The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2021

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mani

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MoochNNoodles

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Sometimes you just have to decide what to focus on and make a conscious effort to do that. My best friend has ptsd and has talked about that with me extensively. It’s something she has to work on and I’ve been practicing it for a few years. I still catch myself thinking negative but I’m better than I was! I used to not even realize what i was doing and I’d lash out at people around me.
 

Babypinkweeb

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Somedays I just really want to give up on transitioning my cat to wet because they'd rather drop weight than eat wet.... Even when they physically see me put his fav kibble on top, he will only eat if I pick out the kibble and hold it in his face. It's frustrating to see him eat a bowl full of kibble fast and happily but act like I'm abusing him when I try to have him eat even 1 tbsp of wet. Not sure how much more time I can spend on this babysitting him daily for hours with his food when I am going back to work soon... Sigh.
 

gilmargl

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Feeling blue! Not so much about a cat but ...... I hope this won't be too long a story.

In this area, all outdoor cats are required to be micro-chipped (or tatooed) and neutered. People in my village have been complaining to the local authorities about a tom-cat running around, spraying in doorways and on doormats, and doing what tom-cats do. The local authorities got in touch with the animal shelter, where I volunteer. I have a microchip reader and deal with stray animals, injured cats, dead cats discovered in my neighbourhood. So I was responsible for this cae. I had the telephone number of an old man who knew where I could perhaps find the cat. When I phoned this villager, who was not only hard of hearing but also dement, I managed to give him my telephone number and asked him to call me when the cat turned up.

Within ten minutes he was back on the phone, and told me to come as soon as possible to house number X, where the cat was lying in the sun. I drove the short distance to meet a very old lady, her son and the rather dement old man. They were all speaking the local dialect. all at the same time and all so over-excited that I found it difficult to understand what was going on. The younger man kept grabbing the cat and yelling that it was very shy and wouldn't come to me. They all accused the neighbours of complaining about the poor cat which had never sprayed in the old lady's house so why would it spray in houses in the adjoining street. “They should keep their doors and windows closed!” The cat didn't belong to them, the owners should pay for neutering, I could hardly understand the conversation let alone get a word in edgeways!

I thought I at least understood the problem: mother and son (unemployed) had been looking after the cat (goodness knows how long). They wanted to keep it but were worried about neutering costs. The old man was a neighbour, though I've no idea where his interests lay. I told them we could start a poster action, to make sure that the cat didn't have an owner, and then we could talk about financing the cat's operation. I left telling them I would return when I'd checked with the board members of the shelter.

Well, the animal shelter agreed to help, at least with a search for the owner, but for that we needed a photo of the cat. I was passing by, so I called in at the old woman's house. The son opened the door (in his vest/undershirt) but didn't want to talk to me. "The cat's not here!". Well, I was prepared for that, I gave him my card and asked him to send me a photo of the cat when it turned up, so that we could at least try to find the owner. He looked at the card, my address and put 2 and 2 together. I was that woman. I was, according to him, a foreigner, and so was not wanted in the village. "Goodbye, and Merry Christmas!" I did not get angry but tried to humour him. I told him that I wasn't trying to take the cat away, but I thought I would surely be back before Christmas. But his retort, "You can go, the cat can stay. Happy Easter!" left me feeling quite helpless.

Unfortunately, his hatred brought back all the problems we'd had when we moved to Germany (almost 50 years ago): a boy throwing eggs at my children on their first ride on their bicycles on their own into the town and, on moving to this village, when our new house was pelleted with eggs by the local louts (probably my new acquaintance had been one of them).

Sorry, I'm feeling quite deflated. We (the shelter) are going to wait a week to see if he manages to send me a photo. If not, things may get nasty, and I don't know what will happen. But I don't think he'll harm the cat - more likely try to do something to me, my car or....
 

klunick

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Crawled into bed last night and started hearing noises outside. Thought maybe something was messing with the trash cans. Got up and looked out my window. Saw Gracie's "boyfriend" standing by the downstairs sliding glass door. He comes by almost every night to torment her. They both jump at each other through the sliding glass door. I went downstairs and Gracie was growling at the other cat. Boone was just watching the action. Once the other cat saw me, he took off running towards the woods.

There is another cat that comes near the house that looks to be only 9-10 months old. We only see him when the weather is cold and/or rainy. Interesting because he/she doesn't mess with the cats and Boone and Gracie don't mind him/her coming around. I just wish the owner would take better care of it and keep it inside in bad weather and feed it. Looks pretty thin for being a baby.
 
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