Of What Good is a Cat?



Peggy and I were married in late ’71; our friends, Lynn and Christy, in early ’72. Soon afterward, Christy got a kitten that she adored. After giving birth, she said that her eyes had opened, and she realized that her beloved pet was, after all, “only a cat.” Maybe the same fate will befall the woman who insisted that her cat understood every word she said and loved her completely. This hints at the power imbalance between humans and creatures whose existence requires our love and loyalty. Cats, being solitary animals, might not understand that their lives are in the hands of an unstable species, but perhaps dogs do, and that’s why they’re desperate to please us.

I think most people marry a delusion, but time reveals the reality, and perhaps the same is true of my love for my cats. But again, how would I know when it comes to a creature so otherly? Dogs are easier to understand because, like us, they are a social species. Call a dog, and she comes running; call a cat, and the cat might or might not amble in, that is unless I have food in which case all five cats appear without being called. Count on it, when the cheese is unwrapped or the butter dish unscrewed, there they are.

I remember a day when our fifteen-pounder, Brewsky, was relaxing on the floor one moment and inside an open cabinet six feet off the floor the next. Such things must be seen to be believed, and even then it’s hard, but that’s the magic of cats. They’re little thin-boned predators that are easily injured, have no aerobic stamina, are impossible to know, and force me to accommodate them because they sure as hell won’t accommodate me, but they’re also loving, mysterious, have keen senses, and make Olympic athletes look like couch-potatoes.

Every night at 10:00, the cats and I pile into my twin bed where I spend the next two hours reading. While I read, they sleep; bathe; roughhouse; crawl under the covers; crawl out from under the covers; leave the room; return to the room; go crazy when a fly passes overhead; and sip water from the bowl I keep amidst my many potted plants. I sing to them, praise them lavishly, insult them cruelly, and tell them about my reading. I also introduce sundry conversational topics concerning the meaning and nature of Felis catus. Last night, I asked how they can stay so damn beautiful on a diet of corpses. The cats who happened to be looking in my direction continued to look in my direction; the cats who were looking in another direction continued to look in another direction. When I saw that my question was going nowhere, I asked how they are able to instantaneously go from deep relaxation, to leaping two feet in the air to kill a fly, to deep relaxation. There followed another awkward silence during which I became embittered by the suspicion that they were simply reviewing my words in the hope of finding a reference to butter.

So, you wonder, why do Peggy and I keep our butter in a stout container with a screwable lid? It is well you should ask. The reason is that our first-born, Brewsky, discovered that he could get all the butter he wanted by shoving the glass butter dish off the counter and breaking it. We objected for various reasons, among them the possibility of vomit everywhere and a 3:00 a.m. emergency surgery. He hotly insisted that our concerns were asinine, but when he broke another butter dish, we got a cat-proof container. He was livid but powerless.

If my cats weighed fifty pounds, they would eat all the butter they pleased, and if a mad scientist exploded them to 200-pounds, I’m not sure but what they would eat me too. But doesn’t this contradict my belief that they love me? It’s not their love I question; it’s their inherent wildness. In the mad scientist scenario, I can imagine the following sequence of events: cats tentatively toy with frail humanoid who once towered over them; cats’ paw-swipes knock humanoid to floor; humanoid bleeds; cats become excited by the combined odor of blood and hysteria; cats’ pupils become black saucers; cats flatten their pointy ears and lay back their long whiskers; humanoid tries to dial 911; cats knock phone from humanoid
’s hand; humanoid’s broken bones impede his desperate attempt to crawl to safety; cats take turns swatting humanoid; humanoid lies still; cats dismember humanoid; cats agree that humanoid tastes terrible; cats bathe themselves and one another; cats sleep in a kitty-pile; cats have happy dreams; cats sup on cheese and butter. That’s one possibility. Another possibility is that they would show humanoid the same gentle affection that cats have lavished on chickens, rabbits, and other prey animals with which they were raised.

But doesn’t the fact that large dogs treat their humans gently suggest that large cats would too? I think not. Dogs are a social species that have lain beside our fires for 23,000 years, during which time we
’ve genetically transformed them from dignified hunters into groveling slaves who would starve on their own. Cats are a solitary species that entered our lives a mere ten millennia ago, and have largely resisted our attempts to make them into freaks. Dogs love us because we’ve molded them that way. Cats love us because we mold ourselves.

How can we mold ourselves so cats will love us? First, we must provide food, shelter, toys, and treats, although these things alone can no more buy the love of a cat than they can buy the love of a child. It is therefore necessary to: move slowly, speak softly, touch gently, behave predictably, and be quietly affectionate. But how do we know that cats are even capable of loving humans? We know it because they offer us affection; seek our support; warn us of danger; grieve when we die; and sometimes risk their lives to save ours.

