This insane puffer fish eats anything thrown in the tank. I’m truly scared.
It just looked you dead in the eye and ate that centipede
any one else notice he started with the tail
like… that centipede was alive the whole time it was getting eaten.
Brutal
hey @why-animals-do-the-thing my mom said it looks like the pufferfish might just be going after them bc it’s starving, is that what’s going on or am i right to fear them now?
Pufferfish are predators – along with algae, they will attack and eat marine invertebrates. I don’t think it’s necessarily extreme for them to go after the invertebrates or the snake that were provided, although it’s not what they’d normally eat.
It also isn’t the same tank in all of the videos, and may not be the same fish. (If you look at the fixture in the back and the wear on the bottom of the tank, it’s not the same in the centipede video and the scorpion video). I’m not sure why those fish are being kept in those conditions, or if they live in those tanks full time – we don’t have enough information to know – but if they’re being fed these prey items specifically for the video, I could potentially see people withholding food to make them super hungry for a good film clip.
That being said, the method through which they’re hunting them isn’t unusual or overly dramatic – that’s just how puffers deal with their prey.
FYI: the music behind the video is loud electronica, so watch your volume levels if you’ve got headphones in or don’t do well with being startled.
That’s pretty much how pufferfish deal with prey, yes. They’re hungry little things.
Please note that it is not smart to feed your fish things that are venomous and/or capable of biting, like the centipede and scorpion. You also really shouldn’t feed live vertebrates, i.e. animals that are capable of feeling pain, unless the animal in question simply cannot be weaned onto pre-killed food. This unfortunately seems to be in the same class of videos as people who feed live fish to their piranha to watch them be torn apart. IMO, feeding live, fully aware vertebrates to a predator, when there are other options, is cruel. Pufferfish will happily eat dead meat, they don’t need to be fed live things.
Unfortunately, this is one of those artists who put frogs and other cold-blooded animals in cold environments, making them too cold to move, and then pose them. Gotta be careful whenever you see cold-blooded animals in an improbable pose. If you look at his other work, you see things like frogs sitting on a snake, or invertebrates on various things that eat invertebrates, as if it’s perfectly normal. I doubt he’s done this with the bettas, bettas that have been chilled lose a lot of color, but these frogs have not been treated well.
Animal hoarding is a serious welfare concern and any species may be hoarded, depending on the space the hoarder has access to. White cats, dogs and rodents are common in suburbia, horses may be hoarded in rural areas.
Animal Hoarding isn’t just having lots of animals, it’s a psychological disorder which involves having lots of animals, but also the delusion that you are providing good care for them, even when they are obviously not. These animals may be starving, crowded, and often breeding freely, which means they often become inbred, and we have no idea how inbred they are, because there’s no records.
Blossom was one such foal. She had been born, in the paddock, unsupervised, a day or two before an RSPCA Animal Cruelty Inspector visited the property, in a cold Tasmanian spring. She could not stand at all, so could not nurse, and while all the horses on that property were in abysmal condition, Blossom would have surely died if she hadn’t been seized and taken to our vet hospital.
Sorry, I will, but I don’t think a casual conversation on how much food is in a hypothetical edible cat is animal cruelty. We aren’t actually going to eat her.
Mention to family that cat attempted to eat thyroid meds this morning, comment that human-sized dose of thyroid meds is probably not good for cats. Comment that human-sized dose of any meds probably not good for cats.
Brother puts forth the idea of food.
Wonder if a cat even contains 2000 calories.
Google many things including weight of chicken. Deduce that cat probably contains roughly as much food as large meat-breed chicken if not counting bones and organs. Deduce that small local cat therefore probably contains 1400 calories or so.
Brother notes that “how many calories are in a cat” and variations thereof only brings up search results for how many calories a cat should eat.
Point out that people who are eating cats are probably not in a mood to count calories. Also note that cats are not frequently eaten, likely due to the difficulty of catching and/or farming them. Proceed to defend this notion to snickering family, mostly pointing out that cats fight and are difficult to confine and handle.
Mom is writing a Facebook post about this whole conversation.
Deer and all animals naturally overpopulate and depopulate as the population threshold is reached
They are NOT permanently overpopulated and in need of super-predators. There is no “excess” of any wild animal
Cows create breast milk for their calfs and only their calf. There is no extra milk left when a calf is breast feeding.
Dairy cows are ripped from their newborns so their milk can be harvested. There is only “excess” when a cow has no baby to feed.
Fish communicate through sound waves that travel farther and we can not hear. They are very social, creating bonds and relationships. Even sharks have been observed expressing playfulness, fear, and joy. They are sentient and feel pain.
All types of fishing reap anything and everything it’s it’s way, this includes dolphins and turtles who often drown in fishing nets. Unwanted fish are thrown back into the ocean, who often die soon after due to the rapid change in pressure. If hunted fish to not suffocate in cramped containers, they’re throats are slit and bleed to death. Fishing is cruel and unsustainable. There is no “excess” of fish
Chickens eat their own eggs when they know it is not fertilized. This helps them get valuable nutrients and calcium back. A hen left to herself only creates 12 eggs a year
Egg laying hens are selectively bred to make eggs as fast as possible. Their eggs are taken away from them before they get a chance to get the nutrients back. To ensure hens do not eat their eggs before they are stolen, their beaks are sawed with heat off at the tip. This creates untold pain to their sensitive body part. Because hens make so many eggs and they are not allowed to get their nutrients back, they often have broken bones due to osteoporosis. When egg production declines, hens are shocked into rapid egg laying through starvation.
There is no “excess” of eggs without hens going through suffering and abuse.
Animals are not ours to harvest. They are sentient and deserving of rich, fulfilling lives. If you want to help end this suffering, go vegan. There are many resources online to help you through your journey and transition.
Literally everything is this post is wrong. Like all of it. Every part.
