Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[Ohwell]

49 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Shaving doesn't require anything more than common sense, it seems to me.

I agree.  I started shaving at around 14 because I saw the shaving commercials on tv.  I didn't have much hair but I liked the idea of having smooth legs (and I found out later that the boys liked it, too).  I knicked myself a couple times, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.  When my mom realized that I liked shaving, she bought me an electric Lady Remington shaver, bless her heart. 

[peacheslatour]

I started at twelve because seventh grade, well you know. I used my dad's double blade "safety" razor. This was right before they came out with Gillette's Trac II. As soon as they did my mom bought me my own. Yeah, I learned from TV. Remember that Joe Namath commercial?

[riley702]

I skinned my shin early on, too. Maybe an instruction that might have helped would be something like "Be careful not to apply too much pressure over bony areas, as you could cut yourself." My leg hair was always fine and floppy, for lack of a better word, so I needed to apply more pressure to get it to cut than I thought I would. And then I got to my shin...

[riley702]

19 hours ago, ennui said:

Here, for all you cat people ... 

 

Thank you! That's adorable.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, riley702 said:

Thank you! That's adorable.

We cat lovers are an emotional people.

[Prevailing Wind]

18 hours ago, riley702 said:

Thank you! That's adorable.

I never went through that. My family always had cats - I was born into being a Crazy Cat Lady. My mom used to put her doll's eyeglasses on her cat, "Mickey". My grandmother went into deep mourning when her "Laura" died. When I was born, we had Sears and Roebuck; Sears was the tabby & Roebuck was a tuxedo. They both eventually died and since my parents knew we'd be moving from PA to FL soon, we didn't adopt a new kitty until we were living in Miami. Never been without a cat since.

As for shaving, I made such a mess of my ankles, my mom bought me a Lady Sunbeam. She said she was tired of buying Band-Aids for me. This was back in the early 60s and I only recently got rid of it - it still worked, but I stopped shaving.

[friendperidot]

I was in Walmart Sunday, one thing I was looking to see if the had was red copper anything in Kitchen wares, so this commercial related. I didn't find any, still not sure I'd buy one, but I want to look at them. And "as seen on tv" products do make their way to Walmart.

But while I was meandering around kitchen wares, overheard a snippet of conversations between an irate customer and an employee. Apparently, the customer had purchased something on the advice of a different employee. It was the wrong something and he was pissed at the employee. Irate, middle aged, entitled, man: "where is she? can you call her over here so I can chew her out?" Employee: "she went off duty about 15 minutes ago." WTF! As a customer, you do have some rights, if you followed the advice of a low paid Walmart employee and got the wrong thing - return it! Then if you must complain, ask for the supervisor or the manager. You do not get to have another employee call them over so you can chew them out! First, if what you were looking for was so freaking important, do your homework! look it up, get out the instruction manual, or go to a store like William Sonoma for expertise in kitchen wares. Walmart may have people who know their departments inside and out and know their products, but they can just as easily be a person who is desperate to put dinner on the table and cannot get another job right now or they may be truly stupid. I've run into all of those employees at Walmart and many other places. One of the other items I was looking for was a ring that fits into the drain of the bathroom sink. They didn't have it, I didn't ask for assistance because I had done my homework, knew what I needed. I could have gone to Home Depot or Lowes or the local hardware store where I could reasonably expect more inventory, a greater chance of finding the piece and employees with a pretty good knowledge of plumbing supplies. I've worked retail, a fabric store where employees are hired because they know about fabric and sewing, it's part of the fabric store services. 

My 18 yr old great nephew that has years of experience in retail, working world and life in general and in general knows more now than I could have possibly learned in the past 66 years, disagrees. He said that would have gotten the employee fired. I said, maybe if the supervisor is out for blood, but it is part of the supervisor's job to handle customer complaints, to take the employee aside at a different time and explain the concerns and find solutions. My nephew was adamant that the only possible outcome was that the employee would have been fired so it would have been better for the customer to "chew her out." I say the customer is an ass who thinks that since there has been a change in the national politics, he's entitled to chew out a low paid, female employee and that is never appropriate. It's Tuesday and I'm still pissed off.

Tomorrow, I will be going to that Walmart again, I hope to run into the male employee who handled the irate ass. I am going to give a big ole "atta boy!" and ask if he wants me to tell his supervisor what a good job he did.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

My nephew was adamant that the only possible outcome was that the employee would have been fired so it would have been better for the customer to "chew her out." I say the customer is an ass who thinks that since there has been a change in the national politics, he's entitled to chew out a low paid, female employee and that is never appropriate

Wally World is not a normal retailer. Hell yes, the employee would have been fired if a manager had gotten involved.

