Episode 14: Meet The Cats

Join Skye, River, and Poppy on a purrfectly delightful episode of the Death Coven Podcast: Meet the Cats!
Get ready for some serious feline fun as we introduce you to our furry friends: Mow, Garnet, Pickle, Berry, Angus, Hermes, and Harvey. We'll share their unique origin stories, quirky personalities, adorable appearances, and how these seven captivating creatures enrich our lives (and sometimes disrupt our recordings).
Tune in for  heartwarming tales, hilarious antics, and a whole lot of cat-itude!
**To skip the hypothetical and get straight to the content go to 13:36**
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review! Join our community of listeners as we explor the mysteries of the afterlife through the lens of witchcraft.
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Transcript

River 0:18

I got Garnet a collar with a Saint Francis medal and then I also bought one for Hermes cause he's out here raw dogging it and I was like, Saint Francis, I need your help once again. I need you to come

Poppy 0:30

Hey, I'm doing a whole episode on you. I need you to

River 0:33

Yeah. And I will go more

Poppy 0:35

like, devotionally, though.

River 0:37

Mm.

Poppy 0:37

That's a great, like, devotional, like, Hey, I'm gonna put, put you out on the air.

River 0:44

And I'll speak more on that in the Saint Francis episode. I keep my spell under wraps for now.

Poppy 0:48

In two weeks.

River 0:49

In two weeks.

Poppy 0:51

Kitty, kitty, cat, cat, cat, cat, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, cat. And welcome. Death Coven. Here we are, here you are, here we all are

River 1:02

we are together, holding hands.

Poppy 1:05

This is Death Coven. the podcast where this death coven tells you about what it's like to be in a death coven and river rolls their eyes and says, I hate that intro puppy. I hate you.

River 1:19

whoa. Okay. I did say that, but that's out of context.

Poppy 1:23

is a new meme. This is a new, Oh my

Skye 1:25

The witches are fighting!

River 1:28

No, the witches

Poppy 1:28

Just like the kittens, just like the kittens are fighting.

River 1:32

I, just, we'd never talked about it. And I didn't know if anybody like wanted to

Poppy 1:38

Off the air though, should, should we? Because that's like the old, that's just what

River 1:42

Yeah.

Poppy 1:43

we want to have a, do we want to like design a different

Skye 1:46

I have no

River 1:46

I'm

Poppy 1:47

Because it's not accurate. It's

River 1:49

Yeah. That's why sometimes I'd chime in. I'd be like, and also other things sometimes.

Skye 1:54

don't think we've ever really talked about what it's like to be in a death coven once.

Poppy 1:58

No, we haven't.

River 1:59

no we haven't. We're lying. This is stolen valor.

Poppy 2:03

This is Death Coven, the podcast where a Death Coven talks about whatever, whatever?

River 2:10

on?

Skye 2:11

realistically, it's like we talk about, like, Death gods and how interesting death is and how it's prevalent in human life and

River 2:21

We talk about our spiritual practices that often involve aspects and elements of death and dying. And also I think we all are just individually fascinated with death and dying in our own degrees and ways.

Poppy 2:34

Death Coven, the podcast where this Death Coven talks about death literally, metaphorically, physically, intangibly,

River 2:44

Yeah. Sexily sometimes.

Poppy 2:48

crazily, laughably, sillily,

River 2:53

Cause death can be all of those things.

Poppy 2:55

it is, it's the end, it's, maybe it's the beginning, maybe it's just a thing that happens,

River 3:02

Who's to say?

Poppy 3:03

not us, but we do have thoughts about it.

River 3:05

But this is our podcast and you do have to listen to us talk about whatever we want.

Poppy 3:09

Gosh darn it. but anyway, this is Death Coven, this is our podcast. Welcome. My name is Poppy.

River 3:17

I'm River. River.

Skye 3:18

And I'm Skye.

Poppy 3:19

And today we're going to be talking about something super special, super fun. because we can, because this is our podcast and it may not be death related. Although really at the end of the day, isn't everything death related? Because, what is life without death? What is the meaning? Anyway, today we're gonna be talking about our cats. Our little kittens. Our feline friends and companions and roommates. Um,

River 3:49

I did recently call them my wards.

Poppy 3:53

Yeah.

River 3:54

And that felt really appropriate.

Skye 3:56

Are they doing a good job at it though?

River 3:58

No.

Poppy 4:00

Well, no, ward just means like, your dependents.

River 4:03

yeah, they're just kinda out here.

Poppy 4:05

like a ward as in like warding off evil, although I do kind of use them as a like, do you sense something?

River 4:12

like a warning bell.

Skye 4:13

Yeah.

Poppy 4:14

they're like a canary in a coal mine. Yeah. but in the first episode, I think we did mention that between the three of us, we have seven cats.

River 4:24

lost stinkers.

Poppy 4:26

And so today we're going to be doing a meet the cats episode where we talk about all of our kitty friends. Um, but before we get started, I do have a little fun hypothetical game. You guys ready?

River 4:39

Yes.

Skye 4:40

I don't think I'm ever ready for these, they're always, I never know what to expect. It's either really fun and lighthearted, or it's like you're in peril.

Poppy 4:49

so you, if you go to sleep at night, you lay your little head down, you have your, you have the best dreams of your life. If you wake up in the morning. You stretch, you yawn. Ah, it's a new day. And then you look down at your hands, and they've been replaced with cat paws. And your feet have been replaced with cat paws,

River 5:08

and your body has been replaced by a cat

Poppy 5:11

No, no, no. You, so you still, you can still like walk around. You're

River 5:14

Okay, I'm just a cat boy now,

Poppy 5:17

You have your face, you have your entire

River 5:19

but no cat ears.

Poppy 5:22

you can if you want. That's, that's just accessory. You, the, you just have paws and you have a tail. How does this affect your everyday life?

Skye 5:30

Incredibly.

River 5:31

I work with my hands,

Poppy 5:33

You do. So what, so what are you gonna do?

River 5:36

I honestly, I would love to have a tail. Let's start there. I'd love to have a little tail and just like swish it around or like flick it when I'm annoyed.

Skye 5:44

hmm. how do you how do you hide the tail? What do you, what is your

River 5:48

tuck it in my pants. Or I don't. Or I don't, I just let that

Poppy 5:52

have to like Cut cut a little hole.

River 5:54

Yeah.

Poppy 5:56

let it

River 5:58

It would add to my t boy swag, I think.

Poppy 6:02

It honestly, undoubtedly, it would. Yeah.

Skye 6:05

Do you think that

River 6:06

I'm a t boy and a cat

Skye 6:07

tail and that they wouldn't say anything?

River 6:09

I think at first they would.

Skye 6:11

Like, you know those, like, accessory tails? Like, do you think that people would be polite and not say anything because they

River 6:17

once you start, like, moving it I

Poppy 6:20

Yeah, you know,

River 6:21

at first glance they'd be like, oh, you're a furry. And then once they saw it

Poppy 6:25

wise too,

River 6:27

yeah.

Poppy 6:28

you know, like it's like a little bit too far down,

Skye 6:31

Well, they make ones that just clip. You don't have to do the butt plug version. on like a belt loop. Like you don't have to go full.

River 6:39

It doesn't have to go up your ass. That's

Poppy 6:42

I was not

Skye 6:43

I would say in most instances, it's not going up the ass when people are wearing it as an accessory.

Poppy 6:49

but cats don't have prehensile tails So you can't do anything with it. You can't like grab stuff

River 6:54

it when I'm annoyed.

Poppy 6:56

Yeah, you can like communicate with it. You can like

River 6:59

That would do numbers for me. Non verbal communication with my tail. would be able to tell if I'm pissed off and I wouldn't have to say anything. Or they would like know I'm like feeling cute and secure and like curious if it gets like

Poppy 7:15

Your little

Skye 7:16

I hate to burst your bubble, but society is not going to accept you having a tail or

River 7:22

They already barely accept me, fundamentally.

Poppy 7:26

Okay, what if, what if

River 7:27

Let's have some fun with it, can I have a tail?

Poppy 7:30

Let's, let's say like everybody in the world wakes up with their little cat paws on their tail. Okay,

River 7:36

This is turning into Cats 2019.

Poppy 7:39

Oh no.

Skye 7:40

I think that

River 7:41

I feel like that gets away from the original hypothetical of how would this impact your life. Now we're just living in a fun world where everyone's a

Poppy 7:49

but I, so no, because I want to say like functionally how does it impact your life. I'm not talking about like socially.

River 7:56

I mean, I'm assuming they're paws but the size of my hands, like anatomically accurate.

Skye 8:03

claws. You don't really have a thumb anymore. Like you don't really have a true

Poppy 8:07

you have claws, you can't like, you can't

River 8:10

You can't

Poppy 8:11

hold your steering wheel, like, to drive your car, you can like, press your paws

River 8:16

But I could scratch things, and that seems like it feels really

Poppy 8:20

but

Skye 8:21

dinner? Like how are you going to get to work? How are we going to do your work? You can't use a keyboard anymore.

River 8:27

Easy, easy.

Poppy 8:29

mm

River 8:30

I think, cause you can extend, I've seen my cats like extend their little fingies and their claws, and I think if I had enough time and practice, I could whip my claws out and use them like acrylic nails.

Poppy 8:44

oh,

River 8:45

I wouldn't have thumbs, but I would have four fingers on each

Skye 8:51

Counterpoint what about your phone?

River 8:53

I hold it between my paws and I use my nose to type. It will take a

Skye 9:00

you can't use the thumbprint though because you so you will have to remember your bank password

River 9:05

Yeah, I already don't use my biometrics. I don't use biometrics for shit.

Skye 9:10

not?

Poppy 9:11

absolutely

River 9:12

It freaks me out.

Poppy 9:15

do Fuckin numbers with that, bleep that, Animal Crossing noise that.

Skye 9:20

Okay Now, is this phenomenon for the rest of our lives? The cat

Poppy 9:26

You don't know. You just wake up and you have catpaws. You don't know if it's gonna be, like, permanent or not.

Skye 9:31

I

River 9:31

I think I would freak

Skye 9:33

very realistically, I think that I would like, try to contact like, Michael or like, any of you guys in the group chat and be like, this strange thing is happening to

River 9:43

Hey, something weird

Skye 9:44

And I might honestly call like, an ambulance and be like,

River 9:49

Yeah.

Skye 9:49

call 911 and be like, come

River 9:52

Now what color are our paws and our tails?

Skye 9:56

get to

Poppy 9:56

tell me, what's your, did you guys, wait, hold on, did you guys, were you warrior cats kids?

River 10:03

No. I missed that fad.

Poppy 10:11

okay,

River 10:12

Well don't look at me like

Skye 10:15

I read like, I read a little bit of it, but I didn't like get into it.

River 10:21

I never read it.

Poppy 10:22

I was a warrior cats, like,

River 10:24

And what was your warrior cat's name?

Poppy 10:27

I didn't

River 10:27

I oh, you didn't have an, a warrior

Poppy 10:30

no, well no, I didn't have a, like a specific like warrior cat style name, but I was like, I always, my entire life wanted after Delilah. The cat in Alice in Wonderland. I wanted a gray, like, silver cat, like, with little white paws. And, um, And that's what I wanted to be. And it just so happened that later on in life, I would actually have a little gray cat with white paws. Um, but I always wanted to be like a sleek gray, like white pod

River 11:11

Sexy little

Poppy 11:12

like part of the water clan, you know, or the river clan. Sorry. But are you, so I guess my main question, are you guys going to try to go to work? Are you going to try to.

River 11:23

I mean, I'm going to take at least a couple of days off to try to figure this shit out.

Poppy 11:26

But if they're, if they're like, okay, it's not curable, like this is your life now, are you going to try to like do your job as like with cat paws?

River 11:34

I honestly,

Poppy 11:36

Biscuits?

River 11:38

I think making biscuits could be like pretty good.

Skye 11:42

blanket like you could Have like not

River 11:45

the sheet compression work.

Poppy 11:47

Your clientele might change.

River 11:49

Yeah.

Skye 11:49

I don't know. They kind of love me They might understand and be like that's a strange thing. Like if I explain in the

River 11:56

we would get like new,

Skye 11:59

What if we spin it? There's there's marketing where it's like, hey this new service that's being provided. Can Kitten, kitten biscuit making massage.

