Samuel L. Jackson was dared to “yell at kittens.” And he did it! Skip ahead to the 1:40-ish mark for kittens! [Seriously OMG WTF]
I was wondering about FKA Twigs & Robert Pattinson, but it looks like they’re fine and still very much together. [LaineyGossip]
Damn, I miss Will & Grace. Really, I do. [Dlisted]
Hilary Duff’s ensemble makes no sense. [Popoholic]
Holly Madison is in no rush to lose the baby weight. [Wonderwall]
Jewish grandparents are not here for Donald Trump. [OMG Blog]
Denzel Washington & Viola Davis? Yes!! [JustJared]
Everybody goes through a breakup at the age of 30? [XOJane]
Katy Perry really wants you to vote. [IDLY]
Everyone went to the iHeartRadio Music Festival. [Socialite Life]
I just wanted to say that I am opposed to the titled of this article and may not watch link…..
ETA: I am shameless and will look at a car crash threw my fingers so I watched. Funny but poor kitties. I would adopt the kitty named m-thr-f-r though.
I’m opposed, too. Not funny. Mean.
Haha…I love Sam but I’m also opposed because they’re just teeny little kittehs!
OT but did anybody listen to the Fresh Air Podcast “How To Train Your Cat”?
The feline behaviorist talked a lot about how yelling at your cat/using water bottles/tapping or whapping is very injurious to your relationship with Kitty. If you do that, your cat will associate you with all these scary things. Try using substitute behavior instead–offer your cat the chance to engage in alternative, positive behavior in lieu of the bad behavior. And use positive reinforcement like treat-giving intermittently.
(I suck at that BTW because it’s basically a 24/7 Treat-A-Thon in my house)
I admit to nose-tapping my boy, but ONLY when he goes after his tiny sister.
CAT TALK!!!! Who’s in?
I heard the best way was to ignore bad behaviour?
Holy hell though, when my cat is love biting my elbow so I’ll feed him before 6pm, even though he is fed at 6pm EVERY DAY it takes every last bit of patience not to smack him and just turn the other cheek. Not sure if this strategy is working.
I use cat-based corrective behavior. Nibbling on ears, tale. My cats are indoor only, and very clean, so I’m comfortable doing that. And BOY do they immediately STOP with the bad behavior. Not like I’m hurting them, simply that it is a “mom” moment flashback.
@Detritus: Yeah you’re doing the right thing. She used the example of if your cat wakes you up every morning at 6AM to be fed, in order to break the habit you should ignore. The trick is to STICK WITH IT, come hell or high water. Don’t give up. Because if you ignore his crying for an hour only to eventually give in, it teaches him that if he cries for long enough he can get you to cave.
She also stressed the importance of using word commands to train them instead of just using their name. I mean…a lot of this is common sense for cat owners but you’d be surprised how many people get irritated when they call their cats name and the cat doesn’t come. You need to use something besides their name like “come here” or “over here!” because while they know their name, it will only get their attention, it’s not a directive.
@Totally Biased-Is that a thing? I feel like my cats would beat my ass if I tried that on them.
@Kitten- I use commands with my cats and they respond really well to them, but it’s definitely something you have to start when they’re kittens.
My late cat Pharaoh (RIP buddy) used to climb behind my TV stand and chew on the wires. The only way I could get him to stop was to spray / mist him with water from one of those bottles while yelling “no!” once or twice. I hated doing it but what was the alternative, have him chew through something and electrocute himself? He was already almost 7 months old when I adopted him, so unfortunately was a bit past the ‘trainable kitty’ stage of life, I think.
That said it seemed to work, because after a while he’d just crawl behind the TV to sleep, not to gnaw on anything / play with anything. Still, I always felt guilty even years later.
@Kitten My little ragdoll does whatever he wants. I never scare him and he’s not scared. He lives with a Siberian Husky for crying out loud. Most people said that a Husky and a cat would never get along. My babies proved them wrong. They love each other and play and sleep together. My cat doesn’t even run from the blow dryer because I’m never one of those pet parents that turns it on him or sprinkle water on him. He lays or sit right there while I’m blow drying my son’s or my hair.
As for the video those kittens were like whatever Sam. But at least Sam’s attire matched the color of the kittens. Those kittens were the cutest.
@Kitten — totally a thing. Learned it from a vet years ago, and you don’t even have to start it when they are babies. But it is dominant cat/mom cat behavior (without having to hold them down or do any of that kind of heavy duty domination.) They just have an instinctive reaction to it. Of course, you are the only one who can be the judge of whether it is effective, and whether you are comfortable doing it.
I also hiss at my kids sometimes (er, my fur kids) because it is so much more effective than yelling. Plus my blood pressure doesn’t go up. I also have one cat that responds well to a kind of disappointing “mrowr mrowr mrowr” when she is trying to jump her younger brother.
Yes, this makes me sound like a crazy cat lady! But we have reasonably well behaved kitties as long as I stick to it. And I hardly ever have to be the enforcer–it is saved for things like tearing things up, sharpening claws on furniture (esp since they have three cat trees!) , and jumping each other.
