When did a dog or cat do so much for you?
I am, of course, giving our cat some side-eye right now.
The cat was looking over my shoulder and reading this as I posted it. Now she’s jumped on my lap, keeping me from my work and forcing me to type one-handed.
I’ve got to be more careful about letting her read the internet.
My cat sits on me and violently purrs, which helps with my anxiety.
Spiders keep eating annoying bugs. I keep my cat and some spiders indoors.
The cat is very effective in keeping the house rodent free, but he also enjoys eating spiders and insects.
I’ve rescued a few spiders from him, but it’s far too cold to put them outside, so hopefully they can evade his attention and find food by staying in the houseplants.
My cat fights the spiders for any moths that come in the house. They are in league.
Not sure how to feel about the fact that many spiders have watched me contort myself into various unique poses while i touch myself at night. Other than that I usually find them watching me shower
I have more spiders in my home than I have cats. That’s fine.
Laughing too much at this.
For several years we had multiple cats…up to 5 at one time. Then we had 2 dogs and 4 dats for quite a while, but then then the cats gradually died off then one of the dogs died. So we were down to one dog for several years, then she finally died. Now we don’t have any pets of our own. However, we live near Guide Dogs for the Blind and my partner volunteered us to provide a place for dogs in training that don’t do well in the kennel. We have one of those now. We also have a neighbors cat who hangs out on the chair at the potting table, although the cat doesn’t seem interested in the enormous rats we have around. They feed on the left over bird seed…we have lots of birds sometimes.
But through all that menagerie and in every house there have always been plenty of spiders. They never bother us and we don’t bother them, too much, Occasionally I’ll vacuum the corners to reduce the number of old webs dangling down, but I see no shortage of spiders.
The only arachnid I would like to see disappear are deer ticks.
My cat curls up next to me with her chin on a corner of my laptop. She gets excited when I’m Skyping with my two little granddaughters. She comes running when she hears their voices and peers at the screen.
She also participated in my oldest daughter’s work meetings when she was visiting and worked from home. Members of her team would ask “Where is Princess Leia?” if she wasn’t in my daughter’s lap.
My husband’s Maine Coon, Worf, has his own work chair in the office. He takes command of the chair and supervises all day long. If the husband has to drive into work for a day, Worf is unhappy and will often spend most of the day on the window shelf, watching for the car to return.
Those two also hunt down and consume any fly that gets into the house. I don’t think that any self-respecting rodent would dare to come in.
To be honest, a lot of dogs will do all three of those. My last pup was a mighty bug hunter.
Back in Covid lockdown days I had some hilarious video calls with my students where a student’s cat would jump on their desk and the video call software would decide that that is where all the interesting action was, so that’s where it should focus the camera.
End result: I’ve supervised several cats on completing a mathematics thesis.
I’ve been negotiating a treaty with my spiders, along the lines of “stay in the corners and I won’t kill you.”
I think it’s working out because there are a few hiding under the sink, but they stay down there. That seems acceptable.
LykeX @11:
My treaty is a bit less harsh. Stay in the corners, or I’ll usher you into the corners. I’ve never found a reason to kill a spider. Cockroaches not so much.
@Rob Grigjanis
I guess that started when one of them was crawling along the table during dinner. That’s a bit of a deal-breaker for me.
Having a cat on my lap is not my usual reason for typing one handed. Sorry, I had to say it. :)
Well, at least it’s spiders and not tapeworms.
(Someone somewhere thinks they are fascinating)
The prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him) was reading from the Qur’an, the holy book, to a large group of eager listeners in the desert. A sickly cat walked up to Muhammad (peace be unto him), sat down on the hem of his very precious robe and went to sleep.
All day the prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him) shared talk with the believers, the sun rising to its greatest strength and falling again, and none of the assembly, nor the prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him), moved from this place. The cat as well remained asleep and still, healing in the way cats do, in the protection of the prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him) and the softness of his robe.
At last, the day was coming to its end and all, along with the prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him), were now to return to their dwelling places for the night.
Without a word, the prophet Muhammad (peace be unto him) took a knife, cut off the hem of his robe on which the sick cat still lay sleeping, destroying the finest of robes, and left the cat undisturbed.
PZ, you could cut off your sleeve.
There should be a death metal song “The Black Cats of Easter Eve”.
@10. robert79 : “End result: I’ve supervised several cats on completing a mathematics thesis.”
Did they pass?
.***
From what I gather there’s not enough prey inside (most?) human houses to sustain most species of spiders so inside ones slowly starve. Thus I’ll usually carefully remove them and relocate them outside esp the Huntsmen genus ones.(Sparassidae ex Heteropodidae.) The Redbacks (Latrodectus hasselti), OTOH, I do kill becuase they can apparntly make you quite ill with their bites.
As for pets, my current cat is the the soppiest one I’ve ever been owned by and frequently does jump onto my lap – or want to climb and sleep on my shoulder whilst I’m on on the computer. She also loves my dog and they regularly groom each other. I got so very lucky with these two. Cat was from the Londsdale RSPCA animal shelter and dog was rehomed off the internet.
Lonsdale that is : https://www.rspcasa.org.au/services/shelters/
rabbitbrush: couldn’t the dude have just borrowed a coat from someone else rather than destroy his own and risk disturbing the cat?
The role of cats in the human extinction.
“Who created Human? ”
#lovedeathandrobots #threerobots #tvseries #netflix
.https://youtube.com/shorts/3T7_vpE7MaU
One morning I got up and noticed that a spider had set up a web between the wall and my water cup. For the next half year, there was a post-it note above that area to remind us not disturb Harold.
One day Harold was found, passed away. I still miss Harold. He was a good boi.
@8: You have excellent taste in naming cats.
PZ, for an evil cat, that feline looks adorable.
Why did humans consort with these hairy murder machines?
#lovedeathandrobots
.https://youtube.com/shorts/JmBwormnqbU?si=U-AVI8Yj9DsT14cH
The Cat is simply reminding you to take a break from the internet and just chill for a while. Mine does it, too, when she thinks I’ve had enough.
My cat has started doing actual tasks — reminding me to eat, acting as a living heating pad for my back, and she’s good for my mental health.
Spiders… not so much.