Poppy 12:09

Um, would you, I'm sure if this happened to like 10 percent of the world or whatever, there's going to be an OnlyFans market for

River 12:19

Yeah.

Poppy 12:20

are you?

Skye 12:21

I'm getting in there. I'm

Poppy 12:23

Yeah.

River 12:24

Cause it doesn't have to be like, not safe for work content on

Skye 12:28

It's like foot fetish stuff. It's like, you know,

River 12:32

Yeah.

Poppy 12:33

fetish.

River 12:33

paws up. Oh yeah, I would.

Poppy 12:37

Okay. Okay. All right. That's all I need to know.

Skye 12:42

What about you?

River 12:43

answers have been noted.

Poppy 12:46

What about me? Well, I don't, I don't really work with my hands, so I feel like I could just make it, I feel like I could just type with my four fingers, without my thumb, be fine at work.

Skye 12:58

Take

River 12:58

Also you work remotely. So like, no one would really even have to know.

Poppy 13:03

Yeah. Really, it would be more like, practically like, Oh, I'm making dinner. Can I, can I hold a knife and chop vegetables?

River 13:11

find out.

Poppy 13:12

But they make, um Plenty of tools for like disabled people that would help with that. So

River 13:18

aids. Yeah. I'm

Skye 13:19

You also have a partner that you live with who can help you

Poppy 13:22

Yes, that is true Yeah, Um, okay, well, thank you for sharing your little, your little kitty hypothetical

Skye 13:33

quips

River 13:34

The

Poppy 13:34

with us.

River 13:35

our minds.

Poppy 13:36

Which kind of segues into our topic for today. We're going to just be talking about our cats, whom we love dearly. Uh, and I think the intent is to start with our oldest cat. Like we're going to go like from oldest to youngest here. Um, and just talk about the cats. And I guess like we can, along the way, just, you know, whatever comes up will come up. But that, that's just going to be like the general skeleton of the episode is going through oldest to youngest. Okay, well, we'll start with Skye's kitty because he is the oldest among all of the cats.

Skye 14:20

I I have the oldest cat of, of, of anyone that I know. Not even just this cub and not even just the friend group of, and certainly cats have lived longer than my cat. Um, but his name is Mao, spelled M O W, and he is about 16 and a half years old. Yes, did you have something?

Poppy 14:44

Sorry, I just googled it. The oldest

Skye 14:46

Like 32 or something. No?

Poppy 14:51

Cream Puff, a mixed tabby domestic cat who lived to be 38

Skye 14:56

Yeah, 38. Yeah, I thought it was in their 30s.

River 15:00

Let's hear it

Poppy 15:00

That's nuts. That's more than Well, no Oh my gosh, I was about to say that's more than twice our age, but that's not

Skye 15:07

That's like twice Mal's age.

River 15:09

That is

Poppy 15:09

old. Yeah. That's like, two and a half times Mal's age.

Skye 15:14

Mm

Poppy 15:14

Anyway. Okay.

Skye 15:14

but R. I. P. Cream Puff. Yeah, Mal He's a grey tabby. His birthday is June 16th, 2008. So he is,

River 15:30

a zoomer.

Poppy 15:31

caused the housing

Skye 15:32

yeah, and the recession also. Um, and

Poppy 15:37

Question. So I've only seen now, like as an old man cat. So when he was young, he was like a gray tabby, like he had distinct stripes and he was gray colored. Or was he always this weird, like tan kind of.

Skye 15:51

it's hard to say. Like, he didn't have super, super distinct stripes. Your middle cat does I don't want to spoil it but like like he was never Like that crazy with the stripes, but he's always been He's a gray tabby. But yeah that weird like tanny brown Underneath I feel like is

Poppy 16:14

Okay. Cause my, my youngest cat too is also a, is a gray tabby. And so I'm like, now, like, was he ever like that? Mm

Skye 16:24

And not quite like that ashen medium tone gray, so

Poppy 16:29

Gotcha.

Skye 16:31

He's always been really weird his personality is How would you say? I, he's a Gemini. I mean, he's born in June. He is, um, I'll start with the highlights and there's really only one. He is incredibly intelligent.

River 16:46

sandwich.

Skye 16:49

He's incredibly intelligent, uh, to my detriment. Um, he is incredibly sociable. He is very friendly with guests, uh, to the point to where a murderer could come into my house and he would just demand pets. He kind of acts like a dog a little bit, if you're, if I'm being honest. Um,

Poppy 17:09

The screams.

Skye 17:10

Yes, his name is Mao because that is the noise he makes. And I was 12 years old when I got him. Um, fun fact about Mao, his first name was Shadow. That was his original name. But he just developed such this huge personality and he always is just screaming. He doesn't have any other volume He just goes wow and so I just I remember being like a 12 year old being like meow meow meow That's all you say. I should just call you mal and then he just was called mal from then And I had another cat, which I want to give him an honorable mention. My first cat was named Tommy. He was a black and white tuxedo, big, fluffy, long hair cat. And I got Mao as a kitten. And I, you'd think that as a child, I'd be like, Oh, I love my new kitten. But I was like, honestly, Tommy, he's the OG. I kind of like him a little bit more than this little shithead kitten. Um, and Tommy was inside outside. Come in and out and he would bring live animals into the house Uh, love him miss him, but I just wanted to

Poppy 18:16

Like birds?

Skye 18:18

oh, he's brought a live. He brought a live crow into the house. He brought

Poppy 18:22

Oh. The first instance of the Morrigan trying to contact you.

Skye 18:26

Him bringing a crow into the house Uh, maybe, uh live bunny rabbits moles things like that But yeah now I feel like there's so much to be said about mal, but i'm just like Where how how 16 and a half years? I guess I'll just update you. He's just always been a pest and a nuisance. He needs a lot of attention. He's always hungry. He's not fat. He's never been overweight, but he can eat and eat and eat. He has pica, so he loves to eat anything he's not supposed to. Plastic, you know, if you leave anything out, he'll try to get into it. If I try to do the dishes, he will get into the dishwasher and lick dirty plates and such. Um, he learned how to use our automatic trash can. He jumped inside to eat trash. Like he really was just a, a pest and a nuisance to me. He is the devil reincarnate. He really, uh, gives me, gives me trouble.

Poppy 19:23

But he loves you so much. You are his life. You are his

River 19:29

You are his mother and his wife.

Skye 19:32

Ew, yeah, you're right though.

Poppy 19:34

The devil's wife.

Skye 19:35

If I let him have his way, he would be curled up under my chin, and he would be clawing at my lips and my eyes, while he was rubbing his, like, drooling lips across my face. Like, that is what he would do if I let him do it.

Poppy 19:52

Did you say how old he

Skye 19:54

16 and a half.

Poppy 19:56

Yeah.

Skye 19:56

will be turning 17 this coming June 2025.

Poppy 20:02

Mm

Skye 20:02

And he still hasn't gotten a damn job or a driver's license. Like, it's getting ridiculous. Freeloader.

Poppy 20:09

Did you, so you don't have to leave this in, but like, was younger than

Skye 20:14

Yeah.

Poppy 20:16

Okay.

Skye 20:17

Yeah, she was like a year or two younger than him, I think.

Poppy 20:22

And you got her after Thomas died. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Skye 20:25

Thomas, yes.

Poppy 20:27

Wait. What?

Skye 20:28

He's just Tommy, yeah. And I'm like, wow, his full name. Yeah, I got, I got Bubby in like high school and I want to say that like Mal was probably like nine when I got Bubby and so she was like six or seven ish and then I only had her for like a year or two before she died of what ended up being lung cancer.

Poppy 20:54

Ugh. Horrible.

Skye 20:56

she like broke a rib and it like punctured her lung and that was like, it was like a sudden quick death after that.

Poppy 21:04

Sorry. Sorry to bring her up.

Skye 21:06

it's okay. I have her

Poppy 21:07

I was curious. You don't have to keep her in there. But I just, I was curious.

Skye 21:11

mention Bubby.

Poppy 21:13

Yeah.

Skye 21:14

Yeah, Tommy Bubby Mal. Um, I do want to just quickly end with Mal, with where he's at now. He's still being a nuisance and a mess and a nuisance and a, what am I trying to say?

Poppy 21:29

Menace.

Skye 21:29

you. A nuisance and a menace. Even though he is 16 and a half years old, he is not lethargic. He is not just laying around. His spirit is strong. He is jumping up high. He is still yelling. He is, you know, swatting and causing fights with my other cat. He is still waking me up early in the morning for breakfast, etc, etc. He's still eating things he shouldn't be. But he did recently get diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, so he's on hyperthyroidism medication. And he's on like special cat food. Um,

Poppy 22:05

is why he's so hungry. All the time.

Skye 22:08

the hyperthyroidism. Yeah. But even with the medication, like they checked his levels and his levels are good and where they should be. And he's still, I think that just at his core, he's just like a greedy asshole.

Poppy 22:19

a ferocious, yeah.

Skye 22:20

So I'm like, even though he's on all the medications and we did all the blood tests and everything and the doctors are like, yeah, his blood pressures, He's just like that. And he's been like that since the day I got him.

River 22:32

I remember you like pulled up one like Facebook memory post from like a year after you got him and you were like, yeah, I think my cat's evil.

Skye 22:42

Yeah, didn't, haven't I shown the two of you that photo of him where he doesn't have the bald spots? Like he's, he was like five or so and he like didn't have his iconic bald spots and his one liver spot.

Poppy 22:55

Iconic!

River 22:56

The first time I met Mal I did kiss his bald spot

Poppy 23:00

Me too! I rubbed his little gums. It's, that's the thing, like, Pete, like, strangers love Mal. Because he's so friendly and he just wants to be up on you. And I love Mal

Skye 23:12

Yeah.

River 23:13

Mal Yeah, I have a watched them a couple times while Skye and Michael are out of town And if I had to live with him full time, I would drive myself insane

Skye 23:26

Michael hates him. They're

River 23:29

Michael is a real trooper for living in that house

Poppy 23:32

And

River 23:32

so long.

Poppy 23:33

Michael is such a nice guy too that loves

Skye 23:37

It takes a lot, it takes a lot to push him over the edge. And it's really truly a testament to how much he loves me, that he'd be willing to put up with Mal for this

River 23:48

Yeah. He like, cares for Mao too, when he needs to. Like, he takes him to the vet if you can't make

Skye 23:54

well, he understands that he's like a living being, and it's not fair to like, let, like he's not gonna purposely let him suffer if

River 24:02

Yeah.

Skye 24:03

But if he's, if Mal's

River 24:05

feel like a lot of people will do that though, like if

Skye 24:07

oh yeah,

River 24:08

animal, they're like, I hope you do die.

Poppy 24:10

You guys have been together, like he, he's lived with Mal for like seven years now?

Skye 24:16

I mean,

Poppy 24:17

seven or eight

Skye 24:18

this coming, in 2025, it will be, Michael and I will have been dating for 10 years. Like, from when we first started dating. Um, and Mal is 16 and a half, so,

Poppy 24:30

And you moved in, in like 2019, like 2018, 2017, maybe?

Skye 24:39

I don't know. We've been living together for a long time.

Poppy 24:42

It's been a long time. Yeah.

Skye 24:45

But yeah, that's, that's Mal. He is, um, the worst of all of the

River 24:52

But he's also great. He's also so great

Poppy 24:56

He's an institution.

Skye 24:57

He, he's a dominating presence. Um, He, And I think that he, he is, he and he is racist and fascist and misogynistic and I think that if he were 18, like he would have voted, yeah.

Poppy 25:17

Oh

Skye 25:20

So like, but like he's sort of just been a staple of my life since I was literally in middle school. So he's just here,

River 25:29

He's just always been

Skye 25:30

he's, he's just always been here and I love him in the

River 25:34

you want to talk about what you're gonna do after he does pass? After, with his remains?

Skye 25:41

Yeah,

River 25:41

it back to the death part of the coven.

Skye 25:44

Yeah. Um, there is a place near us, um, that offers a service where you can bring your pet there and then they will, they have like this special kind of beetle that like eats away at the flesh and then you can keep the bones.

Poppy 26:03

scarab Of

Skye 26:06

thing with that is, is that they, they can't be euthanized. They have to have a natural death because the euthanasia will like kill the beetles.

