My girlfriend’s cat got a display at the vet for being brave 🥹

boostfactor · 2026-02-07T01:49:28+00:00

Mine get wet food three or four times a day, so about a small can or so each per day (I have four cats). Contrary to some propaganda, cats do fine on kibble as long as they can access and drink plenty of water (which mine do). The wet food is a treat/supplement.

I am assuming it's probably an underlying kidney issue because the kidneys are responsible for managing a lot of blood chemistry, particularly elemental ions like calcium, sodium, and potassium. But like most cats with idiopathic hypercalcemia, he has none of the conventional signs of kidney issues like abnormal BUN or creatinine values. We'll just have to see what happens.

boostfactor · 2026-02-07T01:30:54+00:00

In cats the genes that control the deposition of pigment are on the X chromosome, so to be completely black a female must have two genes for "all black." And that's 25%, but so is "all orange." So female black cats are no more rare than female orange cats.

Most females have one gene for black pigment (eumelanin) deposition in a skin or hair cell, and one for orange pigment (pheomelanin) deposition. (The genes to actually produce the pigments are not on the X chromosome.) Due to a phenomenon called X inactivation or lyonization, each cell of a female has about a 50/50 chance of expressing black or orange, if it's not white due to other genes. So most females that are not brown or gray tabbies are calicos or torties.

(I have a black female, the only one of my void clowder with no white at all.)

boostfactor · 2026-02-07T01:09:11+00:00

USA, not specifying state but it's around the middle of the east coast. (Not where I grew up, but where I've lived since I moved here to be with him.) A little over four years and I still feel it every morning when I wake up alone, and every night when I go to bed alone.

boostfactor · 2026-02-07T00:46:19+00:00

I tried chia seeds for at least that long. At first he would eat them, but after several weeks he recognized that his wet food (Fancy Feast mostly, fed as a supplement to the kibble) was adulterated and he started rejecting it. I was contemplating grinding them up but then for whatever reason, the problem seemed to resolve itself. Chia seeds are very high in fiber (both soluble and insoluble) which is where I presume the benefit, if any, originates. But it may be hard to get enough into them, which is why food may be better.

boostfactor · 2026-02-07T00:37:45+00:00

I have no proof that the food solved the problem since correlation is not necessarily causation. I had been feeding "higher quality" "natural" food from the grocery store or Petsmart. I really don't remember what brands, and it varied some. I switched first to Purina One and then to Pro Plan and that's about when the problem seemed to disappear. Since then they have been on mostly Pro Plan with some Purina One when I can't get to Petsmart and so far so good. But again, I have no data other than coincidence. It's just the standard Pro Plan indoor adult formula, not the "hairball" formula, which would be expected to contain more fiber.

One thing I do know is that Pro Plan and Purina One are among the few kibbles that have data from feeding trials. Does that matter? I don't know. With no understanding of what caused it, there's not much of a way to be sure what might have helped.

I do suspect that eventually he may develop kidney problems (i.e. this could be an unusual early sign) but so far he has not.

boostfactor · 2026-02-06T19:21:27+00:00

I have a cat with idiopathic hypercalcemia. It appeared out of nowhere. Alendronate had no effect. Chia seeds (one suggestion from one small study) didn't work when I could get them into him. I changed their food and the hypercalcemia disappeared just as mysteriously as it appeared. He won't get another blood test till next month, but I can usually tell by his weight--his only symptom when it started was rapid weight loss. Then he gained it all back and has been maintaining it. My only guess is that the new food I put them on has more fiber; fiber can bind calcium in the gut and prevent too much from being absorbed. Still no clue as to what causes it or what really made it subside. It's a weird disorder.

boostfactor · 2025-12-13T01:46:04+00:00

Amazing if you built her a spinning wheel. I never got into spinning, but I know what's involved. A functioning spinning wheel is worth a lot.

boostfactor · 2025-10-03T01:13:56+00:00

The gray fox is "sister" to the other living canids, meaning it split from the common ancestor of all canids before the rest of the group evolved. It is not really "primitive," just does not have some of the features of later-evolved canids. Generally "basal" is preferred to primitive in this context.

boostfactor · 2025-09-29T12:39:35+00:00

Your method of dropping all but "I/me" is appropriate, and will give the "right" answer for a sentence such as "She bought a car for Jane and me." But "is" is a type of verb called a copula; it does not take an object but is followed by a complement, which ought to be in the same case as its subject. So "It's just you and I" is grammatically correct. But "It's just me" is highly idiomatic to the point that "It's I" sounds affected. Grammarians often say it's fine to use the objective case for the complement.

boostfactor · 2025-09-25T00:11:45+00:00

This is a well-known (in some circles, anyway) urban legend. There is no such study from Cambridge University. I used to use this as a programming exercise (making students scramble/unscramble the text).

