#it’s watership down syndrome

[birdantlers]

I can only title dbz fics some super flowery shojo-title bullshit and i think it’s so funny,,, toriyama is naming hsi characters canola oil or whatever the hell but i’m like lol what if i put a little Chaucer—

[willtheweaver]

WIP questionnaire

Shoutout to @elizaellwrites for the tag.

The rules are thus: Answer as many (or as few) of the questions about your WIP as you can.

1. What was the first part of your WIP that you created?

Probably the general idea. If there is any pattern to my writing, it’s that I get inspiration. It could be a character, or a plot point, or a setting. After that, I find myself with the need to make a story around it.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

This is an interesting one. I would think that something like instrumental would work well (think of the opening theme for GoT).

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

My favorite? That is a hard one. I know that my protagonist is the obvious answer, but I genuinely loved crafting many layers into Fen.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

I’d think the fan base would have an affinity with stories (written works, film/tv, etc) such as Redwall, or Watership Down.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Staying focused, and trying not to let burnout get the better of me. Writer’s block and imposter syndrome are also things I sometimes deal with.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

All of the characters are animals that have been given anthropomorphic characteristics. They fall into one of two categories: fox or bird. They are the focus of the story. Other animals, such as deer, fish, squirrels, lizards, and snakes exist, but none of them show sentient characteristics (at least in this book. Future installments? Not spoiling anything)

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

Characters usually travel by foot. Birds have the added option of flying. There are no beasts of burden, so riding is out of the question, unless it is done with the in-world equivalent of the old ‘bone shaker’ or ‘penny-farthing’ bicycles (only exist as background details as I couldn’t figure out how to make them work for this story)

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

Small details here and there. All the main points are done, so all that’s left is to connect them.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

I think that what will get people interested is that this a story with many layers. Beneath the appearance of a nice story about woodland creatures are questions about identity, self discovery, feuding communities, and dealing with all the baggage that comes with such weighty issues.

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

I have a whole series planned out, and I hope to show it to the world. Short term goal is to see one project to completion.

Tagging @bard-coded @little-peril-stories @fourwingedwriter @winterandwords @splashinkling @bard-coded @jay-avian @agirlandherquill @winglesswriter , and open tag for anyone who would like to join in.

[tanjirou-no-au]

An Outstretched Hand, Pt. 2

Follow up to this, Ft. White Haired Izuku.

During the Thousand Enemies Arc, Izuku gains a scar mirroring Shigaraki’s during one of his myriad fights, and ends up with Marie Antoinette Syndrome due to stress.

It doesn’t bleach his hair completely, but still gives him a nice shock when he finally washes off the grime and looks in a mirror.

Finally, some quotes for both of them:

“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.” - Watership Down

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” - Gautama Buddha

"Cry, cry as much as you wish. Someday that resentment will become your fangs." - The Wolf King, Ringing Bell.

“You’re next.” - AFO and OFA.

[onelungmcclung]

(watership down ctd: the wire and justified)

... the wire also combines elements of the war story (which is always to a greater or lesser extent a tragedy) (the pacific is written as a tragedy to a greater extent than band of brothers, for example) and the bildungsroman and the social novel and families of necessity, and that’s very heartbreaking too. in this case the families of necessity are more or less interchangeable with the institutions that compromise the people within them, yet all of the character narratives are riven with love, loyalty, duty and loss.

possibly all david simon’s shows are war stories of a kind

(sometimes I think about bubbles and get. a little overwhelmed)

although it’s lighter than the wire, I could probably make an argument for justified as sharing these elements. but less emphasis on found family and shared trauma (almost everyone is traumatised but dealing with it alone), more on the gothic notion of biological family and childhood environment as a kind of haunted house. raylan fits very much with raymond chandler’s description of the necessary detective protagonist (I’ve always been fascinated by his implication that sometimes the central character is the prop for the story being told, almost a cipher. the penultimate paragraph is the relevant section). so in terms of genre justified combines tragedy/war story, southern gothic, neo western, and hardboiled detective fiction, and I didn’t see it coming but unsurprisingly I’m weak for that combination.

I can really go to town on watership down comparisons, you know

at this point I’ve so completely strayed away from talking about any one fandom that maybe I should have posted all this on my main, but tbh they’ve probably seen me do this shit before

[watership down syndrome count: watership down (naturally), dracula, hbo war shows, the wire, treme, justified, the oa]

[ninja8tyu]

why rabbits are my favorite animal: a collage of images

[syscoursehell]

asking on anon because i’m embarrassed and also not publicly out as a system - you can also feel free to delete this if you want - but the way my system internally manifests, almost all of us are animals. just.. four legged, only slightly anthropomorphized animals. like watership down or warrior cats type of deal. is that… is that valid? or is that a sign i’m making it all up? :x

hey there!! don't worry, it's perfectly fine to ask stuff on anon for any reason.

thats never a sign you're "faking" or making it all up. i understand imposter syndrome and the rise of the whole "DID fakers on tiktok" bullshit makes things worse, but whatever your brain needed to form to keep you alive is what's going to form. if you found comfort in animals, it's likely going to be animals!! i found a lot of comfort in fiction, so we're a majority-fictive system due to it. i've met systems with fictive hosts, and i've met systems with non-human/animal hosts, it happens and it's nothing to fret over.

i hope you and your system have a great day!!