Poppy 26:14

kill the beetles. Yeah

Skye 26:16

So, they have to die of a natural death. So, if he does have to end up being euthanized for whatever reason, I'll figure something else out.

Poppy 26:29

If you guys I mean Could you like dig a hole where you are now? You can do it above ground too. Like you can get a big like tote Tupperware and You know have him decompose within that if you want his bones I can send you a how to I've done so much research on, on this. It is. But as long as you don't open it, it's only stinky like when you open it.

Skye 26:57

I'll have to open it eventually.

Poppy 27:00

Yeah. But by then, you know, he's degraded. It's still stinky, but then you have his bones. Depends on how much you want his

Skye 27:09

yeah, can't you also just, like, scrape it away and, like, boil it down and do all that stuff?

Poppy 27:15

yes, but if you boil bones, it makes them really fragile, which is why, like, when you found that deer jaw and I was like, don't boil it, like, don't

Skye 27:25

Hard boil it

Poppy 27:26

and then bleach it. Yeah. Like don't, um, bones are really fragile, even bleaching them. Like you're not technically supposed to do that because it can make them crumble away.

Skye 27:42

Yeah.

Poppy 27:43

When it comes to that point, if you're interested, I'll, I can

Skye 27:46

yeah, we'll see. I don't know, there's other companies where,

Poppy 27:48

some how to's.

Skye 27:49

put them in the freezer and, like, you can send them off.

Poppy 27:52

they'll do it for

Skye 27:53

Yeah. uh, but River and I have sort of an understanding, um, a business agreement, if you will.

River 28:01

We have a contract.

Skye 28:02

halfsies on this beetle situation and River's getting half of the bones from Mal.

Poppy 28:09

Can I have one bone?

River 28:11

Absolutely.

Poppy 28:12

I just want one

Skye 28:13

You can have a bone. I'll have too many, but I really only care about his skull.

River 28:18

Yeah.

Poppy 28:20

I would love like a vertebrae or like a vertebra or

River 28:25

you shall have it. Oh,

Poppy 28:28

it.

Skye 28:29

That's

River 28:29

lousy with Mal bones, dude. Yeah. You can have whatever you want.

Poppy 28:33

cause I mean, I collect insects. But I feel like, yeah, I collect insects, but I also feel like having a mal bone would be like,

River 28:43

powerful.

Skye 28:46

Yeah, I mean, he's, he's been around for my entire witchcraft, like, period. Um, and he seems very interested in what I do, like, any time I begin to

Poppy 28:58

Yeah. You said like, he is your familiar,

Skye 29:01

Like like, I didn't initiate it. I never asked him to. I think that he took a personal interest in it and was like, because of his high intelligence, he's like, what is going on here? Cause I could sit down to like, I don't know, with my laptop to do like editing or something and he doesn't give a shit But if I sit down at a table and like bring out a deck of tarot cards suddenly he's interested Like i've noticed that he distinctly Gets very interested when I start doing magic when he feels the energy sort of shift. He feels pulled to it which is kind of really annoying for me because he gets in the way and i'm like you're being loud you're kind of like it's i'm, just worried about you now i'm like worried you're gonna be causing disruptances, but your tail's gonna catch on fire. And his tail's super long and he loves to do that thing where you walk by and he just like curls his tail like around like your your bottle and it like knocks a bottle off of the table, you know? Enough about that satanic being. That's enough.

River 30:01

Enough about that beast.

Skye 30:03

All right. Garnet. the

River 30:05

Garnet.

Poppy 30:06

perfect, beautiful baby.

River 30:08

perfect, beautiful, precious little angel baby. Yeah.

Skye 30:13

So garnet.

River 30:14

So Garnet Garnet. lore. Beautiful baby. And Poppy doesn't know Garnet lore.

Poppy 30:21

No, I mean, I know, I know Garnet. I've, I've, I've, met her, I've pet her, I've, I've, know, she's come up to me.

River 30:30

space with her when you spend the night at my place. Skye does a little bit, I think. I feel like we've talked about this.

Skye 30:40

I couldn't like recite it to you like one to one, but like I'm familiar.

Poppy 30:46

Okay, let's start with age and race.

River 30:50

uh, she is approximately, she is approximately about 11 or 12, somewhere in that area. And she's almost, she is an institution, not quite to the extent of Mal, but I have had her forever and she is a facet of my life that I don't know how I'm gonna live without.

Poppy 31:16

Beautiful.

River 31:17

And she is a beautiful little short hair American calico kitty. She looks like a little koi fish. She is my most precious little angel gift from above. And I got her from some random little pound in a city that I don't even live in. It was like a County close to where I lived at the time. And my brother's friend who they're not friends with anymore, but he, I thank him for this because he was the one that told me about this and we all went together. Cause I was like, I just, I want a cat. I want something to love and cherish so bad. I want a cat so bad.

Skye 32:03

Now, how old

River 32:04

took, I was 19 when I adopted her I was still living with my mom.

Poppy 32:12

hmm.

River 32:12

And Garnet now has been with me. This is the third home we've shared together since I've had her. She's just

Skye 32:19

Real quick, I forgot to throw in for Mal, my quick fact. Mal has lived in ten homes.

River 32:25

Yeah.

Poppy 32:26

no.

River 32:26

traveled.

Skye 32:27

he has lived in ten abodes. I did, I did, that was the thing I was telling you earlier that I was counting for. has lived in ten

Poppy 32:35

Mm hmm.

Skye 32:36

Sorry, continue.

Poppy 32:37

you wonder why he's like, too wise. He's too smart. Anyway, Miss Garnet.

River 32:45

Miss Baby Garnet.

Poppy 32:47

she ever get married?

River 32:49

No, she's, she's a real independent individual lady. She might be, I really don't know.

Poppy 32:56

Wait, so you got her as a kitten or you got her as an

River 32:59

I got her the pound said she was three years old.

Poppy 33:06

You

River 33:07

a couple of little like baby kittens. I think there were like six cats in total in the pound when I went there. And Garnet was just, she was this sweet little darling angel in a cage. And she, she didn't talk. She like meowed a couple of times, but she was not, I am talking about you. She keeps looking at me cause she knows I'm talking about her. And I was like looking at these little kittens and I was like, Oh, they're so cute. But this thing over here, this little cat over here, like I just feel so drawn to her. And she was so sweet. And I like stuck my fingers in the bar, which you're really not supposed to do. But she would like rub her little face up against my finger. And I was like, I have to have you. I have to have her. And so I was like, this is the one. And they did that thing where they're like, all right, we're going to put you in a room with them, see if you vibe. And I was like, unnecessary, but I'll play your game. And she's a very like curious, explorative cat by nature. So she really wasn't paying attention to me. She was like sniffing around the room and seeing what the deal was with the environment. And I was like, I must have her give her to me, please. And they didn't know anything about her.

Poppy 34:23

middle aged woman

River 34:24

Yes, very much so. And they said she was maybe three years old. That's the age she was listed on, on her little kennel. And they were like, she's not spayed yet. So before you adopt her and you take her home, we have to spay her here. And I was like, I'll wait the two weeks. It's fine. It don't matter. And then they like put her back in her little cage. They came back and they were like, actually, she is spayed. So you can take her home today. And I

Poppy 34:54

Oh.

River 34:55

fucking right. Give me my cat.

Poppy 34:56

Did they like, like, cut her open and they're

River 34:59

No, I think they just checked. Like you can check like the abdomen for like, like texture or density or something, the way vets do to see if she's got her bits and they were like, all right, take her on home. She's good. to go. And then I took her to the vet. recently after I brought her home and they were like, she's actually only like a year old.

Poppy 35:22

Oh!

River 35:23

Yeah. They thought she was

Poppy 35:25

have a litter or something? And that's why?

River 35:28

had no information on her. They just like found her. She might have kids. I don't know. She might be a

Poppy 35:35

Mm hmm. Mm

River 35:39

She hates all other cats. But She's been with me for a hundred million years and she's going to be with me for a hundred million more. And we've, we've shared a beautiful life together for almost 10 years. It'll be 10 years next January that we've been together. Yeah.

Poppy 36:00

have to have a party.

River 36:01

I would love to, I would love to have a little party for her.

Skye 36:05

We can do a

River 36:06

to go out on.

Skye 36:08

you and Garnet and me and Michael party. Just one big 10 year party.

River 36:13

put her in a little dress.

Poppy 36:15

Oh, She would

River 36:16

hates clothes. She hates wearing clothes. I've tried. She hates hats. She hates

Poppy 36:20

honestly.

River 36:22

I get it. But she likes to go out on little walkies. I have a little harness and leash and I have a little courtyard in front of my apartment. I take her out on little walks. And when I was living with my mom, my brother also adopted a cat later on. Um, And they, much like Garnet and Hermes, they went through like a spat period where they couldn't stand each other. Eventually they had come to a more manageable When yeah, when the other younger cat like grew up a little bit, she still had that fight in her and she was still a feisty little kitten, but Garnet was not as, Um, hateful and aggressive anymore. And also now she's an older lady and I feel like she's less tolerant to young cats. But I'm hoping, cause she lived with that other cat for like three years. So I'm hoping, given enough time, maybe they'll like each other someday. And she's, I just

Poppy 37:29

I think they will. Well.

River 37:31

single day.

Poppy 37:32

We'll talk about it. He's, he's a baby still.

River 37:36

baby, and he did just jump off the table to go sniff her.

Poppy 37:40

and we have similar experiences with Hermes and Harvey,

River 37:44

Yeah.

Poppy 37:45

to, but yeah.

River 37:47

when the baby hour comes. Yeah. But she, I could, I could say so much about her. I have, I have little likenesses of her everywhere. I have a little Calico cat figurine on my altar for some spell work I did. I painted a little picture of her. One

Poppy 38:08

Do you have a story about her you can tell

River 38:09

about, I have so many.

Poppy 38:12

story about Burn It.

River 38:14

I think my favorite story, no you're fine, I think, let me think, I think my favorite, not like standalone story, but my favorite behavior of hers is she is not a lap cat. She really is not like a snuggly, cuddly, like come up to you, sit in your lap cat. She's very friendly and she loves affection, but she does not often like sit on you.

Poppy 38:41

hmm.

River 38:42

And whenever, like, I'm sick and I'm not feeling well or I'm just, like, really in the shits with my depression, she will, like, climb up on me and, like, snuggle on me.

Poppy 38:54

Aww.

River 38:55

She's just very wonderful.

Poppy 38:57

Mm hmm.

River 38:58

And I will get a tattoo of her one day.

Poppy 39:01

Absolutely.

River 39:02

She's my

Poppy 39:03

So I've, I've seen people with tabbies specifically get like their, you know, like their forehead. Because Old Tabby, it's like a thumbprint, like there are different forehead marks. What would you get for Garnet? Like just a little, like a little likeness of her

River 39:19

I think I would. I could do paw print. I do spend a lot of time staring at her little toe beans, because much like other calicos, she has like little like markings on her toe beans as well.

Poppy 39:31

okay.

River 39:32

But I think, and there she is! Here she is. Hi Gwyneth.

Poppy 39:36

Oh, hi. Pretty girl.

River 39:38

She's very talkative. She has a lot to say. There was a period of time for like six months after I brought Hermes home, she stopped meowing entirely. She stopped vocalizing and that was devastating to me because she's a very vocal cat. But about, I want to say two or three months ago she started like vocalizing and meowing again at me. And I was like, I could cry. I'm so happy you're speaking again.

Poppy 40:05

Oh, what

River 40:06

She's just, she's wonderful and lovely and I don't know what I'm gonna do when she dies. I think about it sometimes and it like brings me to my knees and I'm just not ready to think about

Skye 40:15

You're not counting down the

Poppy 40:16

Yeah.

Skye 40:16

like I am.

River 40:17

cat. No.

Poppy 40:19

I mean, enjoy, that's, I mean, that's kind of the whole point of this. our death covenant and like our podcast in general, right? Like we enjoy, death is only meaningful because of life and life is only meaningful because of death, right? So we have a very limited amount of time, right? Just enjoy, enjoy what we have while we have it.

Skye 40:38

Yeah, cats and loved ones, I feel like we endure ourselves to enjoy and to like, drain every last drop of love, even though we know it's going to end eventually someday.

