Show #038: Dunk-a-Cat
m/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/scan521.jpg” alt=”scan521″ width=”200″ height=”141″ />The thirty-eighthst episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.
This week’s episode: Storm overcomes his mild disappointment, by way of his cat’s online fans; of cats, toilets and empathy; sign spinners; Paul mentions in passing his new floor installation, which leads to discussion of motivation and praise; and we warily step towards the precipice of political discussion, as Storm’s patronage of his favorite pizza place hangs in the balance.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION ALERT: Let us know if you have any evidence and/or experience of a cat (or cats) falling into and/or drowning in an open toilet. Also, are there other people (males) out there who require praise and affirmation after completing any household job/labor-intensive task?
Featured post-show song: “Señor Don Gato” – The Biscuit Brothers and The Wild Basin Winds
Show #038: Dunk-a-Cat (Some content NSFW)
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Graphic moment coming up here.
Unfortunately, there is proof of cats falling into and drowning in toilets. For some reason, every cat I’ve ever owned has loved water to the point that they will attack the shower door whenever the water is turned on. We had one particularly zealous cat when I was about 4 or 5 named Samurai who, to say the least, was not properly named. As I rushed in the house from Kindergarten one afternoon, I was mortified to find poor Samurai, legs pinned in the toilet seat, head first in the water. Needless to say, I have been afraid of submerging my head in water ever since. We had another cat, Smokey, who liked to play with water streaming out of any spigot. Someone had left the sink plugged and turned the water on to let the cat play, but Smokey had fallen asleep in the sink and almost drowned. Luckily someone noticed the water puddling around the bathroom door before he too committed kitty hari-kari.
On a lighter note, I have never known a male who does not need praise after completing a household task. In fact, should dishes actually make it into the dishwasher on the first try, ice cream must be involved; should one add vacuuming of one’s own volition to said equation, cake is certainly in order as well.
I am SO glad that our cat doesn’t even go near there. He likes to walk around the sink and perch on top of the washing machine but if he went anywhere near the toilet, I would be the one in the shower scrubbing him with soap before I let him sleep next to me. And believe me, my roommate regularly does the “shower-the-cat” thing when he comes back from his outside escapades dirty…and oh, how he screams. You’d think we were killing the poor thing, and our walls are paper-thin. How I wish our neighbors would remember that when they decide to get it on…but anyway…
Vis-a-vis fears/phobias/whatever and being as asshole by telling someone that their fears are irrational: my father tells me everyday that I’m too old to be terrified of flying. As if there were no other adults who don’t like to fly. At least I do it when I have to.
Oddly, I think guys and cats share that particular craving for approval. Imagine your cat bringing in some not-quite-recently dead animal and laying it on your new Pergo floor, with a look that quite clearly says, “Yeah. You’re welcome!” It’s the same look many guys get after doing something spectacular like picking up a small pile of dirty boxers and socks. “I know it’s a pretty big deal, but honey, I’m just happy to help.”
No way, you had to go with the “Voyagers!” kid, did you?
Meanwhile, our cat Lily has always so far been talented enough to brace firmly before taking a sip from the neverending bowl. Of course, being a Manx she naturally has her weight distributed more to the rear than some cats.
I am still trying to get the praise from remodeling my basement a year ago. It involved: tearing out drywall, installing a new ceiling, lighting and flooring, plus building new furniture. So now… praise me please.
We have to leave our toilet seats down or our cats will drink the water almost dry…
also…. DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN DON GATO IS EVERYWHERE!!!! My kids have been singing Don Gato all year apparently it’s a song they sing ALOT in elementary music class. they even act it out.. passing around a hat with slips of paper for parts (don Gato, dr’s, funeral procession, etc….)
When Bronwyn was just a wee kitten, when she could still fit in the palms of my hands, she loved jumping up on the toilet and then into the sink. Well one day she jumped onto the toilet but the seat was up and she went head first into the flush hole. She still doesn’t really jump up on the toilet. Now Siobhan does and she has no danger of any part of her getting stuck in the hole.
Many years ago, I had a girlfriend who had two cats, one of which had an unhealthy interest in the toilet, and she asked that the lid be left down lest that cat fall in. I think it may have happened once, but I wasn’t witness to this event.
