle gentler, my siamese will play fight and bite me *so* gently but go rough enough with my dad to occasionally draw blood because my dads always wrestled roughly with him which he loves but he knows my boundaries are much firmer - and no it’s not just that he doesn’t like my dad as much he’s literally obsessed with him he just knows it’s okay to go rougher

how what???

I’m not good with the science of this or anything (someone who knows more feel free to add) but fish can play??? Fish can play like any other animal?? People saying it couldn’t breathe, do human kids not hold their breaths to go under water for fun? It’s just the opposite. Air is water, water is air. In the same vein as a kid being thrown up and into the pool and enjoying it, the fish is playing.

okay… as someone who studies marine biology I need to clarify something:

fish are unable to hold their breaths. They literally cannot take a deep breath like mammals do.

We have lungs that can take in a specific volume of air, fish have gills that work when they are ventilated enough. There are different kinds of gills, yes. Some fish have something called ‘operculum’ which is like a cap on top of the gills, helping to protect them and increasing the water circulation through the gills. Some fish DONT have this structure and need to swim in order to be able to breathe.

But the fact that they cannot hold their breaths doesnt mean that they cannot survive without water for a while - in fact, fish can (usually) survive being without water WAY LONGER than we could survive being without air.

I cannot tell if this fish does this for fun, but it sure looks like it. But I am not a behavioural biologist, so I can’t tell for sure.

It is abundantly clear the fish is a willing participant. It’s sort of arrogant to assume animals other than humans don’t play like humans.

Im not a behavior biologist either, but I have spent a lot of time around fish and ive spent a lot of time talking to and helping people that care for fish. (Former petstore fish guy that took his job too seriously)

That fish is having fun, and fish absolutely DO have fun!

There was a regular who came into the store I worked at a lot, and he kept several varieties of chichlids, a very smart, aggressive type of fish.

He would come in and talk to me about all the drama his fish get into. The different territorial disputes they were having, who had paired off with who, who broke up (yes chichlids are like this)

But he had a jack dempsey in particular that LOVED to chase his hand around the tank, not his wife’s hand, not his friend’s hand, it HAD to be him. He said that as soon as he entered the room where this fish’s tank was kept, the fish would TEAR UP the tank decor, knocking things over and acting a fool off his shits until this dude stuck his hand in there and let the fish chase it around back and forth.

He theorized that his fish learned that if he knocked the tank decor around, his owner would obviously have to stick his hand in to fix it. So when he wants to play “chase dad’s hand” thats naturally how he knows he can get the hand to appear. He wont do this behavior for anybody but this one guy and he won’t tear up the tank anymore after he had received sufficient “play time”, usually once a day when the guy got home from work. He likened it to having a dog that wont leave you alone till you play tug o war for a bit.

I had a betta that would spend twenty minutes at a time just swimming up to the waterfall of the filter, letting it push him down to the bottom of the tank, only to swim back up and do it again, like it was a fucking slide.

Bettas are weak swimmers, and they dislike strong currents, but this guy was using the filter current like a slide. Kinda like how we don’t really like getting thrown around, but we still enjoy rollercoasters.

I also have countless stories about goldfish trying to “give hugs” (re: shove themselves into their owners hands during tank maintenance)

My betta knows how to lie and he will only beg for food in front of those he knows have not fed him yet.

There is so much evidence I’ve seen that fish are waaaay smarter and affectionate than we think. They absolutely have fun and I honestly don’t think enough studies have been done on fish brains and fish behavior in general.

And honestly, having worked in a pet store, fish are generally treated like they don’t have brains by even the fish care brands that claim expert knowledge.

Its definitely worth noting that hard scientific evidence presenting that the very opposite is true would probably lead to more robust animal welfare laws that would definitely upset the aquatics industry. Food for thought.

I think you’re absolutely right on that last point. The misconception that fish are too thoughtless to have feelings facilitates the abhorrent conditions in which they are kept and ways they are treated by the industry.