[jondalars]

 movies, tv shows, and books of 2020

((* is a rewatch/reread; currently watching; can’t get through))

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Archaeology by Walter Shepherd

The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen by Howard Carter, A.C. Mace

Hot Rod (2007)

Dare Me (s1)

Secret Societies: A History by Arkon Daraul

Ad Vitam (s1)

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden *

Лучше, чем люди (s1)

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Cheer (s1)

The Good Place (s4)

Despite the Falling Snow (2016)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Under the Skin (2014)

The Invitation (2016)

Hustlers (2019)

The Magicians (s5)

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Mandy (2018)

Anne with an E (s3)

About Time (2013)

Spring Breakers (2012) *

God’s Own Country (2017)

Frances Ha (2012) *

The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson *

Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

American Honey (2016)

6 Balloons (2018)

It Comes at Night (2017)

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) & *

Berlin Syndrome (2017)

I, Claudius by Robert Graves *

Earthquake Bird (2019)

City of God (2002)

Click (2006)

The Society (s1*)

Roma (2018)

Bojack Horseman (s6)

Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020)

Ready or Not (2019)

From Dusk Till Dawn (s1*, s2, s3)

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

The Little Hours (2017)

Teeth (2008)

Altered Carbon (s1)

Horse Girl (2020)

The Lighthouse (2019)

Parasite (2019) *

Ragnarok (s1)

McMillions (s1)

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)

Honey Boy (2019)

Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina by Robert Graves

The Farewell (2019)

Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison *

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones *

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

Good Time (2017) *

The Pianist (2002)

American Vandal (s1*, s2*)

The Engineer of Human Souls by Josef Škvorecký

Anna Karenina (2012) *

Shameless (s1*, s2*, s3*, s4*, s5*, s6*, s7*, s8, s9, s10)

The Inheritors by William Golding

Animal Farm by George Orwell *

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (s1)

Raising Arizona (1987) *

Freaks (2018)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Lost Girls (2020)

Rat Race (2001) *

The Skeleton Twins (2014)

Pamela by Samuel Richardson

Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Uncut Gems (2019)

Emma. (2020)

Emma (1996) *

Roswell, New Mexico (s2)

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

The Platform (2019)

Twin Peaks (s1)

Mansfield Park (1999) *

A Ghost Story (2017)

The Duchess (2008) *

20th Century Women (2016) *

A Single Man (2009) *

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (s1)

White Oleander by Janet Fitch *

Clue (1985) *

Summer Night (2019)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Outbreak (1995)

Myths Every Child Should Know by Hamilton Wright Mabie

The Leftovers (s1*, s2, s3)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) *

Zombieland: Double Tab (2019)

Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales trans. H. Oskar Sommer

Lives of Celebrated Female Sovereigns and Illustrious Women by Mrs. Anna Jameson

Twilight (2008) *

The Social Network (2010) *

Law & Order: SVU (s2, s3, s4, s20)

Little Women (2019)

New Moon (2009) *

Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor by Donald C. Johanson & James Shreeve

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen *

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Love Wedding Repeat (2020)

The Big Sick (2017) *

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins *

Emma by Jane Austen *

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins *

National Treasure (2004) *

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne *

The Death of Stalin (2017) *

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge

Upload (s1)

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievitch

The Bling Ring (2013) *

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Killing Eve (s3)

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Contagion (2011)

Can You Keep a Secret? (2019)

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino

Notting Hill (1999) *

The Host (2013) *

Joker (2019)

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

The Elite by Kiera Cass

The One by Kiera Cass

Seberg (2019)

Inception (2010) *

The Princess Bride (1987) *

The Lovebirds (2020)

Moonstruck (1987)

Galavant (s1*, s2*)

Underworld (2003)

The Master (2012)

Waco (s1)

The Awakening by Kate Chopin *

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Man Up (2015) *

The Haunting of Hill House (s1*)

Democracy by Joan Didion *

Community (s1*, s2*, s3*, s4*, s5*, s6)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath *

Hannibal (s1)

Plainwater: Essays and Poetry by Anne Carson *

Before I Fall (2017)

The Disaster Artist (2017) *

Anna Karenina: Vronsky’s Story (s1)

Love (s1, s2, s3)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (s1, s2, s3)

Persuasion by Jane Austen **

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

Dovlatov (2018)

The Politician (s2)

Rant by Chuck Palahniuk *

13th (2016) *

Uptown Girls (2003) *

Lovesick (s1 ,s2, s3)

Crash Landing on You (s1 & *)

Clueless (1995)

Well-Intended Love (s2)

Athlete A (2020)

Dark (s3)

The Half of It (2020)

Guns Akimbo (2019)

Splice (2009)

The King: Eternal Monarch (s1)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro *

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis

The Old Guard (2020)

I May Destroy You (s1)

Blindspotting (2018)

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion *

She’s the Man (2006) *

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (2012)

Zodiac (2007) *

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

The Untamed (s1 & *)

The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara *

The Hater (2020)