Why are vegans like this? Why do they know the least about animals of out of everyone on the planet? Actually I can answer it. It’s because if you’re a rancher and you raise animals you have to actually learn about animal husbandry. It’s because you need permits to hunt or fish and have to report your harvest to local Fish and Wildlife, who use this information to track and measure populations, as well as to check the health of herd. It’s because if your life depends on the health and well-being of an animal, you’re more invested in it than a cabbage-headed idiot who’s never been within 50ft of an actual deer.
Vegans like this have to be the second most useless people on the planet because they’re a bunch of absolute fucking morons that don’t know anything about animals and yet they protest the loudest about animal welfare. They shout over people who’s entire lives depends on the delicate balance of these animals, because eating animals hurts their feelings, not because they have quantifiable scientific evidence that local wildlife populations are hurting.
Because I’m not a complete fucking idiot, here’s some ways you can actually help your local animal populations (instead of posting dumb shit on the internet);
Protest laws that negatively target native carnivores (ex; wolves) such as efforts to prevent them being reintroduced locally or the introduction of permits to hunt them. We have eradicated the most effective herd control method in the United States, and that’s what makes hunting deer a necessity. Educate yourself on your local regional wildlife and see which animals are in most need of support.
Educate yourself about Chronic Wasting Disease. Spread the information and make people aware of the epidemic facing our deer herds. Deer could literally go extinct in our lifetime if a solution is not found.
Support state and federal wild life parks and reserves. These are the people that care most about your local wildlife and know the most about them. Ask them questions about what you can do, what programs you can donate to, or about laws affecting conservation efforts. Volunteer, if they have programs for it.
Buy hunting and fishing permits. Even if you don’t make use of them, the money from these permits directly funds conservation efforts in state (may vary by state).
Stop spreading un-sourced arguments from vegan blogs and consuming PETA-made propaganda. It’s literally all lies.
Don’t say you never learned anything from my blog. Animals have literally always been essential to my livelyhood, and I am a fierce conservationist, and I will take no fucking shit from ‘animal lovers’ who don’t know one damn fact about animals.
I also didn’t even touch on cattle and chickens, which there are other comments on this fucking abysmal trainwreck of a post explaining it, but if anyone has questions about why this human cauliflower is wrong, I’d be happy to answer them or point you in the direction of resources to help support ethical farming practices. It would be 5xs as long as this post that’s mostly about deer though.
This post is weirdly misinformed and ridiculous so I thank you @argonian-alchemist for disrupting it.
Please please please be critical of blanket statements and sensationalized articles. If it seems off, please fact check it.
Let me get into disputing the thing about deer real quick tho. Apex predators such as wolves and cougars have been hunted to extinction in some areas of the world due to farmers protecting their livestock. How many of you guys have had to defend your house from a pack of wolves recently? That’s right, you haven’t. This is a widely known concept.
However, with no natural predators to keep their population under control, they can grow as large as they want. You say deer populations will “naturally” regulate? Yeah, that’s because there’s supposed to be predators around to eat the deer and keep the population under control. (Source) When you take out the predators, it’ll keep growing so long as there’s enough forage to graze. Which brings me to my next point – deer will decimate forests.(source) Literally, if there’s enough of them in one small area they can strip a forest to its bare bones, killing trees and small shrubbery. They will also outcompete with other wildlife and throw ecosystems into shit. That’s why hunting is not only GOOD for deer populations but it’s essential to keep ecosystems healthy and balanced. There’s no more natural predators in many of the places where humans live now, so we have to become the predators. If people didn’t hunt, our natural world would not look the same. There wouldn’t be lush forests or green fields. There would be very little biodiversity. (Source) And you also probably wouldn’t see deer anymore bc they probably would had eaten themselves to extinction.
Trust me, I don’t like hunting. I hate guns and the whole sub-culture of hunting just rubs me wrong. But I also understand that hunting is absolutely essential and necessary. If I didn’t support hunting, then I couldn’t call myself an environmentalist.
My sources are spread throughout this little blurb, but my biggest source? I have a degree in environmental studies and I’ve taken multiple classes on this topics.
I could get more into disputing some of the wildly false information you’ve just listed but, again, I’d be writing a damn book.
Seriously. Like, if you choose to be vegetarian or vegan because you don’t like the idea that you’re harming animals, by all means, go for it. But don’t go spreading falsehoods either. Learn about actual conservation efforts. Understand that killing animals (through population-control hunting, reintroducing predators, and even targeting infected populations) can be a necessity. Direct your energy towards making a positive impact on the environment.
By demonizing farmers, hunters, fishers, and other groups, you actively harm what few systems exist that do promote conservation and animal care. For example, hunting is a huge thing in Texas, and not just because people here love their guns. Because on top of native deer populations, Texas also has a big problem with wild boars. Boars are incredibly voracious, will eat not only plants but also animals if they have the opportunity, and breed incredibly quickly. Compared to deer, boars are also far more dangerous, as their tusks can easily cause severe wounds, combined with the fact that they will literally fight to the death (tenacity, a trait attributed to boars since ancient times). On top of that, any natural predators they once had are either extinct or driven to the absolute fringes. So it falls on hunters to keep them in check now. And even then, despite hunting efforts, they always rebound in great numbers.
So if you wanna keep eating your kale burgers, fine by me. But if you really wanna help the environment, go after the real threats to it. Big industry, non-sustainable practices, threats to endangered plant and animal populations, and individuals+groups that value profit at the expense of nature.
Absolutely. All of this. Thank you.
Demonizing people who need animals to survive accomplishes NOTHING. You’re not making a difference for those animals, you’re just creating headaches with your blatant misinformation. Don’t kid yourself. I’m sorry if the people giving negative feedback are being harsh. You clearly have an intense passion for animals and that’s admirable.
