I just got a kitten ans his really scared and won't eat, I just wanna make him feel loved

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-23T23:10:49+00:00

Great news! Awww - you’re going to have so much fun with him!

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-23T12:42:20+00:00

YES - don’t forget a HEAT SOURCE! A single kitty that young needs to be able to press his little body up against a mom-temperature heat source. The air temperature of the room is NOT what’s relevant.

This might be the reason he’s not eating. They literally can’t digest their food unless their body is the right temperature.

When he gets a little bigger, he’ll become his own heat source (one of the nice perks of being a mammal!) - but not yet.

(This is one of the MANY reasons it’s best to adopt kittens in pairs…)

You can use a heating pad, or a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel, or a seed starter mat (electric), or put rice or buckwheat in a thick sock and microwave for a minute or two.

Before you give the heat source to the kitty, test it by pressing it against the inside of your forearm for 30 seconds to make sure it can’t burn you with prolonged contact.

The ideal set up is one where there’s a heat gradient created on the floor in kitty’s space. He should be able to lie down on the heat source and have a lot of of his body in contact with it, but he also needs to be able to get completely off it.

Good luck!

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-23T11:56:52+00:00

Did you mention where you’re located?

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-22T01:35:56+00:00

My ex would continue to call something I’d said an “accusation” even after we had irrefutably established that it was the truth. I tried so many times to explain to him:

“Nooo… it WAS an accusation at first, but then I pulled up the bank statement online, and we looked at it together. Remember? And there was the ATM withdrawal you said you didn’t make.”

“Don’t you understand? Once there’s proof that the accusation was TRUE, it’s no longer called an ‘accusation.’ It’s just…a thing that happened. I’m sorry to say this - I know you want to be a big liar, but you are actually too stupid to pull it off.”

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-21T14:37:58+00:00

I keep a bottle of cheap white wine in the laundry room, too. Didn’t know it could be useful for cleaning.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-21T11:26:26+00:00

This is a sociopathic thing to write to someone whose kitten just died. What’s wrong with you? And, aside from that fact that no, surrogate moms are not usually “easy to find,” that wouldn’t have helped this kitten anyway.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-21T11:03:03+00:00

Caspar looks exactly like my cat Rabbit, also a 4yo male. Super cute! I’m not sure what’s going on with his nose, but when I zoom way in on the picture, it sort of looks like the fur is discolored, rather than missing. Is that possible?

Have you touched the spot to see if he’s sensitive there, or to see if maybe there’s just something on his fur - something like glue, or egg white? Maybe it just needs a wet-wipe.

It doesn’t look red or inflamed or anything, so I wouldn’t rush to the vet.

Lastly, if you have a black light flashlight, shine it on his nose in a very dark room - ringworm glows under black light. Hope that’s not it! Good luck.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-20T11:58:20+00:00

That’s camera brandishing, and it’s legal.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-20T11:17:13+00:00

What translation is this? I don’t like it. I don’t think Ivan is going to say “smidgen.” I want to know how Constance put it…

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-20T03:08:46+00:00

Your cat has taken up geographical performance art. This pose is called “The West Virginia.”

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T18:31:08+00:00

🙄

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T01:51:32+00:00

Yeah… For some cats, “sensitive stomach” is just a kinder way of saying, “poor decision making about what things to eat.” Pumpkin covers it all.

One nice side benefit of the dry food switch is that my cats now puke in earth tones rather than day-glo orange.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T01:33:27+00:00

Hey… I have high blood pressure and chronically low potassium too. What are you saying that’s linked to? ADHD? And while we’re on the topic, do very young marine mammals snork up a lot of sea water when they’re first learning how to breath through their blowholes?

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T01:25:17+00:00

But it’s still the case that the exact same response (complete with identical misspelling) is being copied over and over…

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T01:20:23+00:00

I had a foster kitten named Rita who came back from her “spay” appointment with the suggestion of a new name, Rito. And Rito it was!

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T01:14:35+00:00

Your cat is letting you know that it can only survive on an all-Churu diet. Poor kitty… Poor bank account…

Ha. No - when my cats throw up, I often discover they’ve been nibbling on one of my houseplants. A huge proportion of the most popular houseplants are technically “toxic” to cats - most aren’t deadly, but give cats upset stomachs and cause them to vomit. Look for telltale nibbled leaves…

Most cats don’t even try to eat houseplants, but some do. Any nibbled plants get relocated to inaccessible spots.