I used to have a lovely tank, I think it was 50 gallons, and among other things I kept glass catfish. All the research at the time said they were hard to keep in captivity and prone to refusing to eat and starving themselves, and that they did not live long in captivity. But I was fascinated and had to try it. It took me about three days to realize none of the literature said a word about them being nocturnal. I started feeding them at night right before bed, and had zero problems getting them to eat, saw they were incredibly active as soon as the lights went off (I have exceptional night vision) and I kept them in excellent health for years. Exponentially beyond their captive life expectancy.

I think the commercial pet fish trade is abysmal in terms of actual working knowledge of fish.

Fish Intelligence (a link at which you will also learn there is a fish called the bony-eared assfish) has been studied on a pretty broad scale, actually and there’s a lot of scientific evidence to suggest that they are very smart creatures.

I’m adding to this because y’all gonna learn some shit about housing your pets.

Someone make more I love this new meme.

I know that huge homes are great for pets but also did it fucking occur to you that some people don’t have the room or money for those?

hey, guess what. those are all minimum requirements. actually, the person who added onto my post even made the bird cage still TOO small for those birds.

and if you dont have the money or the space for those pets, don’t fucking get the pet.

☝️☝️👌👍

I will never understand the mentality people have that if they lack the funds and space for the proper living requirements for a pet then it just isn’t their problem… and they get the pet anyway.

what they say: cats are evil and unable to love

what they mean: i dont know how to handle small animals and consider them lashing out in SELF DEFENSE an insult

Usually what it boils down to is “I’m mad because the cat didn’t act like a dog”.

Pushing fragile things off tables and breaking them: Self defense. 

Destroying Christmas Trees: Self defense, I mean the tree attacked them. 

Scratching their owner’s eyeball: Self defense. 

Scratching their sleeping owner’s face: Self defense. 

Jumping on their owner’s back and clawing into their spine: Self defense. 

Admittedly yeah 

A dog doesn’t do those things because a dog’s version of self defense is to be a good animal who loves you and doesn’t attack you unless you attack them first. 

I mean if a cat feels that threatened by everything in their owner’s household maybe the owner shouldn’t have gotten a cat. 

Pushing fragile things off tables and breaking them: Playing. Cats are well-known to like to play with small objects. Your cat does not know what “fragile” means and does not understand the distinction between toy and not-toy objects. Place fragile things out of a cat’s line of sight and reach, and if you don’t provide them with enough enrichment items that they go looking for them, that’s on you.

Destroying Christmas Trees: Cats like to climb things. They’re not doing it to spite you.

Scratching their owner’s eyeball: Probably an accident, due to overstimulation when playing. It wasn’t trying to hurt you. Don’t anthropomorphize animals by attributing spite to them. Animals don’t do spite the way that humans do.

Scratching their sleeping owner’s face: Trying to rouse you with its paw, probably gently, because it loves you and wants to play with you.

Jumping on their owner’s back and clawing into their spine: Come on. If a cat is jumping on you, it loves you and wants to be close to you. Digging in with its claws is how it balances itself on an unstable surface and is purely a reflexive reaction. It isn’t intending to hurt you.

99% of cat behavioral problems stem from bored cats. Cats need to climb, need to scratch, and need small objects to play with. I only recommend adopting cats in pairs, so that they can keep each other entertained. Cats are not purely solitary. They get lonely, and lonely cats act out. Once again, your entire problem with cats as a species seems to stem from the fact that you don’t understand how cats express affection and it upsets you that they don’t do so the way that dogs do. Cats aren’t small dogs and cannot be expected to behave as such.

Some semi related cat facts I’d like to add:

Cats don’t have the same facial muscles as dogs and humans do. Dogs facial structures are similar to humans which allows them to make expressions that humans have an easy time understanding. Cats don’t. If you want to understand your cats’ emotions, you have to understand their body language.

A purring cat isn’t necessarily a happy cat. Cats do usually purr when they’re happy, but they also purr when they are in pain or when they’re scared. Purring is a method of self-soothing for cats and a lot of people just don’t know that.