[piequinn35]

^and why would the manager fire her? for wrong advice? lol

that idiot entitled customer, if I was there I am going to give him shit, go fucking return that item and talk to a supervisor/manager instead of acting like an asshole.

[peacheslatour]

20 minutes ago, piequinn35 said:

^and why would the manager fire her? for wrong advice? lol

that idiot entitled customer, if I was there I am going to give him shit, go fucking return that item and talk to a supervisor/manager instead of acting like an asshole.

Ask anyone who has ever worked there. The way they treat their employees would embarrass Simon Legree.

[Prevailing Wind]

Quote

Dogs and cats should not be fed each other's food because their nutritional needs are completely different.  Dogs are omnivores and can eat anything.  Cats are pure carnivores with very high metabolisms.  They require diets high in protein and cannot process carbohydrates.  The fact that everyone feeds them dry cat food is the reason so many wind up with kidney disease later in life.  They also, like big cats in the wild, get their water from their food and not from bowls on the floor.  They drink maybe 1/4 cup a day.  The source of my information was a former vet who is a feline nutrition specialist.  All of my cats had canned food as their main diet, with a little dry on the side and a bowl of water.  They all lived long and prospered.

Above quote from a different thread.

I can't get my cats to eat wet food. They hate it. Their water bowl is on the bathroom counter, up and way from the food that might have been 'caught' several hours earlier and is now rotting.  I'm so glad I read that's why they don't like their water bowls next to the food.  I never would have figured that out on my own. But two generations of cats ago, my kitty was interested in the bathroom sink, so I put the water bowl there & it's been there ever since. Bosco, I think, drinks more than Stella does.  But sometimes I'll walk in there, and she's at the bowl. When she hears me come in, she flinches, like she's been caught doing something wrong or embarrassing. I don't know why. I NEVER hit/mistreat her. She's my cuddle bug.  She's just a goofball.

My brother, on the other hand...OMG. What a rigmaroll. He lines up the four dishes, gets out four tiny cans of wet food and proceeds to spoon out ¼-can into each plate, so each kitty gets an equal amount of a wee bit of four different flavors.  He says they found it works best that way. If you give one cat one flavor and another cat a different flavor, they push & shove to get to the other's dish, the food in the other dish being much tastier. Doesn't matter what flavor, they want what the other one has.  So they each get a smattering of different tastes, all servings alike. My SIL thinks the more time he spends doing that, the less time he's playing computer solitaire, so it works out.

[janie jones]

I don't understand how cats refuse to eat things.  I've owned only two cats in my life, and they weren't picky.  Maybe my family got lucky.  But what else are they going to do if they don't eat the food that's given them?  It's not like they can go to the fridge and fix themselves a snack. 

[Brattinella]

56 minutes ago, janie jones said:

I don't understand how cats refuse to eat things.  I've owned only two cats in my life, and they weren't picky.  Maybe my family got lucky.  But what else are they going to do if they don't eat the food that's given them?  It's not like they can go to the fridge and fix themselves a snack. 

If a cat really refuses to eat what you give them, it will not eat.  Eventually you have to give in.  Or you have a dead cat. :(

[smittykins]

There's an early-70s commercial for Purina cat food in which a cat who supposedly hasn't eaten for days is given said cat food, and it's presented like "Will this be the one he'll eat?"(And, of course, he does!)

It makes me want to say "If your cat hasn't eaten for days, it's time to go to the vet."

ETA: 

Edited January 26, 2017 by smittykins
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[Bruinsfan]

1 hour ago, janie jones said:

I don't understand how cats refuse to eat things.  I've owned only two cats in my life, and they weren't picky.  Maybe my family got lucky.  But what else are they going to do if they don't eat the food that's given them?  It's not like they can go to the fridge and fix themselves a snack. 

My cats were rescued alley cats, and started out ravenously gobbling down anything and everything. (The tomcat would eat little bits of lettuce from my salad that I offered thinking it would convince him not to beg.) Three years later if I give them pieces of steak they bat them around on the floor like toys rather than eating them. I guess that's a sign they really like the taste of their prescription cat food?

[NutMeg]

3 hours ago, janie jones said:

I don't understand how cats refuse to eat things.  I've owned only two cats in my life, and they weren't picky.  Maybe my family got lucky.  But what else are they going to do if they don't eat the food that's given them?  It's not like they can go to the fridge and fix themselves a snack. 