Dog lovers have allowed dogs to set the standard for what an animal’s love is supposed to look like. Dogs say, “What you love, I love. What you hate, I hate. Even if you abuse me, I will steal for you, kill for you, and, if I could, I would write bad checks for you.” Cats say, “I love you, but I have my own life to lead, and if you force me to choose between death and slavery, I will choose death.” 

I feel a commonality with cats. To illustrate. If I’m reading in bed and no cats join me, I’ll call them. If they don’t come, I’ll go looking for them. Like as not, I’ll find them sitting about the house, in the dark, staring at walls. I am hurt by the thought that they prefer doing nothing to spending time with me. Yet, there have been hundreds of times when I was staring at the computer, and it suddenly dawned on me that a meowing cat had left the room because I hadn’t heeded his repeated requests for attention. Might not such a cat be as hurt by my inattention as I am by his?

Ailurophiles praise cats for being clean, beautiful, polite, funny, honest, independent, honorable, and affectionate. Ailurophobes insist that cats are vain, stupid, cowardly, selfish, tyrannical, sadistic, and altogether disgusting. They argue that while dogs are out guarding children, guiding the blind, herding cattle, warning of intruders, sniffing out bombs, digging for avalanche victims, finding lost hikers, subduing criminals, alerting people to cancers, and making themselves indispensable in a thousand other ways, cats are home licking their asses and hoping for something to murder. While it is true that few cats serve a practical function, few dogs do either, yet we love them and other “useless” things (sports, TV, and babies, for instance), so why not love cats? Then too, how well does our species measure up to the unselfish standard by which we praise dogs? Given the number of unloved dogs that live miserably, die horribly, and are killed in shelters, not terribly well. I would even say that dogs and cats are better people than we are, but then that
’s not saying much.

Chevrolet is doing a series of highly realistic television commercials that feature a cat named Walter whose strength, courage, leadership, energy, fortitude, alertness, intelligence, and loyalty are, like those of most cats, ignored by his oblivious human. In closing, I will offer the most recent Walter ad for your elucidation, and perhaps, your edification:



31 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Conservatively speaking I agree with your last sentence 10,000 per cent.
And am content to love our current cat, difficult as he sometimes makes it.

Snowbrush said...

Child, thank you as always for your comment. I added the following to the end of the post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ta5Q3ITUc

Marion said...

Great info about cats and dogs. I enjoyed reading it. I love cats and Chevys, always have. My oldest sister retired from GMAC, so her immediate family always got Chevy/GM vehicles at dealer cost. We still do.

Today we were cleaning out Mama cat’s crate (the dog’s crate, really) and had the kittens in a towel-lined laundry basket in the other room. Mama cat was roaming the house. Scooby the Pittbull saw his crate empty and ran inside. Big mistake. Little Mama cat ran inside and all we heard was big dog crying, spitting, howling and whining. Mama cat whipped his 65 pound ass, bless Scooby’s heart. We had to doctor the scratches on his chest and face. Mama cat was so stealthy, we didn’t even see her attack. That dog is deathly afraid of our newest feral cat, even before she had kittens, she bullied him. He’d sit in the kitchen like a statue and cry if she was in his way to another room. So much for dangerous Pittbulls. Next time we’ll lock him up, bless his sweet heart… Our kitties eyes are open! They’re 10 days old already. That was today’s excitement. Happy weekend, Snow! xo

Anonymous said...

I smiled at the thought of you reading in bed surrounded by cats who want warmth and cuddles. I am a dog person but I don't mind cats. We saw a couple from young to old.

Strayer said...

This post made me laugh, Snow, its so accurate in depiction of cat behavior. I can leave my cats for days, with adequate litter boxes added, come home, and they barely notice I'm back. Cats are very different than dogs. I am fascinated by cats and their ways.

Snowbrush said...

"I love cats and Chevys, always have."

Isn't that a bit like saying, "I love Jesus Christ and lemon pie"?

When I was a boy, the school playground was mostly divided between Ford families and Chevy families, and my family was a Ford family. Our Ford got my father into trouble because, at the time he bought it, he worked at the local Buick dealership. Had he been tactful person, he would have gone to his boss who owned the dealership, and his boss would have probably given him a good deal on a Buick, but my father was not tactful, so when he didn't like the price the Buick salesman quoted, he drove over to the Ford place and bought a '56 Fairlane.

"Little Mama cat ran inside and all we heard was big dog crying, spitting, howling and whining."

When our four male cats are in a pissy mood, they sometimes take it out on our beatiful, white-whiskered female tuxedo cat, Scully, because she's the only cat who won't fight back (her only defense is to flee in terror). I reflect that if she had young kittens, the boys would see a whole other side to her, and it wouldn't pretty either.

I smiled at the thought of you reading in bed surrounded by cats who want warmth and cuddles.

