Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 277: Link's New Kitten | Ear Biscuits Ep.277

Episode Date: March 1, 2021

There's a new member of the Neal household. Listen to Link talk about his family's brand new kitten and all of the joys and grief that he brings on this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is mythical. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Link.

And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting, Link is pulling back his curtain. Uh-huh. And you know what's back there? It's a furry little- An animal. That sounds suggestive. Yeah.

Even saying you're pulling back your own curtain. But this is something that- Pulling back the curtain, I'm exposing my kitty. Everybody has been speculating, asking questions about, of course, at some point last year, you did an episode where you talked all about the presentation, the very good presentation that your daughter Lily did in order to basically ask.

Sway us into getting a cat. To get a cat. And we've hinted at the fact that a cat is present, but this is now, you're gonna let us know all about the cat. I've been, yeah, we've been living with this cat and I've been taking notes. I've been observing what a cat is like, what it's like to have a cat,

what impact the cat has on the Neal household. Everything was in order. If it ain't broke, don't fix it kind of thing. But we have to bring a cat into the equation. And so a lot of question marks. So I'm, you know, I'm on edge for my reasons. Christy's on edge for her reasons, but yes, we did it. We did get the cat because I'm a Lily person.

You know, I'm decidedly a dog person. Like Jade, you know, is, I adore that dog. Thought about bringing her in today, but then I didn't wanna sit here and talk about a cat the whole time and her to get upset. She would have. So yeah, I mean, I just, I've spent enough time with this cat

that I'm ready to give you a full download on what it's like. And there's still some lingering questions. Okay, do you think that someone who is thinking about getting a cat, that this will be a useful podcast for them? I think so, yeah, yeah. And do you think that after hearing your story,

will there be a definitive conclusion that they will come to? Do you intend for them to come to? Well, you'll have to wait and see. I think the preponderance of evidence might lead us to a certain conclusion, but I haven't, I'm not intentionally taking this

to a certain place as with most all of the podcasts that I'm bringing something to the table. I'm just trying to be honest and as real as possible about this. And then, you know, whatever fallout comes from it, we'll just have to deal with. There's gonna be fallout? There might be. From cat lovers specifically?

I've experienced my fair share of fallout from cat lovers. Now you've met this cat, but we'll wait to interject your meeting because I kind of want to go in a little bit more of a chronological order. All right. First of all, I call him the cat. I refer to him as the cat.

You know, there's been this, you know, this distance scene that has happened. It's like, okay, I'm in observational mode. I feel like it's his job to win me over. If we're gonna have a future together, he's gotta put some work in too. This is not just gonna be a me thing. I mean-

Cats and work, I'm not sure is it. When Lily, you know, as I went through her, our response to her presentation, one of my stipulations was, I can exploit my experiences with this cat for entertainment purposes in perpetuity. She agreed to that. So now here I am doing that.

So I call- Do you seek approval from your children for any... If it's sensitive, like if there's something- Anything that comes into the house. Oh, I thought you were gonna ask, do I seek approval if I wanna talk about my kids on the show? Oh, of course I do that.

Oh, okay. But I'm just saying that if something comes to the doors of the house that's not one of my kids on the show. Oh, of course I do that. Oh, okay. But I'm just saying that if something comes to the doors of the house that's not one of my kids, I feel like that's fair game to talk about on the podcast. Like one of their dumb friends? Well- Man, my kid's got a dumb friend. Y'all wanna hear about it?

If something comes through my house and then becomes a part of the house, absolutely. I've gotta monetize it. Right, yeah. And she was on board because she really wanted to get a cat. So I've been calling the cat, the cat, when I refer to it. It's not like the cat comes when I call it anyway.

I mean, when Lily calls the cat, the cat will perk up and sometimes come to her, but it doesn't happen with anybody else. But the cat's proper name is Sokka. Okay. S-O-K-K-A. Now, he's- This was a cat's given name. He's an orange, no, Lily gave him that name.

He's an orange tabby cat and he does have white socks. His paws, all four of them are white. But he was named after the comic relief character in Avatar the Last Airbender. Sokka is the- Who is a person? It's a person, yeah. He's the brother who's, he and his sister found Aang the Last Airbender.

