untonuggan: Lily and Chance squished in a cat pile-up on top of a cat tree (buff tabby, black cat with red collar) (Default)
MOM: did you ever want a pony growing up? was that just me? is that a British thing?
ME: I wanted to have a psychic connection to a horse. we would be BFFs and fight evil together, probably. also once people realized we were soul-bonded, it wouldn't matter if I "owned" the horse because capitalism and concepts of ownership and property would not be able to keep us apart.
MOM: ... ... ...
ME: does that mean yes?
untonuggan: a raptor silhouetted against a sunet over the beach (bird sunset)
Sorry for so many posts today, but I keep meaning to mention this because I think it would interest some of you. Then I forget because it happens so often.

We have a bird bath outside. Almost daily, someone has to fish out a soggy piece of bread. We finally figured out that someone nearby must be leaving out stale bread for local wildlife, and the local crows take it to our birdfeeder and let it soak *just enough* that it is the right consistancy for them. They then break it up amongst themselves -- possibly accompanied with fending off the grackle population -- but usually leave a bit behind.

I'm not sure why they leave a bit behind? Maybe it gets too soft at that point? They leave a certain piece of the bread? IDK.

But yeah. I also don't know if this counts as "tool use" officially, or just "more smart crow behavior."
untonuggan: Lily (buff tabby) asking for belly rubs on an oriental rug in a sunbeam, whiskers in happy face pose. Head upside down. (cat lily basking icon)
things my cats have never experienced before today (as judged by their behavior):
  • a litterbox that has just been cleaned
  • washing machines (off or on)
  • trash bags
  • vacuum cleaners (off or on)
  • cardboard boxes
  • food, ever. they have never, ever been fed. (this resets...every minute or so?)
  • open windows
  • the other cats in the house
i don't judge.
untonuggan: A hand drawn terrier "smiling" and looking slightly cross-eyed, shown from the neck up (dog terrier djinni)
So this came up in a conversation with a couple ppl lately, so here's a summary of some of the things I do with bouncy dogs.

First off is understanding motivation.cut for length and in case you are not a dog person )

(Was going to put this in the animal filter but I wanted it to be public, so thus the cut)
untonuggan: Lily and Chance squished in a cat pile-up on top of a cat tree (buff tabby, black cat with red collar) (Default)
So you know how there is talk in US English about "Kitty Crazies"? That thing cats do roughly once a day where they look at you as though they have never seen you before, run around the house, etc?

Well partner's family speaks North African Arabic (also other dialects in other branches of the family). Anyway, there is another name for "kitty crazies". You say that the cat "has tagoug" (Anglicized spelling completely mine because partner is out; note that the correct grammar is not that the cat "is tagoug"). Basically it means that the cat is "possessed" (by a Djinn/demon -- what we call "genies" -- also note that not all Djinn are evil, some are aligned with God/Allah and the evil ones are not; there is a WHOLE area of study around this which not all Muslims and/or Arabs and/or Lots of Peoples I don't have room to specify agree on that I do not even begin to understand so I'm going to stop there). I kind of like this imagery because it ties back to all the ideas of cats and witchcraft and everything. It also kind of explains why cats look so uncomfortable.

Or you could go by my definition, which is that more specific than the "kitty crazies", your cat is just having a short manic episode. (Seriously, not that different from how I feel when fully manic versus hypomanic).

With our dogs, we always called these occasional bouts of RUN EVERYWHERES "racehorse dog" (though srsly they would be really poorly trained racehorses because they did not go in a ring at all). Though once my dog did get hold of the slug trap (which contained beer) and, er, emptied it into his belly before grabbing hold of the container and running round the yard. I think that was a chemically induced racehorse dog. (And don't worry, despite the alcohol/dog poison, he was fine. It was cheap crap beer with low alcohol content, which helped.)

Anyone else have other terminology for such things? Do bunnies have similar bouts of ALL THE ENERGIES? (I'm looking at you for this vital information, [personal profile] shanaqui .) What about other species?

ETA: I wonder if animals have names/thoughts for our shenanigans? Like "omg they are picking out those clothes things again"? Or whatever their idea of our recreational sex is. Or what the hell is the holiday season madness. Or VACUUMING. I mean, basically most of what we do around animals would seem to me to be nonsense to them? IDK. *curious*

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untonuggan: Lily and Chance squished in a cat pile-up on top of a cat tree (buff tabby, black cat with red collar) (Default)
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