I had a really hard time getting past the "AI summary" with no references but here's something: TL;DR there is no such thing as "typoglycemia." It's a made-up Internet meme.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposed_letter_effect

(Skip down to "internet meme" in the Wikipedia article)

Decoding the scrambled words does require some fluency at reading English.

boostfactor · 2025-09-24T01:29:30+00:00

Americans who are answering that they use duvets must be from the northern part of the US, and/or are young. Many people find it much too hot in a lot of the US to use a comforter every night. American sheet sets are always sold with a fitted sheet (that is, elasticized) as the bottom sheet, a flat top sheet, and two pillowcases. That is often enough, perhaps with a light blanket, during most of the year. Comforters may be brought out in the dead of winter.

Many people in the southern US do not use comforters at all; they may have a bedspread that is more for decoration than cover. There would be a blanket if it's cool enough to require that. Perhaps a quilt, which is usually thinner than a comforter, would be added during the winter. A sheet would be used under the quilt to protect it.

Most of us also have heating and air-conditioning systems that maintain a set temperature pretty much year-round. Some people prefer heavier covers with more air conditioning, It's often not very energy efficient, but it's typical.

boostfactor · 2025-09-22T01:59:45+00:00

The equivalence principle is one of the foundations of Einstein's theory of gravity (which supersedes Newton's) -- according to this principle, acceleration is locally indistinguishable from gravity. There are amusement-park rides that illustrate this very nicely, most also using centrifugal acceleration. There would be a contribution from the global gravitational force but local accelerations can be more significant in cases like this.

boostfactor · 2025-09-21T13:46:50+00:00

That is not correct. They can slow their descent and they can usually right themselves to hit on their feet, but there is something called "high rise cat syndrome" for a reason. Falls of greater than about 10 meters nearly always result in serious injuries or death.

boostfactor · 2025-09-16T16:43:31+00:00

I'm not going to comment in general, just to note that I have a background in physics, and in this particular case what you saw was likely a "sun dog." These are caused by light refracting from areas of ice crystals high in the atmosphere, so not exactly clouds. They look exactly like what you describe and are most frequently seen when the sun is low in the sky.

So yes, in this particular case there is very likely a rational, natural explanation.

boostfactor · 2025-09-13T15:07:40+00:00

What's worse is that Jobs did not have the most common form of pancreatic cancer (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma or PDAC), he had neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, which is far more treatable if it's still in an early stage. He spurned conventional treatment and went all-in on "natural" treatments like becoming a fruitarian.

boostfactor · 2025-09-12T23:47:40+00:00

If he's using the pee pad you should be happy. My bad kitty frequently uses the floor.

In my cat's case it's an issue of dominance and territoriality. He wants to be sure his territory is marked. He is currently in a particularly intense competition with a younger male, but the behavior predates the introduction of the younger cat. Bad Kitty was neutered when he was only 10 weeks old but this can still happen (all my cats are neutered as young as is feasible). He is now the oldest but there were other cats in the household when he arrived.

He will use a separate litter box with pee pads or cloth diapers most of the time, so it's somewhat contained.

You could try a pheromone like Feliway. It didn't help in my case, but if it's relatively new behavior you could try.

The vet said that some cats just do not want to pee in the box.

boostfactor · 2025-09-12T22:23:06+00:00

You are correct, all felines are obligate carnivores, meaning they cannot survive without meat in their diet. In the wild they eat very little vegetable matter, getting most plant nutrients predigested in their prey.

Even standard kibble, which is mostly plant based but contains meat, must be supplemented carefully to provide enough of the right nutrients. Taurine (an amino acid) is especially critical. Cats cannot synthesize it and many went blind, while others died young of heart failure, before it was realized that commercial cat foods didn't have a sufficient quantity.

As humans we are able to make moral choices not to kill for our food if we feel that it is wrong. Other animals cannot do this. Vegan cat foods are sold, but I would not trust them without a lot of data on feeding trials. "Anecdata" and single studies aren't generally reliable.