Stay (2019)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold *

The Great (s1)

The Assistant (2019)

The Umbrella Academy (s2)

Straight Up (2019)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Burning (2018)

True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)

Mo Dao Zu Shi by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Mo Dao Zu Shi (s1, s2)

The Legend of Korra (s1, s2)

Nightcrawler (2014)

3% (s1*, s2, s3, s4)

The Runaways (2010) *

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) *

#Alive (2020)

The Boys (s2)

Palm Springs (2020)

Normal People (s1)

Radioactive (2019)

Man of the Year (2006)

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Logan Lucky (2017)

Crush by Richard Siken *

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

Schitt’s Creek (s6, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards)

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Underworld by Don DeLillo

Happy Together (1997)

Hubie Halloween (2020)

American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)

Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys (s1)

Deaf U (s1)

Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (s1)

28 Days (2000) *

Pride & Prejudice (2005) *

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

The Iliad by Homer trans. Chase and Perry *

Murder Mystery (2019) *

War and the Iliad by Simone Weil and Rachel Bespaloff *

It’s Okay to Not be Okay (s1)

Holidate (2020)

The Princess Switch (2018)

Blackpink: Light Up the Sky (2020)

Sense and Sensibility (s1) ((2008))

Pride and Prejudice (s1*) ((1980))

A Christmas Prince (2017)

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson *

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake by Frank W. Abagnale & Stan Redding *

Easy A (2010) *

Nine Plays of Chekov by Anton Chekov

Survivor (s1, s2, s3, s4, s5, s6, s7, s8, s9, s10, s11, s12, s13, s14, s15, s16, s17, s28)

Bad Teacher (2011)

Ocean’s Eleven (2001) *

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson *

Happiest Season (2020)

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb (2020)

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe *

Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo *

100 Days My Prince (s1)

The Stranger by Albert Camus *

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus

The Wilds (s1)

[tossmeoutawindow]

Since I haven’t made an updated list in forever here’s a list of either horror books or books with horror or strange elements:

Horror books:

1. Goth by otsuichi

2. Cabin at the end of the world by Paul tremblay

3.my best friends exorcism by Grady Hendrix

4. The fireman’s by joe hill

5.help for the haunted by John Searles

6.the girl with all the gifts by m.r. Carey

7. A head full of ghosts by Paul tremblay

8.the child finder by Rene denfeld

9. Baby teen by zoje stage

10. Dark places by Gillian Flynn

11. Damned by chuck palahnuk

12. Lesser dead by Christopher buehlman

13. 172 hours on the moon by johan harstad

14. Last days by Adam Nevill

15. The silence by johnathan Maberry

16. The road by corkscrew McCarthy

17.blindness by Jose saramago

18. The shinning by Stephen king

19. Misery by Stephen king

20. Pet Sematary by Stephen king

21. Salem’s lot by Stephen king

22. Rosemarys baby by ira levin

23. The exorcist by William blatty

24. The omen by David seltzer

25. Nos4a2 by joe hill

26. The troop by nick cutter

27. Let the right one in by John ajvide lindqvist

Aight this list is more in the catigory of unsettling or lighthearted but with strange elements

1. The witches of New York by ami mckay

2.ruthless by Carolyn Adams

3. Wayward pines series by Blake crouch

4. Dark matter by Blake crouch

5. Handmaids take by margret Atwood

6. Lord of the flies by William Golding

7. Coralline by Neil gaiman

8. The green mile by Stephen king

9. The postmortals by drew magary

10. Warm bodies by Isaac Marion

11. White is for witching by Helen oyeymi

12. Every heart a doorway by seanan McGuire

13. A map for wrecked girls by Jessica Taylor

14. You by Caroline kepnes

15. Berlin syndromes by Melanie joosten

16. John dies at the end by David Wong

17. City of the lost by jelly Armstrong

18. Summer of salt by Katrina Leno

19. Practical magic by Alice Hoffman

20. Nowhere wild by joe beernink

21. Watership down by Richard Adams

22. The girls by Emma cline

23. The strange and beautiful sorrows of Ava lavender by Leslye Walton

24. Violent ends by multiple authors

25. Geek love by Kathrine Dunn

26. Disappearance at devils rock by Paul tremblay

27. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Happy reading kiddos

[riougabtiret1980-blog]