A long, long time ago, between my first and second jobs after graduating, I was quite broke, no money getting in, some extra classes I was taking, etc., so I had to cut expenses. My efforts included shopping (including for cat food) at a discount supermarket once or twice. My darling cat absolutely refused to eat the food. Me, determined to teach her a lesson (and feeling bad that I may have accustomed her to "luxury" to the point that she was behaving like a spoiled cat), waited until the next morning to replace her wet food (she had dry food always, so she didn't starve, I'm not a complete monster), and when I was scooping up the food in the bin, I realized it was alive... with very, very big maggots. Well, food, fork and plate promptly went down the chute, and if in the next few months I still had to control my spending, I never questioned her instinct ever again.

[Prevailing Wind]

Back in my early, scrimping days, I used to feed Chester those tall cans of Kozy Kitten. One day, while dishing the food out of the can, an entire crab claw came out. It was about 2 -3" long and I got queasy.  But then I thought, "Hell, if he's eating crab, he's eating better than I am!"  He also loved my "Harvey Wallbanger" pound cake. (Just the crumbs on the plate, of course...I ate the rest!!)

[peacheslatour]

One of my cats is just crazy for avocados. I casually mentioned this to our sainted vet and he about had a heart attack. Apparently avocado is toxic as hell for cats. Now when I'm preparing guac I have to shoo him away and he looks so hurt, it breaks my heart that he doesn't understand that I'm not punishing him.

[ennui]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

One of my cats is just crazy for avocados. I casually mentioned this to our sainted vet and he about had a heart attack. Apparently avocado is toxic as hell for cats. Now when I'm preparing guac I have to shoo him away and he looks so hurt, it breaks my heart that he doesn't understand that I'm not punishing him.

Well, Google disagrees: Avocado contains a toxin called persin, but despite the rumors, avocado is not poisonous to dogs, nor likely to cats. Only certain species are poisoned by persin. While dogs and cats don't seem to be affected by persin, avocado poisoning can be deadly to birds and large animals (such as cattle).

I only mention it so peaches won't panic if the cat gets a nibble of guacamole.  :)

[Silver Raven]

My cat resolutely REFUSES to eat people food.  I would give him tiny bites of chicken and he would try to bury them in the carpet.

[mojoween]

Mookie is very angry with me because I took his mole away from him because once it became less dead I didn't want that fat little fucker making a break for the cabinets.  He didn't even want the treats I gave him because he's a (mostly) good hunter.  Other than the making them dead part, of course.

Normally he wants to eat everything he sees me eat.  And I have a very hard time saying no except for the vet strongly hinting that he is getting closer to obese.

[Bastet]

It's a common misconception, but avocado is not toxic to cats.  I don't recommend cats eat avocado in large amounts, as that could cause digestive issues (and there's no need for them to eat it at all, as it's not part of their natural diet), but persin is not poisonous to cats.  (I don't feed it, but there's an entire brand of pet food (Avoderm) based on incorporating avocados). 

So if kitty has a hankering for it, no harm in letting him have a little sometimes as a treat.  As well-known veterinarian Dr. Jean Dodd said:
 

Quote

 

Those of you whose canine and feline companions enjoy the occasional avocado indulgence can breathe a sigh of relief: persin does not adversely affect dogs or cats.

The primary danger of avocados to dogs and cats concerns the possibility of swallowing the large pit, which can cause a blockage or obstruction in the animal’s esophagus, stomach or intestinal tract. Be sure to exercise common sense and never let your dog or cat eat a whole avocado or the avocado pit.

But, persin is toxic to birds (e.g. canaries, parakeets, cockatiels and large parrots), rabbits, horses and ruminants (e.g.cattle, sheep, goats) and so no part of the avocado should be fed to these species.

...

And while avocados are not poisonous to dogs and cats, overconsumption can cause digestive issues such as vomiting and diarrhea, so exercise caution and limit the intake.

 

[peacheslatour]

ennui and Bastet, I thank you and Nathan thanks you. Guess what boy? Guac's back on the menu!

[janie jones]

So cats would rather starve to death than eat food they don't like?

It probably sucks to end up wasting a lot of food figuring out what the cat likes.

Edited January 27, 2017 by janie jones

[Brattinella]

7 minutes ago, janie jones said:

So cats would rather starve to death than eat food they don't like?

It probably sucks to end up wasting a lot of food figuring out what the cat likes.

I haven't tested this out completely. ;)  But yes, it does suck, wasting so much food.

[riley702]

The girls have dry food, but split a can of wet every night. I just dish it halfsies on a paper plate and then pitch it when they're done.

[Jamoche]

3 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

My cat resolutely REFUSES to eat people food.  I would give him tiny bites of chicken and he would try to bury them in the carpet.

