“If you’ve got someone with aggression problems, you might check them for toxoplasmosis,” said Coccaro, chair of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago. “People who blow up have a real problem. It’s not just a character problem or bad behavior. There’s something underneath that’s driving it.”This story made me think: People always talk about "cat ladies": What about cat men? Know any? I'd suggest Marc Maron, for example, get himself tested for toxoplasmosis. And maybe everyone ought to steer clear of cats. They could ruin your life, and you'll think it's you. Something horribly wrong with your character, deep down inside... so it seems... but no: It's the cat!
Here's an article in the UK Telegraph by the delightfully named Chas Newkey-Burden: "Can a man who owns a cat ever be trusted?/You can generally assume that any man with a pet cat is sneaky and afraid of commitment":
There are, I suppose, some excuses for owning a cat. The stereotypical owner is a spinster, and given their plight, one can forgive them the error of allowing the clawing fleabags through their front door. But beyond that, cat-ownership seems a bizarre lifestyle choice. Certainly among males, there is no excuse for it once adolescence has passed.The photo illustration is of President Obama trying to work his charisma on David Cameron's cat. The caption: "David Cameron's cat Larry ignores the leader of the free world."
Cats are sinister, self-centred little madams with an unjustified, Herculean superiority complex. They are crashing bores, the animal world equivalent of the mute dinner-party guest from hell.
For balance: "10 Reasons To Date A Man Who Owns A Cat, Because It Actually Makes Him 10 Times More Dateable" by Christine Schoenwald in Bustle:
This theory that women needed to stay the hell away from men who owned cats was just stupid, and offensive to cat men.... Date a cat man and you won’t be sorry. Cat owners, like their cats are never boring, and are an excellent addition to your life.The 10 reasons include that cat men are not squeamish. They clean litter boxes so they'll put up with your shit. I'm paraphrasing. Ms. Schoenwald said "They’re not going to have a problem taking care of you when you’ve had too much to drink or have the flu." Oh, really? I thought the most important thing about a cat as a pet is that you don't have to take care of them. Yes, you have to clean the litter box when you see fit — at your level of housecleaning — but you can stay out all night and all the next day and the cat doesn't even consider feeling bad about it. But — to be fair to Ms. Schoenwald — she's just cranking out an article for cat ladies to purr over. There's no real cat man in the picture.
And if there were: Watch out for the explosive rage.
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Ted Nugent, explained?
Pussy can drive men to do crazy things.
So can beavers.
I am Laslo.
You need to meet a better class of cats.
A cat is the sort of pet a single person, who works outside of the house, can own. Dogs are for households where there are people around a lot.
As a guy with kids and a wife who works from home, our dog is perfect. If I was a single guy, I would settle for a cat.
Never settle
(for a cat)
From the rear end of cats we get toxoplasmosis.
From the rear end of beavers we get castoreum, a tasty vanilla flavoring used in many food items.
Make of it what you will.
I am Laslo.
How long before an enterprising lawyer employs the 'Cat Shit Defense' for his client's violent actions?
And should this be reason to prevent cat-owners from acquiring guns?
I am Laslo.
There is a theory that Toxoplasmosis is related to schizophrenia.
It is controversial but there is still speculation about it.
Gilbert and Sullivan understood that "it was the cat."
What about the sex of the cat? Could that be a factor?
It sure explains some of the posters around here.
Bob Ellison:
We have to ask Laslo about sex with a cat.
Once upon a time we kept cats because of rats and mice. Some people still get cats for that reason. But today's pet housecats are more apt to be frightened of rats than the other way around.
In GALAVANT (ABC-TV), women going to Spinster Island are given a cat if they don't already have one.
One of your funniest posts ever....said the man with five cats.
Tim
I have been called a crazy cat man. Emphasis on crazy. I am single, a male and have 5 cats. I never wanted that many. Three of them came in one bundle when a friend of mine died. I promised her I would take care of them. I am glad I did. The other two were strays.