But now is the time where there are so many options to choose from that are healthier, more nutritious and just as delicious as meat while often being cheaper. You just have to give it a go and try new things. No one expects you to munch on a stick of tofu and celery. In contrast, I would see Jimin enjoy that a lot less. Jimin love the attention, he feeds on it, bask on it, his pores glow from within because of it. Just different personalities that all.. Historically, Scotland and England haven't always seen eye to eye. At least 500 million years ago, the two landmasses were separated by an ocean. Back then, Scotland belonged to an amalgamation of continents that also included North America and Greenland. Breaking bones when you do this sucks even more. Winter in general can be hard.No markets (maybe in Portland? I dunno don spend much time there). Walmart is about as as you 부평출장안마 are gunna get. Their minds just shift gears. It like they really become men and step up to provide etc. My husband baby talks to our toddler sometimes like "Daddy has to go to work so he can buy you diapers and formula!" It cracks me up! Not to mention it even more of a turn on ;)Now I just daydream about giving birth and getting back in shape and hopefully, hopefully things will go back to normal esp the hormones and unexplained appetite for ahem. The best part (and what we laugh at now) is that I was always 부평출장안마 completely honest with him. He would laugh and act like he was going to block me. Since my goal wasn to "date" him, he was able to take it as a joke, rather than me being creepy. Elite Dangerous has an incredibly passionate, enthusiastic and talented community, and we re committed to supporting Elite now and for the future. We would like to take this opportunity to say, once again, that none of this would be possible without the continued support and dedication from our community so, thank you. Keep sharing your feedback with us, and if you have any questions feel free to share them with us by posting in this thread. He never thinks about an actual solution to anything in society. He just wants to kill everyone he hates.TributeToStupidity 2 points submitted 7 days agoMy favorite small part that I've posted before: Wayne believes that watership down is about the kandra.In AoL he talks about being confused by a book about a bunch of talking bunnies on a boat. Later in BoM when he meets with the kandra who gives them the mission (can't remember his name) he immediately asks if kandra could transform into bunnies. Depends on what kind of "retarded" you talking about. At lot of developmental delays can present with cranio facial deformities, like Down Syndrome, so they physically cannot speak "normally". In the case of a person with a physical disorder, like dystonia, they can control the muscles in their face, neck, throat, etc and also physically cannot speak "normally". They only last 3 years so I got a second one, but they changed the formula and the second one I got was the long period/depression one. Then I switched to an IUD, but I have a tilted uterus so it didn't sit correctly and made my body try to expel it everyday by giving me painful cramps that made it feel like I was being stabbed in the lower bladder. They made me stick that out for three months to see if I would adjust, but the day I hit 3 months I got it out.

[cconstruct-blog]

Recurring symbols/aesthetics of this blog:

Rabbits: in reference to ‘rabbit-heart’ and anxiety, as well as their association with abundance and femininity (also humorously: Springtime, and how ‘Momo’ means ‘peach’). Long running references to the book Watership Down. Other: sacrificial lambs, being prey in a world of predators. Gold: specifically kintsukuroi (scars), and the philosophy of treating breakage and repair (alt; past mistakes) as part of something’s history, instead of something to disguise or cast out. Marble: gold and marble typically have associations with things such as beautiful, perfect marble sculptures, and how Momo is often treated/reduced to ‘The perfect student’ archetype (by fandom), which directly feeds into Momo’s impostor syndrome and anxiety. Cool, perfect, inhuman.  Glass: A recurring symbol of femininity [in my life], often reduced to the two features of ‘pretty’ and ‘fragile’, though in reality is a fascinating material with incredible properties. Alt; glass shatters and cuts when broken. Another potential interpretation, is glass windows are often used to symbolically convey the feeling of watching a world go by that you yourself are not/cannot be a part of.

[dandunn]

Sometimes I look around my house and my art taste and wonder if Watership Down held me at gunpoint as a kid, forcibly changed my psyche and rewired my brain to enjoy certain things. Like there's a kind of Stockholm syndrome going on for kids turned adults who were traumatised by the movie

and then I also think there's literally no other way to get into Watership Down other than being traumatised by it lmao

[21st-century-flapper]

CHOOSE BETWEEN: 4, 5. Favourite: 3. ENVIRONMENT: 5. PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: 5. ANTI-Favourites: 1,2,4. AESTHETIC: 1. CHARACTERS: 2,5.

Bookmarks or dogears? Bookmarks. I’m not a savage.

New books or worn books? New books, so I can put the wear on them 

Favorite series? The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness

Favorite reading-time snack? M&Ms. No sticky/dirty fingers.

Book you could read forever? Watership Down by Richard Adams. 

Worst book you’ve read? 50 Shades of Grey. Yes, I read it. Trainwreck Syndrome.

Book you couldn’t even finish? A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. Fury indeed. 

Most overrated book? The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe. JFC what a snoozefest. And Werther is a whiny wet rag.

Prettiest cover? I have this huge coffee table book with the collected works of Poe and it has a cover that is glorious in its elegant simplicity.

Favorite antagonist? Jakab from “The String Diaries”. It’s rare that an antagonist really, really scares me, but Jakab makes my blood freeze. He’s a monster, but a very realistic one - take away his supernatural powers and you could easily imagine him existing in our world. But with his added supernatural powers he becomes a true monster.

Most hated character? Mayor Prentiss from the Chaos Walking Trilogy. I fucking hate that guy. He’s the worst, and not because he’s badly written like some other characters I hate, but rather because he’s such a well-written asshole. 

[onelungmcclung]

ok, one last thing: for the sake of clarity, “watership down syndrome” = stories about group friendships/families of necessity that begin more or less as strangers and develop through bitter struggle and shared trauma into love, mutual loyalty, bearing witness to one another, and the willingness to sacrifice oneself for others

my go-to examples are watership down (self evidently) and dracula, and that comparison might make all my erstwhile english teachers choke on their tea but they would be forced to admit I am correct, as usual

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #8

My gosh, there’s just so much stuff you vetlings want to know, isn’t there? Well, knowledge is good, so here we go with yet another info dump as I try to answer a big slew of your questions in one hit.