I could go into further detail as to what’s wrong with your arguments, but there’s something else that’s a huge, glaring problem with this entire thread. You say “fact check me” but you do not have credible sources. They literally mean nothing. “meat-kills.org” and “vegan-or-starvation.com” is not a source – it’s propaganda. Nobody will take you seriously if you use such websites as “sources.” And let me tell you, they would not count as an actual source if you used them in a higher education research paper either. Learn to tell the difference between sensationalism and actual facts. Only take your information from credible sources. What is a credible source, you ask? Peer reviewed papers, articles taken from newspaper journals, magazines, books; statements from actual researches who have personally conducted actual research over a certain period of time. You must also take information that is CONSISTENT, information that you see multiple times between multiple credible sources.
I’m not saying veganism is dumb or pointless. It’s good in many aspects. Frankly, you do you with your own lifestyle. Honestly, my hat is off to you that you’re able to maintain it so diligently. It definitely not easy. But it becomes a problem when you expect everyone else to follow your lifestyle otherwise you consider them to be sick, horrible people. Like I said before, this rhetoric hurts the very animals you’re trying to save. You’re not being an animal activist – you’re being brainwashed. I implore you to reconsider your knowledge and think more critically about your arguments.
Lastly – dairy cows are not “raped.” Artificial insemination does not equal rape. It is actually a fairly normal process in animal science and MANY animals would not be able to reproduce without it. It is painless for the animal to experience and the process is overseen by vets and qualified professionals.(source) It also helps with securing a safe reproduction in endangered animals. (source)
If you continue to imply that safely inseminating animals is the same as rape, then you owe a 10 page hand written apology to every single human being who has ever been sexually assaulted. You also should explain to them why you think that the brutal, humiliating way their body was forcibly violated was exactly the same experience felt by a cow.
Here’s a homestead dairy cow with a arm up her ass
Please tell me these animals are not being violated in any way
Lol. Okay dokey.
So the cow isn’t being fisted for shits and giggles, you soggy almond. The actual process of artificially inseminating is less violent and invasive than a 2000lb bull mating with her. It’s also easier on the owner because there’s less risk of the cow being injured when you do it yourself. When you’re invested in your animals, you want to make sure they are as comfortable and safe as possible. This process is easier for the cow than naturally mating. So really, they’re doing the cow a favor. Also, even if they weren’t inseminating her, a vet would still have to stick his hand up there occasionally to examine her lady bits and make sure she’s healthy. But you’d rather her suffer and potentially die from a disease than be “raped” for a minute.
As for a bull – again, this process is less stressful for the bull than to let him naturally mate and is safer for him. It’s also MUCH safer for the handlers, since bulls can easily become dangerous. I won’t go into more detail since clearly you’re not going to listen to me anyway and had already made your decision when you opened this reblog and decided that you refused to be educated.
Please keep your ridiculous, idiotic, and ignorant vegan propaganda out of the fishblr and animalblr tags. And also, go outside. Have a good day.
Jesus Christ, I knew more about animals than OP does when I was six. This is honestly scary.
Also dairy cows make more milk than a calf could possibly drink. Even if they kept their calves they would still need to be milked. Some women suffer from oversupply when they lactate and their babies can’t drink all that so they pump, all dairy cows were bred to have oversupply so they too have to be pumped.
Since I’m a bee scientists and no one’s really touched of the bee part; bees have been selectively bred to create an excess in honey. The fact that you think beekeepers take the food stores that bees need over winter is laughable because beekeepers don’t want to kill off their hives. That makes zero sense.
If the excess honey is not harvested it also runs the risk of the hive swarming and leaving the hive box, so not only have you lost your bees, but they’ve probably gone and taken up estate in a place that’s going to harm humans or wild animals.
Beekeeping is a complex process that requires I love for bees, and I’m sick to death of people who’ve never seen a hive box let alone understand the first thing about keeping bees or the industry, spreading nonsense.
If you aren’t educated or experienced in a subject then no one needs or requires you to open your mouth and spew misinformation.
Yes, commercially caught fish (and privately caught ones) are very often cruelly treated. Concern for their welfare is usually nil. They’re typically thrown onto ice to suffocate or freeze to death. Fishermen catching fish for fun/their own dinner will usually just throw a caught fish into a container to suffocate. That is cruel and needs to change. And, yes, amounts of bycatch are huge. I won’t disagree with that. There need to be massive changes to the fishing industry and how fish in general are treated. They do feel pain, recent scientific studies and basic observation have shown this. They do not, however, all communicate through sound waves. Some do, and some form social bonds. Some do not.
Hens DO NOT eat unfertilized eggs. Hens that go broody will sit on unfertilized eggs until the eggs rot and burst under them. They will sit on fake eggs until they waste away if allowed to do so. When they go broody, they sit on eggs until they hear baby chicks or are removed from the nest for long enough that they stop being broody. When they are not broody, they ignore eggs. Any good diet for laying hens provides enough nutrients to compensate for the lost eggs, especially when a calcium supplement (oystershell, usually) is provided for them to pick at if they want. You do NOT want your hens eating whole eggs, because they don’t understand what an egg is. If hens get into the habit of breaking and eating whole eggs, they’ll often eat any eggs that are laid, fertilized or not.
Yes, factory farms cut the beak tips off chicks. No, it’s not done with heat, usually with clippers or a saw. Yes, this is cruel. It is not, however, to prevent egg eating. It’s because they’re kept in such crowded conditions that their beaks have to be cut to prevent them inflicting serious damage on each other when they fight.
Are farmed chickens cruelly treated? Sometimes. Do extremely high-yield egg layers frequently suffer from reproductive cancer and have a shortened lifespan? Yes. Does that mean that the entire concept of raising chickens for eggs is inherently cruel? No. Chickens, domesticated chickens that lay upwards of 200 eggs a year, can live long and healthy lives if properly fed.
