Ace of Spades Pet Thread, August 15

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Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

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I totally missed International Cat Day last Saturday!

Happy International Cat Day! pic.twitter.com/nZsoq05Zvs
— cineblog (@cineblogx) August 8, 2026

But I think someone left another cat in our yard last night.

HISTORY

For International Cat Day I have cleaned-up for you this wonderful Autochrome plate by Arnold Genthe. It is entitled "Miss Anna Holch with the cat Buzzer" which was taken in colour 116 years ago using an early colour glass-plate process. It isn't colourised. pic.twitter.com/paJ52sFAlv
— BabelColour (@StuartHumphryes) August 8, 2026

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Worldwide Otter Day is in May.

At the San Diego Zoo, an otter family stole the spotlight in the most adorable way, turning a simple visit into a viral sensation.

While visitors watched in delight, a proud mother otter carried her tiny newborn pup right up to the glass for everyone to see. Moments later, the… pic.twitter.com/otBzXAAmkT
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 13, 2026

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Meet The PetMorons

Our home-bred and born George (Soyara's Dragon King), with his New Jersey dad, Ron. Clearly he's enjoying the good life, even if he is in the Garden State. I sent a message to Ron saying he should be called King George because he's living like one.
Hadrian the Seventh

George is a handsome boy. I think Ron will be a great Dad for him.

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here is my friend's newest addition to the family - Friskers! He's. . . um, excitable.

Boswell

Best wishes to your friend and Friskers! Looks like an interesting new friend!

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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.

If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:

petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Until next Saturday, have a great week!

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If you start feeling nostalgic, here a link to last week's Pet Thread, the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, August 8

I closed the comments on that post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:28 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:29 PM (wzUl9)

2 Afternoon, pet folken! Yes, George, aka King George, is a royal-looking fellow. And Friskers is probably really complaining he hasn't had enough (a) food, (b) attention, or (c) both.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:32 PM (wzUl9)

3 Happy Caturday everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 15, 2026 03:33 PM (2eMPB)

4 Good looking fellas. Very majestic dog and I must say I agree with your cat about this site.

Weird time of summer -- the pool's open, the female lifeguards have gorgeous asses, but no one's feeling the vibes right now. Stupid teachers unions.

Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at August 15, 2026 03:33 PM (qwx/I)

5 Woof!
Pop ups are dog shit.
Mr Parrot sez high.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 15, 2026 03:34 PM (xGaKZ)

6 Miss Linda told me about a video she'd seen online where a seal or sea lion swam up to a fishing boat, got aboard, and settled down to *take a nap.* Trusting creature. He's lucky it wasn't an Eskimo boat; he'd have awakened in filets.

(When I was small, I thought "Easter Seals" had something to do with the pinnipeds, and was always disappointed that the stamps or seals had bunnies and chicks on them and no actual seals.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:35 PM (wzUl9)

7 Hey guys,

Small update on our cats.

https://tinyurl.com/dg65258

It's so hot here, I haven't slept well. I'll have to properly read the thread later. I hope you all are well.

Posted by: Joyenz at August 15, 2026 03:36 PM (2F0/Y)

8 My new cat Chloe has been with me just over a month now. In that time she's:

--Claimed the top shelf of the bookshelves in my office, kicking Penny out of her spot
--Stolen food from every other kitties bowl and plate when she gets a chance
--Engaged in "slap fights" with Allie (they are both declawed so there is little risk of serious harm)
--Knocked numerous items off my desk
--Plopped herself in the most inconvenient spot on my desk, randomly hitting keys on my keyboard
--Chewed on the cords to my keyboard and mouse.

In other words, she's been the perfect Moron kitty since she got here.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 03:38 PM (FZ29D)

9 The furry thuglets, aka The Killer Kittenz From Outer Space, are doing well. Still need to take them in for their annual rabies shots. Despite the summer heat, I have not noticed fleas on them or on me. It's be hard to see fleas on black Stirling, of course, and Dagny's long fur would provide further hiding places, but I don't see them traversing her face, and neither is scratching.

I guess I have to have them flea-treated anyway.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:41 PM (wzUl9)

10 *Every* day is International Cat Day. Just ask any cat, he'll tell you.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:43 PM (wzUl9)

11 *Every* day is International Cat Day. Just ask any cat, he'll tell you.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:43 PM (wzUl9)
----
All my cats are domestic. Don't they get a day?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 03:45 PM (FZ29D)

12 Meow....

Posted by: Puddleglum, drive by meow at August 15, 2026 03:45 PM (sAmhv)

13 Push the cat buzzer.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 15, 2026 03:46 PM (Cqx++)

14 Nyah!!!

Next year do not forget such an important date, yuman.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2026 03:48 PM (aMl27)

15 4. "I must say I agree with your cat about this site."

I find the pop-up ads to be especially troublesome if I click "continue" rather than "comments" when a new thread comes up.