A cat not wanting to face you is a sign of trust. When a cat turns their back towards you, it means they trust you to watch their back and make sure they won’t be attacked from behind.

A cat stepping on your laptop (or whatever you are working on) means they are interested in what you’re doing and want to participate. If you make them their own little cardboard laptop to sit on next to you, a lot of the time your cat(s) will sit on that next to you, allowing you to get your work done while still being able to spend time with your fluffy (or hairless!) family members.

Oh we’re talking cat behavior??? Hang on hang on 

Okay

YES to everything that has been said about cat behavior but a few other things people don’t seem to understand that are important to understanding cat behavior: 

BELLY RUBS: A cat showing you its belly is NOT necessarily asking you to rub it, like a dog is. A cat showing you its belly (when in a calm, sleepy mood) is saying “I trust you so much that I’m going to reveal my MOST VULNERABLE side to you and I know you won’t touch it!” When you then move in and touch it, you’ve actually broken that trust, which is why cats go from “showing you their belly calmly” to “attack!!!” so quickly. It wasn’t a TRAP. You didn’t understand what they were saying and you responded incorrectly. The best reward for the belly display is a nice scritch under the chin/cheeks or a gentle rub on the head. 

(And before anyone says “well my cat loves having his belly rubbed!” –yes. There are exceptions to this general rule, because cats are HELLA unique creatures with distinct personalities. I have a cat who genuinely loves to have his side and belly played like bongo drums. Cats are weirdos. These are generalizations.) 

Now: if your cat shows you its belly when in a playful/feisty mood, that IS an invitation, but beware: it’s an invitation to get attacked. Cats playfight. That’s one of the ways they play. This is very common in predatory animals, who use play to hone important hunting skills. A well-socialized cat will know not to go too hard, but a kitten won’t, so if you’re playfighting with a kitten and it bites too hard, go “OW!” really loud and take your hand away to help teach them. But yeah, if a feisty cat opens its belly to you: be prepared for a playfight!

PETTING: Cats are sensitive. Physically. All that fur builds up a lot of static electricity and when people pet them they tend to do it along the cat’s spine, which means a lot of energy and static along the spine, which means OVERSTIMULATION. If you’ve ever been petting a cat and suddenly it whips its head around and closes its teeth on your hand, that means you’ve overstimulated it and it’s asking you to please stop. (Incidentally, the bite wasn’t ‘sudden,’ you just missed the earlier signs of ‘please stop you’re overstimulating me’ and the cat had to take extreme measures–more on that later). 

Petting a cat around their head/cheeks/chin will usually prevent that overstimulation (and once or twice down the back isn’t a bad thing, just be mindful of overstimulating!). And it’s also polite to ask permission first! Cats are TINY compared to us, and very independent creatures, so coming quickly at a cat with your big ol’ human hand can be alarming even if they know and trust you. Try this next time: How to ask a cat for permission to pet it.

OVERSTIMULATION: Cats can and DO get overstimulated! As I mentioned before, if you’re petting a cat and it suddenly bites (or gets up and leaves), it’s not saying “I don’t like you anymore,” it’s saying “please, stop.” 

Watch for the following body language cues: 

1) Ears: if the cat’s ears are starting to twitch back, it may be getting agitated. Try backing off and see what the cat does. If the ears twitch back forward and the cat seems to relax, then stopping was probably a good move. Try again in a few minutes and limit your petting to their head/ears/neck/cheeks. 

2) Eyes: If your cat went from closed-eyed bliss to eyes open and pupils dilating, circumstances have changed. Your cat is getting agitated. Continue petting at your own risk but don’t be surprised if they attack. 

3) Tail: This is a HUGE mistake I see people more familiar with dogs making. A cat’s tail wagging doesn’t mean “HAPPY!” like a dog’s does. A cat’s tail twitching or swishing means they are highly stimulated. Sometimes that means they’re having fun (check out this video to see a very enthusiastically stimulated cat having fun climbing a rock wall–and watch that tail! That’s an excited cat!). But often it means they’re agitated, not happy. If a cat’s tail starts swishing, that’s a good time to step back and let the cat find a way to calm itself down. 