Mine did too. When she was sick and not eating, the vet suggested canned food and she just looked at it like "this is a trap, right? This is people food." 

[ennui]

50 minutes ago, janie jones said:

So cats would rather starve to death than eat food they don't like?

Apparently. I had someone insist that cats in trees needed to be rescued, or they would die. I said if that were true, trees would be full of dead cats.

[riley702]

Nope, they fall out when they die and then scavengers eat them.

[crazycatlady58]

I read somewhere  that it is easier  for a cat to climb  up a tree than down a tree because  of the way there claws are shaped .

[Prevailing Wind]

Actually, Bosco fell out of the tree, but turned it into a swan dive on the way down, landing safely in a bunch of English ivy. He was up there for over 4 hours.  Stella was more distressed with him up in the tree than either he or I were. She heard him crying up there & it freaked her out that her little buddy was in trouble. I figured if he didn't come down for the food I offered him, he'd eventually find his way down. I sat on the front porch til way after dark, in full view of his predicament. I had a flashlight & was reading when I heard the foliage rattling & saw his graceful dive into the ivy. As usual for those two, the only thing hurt was his pride.

Although, at some point in his younger days, I'm not sure, but I think during a roughhousing session atop the cat condo/tree dealio, he fell off & landed on his tail, fracturing a vertebra. E-vet took xrays, put them on a CD for me & said take the CD and Bosco to my regular vet in the AM. Dr. Ellington looked at the xrays & gave us some pain meds for him & said he's young enough to outgrow this - it'll heal on its own, which it mostly did. There's a slight bend in it now.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

So cats would rather starve to death than eat food they don't like?

Starving to death isn't the real danger, it's hepatic lipidosis (not the best article, but all my saved research was so technical as to make the eyes glaze) -- a sudden and dramatic decrease in caloric intake can cause serious illness in cats, sometimes in a surprisingly short period of time.  So, unlike with a dog - or human - you have to be careful with the "well, when you get hungry enough, you'll eat" stance.  It's more likely to happen with a cat who's not eating because of illness rather than stubbornness, as the latter is more likely to finally give in and eat something s/he doesn't like, but it's something all cat owners need to be aware of.

[friendperidot]

I'm a dog person, not a cat person, allergies, not epi pen bad, but bad enough I don't like being around them. I am currently living with my sister, the neighborhood crazy cat lady. There are 3 black cats, 2 males, 1 female, the female and one male my sister doesn't want in the house. I can't tell them all apart, there are white marks on a couple of chests, but I don't know who is who. She said today she is going to get them different color collars so I can tell them apart. But the one male that is allowed in the house is her favorite. I call him Mr. Bigmouth, she calls him Bebe. He and I have talks, mostly I tell him to get out of my room because he makes me sick! He loves water or at least the water dishes. Up until a couple of weeks ago I kept the dog's water dish in my room, now I seem to have inherited my nephew's pitbull, so I've put the very large and very heavy water dish on an upturned crate in the living room. The dogs love it, they're both fairly large and like their dishes elevated.

Mr. Bigmouth liked to sneak in my room and try to drag that big, heavy crock out. So we started keeping a smaller dish in the living room for him. He was constantly dragging that dish around the house & slopping water every where! It's pretty funny to hear him dragging that dish around, I usually hear it rather than see him do it. So far he hasn't tipped over the dogs' dish, I have seen him getting drinks out of it. Oh, and since turnabout is fair play, my dog frequently comes back in the house and helps himself to a drink from the cats' water.

[Jaded]

I had a cat that loved Angel Food Cake. When I was in my teens my Mom and I woke up and couldn't find the AFC we had gotten from the grocery store. It had been left on the kitchen counter the night before. We were asking each other if the other one ate it and didn't want to admit it. Then I looked down on the side of the fridge and there was the cake with the plastic bag cover sliced into. He had eaten half of that thing while we were sleeping.

[Prevailing Wind]

I once attempted to make my own French bread pizza. I had nine pizzas, individually wrapped in foil, stacked up by the fridge, waiting to cool down before I froze them. I went upstairs to visit my neighbor. When I came back, Chester had knocked all nine packets onto the floor, ripped into 'em and ate all the cheese off them. (This is the same cat who was eating crab claw-Kozy Kitten)

One of my current cats, Stella, would have pushed the cheese aside to get to the tomato sauce. She loves cooked tomato. She always gets to lick my soup bowls & spagetti bowls. (I have a dishwasher, so the bowls get pretty much sterilized afterward.) Bosco would have been like Chester & eaten the cheese. He's the one who loves dairy. Neither of them get much "people" food.  The only people food I give them in more than "lickable" amounts is canned pumpkin - the fiber in it is supposed to help with hairballs & anal glands.  It's good for dogs, too.