That's a whole other podcast. But it's kind of related because Lily discovered that Avatar the Last Airbender was on, like they put it on Netflix and like, as a dose of nostalgia, she decided to rewatch it. And then Lando started watching it for the first time. And then they just started begging the rest of the family to watch it saying that, you know what,

there's something magical about this show, you're gonna love it. And I actually ended up loving the show. You know, some episodes are hit or miss, but like it actually is a pretty great show and it'll catch you, it'll surprise you with the level of depth, with the characters, the journeys that they go on, the character arcs,

the humanity associated with the villains in this show was, and story structure, those things were really groundbreaking for a Nickelodeon, what I'll call an anime rip off, but I don't mean to offend anybody. So it wasn't an anime that was then overdubbed with English? No. Hmm. It was a- I didn't know that.

I'm even hesitant to use the term anime because like people define it different ways and Lincoln is really into anime. So he kind of likes to- Well, people who are really into it say anime, so. Okay. If you're really into it. But you know what?

Uncle Iroh is one of my favorite characters in anything. You don't even know who I'm talking about, but maybe- He's bald, right? Anyway, so being obsessed and re-obsessed with Avatar The Last Airbender, she named the cat Sokka. Now I call the cat the cat, and if I don't, sometimes I'll refer to him as Thomas, which makes Lily feel really weird.

Like the things that make Lily feel weird, like the way that I can mess with her, it's so funny. Just like, hey Thomas, come here Thomas. And then I'll like pet him on the head. It'll just like make her feel strange. Because- Is this because it was the name of your cat that you had? When I was a kid, Thomas was my cat.

It was actually just a tomcat that roamed the neighborhood and he would come into the shed behind our house and there was a big pile of carpeting and he would perch on that carpeting and I would go in there and I would pet him. You could say, hey Thomas. I would say, hey Thomas. Glad I wasn't present for that.

You never met Thomas? I don't think so. There was also a black female cat, which we called Midnight. And Midnight would not let anyone pet her. Another feral cat? Yeah, so his name's Sokka, but I call him Thomas sometimes.

I don't name the feral cats that roam my neighborhood. I don't either, and I haven't, but I mean- One of them came in my house, remember that? Walked right across my freaking couch. What do you mean? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And it caught on the camera. Yeah.

That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, he came in my house, didn't name him. I mean, I don't have a good track record with cats because Thomas just disappeared and never came back again. I got a cat just a few years after that. I was still young, like in middle school, got this little calico cat. And- I remember this.

My mom would let me, it would sleep in the bed with me, like up by my head. And then one day my mom looked and she said, what is that on your pillow? And it was like a little worm. Yeah. And I think that worm had come out of the cat's anus. That's pretty common.

And so she immediately gave the cat back. Like there was no taking it to the vet. I'm sure there was a very simple fix for this. It's like a classic. It freaked me out too. It's just like a classic late 80s sort of, this is what happened when our pets had problems in the 80s.

Just give it back. Just give it back, man. Just give the cat back. Like now you gotta, obviously, you gotta figure this out on your own and fix the cat, but she just gave it back. Gave it back to who? I'm not gonna, I don't know.

I'm not gonna reveal it at this point, but Sokka does have a problem. Worms? No. Sokka has a problem that has not been fixed yet and it needs to happen pretty soon. And I'm gonna get to that a little bit later. But like I said,

I'm such a dog person. You know, my main concern was, I mean, I have a whole bunch of concerns, but my main concern in bringing a cat into the house is that how is this gonna affect Jade? Jade is a very jealous, protective dog. I bring her in here and she's like, it's embarrassing. She'll protect me from other dogs.

And I'm like, hey, there's nothing to see here, Jade. Just chill out. I didn't know if Jade was gonna, cause it's like Sokka came, showed up in like such a little kitten. I didn't know if Jade was gonna eat the kitten or at least hate the kitten. You know, I don't know.

But she actually did, when we introduced Barbara and Jade to that cat in the vlog last year, Jade did better than Barbara. But the theory was that was because that was in neutral territory being at your house. So I didn't know for sure if she would be more assertive and protective of her own zone

and her own people within her own zone. So I was concerned about that, but on the opposite end, my hope and my vision is that Jade will love and accept this kitten and that they will sleep together. It's not gonna make a new animal. I want pictures of them curled up together in his plushy bed. Okay.

I thought you were trying to breed them. No, I'm not opposed to that. I mean, if they hit it off- That would be kind of weird. That'd be crazy. A cat dog? I mean, like a liger? A cog?