4) Body tension: this is a fairly straightforward one but if your cat went from totally relaxed to tense and tight, it’s probably not enjoying itself as much as it was. Maybe it’s about to launch an assault on something it saw across the room (another cat or a toy, for instance). Just know you may not have a sleepy contented cat in your lap anymore. 

MIRRORING: One of the ways cats show affection is to “mirror” their companions: 

Domestic housecats are not naturally pack animals but they DO have the ability to come together and form strong social bonds. You, their owner, are a member of their social group, and they will often try to mirror you, too! Meaning if you spend most of your day sitting on your laptop, they want to do it as well: 

They’re not trying to be rude. They want to do what you’re doing! Because that’s how they show affection! 

(Now: is it occasionally annoying? ABSOLUTELY. I’ve had to shoo my cat Sam away from my laptop several times while attempting to type this post. But I still love him and I understand he’s just trying to be close to me. He’s not being malicious because malice is a human emotion and cannot be attributed to cats. So is spite, scorn, arrogance, and any number of emotions that get falsely attributed to cats by people who just don’t understand that CATS ARE NOT DOGS and therefore behave differently!!! Please do not anthropomorphize your cat!!!)

Now, most of the things the cat hater up there said have already been addressed, but I’d like to expand on the Christmas tree thing, and then the scratching thing, because it segues nicely into another issue: claws. 

The Christmas Tree: please picture this from the perspective of a cat. A cat has no religious affiliation. A cat doesn’t understand what significance this thing you brought into your home has. A cat just sees you have brought in A TREE, which especially if it is real will have VERY INTERESTING OUTSIDE SMELLS. It sees SHINY TWINKLY BAUBLES AND LIGHTS. It sees GARLANDS OF SHINY CRINKLY FUN THINGS. Sorry but you’ve basically just brought in the greatest jungle gym ever, full of interesting sights, sounds, smells, and textures, and told the animal that has NO CAPACITY to understand your words that ‘no you can’t play with that.’ Sorry but that’s just a little unrealistic. And to attribute malice to this behavior–to say the cat is attacking the tree with the intent of destroying it?–is to be so deliberately obtuse as to be almost malicious about it yourself. 

The cat is having fun. A new novel unique thing has just come into its environment and a lot of the things about it resemble the toys it already plays with (balls, strings, crinkly paper, etc.). It is going to play. If you don’t want that, then either find a way to stabilize the tree, keep it out of reach, or DON’T HAVE A CAT. 

Okay finally. The claws thing. Let’s talk about cat claws. 

Okay so yes, cats will sometimes try to wake you up by gently patting your face. If that results in you getting scratched, chances are, your cats claws are getting too long! 

Cats naturally sharpen their claws. They’re a good weapon, and the cat’s first line of defense and offense in a world where they are both predator and prey. They allow cats to climb out of danger or in pursuit of prey. They help cats catch things and hold onto them. They act as a deterrent if a bigger predator gets ahold of them. They help them stabilize themselves on the ground and in high places like trees. Claws are important.

That’s why cats scatch things (also to deposit scent markers from glands located in the pads of their paws but I digress): to keep their claws in good shape and sharpened, and to shed old claw sheaths (cat claws shed, did you know that? fun fact!). 

HOWEVER, if your cat is an indoor cat only (which it REALLY SHOULD BE but that’s a rant for another day), it may not have enough wearing down the claws in return, and you may have to help your cat maintain their claws! There are a couple ways to do this: 

1) Trimming the claw - gently depress the toe bean to extend the claw then use cat claw clippers to snip the sharpened tip. Watch out for the quick! You’ll be able to see it as the darker vein of blood in the cat’s claw. 

