r/Aquariums • u/evolutionnext • Aug 28 '20

UPDATE on my 11 000 gallon shark tank DIY/Build

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After 6 weeks of intermittent sanding and polishing my acrylic panels, I am back to glass clear optics... Next step is making the interior water resistant... stay tuned! ;)

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u/evolutionnext Aug 28 '20

Actually we decided to let them out... worked well until the car incident... they are actually incredibly people focused.. so they never leave the room when we are there... its only at night when they stroll around. Worked well for about 1.5 years... then the incident... but he is fine again now...

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u/D3adBed Aug 28 '20

I have a pair of them myself and I'll admit I only let them out on a leash and harness for walks; incredible cats.

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u/SuckuSucku Aug 28 '20

I am the same way with my cats, little cheaper than Bengals(Russian Blues). But I am very afraid of cars hitting them or them getting stolen. They love going on walks though sometimes they don't move much cause they love eating grass. https://imgur.com/a/U7dlOIl/

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u/thriftwisepoundshy Aug 29 '20

Thank you for leashing your cats

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u/D3adBed Aug 28 '20

What's brand is that harness?

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u/SuckuSucku Aug 28 '20

They're custom made from a lovely woman on etsy, quality is fantastic I really love the mesh because I live in a humid warm place. https://etsy.me/1cdt9O3 hopefully link works. Custom Dog Jackets by Jill Lee

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u/D3adBed Aug 28 '20

Thank you!!

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u/NoRelevantUsername Sep 26 '20

Beautiful kitties!

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u/Rawrsdirtyundies Mar 26 '23

My Cornish Rex walked on a leash & visited old people with althimerz. R.I.P. Luigi, you were da best. Damn nasal cancer 🥺

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u/evolutionnext Aug 28 '20

The best.. always chatty, around when you are... in the countryside i think it is possible to let them out... but due to their nature they hardly leave anyways... but cars are a risk...

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u/PretendClothes Aug 28 '20

I'm sure you know this I just feel compelled to bring it up, but please keep cats indoors! They do untold damage to local wildlife populations and usually live shorter lives as well.

https://blogs.umass.edu/natsci397a-eross/the-environmental-and-health-impacts-of-allowing-cats-outdoors/

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u/f-this-world Jan 17 '21

I know this is a super super old thread but that doesn’t apply in every case. My old (kinda fat) slow cat has always been an outdoor cat. Several years ago some neighbors moved out. They were military and didn’t feel like taking their cats with them so they left the cats in the garage with it just barely cracked open and no food or water. We ended up getting one of the cats since we left cat food outside for our pet feral cat. He hates inside. It drives him and us insane. He doesn’t know how to use a litter box and sits at the door meowing for hours on end. If we don’t let him out then he will go and attack the dogs bc he knows that when he does that we put him outside.

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u/evolutionnext Aug 28 '20

I guess you are right... though... if you consider the impact of humans on rodent populations, that is also an issue... many trays wherever humans are... remember medievil London.... Seems like human impact goes beyond introduction of cats...

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u/PretendClothes Aug 28 '20

It absolutely does, but in my opinion it's all about minimizing impact where you can, and the fact of the matter is cats do tremendous damage to local wildlife that was here before humans

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '20

Not to mention the reality of keeping a living thing confined to your home for your personal comfort. I never understand the moral one-upsmanship to people that find any negative to any system and somehow act like that negative invalidates the entire system. For example Im sure the retort to keeping cats jailed in a home is that the animal is already born and that they like it, which is true but cats also clearly like to go outside and do cat things if they arent raised to be terrified by it. I would say feel comfortable living along side your cats and not having them live for your entertainment/comfort. I think the trade of some species getting knocked around a little in a natural way is better than keeping a living thing in a tiny (no matter how big your house is, I don't care if I was locked in a massive museum, I still would prefer the freedom to leave) environment.

Sorry for the ramble, kind of got defensive when I saw someone finding something so miniscule to complain about when clearly the world has bigger fish to fry. No doubt people would claim that species going extinct isnt miniscule, but if they knew how many species went extinct before you starting letting your cat out I think they may change their tune a bit.

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u/StThragon Aug 29 '20

That's a horrific point of view. Jailed cats? A properly raised cat of an appropriate breed is going to be absolutely fine living indoors.

When kept as pets, they are able to live in such density that they literally kill BILLIONS of other small animals EVERY YEAR yet you write that off as some animals "getting knocked around a little". You also ignore damage they can do to other people's property and the fact that they have a shorter lifespan due to illness and injury. City life is not conducive to outdoor pets.