Yeah. A dat? It could happen. I think a cog is a lot better. I don't think it could happen. No, it'd be sterile. I think it can't happen because a cog or a dat, neither one of those is, it's not a good name. It's not like a liger. Yeah, it'd be sterile. I think it can't happen because a cog or a dat, neither one of those is,

it's not a good name. It's not like a liger. Yeah, it's like, oh, they got a mate because that name is just asking for it. They're begging for it. I think it might have something to do with how far back the lineage was established, evolutionarily speaking on the evolutionary tree.

It probably does. It probably does. And by the way, I got lots of photos and videos of Sokka. And as I'm talking about his interaction with Jade and what I'm about to tell you, and basically everything, I've got footage to support this. So if you're just listening to this, go over to the video version on YouTube channel.

It's the Ear Biscuits YouTube channel. Hey, welcome. We're gonna chuck. I'm waving at you. We're gonna chuck that thing full of Sokka footage. Honestly, I was taking a lot of footage early on because I was documenting Jade and Sokka meeting and I had this idea, we talked about it,

of like doing a vlog on the Rhett and Link channel that was just about introducing Sokka to the world. That was an idea for a while. Yeah, we abandoned that. The footage just, it just, the footage kind of grew and grew and grew and then I didn't know what to do, do, do with it.

Well now we've got a great- And now I just thought this would be perfect. Like a mini documentary about your cat. Yeah, the video version of Ear Biscuits, we put visual aids on all this stuff. So my main concern was the meeting and I read up about this. Okay, you're supposed to put the cat in-

Butts first, butt to butt. Well, in a little crate, in a little carrier, put the kitten in there in Lily's room and then close the door. Don't let Jade in the room and let the cat out of the crate and for a few days, maybe a week, get used to just that one space. Lily's room where he does his business

and not in her closet. We didn't put business, not in her closet, we didn't put the litter box in her closet, thanks for that advice. We put it in, Lily has her own bathroom, and it's in there. But getting used to that space, getting acclimated. And Jade will immediately know that there's a cat present in the house

via the smell alone. So a dog can smell, man. Yeah. And especially when there's a big crack under the door, you can see like a paw coming out sometimes. Yeah. She definitely knew something was up, but she would sit out there and kind of whimper

and sniff and sniff and sniff. But after a few days of that, stage two was put Sokka in her carrier, his carrier. Well, that's the other thing, is calling Sokka her for the longest time. I did that. Because Jade, you're so used to having one animal in the house that's a her,

you're not used to a he in the house. You put him in the little crate and then you let Jade come in and he's protected in the crate and then Jade can inspect the cat visually, nasally, but not actually devour. And how did that go the first time? Jade was really keyed up and Sokka just seemed like

not too afraid, just kind of like after, I mean, at first there was some nose touching, but then there was like, and some cringing, but then it was mostly just the kitten didn't care that much. It's like very much convinced that Jade could not get to him, which was true. So there were a number of days of bringing in the dog to sniff the crate and the cat in full protection.

But then I'm like, well, next stage is to get the cat out. Put it in a dog costume. There's multiple steps to this. And then just let them meet each other. So what I ended up doing was, and at this point I kind of got scared for Jade. I was like, I think that, I mean, the claws on this animal. Cats can hurt a dog.

Like could blind my dog. Like that would be very upsetting to me. Yeah. If a Jade eyeball got scratched out, because of like how I'm going about this. So I would hold Jade in my lap. I would restrain Jade. And then we would let the cat out of the crate

and just kind of run around the room. After a few days of this, eventually it was like letting him run around a little bit. Jade would chase the cat underneath the bed. But Jade was afraid to cat underneath the bed, but Jade was afraid to go underneath the bed, even though she should totally be able to do that. But she wasn't mad, she was playing with her.

She was very inquisitive, yeah. Like her tail was wagging. She's afraid to go under the bed, period, or she's afraid to go under the bed with the cats under there? I think period. Yeah, she's got her own- There's some issues.

Issues. Yeah. But the cat would, I mean, the cat couldn't go away and just cower. The cat would keep coming back out and giving Jade a little taste of cat-ness and then going back in there. What about the pitty pats that the cat will do with the hand?

They're really good at that. That eventually started happening, like a little batting of the face. That's my favorite thing about cats. A lot of that like bowing up and doing the cat pose where it's like the fur goes up and the bat goes up, like the Halloween cat pose. Or I guess you just call that the cat in yoga.

