Pretend Chat 2.14

Jacqui

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Never a dull moment at work. Today I was servicing the plants in an empty building at an industrial park (why they put plants in the lobby BEFORE they finished renovating and getting businesses to move in I’ll never know, a few got cold damage and but the dust this winter because they weren’t using heat) but in the back parking lot near the loading dock, I saw a black cat hanging out. It snowed last night but was warm today and will be tomorrow too. I threw my work van in park and walked slowly near the cat, he started crying and hid under a car out of my reach, quickly ran to the store right down the street and picked up a can of food and rushed back, as soon as he heard the can pop he decided maybe I wasn’t all that bad. Scooped him up and drove him 10 minutes to the closest shelter to see if he had a home. Unfortunately I tried to put him in a plastic tote that turns out doesn’t hold cats and he turned into a jack in the box and I got a scratch, so he’s on a quarantine hold because rabies, but he was actually a sweetheart and even cornered in my van on the windshield he was hissing at me trying to move him but never swung or bit and he definitely could have. Rode quietly on my lap to the shelter while I sang to him. After the 10 days if he isn’t claimed or quickly adopted I may be trying to convince the boyfriend and my own cat that we need another one...the shelter and this account are an hour away from home. It’s not a no kill shelter so I’m the one who put him there I couldn’t leave him there if he’s not quickly adopted.

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I didn't think a scratch could pass on rabies.
 

smarch

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I didn't think a scratch could pass on rabies.

I did research and a rabid animal would have had to literally have just licked its claws to pass it on via scratch. But because skin was broken it’s state law that he’s quarantined just in case. The animal control guy said it’s like hitting the lottery but it did happen in a town over that a shelter worker was bit and it came back positive. However this cat was not mean, accidentally scratched when he was trying to get out of the box, and had chance to bite/scratch when he was cornered on my windshield but even with warning hisses not to touch him he did not go after me when I picked him up so I’m not worried about the rabies, I was just worried about infection, but the big puncture is all scabbed up and still aches a little because it was deep, but looks like it’s all clear. Bruised to heck though!
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Pastel Tortie

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I did research and a rabid animal would have had to literally have just licked its claws to pass it on via scratch. But because skin was broken it’s state law that he’s quarantined just in case. The animal control guy said it’s like hitting the lottery but it did happen in a town over that a shelter worker was bit and it came back positive. However this cat was not mean, accidentally scratched when he was trying to get out of the box, and had chance to bite/scratch when he was cornered on my windshield but even with warning hisses not to touch him he did not go after me when I picked him up so I’m not worried about the rabies, I was just worried about infection, but the big puncture is all scabbed up and still aches a little because it was deep, but looks like it’s all clear. Bruised to heck though!
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From a public health standpoint, it's safer that way. If a person were breaking up a cat fight with their hands, it could be difficult to tell whether some of the injuries were inflicted by claws or teeth.
 

smarch

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From a public health standpoint, it's safer that way. If a person were breaking up a cat fight with their hands, it could be difficult to tell whether some of the injuries were inflicted by claws or teeth.

I completely understand why they did it since they weren’t there, and at the time I was in such shock that I actually just up and picked up this random stray parking lot cat and plopped him in my work van and drove away and couldn’t explain that he didn’t get me on purpose. I don’t think it would have mattered though, law is law. The animal control guy made it sound so serious though that I was a little anxious and did my research.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I completely understand why they did it since they weren’t there, and at the time I was in such shock that I actually just up and picked up this random stray parking lot cat and plopped him in my work van and drove away and couldn’t explain that he didn’t get me on purpose. I don’t think it would have mattered though, law is law. The animal control guy made it sound so serious though that I was a little anxious and did my research.
Yeah, they tend to think in worst case scenarios... ;)
 

Jacqui

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Jeff got bit by a stray at his job. Caught and boxed the animal. Cops came and picked it up and then left the box overnight outside at a Vet's clinic. Of course the cat escaped. Jeff then did the shot series.
 