As for the violent part, I come by that naturally. My Mexican grandfather murdered a guy during a poker game. I didn't find out about that until my dad died. Now I know where his rage came from.
I am not Laslo
Chas Newkey-Burden
The burden of nookie...
Laslo, from the rear ends of beavers we also get giardiasis. Make of it what you will.
You've heard of Katmandu.
Cat man, don't.
Something horribly wrong with your character, deep down inside... so it seems... but no: It's the cat!
My take-away from this is that Althouse needs a dog. And she is repressing her dog-love. "I don't want a dog! No dog! I'm not ready for a dog! I'm afraid of the dog!" And this dog repression is now manifesting itself in cat hatred.
You can generally assume that any man with a pet cat is sneaky and afraid of commitment"
Well, I say that any woman who wants a dog but does not have a dog and is now manifesting cat hatred is afraid of the dog.
Good luck with the kitty cats, Ipso.
Nice of you to take care of all them.
If I recall correctly, toxoplasmosis comes from birds. Outdoor cats eat birds and asymptomatically carry the parasite which humans encounter cleaning the litter box.
Wearing a mask when cleaning the litter box of the cat you let roam around the neighborhood is recommended.
Or keep the cat inside so they don't go around killing songbirds.
From Wikipedia's plot summary of the 1942 movie "Cat People":
"Oliver buys her a kitten, but upon meeting her it hisses. Irena explains that "cats just don't like me" and suggests they go to the pet shop to exchange it, but when they enter the shop the animals go wild in her presence. The shopkeeper says that animals can sense things about people. It gradually becomes clear that Irena believes she is descended from the cat people of her village, and that she fears that she will transform into a panther if aroused to passion."
The 1982 remake had music by David Bowie, which I'm embedding in a separate post.
"Irena Gallier travels to New Orleans to reconnect with her brother Paul. Both orphaned after their parents died, Irena has been in foster care her entire life. Paul, not so lucky, spent his childhood in and out of institutions and jail. They return to Paul's home where his Creole housekeeper Female (pronounced feh-MAH-leh) helps Irena settle into her brother's house. Later, as Irena sleeps, Paul watches her with a predatory-like stare. That same night, a prostitute walks into a fleabag motel to meet a john — and is instead mauled by a black panther. The police capture the panther.... That same morning, Irena wakes to find her brother missing."
Female (pronounced feh-MAH-leh) ... I love that.
After you get the father to deal with the litter box throughout your pregnancy, consider naming the baby Female.
If it's a girl...
If it's a boy, maybe Male (pronounced MAH-leh)... or it could be Malio.
I'm a cat guy. We currently have 3, but have had as many as seven ( we had 3, took in a stray, stray was pregnant with 3 ).
Officially the 3 we currently have belong to our kids. But they tend to follow me around, settling in whatever room I'm in.
Dogs are sycophants. That does not reflect well on people who wish to surround themselves with dogs.
Dogs are sycophants. That does not reflect well on people who wish to surround themselves with dogs.
It is true. I am Alpha.
"Dogs are sycophants. That does not reflect well on people who wish to surround themselves with dogs."
How can we know that's not just your Toxoplasma gondii talking?
The only thing that prevents me from going full-on anti-cat is that Rush Limbaugh has them, and I have a lot of respect for that guy.
"Dogs are sycophants. That does not reflect well on people who wish to surround themselves with dogs."
It's not like you have to have a cat or a dog.
There are other pets and there's the best default — my high standard: NOTHING.
It's not like you have to have a cat or a dog.
I just hope Althouse doesn't start deleting the dog posts. "This is a cat thread! Cat thread! Not for dogs!"
By the way, Zeus — our dog/not our dog — is not a sycophant. He's able to do his thing of providing company when he can tell you need it, calmly enduring/experiencing your attention, showing up and observing patiently when food is in the offing, and lapsing into neutral all the rest of the time. It has the appearance of dignity and doing a well-understood job. But then we don't act emotionally needy toward him. If we did, he might adapt to that and see it as his job. But it's not his nature to assume that's what we want and he's correct about that.