2) SoftPaws or any other brand of cat nail tips! These stylish little claw tippers can be safely applied, and each application lasts about a month. These tips protect your skin and your furniture and do not bother your cat in the slightest! Plus your cat will look fancy af: 

What you should NOT do, ever, please, ever, is declaw your cat. I know no one talked about this but, well, I pretty much jump on every chance I get to educate people about the inhumanity of this practice. If it changes one person’s mind about declawing their cat (or about getting one in the first place, if it’s genuinely just not a good fit) then good, I don’t mind cluttering up some dashes. 

People seem to think that declawing means ‘removing the claws only’ when in fact, it’s a partial toe amputation. Look at your own finger. See that last joint before the nail starts? Yeah, that’s what’s getting cut off of your cat’s toes. That whole last joint. 

I’m going to steal wholesale from an ask I answered on one of my other blogs to give you links to articles about the physical, psychological, and emotional damage declawing causes your cat: 

Here’s a great article about how the weight-bearing changes caused by declawing can lead to arthritis.

Here’s another one that discusses other behavioral issues as well.

Another article

And here’s a more detailed article with some anatomical information about what’s involved in the surgery

A quote from that last article:

“Some cats are so shocked by declawing that their personalities change. Cats who were lively and friendly have become withdrawn and introverted after being declawed. Others, deprived of their primary means of defense, become nervous, fearful, and/or aggressive, often resorting to their only remaining means of defense, their teeth. In some cases, when declawed cats use the litterbox after surgery, their feet are so tender they associate their new pain with the box…permanently, resulting in a life-long aversion to using the litter box. Other declawed cats that can no longer mark with their claws, they mark with urine instead resulting in inappropriate elimination problems, which in many cases, results in relinquishment of the cats to shelters and ultimately euthanasia. Many of the cats surrendered to shelters are surrendered because of behavioral problems which developed after the cats were declawed.

Many declawed cats become so traumatized by this painful mutilation that they end up spending their maladjusted lives perched on top of doors and refrigerators, out of reach of real and imaginary predators against whom they no longer have any adequate defense. A cat relies on its claws as its primary means of defense. Removing the claws makes a cat feel defenseless. The constant state of stress caused by a feeling of defenselessness may make some declawed cats more prone to disease. Stress leads to a myriad of physical and psychological disorders including supression of the immune system, cystitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).”

So basically I know I’ve interrupted this post with a PSA but PLEASE. Please do not declaw your cat. Either find another solution, resign yourself to scratched up furniture, or DO NOT GET A CAT. 

In conclusion: 

Please stop treating fish like crap

A post I made earlier got me into rant-mode and this is something that has been sizzling my bacon for quite some time. What is it about fish and aquatic life in general that makes people just not care about them? I have been keeping fish as pets for years and I am constantly blown away by incredible amount of people that think fish are brainless desk ornaments or cheap throwaway gifts to give away at random. Spend not even 5 minutes in big-box pet store and you will realize that there is an entire industry built around the very concept of treating fish like garbage just to have a pretty desktop toy.

Fish are complex animals with specific and essential care requirements. They need the proper amount of space (vertical and horizontal space), the right water temperature, the right water PH, the right water hardness, the right amount and type of food, the right lighting and light timing, a properly cycled tank with a nitrogen cycle, a working filter with the right amount of flow, potentially other fish they can socialize with, and more! I just don't understand how someone can look at a fish and think of it as anything less as an animal they need to care for properly. Seriously, I would very much like to understand the psychology that goes on to make people think lesser of aquatic life and fish in general. When I tell people that my fish sleep, have personalities, have mood swings, get excited, act playful, etc they always are surprised that a fish could do/feel any of that. Why? People will care so much about the pain and feelings of a squirrel or bunny they find injured on the roadside but care little if a fish is doing well. Why?!

One thing I've seen said about fish is that they have "dead eyes" and I have to wonder if that contributes to it. Fish don't have eyelids and their eyes are always wide open (they're underwater, they don't need to blink). Eyes are a very important factor for human socialization and recognition and I wonder if this aspect of fish makes people care less about them or see them with less empathy. I reckon this is also the reason why some people see snakes with less empathy because their eyes are also always open and wide. Fish don't convey their feelings with their eyes and faces like humans do. Hell, I've had people tell me they're surprised that fish can even move their eyes. Most can! And they will watch you as you move around their tank.