Cat and cow, yeah. Yeah, no cow, just the cat. Yeah, just cat. So over a few weeks, we got them to a point that they could be in the same room together and they just, they would, Jade would start, and then she would start coming out, he would start coming out of the room

and seeing the rest of the house and Jade would chase the cat back into the room and then Jade would be happy. And then after a while, Sokka would run out and Jade would chase the cat and then the cat would run away and then the cat would come back and Jade would run. And then it got to a point where they're like chasing each other all around the living room.

But this is still playful. Well, I think Jade saw it as playful and I think Sokka saw it as like military training or something. It was like, I'm gonna engage. Everything seems like training for this cat. How do you know that? Cause he is a wild beast.

I mean, every point of observation for me supports the fact that this thing is not tame in any way. I mean, his pupils dilate and they're just like totally black. Like it reminds me of the cat in like Shrek. Like remember when he was like, his pupils would just dilate and he'd go into this. That makes him cute though.

Oh no, when he would do it, it would be like he entered some fugue state where he stalks around the house and just looking for the next thing to attack. I mean, he'll shred the edge of the couch with his claws. But they are less, I mean, he'll shred the edge of the couch with his claws. But they are less, I mean, I have to believe that a cat, a current cat is much closer to the original form

of whatever was taken from the wild to be domesticated than a dog is. I was talking to Lily about this last night. It's gotta be wildly different. I was like, when I look at this cat, Lily, I can see a tiger in this cat. I don't think they come from tigers. A huge ferocious tiger.

But when I look at a dog, only thing I can see is just a reasonably sized wolf. You know, it's like, it has the same form as something that could just, I mean, like a, it's like a zoological tank. That's what a tiger is, man. It's a furry tank. But what I'm saying is I think that a cat,

I think like a house cat is, if you go back, you know, 15,000 years, 10,000, 20,000 years, whatever, there'd be cats that look like your cat just out in the wild. Think about a bobcat, right? A bobcat is not that different than a cat, right? But Jade and Barbara look absolutely nothing like a wolf. That's what I was saying, is that the difference

between what was domesticated and what we have is so different in a dog, but there hasn't been nearly as much, there's also not nearly as much variety genetically, I mean, I know there's like the Maine Coon, which is like this giant cat, but just think about the difference between a teacup, like poodle, Chihuahua and a Great Dane. Those are the same species, man. But they don't have that kind of variety,

genetic variety in a cat. Is that just because we haven't chosen to breed them in the same way? I don't, I think all it means is that they're closer to the original wild thing, for sure. Maybe they're not as malleable. And that's why they can just go live in the wild feral. If you put Barbara, I mean,

when we put Barbara outside to pee in our fenced in backyard, which by the way, doesn't even have real grass, Jessie's like, you gotta keep an eye on her. Oh, and you do have to. Because a coyote will come. A coyote, mountain lion, whatever. I think a coyote would get a cat too,

but they put up a much- A cat has a better chance to up a much better fighting chance. Barbara is like a marshmallow that just rolls directly into the coyote's mouth. One of the biggest adjustments we had to make was remembering to close the door behind us when we let Jade out. Cause we escort Jade out to watch for coyotes.

Cause the cat is your prisoner. The cat is the prisoner, yes. The cat, I mean, if the cat got out, the cat got out once and immediately darted out the door, went to the right and then went through a hole and went under the house. Yeah, that's good. Just like that. The only time that Sokka's been out of the house,

it went under the house immediately. And I mean- How did you solve that? Lily brought out some tinkly thing that it was enticed to attack. And that's what you do. I mean, it sees feet as like moving meat. If you're barefoot, this thing will attack

and decimate your toes, your heel, your everything. The cat likes to bite everything. It's like a killer saying, you know what? I choked him just to see what it felt like to kill a man. You're putting a lot onto this cat. He sinks his teeth into- You think the cat would eat your foot if you didn't move it?

Hell yes. He would just keep eating it. Well, he doesn't eat it. He likes the feeling of his razor sharp teeth slowly sinking into it. The worst thing for Christy, it drives her crazy. He will prowl up to her plants, look straight at her and then just chomp down on a leaf.

You know, I mean, Christy's plants are her pride and joy. I've been following on Instagram and she has come up with different methods. All types of contraptions. There's like aluminum foil lining the pots and she's spraying orange on stuff. I'm sure you're probably, maybe you're at this point in what you're gonna say,

but this is like, now that you're getting into the things that the cat does, this is where I start to think about both you and Christy both value- Order. Order, cleanliness, and things not being torn up. It's hard to train a cat. And a cat contributes negatively to all those things. Like your plant, your furniture.