People should try to wash their hands thoroughly after cleaning the cat box. Isn't that really how you get toxoplasmosis? I also don't recommend cleaning the box whenever you feel like it Ann. Cats will not want to use a dirty box.
They are not all the same. I have had 4 cats in my life and all 4 were very different. All were very attached to the humans in the house. Only one afraid of strangers.
I love Henri http://youtu.be/Q34z5dCmC4M
we don't act emotionally needy toward him.
Right. That's a bad idea!
But dogs are emotionally needy. It's the big difference between cats and dogs. Dogs have emotional needs, cats do not.
1982 Cat People had Nastassja Kinski, which is the only (though perhaps sufficient) reason to watch it.
We have cats, who were acquired due to pleading from wife and daughter.
You don't see many therapy cats do you? Dogs can empathize with humans, they are superior animals.
"Dogs have emotional needs, cats do not."
You must have never owned a cat. That cats' emotional needs can be, at times, more inscrutable than dogs' does not mean they don't have them.
My cat was attacked by my as of last night's girlfriend's daughter's fucking pitbull. While I was strangling the goddamned thing her daughter brained me with a lamp, then told the police I tried to kill her, Tatyana was full on with her disgusting bitch daughter. I was devastated. I also blew out my knee and my baseball officiating career is assuredly over.
I love my cat. She is my only real link to my deceased wife. When I go back to get my stuff, I will kill that dog if I get a chance.
So there is my cat story, it is no bullshit.
David53: You don't see many therapy cats do you?
I beg to differ.
Now, it is true that you must pay close attention to patient allergies, and everyone handling cats in a medical setting should wash their hands before and after. But cats make extremely good therapy animals, as mine demonstrate repeatedly, any time my wife or I are sick or unhappy.
The Telegraph: "David Cameron's cat Larry ignores the leader of the free world."
Dear Sirs:
Regarding your blatantly speciesist attack on one of mankind's oldest co-evolutionary partners I must reply that your characterizations of Felis catus are only generally true, and are not by any means inclusive of all members of my tribe. Some of us are actually nice. This is not to say that the typical ailurophile is not a thoroughgoing rotter, however. Take for an unfortunate example my current valet, the Rt Hon. Mr. David Cameron, MP — a berk, a numpty, a dispenser of grade A codswallop who resides here at Number 10 only because everyone else in Parliament is either a uphill gardener like that oopsie daisy Corbyn, or just completely off his onion. (Really, given all the bomb-wielding wogs going about unchained these days if one isn't a kipper one must be bleeding certifiable.)
Regarding the caption you applied to my portrait photo I must protest that I did not ignore or in any way slight or disregard the Leader of the Free World because no one answering that appellation was in the room.
Sincerely,
Laurence T. Cat, OBE
10 Downing Street,London SW1A 2AA
tel. 020 7270 3000 (leave message)
donald: So there is my cat story, it is no bullshit.
Any animal I catch attacking my cats will not survive the attempt.
If that's for me Darrell, I'll just say that dogs are great...when they haven't been trained to be killers.
That's what has happened here.
"David Cameron's cat Larry ignores the leader of the free world."
As does the rest of the world.
Once you go dog, you never go back.
Yes, EDH..The Nuge may have been prescient in his classic "Cat crap fever"
I thought this article seemed familiar..even down to the cat photo:
The Truth About the Connection Between Your Cat and Mental Illness
Not surprisingly, I hear that Republicans are dog people, while Democrats prefer cats.
Cat owners = toxoplasmosis = SJW rage?
We all know about Hillary's rage.
Both Clintons’ temper emerge as a theme in several interviews, but Hillary Clinton’s “had much more sustained velocity, for a longer period of time,” according to former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. “She just let everybody have it,” Panetta recalled of one incident.
In another incident, he recalled an aide telling him: “The First Lady just tore everybody a new asshole.”
Is Socks the cat responsible?
