People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is “You’re safe with me”—that’s intimacy.
TIL that not only do deaf cats tend to purr & meow louder than hearing cats, they also enjoy shrieking loudly bc of the vibrations it causes
also they often have a favorite room to shriek in, such as a bathroom or kitchen with tile floors the sound can reverberate off of. that’s right, deaf kitties have their own Private Screaming Rooms
This is so relevant to me holy shit
So I need y’all to know we had a cat growing up whose name was Whisper.
Whisper had a seizure that left him with some temporary motor difficulties and permanently deaf.
Whisper proceeded to scream at any time he felt like it, specifically anytime he was inconvenienced ever. He became infamous for it. He would wake us up damn near every night.
Whisper had a lot of health problems so he died pretty young, around the age of 7 or 8.
But, Whisper had housemate, Snickers.
Snicky ended up being a solitary cat not liking having any other animal in the house, a thing that was only discovered after Whispy died. In the wake of Whisper’s death, Snicky became more dominant and interacted with us more.
Do you want to know what he also did once Whisper was gone? Can you guess what habit he picked up?
Thing is, Snickers wasn’t deaf. Cat was in near perfect health for his 18 years of life until his kidneys just gave up last December. So he knew how loud he was being. He just saw how much attention it got Whispy and copied the howl wholesale.
I’m not even joking. First night I spent in a house with him after Whispy died I heard him howling and was absolutely petrified for a moment because it sounded exactly like Whisper but Whisper was dead.
This is such a nutty story but I have to ask, did Whisper get his name before or after he developed the habit of screaming the house awake???
This sweet angel, this darling baby child, this eternal kitten, was found at 4 in the morning when I lived in Las Vegas because she was the loudest thing on the block. I dont think she was always deaf, I think it may have been a result of the respiratory infection that she was almost dying of when she landed on my head (and home). She screamed loud enough to wake my room mates, and cute enough at about 8 weeks old that they instantly forgave her. I loved her instantly, we saved each other’s lives. She screams louder than any cat I’ve ever met, she snores, she breathes audibly when she thinks she is being stealthy. We used to call her Air Raid, because she sounded like the Luftwaffe were coming. So far the other two cats are not picking up her terrible habits, but give them time.
I love her so much. 💖
ngl it kind of makes me happy to understand why cole has a nightly ritual of staring at the wall and screaming at the top of his lungs
“We live in an age where we feel guilt whenever we have to cut someone off but the reality is that some relationships do need to die, some people do need to be unfollowed and defriended. We aren’t meant to be this tethered to the people in our past. The Internet mandates that we don’t burn bridges and keep everyone around like relics but those expectations are unrealistic and unhealthy. Simply put, we don’t need to know what everyone else is up to. We’re allowed to be choosy about who we surround ourselves with online and in real life, even if it might hurt people’s feelings.”
—
Ryan O’Connell, You Don’t Have To Be Friends With Everybody
as the colder months approach: i wish you all a healthy, calm end of the year. i wish you tasty cups of tea, comfortable clothes, warm beds, nutritious meals in safe homes, good music, new friends and unwavering health. you deserve good things now.