Yeah. Does that stuff go away? I mean, again, dogs also do this, but dogs are much easier to control. So dogs stop doing it. But I mean, the cat's only still a few months old. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze

through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy a room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. He will scale the back of the high back chair in our living room like a rock climber. Just like with his claws. And you know, you can put tape over stuff and like you can spray stuff on stuff, but like he just keeps clawing at things.

He hasn't shredded anything to death, but, and the type of fabric that we have on that chair is the type that it doesn't show that he's shredding it. But I don't know, one day maybe we'll just see cushion. But we haven't had a lot of luck there. He just, but we have a spray bottle. The main thing is like, you know, Christy walks around and like, she's like a,

she's like in the wild west with two. Two. With just water. She's just like, yeah, hitting him in the face. And sometimes, I don't know, he hates it, but it's not like he runs too far. He doesn't hate it that much. I have no complaints when it comes to his bathroom stuff.

And credit to Lily, I haven't smelled poop, I haven't seen poop or pee, and she's taking care of that. So he's already totally trained in that way. Yeah, all of that's reliably in her bathroom. Now she also feeds him in her room and the food stinks. Cat food's worse than dog food. And Jade sneaks in there and eats all of it.

And then Sokka will sneak out and eat Jade's food. I think they've got a system. A little battle. Well, it's just more variety, I'd do it. But watching him play with Jade's food. I think they've got a system. A little battle. Well, it's just more variety. I'd do it. But watching him play with Jade is amusing. That's something that I have gotten on board with. I mean, they'll wrestle. Like I said, I mean, Sokka kind of thinks

it's combat training and Jade just thinks it's fun. But you know, the claws aren't out, but like they're like biting each other's neck and like their hind legs and just running around, like really like two friends. And it's good for Jade because she was nowhere near as active as she is without Sokka in the house. So I think that's a pretty,

that's a cool aspect of it that I didn't expect. She's getting her exercise in? She's getting her exercise in. She's getting her exercise in. So this is good for Jade. Jade has accepted Sokka to an extent. But I mean, there's still been a lot of adjustments. Like every morning I wake up and Lily is sleeping in the TV room

because Sokka, when the sun rises, Sokka will get on the bed and just insist that Lily wakes up when the sunrise. She said that she'll cover her, put her head under the covers and Sokka will dig in in there and like claw at her and just insist that she play with it. So she just leaves the, abandons her bedroom

and every single morning she sleeps, she's sleeping on the couch. And then by the time I get up at like 6 a.m. I sit down, I drink my coffee. I just hear the cat just like crying in the room. Meow, meow, let me out, let me out, let me out. So I'll let the cat out and he'll like stalk around, look for something to sink his teeth into.

But I mean, I'm trying to be even keel about this. I'm trying to look for the things that are somewhat positive. Okay, I'm still waiting. Okay, I think I've got something. So like I'm sitting there drinking my coffee in the morning and I'm just thinking there is no love in this cat. It's like, I really do want, it's like I want the cat to curl up in my lap.

I want the cat to receive love and give love. Just give me a little something, cat. Just, you know, I try to pet you. And I mean, picking them up is like handling a cactus. Right. It's like the only prickly parts are on his fingertips, but he gets them everywhere. And he just wants to get down.

Like Christy was down doing some like yoga stretches on the ground and then she got like, her hand got this huge gouge in it, just from doing stretches. Well, okay. Like bleeding. And back in the day, and I understand why we don't do this anymore. I'm sure there are some people who still do it,

but back in the day, they just took the claws out of the cat. And I understand why we don't do this anymore. I'm sure there are some people who still do it, but back in the day, they just took the claws out of the cat. That's illegal. I understand it's inhumane to do that because then the cat is not, you know, no longer, it's like taking a body part off of the thing. You don't wanna do that. But that's what people did back in the, I remember.

Well, they take their balls off. No, well, I remember back. So it's a little different. Well, but taking their balls off contributes to less, just, you know, cats needing a home. You know Bob Barker, remember that. But I remember growing up, if somebody had a cat, they would specify, and maybe this is just in my mind, but they would be like, he's still got his claws.