"The President could be a screamer too. But he was the kind who would scream and then within ten seconds he was back, ‘How ya doing?’ He’d put his arm around you,” Panetta added.
Did Buddy save us all from global thermonuclear war?
Who's got the football? Who's got the football? That's a good dog!
Larry, like a lot of common names, seems an odd name for a pet.
But once you go in that direction, the fun is endless.
Ralph, Robert, Andrew, Brenda, Valerie, Janet..Bernie...
I think that, somehow, the government is really responsible for all this. Vote Republican!
Presidential pets from 1953 to present.
That would be dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, and dog.
I notice that we started tracking dog ownership pretty much since Truman dropped a nuclear bomb.
But once you go in that direction, the fun is endless.
Ralph, Robert, Andrew, Brenda, Valerie, Janet..Bernie...
Lloyd.
No cat in history was ever called Lloyd. Just try it. Intone to yourself Lloyd the Cat,... but only once! That way lies madness.
It's dogs all the way back to McKinley. He had a parrot and was assassinated. Probably a coincidence.
I notice that we started tracking dog ownership pretty much since Truman dropped a nuclear bomb.
What was Falla, chopped liver?
What was Falla, chopped liver?
I think his name was Feller, and he was the saddest dog in the world.
It is believed that more people get toxoplosmosis from eating undercooked meat than from living with cats. Maybe people who get angry easily tend to like to eat undercooked meat? Intuitively, it seems to me that people who like to eat animals raw with that freshly killed taste might tend to have more anger issues than most people. I wonder if people who like rare steaks, etc., have more rage problems than normal people even if they don't have toxoplasmosis? Owning a cat, in one study, proved to be of insignficant risk in getting toxoplasmosis (cf. Table 1).
It seems that I'm forced to repeat this post to Althouse at least once per year, in the interests of supporting public health and the education of cat addicts:
Diseases Acquired From Cats
* Afipia felis
* Anthrax
* Bartonella (Rochalimaea) henselae
* Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum
* Brucella suis
* Campylobacteriosis
* Capnocytophaga canimorsus
* CDC group NO-1
* Chlamydia psittaci (feline strain)
* Cowpox
* Cutaneous larva migrans
* Dermatophytosis
* Dipylidium caninum
* Leptospirosis
* Neisseria canis
* Pasteurella multocida
* Plague
* Poxvirus
* Q-fever
* Rabies
* Rickettsia felis
* Salmonellosis
* Scabies
* Sporothrix schenckii
* Trichinosis
* Toxoplasmosis
* Visceral larva migrans
* Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
Okay, Andrew Johnson is just pathetic.
It is known that President Johnson left flour out at night for a family of white mice playing in his room during his dark days of impeachment.
Cheer up, fuckwit. Geez, talk about making Nixon look good. Get out of town, and take your creepy white mice with you!
After two questions:
Beatles or Stones?
Dogs or cats?
I know what kind of person I am dealing with.
The pets of Martin Van Buren:
A pair of tiger cubs given to him by the Sultan of Oman that Congress made him send to the zoo
Bad tiger! Bad!
Probably a coincidence.
As a joke J. P. Morgan trained Mckinley's parrot to scream Look out! You're about to be shot by someone unbalanced by a surfeit of Z's in his name! Kwrak! Almost daily the newly ensconced president was compelled to dive behind The Big Desk as his loyal Polly screeched out its warning at inopportune moments, such as the official state visit by His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg, RN. (As a career naval officer, the Prince knew how ornery parrots could be, and was therefore unfazed by the commotion. Thus avoided was diplomatic embarrassment.)
Mckinley eventually grew exasperated by the peals of laughs that greeted very instance of White House psittaciformic silliness, which had taken on shadings of the lad who cried wolf. But, oh how tragic, the 25th Chief Executive resolved to never again credit those avian admonitions just as the gun appeared from the handkerchief.
John Quincy Adams:
Alligator given to him by the Marquis de Lafayette. The gator actually lived in a White House bathroom, leaving some guests terrified.
Some guests?
I'm feeling like a 21st century pussy.