Another poster mentioned ways to mitigate and give the cats other options that are good if you are having real problems. Our cats stay off of the counters in the kitchen because early on when they moved in it was made clear that they had other surfaces to jump on, and jumping on the kitchen counters earned them a quickly nipped tail. Very light, but just like mom cat uses to discipline little guys.
I love this thread!!! I had an old lady who lived to almost 21 and I do believe that she thought I was her mom and I kind of thought so too- all though I looked at us as equals. I would nuzzle her and even did more motherly things with her. She would have responded to what TotallyBiased talks about. She died and my heart was crushed into a little pieces with her…..We had that relationship. I could totally tell her what she did that I liked & visa versa. We would get annoyed with each other, little lash out & then say “okay, okay” and change our behavior.
My new cat- forget it. If I try and do cat behavior on her then she will do it right back and she has sharp claws & teeth! No bueno. My other cat would have never bit me hard like my new, spunky girl does. We just have a different relationship. Maybe it’s the cat, maybe it’s the human, maybe it’s when I got them (my first cat was very young when I adopted her), maybe it’s the combo.
My new cat & I have a more “cat/human” relationship. But she is SO naughty!!! All the time! She likes to bite my nose in the morning, kick anything off the counter top, destroy all toilet paper and just generally be annoying. I just let her do whatever- it’s cheap entertainment and as long as she is not actually hurting anyone, I shrug. I thought this morning (at 5am) that I really should have thought about that lack of sleep when owning a cat and is that even good for me?! Then I though about how much I adore having a cat in my life and decided that it was worth it…….sometimes…..
Those poor kittens were really scared. That was very mean of them to do. And Mr. Jackson does no know how to hold kittens.
I didn’t watch the vid but that sounds awful.
The kittens were scared/anxious BEFORE he started yelling,IMO.
Yes, Colette is right. The kittens were scared of the whole situation: the lights, the audience noise, being pushed around in the box. And, by SLJ standards, he went a bit easy on the yelling. But not funny.
Those kittens were beautiful.
Yelling at young, defenseless animals for no provocation but for entertainment is a form of animal abuse and not funny at all.
Take your word for what occurred as I won’t watch this video.
What for? To watch defenseless animals being mistreated?
Lost respect for SLJ and of course this is on the tasteless Jimmy Falls-down-a-lot show,
Animals are sometimes better behaved than some people.
You big bully, yell at my little grandcat (my kids’ cat) and I will snatch you baldheaded. Oh, wait…
How childish and cruel…how in the hell is that remotely funny.
It’s not.
POSs all around.
The XOJane article, anyone else seeing something similar in their social groups?
None of my friends who married before 25 are still together. One set that married around 26 is still together. Except he cheats on his wife with a mutual friend (who spilled the beans) when they are both in province.
I dunno. Maybe my friends are just not good at marriage. If Ron Swanson and Tammy II break up, then I’ve lost all hope.
My friends and I are generally not the marrying kind but among the couples I do know? Oh yes. Not exactly at 30, but pretty close. You change a lot in that decade. And with most couples being dual income it’s a bit easier to split, whereas years ago the woman would likely be at home and more vulnerable. Plus around 30 the kids question (if it was a “maybe” or “later”) starts to get asked. If choices differ there? Time to go.
I currently have an 18 month old cat and a 4 month old kitten and oh boy do they get yelled at sometimes. The kitten is a biter and the cat decides to not come inside when she is supposed to. Still love them though. They just can be a bit much, especially considering they still don’t get along. They also jump on the tables often. How do I train cats not to do that?
Background so I don’t sound COMPLETELY cruel: the cats are technically my parents’ cats. However, my parents aren’t around a lot currently and haven’t really done a lot of the training or caring for of the cats. My siblings and I do most of the work when we all home, which isn’t consistent. I think if we had adopted older cats it wouldn’t be a problem.
I’m not going to yell at random kittens though because that’s rude.
This is basically what I was talking about up-thread and the solution is to provide them with alternatives like a cat tree or a platform so that they can be high up and feel protected but not on the counter.
In the interim, make sure you don’t have your faucet dripping or food out on the counters or anything that could attract them. Cover the kitchen counters with a texture that the cats hate like foil, double faced masking tape, etc. You won’t have to keep your counters covered forever, just until they learn to go to the platform or cat tree instead of the counters.
When they are on the platform or tree, reward them with treats so they learn that it is a happy place and far more fun than the boring countertop.
The idea is to make the countertops really unattractive and unappealing to them but not let them know that you’re the reason why they don’t like the counter anymore.
This might sound completely unrealistic or a lot of work but studies show that this is far more effective than yelling at them and much better for your relationship with your kitties. I think patience is key.
For instance, when I first moved in to my apt, my kitties scratched my furniture so I put tape all over everything. It looks ridiculous but it has taught them to not tear up the table legs simply by making the table legs not fun to scratch. They also have a cat tree, a scratch house (literally a little house!) and a scratching post. When they are on any of those three things they get catnip or treats.