Your appreciation makes ME smile. Only one of my cats sits in my lap, and I rather wish he wouldn't because he makes it hard for me to hold a book. I do love having them in bed though.

"I am a dog person but I don't mind cats."

I grew up with both, but favored dogs until 11 years ago when life circumstances pushed me toward cats. I must say that cats come with some wonderful options--the self-cleaning option for one, and the I'll-poop-in-a-box-and bury-it option for another. Aside from that, I must say that I find cats more interesting simply because they seem more mysterious. I'll go to my grave missing dogs--little black schnauzers in particular, but there's no way we could introduce a dog into a home with five grown cats and expect anything but warfare.

Snowbrush said...

"Snow, its so accurate in depiction of cat behavior."

Coming from you, that's like being awarded a Putlizer. I often wonder how your thoughts, your knowledge, and your experiences of cats differ from mine given that you devote many hours a day and every dime you can possibly afford to helping cats, plus you have a mixture of permanent residents and transients. I'll simply be cleaning the litter box, and I'll reflect upon how much of your time is spent doing that very thing. While we both love cats, I'm not out in the Oregon rain trapping them, and I'm not up before dawn driving them all the way to the coast to have them neutered and spayed. Heck, it didn't even work for me to foster kittens because the very day we got three fosters, I wanted to adopt every one of them, and I would have too if not for Peggy. Right now, the only thing that keeps me from adopting more cats is her. When I see a shelter cat I like, I say to myself I HAVE to take that cat home because I can't trust anyone else in the whole world to love that cat the way I would--yet standing there by my side is She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed saying, "You're not getting that cat because we don't need another cat!" (Of course, she said that after we got our first cat, and then she went out and brought home three of the next four.)

I absolutely adore kittens. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that there are cat lovers who don't particularly care for kittens. Kittens are joy; kittens are everything good and nothing bad; kittens are love, and life, and joy, and sweetness, and buffoonery, and preciousness, and tears of happiness. Kittens are God when God was a kitten, so to say no to getting a kitten is to say screw you to God. I tell Peggy as much, but doesn't relent because she's a hard, hard woman.

"I can leave my cats for days, with adequate litter boxes added, come home, and they barely notice I'm back."

My cats aren't like that. When I come home from shopping, they cry loudly while running circles around me as though I had been gone for a year. Their joy is so extreme that I can't believe how excited they are, so, before you know it, I too start crying and running in circles around me. Of course, cynics would say that they only act that way because it's over an hour past their 5:00 meal time, and although it is true that their meal is late, I can't imagine that it makes the least difference. Speaking of, I now have a cat--Ollie--who eats six meals a day because if I only feed him three--like with the other cats--he barfs. So it is that I have to buy him prescription food that costs $10 a pound (even from Chewy); I have to put it in a six partition feeder so he won't eat too fast, and, as of a month ago, I have to feed him six times a day. He's the guy who was abandoned on the Detroit Lakes Highway, the guy who at age seven still "nurses" on our eleven year old male, Brewsky. In short, Ollie is an emotional mess all because some asshole took him from his mother when he was a tiny baby and dumped him three feet from a busy highway, that person being the kind of callous lowlife that you deal with all the time.

kylie said...

I love dogs. If I had a cat I would love it but I don't feel the need to be introduced to every cat in the world the way I do with dogs.
Your devotion nin feeding Ollie six times a day is amazing. I like to think I would love an animal that much but I know I would get distracted and realise that I'd missed the last two meals

Ruby End said...

Highly entertaining and funny post m'dear; I have never lived with cats, but I have known a few well and once we looked after a kitten for a week as his owner had to suddenly leave town for work. Having seen the cartoon character the Tasmanian Devil I can safety say there was some resemblance as the wee mite moved like lightening from pillow, to curtain top, to desk to face. He was cute as pie, a total nut, but cute as pie. I've never spent any time with a puppy, though I would like to. They only remain in kitten/puppy state for a very brief period of time which is interesting, how I wish both species lived much longer, as long as we do at least. Great fun post.

Snowbrush said...

"I love dogs."

If we couldn't have cats, I would want a little black rescue schnauzer (Peggy would prefer a poodle-mix). We've thought about getting a dog anyway, but after many hours of discussion, we simply couldn't imagine it going well. The cats have never been around a dog and are, we think, too old to open their hearts to one. We would also fear that a dog would displace the cats by being aggressively affectionate, and that this could result in our cats turning into housemates rather than family.

"If I had a cat I would love it..."

Most dogs are nice, and most cats are nice, but more cats than dogs are complete shits. I don't know how much of our cats' behavior we can take credit for, but our cats treat us and one another lovingly.

"...I don't feel the need to be introduced to every cat in the world the way I do with dogs."