Poppy 40:52

though we delude ourselves and we're like, no, they're going to live forever.

River 40:56

She will live forever.

Skye 40:58

to cope. To

River 40:59

Yeah, because if I think about it too hard, I will fall to the floor right now.

Poppy 41:04

But also some, some people, some animals, when you meet them, you really do feel that age of their soul, you know, like with, like Skye, like Skye, for example, like, you know that she has a very old soul. It's the same for some pets like Mal, where you're like, oh, you have been here before, or you've, you've existed for a very long

River 41:29

and

Poppy 41:30

you can just sense that

River 41:31

I get that from Garnet. She's, I don't think she's as old as Mal, but like, she's been here.

Poppy 41:38

Yeah.

River 41:39

So that's it. That's my cat and I'm obsessed with her and every year I post a little Instagram story

Poppy 41:45

Mmm.

Skye 41:46

made it. She made it another year around the sun.

River 41:49

made it another

Poppy 41:51

Side note, listeners, we're going to post, um, on Instagram pictures of all of our kitty cats so that you can see them.

River 42:00

Cuz you gotta see them

Poppy 42:02

All seven of them.

River 42:03

things they're crazy

Poppy 42:05

listening to this podcast, which they may or may not be at this point, but who, who the fuck cares? We're having a great time.

River 42:14

And that's all I have to say on Garnet right now. I've had her for so many formative moments of my life, and I love her to bits, and she's spoiled rotten and she knows it.

Skye 42:25

Can you tell the listeners real quick? I know that you're trying to end this, but I just think it's so funny to me how you let her pick her food. Like, you will open multiple cans of different flavors of food and let her choose if she wants chicken or tuna that night. Like, she is

River 42:41

don't, I

Poppy 42:42

such a beta.

River 42:44

don't do that anymore since I got Hermes, because I can't be that selective. But before I got Hermes, I would, I would have two options of food for her and I would,

Poppy 43:00

We'll get into

River 43:01

I would let her sniff each one and whatever one she was interested in that day, I would feed her because she's a very picky eater and if I didn't let her do a sniff test first, she just wouldn't eat it and I would waste a can of food. So I would have to let her choose what she wanted to eat for that meal. because she's spoiled and she knows it and I love her and I

Skye 43:21

like a girl cat trait. That seems to be a girl cat trait. Cause I feel like boy cats are just so fucking greedy and they'll just eat anything.

River 43:28

Hermes is also very picky, unfortunately.

Skye 43:31

Well, she's raising him.

River 43:33

Yeah.

Skye 43:35

Anyway, sorry, but

River 43:36

No, you're fine. That was very funny. That might be my favorite story. I forgot about that.

Skye 43:43

So now we have Pickle.

River 43:45

Perfect pickle.

Skye 43:47

Pickle

Poppy 43:48

next. My Pickle, my baby girl. so, bringing her home, Um, so we had just moved into a new apartment. Like we'd kind of like moved across state lines it was a big move. And so we were still unpacking and he went to PetSmart and saw this one cat, this one kitten in the little adoptable section, and came home and told me, Hey, I see this kitten that I think you would really like. Let's go check her out. And so I went with him back, um, to the adoption center and they bring out this this gray tabby with like white paws like gorgeous really cute beautiful tabby and she's walking around the room in like river said like in that meet and greet kind of space and i just was not feeling it i was like ah i don't know this kitten just kind of like isn't isn't really what i'm looking for And I had never had cats, like, my family had dogs growing up and I just was not a cat person, and we were looking for cats because we thought that it kind of fit our lifestyle and we couldn't have dogs at the time, but maybe thought like eventually we would have dogs, and so, I just was not feeling it. and I, and I said as much, I was like, you know what? This is, this is not for me. Like, I'm sorry, this is really cute. Not for me. And we were about to leave when I thought back to the picture of the kitten that he had shared with me. And I realized this kitten that you shared with me is not the same kitten that we're meeting right now, even though the people that are like putting on this adoption event. say that it is. I'm like, this is not the same kitten because this kitten has a pink nose. The one that you showed me has a black nose. Where's that other kitten that you wanted me to meet? And so he didn't even realize at the time, but I did. And so they eventually, I was like, oh, this is not the kitten. That's the kitten.

Skye 46:01

Also the fact that it's a

Poppy 46:02

the kitten,

Skye 46:04

Pickle's

Poppy 46:04

not a tabby, tuxedo.

Skye 46:06

Oh, Tuxedo.

Poppy 46:07

They, so, The, the one that we had met was the sister of Pickle. The one that we eventually ended up bringing home. And so Pickle comes out, and I'm like, Oh, that's the one. That's the one. And so she comes out, and we play with her a little bit. I was like, oh, this is it. This is her. This is, this is the cat. and we did end up bringing her home that day, and I was in grad school then, and I was kind of like, Coming and going from grad school while getting the apartment ready, and I was away that day when we were talking about coming up with names for her. And I was like, you know what? I don't, it's, it's difficult, like maybe like, because her name was Penny, originally. Through the Adoption Center and I was like, uh, I feel like she's like, I don't know if I've told you this, her backup name was actually Goblin, so she was almost Goblin. We, well, sure. She doesn't have a middle name, but yeah, so we were like, okay, she kind of looks like a goblin. She has these huge big old ears, um, and I don't know where Pickle came from, but I was just kind of like, that's her, that's Pickle. So we brought her home. We had just moved in the, into this apartment, so we were like okay, let's get the entire place ready so we can bring this kitten in. This is all for this kitten. We're gonna unpack and we bring her in and she's just perfect. Perfect pickle. This gray tuxedo, completely gray with white paws, Beautiful, beautiful girl. And from the very beginning, she was just so in love with people.

Skye 47:49

she's so sleek.

Poppy 47:51

day, she's still

Skye 47:52

like when you touch her. It's like petting like an otter

Poppy 47:54

Yeah, all of my friends are like, yeah, she's like an otter cat. She's very sleek. She's very slender. She feels like an otter, like, just, ugh. She's just so good. And I love her so much, but she'll, she loves humans. So she'll come and like be on human laps or like play with humans. She does not like other cats.

Skye 48:16

But especially men, right? Like doesn't she have an affinity towards men

Poppy 48:20

She loves men. She likes me, but she prefers men. So like my partner, my ex, my um, my male friends, like Michael specifically, she loves Michael. She'll s she'll He loves her. Yeah, she loves to sleep with people like every single night She'll curl up like between my legs and we'll go to sleep together She's just wonderful she's about she's almost six years old. She's a Pisces. She's a Pisces Aries cusp And she's turning six this year her so much

Skye 48:58

Sweet baby pickle. She did not like Rachel for

Poppy 49:00

pickle No, she did not like Rachel, she, well Rachel's husband, I feel like she would have liked Rachel's husband if he had given her a chance, but he was like, that's a weird cat. Because disclaimer, all of my cats for some reason are like, weirdly small, and it's not because I don't feed them,

River 49:19

It just came like

Poppy 49:20

they just came like that, like I,

Skye 49:22

big

Poppy 49:23

yeah, my, so Pickle is about 8 pounds, my biggest cat is like, 10 pounds. And even then, he still has a really small frame. So, just, all of my cats are very small. And, uh, Rachel's husband is like, that's not a cat. Whatever that is, that is not a cat.

River 49:43

away from me.

Poppy 49:45

She just has a very, a very strong personality.

Skye 49:49

She speaks English and she knows what Rachel's said and she took that to heart and was offended

Poppy 49:57

She, she loves being loved. Like, she loves attention. Um,

River 50:04

is a Pisces, cause like, her and Pickle are so similar.

Poppy 50:08

Her and Pickle are very similar. Like, Pickle, when she was a kitten, um, we, so, for different reasons, we ended up getting our cats on, like, specific, like, urinary care food. But before that, when it was just Pickle, a girl who, they don't really have urinary problems, We started with chicken flavored kibble, and she was like, Uh, I don't really like chicken kibble. And so we tried out salmon flavored kibble. And you know how, like, when you have a pet and you're transitioning their food, especially cats, you kind of, like, mix A little bit of food in, and you, like, transition them? Well, with pickle, we started with, um, chicken, and we kind of, like, Transferred her into salmon flavored food, and she loved the salmon food.

River 50:59

goes fucking crazy for salmon.

Poppy 51:02

Mm hmm. So she, with the kibble, she would like pick out the pieces of chicken kibble and put them on the side and only eat the, the salmon flavored kibble. And you could tell because they were different colors, like the. The salmon kibble was, like, darker than the chicken kibble and she would pick out the chicken kibble and put it on the side and just eat the salmon kibble. She knows what she wants and she loves people and she loves being on laps and like right now if I had not closed this bedroom door she would be on my lap right now. Because she wants to be on laps 95 percent of the day. Like when I'm at, because I work from home. Like when I am working at home, she is almost always just sitting on my lap during work. So, she's lovely. I love her. Just like Garnet and Mal, like she's, she's never gonna die. I, she's never gonna go away. She's,

River 52:00

say that about all our cats. They're never going to die.

Poppy 52:03

no. And just thinking about it, I'm so upset. Um. But yeah, that's, that's Pickle. My Pickle butt. My Pickle girl.

Skye 52:12

I feel like in a weird way, Mal gives everyone else hope. It's kind of like, oh, yeah, like,

River 52:18

Yeah. I already got the sense that Garnet would be like late teens, early twenties. Like I get the feeling she's going to be here for like 10 more years.

Poppy 52:28

like my best childhood friend, she had two cats growing up. And both of them lived to be like 17 and one of them is still alive today and she's like 18 or 19 years old. And I'm just like, that's gonna be my cat one day.

River 52:42

to all of us.

Skye 52:43

Rachel's mother in law's cat is like older than Mal.

River 52:46

Like in the

Poppy 52:46

Allie.

Skye 52:47

Mm

Poppy 52:47

Allie the cat.

Skye 52:48

Allie, yeah, she's like 20, maybe 18.

Poppy 52:51

Scraggly.

Skye 52:53

Yeah.

River 52:53

And I don't care. I don't care if my cat gets a little bit weird and scraggly looking. I still love her.

Poppy 53:00

Yeah, we, we went over for um, Rachel's baby shower and her mother in law was like, Do you want to see the cat? I was like, yes.

River 53:11

I don't think

Poppy 53:12

I do?

River 53:12

that

Skye 53:13

You have to like, go into

Poppy 53:14

She was like, I'll bring her

River 53:16

Yeah.

Poppy 53:17

She was like, you can come upstairs to my bedroom if you want to meet the cat. I'm

River 53:20

And I was like, that's a little bit too intimate. I'll just stay down here.

Skye 53:24

time I met Allie, I went up into her bedroom, and she was like, on top of the bed.

River 53:29

Cute.

Skye 53:30

I did not get to pet her, she is not friendly.

River 53:32

Can I say one little garnet story that I just remembered about salmon? Salmon. As, as I just remembered, your salmon mention unlocked a memory in me that Garnet, I've had her for so long and she's so spoiled that I, I eat fish on occasion and I buy little pouches of salmon and she recognizes the crinkling of the packaging. To where I can be doing anything. I can crinkle anything that's not a salmon pouch. Nothing. She doesn't care. The second she hears the salmon pouch crinkling, she runs into the kitchen and stares at me because I always give her salmon. I've trained her

Poppy 54:14

Oh,

River 54:14

one instinct, in this one instance.

Skye 54:17

Do you also give her

Poppy 54:18

a, what a beautiful good girl.

River 54:20

I do, I give Hermes salmon, but he doesn't really like it as much as she does. He'll bat it around on the floor. But Garnet loves salmon. And I can't eat salmon without giving some to her.

Skye 54:33

Yeah.

Poppy 54:33

it's so weird because like, gender usually doesn't matter at all, but like with cats, you can really tell. You can tell the difference between a boy cat and a girl cat for sure.

Skye 54:46

Yeah, we're gonna get, if Mal ever dies. Not when, but if. We're, we're planning on getting a girl cat next. And she'll

River 54:54

Yeah. Berry and Peach. And now we're just going to Lad Town, because the rest of these

Skye 55:01

Yeah.

River 55:02

now.

Poppy 55:04

Speaking of Barry, because I'm pretty sure he's next, um, Didn't you, didn't he have a sister?

Skye 55:12

He did.

Poppy 55:13

Like in like name peach or.