I don't even want to be that manly. In the middle of the night, I get up to pee, I forget about the gator, I lose a foot. Fuck!
Cats are easier, dogs are more rewarding. If you must have a pet, choose one that fits your lifestyle. But if you don;t have time for a dog, then why bother? Dogs may be more effort, but they are also more rewarding--a dog is a member of the family. A cat is just another mouth to feed. (The reason is obvious if you look at the wind animals they came from.)
Coincidentally, one of my favourite podcasts--Stuff You Should Know--just did an episode about cats. Turns out the house cat is a very recent invention--within the last 50 years. And all sorts of problems are flowing from it. Brain virus' are just one of them.
Robert Cook said...
"Dogs have emotional needs, cats do not."
You must have never owned a cat. That cats' emotional needs can be, at times, more inscrutable than dogs' does not mean they don't have them.
Why am I not surprised you are a cat person?
It seems that I'm forced to repeat this post to Althouse at least once per year, in the interests of supporting public health and the education of cat addicts:
Diseases Acquired From Cats. . .
Now find us the list of diseases acquired from humans, for comparison.
I've had both dogs and cats. Dogs are more a part of your life. Even an affectionate cat mostly thinks of you as a convenience store.
Now regarding dogs and cats. Many dogs (the bigger working dogs especially) have a strong innate prey drive. They want to catch and kill anything small and furry that runs away from them. I had a shepherd/husky cross that was OK with the family cat, but really wanted to kill all the others. It was also death on gray squirrels, muskrats and ground hogs. I don't know the current husky's position on cats, but I would be hesitant to find out in a closed room.
I know it seems cruel to keep a cat in, but if you let them run, they're potential prey to foxes, coyotes and coywolves in most of the US. Dogs are just another canine that may or may not be interested in their demise. I keep my dog behind gates, but the neighbor's cat that comes through does so at it's own peril.
This article drove me nuts and I screamed at the computer screen until I almost passed out. Thank God I have a special comb with teeth that twirl and I calmed down by grooming my giant Maine Coon cat for about 2 hours. The amount of fur I can get out of Mr. D is really amazing. I stuff it in a satin sack and when I have enough I can make another pillow. What really makes me mad though is that my wife says I am eminently dateable (and clean) but I still can't go out with any of the neighborhood ladies I've had my eye on. In between football seasons I just scream at the local news anchors on TV.
George Washington's dogs
Forester
Searcher
Mopsey
Cloe
okay, these are bad names
Drunkard
Taster
Tipsy
Tipler
Either you are kissing your dogs or I am reporting you to the ASPCA for alcohol abuse. Or both!
Lady Rover
Captain
You've named your dogs for 18th century porn, right?
Vulcan
Sweet Lips
the next time I handle a one dollar bill, or a quarter, I'm going to think, "and his hound, Sweet Lips"
Keep the cat inside. Problem solved.
(Unless you get enraged sometime from having the cat inside before and kick it out the front door. Then you're back to the beginning.)
Tipsy and Tipler are excellent names for a dog with a tip on his tail. On the farm where I grew up, my grandfather, who was never a tippler and never the slightest bit tipsy, had work dogs that helped him move the cattle from pasture to pasture. They all slept in the barn, obeyed every call and whistle, and they were all named "Tip." Super smart dogs. They looked a lot like THIS.
Here's how they looked when they were on the job.
Grandpa used say they were the best hired hands he ever had.
"Why am I not surprised you are a cat person?"
Who says I am, or that I must be one or the other? I grew up with dogs and I love dogs; I didn't grow up with cats and I wasn't fond of them...until I did come to have one, then two cats, within the past few years.
Given ideal living circumstances, I would probably want to have a cat and a dog. Living in a city apartment, I will happily have just cats. They are more beguiling and mysterious than dogs, and they can seem indifferent to their humans...but they are not. I have seen jealousy by one cat at the attention the other receives from his humans, as well as excitement and frenzy by this same cat when we chase or play with her.
I wonder if Catwoman has toxoplasmosis?