Posted by: KT at August 15, 2026 03:48 PM (1RGZ5)

16 How does one train a kitten to use a scratching post/box? We never did manage to train Ever and lost a leather couch to his attentions. Yuu has always been very good about scratching her cardboard scratchie box. Hemi is just starting to scratch and I want to do everything possible to train him to use the items provided.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 15, 2026 03:50 PM (lFFaq)

17 All my cats have been domestic by birth, but the Siberians like Dagny have had Russian ancestors. Does that count as "international"?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:51 PM (wzUl9)

18 How does one train a kitten to use a scratching post/box? We never did manage to train Ever and lost a leather couch to his attentions. Yuu has always been very good about scratching her cardboard scratchie box. Hemi is just starting to scratch and I want to do everything possible to train him to use the items provided.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 15, 2026 03:50 PM (lFFaq)
----
I think the secret is to put the scratching post next to the object you don't want them to scratch. Reward them for using the preferred scratching post.

For instance, Penny used to have a problem scratching the doorframes. I put a scratching post right next to the doorframe and now she's much more like to scratch that. Doesn't work 100% of the time, but she's much, much better than she used to be. I have another scratching post at the end of my couch for that same reason.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 03:55 PM (FZ29D)

19 Otters!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 15, 2026 03:55 PM (/wPHZ)

20 We no longer have a doggie.

Does it count on the pet thread that our 11mo old grandgirl pants like a dog vs barking? She also crawls fast to the person she chooses to pick her up. And fetches her ball when we tell her to go get it after she throws it. I think that qualifies?

She's a delight altho her Nana was worn out yesterday from having them all week. She wanted to be held a lot and I was fine with that but she's usually easier to please.

It was a rainy day on Th and the older two are usually outside. School starts Monday. This was a week their parents needed us and we always say yes for visits. They are 10min away.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at August 15, 2026 03:55 PM (hzuYO)

21 How does one train a kitten to use a scratching post/box? We never did manage to train Ever and lost a leather couch to his attentions. Yuu has always been very good about scratching her cardboard scratchie box. Hemi is just starting to scratch and I want to do everything possible to train him to use the items provided.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 15, 2026

***
Sprinkle some catnip on the post or box. Or rub your hands over it, so that it smells like you to him, then do the catnip. It might work and it might not, but if you make it more attractive to him . . .

Dagny uses the roped post I bought at Petco long ago and have re-wound several times with sisal from the hardware store. She also will scratch on the rough doormat I bought for outside, but brought in long ago for the cats to sharpen claws on.

Stirling, exasperatingly, will use the post if he happens to be near it, but prefers to use the carpet. I don't care too much; I consider the damage deposit on this place to be long gone. But I chase him away from the fabric of the couch.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:56 PM (wzUl9)

22 Polliwog, there's also Perfessor Squirrel's excellent suggestion of putting the scratching item next to something you *don't* want them working their claws on.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:58 PM (wzUl9)

23 Polliwog, there's also Perfessor Squirrel's excellent suggestion of putting the scratching item next to something you *don't* want them working their claws on.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:58 PM (wzUl9)
----
Combine my strategy with yours and there's a very good chance the cat will learn what's "acceptable" very quickly, with the occasional relapse. Keep a squirt bottle handy!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 04:01 PM (FZ29D)

24 It's easy to overlook "International Cat Day." I always get it confused with April 23, which is "International Vagina Day."

(ok, that might be too raunchy for the Weekly Pet Thread. If so, I apoligize, but that doesn't stop me from mixing them up. I end up celebrating both year round. )

Posted by: Orson at August 15, 2026 04:02 PM (dIske)

25 Lovely photos.

Our kitten, Millard, makes me laugh when he's not exhausting me. Thanks to the cat owners who have assured me that, yes, indeed, he will calm down. I haven't had a kitten for about 14 years so I didn't recall the " Krazy Kat" part. Anyway, he sleeps in the weirdest positions with his head hanging off the pillow on top
Of the couch , but he doesn't seem to be bothered by any neck cricks when he gets up and he "zooms" off to catch his toy mouse or the spring like toots which he loves.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2026 04:04 PM (W90Ou)

26 George is quite regal.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 15, 2026 04:05 PM (JvZF+)

27 I don’t think I have ever trained my cats. Sabi is awesome about using his scratchy posts. Kovu not so much. We have a few and they have to be extra large so my cats can stand up and actually use them. Normal sized cats ones do not work.

Posted by: Piper at August 15, 2026 04:05 PM (ZdaMQ)

28 25- "toys" not "toots"

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2026 04:06 PM (W90Ou)

29 The top two cats on the "international Cat Day" are from "The Fifth Element" and Jones from "Alien."

Next is Puss n Boots, and I don't know the others.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 15, 2026 04:07 PM (CHHv1)

30 Combine my strategy with yours and there's a very good chance the cat will learn what's "acceptable" very quickly, with the occasional relapse. Keep a squirt bottle handy!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 04:01 PM (FZ29D)
Cat Scratch Syndrome!

