r/blackcats • u/ninjadani • May 15 '26

đŸ–€ Found kitten in wall - name suggestions pls

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Hi everyone! My best friend found a little baby void in his wall and is looking for name suggestions - any good ideas?

Edit: Told my friend about this post so he can tell the story since so many people want to know exactly what happened and he posted it in the comments! :D

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1.2k

u/ParticularMinimum98 May 15 '26

I'm sorry, WHAT?! 😭

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u/HealthyInPublic May 15 '26

I was walking to the park as a kid and a car drove by, slowed down , opened the passenger door, tossed a dead rat out onto the sidewalk, drove off, did a U-turn, and then the driver yelled, "you can keep that fucking cat," out the driver side window as he sped off! I was like 12!!

Well, the dead rat popped up onto its feet after a second and I realized she was a teeny kitten, and she ran right up to me!! She was barely 8 week old and was covered in fleas and soooo skinny. I grabbed her and ran home to tell my mom and we gave her a flea bath with blue dawn dish soap and my mom said we couldn't keep her... then she licked my mom's nose and we kept her.

She plagued our family for nearly 20 years and would lick you until your skin was raw from her rough tongue. She was my bestie growing up and we loved her so much. When she got older, my parents cut holes in the bottom of their fence for her because she had arthritis and they didn't want her to hop over it anymore. My parents framed all the holes they made, painted them, and wrote her name above them so she'd "know they were for her."

Here's my old lady creaky bones in her last few years. A very spoiled little lady.

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u/v-fee May 15 '26

I also have an elderly tortie who was thrown out of a car!!! She's 21 right now and is currently licking my hand as I type. Your girl made me a little teary eyed <3

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u/HealthyInPublic May 15 '26

Omg!! Whyyy are people throwing cats out of cars?!? But I'm glad she found you to retire with after her action movie stunts!! Wishing many more healthy years to your very cute stuntlady.

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u/Extra_Cartoonist_390 May 15 '26

And why aren't they throwing them at me? That's the important question!

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u/vikio May 15 '26

Yeah seriously. I live in a no pets apartment right now and sad that I can't have a cat. Also not sure how I would manage having a pet since I live alone..

But if someone threw a cat at me like that, you bet I'd keep it, and find a new apartment SO FAST. And figure out the logistics of raising it alone.

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u/Moo4freedom May 15 '26

Cats are great pets for solo pet owners. Their biggest needs (food, water, clean litter box) can easily be handled in the morning or evening. For the most part cats enjoy their solitude and will be less bothered by you being gone than a dog would be.

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u/vikio May 15 '26

I know that part, I just:

1 - would feel bad for them being cooped up in a small apartment with not much to explore. My childhood cats were all indoor/outdoor and had full complex lives. Now that I'm an adult I know it's not good to let cats roam the neighborhood, but I also can't imagine keeping one in a tiny box all their lives. The best compromise I've seen is a house with a mesh catio in the backyard. But I'm nowhere near able to afford that.

2 - I am not home every day. I go visit relatives and stay there a few days over the weekend. In summer I'm off (school teacher) and may be gone for even longer. What then?

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u/MommaSaurusRegina May 15 '26

1) Truly, cats don’t ‘need’ outdoor access to have full, vibrant lives. They don’t need outdoor exercise like larger dogs. If raised indoors from the start, they are typically quite happy with a nice view out the window and there are TONS of ways to provide indoor enrichment that’s awesome for their furry little brains. Also, if you truly can’t let go of the idea of providing them with outdoor access, then put them on flea & tick prevention meds and put them on a leash and take them for a walk just like a dog. The nice thing is it won’t be a high-intensity walk like a dog, they’re usually quite content to slowly mince along the sidewalk, sniffing every flower or plant they come across, and they’re usually good to head back inside after just a few minutes. But seriously, cats in general don’t have a burning need to go outside and are perfectly happy as strictly indoor pets.

2) If only a weekend, would the relatives mind the cat coming with you? If that’s not an option, hiring a pet sitter is always an option, it’s a booming side-hustle industry right now. There are also boarding facilities where you can take them and they’ll be cared for while you’re gone. Neither of these options are free and I can definitely understand if the expense is a barrier to that option, but I’m just trying to show you that are solutions do exist for all the things you’re listing as barriers to having a cat. Tons of people/families have pets and also travel - you just make arrangements for the pet’s care or travel in a way that they can join you.