Skye 55:16

No, because, all right, so we'll, we'll get into Barry now.

Poppy 55:20

Okay. Let's, let's do it. Let's get into Barry.

River 55:23

first, what was Berry's original government name, if you could

Skye 55:26

I'll be getting into that. Don't worry.

River 55:28

Okay.

Poppy 55:29

Okay. So hold on. Okay. So Mal was shadow. Garnet was.

River 55:35

was Garnet. She didn't have a name

Poppy 55:36

Oh,

River 55:37

shelter. she was

Poppy 55:38

pickle. pickle. was Penny

River 55:40

And now we have Barry.

Skye 55:42

So Barry, um, my birthday is in August, as we've discussed. Uh, Poppy and I are both Leos. So Michael, yes, so Michael for my birthday went to our local, like, shelter and got, like, in a, an empty adoption paper and on my birthday gave it to me and was, like, I'm going to get you a cat for your birthday. And understandably I was so excited. So I'm looking on their little website as on the drive there and I'm looking, looking, looking, and I see a couple of cats that I think are really cute, but one of them kind of really stands out to me. And then when I

Poppy 56:22

I was so excited too, by the way, because you guys told me like that day that you were going to go look at cats And I was just like all the entire friend group was like, oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god who's gonna get added to

Skye 56:34

a new member of the family. Yeah. Yeah. Being downloaded with kitten pics. Yeah. So we're on the way. I'm looking at the little website, but you know, it's a vibe in person vibe base.

Poppy 56:46

Yeah

Skye 56:46

So I go, I kind of have like names in my mind from looking on the website and I'm like scanning all like the little cages and stuff and I'm like, okay, I think this is one of the cats that I was really interested in and it's Barry. He's in there with his sister. Barry is a fluffy black kitty but at the time he was just like a normal looking black cat and his sister,

Poppy 57:09

short hair looking like he just didn't have long hair yet.

Skye 57:13

I think like he just was. a black cat kitten. Like, he wasn't that old. He was maybe like a couple months old. Like,

Poppy 57:21

Hm.

Skye 57:22

we didn't know he would turn into what he ended up turning into.

Poppy 57:26

Mhm.

Skye 57:28

And his sister was like a white kitten, which is interesting. Like, a creamy kind of white color. Um, and his original name was Roger

River 57:42

Roger the kitten. Be so for real right

Skye 57:46

And if you, and if, for, you know, my friends who know he is so not a Roger. Like, that's too serious for him. And so when I approached his little cage and I go, Oh, I saw Roger on the website. I'm interested in him. I walk up and immediately he does that stupid thing where a cat flops onto his head, like real stupid, like, like he got,

Poppy 58:10

Which is just so, that's so, that's so

Skye 58:14

yeah, he just got so excited that someone was walking up that he like flopped onto his head, like from a sitting position and he was in the back of the cage. And then I immediately was like, Oh, I gotta have him. Oh, he's so stupid. I gotta have him

Poppy 58:31

love a stupid boy.

Skye 58:33

and I don't like I think we took like one little lap up and down just to kind of like Just to like look But like once we got to him, I immediately was like where is an employee? I need to get him out of there

River 58:46

Server, please bring me this cat.

Skye 58:48

And there were so many people like looking around and stuff that I was like, I was so

Poppy 58:54

Like we got to lock this down right now.

River 58:56

You're standing in front of the kennel and you're like, don't look at him. That's mine.

Skye 59:00

god

Poppy 59:01

It is. It is 2017.

Skye 59:04

uh 2019

Poppy 59:07

20. Oh God.

Skye 59:08

2019 it is

Poppy 59:10

before the pandemic.

Skye 59:11

Yeah, so I find an employee and I'm like I want to see him and they're like, okay Yeah, and then they pull him out. They pluck him out and I hold him and I'm like, yes Yes, yes exactly what I wanted and then I hand him to Michael because that woman just leaves then she just lets us have A free range cat out in the hallway. Like we're not in one of those rooms that you guys were in

Poppy 59:33

hmm.

Skye 59:34

Um, and so I hand Barry to Michael and he's standing there and he's just like latched, like breastfeeding to Michael while I'm like,

River 59:44

Right on his teeth.

Skye 59:46

like,

Poppy 59:47

has like big heart eyes like a cartoon.

Skye 59:50

He's keeping him safe on his little shoulder because I'm like, I, I, I'm in like the zone where I'm like we're getting this cat out of here right now immediately and I'm like on the hunt I'm finding one and she takes me to the front desk and I'm like filling out paperwork Michael's still just back there holding holding Barry. He's holding Roger at the time

Poppy 1:00:11

Mm

Skye 1:00:12

I'm doing all the paperwork. Obviously, eventually Michael has to come out. They like, bring the cat back. They like, update the chip and all that stuff, um, because Michael paid. Like, that was my birthday gift, but like, you know, we signed all the paperwork and stuff.

Poppy 1:00:25

He still owes you a tattoo, doesn't

Skye 1:00:26

He owes me a tattoo. Yeah, that's true. but when we brought him home, and like you said, the pandemic would soon sweep in. But yeah, so we, we bring Barry home. And he has herpes simplex. So he's got like a yeah, he's got a little stuffy nose. He's got two different eye infections one in each eye He's got eye drops that go in different eyes that have to be administered like every four or six hours It's a real pain in the butt and to this day. He still has like a little boogery nose He just gets like an occasional little snot bubble but He, he's very sweet. Um, he has big sneezing fits and stuff and he he's on Immunosupplement stuff that he gets in his weight loss in his weight loss food

Poppy 1:01:17

a big boy.

Skye 1:01:18

he's a big boy now. Yes, he grew very quickly he

Poppy 1:01:22

why is he a big boy, though? Like, what kind of cat is

Skye 1:01:25

Yes. Yes. I'm getting into it.

Poppy 1:01:27

Okay, okay. Sorry,

Skye 1:01:28

That's okay He was just like a normal cat and then he started getting real big and we're like, whoa You

River 1:01:36

This cat blowed up.

Skye 1:01:38

Like within a year or two, we were like, he's kind of huge. He got up to 18 pounds at one point.

River 1:01:46

What's he at now today, currently? Do you

Skye 1:01:49

16. He's still

River 1:01:50

Okay.

Skye 1:01:51

Yeah,

Poppy 1:01:55

Alright, Paris Hilton.

River 1:01:56

Alright.

Skye 1:01:57

he was very, like, when he got his, like, full coat and everything, like, he's so dashing. He's so handsome. He's got plumage to him. Like, he really, especially his mane and the way his ears, he's got real long ear whiskers. So we were like, he looks like a Maine Coon, but like, the way his fur is, is like, not quite. So we did a DNA test on him, because we were like, what is going on with this very beautiful kitten? And so, he is mostly Norwegian Forest Cat. He does also have Maine Coon in him, and he's also Ragdoll. That's kind of where he gets his personality from. He's so floppy. He's really chill. He'll let you do just kind of anything He does like, not like to, but he will allow me to put clothes on him. I recently bought him a little cowboy hat as I have sent in the group discord channel yesterday.

River 1:02:51

the Instagram. It's

Skye 1:02:53

I will. He also has little bandanas.

Poppy 1:02:56

leather jacket.

Skye 1:02:57

It's like a, uh, like a denim vest. It's like a biker vest. It's very cute. But yeah, he's just a little cutie patootie sweetheart. He is the angel Um and mal is the demon so I kind of have a dichotomy of cats in my house I have one that's like too pure too sweet for his own good Kind of really lazy just kind of flops over likes to lay in a sun patch really stupid Is not nearly as intelligent He is a Taurus. his birthday is may 8th 2019 Yeah, he was like three months old when I got him. So, May 8th, 2019 is his birthday. He's a Taurus, so he loves to luxuriate and lounge. And to eat. But he, he has to be, he has to be on a On a weight loss journey.

Poppy 1:03:49

hmm.

Skye 1:03:49

his own good because he also has had pee pee issues in the, in the past. And my vet, um, my vet said that it's common in, like, overweight, um, sedentary male cats. So if you've got a chunky boy who doesn't really like to move a lot, they're more prone to getting pee pee crystals.

Poppy 1:04:10

Well, my vet said that it's just common in neutered boys in general because when they're neutered, it like, like their urethra is like shortened.

Skye 1:04:20

Oh.

Poppy 1:04:21

And yeah, and so it like causes more issues. I don't

Skye 1:04:25

Just cause they're in that area snipping around. Yeah, I don't know, but yeah, he's just he's a very sweet boy and He's Yeah, he's and he's a big old snuggle bug. He's very he's a little bit of a scaredy cat though compared to Mao He's not he's getting more friendly as he gets older, especially with people he knows and recognizes But if like a maintenance guy comes over or something like that, like he will go run and hide under the bed So he does kind of have to warm up to a little bit But yeah, he's just my little shy guy. He's my big tubby, wubby, shy guy. Very fluffy. He's just, he's just like a fluffy black cat and he's just my oopy foopy. He's just so sweet and I love him so much and he lets me touch his little paws,

Poppy 1:05:14

He's the one that slept with me, uh, in episode six when we had the Samhain

Skye 1:05:19

abnormal behavior for him. Like it's very,

Poppy 1:05:23

really?

Skye 1:05:24

for like a guest, I feel like that, like that's a little, I mean, we don't really guess, get guests sleeping over that often.

Poppy 1:05:30

Overnight guests.

Skye 1:05:32

like, I feel like it is more impactful that he slept with you that night, like, it means more. Whereas if you were like,

Poppy 1:05:39

Mm hmm.

Skye 1:05:39

was there, I'd be like, of course he was.

Poppy 1:05:41

Yeah. Mal is everywhere all the time.

Skye 1:05:44

Yeah.

River 1:05:45

sitting

Poppy 1:05:46

in this room with me right now. Ha ha ha

Skye 1:05:49

Yeah. I felt like, like, Barry sometimes I feel like Barry Like, Mal is interested in magic, but when Barry does act, it's more impactful and significant, I feel like, because, like I said, like, he's, like, seen figures and stuff, and it kind of means a little bit more to me when Barry acts out of the norm, uh, because it, I feel like, for him, it's like he's compelled to do something that he normally would not want to do. So maybe he felt like you needed comforting, where he was like, you know, I'm kind of, I kind of want to be in bed with my parents like I usually am. But I feel like I need to be down here.

Poppy 1:06:26

she's seeing River as like a big white eyed like demonic being so

River 1:06:33

She needs my presence.

Poppy 1:06:35

don't know what that was about.

River 1:06:36

I don't either, and I wish I did.

Poppy 1:06:38

I will also say Pickle is kind of the same way like as Mao. Pickle is definitely whenever I'm doing magic, like magical working, she will try to be, like, I'll be reading tarot and she'll come and sit on my lap and be like, okay, I'm just going to give you like a little bit of extra juice. Um, so I don't know if that constitutes like familiar territory or if she's just more in tune, but

Skye 1:07:06

I don't know. I don't really consider either of my cats true familiars because we haven't We haven't formed like a contract or anything, which I think is the definition of a familiar. But I feel like Mao just kind of is like trying to wiggle his way in like I feel like he wants it I think he

Poppy 1:07:23

If I'm being honest, for me, I feel like a familiar is more like on, this is not true for everybody. Just want to say that if you have a familiar, that's your journey. However, for me, I feel like a familiar would be on the spiritual plane. So I feel like eventually, like 300 years from now, when Pickle eventually does. die. Maybe she'll come back, like, on the spiritual plane and act as familiar,

Skye 1:07:53

Yeah, or to me. It's it's a bit more contractual like it's less like You Like when do you clock out being a pet and clock in being the familiar, you know what I mean? Because I think it could be like you Maybe you're one of those people who you have like a crow That you have like a bed like a like you feed a crow And like you have a contract with the crow and it you know, you guys have that familiar contract But it's not snuggling up with you in bed at night and loving you deeply But I do think that you could have a pet and a familiar at the same time I just don't know what that would look like

Poppy 1:08:25

I think both Pickle and Mao in their human lives, because I do think that both of them did have human lives, I think both of them were magic users. Like Mao was some kind of like warlock, like Pickle was definitely a witch in some capacity.

Skye 1:08:43

be a reincarnate of Alistair Crowley.

