Cat owners: attention

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux) 10/18/2020 at 23:59 • Filed to: Safety is a myth

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Probably parents with young children too. And who knows, probably all of us should be aware. More evidence we’ re overdosing on chemicals in the world we’ve built: in this case furniture with flame retardant.

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415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 00:05

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Well I know all our drape and furniture for shows has it, some people get a rash. I always wear long sleeves and gloves if I have to put up the huge drape.

flatisflat > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 00:13

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I figure, eventually, we’ll all be semi-impervious to contact exposure to toxins, etc. You know, once we’re consuming so many micro-plastics on the regular that our bodies will evolve to incorporate the plastic compounds into our skins...

jminer > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 00:14

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Holy crap that looks a lot like one of my cats

barnie > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 00:20

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And on the flip side, don’t toss used cat liter into the water. Like off our boats. Cats poop a parasite that kills crabs and other shell fish . A little liter goes a long ways and lasts a long time. Dogs poop is ok, though.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 00:27

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hmmm

ill go check if any of my furniture has that shit

*grabs lighter*

HammerheadFistpunch > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 00:59

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If a cat is going to eat my furniture they deserve what they've got coming to them

Aremmes > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 01:08

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Flame-Retardant Cats is the name of my EDM/trance/deep house group.

Chariotoflove > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 01:20

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Or don’t put a cat in a position to eat furniture chemicals. My cat lives in the garage. She sharpens her claws on trees and the chair we put out there for her. She eats grass for her fiber like evolution taught her to. She thrives. Animal people shriek to me that it’s cruel to let a cat live outside and that their lives are shorter. I have never observed an outdoor or barn cat that suffers the weight problems and boredom I see in exclusively some  indoor cats. If your cat is eating your furniture, it’s a sign you need to find a better way of enriching his environment.

Note: not calling out our indoor cat owners. Sometimes you don’t live in a place where the cat can go outside. I’m just saying good cat owners recognize that they need to give a cat activity alternatives. 

DipodomysDeserti > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 01:44

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TDCPP is readily absorbed through the skin, and becomes aerosolized as dust particles so you’re being exposed to it even if you don’t ingest it. It’s bad shit.

Of course people willingly spray similar compounds, its a chlorinated organophosphate, all over their yards to protect them from bugs.

I’ve been studying stuff like this over the last year. It’s crazy how much toxic stuff we’re   exposed to all the time. We really owe it to our livers.

DipodomysDeserti > HammerheadFistpunch 10/19/2020 at 01:49

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It’s readily absorbed through skin. It also dries up and flakes off, forming dust. Thankfully, they stopped coating kids pajamas in it.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 03:56

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A better modern flame retardant for fabrics exists that’s aluminum-trihydrate based and works by releasing water when burned. I developed my own variant of it back in 2014. I’m still pissed people want to stick to halogen-antimony based retardants despite knowing shit like this happens.

Quick edit: For the non-chemists in the crowd, antimony is in the same column on the periodic table as iodine, bromine , chlorine, and fluorine. Antimony compounds are a common additive to help absorb the energy of combustion reactions and act as an inhibition agent, but they end up getting absorbed into the body and interfere with thyroid health as antimony on its own can act as an Io dine imitator despite being , well, not quite a halogen. But this combination is so widespread that if you see one, you see the other.

Just Jeepin' > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 08:47

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I can’t get onboard with letting cats roam outside. They’re far too destructive to local wildlife.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 09:49

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Outdoor cats decimate local bird and other small animal populations, and their scat is very toxic and can kill flora. Catios are a great option though. Or taking indoor cats for walks on a leash.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > barnie 10/19/2020 at 09:51

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Wait what!? People do that!?

Chariotoflove > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 10:00

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I’ve had barn cats all my life. They sometimes hunt small animals whose populations are in no danger. The squirrel and bird population has thrived in spite of my cat having free reign of the yard for years.

Also, animal shelters advertise free barn cats. That tells me there isn’t much destructiveness. 

Chariotoflove > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/19/2020 at 10:05

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I have had barn and garage cats all my life. The squirrel and bird population has thrived in spite of their occasional hunting. The original function of the barn cat is to keep small wildlife under control. The animal shelters advertise free barn cats, adoption fee waived, for the purpose. Therefore I don’t buy the destructive to wildlife premise.

Also, cats bury their waste. Mine uses my perennial garden preferentially. My plants live. It’s circle of life. 

Chariotoflove > DipodomysDeserti 10/19/2020 at 10:07

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Last I checked my TSH levels were normal, but I’ll keep an eye on them, thanks.

