The blog formerly known as   Fake Plastic Fish

Category Archives: Arya and Soots

January 2, 2013

Empire State Skyscratcher rocks our feline world

Hello, people and Happy New Year. Our human mom, Beth, is very very busy, so we wanted to help her out by writing a blog post to tell you about the amazing thing we got for Christmas this year. We’re not exactly sure what it is, but mom acted really excited when she opened it, so we know it must be pretty special. (And no, we no longer speak like those Cheezburger Cats. We are 5 years old and have learned proper grammar!)

Anyway, Christmas Eve, Mom came home and started talking really loudly when she saw a big box at the front door. She said stuff like, “Wow. He didn’t use plastic tape or plastic label covers. This is great.” We don’t know what those things are, but we know our mom doesn’t like plastic.  And we love boxes, so we started to get excited too.

 

Mom cut open the top with her keys and was even more excited when she looked inside.  She said there was cardboard, twine, paper tape, and only a little plastic…… Read the rest

May 10, 2012

What Can Environmentalists Learn from Bad Kitties?

I’m back from my meditation retreat, where one of the common admonishments is “Don’t push the river.”  What does that mean?  To me, it’s about being in the flow and not exerting more effort than necessary to live peacefully and mindfully in the present moment.  After all, the river’s gonna flow whether you push it or not, right?  Recently, I’ve discovered that it’s often not necessary to dam the river either.  I’ve learned both of these lessons from my cat.  And now I’m wondering how we can apply them to environmental activism work.

Bad Kitty / Good Kitty

Arya is sweet and cuddly and naughty beyond belief.  I love her mightily, and until recently, have fought with her every single morning for the past two years.  She climbs on my desk, and I shoo her off.  She crawls under my desk and gets tangled up in the electrical cords, so I shoo her out.  Then she’s up on the desk again,… Read the rest

October 12, 2010

Cat & Dog Acne from Plastic Bowls?

Our cats have always eaten their homemade food out of nice ceramic dishes that we got for free or almost free at a yard sale. (Arya is practicing her scary Halloween demon kitty face.)

But apparently, not all cats are so lucky. Michael came home last Friday and told me his workmate’s cat had developed acne, and that her vet said she should stop feeding him from a plastic bowl. Huh? I mean, I’ve heard a lot of negative things about plastic, but that was a really new one for me.

So I Googled “cat acne plastic,” and guess what: it’s conventional wisdom (although I haven’t found a definitive source) that cats can develop acne on their chins from eating out of plastic bowls. (Dogs, too! Google “dog acne plastic.”)

Dirty Plastic Bowls

According to The Spruce:

Plastic food dishes have long been suspected as a culprit in chin acne. Plastic is a magnet for bacteria and dirt that work their way into scratches and… Read the rest

December 30, 2009

My Cat Eats Plastic

Many of you have seen Chris Jordan’s recent heartbreaking photos of dead albatross chicks on Midway Atoll with bellies full of plastic.

And perhaps you have seen, or at least heard how sea turtles eat plastic (PDF), mistaking it for the jelly fish upon which they usually dine.  (Photo courtesy of Seaturtle.org.)

Most recently, beached whales have been found with plastic in their bellies.

People see these images or read these stories, maybe feel sad for a minute, and then go on about their lives. Albatrosses and sea turtles are creatures most of us don’t encounter on a daily basis. Their fate is sad, but it doesn’t directly affect us. Well, I want to show some photos and relate a story from the Terry-Stoler household that brings the issue of harm to animals a little closer to home.

My cat eats plastic.  I’ve said this before.  Arya eats big holes in polyester fleece blankets:

You should have seen how she went for the polyester … Read the rest

November 25, 2008

Saying Good-bye to Plastic-Free Cat Litter… Again!

Arya loves SwheatScoop cat litter. She loves to rip open the bag, spread the litter across the kitchen floor, and then lie in it and take a nap. Why confine such an awesome substance to her litter box?

Soots on the other hand, will have almost nothing to do with it. To avoid grossing you out, I provide the following black and white representation of what Soots thinks of SwheatScoop:

I wanted to love Swheatscoop natural clumping, flushable cat litter. I really did. Especially because it’s the only flushable* litter that comes in a paper bag rather than plastic. [2016 update:  Swheatscoop has switched to a plastic bag.  We now use Integrity cat litter instead.] Even the boxed litters have plastic bags inside.

