Unfortunately, he actually was a boy and just really slow to develop, and the gender confusion my naming conventions had instilled in him apparently contributed to an eating disorder

Lol as if cats have have a concept of masculine and feminine names.

I hadn't thought of him in a long time, or how my girlfriend at the time liked to refer to him as our "son."

I hate this so much. That and baby talking to animals are big pet peeves of mine.

Yeah actually one of my roommates deciding he didn't want his cat after he found out that it did not want to be held (it was a bombay, cats that prefer to be playful) and the cat sort of grew to hate him because he kept forcing it to sit on his lap. Said he was going to move and that he couldn't keep it. So I decided to take care of it. After he moved, his dad, my landlord, after he found out I had kept the cat after he left told me I had to get rid of it.

Gave it to my parents. Which is pretty crazy because they already had 3 cats. But I would have hated myself (and missed her) if I return her to a shelter. Knew my parents knew how to take care of cats.

Also once found a kitten outside walking in the general direction of a busy street, immediately picked him up. Despite past orders of no cats, I said fuck it. took care of the cat for a while, and after failing to find an owner, gave it to a friend's girlfriend. He was probably the friendliest cat I've ever had. I was sad to see him go.

Way back, before I lived in this house and only came to visit, a chihuahua-mix of some sort followed us (somewhat bigger than the usual chihuahua). Similar story. Only this time, Zerby, a friend brought him to a shelter and told them where we found the guy so they could more easily find the owner. IDK if they did. they apparently never called us to tell us they could or couldn't find an owner. :P

I'm a cat and dog person.

The 3 cats at my parents house have been outside cats all their life. They've lived like ~15 years, ~15 years, and ~18 years. But I think that is just the locations they've lived. Few to no cars and nothing that could be considered a predator. (though there was a stray asshole cat that messed with our cats) So yeah choosing to let you cats run free outside is a big risk. but if you know the location well enough that you know there are no cars and predators, probably safe to let them free.

I'll admit though, in their old age, they don't have much interest in going outside anymore.

Also, Alec it seems like every other post is about something that annoys you lol. Maybe its just in my head.

Figuring out if you want a cat isn't that hard of a decision to make and really if you're at anypoint in your life where buying and caring for a cat is one of those critical decisions going on in your life then oh god how I envy you.

It's not a critical decision, but it's also not one that should be taken lightly. You're taking responsibility for a life.

That was a partial joke, ascribing certain traits to him to justify his eventual status as a walking balloon (prior to diet food).

WTF diet pet food? Just feed it less. I feed my cat a fistful of cat food at 6 and 6. If she asks for more I give her about half that and that's it. It's not hard to not have a fat animal, they can't keep eating if you don't keep feeding them.

My animals, especially my dog, don't know what to do with baby talk because they're not accustomed to hearing it...

That's great. Actually maybe that's why my cat doesn't like my mom.

Also, Alec it seems like every other post is about something that annoys you lol. Maybe its just in my head.

I haven't really been keeping track of my posts so this might be true haha.

Agreed.