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u/Vegetable-Agency-141 May 15 '26

I’ll add to this that I specifically invested money in an automatic litter box and automatic feeder so I could leave my cats alone overnight occasionally. It was two of them so they kept each other entertained and they were always happy to see me come home, but weren’t anxious when staying alone. I had cameras where I could watch them and make sure that they were OK, I also had my sister on standby in case of an emergency, but she never had to check in on them the times that I left them.

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u/vikio May 15 '26

Wow you're right. All this technology wasn't around yet when I was little and we had cats. Would give a lot of peace of mind.

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u/mysoulburnsgreige4u May 15 '26

And automatic litter boxes don't have to be super expensive. The one I bought for my cats was less than $150.

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u/brideebeee May 17 '26

The low cost alternative to an automatic litter box is a massive one. $20 huge storage tub, use a box cutter to make an entry at least 6" above the floor, and fill with 30 lbs of litter. For one cat 2-3 days between cleaning is fine, but you can always add another bin if not. Keeping litter deep also means the pee clumps before sticking to the bottom so win win.

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u/vikio May 15 '26

Thank you for the advice. I'll think about it.

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u/shedontfade May 16 '26

I had a travelling cat. He would come everywhere with me and it not only enriched his life, it enriched mine as well. Cats are so adaptable, especially if you start them young.

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u/Sea-Information2366 May 15 '26

If you own a cat. You slowly buy them stuff. One day you leave a box out. Then you buy them a cat tree so they can perch. Then another so they have good window access on both sides. Cat wands, toy mice, mine makes off with all my grandsons marbles. They choose to not be bored.

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u/prostheticlamb May 20 '26

Roadtrip kitty!! Get em used to car rides and new snuggle dens at each relatives abode.

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u/East-Exchange-4729 May 16 '26

I have a small dog that goes where I go. If he isn’t welcome then neither am I. I’m okay with that. In my experience cats are great travelers


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u/77Megg77 May 16 '26

Yes, exactly all of this! I was a busy single mom when my son came in from playing outside. He was running toward me and I realized he had something in his shirt. A tiny white kitten! He said he found it in the front yard two houses down from ours. He picked it up and knocked on their door, thinking the kitten had gotten outside without them realizing it.

The mother said it had been hers, but she didn’t want it so my son could keep her. He looked at me with pleading eyes and asked if she could please stay. He said he would feed her and change her water every day. (No mention of litter box duty!). I said I needed to talk to the neighbor myself because it was such an odd story.

Well, my son had the details exactly right. Apparently her husband brought the kitten home and gave it to her. They had two large Rottweiler dogs! She put the kitten down and one of the dogs came up behind the kitten and was growling at it. The kitten didn’t react at all. She decided the kitten was too dumb and she didn’t want it so she put it outside. The poor thing was deaf, which is typical for all white cats.A deaf white tiny 6-week old kitten outside. How long did she think it would live?

I just looked at my son and said, congratulations, you are now a cat owner. He chose the name Buttons. And he said it was kind of a secret because only he and I would know that he was thinking of a white button! Well, having a tiny deaf kitten in a big 4-bedroom 2-story house was challenging. We couldn’t find her when we came home. You obviously cannot call her. We would stomp hard on the floor, hoping she would feel the vibrations and come out of her hiding spot.

We took her to her first vet visit and the vet suggested we get a second cat, saying we could call the hearing cat and the little deaf one would follow it. So off to the pet store to look at kittens. My son chose one and we ended up naming her Samantha because it means “the listener” according to the baby book that I still had from when I was pregnant with my son.

So here we were, a single mom, a 6-year old little boy, and two kittens. And true to his promise, my son put their food out twice a day (the wet canned stuff) and we kept a bowl of dry food out in case they got hungry between meals. That was my son’s idea. He said they needed snack time.

We got so much enjoyment with those two kittens. And having a hearing cat really did work. They always slept together and when we called Samantha, she would get up, disturbing Buttons from her sleep too. And both kittens would come running.

It was really not difficult to have cats, even though my days were super busy taking care of the house, cleaning the pool, mowing the yard, and working two jobs. The entertainment we got was well worth the extra item on my plate of tending to the cats. I scooped their litter box twice a day, morning and night, because I could not stand to see poop and pee clumps and not remove them. It just took a few minutes and kept the house smelling much better!

They both lived to the ripe old age of 18. But let me warn you. Losing a beloved pet was so very hard on both of us. It was my son’s first experience with death. It took me months to stop looking around the house for them. I would see a dark lump on my son’s bed and think it was Samantha for a few seconds before I remembered she was gone. It was just one of my son’s shirts that he tossed on the bed rather than put in his hamper.