The “example” video of bovine AI features an extremely inept human. Watch a video of properly done AI. The cows seem, at most, annoyed, and may not even notice. Besides that, have you seen how most animals mate? In many mammal species, the male has to catch and hang onto the female. Ducks are also startlingly rough with each other. This is a survival strategy, ensuring that only fit males can reproduce, and is good for the species but rough on the female. If animals could be raped, most female members of many animal species would be visibly traumatized. Animals do not understand the concept of rape. Again, watch ducks- the male will jump on a female and hold onto her neck feathers for several moments, with the female attempting to get free the entire time. When the male lets go, the female will escape, shuffle her feathers, and behave as if nothing happened. She may avoid a particularly aggressive male, but won’t act afraid of or overly aggressive towards male ducks. The concept of violation is a uniquely human concept, animals don’t have the self-awareness to feel anything like it.
While the white or golden tabby coloration of these animals may be pretty, what the zoos won’t tell you is that, in reality, it’s a deadly genetic mutation. THEY ARE NOT A SUBSPECIES, and are not albino.
The white gene is a double-recessive one caused mostly by inbreeding (in a natural mating, there is only a one in 10,000 chance that a tiger will be white), which is why they say that it exists ‘only in captivity’. Zoos are not willing to wait for this one in 10,000 miracle tiger, and so find that the only other way to produce them is through inbreeding.
Even though it does happen naturally in the wild that tigers can be born white, there are many reports of wild tiger mothers attempting to smother their white cubs to death, because the coloration also makes the tigers more visible to prey. In a natural setting, white tigers and golden tabby tigers would starve to death, or die of other complications. This maternal behavior is noted even today in zoos, and often, white tigers must be taken from their mothers immediately after birth. The Singapore Zoo reported that one of their mother tigers refused to nurse her white cubs, so handlers had to raise the infant tiger themselves.
As further proof, white and golden tigers ARE NOT managed by the Species Survival Plan, under the following reasons: 1) the Indian Zoo Association is responsible for managing the Bengal tiger, along with the European EEP; 2) most white tigers are of unknown lineage; and 3) because the SSP is based upon maximizing genetic diversity. Selective breeding of an extremely rare allele for white coloration is not appropriate.
According to Dr. Ron Tilson, Conservation Director of the Minnesota Zoo and manager of the world renown Tiger Species Survival Plan, “The white tiger controversy among zoos is a small part ethics and a large part economics. The tiger Species Survival Plan has condemned breeding white tigers because of their mixed ancestry, most have been hybridized with other subspecies and are of unknown lineage, and because they serve no conservation purpose. Owners of white tigers say they are popular exhibit animals and increase zoo attendance and revenues as well. The same rationalization can be applied to the selective propagation of white lions, king cheetahs and other phenotypically aberrant animals.”
What Dr. Tilson didn’t fully understand was that the inbreeding went even beyond the Bengal tiger bloodline. To make white tigers even more visually-appealing to the public, they were cross-bred with Siberian tigers, which, according to information released by Daniel C. Laughlin, a widely-recognized manager of zoological animals, makes “white tigers in the U.S. crossbred or hybrid animals, part Siberian and part Bengal. So, in conclusion, every white tiger in the U.S. is not only the result of repeated inbreeding of genetically defective animals but, even worse, is a hybrid or crossbred animal. Thus, anyone involved in breeding and/or exhibiting white tigers is doing a great disservice to honest conservation and preservation efforts to save the five remaining and endangered subspecies of tigers barely clinging to survival in their rapidly diminishing natural habitats.”
But it gets worse: Laws in the United States actually allow people to own tigers as pets under the condition that they have a permit. Since a white tiger cub can sell for an average of $60,000, people are creating these cats through inbreeding in captivity without any professional background or knowledge. According to some sources, 80 percent of these white cubs die. Surviving cubs often have a range of problems including immune system deficiencies, scoliosis, cleft palates, mental impairments and/or bulging, crossed eyes. (Source: www.itsyourtimes.com/?q=node/2647 )
Also, ALL WHITE TIGER ARE CROSS-EYED, even if it is not readily apparent. This is because the gene which makes them white also messes up the way their eyes are wired to their brains.
Other deformities include serious dental problems and deformed bone structure. Mental issues are probably the most common result (I watched at a roadside zoo here in Oregon as a white tiger licked a concrete wall until its tongue bled). Gnawing on fences or enclosure walls, pacing and constant salivation are other sure signs that the cat you are looking at suffers from the affects of its unfortunate ancestry.
Often, you will see photos of white tigers being fed milk from baby bottles, or sucking on their trainer’s fingers during performances. Biologists believe that this a sign of prolonged stress in the animal, and that it has regressed back to acting like a dependent cub. This is not healthy and should NOT be encouraged.
Over all, it’s a sad issue which is not being noted by the public enough to end it. Most zoos and safari parks won’t even tell you about the inbreeding issue, or will claim that their white tigers were a ‘natural’ occurrence. But there have been no ‘natural’ white tiger births since 1951.
What these establishments are doing is wrong and immoral, and lying to the public about their tigers (or at least withholding the information from the public) shows quite obviously that they are not in it for the animals; they are in it for the money. Deliberately breeding an animal in the knowledge that its life will be unnecessarily painful is cruel, and is a practice that should have no place in modern animal care. White and golden tabby tigers are merely a product of the practice of inbreeding, and are not being bred for any sort of conservation program, regardless of what various zoos and other establishments claim. The Endangered Species Act does not classify golden tabby or white tigers as under threat; they are instead classified as a genetic variant. Tinkering with their genes in order to ‘improve’ them is just an act of vanity on the part of humans.
THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO TO HELP: Inquire at your local zoo as to where they got their white tigers, and let them know that you are aware of the issue noted above. Also, avoid roadside zoos which house white tigers, as these establishments are the most at fault for the inbreeding. But above all, education is the best means of helping the unfortunate plight of white tigers. Spreading the word of the inbreeding will make more people aware of the unfortunate plight.