I make an effort to meet both, but when it comes to cats, the most I can do is to make myself available and hope the cat will elect to come to me. One exception is when a cat is in my yard in which case, I run him or her off.  I do this for three reasons. One is that seeing a cat outside is terribly upsetting to my cats. A second is that I hate digging in my flower beds and getting shit on my hands. A third reason is that outside cats tend to have fleas, which can get on my clothes and be carried indoors to my cats (I've had this happen).

"Your devotion in feeding Ollie six times a day is amazing. I like to think I would love an animal that much but I know I would get distracted and realise that I'd missed the last two meals.

Ollie would remind you--and remind you, and remind you, and remind you. The part I hate most about feeding him six times a day is that the other cats can't understand why he gets to eat twice as often as they do. Aside from that, I don't see it as a big deal. However, I do sometimes wonder how far I would go to keep a cat alive. For example, would I spend $50,000 on a surgery? How about dialysis (aging cats are prone to kidney problems, so dialysis is always a possibility)? So far, I've never had to spend more than $2,500 on a pet (a dog in that case) at any given time, and while spending that much hurt a little, it's nowhere close to what I might someday be called upon to pay. I think of this when I'm feeding Ollie, which isn't something that costs me a penny more than I would spend anyway, nor is it traumatic to him. You might find my next response to a comment to be of interest.

Snowbrush said...

"He was cute as pie, a total nut, but cute as pie."

We've been lucky in that our cats have destroyed very few things, and most of those were Christmas decorations, of which--in my view--we have far too many anyway. Having cats has forced us to decorate a little differently for Christmas... I'm sure you've noticed that cats have rough tongues. Their tongues help them eat, for instance they use them to remove meat from bones, but they can also get a cat into trouble when the cat uses his tongue to examine something s/he is curious about. Because the barbs on their tongues all point down their throats, it can be impossible for a cat to spit that something out, and when that something is tinsel--or dental floss--the result can be a bowel blockage. Our last schnauzer didn't have a sandpaper tongue, and he never had the misfortune of a bowel blockage, but he twice (once with floss and once with tinsel) suffered from an unusual problem. I don't know how to express this delicately, so I'll just say that when he later tried to take a shit, the floss/tinsel would string his poop together like rosary beads. This would upset him enormously--as it would anyone--and it didn't do Peggy any good either because it was Peggy who had to grab onto the floss/tinsel and pull the rosary out of his ass while people stood around wondering what that insane woman was doing to torture her hysterical schnauzer. Where was I during all this, you ask? I was acting like the apostle Peter acted the night Jesus was arrested, which is to say that I was trying to blend into the crowd so no one would realize that I knew the crazy woman or her pitiful little dog.

"They only remain in kitten/puppy state for a very brief period of time which is interesting."

I would even say that it's heartbreaking because once their childhood goes, much of what I loved also goes. Harvey will be three on June 18th, and he is just now turning into a full-fledged adult (cats and dogs are supposed to be grown by age one, but some aspects linger). For example, Harvey just recently stopped following me around for hours a day and watching everything I do with rapt interest. I had imagined that fostering kittens would enable me to always have that gift of kittenhood in my life, but although I knew that giving them up to what rescuers like to call their "forever home" would be hard, I hadn't figured on HOW hard it would be. When we took Harvey in, his two sisters came with him, and I would have kept them all. Those sisters were both completely black, and try as I did, I never got to where I could tell them apart at first glance, and while I didn't even want two indistinguishable cats in my life, I grieved terribly when they were gone. One important characteristic that people who live to be really old share is that they are able to say goodbye, and I can't do it. I literally feel disloyal when I put the garbage out because I personify everything, and what could be a greater act of traitorousness than that of labeling an object served my needs as "garbage."

Anonymous said...

Snowbrush
You commented in "The Blog Fodder" February 7, 2022 at 8:57 PM:
""I'm shocked that the fellow changed from someone who seemed thoughtful and pleasant into someone who was not.""

It's just interesting for me?
How would YOU react, if someone would start calling YOU, YOUR nation "inherently anti-jewish". And all that THE SAME time while that someone itself used words like "zionists"???

Important trivia.
To understand how that can add injury to an insult.
I'm Ukrainian.
And Ukraine, that was country where many Jews was peacefully leaving for centuries.
And most of that jews was slauthered by Nazis, under silent agreement with Moscow's ruler Stalin.
And, he and other Moscow's rulers since tryed to rub some guilt for that into Ukrainians as "most gravest anti-semits in the World".
And attmepts of such smearing became more fervent today, by current Moscow's ruler.

And... that someone admited his own guilt -- with deleting thread where all that where discussed. Where it would be transparent to any objective observer that:
1. It is him are one who start calling "zionists".
2. Him himself reacted to my calm and conciderate queries to explain his standpoint and elaborations with "no, your all, Ukrainians, are inherent anti-semits... and do not even try to hide it".
3. When I dissuied it with facts, he start calling it "trolling", censured it out, deleted my comments.