Poppy 1:08:45

I could see that. Although he, well I guess he is fixed. If he was not fixed he would be fucking everything.

Skye 1:08:53

to. would love to. Do you know how many times I've seen his penis?

River 1:08:57

a eunuch.

Poppy 1:08:59

How many times? You what?

Skye 1:09:00

Me? Have seen his penis. You

Poppy 1:09:03

Oh yeah. A little red rocket.

Skye 1:09:05

a cat penis, I feel like.

River 1:09:07

I certainly

Poppy 1:09:07

mean, I have, I some, I mean, well, I'll get into that in the next story, but yeah.

Skye 1:09:14

Do we want to move on to our next boy?

Poppy 1:09:16

Yeah. We can move on to Maple.

Skye 1:09:19

the name

Poppy 1:09:19

little, my little kitten. Maple

River 1:09:22

didn't know that was his original name. Oh,

Poppy 1:09:26

So So this was the beginning of the pandemic. So my partner at the time, and I had moved to this townhouse. We were talking about getting another cat and you know, X, Y, Z, we end up at this seven 11 and there's a kitten in the trash

River 1:09:52

Not a little trash cat.

Poppy 1:09:54

dumpster. Um, and so we get this kitten and we're like, Oh, hello. Uh, we bring him home, we bring her home, and we're like, Hey, this is, this is Maple. Because she's so snuggly. She, like, whenever you hold her in your arms, she, like, wants to snuggle into your armpit, basically. Like, you'll hold her, and she'll just wanna snuggle down. Um, super cuddly, super, just, friendly. Um, I was watching The Bachelor at the time, And she would come up and like, lay on the keyboard, and we would watch The Bachelor together. And it was just so cute, like, because during that time, I was working, no joke, like, I would drive into work, I would leave the house for work at like, 5am, get to work at 6. 30am, come home at maybe like, 8pm? Like an hour and a half drive to home. Fall asleep and then get up and do it all over again. Cause this, this was during the pandemic. Like it was very, it was intense. Um, and so whatever time I did have, I was with maple. Um, and eventually I was like, Oh, maple. This is weird. Like, is she okay? Because it looks like her crotch region is inflamed. Is she actually a boy cat? And I called, I called the vet and I was like, hey, we need to bring my kitten in. And they had already evaluated her. They like, did her whole work up. Like, okay, this is her, you know, we'll do all of the herpes tests and give her her shots and whatnot. And I called them and I was like, I think this cat might be a boy cat because i've seen like a weird Red Rocket. And the vet was like, No, the vet definitely said this was a girl cat. And so I brought her in, um, one day and I was like, okay, if this is a girl cat, there's something wrong. Because there is a, like, an inflamed like, penis looking thing sticking up out of Her

Skye 1:12:19

Her clit is poking

Poppy 1:12:20

a look at that.

Skye 1:12:21

girl cat.

Poppy 1:12:22

Yeah, if this is a girl cat, there's something incredibly wrong right now. And I bring her in and this was during the pandemic. So it was one of those situations where like you are sitting in the parking lot and they come and like, pick up your cat and bring them inside and then call you about it. And so they, they They pick up Maple, they bring her inside, and they call me, literally like, with, like less than five minutes, it's like three minutes, and they're like, oh yeah, this is not a boy. I'm like, you're right. Um.

Skye 1:12:56

not a girl?

Poppy 1:12:58

No, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, not a girl, not a girl. This is not a girl cat. Um, do you need to like update her information because she was, it was at the point like before she would have gotten neutered. So we had to like do a 180 and be like, okay, she's gonna get spayed instead of neutered, like had to schedule the surgery and all that. Um, and so we're like, okay, it's a boy cat. Let's bring her home. And so I decided his name was going to be Angus, um, just because it just fit because he's like, he's, he's just an Angus, like if you met him, you would know his, he's, his name is Angus, but he goes by Gus, Gus, Gus sometimes.

Skye 1:13:45

Angus is a very Scottish name.

Poppy 1:13:48

yeah, he, I mean, I feel like he's, he's pretty Scottish, like, you know, you've met him, you know him. Um,

Skye 1:13:55

him.

Poppy 1:13:56

He's, he's just such a sweet boy. He also, like Pickle, he wants to be loved all the time. Like, he's a lap cat. He'll headbutt you constantly. The only thing with him is that he does not know how to retract his claws. I have to continually keep his claws clipped because he always wants to, like, Be on you and do biscuits on you with his full, un retracted claws. Yeah, he'll like, touch your lips. He loves so hard. He's such a good boy, though.

Skye 1:14:33

And can I say respectfully about Gus? Like, he's a little bit

Poppy 1:14:37

yeah. Oh, yeah.

Skye 1:14:40

so is Barry. Barry is super pathetic. But in like

Poppy 1:14:43

So Gus and Barry, like, I brought Gus home around the same time that Skye brought Barry home. So they're about the same age. Um, And Gus, Gus, Gus has always just been super cuddly, like he loves giving head butts, he loves cuddling, to this day. He's also Like, he has a tendency to be overweight, so he usually, he'll weigh like 14 pounds, but he's a very small framed cat, so right now, now that he's lost weight, he weighs 10 and a half pounds, and that's like, perfect weight for him, is 10 and a half. Pickle is 8 pounds, Gus is 10 and a half, um, and he's just lovely, I love him so much. He, he's my middle child, so like, I feel like he gets The least amount of attention, but he'll only, like, every four or five days, he'll hop up on my chest and be like, Okay, now I'm gonna demand attention, you know? He's a very good boy.

Skye 1:15:51

He's my favorite of your cats, is that bad to say?

Poppy 1:15:54

Really? No, that's not, that's not bad. I feel like most people's favorites are probably Pickle. Most people say that they love Pickle the

Skye 1:16:02

Or Harvey. Harvey gets a lot of, a lot of love.

Poppy 1:16:05

Harvey. yeah, Harvey's a good boy, too. Oh.

Skye 1:16:08

I just, I have a special affinity for Gus. And I don't know what it is. But I've always had a special place for Gus.

Poppy 1:16:15

Gus is very sweet. So Gus is a brown tabby. He's like standard issue cat. He's very aggressive with his love, so he'll only give it every now and then, but when he does give it, he'll get on your chest and he'll, he will headbutt you with like such force and such strength and take his claws and like claw your lips as he's just headbutting you repeatedly.

Skye 1:16:42

He's sort of a blend of Mau and Barry in that way.

Poppy 1:16:45

Yeah. I agree. Yeah. He's, he is. He is like Mal and Barry kind of combined, um, but with his own special, special gust layer on top. And he also has pee pee problems, so he's the reason that we got on the special chicken pee pee food that we're on, that Pickle had to get used to.

Skye 1:17:11

Poor Pickle. You don't have

Poppy 1:17:14

Yeah, but he

Skye 1:17:15

each of your cats like I do?

River 1:17:18

I do.

Poppy 1:17:20

I mean no eventually I was like, okay There are three of you you guys are all going to be eating the same shit Especially because I have to give you guys your unique medicines. I'm not also gonna feed you guys different diets Yeah,

Skye 1:17:33

Yeah.

Poppy 1:17:37

and that's Gus Gus

River 1:17:39

And that's

Poppy 1:17:40

He's lovely. Yeah. He, he literally, I was knitting last night and he stood on my chest, like, as I was knitting for probably 20 to 30 minutes and just repeatedly was headbutting me as I'm watching The Walking Dead.

Skye 1:17:57

I love him so.

Poppy 1:17:59

where were we? Hermy!

River 1:18:05

Hermi wermi.

Poppy 1:18:07

Little, little

River 1:18:09

we're iN the youngest of our cats. We're in the baby zone.

Poppy 1:18:14

Post pandemic

River 1:18:15

Yeah, post pandemic zone.

Skye 1:18:17

Within this past year

River 1:18:18

Hermes. Huh?

Skye 1:18:20

I said within this past year zone.

River 1:18:23

Oh yeah, I, it has been a little over a year since I adopted Hermes. I adopted him last October, day after my sister's wedding, or maybe two days after my sister's wedding. Yeah.

Poppy 1:18:39

in with the old man that we talked about in episode

River 1:18:41

Yes, I did. And I, like Skye spent the night at my apartment that night after we got back into town. And I, I had kitten fever. You had gotten your kitten. And one of our co workers had gotten a kitten, and I was like, I want a kitten so bad.

Skye 1:19:04

Harvey older? Should we be starting with Harvey first?

River 1:19:07

Harvey's

Poppy 1:19:08

Harvey's younger, but I got

River 1:19:10

him like, fresh out the womb.

Poppy 1:19:12

like, three weeks

River 1:19:13

Yeah.

Skye 1:19:15

Which he's a good one to end on, I feel like.

River 1:19:17

Yeah, I think it's, it ties it all together really nicely. Oh, right, our friend, Friend of the Pod also, we found a kitten in like a car engine outside of a business we had just been at. we found a little baby kitten, a little stupid orange boy who I love dearly. And there were just a lot of kittens in my life and I was like, I want a kitten so bad and I'd had Garnet for so long already. And I, I was worried that she was like a bored and depressed while I was away at work cause she was alone. And I was gone for like sometimes eight hours at a time cause I used to commute to work. So sometimes I would be gone for like 14 hours or 12 hours or something. And I was like, she's just here all by herself. And I selfishly also just love a little fucking gremlin running around being a cutie pie.

Skye 1:20:13

kind of getting that FOMO from everybody else having a

River 1:20:16

Yeah! And I wanted one. And so Sky and I were like posted up on my couch after

Poppy 1:20:24

Mm hmm.

River 1:20:26

through Craigslist kitten ads.

Skye 1:20:29

to talk about that one weird sketchy kitten?

River 1:20:32

Yeah, I can. There, like, there was a scam post for, like, little ragdoll kittens and they're so expensive. And it did not obviously seem like a scam at the time. So I, like, reached out to them and they were like, Oh, well, we actually just, like, moved to, like, fucking Michigan or some shit like that. And so, like, we're gonna need to, like, airmail the cat to you and it's gonna

Poppy 1:20:56

Whoa.

River 1:20:57

a bunch. And I was like Absolutely not. I'm not doing that. And that's not a real kitten. You don't have that kitten.

Poppy 1:21:04

Yeah, if you, if you had that cat and you would be selling that kitten like in Michigan,

River 1:21:08

Yeah. Yeah. And they were trying to say like, Oh, it's just the weather. It's not agreeing with the cat and the cat's not happy here. And I was like, bullshit, you want 400 off me and you're not going to get it. Yeah. And then at the same time I saw that, There was a little post, there was a little post of a little black and white kitten wearing a little cowboy hat in the picture. And I was like, hol everybody shut the fuck up. Everybody shut the hell up. This cat is wearing a cowboy hat. I have to know more about him. And I, I, I sent out a little message, was not really expecting to hear anything back super soon, but his foster mom like emailed or texted me the next day. And she was like, Hey, the kitten's still available. If you, if you want him, all I need is like you to fill out this adoption form and bring it to me at my house where I'm currently fostering him. And I was like, Easy. This is crazy, but

Skye 1:22:13

And what was his name originally?

River 1:22:16

Originally, his name was Finnegan.

Poppy 1:22:19

Finnegan.

River 1:22:20

Finnegan. And he, he doesn't not look like a Finnegan. He does very much look like a Finnegan. And I, like, for the first couple weeks before I renamed him, I was like, Oh, Little Fin. Yeah. And I, uh, I hadn't really like planned to immediately adopt him. I was just sort of putting feelers out and then she texted me that and I was like, Oh, I have to go to Petco immediately. I have to go get supplies for this kitten cause I don't have kitten supplies. I have adult senior cat supplies. And thankfully, I do live in a two bedroom alone, so I was able to set up the second bedroom as a little kitten room for him. And I drive, like, 20 minutes away to this strange woman I've never met before's house. I'm alone. All of my friends are either, like, At work or busy with something. And I was like, I, I just have to go meet this cat. I am so charmed by this little kitten. I have to go see him. And I get there and she like, I, I went around the side. Cause she was like, come around the side through the garage. Like, that's the best way to come in. And I was like, okay. And she comes out into the garage and she's holding this tiny little, like, four or five month old little cow looking motherfucker. Yeah, I'm talking about you.

Skye 1:23:44

like a little

Poppy 1:23:45

Oh.