*For those who weren’t here for the beginning of the cat litter story, we feel comfortable flushing their poop because they are indoor cats that have tested negative for toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that kills sea otters.

We tried… Read the rest

October 29, 2008

Less Impact Cats eat homemade food

This is the amount of waste we have been generating each week to feed our cats since they came to live with us in December of last year. 21 BPA-lined cans to be recycled, as well as a cardboard case covered in plastic wrap. The cans never made it to my tally. While I avoid canned foods for us because of the BPA issue, I don’t include them in the tally because it’s impossible to separate out the weight of metal vs. plastic. Still, regardless of the plastic lining, this is a lot of waste. Yes, the cans can be recycled. But imagine how much energy could be saved if we could avoid the cans altogether!

(Our cats could never tolerate dry food.)

So, I went in search of homemade cat food recipes. I found all kinds of conflicting opinions. There are those who insist cats must eat raw meat to be healthy. And there are those who feel that cooked meat and grains are fine. Not wanting to short-change my pets, I called the Nutrition Clinic at the U.C. Davis Veterinary Medical… Read the rest

October 20, 2008

Speshul Anounsmint frum SootsnArya

So HAI Faek Plasstick Fishy peeplz! U all noz last week wuz our 1 yr BIRFDAY! C us sellebrating? OK Soots ur doin it rong akshully. Party hat FAIL. Ennyway Mommybeth iz anemick tonite after she donated blud. Maybe iz becuz we vampire kittehz sucks her blud at nite nyeh heh heh no not till Halloweenz. So she lets us rite post if Big Klumzy Guy will soopervize.

Mommybeth sez nao dat we iz BIG CATS not lytl kittens she will cookz us fud “frum skratch” 2 avoyd plastick rap and BPA canz & we don get dis will she skratch at our skratching post & fud will jus appeer? Y don *we* jus do skratching ourselz & cutz out midllman or midllwomin or wutever. Wao daz a lot about skratching we gess *dis* wuz a skratching post LOL. Mommybeth sez she will put up weakly plasstik tally 2morow wen she not feelz so weekly.

O hay also u allz votez 4 Obama rite rite rite?? he iz verry kool & we wud votez 4 him but we are 2 young & plus were CATZ & we triez 2 get Acorn… Read the rest

August 6, 2008

Arya’s Big Plastic Thing

Oh, da hoomiliashun!

Well, what can you do when little kitties just lick off the bitter lotion we put on their sutures to keep them from doing just that? Bitter! Yum Yum! Anyone need a plastic bottle of bitter lotion? My cat thinks it tastes like dessert.

At least Arya’s fur will grow back. Some cats look like this all over… on purpose.

Arya would thank you all for your nice words and wishes for her recovery, but she’s a cat and too busy trying to figure out how to get that darned lampshade off her head (and plus, she’s kinda stoned right now, the little druggie), so I will thank you all instead. Thank you so very, very much.

The CRRA Conference presentation went really well today despite my lack of sleep last night and weekend of kitty worries. Hope to write more about that and get back to my regular blogging schedule very soon. (Maybe I’ll combine plastic tallies for two weeks this coming Sunday.)

Oh! And I keep forgetting to mention… Read the rest

August 3, 2008

Sad Weekend

My little baby Arya, about whom I’ve been bitching for weeks, fell off Michael’s high shoulders yesterday afternoon onto the hard kitchen floor and broke her front leg. We’ve been crying off and on since last night. Took her to emergency vet. The break is too high up for them to stabilize the leg with splint/cast, so she needs surgery. Can’t do anything until tomorrow, so she’s on pain meds until then.

Arya spent the night in her cramped little cat carrier because we had nothing else to put her in at 1am when we finally brought her home from pet hospital. This morning, I put her in bed with me and held her and petted her while Michael was out running his 1/2 marathon. When he got home, we went out to Pet Food Express and bought her a brand new metal cage (yes, with a plastic floor.) The idea of going through the hassle to find something used on the weekend when my baby was in pain was unthinkable to me. I wanted her out of that tiny carrier… Read the rest