Well, if after this all you still deem to think that he is right and I'm wrong...
well, whatever.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for rising that topic here.
I'd more prefer dissing about cats here.
It's just my love toward justice seems like an-par with me liking cats. :)

Have a pair now at... more like attached to my home. Free to come, free to go.
Mama and his grownup son.
"British" gray and furry-fluffy black.

As well as bunch of neighbour cats.

Snowbrush said...

Anonymous, I was about to put my response to your first comment online when I received your greatly appreciated second comment. I'll now paste my unedited response to your first comment...

Anonymous, I had been hoping you would visit my blog. That said, I'm bothered by the fact that your comment has nothing whatsoever to do with my post, but I allowed it to appear anyway because I wanted to show you the respect and consideration of addressing it, and I had no other way to reach you.

When you comment here, please do as I suggested and sign your comments with an actual name. I'm fine with you submitting your comments as Anonymous, but somewhere in the body of the comment, give me another name even if it's a made-up name. For instance, you can write your comment and then, down at the bottom, sign it with whatever name you please. Use Frog-Fart if you would like because it's not important what name you use.

"How would YOU react, if someone would start calling YOU, YOUR nation "inherently anti-jewish".

I have no interest in defending my nation simply because it is my nation, and so the answer depends upon whether I considered the accusation true. If by inherent, you mean inscribed into law, then America was never, to my knowledge "inherently ant-Jewish," but we have a long, stupid, tragic, and cruel history of treating Jews and a great many other groups more or less horribly, and we continue to do so today. When the house that I live in was built in 1955, the neighborhood covenant stipulated that it couldn't be resold to a Jew (among other peoples), yet I live in a city (Eugene, Oregon) that has come to rank among the most liberal in America.

Even today, American synagogues are often vandalized and American Jews are occasionally murdered. They were murdered en masse in Pittsburgh in 2018, and some idiot would have murdered Jews en masse in Oklahoma a few months ago if he hadn't been killed. During WWII, such prominent Americans as Henry Ford and the enormously admired aviator, Charles Lindberg, were notorious for being Nazi-loving Jew-bashers whose hatred no doubt influenced other Americans to hate Jews. My nation even went so far as to refuse entry to an entire ship-load of desperate Jews who were fleeing the murderous Nazis, forcing many back into Nazi hands: //www.history.com/news/wwii-jewish-refugee-ship-st-louis-1939.

cont.

Snowbrush said...

So, is America "inherently Jew-hating"? Again, I don't know what the term means to you, but I do know that America has done a great many things by which fair-minded people are embarrassed. For instance, while my hometown treated Jews well enough, it lynched a black Civil Rights' worker when I was a boy, and it lynched two other black men when my father was a boy. I daresay that almost no white person who lives in that town even knows this, yet it's well-documented.

As for my response to Blog Fodder concerning your behavior, I have known him for years, whereas I don't know you at all, so I was giving him the benefit of the doubt as to how you behaved. I say, "the benefit of the doubt," simply because he was angry then--just as you are angry now--and, without meaning to do so, angry people tend to misrepresent the words and actions of the people they're mad at. Aside from that, I'm appalled by the number of nations who deny that they had any part in helping the Nazis murder people. As to whether WWII era Ukranians in particular partnered with the Nazis in murdering Jews and other "undesirables," yes, I believe they did. I believe this based, primarily, upon a Public Broadcasting System documentary on the subject (PBS is a highly trustworthy source). Yet, I know of no evidence to suggest that Jew-killing Ukrainians behaved as they did because harming Jews was inscribed into law. As to why they did what they did, some were sadists; some hated all Jews; some hated the particular Jews they were raping, chopping to pieces, or shooting in the head; others considered it to their advantage to kiss Nazi ass; and still others became murderers in order to steal the property of their victims.

In any case, what happened then doesn't have anything to do with the character of the murderers' children, grandchildren or great grandchildren except to the extent that those people deny provable wrongs. Having given you my understanding of historical events, I'm not interested in having a prolonged discussion about what happened between you and Blog Fodder, or in discussing what transpired in Ukraine's during WWII. If you would like to read my blog, and comment on that, I will most heartily welcome you, but if you feel the need to discuss matters unrelated to my posts, please create a comment in which you provide me with your email address alone, and I'll write to you without violating your privacy by allowing others to see your address.

In closing, I found your contributions to Fodder's blog intelligent and stimulating. You struck me as eminently likeable, and I was touched by the fact that you brought a modesty and a sweetness to the discussion. Had I not felt positively toward you, I would not be spending my morning answering your comment. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Frog Fart said...

Ahimsa, Feline Ethics, The Value of a Life


Aha.
You are Third person I met in my lifetime who used that word -- Ahimsa.

First was Arthur Clark, I learned this word from his sequel of Oddisey 2001.