Anonymous said: I sometimes get your patreon emails or an update on your blog while I'm studying/struggling in the wee-hours of the morning (vetmed). I'm in WA, so where-ever you are it's also late/early. What are you doing up in the witching hours?

First of all, I am an AdultTM and as such I am permitted to set by own Bed Time. There are many reasons why you might receive notifications from me so ‘early’.

I have a blog post on queue every morning between 5am and 6am my time (so probably 3am and 4am your time). It goes up automatically, so I can see initial responses before I go to work.

I think Patreon sends its emails at the same time each day, regardless of when I post. I certainly don’t type there early in the morning.

Sometimes I’m on nightshift and can get kinda bored at 3am sometimes.

Sometimes I just can’t sleep, especially with the changing day/night cycles.

Most of the blog runs on queue, honestly. At least three posts a day do.

@banesidhe said: Just happened to discover your blog. Thank you so much for posting like you do (even the snark. I'm a 911 dispatcher, I appreciate the snark ;) ), and sharing your experiences. No vet question, but if you could only ever re/read five books for the rest of your life, which five titles would make your cut?

Ah, I have found many similar people to myself among emergency personnel. There’s a particular combination of gallows humor and wishing people would get to the point that unites us.

For fiction books:

Feral, Kerry Greenwood

The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett

Watership Down, Richard Adam

Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Hmm, bit of a trend there.

But the work books I couldn’t live without are:

Plumb’s Veterinary Drug Handbook

The 5 minute veterinary consult, Dog and Cat Edition

Ettinger’s Textbook of Internal Medicine, Expert Consult

BSAVA Rabbit Medicine & Surgery Handbook

Small Animal Surgery, Fossum.

Anonymous asked: what was the most exotic/rare patient youve ever had?

This fat meerkat.

Anonymous said: My dog is a shelter dog and we suspect she was abused before we got her (afraid of E V E R Y T H I N G) and weve been slowly working on getting her to at least ignore people we walk past or that enter the house and thats been making progress. But she hates the vet. Hates it. Gets in my lap and refuses to leave. New dogs people and smells. So her normal vet takes the approach of having one of us hold/console her while they do all the poking and listening and whatnot and muzzling her if they need to and just getting it done as quickly as possible. But this last time she saw a new vet and this vet took the approach of hand-feeding her almost an entire bag of treats and called it "stress-eating" and tbh you should have seen the look on my dogs face. She was so weirded out. Shes highly food motivated so it was like heaven to her but she was simultaneously very suspicious. Her face was like"i love this but idk if i trust it" it was great.Have a greatday!

If you an reinforce the behaviour by arranging frequent, short visits to the vet clinic where nothing happens but lots of treats, she may start to associate the vet clinic with positive things (food) ad no scary things. This might make the rest ofher life easier.

Anonymous said: I own fancy rats and just want to put out there to people, that while they are THE MOST amazing tiny friends, in my experience most vets are completely lost when it comes to their care & several I've seen refused to even touch my exceptionally friendly females. They often get respiratory infections requiring antibiotics. One of my friend's females passed away bc nobody would perform a simple surgery on her. So please be cautious when buying them. 

I would like to suggest that any surgery on a rat is likely to be not simple, because they do have particular anesthetic requirements that can make their recovery difficult. Also that a lot of traditional rat medicine hinges on using post mortem examination as a diagnostic tool, which is not useful at all with pet rats.

In dog and cat medicine most of our equipment and even medications are not suitable for rats, or very difficult to adapt. We simply have fewer options, and generally less experience with these species Most vets I know will attempt to treat them, but with a great big disclaimer saying I don’t do this often, and a quick question as to whether you’d prefer to go to a nearby clinic that does see rats more often.

Anonymous said: Hello, I recently took in 3 abandoned kittens and they're covered in fleas. They appear to be 6 weeks old and can't use meds or wash for them. I clean them with vinegar and dish soap and I was wondering if you knew of any other ways to help them since they hate getting wet. I also use a comb but they dislike that as well.

You can use capstar on kittens from 4 weeks of age, and Revolution from 6, probably earlier. Talk to your vet.

Anonymous asked: Strange question but do you know if that rage syndrome thing can happen in cats also? I know a cat who does that and also acts strangely in general at the same time?

It is not documented in cats, however Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome may present in a similar way.

Anonymous said: Hey doc! I plan on getting my cat fixed soon and I'm worried about how it'll affect her. She's really skittish and prefers to stay in one room, could getting her fixed make it worse?? I guess like what are the possible behavioral effects is what I'm askin? For the qt: ive been here a while i just dont like or reblog stuff but i came for the vet knowledge and stayed for it too, especially the mythical creatures and dog breed info

She is probably not going to have any long term personality changes from being desexed, though might be out of sorts for a few days after the anaesthetic. If anything they tend to be less stressed because they’re not attracting Toms.