Like, careful, he's still got his claws. Like careful, he's still got his claws as opposed to all the other cats that don't. Yeah. You know what I mean? And it's like, now you can't even do that. I'm not advocating that you should, but my question is, it's what I had earlier, which is-

I wish he didn't have claws, naturally. But no, but is, if you- Or teeth. That'd be cute. Because people have like the carpet tower cat things. We have a couple of those. But do they, is there a way to train them in the way that you train a dog to be like,

you can do your claw stuff on this, but you can't do it on this. Or is that, are you gonna get there? I refuse to be the one to do all the research. Okay. But I'm like, Lily, you need to figure this out. You need to figure out how to train this cat. Like Christy's doing research to protect her plants.

She'll probably get to these answers, but I can only be, if I start researching it, then everyone starts looking to me as the one with the answers, you know? All the cat people listening are like. You gotta dim it. Guys, I can tell you all this.

I'm sure it's simple. Just Google it. But it's important to me to not have to be the guy who's training this cat. And honestly, I would rather have some plants and some furniture messed up a little bit than me to have to be the IT guy, so to speak, you know? Oh, can you fix my email?

How is this- Can you fix my cat? Now, how has this impacted travel? Because obviously we haven't really done much travel. Next time we travel- But what is it- We're not gonna bring the cat. But okay, so you just take him to a boarding place. Or get somebody to come, as he gets older,

get somebody to just come by. Cause they can just kind of camp out by themselves. Yeah, he's probably happier that way anyway. The only way you can really give the cat love is if he's asleep. If he's curled up in a place. It's kind of a one way thing. You can pet him and then he'll keep his eyes closed

and you can even pet his chest and his stomach. Like, cause I'm trying to train him to let us pet him everywhere. Now, when we've talked about this before, we've talked about this aspect of cats before, many people have pointed out with me that cats actually are for people who have more like self confidence or whatever

and are less needy and less narcissistic because dogs give you that love. Yeah. But cats don't. But then other people have said cat, no, my cat, I can't remember when we said this, but we talked about cats not being as loving as dogs and then all of a sudden everybody started tweeting. Everybody has an affectionate cat all of a sudden.

All the affectionate cats that wanted love from them. So is it that your cat can grow to be a loving cat? I hope so. Or is it that your cat is just a demon cat and it will always be a demon cat and some cats are not like that. And it's just on average more dogs are give more attention to humans than cats.

Rarely in the morning, again, if I'm drinking my coffee, I let him out of his room, he's stalking around looking for something to kill. After a few minutes of that, he has hopped up on the couch beside me and inspected the couch next to me and I notice he's purring. And I'll like, I'll rub his head. That means he wants to eat you, right?

But he won't come sit in my lap. I can tell he likes it, but I can also tell that his true passion is finding the next thing to kill. So I'm like, I'm saying, look, doesn't this feel good? Don't you like this? Like right here, like his jawline, like he loves to be petted right there. And like, you know, the purring is such a tease

because I'm fascinated by it. Like it's so calming to me. I'm drinking my coffee, like I'm petting this animal and it's like, it's releasing this vibratory hum that is just, you know what? If I could change one thing about Jade. Give her the purr? I wish she could purr.

That's the one thing I've noticed. I'm like, man, Jade needs that upgrade. You could probably get that installed in Beverly Hills. There's probably that option. It's kind of like a pacemaker for a dog. It's like the vibration chip. They can do anything. In a mobile phone, you just put that

in the dog's larynx or something. I don't know what makes it, like how do cats purr, man? It's fascinating. I'm sure we could also Google that. No, let's not. Let's just conjecture about it. I think it might be magic. Is it like a friendly old man making tea,

like Uncle Iroh making his tea and he's like humming to himself. He's from the wild. You know, is it that? Is it a cat humming a song? Well, in my experience, they've always seemed somewhat content when purring.

So it feels like it might be like that kind of thing. I mean, it's- But does it feel directed to you? Yeah, it kind of did because like he came up on the couch. When he gets, when I'm petting him, the purr increases a little bit. There's nothing wrong with this. When he's just napping, he's not purring. when I'm petting him, the purr increases a little bit. And see, there's nothing wrong with this. When he's just napping, he's not purring.

Let me just take a little aside to say that for everybody who said that as a dog person, all that means is that I'm just more needy. I'll just say, you're right. I mean, like, that's why we have a dog. We have a dog for the companionship that the dog provides. We have a dog for the joy that the dog provides. It makes me so happy that she insists on being with me.