Second was me, trying to use that word to exlain something to a people around.

And now you.

Well, to say truth, I vaguely remember some other places and times where I either saw or used myself that word, or where similar principles was discussed. Rare idea that is.
But for today I was not using or recalling it, or principle behind it for a long time. Because of obvious rewasons.



PS It is not try to sneak under your skin or something. Not a "groupthink" attepmt.
We are too different in all other respects. So there hardly can be much of anything in-common.
But still, as I percieve, I myself would like to meet, to see someone sharing my own thoughts, beliefs, ideas...
it could give you some appreciation of a moment too.


PPS Oh, I again intruding with my self-explanatory screeds.
Well, I thought about leaving this comment under that previous post of yours.
But I don't know how, or how often you check comments under that old posts?
So, shamefully egoisticly I wanted that you'd see this comment right away and maybe answered.
But other comments I'll place where they belong.

Snowbrush said...

"Well, I thought about leaving this comment under that previous post of yours. But I don't know how, or how often you check comments under that old posts?"

I receive comments to old posts at the same time I receive comments to recent posts, and it's easier for me to respond to a comment when it is placed with the post that inspired it. For instance, I only vaguely remember the post that your comment refers to.

There is no way to practice ahimsa completely, but there are those who consider it a lesser evil to commit suicide than to go through life destroying other lives. Ironically, people who commit suicide the millions of organisms that inhabit their bodies.

Frog-Fart said...

Practical question about cats. If you know.

Did you saw stricks of white hair emerging?
Can it be a symptom of something?

Snowbrush said...

"Did you saw stricks of white hair emerging?"

My brown/gray/black tabby cat's fur is slowly turning white, but then he's eleven years old. Could age explain your observation?

If you cat's fur is turning white in patches, perhaps he or she has a non-dangerous skin condition called vitiligo.

Marion said...

Yes to the cool Chevy truck! I currently have 3 adult cats and 4 gorgeous rolly poly balls of fur (kittens). Trying to decide if we want to keep them 😼$$$$$$$😻 Problem is, no one we know, not even my cat lady sister wants one. They’re named: Gandalf the Gray, Possum, Left-Out and Circe. Their looks pretty much named them. I’ll post pictures soon. They’re not weaned yet. Hope all is well in the NW. Are you near those angry 3 Sisters volcanoes 🌋🌋🌋 👺❓

So, how’s about that dictator, Trudeau, in Ottawa? Any opinions of his idiocy? The government in Australia is using 5G Sonic Weapons (Long Range Acoustic Devices) on their own citizens…for not wearing masks… What next: mass annihilation? (Whoops! That was the Covid experiment implemented by Fauci & the Chinese government). Too many sheep in this New World Order, eh? God, help our tipsy turvy world. The Australian Health minister said, “We’re implementing contact tracing for the coming New World Order.” Turns out NOT to be a conspiracy theory after all, but a spoiler alert. What say ye, Snow? xo

Elephant's Child said...

Marion is misled about the Australian response. I have not heard that gem from the Health Minister (state or Federal) and the government is NOT using Sonic Weapons - unless speaking to the protestors is considered a weapon.

Mr.Frog the Preacher said...

Oh, Marion?

What would you say about this excerpt:
“for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you (Matthew 17:20).

Isn't it true as any Word Of God IS Only True?

Snowbrush said...

Marion never gives sources for her claims and never addresses questions about her statements, but my Australian reader Elephant Child's response inspired me to google Marion's statements pertaining to Australia. I'm not familiar with the following sources but they seem credible enough. When Marion's statements are considered in light of the following sources, it appears that she was simply doing what Trumpians are infamous for, which is making mountains out of molehills when doing so serves their purpose.

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/australian-health-chief-stirs-up-conspiracy-theorists-by-calling-covid-19-restrictions-a-new-world-order

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-18/coronacheck-sonic-weapons-lrad-police-canberra-protests/100839612

As for Fauci working with China to create Covid, Fauci is America's foremost epidemiologist. He is loathed by Trumpians for daring to believe that he knows more about Covid than Trump does, the result being that he has been accused--without evidence--of creating Covid, and he and his family have been deluged with insults and death threats. This is just how life is in America, and weak-minded Trump supporters bear the responsibility for it. Why, then did I allow Marion's comment? Rightly or wrongly, until a couple of weeks ago, I never blocked a comment unless that comment was spam. I have since blocked what I considered a deluge of comments that were made to various posts and were, at best, loosely unrelated to those posts. Marion's comment was unrelated to this post, but since it was but one comment, I reluctantly allowed it. I don't feel good about this, but it seemed a lesser evil than blocking it. I would welcome thoughts about this.

Marion said...