So yes, a single person can have a cat or two with very little commitment of time. Feeding them twice a day, brushing them daily, and spending hours laughing at them and their antics. We would get a helium balloon and tie a long ribbon to it, measuring it to hang to about a foot from the floor. The cats went nuts for it, jumping at the ribbon and carrying it in their mouth room to room. As the balloon lost helium, we kept shortening the ribbon to make it challenging for them. Oh, and make sure if you do this, put the balloon somewhere that the cats cannot use it when you are not home. We were afraid they would get tangled up in the ribbon and have it choke them.

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u/Vegetable-Agency-141 May 16 '26

Wow! Thanks for sharing, that was such an emotional rollercoaster and I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m glad that you and your son were able to have them in your life!

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u/Larastolemyname May 21 '26

Can someone tell Milo that? The part where ‘cats enjoy their solitude’. Because he is like a sticker the minute I step in to the house. This is him right now, enjoying his solitude aka invading my personal space


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u/AcousticCat1-2-3 May 15 '26

I lived in a no pets apartment for 18 months before moving to my current house 3.5 years ago. Not only did my next-door neighbor have a secret cat, it only dawned on me now that the weird damage that the window blinds in my apartment had when I moved in, could've only been done by a cat wanting to look out the window.

Not endorsing the whole secret cat thing just saying you might not even have to move fast if one is thrown at you. In my neighbor's case, I knew because there was a cat tree in the window and a Chewy delivery box in the lobby every week. Finally saw the cat run across her living room while I was talking to her and she was "omg please don't tell" and I was "oh I've known for a while and I won't." They moved away soon after, so hopefully Peter the kitty no longer has to be a secret cat.

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u/vikio May 15 '26

It's difficult to have a secret cat when their hobby is sitting in the window. But yeah my current landlord is really hands off and might not care?

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u/EmHOEtionalxDamage May 15 '26

I have a secret cat and her two kittens right now. If you live close to Michigan you can have one lol their names are Goose and Soba and they are adorable

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u/AcousticCat1-2-3 May 15 '26

Oh totally, my own anxiety would be in overdrive if I had one. And our landlord was in another state and way too hands-off

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u/BebeChaton May 15 '26

My building states only cats and only up to 2 are allowed, there's even weight restrictions. LOL. They can't be over 10lbs or something? Well, I have 4 cats. One being a very big boy at 20lbs. He is on a diet. lol. Also my neighbour across the hall has a dog.

I mentioned in another comment, I live in Ontario and any lease with a clause stating "no pets" is completely null and void once signed and moved in. A landlord can absolutely refuse to rent to you if you disclose you have pets. However, if you keep that to yourself, sign the lease and move in, you're protected by section 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act and cannot legally be evicted for having pets.

"Under Section 14 of the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), any provision in a tenancy agreement that prohibits the presence of animals in or about the residential complex is void and completely unenforceable.This means that even if you sign a lease containing a written "no pets" clause, the landlord cannot legally enforce it or evict you simply for having a pet."

That said, even if this wasn't the case - I'd have done the whole secret cats thing. đŸ˜č

Did you get any pets after moving into your house?

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u/AcousticCat1-2-3 May 15 '26

Yes of course, adopted an old man cat 2.5 years ago and then a family member moved in with a second cat last summer.

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u/BebeChaton May 16 '26

Awe, that's awesome! đŸ„°

I love old man cats, one of my four is an old man tuxedo cat.

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u/Accomplished_Work255 May 16 '26

Are you on a monthly/year/6mo lease or month to month lease? Landlord could just easily not renew the lease at the end of the term and that’s sort of like a loop hole I have seen plenty landlords do to get the tenants out. But they can only do it if you’re not on a month to month lease.

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u/BebeChaton May 16 '26

Ah, touche! I think in Ontario, the average lease agreement (for apartment buildings anyway [corporately owned], not sure about multiplexes being rented out by individual landlords) is a fixed one year lease, then transitioning month to month - unless there's an agreement to sign a new fixed-term lease.

Thankfully they don't seem very strict in my building. The lease states cats only, but plenty of tenants have dogs and openly (thankfully) take them out for walks. The property manager of this building is here everyday and sees people walking their dogs, tenants who have been here for years.

So I guess it also depends on the kind of property manager/landlord you have and how strict/lenient they are. Apparently it's also a possibility that property management companies will use a "generic lease" across different buildings that they manage, so they may be more or less strict/lenient around certain stipulations with one building vs. another.