On the subject of cats falling into water, though, you *must* read the following classic poem:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ode_on_the_Death_of_a_Favourite_Cat,_Drowned_in_a_Tub_of_Gold_Fishes
The housemate’s cat, when he was a wee kitten, used to voluntarily sit inside the (oval-shaped) toilet bowl on the portion above the water line. When he got bigger he started curling up in the sink. Hasn’t come anywhere close to drowning. He has fallen out of two different windows, though, so it might just be weird luck. The cat we had growing up would drink out of the toilet, but she never fell in either.
Despite being largely uncomfortable with praise (stupid Puritan ancestors), I still do the “Look what I did!” thing when particularly proud of a completed task. Rather than waiting for other people to reward me (beyond verbally) I tend to reward myself. Usually in snack form. Did I mention that I like to bake? That’s a strenuous task and a reward all in one! 😀
I might have “pushed” my cat into a toilet once but I was five then.
My family actually has a cat who has fallen in the toilet, but more out of curiosity’s sake rather than just because he was walking around it. My mother was cleaning off his brain damaged brother, who was somewhat slower to be litter trained, over the toilet when he popped up to see what was going on and fell in.
Ya know, I keep listening to the first 30 seconds of that, just to hear the exclamation of “Thor’s Taint!”. It makes me giggle.
…you know, guys, when I Twittered that, the last thing I expected was for it to be on the podcast the next day.
I’ve had a cat tumble around in the dryer for a cycle.
I know that’s not the same. I just felt like sharing.
Unfortunately, my story takes your wife’s side: I had a litter of kittens in college, and one day we left them alone with the toilet lid up. A couple of the kittens managed to get up on it and fall in, and one of them had to stand on the other to keep his head above water. The stood-upon kitten died.
As for full-grown cats, I can totally see a cat falling into a toilet when playing around it and losing its balance. Drowning’s not so likely, but it is a bit unsanitary, considering they lick their fur. And there is also the drinking directly from the toilet to consider.
After a quick YouTube search:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPZmN5dpjII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMFita_rT4M&feature=related
Proof that cats sometimes fall in toilets, but they get right the hell back out!
I haven’t had a ‘cat in the toilet’ experience, but I did find a drowned rat in my toilet once. It was 2:30 in the morning when I found it, so I wasn’t very impressed. I wasn’t really sure what to do with it, although I was fairly sure that flushing it was probably not a good idea. I was tempted to leave it for someone else to deal with, but I couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t flush it (either on purpose or by not seeing it). I eventually fished it out, but it wasn’t pleasant.
On a positive note, at least it was already dead. Finding a drowning rat in the toilet would be worse. I wouldn’t want to leave it drowning, but I wouldn’t want to touch it to rescue it.
Man, I used to sing Don Gato in first grade. Thanks for the memories.
Hey, guys. I’ve had two cats that have fallen into toilets. The first was my flame-point Himalayan Taz(manian Devil). He was in the habit of leaping up to the closed toilet as a halfway point for reaching the counter, where he could sit and preen while I was taking a shower. One day I forgot to put the lid down and, without looking, Taz jumped up…and ker-SPLOOSH!
Have you ever seen a wet Persian (a Himalayan has long hair like a Persian)? It’s hilarious. From that day on, he would stand on his hind feet and LOOK at the toilet before jumping on it.
The other one was a kitten I was keeping temporarily until we found homes for her and her two siblings. I left them alone for about an hour to go to the grocery store. When I got back, I heard this horrible noise. I ran upstairs into the bedroom where I had them confined, and poor little Isis was in the toilet bowl, soaking wet, legs splayed out to keep herself out of the water, and she was SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER and shaking uncontrollably.
I’m told by the woman who now owns her (some 15 years later) that Lady I (as she is now called) still doesn’t like toilets.
And as for the whole ‘men needing recognition’ thing: if I successfully change a light bulb, it’s a media event.
My previous cat had the habit of drinking out of the toilet given the opportunity. One day while she was sampling the forbidden fountain, I scared her. Cat jumps, lands directly in the bowl. Wet cat rocket issued forth mere milliseconds afterward.
While not a toilet incident, my current cat had a similar incident with our pond. It was pretty much the same deal. He was drinking from the fish flavored pond. I had been cleaning the algae out of it when one of the clumps I was pulling out spooked the cat. Cat jumps, lands in the pond (which is sufficiently deep), swims to the edge and claws his way out. He then spent the next few seconds running around the yard in complete confusion before I had stopped laughing long enough to calm him down and take him inside for a towel off.
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