Me: *wants nothing more than a tank with beautiful fish*
Axolotls: *want nothing more than to ONLY eat pretty fish; completely ignoring plain female guppies*
Axolotls should not be housed with fish, especially tropical fish! Their temperature needs are vastly different. The fish could also decide that axolotl gills are a delicious treat and eat them.
!!!!
My axolotls are full grown and their gills are much too large for the guppies to eat. The guppies also completely avoid the axolotls because they are food. That’s the whole reason I have them. I buy nice feeder guppies when there are good colours available rather than just plain ones. Yes I know guppies need quite a higher temperature but they are food. So I don’t care about them. They can’t hurt my axolotls and my lotls are happy which is all that matters.
Sorry I don’t feel like literally giving my axolotls the fish. I let them catch them. Who knew guppies could live and breed in cold waters.
P.s if you’ve ever seen guppies they spend their time closer to the top of the tank/the middle where the lotls are usually at the bottom of the tank so they never interact.
This is why I’m always telling you people to ask before you attack. You don’t know the situation.
Listen, I could have sex and a have a child on an iceberg. Does this mean I should? Nah.
The reason your guppies are at the top of the tank is likely because they are stressed. They are generally very curious and explore all areas of the tank when they’re comfortable. Not to mention, feeder guppies are usually riddled with disease and parasites.
I did not attack you. i simply gave information. in no way was i rude or nasty. I just thought you may have gotten misinformation from a pet store as it unfortunately happens often. I was only trying to help.
Unfortunately though, i do have to agree with @water-spots with the possibility of disease with feeder guppies. Please at the very least keep an eye out for disease.
Thank you for replying though.
I also imagine its hard to make sure they eat the right amount if theres a large supply of food that can also avoid them. Not to mention the cruelty to the guppies
To answer all three of you: I can tell the signs of illness in guppies so I only bought them when they looked good (I haven’t bought fish in almost a year, they just keep breeding) and I ALWAYS quarantined them. My dad is the chemical guy, I’m still learning but he added all the stuff to make sure they were good to go (he takes care of the tank chemicals). So I’m pretty sure they’re all healthy now (since it’s been so long) I obviously watch the guppies to make sure they aren’t getting sick.
And I feed my axolotls every other days. Sometimes 3 days depending on how much they ate. So I know they’re getting (probably more than) enough food. I’m always checking forms to try to learn more about them.
I know it is cruel to the guppies but my axolotls used to eat all 12 in a couple days. All of a sudden they stopped and the guppies just kept breeding so there are a lot now. I feel it would be quite cruel to grab them with tongs and hand feed the live fish to my axolotls so I just leave them.
I’m sorry I felt attacked, I realize now you were all just trying to be helpful. I just wish people would ask before they even said anything because ALL of you are saying there’s a problem here, acting like I have no idea what I got myself into, but I’ve wanted axolotls for years and to this day I still research them because I worry so much there’s something I don’t know yet.
I’m not saying I’m 100% knowledgeable on axolotls but I can say mine are in good hands.
You can’t visually acern if a fish has parasites, esp not in stressful situations such as a pet store or an unheated tank with predators. The cruelty does not come from feeding guppies to a predator fish but from housing them in completely unfit and inhumane conditions indefinitely until they happen to be eaten. If you really wanted to do this you could set up a heated guppy tank free from predators and transfer them over when the Lotls need to be fed. It is continual cruelty to animals to house them in the same tank willingly, especially when you could be feeding the Axololtls earthworms cruelty free with healthier Lotls as a result. This is not the only option available to you it is the one you chose to pursue.
They have been there for over a year. They are fine. You can tell when guppies are sick though and if they have parasites they show signs of sickness. I know exactly why you think it’s cruel and let me say it again I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE GUPPIES. They were meant to be food. And my axolotls DO eat earthworms but don’t you think it’s also cruel to cut up a living worm? They are feeder guppies. No one cares about their normally short lived lives. Get over it. Yes I choose to pursue it so my axolotls can have a choice between different fish, shrimp AND worms. How unhealthy they must be, obviously with their well balanced diet. Sorry you don’t like my situation, but posting about it isn’t gonna make me go out and buy $200+ worth of stuff so their FOOD can be happy too. I bet worms aren’t very fucking happy in a styrofoam cup but look where you find them.
Theres a big difference between feeding a creature in the way that minimizes suffering of the prey and what you are doing, which is just cruelty. You’re keeping living sentient creatures in stressful situations because you like the idea of your Axolotl eating them. And you really can’t tell. Some parasites cause noticible differences but not all. You are telling yourself you can because it makes you feel better about keeping them in the same tank, same as you told yourself that the gills are safe despite that not being true either. You are not listening to the facts about the situation you created simply because you created it. The fact of the matter is you are forcing one group of living beings to live in cruel conditions in order to keep another group of living creatures in unhealthy conditions. You can call the guppies food but they still have emotions and theys still are living things. If you had a type of fish that ate axolotls would you force them into water hot enough to cause them intense stress to live indefinitely just because they are now food? Would you not be upset if you saw someone being cruel to axolotl for no reason simply because they decided that axolotl have no value? There are simple facts that cannot be disputed her. 1 you are treating the guppies in an extremly inhumane way 2 you are not providing proper diet or environment to the axolotl.
Blah blah blah I bet you’re not even a vegetarian. You think your meat is cruelty free? ITS CALLED LIFE HONEY. Yeah I’d be fucking upset if I saw axolotls being used as food, oh wait THERE ARE SHITHEAD PEOPLE WHO EAT THEM (which I fucking hate) but you know what?
There are people who raise and love chickens but they don’t lose it at the grocery store just cause there’s chicken there. You know why? Because that’s life, they can accept it because they’re MATURE. Unlike your, obvious, baby ass.