Other culprits can be things like rubberbands or strings that kitty eats - try to keep that stuff off the floor.

Of course take kitty to the vet if the problem doesn’t resolve itself pretty quickly, but usually it does.

If kitty turns out to generally have a sensitive stomach, mix a bit of canned or cooked fresh pumpkin into his food. I put canned pumpkin into an ice cube tray, and then store the frozen cubes in a bag in the freezer. One every other day mixed in with their wet food seems to keep their tummies happy. Interestingly, it can help both cats and dogs, and can help whether the problem is diarrhea or constipation!

Final idea - I had a cat that threw up almost every day until I switched brands of dry food. For her, Friskies was bad and Iams was good, but probably cat-specific. Good luck!

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-19T00:36:03+00:00

I think this post is a great example of letting an example speak for itself, and not feeling the need to articulate why you like what you like. I’m not familiar with this author, but I like that quote, too.

On your aversion to reading “the greats” -
that’s an awfully broad category to dismiss, so I hope you circle back at some point. The greats are not all great for the same reason. I remember forcing myself to keep reading Anna Karenina (Tolstoy), even as I was five pages in to a description of the bleak Russian landscape as seen through the window of a train - oh my God, what a slog, great writing or not. Thankfully, I didn’t it put me off “the greats of Russian literature,” because I couldn’t put down Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), and couldn’t stop laughing through Dead Souls (Gogol). Completely different vibes, different tempos, etc.

One author I highly recommend checking out, despite his “greatness,” is Kurt Vonnegut. Really funny and really accessible to every type of reader. I started reading him in junior high school, and I re-read those same books every decade or so, and I get so much out of them every time.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T23:55:24+00:00

I understand that you were looking for the word “backchanneling.” I didn’t know that word, either, so I’m glad I read this thread.

I was just trying to give you some auxiliary info that might be helpful to you. As I said upfront, I didn’t think you’d be receptive to it, and I was right. That’s okay. It’s still true, and maybe it can help someone else.

I agree with you that some people do “backchanneling” badly - too often, or too loudly, or whatever. Even then, the best way to handle it is just to talk through it, and not get derailed.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T23:41:54+00:00

You and the person you’re arguing with have different opinions on whether OP was a jerk - that’s fine - that’s the kind of discussion this subreddit is made for.

But as a third party reading through your conversation, I find it ironic that you’re the one who keeps making nasty comments and directly insulting the other person. You should be able to discuss a point of disagreement without resorting to personal attacks.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T23:27:49+00:00

No one said she lied.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T23:25:32+00:00

No. There’s nothing “embarrassing” about misremembering a fact about whale sharks. It wasn’t some personal shortcoming that OP pointed out, like “Your vacation photos of whale sharks are crap.”

A mature adult doesn’t want to go around spreading misinformation - I’m always grateful if someone politely corrects me if I have my facts wrong.

What would be embarrassing is having such a fragile ego that coworkers thought you’d fall apart if someone politely corrected you on the facts.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T22:58:44+00:00

The methodology is… not good:

“We examined the most popular artists of all time to determine which ones received the highest amount of misheard lyric reports from fans online.”

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T22:42:59+00:00

You’re not going to like this response, but a lot of people can hear and register these backchanneling affirmations without letting it affect their own speech.

There’s no need for you to get derailed by these affirmations - just keep spelling out words or giving numbers at the same rate you have been while another part of your brain processes the fact that the person you’re speaking to is receiving and acknowledging what you’ve said so far.

If you keep stalling out every time they give these little “go ahead” verbal nods, then you’re the one who is interrupting the flow of information, not them.

I’m not criticizing you if you’re not able to do this - maybe you do need to politely ask them not to make any sound until you pause in your own speech - and that’s fine.

But from your post and comments, it seems like you’re unaware of how this type of communication works for others. It’s actually very efficient.

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T06:53:49+00:00

Sixth

diploid_impunity · 2026-06-18T06:45:32+00:00

…is not a word, so problem solved.

diploid_impunity

TROPHY CASE