Beyond that, you’re right. Chemicals everywhere, some of them not great for you. 

barnie > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/19/2020 at 12:48

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Sure. Cat box aboard most liveaboard boats with cats. Nee ds to be emptied. Some newbies just tos s the leavings overboard. Good thing there are lots of plastic bags around.

It is common for dog owners to put a square of astro-turf with a line attached at the bow . Dogs learn to use this. Then just dump the thing overboard, rinse and repeat.

DipodomysDeserti > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 13:18

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They were originally developed to be nerve agents as they bind up acetylcholinesterase . There’s a possible Alzheimer’s link with exposure to organophosphates. Thyroid disruption has been suspected but poorly studied.

  I find it ironic how we’ve reacted to a virus , when we willingly spray all manner of toxins al l over our environment. Official Alzheimer’s deaths in the US are around 100k every year. However, there have been some fairly comprehensive studies indicating that as many as 500k people die every year.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3962992/

Chariotoflove > DipodomysDeserti 10/19/2020 at 13:28

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There are a lot of things that kill us but we have just absorbed into our psyche and don’t worry about it as the cost of living . Heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes, obesity, traffic safety, all these things we take seriously when we talk about them but don’t freak out about them and get complacent in our daily living because they are familiar. The general populace would shit their pants if yellow fever suddenly broke out, but a century ago, it was just one more miserable feature of life to deal with.

People are funny that way.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 13:51

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I think the difference in our opinions lies in city versus country. Our neighbors have a bunch of outdoor cats that shit all over some of our plants, without burying , those die. The ones they leave alone are fine. There are almost no birds and very few squirrels. Too many outdoor cats for our neighborhood. I will agree that growing up and into my younger days living a rural life, outdoor barn cats were totally fine and actually a good thing, but their population didn't overwhelm other wildlife.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > barnie 10/19/2020 at 13:54

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I’ve never considered what house boat folks would do. But that's just... Ugh. People suck.

Chariotoflove > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/19/2020 at 14:05

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We came upon our Scooby by accident. The neighbor rescued her from certain death at the hands of someone’s abusive boyfriend, but no one could take her in. She adopted my wife and me, but my wife is immune compromised and can in no way have a cat in the house. So, Scooby moved into our garage, and I installed a cat door to the outside. The reason it all works is that Scooby has a very strong sense of the borders of her territory, is afraid of anything even slightly bigger than she is, and realizes that Meow Mix as libitum is the luxury life, with take out in the form of lizards and squirrels an occasional treat. This is in the city and on a cul de sac, but it works. If it didn’t work out, I was seriously considering whisking her away to my SIL’s farm. She’s a country vet with lots of barn and inside cats.

Most cities these days take advantage of the natural territoriality of cats to control the feral cat population. They don’t try to obliterate them, because they can’t. Instead, they trap and neuter/spay, vaccinate, and release to rule their territory. Again, my Scooby has a detente with those cats, and they generally don’t mess with her or come in our garage.

So, the long and short of it is that all of us who own pets need to be responsible stewards of both   our own animals and the community in which we live. It sounds like your neighbors may not be that kind of pet owner.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 14:11

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Actually agreed with all of that. The outdoor cats are less of a problem than irresponsible owners and unchecked feral populations. Our neighbors suck at all of this. But many cat  rescues and shelters around me stipulate that you shouldn't have outdoor cats. Too many shitty owners already and feral populations are insane in some areas.

Chariotoflove > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/19/2020 at 14:17

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I think because too many people don’t know how to curtail cat behavior, and it’s easy to lose control of them if you don’t keep them inside . Probably safest if you want to set  a blanket policy. But the reason I get a little sensitive is that some people become aggressive about it. My daughter was in 6th grade and taking a photography course at the Zoo. It came up that we have an outdoor cat, and the counselor teaching laid into her in front of the other kids about how irresponsible that was, etc. To a 6th grade girl in front of a group! I was pissed.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Chariotoflove 10/19/2020 at 15:43

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Oh that’s messed up! I think generally a blanket policy here is the way to go, because the vast majority of people can't grasp the nuance of the situation. But getting aggressive, especially to a child, is just flat out wrong sand even if the intent was to teach her (doesn't sound like it was), kids don't generally learn from being yelled at as readily as they do from being guided in a certain direction.

Chariotoflove > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/19/2020 at 15:59

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She just shrugged and stayed silent in her confidence that we know what we are doing. Her mom and I reinforced that for her. We strongly believe in teaching her responsibility in animal care, and so she knows what’s going on when we go the vet, etc.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Just Jeepin' 10/19/2020 at 22:59

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flame retardants in interior furniture was pushed by the tobacco companies.