Reminds me of a photo I saw recently on, I believe, Ace of Spades. It was a picture of a box filled with cute kittens. The caption was approximately "cat lady starter kit".
"Coincidentally, one of my favourite podcasts--Stuff You Should Know--just did an episode about cats."
Not a coincidence.
It was listening to that podcast that made me do a search on toxoplasmosis and explosive anger.
Here's the episode. Unfortunately, they don't do a transcript, so it's hard to us it for a blog post. I didn't mean to short-change those guys.
I've been turned on to toxoplasmosis for a decade now, and the evidence on human behavior is not compelling. Cool parasite lifecycle. I now believe the psychological effects of loving a cat are rather more direct.
Bruce Hayden said...
Reminds me of a photo I saw recently on, I believe, Ace of Spades. It was a picture of a box filled with cute kittens. The caption was approximately "cat lady starter kit".
I was behind the cat lady at the checkout line at Meijers.
"How many cats do you have?"
"A lot."
100 cans of Friskies.
"They're picky eaters."
"Oh, I bet."
When I lived in New Hampshire for a year I had a dog and a cat. They got along famously. The dog had come to NH with me and was about 5. The cat was a six toed cat which are common in New England. When I moved in some little girls came by with kittens and we took one. My daughter was 5 and named it "Belle" after the Little Mermaid. She and her mother went back to California and left me with the two animals the rest of the year. I found out that Belle was Bill after he reached puberty and sprayed the house while I was away one day.
The vet fixed that but he got to be a very big cat. He would go out by himself and I never worried about it, although we were out in the country and I saw foxes. One night he went out in spite of my advice (I talk to me animals) and it was 25 below zero that night. The next morning there were paw prints in the snow on the window ledge of my bedroom but he was fine.
He would eat out of the dog's bowl at the same time. I have a photo of the two of them eating together. I started feeding the cat in the basement so the dog did not eat his food and, if he was hungry, he would grab my leg as I walked by the stairs to the basement.
When I walked the dog, he would go with us. He was the only cat I ever had that would walk with you.
I thought of bringing him back to California with me but he hated the car. I gave him to friends who lived in Connecticut and visited them a couple of years later. He would bring the wife presents, like half a rabbit. By that time, he was huge and probably safe from anything smaller than a grizzly.
Don't let anyone tell you cats don't have personality.
My daughter was 5 and named it "Belle" after the Little Mermaid.
Belle was from Beauty and the Beast
I assume you are describing a Maine Coon Cat. Ours has 23 toes, and 24 claws.
"I have seen jealousy by one cat at the attention the other receives from his humans..."
Cats own humans. Dogs train humans. Cats don't care, they are playing you.
If you imagine Socks as being an agent of Satan, and I know this is a little unfair to the cat-lovers, good stories, keep 'em coming, no more death threats, please, remember I like Catwoman...
When Bill Clinton became President, Socks moved with the family from the governor's mansion to the White House and became the principal pet of the First Family in Clinton's first term, though he was known to share his food and water with a stray tabby, dubbed Slippers. He was often taken to schools and hospitals. During the Clinton administration, children visiting the White House website would be guided by a cartoon version of Socks.
The fucking cats are everywhere. That's all I'm saying. Socks and Slippers. That means they are under the bed, in the closets, sneaking around, making everybody furious.
Although President Bill Clinton grew up with dogs, he served his first term without a canine companion. In December 1997, however, he got a 3-month-old chocolate Labrador retriever puppy, and the two became fast friends.
Thank the sweet Lord, that's all I'm saying. You rock, Buddy!
Socks found Buddy's intrusion intolerable: according to Hillary Clinton, Socks "despised Buddy from first sight, instantly and forever." Bill Clinton said, "I did better with ... the Palestinians and the Israelis than I've done with Socks and Buddy." When the Clintons left the White House in 2001 they took Buddy to their new home, but left Socks under the care of Bill Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie.
And people wonder why they stayed married. They got rid of the cat, duh!
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