Fancy BMW adaptive headlights may have saved this cat's life (UPDATE)

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 08/15/2015 at 10:22 • Filed to: None

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Tonight on my way home from the gym, this cat darted in front of my car. Thanks to the turns-when-you-steer headlights on my 135is, I spotted the little dude just in time to stop and let him pass in front of my car. I’m a big ole softy for animals, and he had a collar, so I decided to see if he needed help.

I stopped the car in the middle of my street, put on my blinkers (OMG A BMW DRIVER USED THEIR BLINKERS FOR SOMETHING) and slowly approached the cat to see what its deal was. He was really friendly and had a collar and tags. But his fur was matted up in several places and I could feel his ribs when I petted him. I decided this cat did indeed need some help, so I scooped him up back into the car, and let him sit on my lap for the 1-block ride back to my house. He was pretty chill about getting scooped up and going for a car ride.

We have 3 cats of our own so we have plenty of cat supplies, but have to keep him in the basement so our cats don’t get all flustered. I gave him food, water and a litter box. This cat is super nice. He just wants some attention. Every time I tried to take a picture of him he kept rubbing up on my leg and being all sweet.

I called the number on his tag and according to the voicemail greeting, he belongs to a local radio DJ. I googled the DJ’s name, and emailed him, and posted on the radio show’s facebook page, just in case.

My gf and I are heading out of town tomorrow afternoon. If the guy doesn’t get back to me I’m going to take the cat to my vet in the morning, and I’m sure radio DJ guy will be happy to pick him up at the vet.

So the moral of the story kids, is if you’re a radio DJ and lose your cat, hope that it crosses the path of a pet lover slowly driving a luxury car with bright-ass headlights down a residential street, or something. I dunno. Headlights are good. I’m tired.

SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE: The cat has been returned to its owner! But I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.

The radio DJ guy emailed me back this morning.

Thank you! I’m sorry he did that...He will come home if you let him out...He ALWAYS comes home. Sorry about the inconvenience.

I saw this and thought, YOU WANT ME TO LET THE CAT BACK OUTSIDE SO YOU CAN WAIT FOR IT TO GET BACK TO YOUR HOUSE??? He also called me, so I convinced him to come get the cat.

Turns out this guy lives down the street from me, and only let the cat out last night! He seemed like he cares about his cat—he talked about how his kids got it for him and he’s attached to it—but is fucking clueless on how to take care of it.

Apparently this cat scratches at the door to get let outside, and dude just lets him out. Ok, some cats go outside, not that I agree with it, but whatever. But dude says sometimes he passes out on the couch and forgets to let the cat back in. “Usually if I do that he’s just waiting for me on the doorstep in the morning.” That’s what happened last night. Fucking hell.

I told dude I thought the cat had been on its own because of how matted up its fur was. He goes, “oh I kinda noticed that, I’m taking him to the vet for a shampoo and a haircut soon.” It’s a longhair, and he never brushes it! I explained to him that if a cat’s fur gets so matted up like this, that’s painful for the cat. You gotta brush your cat dude! Even our shorthairs get brushed every 1-2 weeks. THIS GUY DOESN’T OWN A CAT BRUSH. He thought a shampoo & haircut every 6-12 months is all the care the cat’s fur needs.

I was very nice about telling him he needs to brush the cat, but I was pretty forceful about it, because this cat was so sweet while I had him chilling at my house. All he wanted was to be petted, a whole lot. He deserves to be brushed! DJ guy seemed open to the idea of getting a brush and doing the brushing, but I just hope he follows through.

Now I’ll go back to spoiling !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Oliver:

Jade & Sophia:

Decay buys too many beaters > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 01:52

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Awww, what a cutie. Good on ya for taking him in!

Svend > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 01:53

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Oh man, your ruining the joke.

“put on my blinkers (OMG A BMW DRIVER USED THEIR BLINKERS FOR SOMETHING)“

‘If you ever feel down and useless, remember it’s someone’s job to put indicators on BMWs’.

Good job in looking after the cat though.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 03:39

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I take it you have the models before LaserLight’s introduction. I’ve driven the F01 740i and thought they were... Well, slightly better than the ES’s headlights, that’s for sure.

Echo51 > Svend 08/15/2015 at 04:25

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Somewhere out there, a german engineer is proud that his work has finally been used.

pjhusa > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 07:45

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The F30 halogens are bad. So I am sad.

Sam > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 08:08

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Hey, maybe you’ll even get to be on the radio!

Alex B > pjhusa 08/15/2015 at 09:43

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I think for luxury cars LED/adaptive lighting packages are a must.

Textured Soy Protein > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura 08/15/2015 at 10:34

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Mine are bi-xenons that turn when you steer.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 10:35

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My wife would totally want to catnap your Oliver. She loves cats with blue eyes. Also that’s still a pretty big ginger.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Echo51 08/15/2015 at 10:35

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Every time a BMW driver uses their blinkers a BMW engineer gets a pint.

Textured Soy Protein > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 08/15/2015 at 10:38

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He’s a relatively big frame, but I could feel his ribs when I picked him up. Looks bigger than he is because of the floofy long hair.

Textured Soy Protein > Svend 08/15/2015 at 10:47

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I fight the BMW-drivers-are-pricks stereotype, once turn signal at a time.

Textured Soy Protein > Sam 08/15/2015 at 10:48

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With how the returning of the cat to its owner went (see todays update to the post) I doubt that’ll be happening.