Elephant, respectfully, YOU are being a blind sheep, misled. Here’s the link of the Australian Health Minister saying exactly what I repeated word for word: she says it right after the 10:5O mark.

https://youtu.be/8Qf5l2nmWOY

I’m not a liar or a conspiracy theorist nut job. I saw the microwave weapons being used on a livestream (YouTube) from Australia and the citizens at a peaceful protest covered in burns and grotesque blisters…dozens of them. We need to get our heads out of the sand and realize this Satanic battle against world freedom (for world dominion) and free citizens is real.

You will never see this on most mainstream media, BUT, there was an episode of “60 Minutes” in America dated February 20, 2022 titled “Havana Syndrome stumps investigators as U. S. Officials Report Injuries on White House Grounds”. Oh, yeah, someone was targeting official members of President Trump’s administration with illegal war crime weapons according to “60 Minutes”. It’s horrifying and eye-opening, especially coming from liberal “60 Minutes”. It’s quite prevalent overseas, too. As for using microwave weapons anywhere, it is AGAINST THE GENEVA CONVENTION as in WAR CRIME! I highly recommend that everyone watch this episode. It will open your eyes to reality.

Link: https://youtu.be/1meGH0Dts9M

I trust God, Frog, BUT, have you read the book of Revelations? I’ve read the Bible 3 times, beginning at age 12. I know God’s power because I’ve been so poor that I had to pray for food, toilet paper and money…prayers which God answered!! I was alone with 2 children & I claimed Isaiah 54:5 - “ For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” God provided all my needs! I also know the evil Satan is capable of. I also know in the last days perilous times will come. Well, they’re here.


2Timothy 3:1 - 5 “ This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

I’m a strong Christian. I’m also capable of using the brain and logic God gave me. Ephesians 6:10-13 “ 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

STAND AGAINST THE RULERS & AUTHORITIES! My Christian journey has been full of vicious BATTLES against Satan. God has brought me through them all. I’ve spent days, nights, months of my life fasting and on my knees praying & crying out to God because spiritual battles are REAL! I’ve suffered mightily. BUT, HAVING DONE ALL, I STAND, a strong, fierce Christian.

God bless you all. Snow, I still pray for you every day because you’re my friend. ✊🏼❤️‍🔥✝️🥰🙏🏼

Mr.Frog the Preacher said...

Marion, Marion, Marion...

You said here: "I’m not a liar or a conspiracy theorist nut job. I saw the microwave weapons being used on a livestream (YouTube) from Australia"

But in your previous post you declared: "The government in Australia is using 5G Sonic Weapons (Long Range Acoustic Devices) on their own citizens"

BUT.

"Sonic Weapon" (whatever it could mean) and "microwave weapon" IS NOT ONE and the same thing.

Sonic means waves of air preassure.
While.
Microwave it's short length (that's why it called micro-wave) EM (electro-magnetic).

That means, that YOU are not consistent with your words even.


I trust God, Frog, BUT,

No BUTs here.
Either you have faith in HIM, or you have NONE.
BUT, really, here it is correct to use it -- BUT if you claim you have faith in HIM, BUT you have NONE -- what it makes of you? And who are showing just the same traits, in Bible, which is Unshakably True Words of GOD?


God provided all my needs! I also know the evil Satan is capable of. I also know in the last days perilous times will come. Well, they’re here.

And HOW do you know that its God, and not S*n answered to your prayers?


I’m a strong Christian. I’m also capable of using the brain and logic God gave me.

God-Jesus. With his OWN words gave you definition of what faithful believer ARE.
This words:“for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you (Matthew 17:20).
As well as many other of words of truth, in Bible.
By you trying to subvert, to jinx, to reinterprite HIS words.
That is what LIERS do. Are you a lier?


God bless you all. Snow, I still pray for you every day because you’re my friend.

I fear that that prayers can be harmful to our host, given that evidance that it can be some false idol you praying to.

Marion said...

Snow, I get it. It’s been interesting knowing you. Goodbye.

Snowbrush said...

Marion, so far as I can remember, this is the first occasion on which you've been willing to address responses to your challenges, and I thank you. Now...

"New World Order" was a once honorable term that was perverted by the Far Right to describe a fanciful takeover of the world by totalitarian leftists. The term originated in the post-WWI era with the establishment of the League of Nations, an organization that, it was hoped, would unite the nations of the world in of peace and in the respect for human rights. Seventy years later, it was still being used in that way by a president of your party, George H.W. Bush, who, in 1990, defined it as follows:

"Until now, the world we've known has been a world divided—a world of barbed wire and concrete block, conflict, and the cold war. Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the genuine prospect of new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a 'world order' in which 'the principles of justice and fair play ... protect the weak against the strong ...' A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations." (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)