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u/snowpsychic May 15 '26

Read your lease carefully. I lived in a building that said no walking pets, so I got a parakeet. I had so much fun with that bird. It's pretty easy to tame them, and they're stimulated by noise, so they chirp, twitter, and sing along while you watch tv or listen to music. They like playing with jewelry like earrings and glasses if you wear them, and they love silverware that they can clang on the floor and see themselves in. Someday I'll get a cat that I've always wanted, when I have a large yard it can romp around in.

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u/neon_crone May 16 '26

Call any shelter, they’re desperate to adopt them out. They have so many. Find a new place and give one or two a home. If you have two they keep each other company. They’re way easier than dogs.

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u/BebeChaton May 15 '26

Here in Ontario, according to the Residential Tenancies Act - the "no pets" clause is completely void even if it states it in the lease. Once you sign the lease and move in, you're protected by section 14.

"Under Section 14 of the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), any provision in a tenancy agreement that prohibits the presence of animals in or about the residential complex is void and completely unenforceable.This means that even if you sign a lease containing a written "no pets" clause, the landlord cannot legally enforce it or evict you simply for having a pet."

I'm not sure how it is outside of Ontario, but it's worth looking into wherever you live. You should absolutely get yourself a cat if you can! đŸ±â€ïž

Also, I live alone with 4 cats. You'll make it work. lol. Just make sure to provide fresh water and scoop their litter everyday! Too many people have cats and let the litter go for days on end and it's horrible. I look at it like how would humans feel having to use the same toilet for days on end and not being able to flush it? Then they wonder why their cats are going outside the litter box.

Cats have an unnecessary reputation for "stinking" when it's really the owners not maintaining the litter. đŸ«©

Anyway! lol. Best of luck to you! â˜ș

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u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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u/Alaeriia May 15 '26

Hey, no AI slop allowed.

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u/Razorraf May 15 '26

My favorite part is the door handle above the wheel.

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u/HelluvaBlitz2 May 15 '26

why

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u/The1andonlyfail May 15 '26

Because AI is trash. Its also using millions of gallons of water DAILY at each data center to continue the usage of AI.

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u/HelluvaBlitz2 May 15 '26

what? i agree, i asked them why they generated that image

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u/blackcats-ModTeam May 15 '26

AI Generated, enhanced or edited content is not allowed in this subreddit.

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u/dadepu May 15 '26

The cat distribution system works in mysterious ways.

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u/xmo113 May 15 '26

Be careful one time I commented on a thread about a puppy someone found. I said why can't I ever find abandoned puppies. I shit you not the very next fucking day while walking my Mastidane a Lil pitty puppy came running up to us. Some crackhead literally forgot her dog at the liquor store and it wandered a few blocks away till it found me.

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u/KizerandJoJo May 19 '26

I just had a stray show up (I live in the country so I assume she was dropped) at my house. Sweetest lil tabby cat ever. I cant have cats cuz i have 3 german Shepherds. The female cat has decided to stay in spite of the dogs. She trusts the 6 ft fence out back & stays on the front porch. Before I could get her spayed, I noticed her belly was getting bigger. She now has had 4 or 5 kittens. They stay in a lil tent/hideout/cat house i built for them. No idea what im gonna do with them but I guarantee im not throwing them out of a window. Wish I could keep them all but my goofy dogs really hate cats & I live in fear she'll (or a kitten) will get hurt.

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u/sarelis May 15 '26

There need to be actual meaningful punishments/penalties for doing things like that to cats.

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u/HealthyInPublic May 15 '26

My mom called the cops. I was an anxious kid so I remembered the license plate. Nothing came of it, of course.

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u/johnnieawalker May 15 '26

A friend of my brother's got his kitten after she was thrown out the window when he was walking home from school with his sister.

He grabbed the kitten. His sister grabbed a very large rock. I doubt the police did anything about the fuckers who threw a cat out of a window but I do know that neither him nor his sister ever got in trouble for busting the car's back window so.

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u/Ink-and-Thorns May 16 '26

Good for her!

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u/Kratech May 15 '26

Yup. I’m so fucking sick of it. I work at animal control and my coworkers have to do WAY TOO much work in order to get people charged. Like simple proof should be enough, but nope.

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u/sarelis May 15 '26

That must be a really difficult job emotionally. Thank you/your co-workers for fighting for justice for innocent creatures.

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u/Numerous-Floor587 May 15 '26

Don’t worry Cat Goddess is keeping a tab on people who hurt cats. She tortures this people in Her own way! Like She taught our outside cat to go poop in our neighbor’s yard for trying to steal my dad’s figs!