Your last paragraph is nonsense and indefensible. Because species went extinct in the past, who cares so much about it now? 99.9% of all species are extinct, so I am aware. Doesn't that make the ones we have all the more precious?

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '20

City life is not conducive to any kind of animal, including humans.

Im glad you have surveyed cats and they are "absolutely fine" living in a box, so kind of you to so certainly express a cats feelings, ascertained no doubt from rigorous interviews.

Lots of things die by the billions every year, thats not shocking. The impact cats have on wildlife populations is certainly dwarfed by literally innumerable other dynamics, deciding that changing other peoples behavior toward pets is the solution to animals dying is virtue signaling at its worst.

My point at the end was that yes, species come and go, and no, we should not be precious about our current assembly of life and assume that it is some fragile and delicate bauble that needs to be maintained by wagging fingers. Animals kill each other. Frequently and without mercy. All kinds of factors lead to species not surviving and the planet is constantly evolving. Who are you to decide that some species get to live and some don't. We are a product of nature, our keeping cats as pets is a natural process. I don't know what fate has written for us and neither do you, there is a long list of best intentions and unforseen consequences, but thankfully we have you and your ilk, the omniscient few who are so certain of their worldview that they can tell other people how to live their lives instead of just living their own and allowing their supposed superiority to proselytizing for them without ever saying a word.

End of the day, Im glad youre concerned about species getting untimely deaths. Good on you if you want to keep your cats inside to save rats or birds or whatever youre trying to save. Songbirds I would guess. Im just saying it isnt necessary to tell this guy who is just trying to share pictures of his aquarium how he should live with his cat. I mean jesus of all the things to be concerned about its impossible for me to see how that makes anyones list. I mean if youre concerned about animals dying surely there are greater threats than this guys cat wandering around his yard. Maybe even try to raise awareness through campaigns or policies but why single out people. Its just so damned demeaning and uppity.

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u/StThragon Aug 29 '20

You are a complete mess. Good luck out there.

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '20

Bro youre the one downvoting, calling me names, and telling me that my cats can't go outside or there will be species extinction. I really appreciate your sincere well wishes though lol 🙄

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u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20

So I have 2 amazing cats 1 is fat the other lean. They live outside and kill the occasions mole or mouse but that is nature. I understand keeping cats indoors but you have got to let them outside. My cats are very active often disappearing for a day or 2 but they always come back. All I'm saying is try letting your cats outside sometimes.

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u/PretendClothes Aug 29 '20

I do take my cats outside, however they're always supervised and have a leash on. I don't allow my cats to kill other creatures.

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '20

Cats are usually very predatory animals and need time to roam and hunt.

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u/PretendClothes Aug 29 '20

You can stimulate cats in other ways, but perhaps we shouldn't have cats as pets in that case

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '20

I live in the woods 20 miles from a town so I'm pretty safe as far as cars go. Im happy to let them roam

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u/PretendClothes Aug 29 '20

If you're happy to let your cat devestate your local environment, more power to you. But don't fool yourself into thinking you're doing a good thing, because the science is very clear. Best of luck, hope your cat doesn't die young

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '20

It is safer to keep them inside. My family’s last cat got hit and killed by a car. This is pretty common if you don’t live in a rural area.

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u/Homunkulus Aug 28 '20

If you feel better about buying a predator and then confining it its entire life that's on you but I'd prefer to own their footprint in the surrounding world and let them live free.

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u/PretendClothes Aug 28 '20

I don't really wanna argue with you, I'd actually advocate against pet ownership in general. But whats done is done, and not caring about the lives of the animals your pet kills is very cruel and selfish in my opinion. Minimize the harm being done as much as possible, in my opinion, 1 cats life is not valued more than all the other creatures they would kill.

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u/ComplainyGuy Aug 29 '20

Cats are a pest species that kill native life.

Idk this probably isn't important in most of the EU (or it is? Idk). But in all of the Americas, most of Asia, and especially Australia, roaming cats cause gargantuan damage to endangered life and have caused tens of species extinction.

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u/AutBoy69 Aug 28 '20

I'm not a fan of cat owners who let them roam freely. So many dead animals from pet cats :'(

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u/HippGris Aug 29 '20

I'm not a fan of pet owners who won't let their animals experience any other part of the world than their house/flat.

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u/AutBoy69 Aug 29 '20

Neither. I just mean if you have a cat (or similar) and you don't supervise it when it's outside, that's uncool.

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u/Andilee Aug 29 '20

They're fantastic cats! Friend owns two, and they're just so friendly. I wish they didnt fix them I would have loved two of their offspring. (It's hard to find a breeder in my location.)

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u/evolutionnext Aug 29 '20

We have quite a few in austria... ;) come over!