Another Anonymous said: My kitten was neutered yesterday and he's doing great, healing well, playing nonstop, remarkably agile despite the e-collar (navigating small spaces, jumping to high places), eating & drinking well. The vet didn't give us any aftercare instructions but I googled it -- and wish I'd done so before the surgery because I could've prepared better. A lot of it seemed obvious in hindsight but nothing I'd have thought of on my own. Do you have a flier or anything for your patients' humans? 

We send our patients home with aftercare instructions. We have a default one that we print for routine surgery like desexing, and a customized one for non-routine procedures.

We also read it out to our clients when they pick up their pet, and point out that all these instructions are written down, because it’s easy to forget details when you’re worried.

Anonymous asked: I have a question! I saw your desexing cats post and thought I might send it to you. I neutered my male cat but he still sprays and tries to roam the neighborhood. I try to keep him inside best I can. Is there a reason this happens?

It may be stress, but you should consult your vet to rule out any underlying urinary tract issue before assuming so. Your vet should be able to discus the various stress reducing techniques, changes and treatments that are available.

Anonymous asked: Whenever my roommate wakes up before me, she makes bacon for breakfast while the coffee is brewing. If she hasn't slept well, her coherence is sometimes a bit... lacking. If our cat happens to demand food, about half the time she ends up giving him a slice of bacon instead of cat food. We only recently figured out that she's been doing this. He's not getting fat, and gets actual cat food later, so is this OK, or do we need to try to figure out how to keep this from happening?

While bacon is certainly digestible, it is not a balanced diet. It would be ideal if you could minimize his bacon habit.

@nowgovanish said: Hello! I have a question about my 13 and 4 year old cats. They seem to have some pretty bad skin reactions to certain foods, and I've tried a lot of different food brands that my vet reccommended. The one that seems to work best is a grain free/ non chicken variant, but I see that you aren't a huge fan of grain free. Is there anything I should change or try sticking with what works?

I have said many times before that if it’s working, keep feeding it.

Novel protein diets, and ideally single proteins source diets, are more use for allergies than just going ‘grain free’.

‘Grain Free’ labelling on food particularly vexes me because it’s not regulated. You can find ‘grain free’ food that really mean ‘corn free’ and either use grain byproducts or straight up use rice. Last time I checked, rice was a grain.

It’s like ‘Hollistic’ - it means nothing on a pet food label. Neither does ‘Organic’, pet food companies do not have to use all organic products in pet food to label the food as organic. These are marketing ploys like ‘all natural’ which are targeting your emotions and don’t mean anything when it comes to the food.

If you’ve come across a novel protein diet, or a minimum ingredient diet, that is beneficial for your cats then stick with it. But recognise what’s marketing and what’s useful.

Anonymous said: I love my dog but he is a complete and total moron. He has strangled himself so often that his bark is now raspy. He even found a way to do it with a harness! We've resorted to jogging when walking him to try and keep up but is there some way to make it better? We've tried letting him learn on his own, pausing when he pulls, and getting a longer leash. If he was much smarter I'd accuse him of being into asphyxiation.

I would suggest that you potentially need to figure out what motivates your dog most. Consider using positive reinforcement to encourage him to heel on the lead, instead of wandering and pulling.

You might also want to consider something like a halti collar, which pulls the dog’s nose downwards to their chest when they pull, instead of something that goes around the neck.

Anonymous: Would you consider it a good generalization that dogs more closely resembling/related to wolves (like huskies) have less health problems? I am aware that no dogs are completely lacking in health problems.  Tax: came for good hard factual analysis.

No. And here’s the thing- all modern dog breeds are equally distant from their wolf-like ancestor, unless they have been recently mixed with wolves again.

Their health problems are different to those dogs with more extreme anatomy, but dogs that look like wolves are not inherently healthier.

@justslowdown said: a book i have discusses the man who created the GSD breed (aka isolated traits from a diverse population) pairing dogs with their daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters and onwards til more than 1/2 of the pups had to be culled. due you think this could be partially responsible for the health issues remaining more than a century later? "Very drastic inbreeding was espoused during the formation of the breed [...] to quickly form specific type" - The German Shepherd Dog by Ernest H Hart

Certainly.

This is called line breeding, where the offspring of a ‘perfect’ individual are repeatedly bred back to the same individual generation upon generation to try to recreate it. All you really do is lose genetic diversity very quickly and allow recessive deleterious genes to proliferate in the population.

This is why just about everywhere else that’s not the purebred pet world, this is considered a bad thing to do.

@eyestumblin said: Do you think horses would look significantly different if their wonky anatomy were more logical?

They would no longer be a horse.

@cirque-du-spoon said: I saw you mention sheep on the horse thread and I spent a fair bit of time on a sheep farm in Wales. The head shepherd once told me "sheep are born, they spend the rest of their life trying to die". Then he opened his landrover door, and the passenger footwell was maybe 6 lambs snuggled up to one of his old motherly collies.

The common phrase down here was “The aim in life of a Merino ewe is to die and take fifty of her friends with her.” It’s not really much of an exaggeration.

Anonymous said: I'm intrigued to hear the faults of sheep, lay it on me!

Oh I will. It’s on my list for a big write up.

@queenalia said: Hi! I love the post about why horses make no sense, and I was wondering if you would do a similar one for sheep (one of the most suicidal animals on earth in my opinion)?