For the last time this has been happening for years. They are
Fine.
Guppies are small compared to axolotls. Do some fucking research for fuck sakes.
Guppies couldn’t eat FULL GROWN axolotl gills EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO!
They would never even get close because axolotls are predators who snap at anything that comes near them.
The guppy would be dead long before it got anywhere near a gill.
I watch my axolotls. Do you think I leave them for months on end? Fuck no. I check them every fucking day. Their gills have never been damaged. They are literally the ONLY threat to each other.
IF THE GUPPIES WERE HARMFUL I WOULD REMOVE THEM.
STOP BEING SO FUCKING FULL OF YOURSELF YOU UNKNOWLEDGED FISH FREAK.
Go shove your opinion up someone else’s ass or better yet your own because IT. IS. SHIT.
MY AXOLOTLS ARE SAFE, HEALTHY AND HAPPY. THEIR FOOD IS FOOD. THE GUPPIES LIVES DON’T MATTER.
P.s of you’re so butthurt about them getting guppies wait til you hear the LIST of treats they’ve had. INCLUDING BETTAS. WHOA HOW CRUEL. It’s a fucking fish. Cry me a river bitch.
Also do you think it’s fair to only feed a turtle pellets? No because it wants fucking fish like it would get in the wild. Axolotls are MEAT EATERS.
They eat fish dumbass.
You are acting like a pathetic child. Several people are trying to help you improve the welfare of your axolotls and your guppies, but you get defensive because you think you are an infallible pet owner who has never done wrong to your animals. You could not admit to a single damn thing. You were unwilling to change anything about your care and that makes you a goddamn terrible pet owner. You don’t give a shit if your guppies are being abused because “they’re just fish uwu who cares” or if your axolotls are threatened because your ego is so far up your ass you can’t see a damn thing. Instead when you continue to be called out you resort to insults and caps lock screaming like a brat. Admit your mistakes.
Your header says you love all animals but you do not. You admitted you do not care about fish welfare. These fish are allowed to live in a stressful environment because they are smaller than your axolotl. You do not love all animals. Only the ones you see fit to have as pets. You are abusing and neglecting fish and that is not ok. People don’t know everything about welfare. These peope understood that and tried to help you but you insist on being a perfect caretaker. It’s pathetic.
You can’t claim to care about animals if you knowingly abuse them under the excuse: “They’re just fish”. If there are perfectly nutritional food options available and you decide to feed live simply because YOU want to, yes, you are being needlessly cruel. Even worse, you refuse to provide adequate care for the animals you’re using as food…and despite your claims, even feeder animals deserve to live good lives.
If you truly love animals, you would have taken this opportunity to learn from other people with experience and even do your own research.
You seem to be pretty young (given by the fact that you’ve said your father handles a lot of your tank maintenance), so I’ll refrain from personal insults, but I will say this: One day you will feel really, really stupid for having said all this.
-Mod Walrus
Nobody is saying “don’t feed your animals live things”.
They’re saying “it is cruel to leave animals in enclosures with their predators when they aren’t going to be eaten any time soon”. What you’re doing is equivalent to keeping multiple birds in a cage with a cat. The guppies are animals capable of experiencing fear and pain, and as such deserve as much respect as your axolotls.
Also, live food can be used if an animal won’t take anything else, but humanely killed food is always preferable. Being swallowed alive by a predator is not a good death, and “but it’s natural!” is not an excuse.
Lastly, fish will breed under highly stressful circumstances, it’s not an indicator of wellfare.
Hell yes you’re doing the right thing. Declawing is mutilation (because it’s literally amputating a joint on each toe) and cats are often in pain their entire lives. Soft paw nail caps are expensive and a pain and the cats might think they’re annoying, but they’re by far the better choice. Props to you for standing up to him about it.
^THIS^
oh God, just do a little research on declawing and see the horror stories! Most vets these days won’t even do that anymore! My jerk co-workers son took his doberman in and said he wanted his tail docked and ears clipped and the vet was like, we don’t do that anymore. It’s unnecessary and mutilation.
I am pro-declawing as long as the vet is good. I have three healthy, lovable fur babies and they are all fixed and they don’t have front claws (Their back claws are still in tact) they are all indoor cats with no danger of getting out doors (If they were out door cats hell yeah they’d have all their claws)
My eldest cat is almost 15, she has had NO health problems for a cat her age, her paws are perfect she has had no pain in them. Same with my other two babies.
My vet did stitches and we used the special litter. Contrary to what you’d be led to believe declawing is a common surgical procedure done under anesthesia and if
done
correctly, there will not be any lasting effects. It is just like any
other
surgery: there are some risks from the anesthesia and blood loss, but
most of
the times and if done by a competent veterinarian, there are no lasting
effects
from the surgery. Contrary
to some opinions, declawing is not likely to drastically change their behavior or
personality, nor does it necessarily predispose him to future behavioral
problems. On the other hand, it creates a more rewarding experience
between cat and owner because you don’t have to scold kitty all the time
for clawing inappropriately.
Another pro-declawing is when rough-housing between kitty and another pet results in a scratched
cornea and the risk of the other pet (my dog) losing an eye. The choice
for the owner then becomes either to
declaw or give up a cherished and loved pet, so it is pretty obvious
here what
the most humane choice would be. A person that decides to declaw his/her
cat
should not be vilified, instead encouraged to give the cat a home and
love as
long as the cat lives.
If you check the internet, you can find one of those sites about the
“horrors” of declawing a cat. They have
pictures of an actual surgery of declawing a black cat. I have two
things
to say… Despite many warnings of how graphic the pictures are, there
is not
much blood to see. This proves that the declawing surgery is not as
bloody as
described, and even when the pictures where taken by an anti-declaw vet
tech
which most likely attempted to make the surgery look a gory as possible.