Is it their intelligence? I know it's commonly assumed that fish are "stupid" or lack any intelligence at all. Well, fish intelligence varies greatly (and in fact even the word"fish" is a debatable thing but that's another topic entirely) and some are very intelligent - including many that you will find in the aquarium hobby trade. You know those betta fish you often find in tiny plastic drinking-cup sized containers at your local Petsmart or Petco? Yeah, those are actually one of the more intelligent ones. And people keep them in goddamn jars. They're air-breathing carnivores with a high intelligence and are cable of being taught basic tricks and routines. Some will even let you touch and hold them and seem to enjoy it (don't do it often, though).

This post is getting long and rambly but I just wanted to get this out there. One of my fishes, Pancake, gets angry when I give him fasting days for his digestive health. He will storm around the tank, thrash at his plants, and even spit water at me. I see stuff like that and I just can't help but wonder and be saddened by how these creatures are treated.

The “I Probably Shouldn’t Have Pets” Starter Pack

Could someone tell me what’s wrong with meowmix?

seems that it’s made some cats sicker (puking uncontrollably) and has been infested with bugs often, also in general, i think it’s probably just low grade and can give cats problems (like purina for dogs)

What’s wrong with the bird cage? I could understand that it could be too small for a large bird like a parrot, but what about a canary?

Nope. That cage is far too small to be used as a home for any kind of bird. It’s acceptable as a travel cage for small birds, or as a sleeping only cage. But songbirds deserve to have room to move around and fly too.

For Canaries and finches, it’s recommended they have at least a 3 foot cage!

Canaries are birds that need to fly. They were not meant to be domesticated and profited from as pets. They are highly active birds that will self harm from stress in such confined spaces. Canaries are delightful to have in groups, though they are fine on their own, but every 1 bird adds 3 cubic feet to the space needed. They need multiple perches and toys. These are examples of proper Canary or other small bird enclosures.

Meow Mix is a horrible brand of cat food, I used to feed it to my cats and they would just throw it back up. It’s so low quality that half of the ingredients aren’t even food items. The meat is all scrap by products from slaughterhouses like hooves, eyes, tails and fat because it’s cheap. Which is something they don’t list on the packaging to fool pet owners. I always used to find worms in my bags of Meow Mix. Beneful literally uses antifreeze in it’s food, which has lead to the deaths of thousands of dogs a year. From conditions such as internal bleeding, seizures and cancers. 

Rabbits shouldn’t be confined to a cage. (Especially a dog cage..?) Rabbits are curious creatures that need to jump, run, chew and play to be healthy. Keeping them locked in a cage 24/7 as a toy for your kids will make them sick or develop aggression from stress. Healthy rabbit lifespans are 10+ years. Rabbit cages should only be a place for your rabbit to use the litterbox and sleep after a long day of exercise and play. Also, never keep two rabbits together unless they are fixed. Rabbits are territorial and they will either fight or mate rapidly when intact. Up to 14 babies every month. This is the proper set up for a rabbit.

I’m cringing at that rainbow “my mommy got me a cute hamster” rodent cage. These are small creatures that need to run around and explore. They need to burrow and chew. This is the proper set up for a hamster or other small rodent. 

Betta fish get stressed from any confinement under 5 gallons. They are the worst pet for being sold to kids as “accessories” in small cubed tanks. When kept like that the fish will die a horribly stressed life within a year when they can live for 7 or more. They need calm filtration with many dark caves and soft plants. They are aggressive to other fish. These fish are so intelligent that they actually play with you, and they need mental stimulation to live healthy. These are proper Betta setups.

Who the fuck would even feed an omnivorous bearded dragon pellet food…? Do they want a sick pet? If pet stores even bothered to care about the keeping of exotic pets, they would know that shit is bad for them. If you can’t feed live meal worms and crickets than you shouldn’t own an exotic pet in the first place. Pellet food isn’t even real food, it’s chemically made with preservatives. 