It will definitely be done sometime in the next few weeks. As you understand, it’s not  quick answer.

@vulturegeorge said: Hey Dr.F, after reeding your "horses-are-spindily-legged-disasters" post and your comment about how sheep are worse, I was wondering if you wished to elaborate? I am currently working on a heard of 50 random sheep my uni bought with a ton of lung issues ... so it'd be super interesting to me. Question tax: came for the Lucifer story, stayed for all of your amazing advice & opinions. I hope you are finding balance between vetting and living. cheers!

I promise I will elaborate. I can’t leave a cliff hanger like that and not explain... eventually.

[penpressure]

An overview of God Is Red

This is an unpublished retrospect of the book God Is Red: A Native View of Relgion by Vine Deloria, Jr. (1994/1972 Fulcrum edition).

There is a feeling people have when they find and accept Christianity as their chosen religion. The conceptual perception is known as being blessed. As humans, we all experience different levels of a heightened awareness. Yet, when someone finds God, they go through an exceptional display of public affection towards religion. Like a peacock parading around its glorious display of colorful wings, fundamental Christians strut their ideals to not just assure their stature as human beings, but to also elevate a sense of social status and assure you of this moral placard.

Vine Deloria, Jr. eludes to the idea of Christianity dominating culture, but “falling victim to cultural values.” These values are the same moral fiber that inflict our lives throughout history: war, racial tensions, sex, violence. In this work, he extrapolates more thought into attacking Christianity than defending native religion. Expunging on thousands of years of the history of Christian thought, he pairs it down between the individual and the community. Through recent events, Deloria considers Christianity as a product of the individual, a failure to societies in general. Comparatively with native religion, the relationship lies between a “particular” god and “particular” community. He calls the individual in a tribal religion to be ridiculous.

What seems to be contradicting between the individual and community, Deloria quotes Shooter, a Sioux Indian, to expand on the concept of individuality in tribal religion. “All birds, even those of the same species are not alike, and it is the same with animals, or human beings. The reason Wakan Tanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by Wakan Tanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself.”

Yet, he blames native religion for not preserving the ideals of the old ceremonies as they have been obscured with what is taught in the schools and church. But as he parallels his view on the Old Testament, it shows a universal aspect of understanding any religion. “The Old Testament is probably extremely accurate in many respects, particularly when describing those events that changed the way people understood their world. It is difficult for many people to accept the fact that the Old Testament is primarily an effort to record first Hebrew and then Jewish history and not a volume of Divine admonitions about the nature of ultimate reality. . . . Our responsibility today is to discern from the many different human traditions the probably historical sequences that have shaped our modern earth and come into closer understanding of the nature of the planet on which we live.”

Native religion is not about preserving historical value. It is a reaction to the respect of nature that surrounds them. It is also a reaction to the outside influences that shape their existence be it social conflict or political motivation. As Deloria, writes about the bullying effect of Christianity (destroying nature and erecting large buildings as churches, holding televangelism, etc.), this comes hot off the heels of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.

In 1972, there was a social conscious of the Indian Rights Movement. Deloria painstakingly addresses it almost as much as he addresses the history of Christianity. His only fault is that he claims he wished he would have kept up with the trends throughout the years of modern Christian fallacies that have plagued society.

God Is Red is a reaction to the uncertainty of the moment, utilizing history as its foundation. American life was at a murky crossroads. As President Nixon reduced troop numbers in Vietnam (549,000 in 1969 to 69,000 in 1972), anticipated fears of a never-ending war ramped back up with Nixon’s Christmas bombings. Popular culture mimicked these fears with M*A*S*H* replacing Vietnam for the Korean War and airing on TV. In England, Richard Adams perfectly put into prose the uncertainty of the times in Watership Down. In science fiction, John Brunner builds a frightening dystopian world in The Sheep Look Up. David Morrell pens the causality and human effects of post traumatic stress syndrome with First Blood.

California rockers like David Crosby tapped into natural elements as a guiding force, but never is as poignant as Native American rockers Redbone. They followed up their Message From A Drum with 1972’s Already Here. The Native American rock group made a name for themselves by tapping into the collective consciousness of native culture.

Unlike the capitalization of fear these novels presented, Deloria used God Is Red as a call for alarm. He explains that an “important way for Indian authors to change the opinions and behaviors of non-Indians was to attack the fundamental principles of non-Indian world view (A Conversation with Vine Deloria, Jr. 1977, Words and Places Program 8). He does so by looking at American perception of Indian culture from tribal treatise to the American Western.

In Chapter 2, “The Indians of the American Imagination,” Deloria makes a critical analysis not only of American culture but many Native American authors who write about Native culture, fact-checking misconceptions in their ideas. But then he points out the books that should be read for their proper perspective of Native culture. In this 1994 edition, he notices a new wave of popularity of Indian religions. “Tribal religions have been trivialized  beyond redemption by people sincerely wishing to learn about them.” For Deloria, we still did not have it right.