River 1:23:46

He looks like a little baby. He's black and white, but he's not a tuxedo cat. He looks like a cow.

Poppy 1:23:53

He's like a calico, but not a

River 1:23:55

But just black and white. Yeah. Like his markings look like calico markings, but he's just a little black and white cat. Yeah. He's just an American domestic shorthair. Yeah. And we, we get inside so we can like finalize the paperwork and she can make sure I'm like a good fit. She does the interview questions. And I, she's like, do you want to hold him while we're like doing all the official stuff? And I said, Yeah. Yeah. And he was so small. He just like could nestle in the crook of my arm. And I just held him and we sat there talking for like an hour and a half.

Poppy 1:24:32

hmm.

River 1:24:33

And I was just holding him the whole time. And he's a very anxious little baby,

Poppy 1:24:38

Yeah. Wow.

River 1:24:38

especially with new, he's always been anxious. So when like he tried to wiggle and run when I was like first holding him, but eventually he just like settled in and fell asleep in my arms. While we were talking

Poppy 1:24:52

like, this

River 1:24:52

like, she was like, this is your cat. And somebody else was supposed to get him. Somebody had contacted her like a week beforehand about him and she just never showed up. And I was like, that's'cause he was mine. That's'cause he was for me. And he, he's a Gemini. He's about a year and a half old now. He is a beast, and a foul wretch, and a monster, and a stinker, and the sweetest little angel, and he's the most perfect little boy, and he likes to yell, and he likes to play, and he likes to run, and he likes to bite, and he likes to kiss, and he likes to lick. He's biting my finger right now. And He, for the first like three days I brought him home, he hid in the corner of the room and would not come near me. I was like, Finnegan, we had this beautiful half hour moment of me holding you. I played Jimmy Buffett on the way home for you to put you into an island mindset. Yeah. Cause eventually, like, he warmed up to me, but I was still doing, like, the introductions, and he and Garnet hadn't really met each other yet. And then she, like, first laid eyes on him, and she was like, What the fuck is that? What the fuck did you bring into this house?

Skye 1:26:21

six. She got like stress

River 1:26:24

that's why I thought it was a mistake. Cause she got stress colitis. She got like an eye infection from the stress, like her herpes flared up. She was like not eating. She was depressed. She was just staying in like one spot in the corner of the apartment. And I was like, I think I've made a terrible mistake. I'm killing Garnet and also like, Hermes is not getting what he wants. He like, wants to snuggle with her because at the foster home he was like, With the other cats like he wasn't with the people he was always with the other cats in a little colony And I was like nobody's happy And everyone's sick and i'm going to the emergency vet so often and I feel like I fucked up And like i'm giving my young kitten a complex because I have to keep him locked in a room away from my other cat

Poppy 1:27:20

See, what you need is a third cat.

River 1:27:22

That's what the fault because I called her and I was like I think I fucked up. Like, would you be willing to take him back? Cause I don't think he's happy. I don't think Garnet's happy. And she was like, have you tried getting a third cat? And I was like, I can't do that.

Skye 1:27:38

and that. was like around, cause you got him in like October, and that was like approaching Christmas time, and I feel like I remember she was like, kinda no, like it's a

River 1:27:48

Yeah.

Skye 1:27:49

now, like I can't really take him back, and that was, I told you that that was a sign, I was like, you gotta keep

River 1:27:54

Yeah, she was like, one, they're still establishing their patterns. It's not gonna, like, the introduction process can take years. Yeah. Two, no takesies backsies. I'm not taking him back.

Skye 1:28:11

All sales

River 1:28:12

like, her own cats. Her and her daughter lived there together. They had, like, nine cats. Of their own personal cats and they also like fostered strays. Hermes came from a trailer park. He was born in a little trailer

Poppy 1:28:28

Oh, Hermes.

River 1:28:30

His mom was named Banana Pudding. Yeah.

Poppy 1:28:35

we bring it back to banana pudding.

River 1:28:37

Mm hmm. It all comes back to Banana Pudding. And so eventually I was like, okay, I'm going to thug it out. I'm going to buy pheromone diffusers. I'm going to buy this common care probiotic I can put in their food. I'm going to, I'm going to try my

Poppy 1:28:51

Do your best

River 1:28:53

And I'm going to try not to freak out seven. Cause I was freaking out 24 seven at that time. And I even

Poppy 1:29:00

you were, like, messaging the chat a

River 1:29:02

yeah, Yeah, I was freaking out. Cause I, I've never had a boy kitten before and I've never like, I've never solely introduced two cats together. It was always like, Oh my family, we had two cats and we were all sort of like sharing, I was like, it's on me and I'm fucking my kids up.

Skye 1:29:21

like when you were at work, you would have to lock Hermes in that room because you couldn't just leave them out.

River 1:29:28

I had to keep in the spare room cause I was afraid like they would fight and hurt each

Skye 1:29:33

Yeah, cause I remember, cause sometimes we'd like hang out a little bit, like, after work, just like chit chatting, and during that time you were like, I gotta go home because my cats are like in despair.

River 1:29:43

Yeah, like I had no, all of my time was spent in my home trying to like manage my cats. Like I didn't have any free time in this period. I was like, I gotta go let Hermes out of his room. He's been in there for like six hours

Skye 1:29:56

have to like, give them individual attention, like I have to go sit in the

River 1:30:00

Yeah.

Skye 1:30:00

and then I have to go give, sit with

River 1:30:02

Yeah.

Skye 1:30:03

let her know that I still

River 1:30:04

And I could hear him, like, crying in the room when I got home, and I was like, I'm, I'm, I'm psychologically tormenting this cat, cause he's alone in a room for hours. And eventually, like, we're thugging it out. Things are starting to get a little bit better. Hermes is getting bigger, he's growing, he's establishing himself a little bit more, and he's starting to Garnet has, up until this whole point, she's like spitting and hissing and like hitting him because she's like, get away from me. I don't want you near me. Get this thang away from me. And then eventually Hermes is like, oh I'm as big as you now. Oh, I'm a big boy now and I'm young and I got fight in me and I can start like Antagonizing you because you've been antagonizing me since the second I got

Skye 1:31:03

Territorial disputes. He's

River 1:31:05

Yeah,

Skye 1:31:06

of

River 1:31:06

last thing I wanted and it's still an ongoing issue

Poppy 1:31:10

But it seems like he just wants love.

River 1:31:13

he Desperately craves love, but it's gotten to the point where, like, she has been so withholding that now he, like, lashes out immediately. Like, he's not sweet like he used to be when he was a kitten.

Poppy 1:31:28

an incel. Yeah.

River 1:31:33

the women in his life, and also me.

Poppy 1:31:36

Oh.

River 1:31:37

So where we're at now, it's been about 14 months almost since I adopted him and brought him in.

Poppy 1:31:46

Yeah.

River 1:31:47

know, he's a little teen and it's, it shows cause he's still got mental problems. He's still very anxious. He still has a lot of separation issues. He always has to be in the room that I'm in no matter what. I've done a spell or two to help

Poppy 1:32:09

Yeah, tell us about that.

River 1:32:10

I'm going to get to it in the St. Francis episode. No, you're fine.

Poppy 1:32:14

okay. Not this episode. Next episode, listeners,

River 1:32:19

episode we're going to be, I'm Assisi.

Poppy 1:32:25

River is going to be doing a saint spotlight.

River 1:32:29

hmm.

Skye 1:32:29

Maybe

River 1:32:30

And St. Francis, if maybe, I'm hoping series, but we're going to start out with one and see how it goes. But I'm going to be talking about St. Francis and he is the patron saint of animals and the environment. And I was like, this is perfect. This is exactly what I need. And I'll get into that later. But it's the past few days have been rough. We go through phases where like it gets a little bit rough and then it's okay for a while. Hermes has really been on one. I'm taking him back to the vet cause I had, I tried to put him on anxiety medication cause he's deeply anxious and he just needs help with that. He wouldn't take the pills and he spit out the liquid compound. So it was just never getting into a system. So I gave up taking him back to the vet, going to try to get him that little topical thing you can rub in their ear for it and we're going to see how it goes.

Poppy 1:33:23

topical thing in their ear.

River 1:33:25

It's like a little pen that like dispenses like a ointment or a cream and you like rub it on the inner skin of their ears so they can't like lick it and it like absorbs through the skin. Hermie is my little rat bastard son. I love him to bits. I'm constantly, I'm trying to like parent him the way a human would parent their child. So I'm always like, Hermes, you have to respect people's boundaries. Hermes, you're not going to make any friends if you keep acting like that. And he doesn't understand cause he's a stupid little boy cat.

Skye 1:34:06

Yeah.

River 1:34:07

But I'm still going to keep trying. He's just a little baby, but

Poppy 1:34:11

sleep with me when I slept at your

River 1:34:13

yeah, he takes a while to warm up to people. But once he's locked in, he's locked in. He's just scared of noises and movements.

Skye 1:34:21

spooked.

Poppy 1:34:22

Oh,

River 1:34:22

Yeah. I still scare him sometimes. If I come home, he like gets scared for a minute before he remembers who I am.

Poppy 1:34:29

mm-hmm

Skye 1:34:30

and like sniffs me, and if I notice that he's sniffing me, he'll run away.

River 1:34:33

Frightened. He kind of looks like, um, like a mud skipper.

Poppy 1:34:39

Yeah.

River 1:34:40

Yeah. He's got really big bulging, like usually wet eyes and his mouth is always a little bit open and he'll just, he'll stare at you and like heavy breathe for a minute and then he'll run away. So he's just kind of like fucked up and weird looking, but I love him. He's my little guy.

Skye 1:35:02

He's,

Poppy 1:35:02

love an estuary.

Skye 1:35:03

as

River 1:35:04

Harvey.

Skye 1:35:05

Harvey.

Poppy 1:35:07

Really?

River 1:35:08

looks like a bug and I love him and I want to hear about Harvey now.

Poppy 1:35:14

Harvey bug. Okay. So, before we talk about Harvey, I feel like we need to talk about Martini. Um, which Skye definitely remembers. River, have I ever told you about Martini? The cat?

River 1:35:27

through passing, but I do not know the lore of Martini.

Poppy 1:35:30

So, I had very recently moved into my apartment. And I was like, you know, I, I was moving in, I had just ordered a bed with a mattress and I'm in a work meeting and someone knocks on my door and I'm like, okay, I need to go answer the door as soon as my meeting is over. And so I do, I open the door, my mattress is there that I had ordered. And I bring it inside, and as soon as I bring it inside and close the door, there is a meow. So there's like a little, MEEEEEEE!

River 1:36:08

The tiniest, wimpiest,

Poppy 1:36:10

tiniest little meow. And I lived on the second floor. So, I was like, what the fuck? Like, why is there Someone yelling outside of my door, essentially. And I opened the door and there's this tiny little gray tabby kitten on my welcome mat, just yelling at me like, oh, hello. And I bring her inside, obviously. Cause like, what are you supposed to do? And I take her to the vet and everything. And like, I get her checked out. and, um, Rachel, our friend Rachel, who is amazing and always has all of the connections is like, Hey, I have a friend that is trying to adopt a kitten right now. Um, and so through her, uh, her friends come over and like meet the kitten. And I, I took care of this kitten for like two and a half weeks or so until, um, because in our County. You have to have had the kitten at your residence for like a certain amount of time before you're able to adopt it out because of like weird ownership laws. And so we got past that amount of time and Rachel's friend eventually adopted this kitten who she named Martini because she had a dog named Olive. And it just worked out. And now Martini is a, she like, walks on a leash and she goes out on the beach and she's just a fat, she's a fat cat that explores everywhere. Yeah, but while I had her I was throat deep in work and I was just so overwhelmed by work and I was traveling a lot. Um, And at first I was like, I'm gonna keep this cat, but pretty soon after I was like, no, I can't, I'm just not in the space, like I'm not in the right space to keep this cat.

Skye 1:38:13

Also, technically where you were living, like, they didn't, like, allow more than two.

Poppy 1:38:17

They did not allow more than two, however.

Skye 1:38:21

Soon to come.

