HEY!

HEY!

Back up your computer!

Go get the external drive you bought specifically for this purpose and then left in a drawer somewhere and RUN A FULL BACKUP.

There are lots of posts that make the rounds reminding us to sit up straight, stretch, drink water, refocus our eyes, take our meds, etc. But while this may not be about your health, it's still super-important.

Back up your whole-ass computer. If you can afford a second backup drive, buy one so that you have one SSD and one HDD, and back up to both of them (you can back up just the current important stuff to the SSD and let the HDD do the heavy-duty lifting).

Do not rely on 'the cloud' or the internet to keep jack shit.

AND BACK UP YOUR GMAIL AS WELL HOLY SHIT. The last thing you want is a catastrophic issue where literally every single thing you have in gmail is gone. It's happened. It happened to a friend of mine and basically her entire life was in there and now it's all gone. 20 years of it.

Reblog to save a life.

I'm looking to get a purebred cat (scottish straight) for the first time and I'm worried about getting the perfect one from a good breeder who will have a long, healthy life. Do you have any tips or advice or questions to ask the breeder to make sure I get a good one? I'm not ready to pay what some breeders are asking for but I also don't want to end up with an improperly or unethically bred cat. I don't think I'll get scammed since I'm pretty good at identifying scottish cats and you can see when there are folds in the litter, but everything else worries me a little. Thanks!

This is not a breed which can be ethically purchased.

Unless you find a breeder who produces only straights, which I have yet to see, you will be financially supporting an individual who willingly produces cat destined to suffer. Your cat may be fine but his siblings would only know a life of pain.

The characteristic folded ears of the Scottish Fold are due to weak cartilage, but cartilage is found throughout the body and not just in the ears. The gene which effects the ears is not localized to that body part, the cartilage throughout the body is impacted.

Folds suffer from debilitating arthritis from a young age.

This condition is called osteochondrodysplasia and is well documented and understood in the breed. This isn’t a theory or speculation, we know it is universally present in cats with the folded ear phenotype and why. It cannot be avoided or bred out.

A Dominant TRPV4 Variant Underlies Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold Cats

Combined Surgical, Radiation and Medical Therapies for Osteochondrodysplasia in a Scottish Fold Cat

Incomplete Dominant Osteochondrodysplasia in Heterozygous Scottish Fold Cats

Osteochondrodysplasia in Felis catus (Domestic Cat)

Radiographical Survey of Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold Cats caused by TRPV4 Gene Variant

Scottish Fold Cats

Scottish Fold Disease - Osteochondrodysplasia

Scottish Fold Osteochondrodysplasia

I strongly recommend you reconsider your choice in breed.

The American Shorthair and British Shorthair have a similar phenotype and temperament and can be ethically bred and purchased.

What's the first question that really pops into peoples' minds about Ea-Nasir? I'm trying to write this history down, but I'm struggling.

Please reblog to increase sample size, I am trying to find out how much normal people know about this because I am Not Normal and my assumed baseline of knowledge cannot be trusted