Funktheduck > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 10:49

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I went through a lot of trouble finding the owners of a loose pit bull last summer. Wasn’t real relieved when the owners came for him. He had been chained up and got loose (illegal to leave a tethered dog where I am). Animal control refused to do anything without having proof that he was chained up or if you could see him chained up without going onto the property. He got loose a few more times and haven't seen him since.

Textured Soy Protein > Funktheduck 08/15/2015 at 11:08

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I feel like this is a pretty common thing. Pet escapes from inattentive/clueless pet owners, good samaritan picks up the pet, then is disappointed in the pet owners’ obvious inadequacies as pet owners.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 11:14

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OMG Oliver has insane eyes! We have two orange cats now and might be rescuing a Siamese who got attacked by a coyote or big dog and had a huge gash in his side

Semi related: Our one cat Garth used to be an outside cat before we rescued him. He thinks hes a dog and scratches on the door to go outside but he has FIV so its not safe for him. The only outside he gets is the screened in patio every day..which works wonders.

We also brush him at least 3X a week because he loves it so much.

Frank Grimes > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 11:22

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I am a cat lady too. I also didnt envy your position of having to tell this clod how to not be a lazy sod and actually tell him to brush his cat etc. well done.

Funktheduck > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2015 at 12:06

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It got loose some time on a Friday afternoon. A neighbor held on to it until it attacked his dog. He was very male dog aggressive. Ok with females and great with people. He was intact so that probably was a big factor. I found him late Friday night. Went around Friday night and Saturday morning knocking on doors. Finally got ahold of them Saturday and they didn't know he was gone

pjhusa > Alex B 08/15/2015 at 12:41

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Heck, even my 2002 ML has projector beams. And our previous 2011 328xi had Angel eyes.

Xyl0c41n3 > Textured Soy Protein 08/17/2015 at 13:35

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Dude, how does this guy not know how to take care of a cat? They’re like the easiest pets in the world to own! They’re (usually) pretty independent, even the lovey dovey ones that like cuddles, they potty train themselves, and they groom themselves! All you gotta do is feed them right, brush them occasionally, give them a couple of toys, keep their litter box clean, and give them some love. Not very hard.

Cats also don’t eat very much (say, compared to a pet like a large breed dog), so if you could feel his ribs, that’s pretty scary. He’s being very seriously underfed. I mean, it’s easier to over feed a cat than it is to under feed a cat.

I say, if you see this little guy outside again and he still looks like he’s in rough shape, take him in and turn him over to the local animal shelter or rescue. Homeslice doesn’t sound like a very responsible pet owner.

Xyl0c41n3 > Funktheduck 08/17/2015 at 13:41

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They didn’t know he was gone? Geez. It’s not like a pitbull is small or anything! -_-

People here mistreat pitbulls so much. My last landlady used to keep two chained up on long leads on opposite sides of her yard. One was barely more than a puppy (I’d say between a year to two years old) and really sweet. Super hyper (can you blame him?) but sweet.

It just broke my heart because no one would go give them scritches or take them for walks or anything. And they weren’t socialized to be mean, so they would have made great pets for someone willing to put in the time and effort with them.

Speaking of socializing pits to be mean... one of the shelters in this area has an automatic kill policy on pits. They hold strays or animal control captures for 72 hours, and then if no one claims them or picks them up, the animals are destroyed. Simply because of their overblown reputation as violent dogs, and because, the shelter says, to prevent them from being used for cruelty (illegal dog fights). It pisses me off to no end.

Textured Soy Protein > Xyl0c41n3 08/17/2015 at 13:47

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I felt so bad for this cat. Every time I went down to the basement to check on him, he was chilling peacefully, and came right up to me for petting. All rubbing up on my leg and so happy to get petted. He just wanted love. It took me a good 10 minutes before I could get him to sit still for a photo. Every time I backed away from him he followed me for more petting!

With the rough shape his coat was in, I thought he had been on his own for a long time, but I also had an inkling in the back of my head that he could’ve been a neglected pet. When I was checking him over, he reminded me so much of the little blurbs on the adoption page of the rescue where I got my cat Oliver .

I’m hoping the guy comes to his senses. When I told him it’s painful for the cat if its fur gets all matted up, he said he didn’t want the cat to be in pain, and he was embarrassed. He repeated back to me, “ok I need to get a brush.”

My fingers are crossed.

Funktheduck > Xyl0c41n3 08/17/2015 at 14:00

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Yeah. Working with dogs I’m constantly defending pits. People refuse to believe I’ve never had a problem with a pit outside of dog aggression, which is common throughout all breeds. I have more issues with labs and lab mixes. When it comes to people aggression it’s almost 100% small dogs and it’s usually fear based.

A client works with a foster group and part of what she does is temperament testing. There was a pit that was about to be pulled for fostering because he was so sweet and well behaved, until he was tested with another dog. He had been trained for dog fighting. Had to be put down.

I think people who dog fight should be thrown into a pit of hogs like in snatch.

Xyl0c41n3 > Textured Soy Protein 08/17/2015 at 14:46

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This is the little guy I’m currently fostering. He’s super loving and cuddly. Probably likes being held and played with more than any other cat I’ve ever met. He’s still a kitten, though, so he doesn’t quite know that claws mean ouch. Heh. But he’s a good kitty. :)

bob and john > Textured Soy Protein 08/17/2015 at 17:19

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d’awwwwww

here is a picture of my fat lard of cuddles: