Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for January 25, 2022

Yes, I think I’d keep a grouchy snapping turtle at pointer’s-length as well. Those guys can bite!

…didn’t the BCN Twitter box below retweet a “Dr. Scuttles” a few days ago?

Dr. Scuttles……hm….I think I had a cousin of Dr. Scuttles as a room mate back in the good old days.

: stops laughing long enough to notice the glasses, and starts giggling again…

How do they know about Dr. Scuttles?

I <3 Dr. Scuttles. I am a simple person – I see a ludicrous animal with an equal-but-opposite-ly ludicrous name (think teensy chiuaua named Death Star, giant Maine coon named Teacup, etc), and I will pledge my life to them.

Lupin is actually showing some empathy.

We all get kinda crotchety with age.. my last cat insisted sleeping on my bed, but would run up and try to bite me if I turned over. Got used to sleeping with the covers over my head.

You would think they’d have more regard for that turtle, whom I assume put himself through school and worked hard for that PhD.♥

Lupin seems to be gripping the edge of the panel there.

Lupin loops in for the punchline.

Completely OT…Came across this bit of silliness, and thought folks would enjoy it. These fellows do a couple of Cat-friendly songs, includng Kitties are so Nice;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbcwy7wP0M

Lupin is unexpectedly kind.

Awwww, I hope this isn’t true and Dr Scuttles isn’t a ‘kept turtle’. I live in an area surrounded by lakes and have a turtle kit I carry in the car most of the year. I can’t tell you how many I’ve helped across the street or taken to the nature center with cracked shells because people don’t care. I have a snow shovel though for the really big snappers. I can’t pick them up when they get over 20 pounds or so.

Two straight days of posters and pointers!

Two days of Pucky posters: Yeah!!!

Was Dr. Scuttles mean to Puck? Who could be mean to Puck?

If Downstairs Neighbor had no cats, maybe that’s why the Landlord let it slide that the Man and Woman have four. It all evens out ;).

Are Snapping turtles illegal to keep?

Snapping Turtles have a lot of unhealthy bacteria on their skin and in their mouths. If they snap on some unsuspecting kitty be sure to cleanse the wound and apply antiseptic. If they break the skin, seek professional medical help. A bite can transfer Salmonella, or worse.

Your Dr. will clean the wound, and remove any fleshy tears and stitch the wound closed after treating it. They will apply antiseptic, and if warranted antibiotics.

In fact, if I was the attending, I would apply antibiotics regardless. I’ve had people tell me their little “Mr. Bitey” meant no harm, and he is so clean, because he only eats lettuce, and baby’s breath, with pure angel dew. But you can see the red inflammation and infection immediately.

I’m on Lupin’s side here. An apartment in Rhode Island sounds like no place for a snapping turtle, especially not one with a doctorate. I wonder if the Robber Mice ever ventured down to his scholarly domain.

I can’t think of anything to say.

Dr. Scuttles kept hissing “Get off my lawn!”, only to realize he lived in an apartment and had no lawn. No wonder he was cranky.

I think Dr. Scuttles is a great name.

Dr. Scuttles deserves ALL the potato chips for putting up with the indignities he must endure in this move! (I follow his twitter – it’s a hoot!)

More about the Big Pink House from Georgia’s Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZIOelEPISV/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZIO-6avz7H/

For non-’Grammers:

https://dumpor.com/c/9878049975448158572

https://dumpor.com/c/3478098477660258572

(Interesting bit of trivia: In the strip, Tabitha & Sir Fig live upstairs. Georgia & family lived on the top floor IRL.)

Judgemental arent we?

A man with no cats would be of no interest to the BCN team.

I’ll assume that his Ph.D is in biting faces off.

.

I mean, that’s dedication right there. I just took a correspondence course.

EVERYTHING about this makes me laugh. In Panel one I thought Elvis was calling the tenant human a very old turtle, and I certainly could think of people that description fits.

Did the neighbor die of salmonella?

OT: More about new cats:

Now I’m wondering . . . is Dr. Scuttles moving away? (Why do we have a twitter account for a character who’s moving away?) Perhaps his person is moving somewhere nearby? From the twitter thread, it seems somewhere larger?

(Inquiring minds Want To Know.)

We have a small Russian tortoise in addition to our cats. When we take him out of his terrarium and let him roam, he generally ignores the cats. If they get too curious, he hisses, rocks backwards on his little legs, tucks his head, then rocks forward again, ramming their feet. This generally ends the curiosity.

I always do turtle rescue in the warmer months when I see them on the roads – snappers included. A box turtle, slider, or SMALL snapper, I just carry it on across the road in the direction it was going. A bigger snapper, I’ll take my trekking poles and encourage it to move along by tapping from behind… I have had one bite a pole in irritation once, but better to be annoyed by a stupid mammal than flattened by one of their cars! Snakes, likewise, can be encouraged to move with a light tap from a trekking pole.

My bet is that Dr Scuttles was some sort of a big harmless tortoise, who’s legend became much scarier than his actual behavior… They look scary and are pretty easy to keep. I mean adult alligator snappers (Macrochelys temminckii) require legit pond habitats, expert keepers, weigh 300+ lbs, and can tear apart a wooden pallet with just their front legs!! Their diet includes possums, muskrats, armadillos, nutria, fish, young alligators, other turtles… Anything that gets in the water, that they can wrestle down their throat. I helped move a specimen recently that was easily 3 ft across and 100+ lbs. It was in the road, I got a woman who had stopped to stick the handle of my umbrella in front of its mouth. When it bit the handle, she pulled and I picked up the rear of the carapace right above the tail (The ‘safe’ spot) and between us we dragged/shoved/carried it back into a ditch by a pond. When it got to the muddy partially flooded ditch, it took off with surprising speed down the hill to the creek. Much more agile than they appear, especially in the water.

Bad news BCN fans – The upcoming new BCN book has been pushed back to July. Just got the notice from Amazon.

Not complaining, I know Ms. Dunn and her family are going through a lot right now but it was gonna be a nice birthday present for myself. Such is life.

Stay warm and fluffy, BCN crew.

This ain’t no Girl Scout cookie, fellas!

BCN has anonymous sources. I suspect that the mice know something.

I love turtles. As a kid, I kept a box turtle as a pet. I’d found him in my back yard. This was back when I was a kid and wasn’t enlightened enough to realize that box turtles belonged in the wild and not the basement. Whenever one of the dogs or cats would try to sniff Freddie, he would give them a nip on the nose. They soon learned to leave him alone! Freddie eventually disappeared. We assumed he walked out through the open garage door when mom was taking clothes out to hang on the line. The house in on a slight hill so the garage is part of the basement.

I also had a painted turtle named Mr. Bentley. (Bachelor Father anyone?) No, he hadn’t been painted. That’s a species of turtle. I found him near a pond. I made what I thought was a nice home for him in a turtle habitat. I put him outside to get some fresh air, and he escaped to freedom. I didn’t realize he’d grown large enough to get out of his habitat. After having two turtles run away from home, I wised up and stopped capturing turtles to keep as pets.

Keeping a snapper? WHY!

Comment on Georgia’s Facebook feed: Georgia Dunn – Breaking Cat NewsA fact: In the real Big Pink House the storage room was the former “health room” of the Victorian, where family members would have recovered from illnesses or stayed in while passing.Believe me, it had some VIBES even well before I learned that… It was a beautiful little room off the second floor, with some great views though.

“stayed in while passing”

Do you mean that visiting family members would have stayed there?