Because of Far Right paranoia and delusions, it has now become impossible for anyone to use the term in the idealistic way that it intended and was used for decades. Thanks to people like yourself, the term has become the equivalent of waving a cape in front of a bull in that while the cape itself is harmless, the bull's reaction is problematic. The Far Right often frames terms in derogatory ways that are completely unrelated to the intention of their creators, and then it insists that everyone abide by your definitions. Your success in doing this can be seen with the term "New World Order." The American flag and the "Pledge of Allegiance" are other examples of the Far Right taking symbols that were meant to be unify and remaking them into sources of alienation and divisiveness. Yet another such symbol is the Christian cross which has come to symbolize a long list of antis--anti-diversity, anti-abortion, anti-vaccination, anti-science, anti-LGBT rights, anti-Democratic Party, anti-minority voting rights, anti-immigrant, anti-election integrity, anti-religious freedom, anti-working across the political divide, and anti many other things. During the takeover of the US capitol, there stood the cross of Jesus among the scaffolds, the hangman knots, the Confederate flags, the MAGA symbols, the neo-Nazi symbols, the "Camp Auschwitz" shirts, and the cries of "Hang every Democrat" (https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/09/us/capitol-hill-insurrection-extremist-flags-soh/index.html). These things are what your God and your Republican Party mean to me.

cont.

Snowbrush said...

"...someone was targeting official members of President Trump’s administration with illegal war crime weapons..."

The targeting of diplomats with microwaves preceded Trump, and it continued after Trump. This isn't an attack on Republicans but rather an attack on America, although given Trump's behavior, it  sees reasonable enough to suspect that some mysterious force that was set in motion by unknown people scrambled his brain.

"I highly recommend that everyone watch this episode. It will open your eyes to reality."

I did watch it, but I don't recall anyone on it saying anything whatsoever about events in Australia or anything whatsoever about the attack coming from the "New World Order." In fact, about the only thing that the people on the program could agree to was that the origin of the problem is unknown.

To uphold Trump as a defender of freedom strikes me as being as misplaced as upholding the Ku Klux Klan as a defender of black people.

I understand that your prayers on my behalf are an expression of love, and I try to appreciate them as such. However, because I regard your deity as the embodiment of evil, I would ask that you tell me of your affection in a manner that I, as an atheist and a despiser of your religion, might find meaningful because I no more welcome the gift of prayer than I would welcome the gift of a MAGA hat. That said, I reciprocate your affection. You have remained loyal to me even when I made it hard for you, and I have attempted to give you the same in return.

Frog, I am worried about you now that Putin's invasion has started. I wish you safety, it being a bit much to wish that your life is going well in other ways.

Snowbrush said...

"It’s been interesting knowing you. Goodbye."

I'm shocked as I don't know what I said that I haven't said before, and I even added to it an expression of appreciation for your loyalty. As for your religion, you see it as all things good because you are on the inside. A parallel would be the fact that the segregationist South saw segregation as a good thing for themselves and even fooled themselves into imagining that blacks liked it too because they presumably accepted their inequality. Christianity only works for Christians, whereas many--perhaps most--of those on the outside believe that it does little good in exchange for the evil it inflicts. For instance, most members of your Republican Party believe in a close alliance between Christianity and government because it would give them preference over everyone else in the country, and would allow them a free hand in making religious observances and monuments a part of government, particularly schools. It would also enable them to funnel government money into their religious institutions to an even greater extent than they're already doing and to receive less scrutiny and more tax breaks than they're already receiving. They oppose abortion rights, LGBT rights and  immigrant rights, and, oddly enough for a religion that teaches them to love the neighbors as they love themselves, they oppose government help for the needy because they blame the needy for being needy. Yet, they favor tax breaks for the wealthy. Environmental concerns and animal rights aren't even on their radar, and they'll take the word of Donald Trump over the word of any scientist on earth. I don't hate your religion because I'm a hateful person, but because I see the enormous damage it inflicts and because I have been personally harmed by it. If you can't handle my feelings, then you'll just have to pick up your toys, go home, and thank your "God of Love" (who could only forgive guilty people for being what he made them to be if an innocent person was tortured to death) for having prepared for you a mansion in paradise and for me a place in a lake of eternal fire and agony.

Mr.Frog the Preacher said...

I'm shocked as I don't know what I said that I haven't said before
---
I bet that is my question about God gave that effect.
I forget to mention it before -- that is what happen when you use it on believers -- they have nothing to answer to it, so they run away.
But don't worry, in most cases they return after some time. :)
Because their urge to proselite is bigger than their shame.


Far Side of Fifty said...

I enjoyed both the videos! Walter will probably sell many Chevy Trucks:)
We have two dogs and a cat her at our daughters. The cat is self sufficient...mostly we give her food and water once a day and she eats and drinks at will, the dogs require attention and supervision when the youngest dog tries to drag the cat around by the neck and the cat does not run away when she has a chance...then again perhaps some cats are slow learners. The dogs are fed three times a day...because they might over eat..:)