Second, I can see where all the horror stories come from. This surgery
was done
very poorly. Using a nail clipper to remove the claws is a procedure
that is not done very often anymore. It can leave bone splinters behind
and the possibility of nail regrowth. The procedure done most often
involves an incision behind the claw and continuing against the bony
structure until the last digit falls away from the paw
using a scalpel (called disarticulation method). This method does not
break any bone and insures that no bone
splinters are left behind and that there is no possibility of nail
regrowth. You can see that the claw is removed carefully and would
only remove the claw along with the distal phalanx (the bone where the claw is
attached to) as shown on the picture below. In the pictures presented in the
anti-declaw website part of the middle phalanx is being crushed.
The above is an image of what actually declawing looks like.
Declawing is also recommended to be done to cats before they turn 2 years of age and to be done the same time as spay/neuter. Some vets also put an anesthetic block in their paws so they won’t feel pain when they wake up. And they heal very quickly! It is recommended also by vets that you only remove their front claws because the back ones are important in their grooming and god forbid if they did get outside.
So yes, declaw your kitty @lepetitselkie just make sure you research your vet first to find out what kind of procedure they do. Just like with any surgical choice the doctor is key.
It is NOT hard to do some damn googling people!!!!
It takes a hell of a lot to piss me off to where I respond to it in public, but this, this actually makes it hard to engage a civil fashion. Especially because you also had the gall to send a pretty condescending note about how I should do research before I consider myself an expert. Here’s the thing about academic and practical knowledge – it’s often far more complex than what people find on a google search. So, let’s break this down for you because I know a hell of a lot more about this than what comes from ‘just google’. In fact, if you actually took the time to do a couple google searches, the first thing you’d find is that declawing is considered animal cruelty and banned in at least 22 countries.
Okay, so there’s two different topics to dig into here: the science and the ethics. Let’s start with the science, because that’s easier to break down while I try to stop raging internally.
Here’s a much more detailed image of what the inside of a cat’s paw actually looks like, because the one embedded above leaves out some rather important details.
Okay, so what you’re looking at here is the cross-section of a toe with the claw retracted. Cats walk digitigrade, meaning that their weight is borne entirely on the toes rather than on the internal bones of the foot. The last bone that the claw is attached to is called the distal phalanx (plural: phalanges). You’ll notice that there are two tendons and an elastic ligament attached to it. For a cat to be declawed, that bone must be removed, which means all three of those connective tissues must be severed. That’s going to impair mobility even after it heals (tendons work because of their attachments) and that’s incredibly painful.
Here’s an image of a cat’s paw actually bearing weight. Notice how, because cats walk digitigrade, literally all of it’s weight is on the distal phalanx? Cats walk with all of their weight on the bone that declawing removes. Look at the position of the middle phalanx – it’s perpendicular to the ground and not in an orientation to bear weight comfortably in the slightest. When you declaw a cat, that’s the bone they’re left to put all their weight on and it’s understandably uncomfortable. It’s possible to help cats adjust by leaving part of the distal phalanx in the paw, but that a) means cutting the bone in half and having it heal and b) risks claw regrowth out of the bone and through the extant soft tissues.
At one teaching hospital, between 50%-80% of cats had post-surgery complications. Numbers from other studies vary – the ones cited on the declawing wikipedia article provide a decent sample range, and the complication rates were: 24%, 53%, 1.4%, 82.5%, 51.5%, 80%. All over the place. Reported medical complications include: pain, hemorrhage, laceration of paw pads, swelling, reluctance to bear weight on affected limb, neuropraxia (transient motor paralysis), radial nerve damage, lameness, infection, abscess, tissue necrosis, wound dehiscence, incomplete healing, protrusion of 2nd (middle) phalanx, claw regrowth, scurs (growth of deformed claw segments), retention of flexor process of third phalanx, chronic draining tracts, self-mutilation, dermatitis, lethargy, palmigrade stance (walking on wrists), chronic intermittent lameness, chronic pain syndrome, flexor tendon contracture, and cystitis (stress-associated bladder inflammation).
Long-term lameness is common, but also understudied. One review of related studies reported long-term lameness in 1% of cats, but another with a different sample size and source found that 13.6% of cats showed at least mild lameness long after healing (source).
Chronic pain in declawed cats is incredibly hard to assess. It hasn’t been well studied, cats are cryptic (quiet) when in pain, and most owners are notoriously bad at accurately identifying or reporting behavior in cats that indicates pain. That doesn’t meant that we have evidence that most declawed cats aren’t in pain – there’s just literally no data. We do know that there are frequently observed avoidance/pain behaviors such as walking oddly, not stepping on litter or similar surfaces, paw shaking, and paw biting that correlate highly with cats who have been declawed. Claw growth and arthritis from being declawed are obviously painful chronically.
Okay, so there’s your science. Now let’s talk ethics. In fact, here’s an anecdote for you.
My father’s toenails destroy bedding like little demons. No matter what he does, how much he clips them, how short they are, his toenails will inevitably shred the bottoms of sheets pretty quickly. It’s annoying as hell and my mother keeps mending the sheets or buying new ones when it gets too bad. Now, tell me, should she have the last joints of his toes amputated because it’s an inconvenience she doesn’t want to deal with? Of course not. She knew when she married my father that it would be something that came with the territory and she accepts that fact. Sounds stupid, right?
Voluntary onychectomy is, when simply put, the amputation of a cat’s weight-bearing digits for the convenience of the owner. Most people cite the reasons they declaw cats as behavior problems (scratching furniture) or aggression towards humans. Both of these problems are entirely resolvable through management and/or appropriate training with a little bit of effort on the part of the owner(s).