Deloria made this book to be a living, breathing treatise on the history of Native religion overpowered by a dominant Christian political and social landscape. Maybe President Donald Trump should have consulted Deloria’s writings when he made his “Pocohontas” statement during a speech about Native Americans in 2017 (http://fortune.com/2018/02/14/donald-trump-elizabeth-warren-pocahontas-native-americans/). It further proves the importance of Deloria’s awareness and the future of Native American rights in society.

[btunz19]

Dark crystal

The Dark Crystal is a 1982 puppet animated dark fantasy adventure film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell, Billie Whitelaw, Percy Edwards, and Barry Dennen. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and Henson Associates and distributed by Universal Pictures. The plot revolves around Jen, a Gelfling on a quest to restore balance to the world of Thra and overthrow the ruling Skeksis by restoring a powerful broken Crystal.

Brian Froud was chosen as concept artist after Henson saw one of his paintings in the book Once upon a time.The characters in the film are elaborate puppets, and none are based on humans or any other specific Earth creature. Before its release, The Dark Crystal was billed as the first live-action film without any human beings on screen, and "a showcase for cutting-edge animatronics".

The hands and facial features of the groundbreaking animatronic puppets in the film were controlled with relatively primitive rods and cables, although radio control later took over many of the subtler movements. Human performers inside the puppets supplied basic movement for the larger creatures, which in some cases was dangerous or exhausting; for example, the Garthim costumes were so heavy that the performers had to be hung up on a rack every few minutes to rest while still inside the costumes. A mime from Switzerland was hired to help choreograph the movements of the puppeteers.

When conceptualizing the Skeksis, Henson had in mind the Seven deadly sins, though because there were 10 Skeksis, some sins had to be invented or used twice.Froud originally designed them to resemble deep sea fish, but later designed them as "part reptile, part predatory bird, part dragon", with an emphasis on giving them a "penetrating stare."Each Skeksis was conceived as having a different "job" or function, thus each puppet was draped in multicolored robes meant to reflect their personalities and thought processes.

Each Skeksis suit required a main performer, whose arm would be extended over his or her head in order to operate the creature's facial movements, while the other arm operated its left hand. Another performer would operate the Skeksis' right arm. The Skeksis performers compensated for their lack of vision by having a monitor tied to their chests.

Mystic puppet, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History.

In designing the Mystics, Froud portrayed them as being more connected to the natural world than their Skeksis counterparts. Henson intended to convey the idea that they were purged of all materialistic urges, yet were incapable of acting in the real world. Froud also incorporated geometric symbolism throughout the film in order to hint at the implied unity of the two races.[17] The Mystics were the hardest creatures to perform, as the actors had to walk on their haunches with their right arm extended forward, with the full weight of the head on it. Henson himself could hold a position in a Mystic costume for only 5–10 seconds.

The Gelflings were designed and sculpted by Wendy Midener. They were difficult to perform, as they were meant to be the most human creatures in the film, and thus their movements, particularly their gait, had to be as realistic as possible. During scenes when the Gelflings' legs were off-camera, the performers walked on their knees in order to make the character's movements more lifelike.[18] According to Odell, the character Jen was Henson's way of projecting himself into the film.[17] Jen was originally meant to be blue, in homage to the Hindu deity Rama, but this idea was scrapped early on.

Aughra was originally envisioned as a "busy, curious little creature" called Habeetabat, though the name was rejected by Froud, who found the name too similar to Habitat, a retailer he despised. The character was re-envisioned as a seer or prophetess, and renamed Aughra. In selecting a voice actor for Aughra, Henson was inspired by Zero Mostel's performance as a "kind of insane bird trying to overcome Tourettes syndrome" on Watership Down. Although the character was originally voiced by Frank Oz, Henson wanted a female voice, and subsequently selected Billie Whitelaw.

The character Fizzgig was invented by Frank Oz, who wanted a character who served the same function as the Muppet poodle Foo-Foo, feeling that, like Miss Piggy, the character Kira needed an outlet for her caring, nurturing side.The character's design was meant to convey the idea of a "boyfriend-repellant", to contrast the popular idea that it is easier to form a bond with a member of the opposite sex with the assistance of a cute dog.

The Podlings were envisioned as people in complete harmony with their natural surroundings, thus Froud based their design on that of potatoes.Their village was modeled on the Henson family home.

In designing the Garthim, Froud took inspiration from the discarded carapaces of his and Henson's lobster dinners. The Garthim were first designed three years into the making of the film, and were made largely of fiberglass. Each costume weighed around 70 lbs (32 kg), thus Garthim performers still in costume had to frequently be suspended on racks in order to recuperate.

The Dark Crystal was the last film in which cinematographer Oswald Morris, BSC, involved himself in before retiring. He shot all the footage with a "light flex", a unit placed in front of the camera which gave a faint color tint to each scene in order to give the film a more fairy tale atmosphere similar to Froud's original paintings.

The film's soundtrack was composed by Trevor Jones, who became involved before shooting had started. Jones initially wanted to compose a score which reflected the settings' oddness by using acoustical instruments, electronics and building structures. This was scrapped in favor of an orchestral score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra once Gary Kurtz became involved, as it was felt that an unusual score would alienate audiences. The main theme of the film is a composite of the Skeksis' and Mystics' themes.Jones wrote the baby Landstrider theme in honor of his newly born daughter.