Catsandcatsandcatsandcats! I can talk cat for hours lol..
^Kitten
As my moniker indicates, I am all cats 24/7 too.
I didn’t watch video, but I don’t find the idea of it remotely entertaining or funny.
My cat considers tape a delicacy that must be eaten as soon as it appears.
The Will and Grace sketch was pretty good for the most part. They managed to make it feel like an episode and not JUST an HRC commercial. HOWEVER… I have real, serious problems with any argument that someone should vote for Hillary because she’s female. That alone soured me on the bit. There are a lot of reasons to vote for Hillary. Don’t even pretend to make that one of them.
True question for women who want to get married or are married:
If you wouldn’t be able to wear the same pair of jeans everyday for the rest of your life, why is being with the same human everyday for the rest of your life different? At all? You aren’t a static person. To make a promise for decades ahead when you don’t know who you’ll be or what lies ahead….that makes NO sense. In. any. situation.
Is it the wanting to have babies that makes so many women throw logic out the window?
Truly….I know many think it’s a crass parallel, but the logic is identical.
It takes more work to stay together when you aren’t legally bound. I’ve definitely noticed with married couples, there’s always one that isn’t *as in love* as the other.
That was the case in all my relationships. Sometimes I was the one more in love, and sometimes the other person was. It wasn’t just a marriage thing.
I wanted to get married..lived with 3 different people over my long years and never married…each break up was like a divorce especially the last and never had kids cos never married…and some other reasons..
I really wanted to but a lot of men in my generation seemed allergic to the idea ..I think as it was new to be able to live together without marriage and no scandal..
I always wanted to marry but never found anyone..too late now as really only reason is for kids..but I was conditioned to feel that you were not a true woman unless you were a Mrs and you were a reject if you were a Miss…
Like the ugly sister..something must be wrong with you if you did not marry..it is much healthier now,Thank God…but I still have regrets ..cannot really ever get away from your upbringing!…
Hell my guy friend and I were just talking about this the other day and saying we should get married for the benefits alone.
Yes I’m a realist (cynic?) but that’s the most appealing part about marriage to me: all the effin benefits. I HATE how our society essentially penalizes people like myself for being unwed.
@mOsha,
Are you comparing humans to jeans? Seriously?
The skit was not funny to me. I love Sam, especially when he does Sam, but this was cruel. All of those babies tried desperately to get away from his booming voice. One even tried to bury itself into the blanket. I suppose it doesn’t help that they were beautiful big-eyed kittens who always look petrified, but still. Shame on everyone involved. From the person who pitched it, to the person who okayed it, to the people in the audience who thought it was funny and everyone in-between.
As someone who has been married for 22 years (together for 26), the jeans analogy is… odd. Your partner isn’t clothing, it’s someone you want a life with. You should know and agree on all the big issues (esp kids–we were and are both “no” on that) before you do it, but if it’s the right person, problems can be overcome because at the core, you both want the same things out of life. The linked article mentioned the author being annoyed that her husband didn’t want to do everything with her. Which I thought was weird because I love my husband but I don’t want to run marathons with him, and he finds celebrity gossip boring.
My husband is a human being with an interior world as vast and complex as my own. Jeans are pants. The logic isn’t the same, you’re just saying that other fully formed humans are about as valuable as a pile of denim to you. Disconcerting. You’re also arguing that there are no benefits to marriage outside of children, which is pretty easily disproved.
Howeverrr,
if you were going to wear a pair of jeans every day, I mean really every day, you’d have to put in work almost immediately to keep them from falling apart. You’d have to take care of them and treat them nice. There’d be worn bits and scuffed bits you’d have to patch over, and eventually the seams would unravel and you’d have to restitch everything. Before long though you’d have some kind of extra legit technicolor dream pants you couldn’t get in any store. Sounds awesome.
That isn’t to say that all jeans are created equal. Some fit better than others. Some are designed to make you feel bad about yourself. Some jeans will hurt you. Stay away from those jeans. Take a little time to find some jeans that make you feel good, but don’t be afraid to get in there and make them your own.
Damn, this was awesome!!!
Humans are different to a pair of jeans in several pretty important ways. For one thing, jeans don’t change, they just wear out – people change and adapt, and and two people can change together, as evidenced by those marriages you hear about where people have been together since WWII.
When did Hilary Duff get breast implants? Hm.
I’m in the not funny group, those kittens looked terrified and started backing into the corner! They don’t understand it was a joke, not cool at all and I hope Jimmy does better in the future.
Megan Mullally is one the greatest humans ever created. LOVE.
Glad to see Twigs and RPatz are still on. They make a lovely couple.
Asshole
Who the heck thinks it’s funny to traumatize innocent animals? We are not amused.
Those kittens were terrified. What a cruel thing to do to them, and shame on Jackson for going along with it.
He was put in a pretty awkward position. I blame the show. They often use kittens and puppies for stupid games, and it’s just mean. The noise and bright lights would be very intimidating.