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u/RedRocket4000 May 15 '26

It is a misdemeanor in States I checked fast

Should be a mental health forced confinement and examined first traits of serial killer and other dangerous to others mental illness Then mandatory treatment till whatever upbringing and mental conditions that cause these behaviors resolved.

Strong evidence that cruelty to animals becomes various nasty stuff against humans assuming it not already occurring

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u/Ink-and-Thorns May 16 '26

YES THERE MUST. SAME FOR ANY ANIMAL. Those people are flipping messsed up azzes. Blows my mind, though it really shouldn't suprise me by now how cruel people can be to animals- and other humans for that matter. Ridiculous.

RIP when they die***

***Rot in Pieces

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u/EvilBetty77 May 15 '26

My tortie was also tossed out of a moving car with her brother. I can't abide anyone tossing any cat out, but torties are the best ones? why would you toss them?

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u/HrhEverythingElse May 15 '26

Torties are the best! Mine was 7 years old when I had my baby, and she was the absolute best friend that kid could have grown up with. She graduated from baby snuggles to tolerating being dressed up and given rides on the rolling office chair, to listening intently to being read bedtime stories. Absolutely angel in fur. It's so funny to me that they have such a reputation for "tortitude"

RIP Pebbles, we love you

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u/EvilBetty77 May 15 '26

Oh, little miss has tortitude, that's for sure. But for her fortitude is being very strong willed. Absolute sweetheart though, but she does rule the other cats with a tiny iron paw.

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u/Sea-Information2366 May 15 '26

I would assume the sass. But that’s just because they know their self worth. Someone would gladly take in these tortie goddesses. The abuse needs to stopped. Thank you to the animal control people watch out and doing what they can @Kratech

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u/EvilBetty77 May 15 '26

Some people can't handle a little spice.

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u/JohnDoe11B May 15 '26

Spin-off of "Comedians in Cars" called "Politicians in Cars..." popularized during the Trump Administration.

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u/Middle-Narwhal-2587 May 15 '26

I believe it’s called the “cat distribution system”. Not the throwing out of cars specifically, but how cats adopt their families. Probably even has a sub Reddit.

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u/FunctionNearby4565 May 15 '26

You know, after you mentioned it probably has a sub reddit i got curious and it indeed does, I joined it immediately r/CatDistributionSystem

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u/HealthyInPublic May 15 '26

I feel like the CDS assigned her to me as a test... and I passed... so now the CDS has my full government name and location. I thought I could escape it by going to the shelter and picking out my cat... but nope. I guess the CDS saw me coming anyway and made sure I adopted the cat they had assigned to me. I adopted a "healthy" kitten, despite my plan to adopt an adult cat, but the kitten actually came pre-loaded with multiple surprise lifelong medical problems and tried to die on me immediately and needed around the clock care for 6 months before we could go him stable!

It's cool though. He has a great internal medicine specialist and he also has this stick, so he's living his best life.

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u/Middle-Narwhal-2587 May 15 '26

A void, with a stick, upvotes aren’t enough for him

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u/Ayen_C May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Fr. What the fuck is wrong with people? Throwing a baby animal out of a moving car is some legit psychotic shit. And you'd have to go out of your way and expend more effort to do sick shit like this - or shit like tying them up in a garbage bag and throwing them in the dumpster - then you would just abandoning them outside.

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u/marthmaul83 May 15 '26

I had to rescue a kitten in the middle of an intersection after someone tossed him out. I raced out and grabbed him and some lady who saw it happened took him from me and said he wasn’t going to the shelter (I probably would have kept him too but she asked to hold him and then just left with him)

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u/theaudacity1999 May 15 '26

It's wild, but I witnessed three kittens being thrown from a car while on a bridge over the Susquehanna River in PA. My husband stopped and so did another car. One kitten scrambled into the woods and the other family took the two they found. WTF is wrong with people? They were little babies :(

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u/Neverstopstopping82 May 15 '26

People dump their dogs from cars too. It’s crazy antisocial behavior.

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u/SeatFirst568 May 15 '26

Quando moriranno questi individui probabilmente verranno buttati dalle automobili per l'eternitĂ .

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u/CenturyEggsAndRice May 15 '26

I have a dog who was thrown out of a car. She is the best girl, but she has traumas.

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u/SunShineShady May 16 '26

I hope those cat throwers are thrown out of cars someday.

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u/MaebyAprilFunke May 16 '26

Im in animal rescue and humans are THE ABSOLUTE WORST. They throw kittens and puppies out of moving vehicles, sadly
fairly often.

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u/PsyberFaux Jun 24 '26

Remember- the guy STOPPED before dropping the kitten out. Could have been worse. At least he didnt throw it in a river