@amazingpetenclosures

All of this is good info, thanks!

“Too small for a large bird like a parrot”

Reminder that parrots are not one species and range from budgie (parakeet) and cockatiel sized to macaws.

Either way it’s too fucking small, mate

@ the people in the comments going like “but i cant afford anything bigger/better!”

like no offence, but you shouldnt get a pet at all if you cannot afford to give them decent care.

i just wrote a little piece on the culture surrounding replacing exotic pets + how it’s normalized to ‘move up’ by getting rid of your pet and buying a harder to care for species. i’d appreciate it if you checked it out!!

https://link.medium.com/emK38kJ0L4

Peoppe do WHAT?? and it's NORMALIZED?? WHAT??

yeah :/

reminds me of how my dad's cousin gets a new parrot every year and just keeps them in the corner as a decoration :(

yeah - and this is unfortunately really common. as someone who volunteered with a parrot rescue for two years, you find some pretty horrific cases of neglect just because their animals aren’t recognized as animals. i can’t recount the number of stories ive heard exactly like that. one of my favorite birds (despite her, for the majority of the time I knew her, being a look-no-touch friend) had light sensitivity when she was first rescued because she’d been kept in a closet for three years.

This goes for dogs or cats too. They're not just fluffy furniture, especially for the active breeds. You can't just get an Australian Shepherd or a Greyhound because they're pretty, they require a lot of work and time.

It also makes me so fucking sad when people adopt a puppy or a kitten because they’re cute when they’re little, and then return them (or worse abandon them) when they grow up because it’s “too much responsibility” or whatever.

Also, with Easter coming up, here’s a reminder: DO NOT BUY A BUNNY FOR THE HECK OF IT AND THEN NEGLECT IT

Animals are living creatures that need care and affection. Don’t buy a pet just because they’re “cute” and then neglect them!!!

important psa about buns

We raised rabbits when I was a child and my sister gave a rabbit a bath (she was 5) and it died..so heed this instruction.

I wasn’t going to reblog this, but then I realized I might save a rabbit.

This is important guys. If your rabbit gets into something gnarly and you HAVE to bathe them: 1. Fill a bowl with warm water. 2. Get a washcloth. Put it in the water. Squeeze it out until it is just damn.  3. Lightly scrub the dirty area on your bun. 4. That is it. DO NOT get your bun wet. Only slightly damp on the part that was dirty.  (source)

VERY IMPORTANT! SAVE A BUNS LIFE!

Do not bathe your bun!!!!

Boosting!

this applies to guinea pigs, too!

Rabbits can and do swim in the wild; they’ve got toe webbing and buoyant fat and all the other adaptations that make a land mammal good in the water, because that’s a great way to get away from clumsier predators and escape tracking by scent.

The problem is that the same thing that makes a bunny’s coat so good at shedding rain means that when they do get soaked through, it takes forever for them to dry properly, so if they don’t have adequate shelter and ideally help drying off they can get a nasty case of hypothermia.

Keep them warm, and dry them off as best you can. Don’t stop or let them go until they’re dry, even on a warm day. Don’t use a hair dryer either unless you really know what you’re doing, because it can easily go the opposite way and burn them, and the noise is likely to freak them right out.

And yes, rabbits in general are high-strung enough to have fatal heart attacks if you stress them enough; if they aren’t used to the water and some stupid human forces them into the bath that’s terrifying, so just don’t do it. It also means you gotta make sure not to panic them when you’re drying them off; fortunately being wrapped up in a towel is comforting to most bunnies, since it’s a) an extra layer between them and any threats, b) kinda like being in a tunnel, and c) kinda like being surrounded by a warren of other bunnies.

As for the ear infections I’m not sure, but I think that’s mainly a problem with lop-eared rabbits, since floppy ears are a mutation introduced by human breeders and it causes them a bunch of other problems as well. If they have the proper upright ears like a wild rabbit I think they can get the water out easily enough and not worry too much about that.