[Bruinsfan]

The one kind of people food my cats still want to eat is pork from barbecued ribs or sandwiches. I suppose I can't blame them, as I still eat it occasionally myself despite the horrible heartburn BBQ gives me.

[peacheslatour]

If you're eating beef jerky at my house my cats will literally try to crawl into your mouth to get at it. We don't eat beef jerky any more.

[Silver Raven]

I used to have a dog who loved BBQ potato chips.

[friendperidot]

Quote

If you're eating beef jerky at my house my cats will literally try to crawl into your mouth to get at it. We don't eat beef jerky any more.

I've had a couple of dogs like that with foodstuffs, not jerky. I open my mouth to show it's gone and they get up in my face to examine my mouth,  I draw the line at letting them put their nose or tongue in my mouth to find the food.

[Jamoche]

19 hours ago, crazycatlady58 said:

I read somewhere  that it is easier  for a cat to climb  up a tree than down a tree because  of the way there claws are shaped .

I had a cat who (or so my mom claimed) learned how to climb trees from the squirrels after we moved from a treeless part of Chicago to suburban Atlanta. Thing is, squirrels go up and down head first, but cats ought to come down backwards. If they don't, they can manage one or two steps and then it's a desperate attempt to run down the tree while gravity does its thing.

[ennui]

2 hours ago, Jamoche said:

Thing is, squirrels go up and down head first,

I've seen squirrels cling with their back feet and hang, and paw around with their front feet. It's fascinating.

[mojoween]

On January 27, 2017 at 1:49 PM, peacheslatour said:

If you're eating beef jerky at my house my cats will literally try to crawl into your mouth to get at it. We don't eat beef jerky any more.

Mookie hears that bag rattle and suddenly my husband has a cat-shaped depression in his chest.  He also goes batshit for venison.  You would think we never fed him anything with the way he acts.

Has anyone tried those water fountains they have at PetSmart?  He acts like he hates his water bowl and I don't want him to get dehydrated.

[peacheslatour]

1 minute ago, mojoween said:

Mookie hears that bag rattle and suddenly my husband has a cat-shaped depression in his chest.  He also goes batshit for venison.  You would think we never fed him anything with the way he acts.

Has anyone tried those water fountains they have at PetSmart?  He acts like he hates his water bowl and I don't want him to get dehydrated.

One of our cats uses the water bowl next to the food bowl. My dainty little female has a crystal glass on the end table in the living room. Do you think she's spoiled? :)

[chessiegal]

Quote

6 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

One of our cats uses the water bowl next to the food bowl. My dainty little female has a crystal glass on the end table in the living room. Do you think she's spoiled? :)

 

What's the point of having a cat if you can't spoil them? I'm sure my pet sitters think I'm a little batty when I explain that the insulated mug with ice water (water plus ice cubes) next to her food bowl must also be supplemented with another insulated mug on the coffee table containing the same.

[Jamoche]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Mookie hears that bag rattle and suddenly my husband has a cat-shaped depression in his chest.  He also goes batshit for venison.  You would think we never fed him anything with the way he acts.

Has anyone tried those water fountains they have at PetSmart?  He acts like he hates his water bowl and I don't want him to get dehydrated.

I've got this Pioneer Pet one - stainless steel so it's easy to just toss in the dishwasher, and the water just flows down, it doesn't splash - some cats don't like that, plus it's quieter. I've seen my cat drinking from it, although she usually gives me a "what, me?" look when I catch her.

[bilgistic]

Bilgisticat has one of those. I didn't pay anywhere near those prices. I think I got it at Amazon, along with the filters. He likes it and drinks from it fairly often. He rarely drinks from the plain water bowl.

[riley702]

I've had former cats who preferred the fountain, but my two now are fine with a pottery bowl as long as I wash and refill it every day.

[ABay]

I have the same fountain as @Jamoche, purchased through Amazon and @bilgistic has reminded me I need to order filters. My cats love it and it's so much easier to clean than the hard plastic one I used to have. The only dishwasher in the house is me, so I especially appreciate the ease of cleaning it. All of my cats have loved running water. One used to accompany me to the bathroom, jump up on the sink, and look sad until I turned the faucet on. 

[peacheslatour]

Quote

look sad until I turned the faucet on

People always say dogs can give the most pleading looks. I beg to differ.

[riley702]

3 hours ago, ABay said:

I have the same fountain as @Jamoche, purchased through Amazon 

Yikes! Good catch. It's $69.99 on their own website and $27.15 on Amazon.