Poppy 1:38:22

And so I, so I adopted out Martini. And then, about a year and a half later, I think, right around the time, or right before River brought home Hermes, I bought it. I knew in my gut, I was like, I feel like there's, I have two cats already. I have Pickle. I have Angus. I have Gus Gus. I feel like that's enough, but also I feel in my gut that there is a third cat that needs to come into the fold. Like I just, I knew that in my core somehow, um, even though I knew that it was not logical because I lived in an apartment where we were only allowed to have two cats. Um, but one day I was on Reddit, as we've established, um, I'm, I'm, a Redditor and I just saw a post in passing. It was not on a subreddit that I usually frequent, but someone had posted nearby where I was, Hey, I have a kitten that I found underneath my, uh, porch. Does anybody have any recommendations about how I can care for this kitten? And I messaged the person, and I was like, Hey I have helped raise kittens in the past. This is what you need to do. And this person was like, Oh, I, I can't do any of those things. I am a minor living with my grandparent. I don't have any of those resources. Can you come and help me? Raise this kitten or like come and bring me the things I need to raise this kitten And so I messaged Rachel our very close friend and I'm like, hey I need you to help me come out and pick up this cat that is in need so I was like, there is a kitten that needs my help. Hey, Rachel, friend of the podcast. I love you. I know that you love cats and you're going to help me out. Come help me pick up this kitten. And she did.

Skye 1:40:25

because she's had like weird like animals be injured and like

Poppy 1:40:30

She's had squirrels show up on her porch and like she's taking care of birds and And I was like, okay, it's, it's kitten time. Are you going to come with me?

Skye 1:40:43

it was just like you were both available At the same time. So yeah,

Poppy 1:40:47

And she came. We drove out like 90 minutes from where we live and we brought home this kitten. And the person that had been. The person that posted originally was like or 16 years old like a kid like I don't know what I'm doing. I've been feeding this cat Oscar Mayer ham like sliced deli ham and 2 percent milk just to try to like keep it alive And Rachel I went out and we got this This kitten, and she took it, and she like, held it the entire ride home and was like, feeding it kitten formula. and it was, it was really intense because she, she went home, I kept the kitten, I got up every two hours to feed

Skye 1:41:33

and harvey was like the size of the palm of your hand like he was tiny

Poppy 1:41:37

three weeks old. He was so small, he still, he had barely had his eyes open. He was a little itty bitty baby. He was being fed ham and milk. He was not okay. And I, I was taking care of him, I was trying to feed him kitten formula like every couple hours. And he crashed one night. Like, I took him to the vet and I was like, here, I found this kitten, like, do a, do a checkup. And they gave me a checkup. They were like, you need to deworm him. And so I started deworming him, which put him into shock. Like he went into shock and I had to take him to the emergency vet. And they were like, he's gonna die, essentially. Here's what you can do until he dies, and so I 100 percent thought that he was going to pass away under my care and I was like, I'm, I'm just gonna do whatever I can until that time to make sure that he is okay until he eventually passes away. Um, but he did not die.

Skye 1:42:49

Several times

Poppy 1:42:50

he

Skye 1:42:50

die.

Poppy 1:42:51

he survived. He got past that initial like, oh, I'm a baby. I can't handle this. I'm going to die. He got past that, and I was like, okay, he survived this, like, let's, let's take him back to the vet. And so we did, and apparently he had a bunch of, like, intestinal parasites that sucked up all of his blood. And the vet was like, okay, let's give him dog blood so that he could survive. And so he had a transfusion of dog blood.

River 1:43:21

He got that dog in him now.

Poppy 1:43:23

He got that dog in him, which lasted three days. the the rest of his life. Um, but so they, they gave him a dog blood transfusion and he survived. And after that I was like, okay, I, I called my partner because we were long distance at the time and I was like, hey, this happened. By the way, just so you know, if this cat survives, I'm, we're keeping him. This is our cat now. Because at first I was like, okay, this is like a, another martini, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna raise this cat and then I'm gonna adopt him out. But I was like, no, this is, we're, we're keeping this cat.

Skye 1:44:04

After we've put thousands of dollars probably into his weird dog blood transfusion and all the

River 1:44:11

We spent thousands of dollars on dog blood for him.

Poppy 1:44:15

not even fucking taking into consideration all of his, like, recent health issues.

River 1:44:22

he's a, he's a sickly little boy. Did

Poppy 1:44:26

little boy. Yeah. Um, but so he survived and Rachel helped me kind of like make sure that he was alive and she came over a lot and like helped him when he was a really little boy and so the two of us were like, what, what should we name him? And there was a lot of back and forth about what his name should be. And eventually we decided on Steve Harvey. Great. Because he was like a mixture of Steve Buscemi, because he had these weird bug eyes and he was kind of ugly. and Steve Harvey, because I don't remember why, but he, It was funny. Anyway, he, so we were like, okay, you're, we're going to name you Steve Harvey with the caveat that you're also Steve Buscemi. And so his name became Harvey. what else? That was like a year ago, a year and a half ago.

River 1:45:29

he also have pneumonia at one point or am I making

Poppy 1:45:33

Um, he did not have pneumonia. He had herpes in his eyes. He had a bunch of intestinal parasites and, um, A bunch of physical maladies.

Skye 1:45:49

Yeah, are you gonna talk about the balcony incident?

River 1:45:52

I wish you would. I didn't want to bring it up, but I wish you would.

Poppy 1:45:55

I forgot about the balcony. Yeah. So, okay. So first of all, he's a very, very sweet boy.

River 1:46:02

Very stupid boy, but very sweet.

Poppy 1:46:04

He's super cuddly. He wants to like be up in your face and just hugging you at every, every, turn, every single moment of the day. He just wants to be on you. he's very, very lovey dovey for a cat. to this day, like, you'll be, I'll be just, like, cooking dinner, and he'll come up and just wind around my legs and look up at me and, like, yell because he wants to be picked up, and so I'll have to pick him up and hold him while I'm, like, cutting vegetables, You know,

River 1:46:35

a baby slings for him.

Poppy 1:46:37

I should. He needs a baby sling. Yeah, but he's, he's kind of like Pickle, like Pickle's that level of clingy, like she wants to be with you all the time, but Harvey has the additional, and I almost died, by the way, hold me all the time. so when, after we moved into our most recent home, um, one night, so my personal profession, generally takes place inside of the home. His takes place outside of the home. So I was like, you know what, let me do something special. I'm going to make like a nice dinner. It's going to be romantic. It's going to be, it's going to be good. And so I like spent a lot of time preparing this dinner. And that night, uh, he comes home. He's like, oh my gosh, thank you so much for preparing this dinner. Let's, Eat outside on the balcony and watch the sunset and blah blah blah. And so we do. I made this very nice, like, mushroom gnocchi. And the sun is setting over the mountains and we're just having a great time. And then all of a sudden, one of our cats, like, they're just kind of like milling around, um, And And then we see one of our cats, like, kind of sticking his head through the bars

Skye 1:48:07

And it's Harvey.

Poppy 1:48:08

on our balcony. and I go, stop it. Like, I stand up and try to pull him back. And he looks at me and he kind of freaks out and then turns back toward the bars and jumps. Like, he, like, runs off of this balcony. And so he falls four stories. Onto the ground

River 1:48:35

Almost as bad as Chachi the dog.

Poppy 1:48:37

almost as bad as Achi.

Skye 1:48:40

And Harvey, this little

Poppy 1:48:41

am like

Skye 1:48:42

already been through so much, jumps off a

Poppy 1:48:45

is, he has almost died multiple times. He's like had, he's had dog blood in him. He's been sick. I took him home when he was like three weeks old. He was literally like less than half of a pound heavy. Um, and we. We move to this place that we are right now and he runs off and he jumps off of this balcony and I'm like, And I, I tell my partner, I'm like, get the, get the carrier right now. We're going to have to go to the vets. And so as I run out the door and like run down all of these stairs to try to get him my partner is looking for this like cat carrier to get him. Um, and I run all the way down and eventually I do find him. He's like scared and like looking for a hiding spot because he's fallen four stories. He

River 1:49:41

brain got scrambled.

Skye 1:49:43

in shock. I think that he just doesn't know what happened and he's trying to reorient himself.

Poppy 1:49:48

Later on, like he was completely physically fine.

River 1:49:52

Like not even a

Poppy 1:49:53

No. He was completely fine. He fell for yeah, I took him to the emergency vet like we were I did not have dinner I didn't even get to eat that delicious gnocchi Special meal that I prepared

River 1:50:09

Cuz Harvey said, watch this.

Poppy 1:50:11

because Harvey was like I'm gonna jump off of this fourth floor right now and he did and We caught him. I took him to the emergency bed. I was like, hey, can you please check him out? Because he jumped so far. Um,

Skye 1:50:30

And he's so small and he's so

Poppy 1:50:32

He was fine. He's very small. He weighs, uh, less than seven pounds, by the way. Which,

Skye 1:50:42

Well, and and he's fairly big now, like bigger than he was.

Poppy 1:50:47

He, I mean, he's bigger than he was as a little baby. He's smaller than Pickle, who is my,

River 1:50:54

most cats.

Poppy 1:50:55

six year old cat. Yeah,

Skye 1:50:57

Oh, he's giving Runt

Poppy 1:50:58

he's,

River 1:51:00

Runt and also malnourished.

Poppy 1:51:02

Oh, he was so, I mean, he got dog blood. Did I already say that? He got dog blood.

River 1:51:08

He did mention he got dog blood.

Poppy 1:51:11

He got dog blood, which is

River 1:51:13

though. It's insane.

Poppy 1:51:14

Yeah, pretty, pretty standard he got dog blood because they were like, we don't have cat blood. We only have dog blood. So they gave him dog blood. and he's like this, big. He weighs seven and a half pounds. Um, yeah, I, I, he survived and to this day he's, he's still fine yeah, but yeah, Harvey.

Skye 1:51:40

And that's

River 1:51:41

that sweet

Poppy 1:51:42

little boy. He's such a dummy little, little fucker.

River 1:51:48

I feel like spiritually he is perpetually wearing a little dunce cap.

Poppy 1:51:52

Yeah, he's very dumb. He's so dumb. But, Harvey and Gus, Harvey and Gus love each other. They love each other so much.

Skye 1:52:04

I wish I had cats

Poppy 1:52:05

want Pickle's approval, but Pickle's just like, I'm not interested in that, so.

River 1:52:11

tower.

Skye 1:52:12

Uh, anyway, That's the cats.

Poppy 1:52:16

That's the cats. That's it.

River 1:52:18

baby's getting hungry.

Poppy 1:52:20

You?

River 1:52:21

Yes, I'm baby.

Poppy 1:52:23

Alright, well, thank you for listening, everybody. Um,

Skye 1:52:29

for that post

Poppy 1:52:31

look for the post on Instagram where you can see all of the pictures of our little kitty cats. Um, you've met us, you've met the gods, you've met our cats, and that's basically like the important organisms in our lives. Um, we have, yeah,

River 1:52:49

yeah,

Poppy 1:52:50

we have maybe some, I forget what's on the list, uh, some scientific information about a certain phenomenon.

River 1:53:03

maybe you'll laugh. Maybe you'll learn

Poppy 1:53:06

Maybe you'll cry, Maybe you'll

River 1:53:09

Maybe you'll

Poppy 1:53:10

going to say that, maybe you'll pee your pants, Maybe you'll

River 1:53:12

Maybe you'll cum.

Skye 1:53:15

Maybe you'll learn something.

Poppy 1:53:18

Um, but with that, anything else, my friends, my loves?

Skye 1:53:22

Yes, I have one thing to say.

Poppy 1:53:25

Yes, please share.

River 1:53:26

just burps into the microphone.

Skye 1:53:32

Meow.

Poppy 1:53:33

it? Was that? Oh,

River 1:53:37

put your

Skye 1:53:38

Okay, get your little undulating ghoul's sweater paws out.

Poppy 1:53:45

undulating sweater paws. Okay, well, by the power of three.

Skye 1:53:50

so it is.

River 1:53:52

And so it is.

Poppy 1:53:54

And so it is.

Skye 1:53:56

meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.

River 1:54:00

Skye and I are gonna watch Cats 2019 at some point. Is her butthole in there? I've never

Poppy 1:54:07

I, I, I, feel like there was like a thing about the buttholes.

River 1:54:11

I looked up images the other day, and I was

Poppy 1:54:13

Of Taylor

River 1:54:14

sucks.

Poppy 1:54:14

butthole.