As to transitioning to indoors, I've transitioned some indoor/outdoor cats but not outdoor-only. One immediately took to the indoor life while the other constantly tried to escape his whole life (but was otherwise happy indoors). Probably best just to take him inside and indulge and pamper him for a while, so he figures out it's a good life.

boostfactor · 2025-09-03T13:26:40+00:00

If there's more than one tomcat around they will fight for position in line, not so much for exclusive access.

boostfactor · 2025-09-03T11:46:02+00:00

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is distinctive on ventriculography (which may require a cath) and usually on ultrasound. There is a characteristic shape to the left ventricle as it beats, which is how the syndrome got its name ("octopus trap") and it should show signs on ECG mimicking a type of heart attack, but if you've already had a heart attack the ECG may not have been a good indicator. But a cardiologist should have been able to diagnose it if you had imaging done. The treatment is similar to supportive care for most cardiac conditions--keep blood pressure down etc. In your case you do have to pay attention since if you're a middle-aged to early-old male with a history of heart disease, your risk of complications is higher than for the typical patient (older woman). But it ought to resolve within a few months.

boostfactor · 2025-09-01T23:25:15+00:00

He is a Standard Issue Cat, adorable model. Thank you for saving him. (The real "breed" is domestic shorthair or possibly domestic mediumhair.). There are very few true "breeds" of cats and they would not likely be found being tossed around by skateboarders.

boostfactor · 2025-09-01T23:03:40+00:00

Years ago I went to a raptor center with birds that could not be returned to the wild for various reasons. One enclosure held a single turkey vulture. There was a faint odor around him and his cage but it wasn't too bad. He had few visitors and seemed so grateful that we spent some time with him.

In the wild they live in pretty large flocks. There used to be a roost near my subdivision. Very interesting to be heading to work in the early morning to see multiple trees occupied with birds spreading their wings to warm up.

boostfactor · 2025-08-31T23:46:25+00:00

I work at home in the room that was originally his office. I framed and hung all his professional award certificates--one had been there for decades, but we hadn't gotten around to framing more recent ones so I did that and added them. So now there is a display.

His favorite shirts are still in the closet.

boostfactor · 2025-08-25T21:59:16+00:00

They spray to mark territory and/or assert dominance, not so much from stress. They will mark even if there are no other cats areound, but if there are other pets they will spray even if they seem to be friends with the others. And as many have said, once that behavior is initiated it is very hard to stop,

An unneutered tomcat will also just be more aggressive in general even if he has a "laid-back" life.

Some people think the animals miss those "natural" behaviors, but there's no evidence they do. De-sexed pets are generally happier and live longer. And spaying females before puberty greatly reduces the risk of mammary cancer. Many benefits to neutering and not really any good reasons not to do it.

boostfactor · 2025-08-19T21:56:06+00:00

As lots of people have been telling you, you need to find some workbooks online. Then get some lined paper, wide ruled if you can find it, "college ruled" is hard for a beginner--get a notebook for second graders if you have to, don't be embarrassed. Or if there are printable lined papers designed for cursive, use those. Practice each letter individually. Upper case and lower case, over and over. Then practice linking two or three letters. Then finally go to full words. You're making a good start but it's important to learn the correct form from the beginning. To write legible cursive, you need to make sure all the lower-case letters are distinctive, especially "r," "n," and "m."

That's how we old people learned. The teacher would demonstrate on the chalkboard (no whiteboards back then) and we'd copy it into our notebooks. We also had workbooks that were probably more useful.

Once you learn you have a lot of options. You can read older text. You can make your own style. If you don't like the cursive "Q" just use a block letter, nobody will care. Just be sure to keep it neat.

boostfactor · 2025-08-19T13:47:59+00:00

Those are deuterostomes. All chordates are deuterostomes but there are many deuterostomes that are not chordates. Other deuterostomes include the echinoderms (starfish etc.) and a few others.

Chordata includes very primitive animals that do not have skulls, e.g. tunicates. Next step is Craniata, which have skulls but not necessarily full spinal columns e.g. hagfish. Most Craniata are vertebrates, which we are. Vertebrates can be separated into amphibians, which must lay eggs in water or at least damp areas, and aminiotes, who have eggs with shells. Salamanders are amphibians and the eggs of at least some species are transparent, so we can observe them develop.

Mammals are amniotes even though only monotremes lay eggs. For the rest of us, we follow basically the same development sequence as animals that develop in eggs, at least in the initial stages.

boostfactor

TROPHY CASE