Jacqui

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Me, I always have a cat scratch or two on me. I just take them as a normal thing around cats. That's why I wondered about the issue.
 

smarch

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Jeff got bit by a stray at his job. Caught and boxed the animal. Cops came and picked it up and then left the box overnight outside at a Vet's clinic. Of course the cat escaped. Jeff then did the shot series.

The worst part was the shelter wasn’t open when I went, I misunderstood the hours on google when I looked because I was in a kind of shock that I was actually picking up a random cat (I’ve always said it would happen at work though, I thought that was how I’d get mine, but 4 days after moving into my apartment I was at be local shelter meeting my Salem on lunch break) I sat in my van at the shelter, with this loose cat that wouldn’t stay in the box, realizing I was going to have to drive an hour home because I couldn’t leave it, didn’t want to be accused of dumping it. Luckily a volunteer also happened to find a loose dog running around at the same time so she drove up to the shelter and got it open for me and another volunteer and the animal control officer showed up just after.
Why did the cops just leave the box overnight outside? Is it just our state where that’s like taken really seriously? Cops here probably would’ve held the animal somehow until morning.
 

smarch

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Good morning from white Nebraska. Snow is so deep, one of the dogs who normally has no snow issue, took one look out the back door and put brakes on and started backing up. Lol

We were supposed to have snow here in Massachusetts but it turned to rain. I took my cat outside after the first snow when he moved in, and he was not impressed, squirmed in my arms begging to go back in lol.
 

smarch

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Someone woke me up at 6:50 today to tell me he’s hungry and demands attention. Good thing I actually don’t like sleeping in and feel like I lose too much day when I do. He took his wet food bowl and somehow moved it across the apartment overnight.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Jeff got bit by a stray at his job. Caught and boxed the animal. Cops came and picked it up and then left the box overnight outside at a Vet's clinic. Of course the cat escaped. Jeff then did the shot series.
The rabies vaccination series in humans tends to last for quite a few years. In Florida at least, veterinarians who get the vaccine get tested (yearly?) to see if the titer is still high enough to be effective. Only when the titer drops do they have to go through the human vaccinations again.

Wish they did that in animals, too. Testing for current immunization levels before automatically vaccinating again. It would still require a blood test, but it would limit the risk of adverse reactions for vaccinations that weren't actually needed again (yet). The automatic vaccination cycles are probably easiest and coat effective, but at least in some animals, the option to NOT vaccinate would be welcome.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Someone woke me up at 6:50 today to tell me he’s hungry and demands attention. Good thing I actually don’t like sleeping in and feel like I lose too much day when I do. He took his wet food bowl and somehow moved it across the apartment overnight.
Salem is beautiful. His expression, his face, is sort of halfway between my Anubis ("Nubi") and Whoosh (the tuxedo cat), if that makes sense. Nubi is all business, and Whoosh is all fun.
 

smarch

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I know a lot of you are good with plant-y things. After seeing the succulent garden of my dreams posted a week or so ago. Anyone had to deal with weevils before? Particularly inside but I can’t use pesticides anyway as I don’t have my license yet. How the heck do I get rid of these nasty things, or catch them or anything, they’re eating my Dracaena to death from the ground up and they’re always hiding when I try to look for them (I guess they come out at night to feed... go figure)
Ugly things, give me the heebie jeebies!
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Pastel Tortie

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I know a lot of you are good with plant-y things. After seeing the succulent garden of my dreams posted a week or so ago. Anyone had to deal with weevils before? Particularly inside but I can’t use pesticides anyway as I don’t have my license yet. How the heck do I get rid of these nasty things, or catch them or anything, they’re eating my Dracaena to death from the ground up and they’re always hiding when I try to look for them (I guess they come out at night to feed... go figure)
Ugly things, give me the heebie jeebies!
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I haven't had to deal with weevils before, but I have had some sudden die-offs of (indoor) dracaena stems over the past few years. Not sure what to tell you on that one.
 
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