When you declaw a cat, not only do you put it through an entirely unnecessary, painful, and potentially traumatizing procedure, you forever remove from it the ability to engage in all of it’s natural behaviors. The simplest natural behavior is just walking on it’s feet correctly. Evolution creates certain physical structures for their specific efficacy and when you lop off your cat’s toes for your own convenience you forever force it to walk in a way that is unnatural for it. You also remove it’s ability to scratch, climb and stretch.
I do not believe that people should be allowed to have pets if they are not prepared to handle what comes with them. Scratching and using their claws for communication are natural behavior for a cat and therefore should be assumed as part of the price to pay for the luxury of cohabitating with one. If you’ve accidentially encouraged claws-out aggressive play or if you’re pushing your cat so far past it’s comfort zone that it keeps scratching you, that problem is entirely on you. If you’re declawing your cat because you prioritize the state of your furniture over the cat then you don’t deserve the luxury of getting to own a cat. If you need to mutilate an animal to make it fit into your life, don’t get the goddamn animal.
I have said this a million times and I will say it again: If you want a pet whose welfare you are willing to sacrifice for your own ease of care, you are not responsible enough to own any living creature. As sentient beings who make the conscious choice to take on the care and welfare of a living creature (or six), it’s an ethical imperative that we provide the highest quality of welfare possible even no matter what the expense or time investment required.
It’s entirely possible, as we’ve shown numerous times on this blog, to use planning and appropriate management to eliminate the irritations that come with a cat having and using claws. Cats can be trained to play without hurting, humans can learn to read cat body language, claws can be clipped or dremeled as an entirely positive experience, and soft-caps can be applied. All it takes is time, dedication and forethought.
So, @fat-and-nerdygirl, it is for all of the above that I am appalled that you are actively advocating for unnecessary declawing procedures. This girl does not appear to have any of the severe medical conditions that would make it vaguely acceptable to consider declawing for her safety. It’s simply that her cats are being cats – that’s the only problem. You’re advocating she put her pet through an unnecessary surgery for basically no reason when she’s already found a much more appropriate solution and is implementing it correctly.
More importantly, I am pissed that you are spreading misinformation while advocating for accurate research. Many of your ‘facts’ are flat out wrong. Nail-clipper declaws are still incredibly common, awfully enough. Declaws do not always heal fast – most studies report lameness still present after 8 days and sometimes even up until two weeks after surgery. Just because a voluntary procedure is common does not mean it is good for the animals or ethically okay.
Now, look, I understand. You have four cats who have been declawed and at the moment they don’t appear to be having any issues. It sounds like you did do your research to find someone to do the surgery whose skills and techniques would provide the highest rate of success for your cats. I’m not going to attack your choice to declaw them because at this point it would be moot and I don’t know what your reasons were for making the choice at the time you did. I understand how, after putting four animals through that procedure, it can be incredibly hard to hear newer research come out that indicates that declawing isn’t great for them and questions the ethics of doing so. That’s rough on any pet owner, wondering if you made the right choice for the animals whose care you’re entrusted with. That’s enough to cause anyone to defend their choices more heavily – it’s a pretty common type of cognitive dissonance. But please, please stop spreading misinformation and backing it up with phony requests for ‘better research’ and misleading diagrams. I’m glad your cats are doing well post-surgery, and I sincerely hope they reach the ends of their lives without any complications surfacing.
Not all cats will be as lucky as your four cats.
Some cats will be declawed and forever live walking on bones that were never meant to be in contact with the ground or support weight that way. Some cats will develop claw shards or infections or arthritis. Some cat owners will be devastated to find out that they caused their babies to suffer by choosing what has been touted by peers as a ‘simple, safe, elective surgery’.
Help me stop that from happening to more animals and their humans. Stop spreading misinformation and defending an archaeic solution to the problems that arise when humans are lazy about caring for the animals they take into their homes.
Some assholes have been putting nails in cheese and treats in dog parks in Chicago and Massachusetts. Also adding antifreeze to water bowls.
Please watch out for your dogs. And if you find out the address of someone doing this, give me the address and tell no one. I will disembowel them.
Antifreeze is fucking deadly as shit. Whilst my mom worked in the vets office the neighbor of a cat owner had become sick of his neighbors tom spraying by his house so he left antifreeze out for the cat. Animals are weirdly attracted to the smell and will drink it.
The cat was given to the vets and for 2 days it’s insides were slowly dissolved by the acids and it bled from his nose, mouth and even eyes.
On the second day, the vet not being able to help and refusing to let the cat suffer any longer put the cat down. The neighbor who did not deny his crimes didn’t even offer to pay the woman’s vet bill.
SO THE BIGGEST FUCKING SIGNAL BOOST TO THIS POST.
Fuck who ever is doing this. They can fucking burn.
my friend had a cat and it drank antifreeze that was puddled in the driveway and one day they were knitting and it just vomited up all of its internal organs and fell over dead on her lap.
The perpetrators of all of this will burn in Hell.
A neighbor of mine threw a ball of hamburger full of rat poison pellets over our fence for my son’s dog. He survived, barely, but has had nerve damage ever since.
Okay, listen up, if your pet drinks antifreeze, do you know what the cure is? Alcohol. That’s right. To save your furry little friend you have to get them drunk out of their faces. Antifreeze is an inhibitor and stops your enzymes from working, but luckily alcohol stops that from happening. I learned this from my A Level Biology lessons, but here’s a source anyway http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2617997.stm
Shit this is important SIGNAL BOOST THIS THANK YOU ALICE
BOOST. FUCKING BOOST.
They did this recently in a town near me. They put nails in hot dogs and threw them into backyards as well as some rat poison. A lot of the neighbor dogs died…
@drferox please I would like to know if this is true and safe to do.
No.
No.
No.
Do not give your pets alcohol if you suspect they have had antifreeze.
Take them to a vet clinic for assessment ASAP. Alcohol is only helpful if given very shortly after ingestion, and will actually make the toxicity worse if given too late.
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