Posted by: Eromero at August 15, 2026 04:08 PM (LHPAg)

31 I think Chloe really is part leopard.

She tends to sleep with one or both forelegs dangling all the way off her perch, like she's resting in a tree.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 04:09 PM (FZ29D)

32
Sorry, George's registered name is Soyara's Dragon Slayer. His California brother Zeus is Soyara's Dragon King.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 15, 2026 04:09 PM (O0L8i)

33 Our kitten, Millard, makes me laugh when he's not exhausting me. Thanks to the cat owners who have assured me that, yes, indeed, he will calm down. I haven't had a kitten for about 14 years so I didn't recall the " Krazy Kat" part. Anyway, he sleeps in the weirdest positions with his head hanging off the pillow on top
Of the couch , but he doesn't seem to be bothered by any neck cricks when he gets up and he "zooms" off to catch his toy mouse or the spring like toots which he loves.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2026

***
Like very tiny children, kittens are made of rubber. Fortunately for them, the elasticity extends quite a ways into adulthood.

I well recalled what an exhausting little bundle of energy Tatiana the Wonder Sibierian was, and I kept saying I didn't want a kitten after Wolf and Chekov passed away. What happened? I adopted two. Yes, they play with each other, but they are not pack animals like dogs and often get up to solo mischief. So two kittens are not always half the work, but four times!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 04:11 PM (wzUl9)

34
Best of Breed for The Big Dummy at today's Cen-Tex KC show im Belton.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 15, 2026 04:13 PM (O0L8i)

35 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 04:11 PM (wzUl9

Son keeps saying "Why don't we get another kitten?" Uhhhh...nope

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2026 04:13 PM (xSAlF)

36 One wonders how crazy Miss Anna Holch was back in the day. Great pic

Posted by: Common Tater at August 15, 2026 04:14 PM (f+DSe)

37 Chloe:
--Plopped herself in the most inconvenient spot on my desk, randomly hitting keys on my keyboard
-----
Like now, for instance...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 15, 2026 04:15 PM (FZ29D)

38 Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 15, 2026 04:13 PM (O0L8i)

By now you used the name "the big dummy" so often ( although I know you love him) that I can't remember his real name, although I do sort of get a sort of chuckle from thinking of how the high brow dog people would react if "the big dummy" was used as his actual
name😉

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2026 04:17 PM (xSAlF)

39 Best of Breed for The Big Dummy at today's Cen-Tex KC show im Belton.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

Congrats! What's The Big Dummy's show name?

Posted by: Tuna at August 15, 2026 04:18 PM (lJ0H4)

40
What's The Big Dummy's show name?
Posted by: Tuna at August 15, 2026 04:18 PM (lJ0H4)

___________

GCHG* Envious As They Fall. Varus is his call name, but The Big Dummy is more accurate. He may be thicker than two short planks but he's a perfect gentleman.

*Grand Champion, Gold Level. He's about 150 points short of Platinum Level

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 15, 2026 04:23 PM (O0L8i)

41 6 Miss Linda told me about a video she'd seen online where a seal or sea lion swam up to a fishing boat, got aboard, and settled down to *take a nap.* Trusting creature. He's lucky it wasn't an Eskimo boat; he'd have awakened in filets.

(When I was small, I thought "Easter Seals" had something to do with the pinnipeds, and was always disappointed that the stamps or seals had bunnies and chicks on them and no actual seals.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 03:35 PM (wzUl9)

Some of the sea otter moms in Resurrection Bay (Seward, AK) put their babies on the back decks of fishing vessels in the harbor while they go get food. They apparently have done this for generations now, and I have to admit, it's a pretty smart adaptation. I don't know a single captain who would kick a baby otter off the boat, but there are plenty of orcas in that bay who would eat a baby otter like an appetizer.

Posted by: tcn in AK at August 15, 2026 04:25 PM (mm8qa)

42 Sorry, George's registered name is Soyara's Dragon Slayer. His California brother Zeus is Soyara's Dragon King.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 15, 2026

***
Dagny's registered name is Sibirskiy Dagny Sophia. Not sure if her title has an apostrophe-s after the cattery name.

Stirling's is "Evil Black Kitten of War and Pestilence," or "Stirling No Dammit."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 04:25 PM (wzUl9)

43 Stirling's is "Evil Black Kitten of War and Pestilence," or "Stirling No Dammit."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2026 04:25 PM (wzUl9)

I have two dogs. One is "Ruby the Magnificent." The other one is "Dammit, Piper, knock that off."

Posted by: tcn in AK at August 15, 2026 04:32 PM (mm8qa)

44 Posted by: tcn in AK at August 15, 2026 04:32 PM (mm8qa

LOL.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2026 04:34 PM (y8wRt)

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