And I sit down on my couch and Barbara jumps up and then jumps up and then looks at me. Yes. And if I don't look at her, if I don't make eye contact with her, start touching her, she's like, she's mad at me. She'll start barking, growling, she'll take her hand and she'll take her hand, first thing she does,

she takes her hand and she puts it on her head to show me what she wants. On her own head? Yes. And then if I don't do that, she takes her hand and puts it on my hand or takes her whole face and puts it in my hand. And I love this. It brings me joy.

There's a serotonin boost. Now I'm not saying that cats don't do that. People have shown me evidence that their cats do do this, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with wanting that from an animal. Oh, don't be defensive. I fully admit that's why I'm a dog person because they're more reliably into me.

If a dog could purr, it would all be over. Well, that's where the cog comes in and I think we could do it. I think it would do it. Put enough resources into it. That purring thing is just, it's magical, man. It's like, I mean, it's like having a, like the massage setting on your recliner,

but it's a living being that's like, well, he's not in my lap yet, but like I want him to be there eventually. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime!

Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel.

I'm interested in this dynamic that's developing, which is, I mean, first of all, I'm sure all the cat people are gonna tell us that things are gonna get better for you and the cat's gonna chill out as it gets older or whatever. Probably, right? I think so, yeah. Lily is going to college next year. She thinks she's taking this cat with her.

What college is that where you take a cat with you? Yeah, I don't know. We don't know where she's going this cat with her. And I just don't- What college is that where you take a cat with you? Yeah, I don't know. We don't know where she's going, you know. The Cat Keeper College? We're starting to get letters of acceptance from different places, but yeah, we don't know. It's too early to tell. But I just, yeah, I'm assuming that the cat is not-

You can't take a cat in a dorm room. The cat is not going with her. And I told her that. I was like, listen, this is a decision. You're gonna sink a cat onto college? I have to assume this cat's gonna be part of our lives and she's gonna come back home and say,

oh, I miss you so much, but I abandoned you to college and didn't think about that really. And then when she graduates college or when she gets an apartment and like the last two years of college, then she'll take the cat back with her. Can you believe I have, I mean, that we're even having this conversation

that I have a child that's this fall is going off to college? Yeah, I mean, I can't wait for my kids to leave the house. It's crazy. Just kidding. But they don't, my kids don't have a cat, so it's different. Yeah, she did this to us. Yeah. She tricked us into this to us. Yeah. She tricked us into this and used,

like this whole pandemic dynamic, it's like, you know. Everybody got a little bit weak. So I guess- Jessie has really been pushing for dog number two. I know that you guys, we've both been talking about dog number two for a really long time. And Jessie is constantly showing me pictures of other dogs.

And I love dogs, but I also think about just the added responsibility and- You should do it. Give Barbara a playmate. I mean, even with Sokka, that's such a great thing for Jade. It's like, she's healthier, she's engaged, she's off the couch, you know? Barbara seems happy. I don't feel as guilty about giving her walks anymore. She's engaged, she's off the couch, you know.

Barbara seems happy. I don't feel as guilty about giving her walks anymore. You mean not giving her walks. Yeah, that's what I meant. Sokka can do so many things that Jade can't. And I'm trying to, you know, the only way I can really enjoy Sokka is the purring, trying to convince her that I'm worthy of his love.

That doesn't feel good. But just being able to observe this wild animal in my house, I'm just trying to embrace that as kind of cool. He watches TV. You know, Jade, in Jade's lifetime, I've only seen Jade watch TV like twice. And it's so strange. It's like two times in like all these years,

like Jade was, I mean, there was a dog barking on television. Now she's looking at it for a second, but like she never watches TV. Barbara's the same way. And this is not, first of all, I watch enough Instagram videos to know that there's lots of dogs and cats that watch television and make real connections with the things on the screen.

But I can like, if I'm not with Jessie and we're FaceTiming and Barbara's with her. And you talk. And then I talk and Jessie's putting my face right in front of Barbara. You use the Barbara voice? It's like I don't exist. Jade will respond to that. If I'm in two dimensions, I do not exist in Barbara's mind.

Jade will hear my voice and respond to it, but she won't connect with the screen. I think it would be a hologram would work. Sokka will watch, I mean, Sokka will watch, if you put like a, you know, the whole laser pointer thing, or even if light reflects off your watch onto the wall, he's going to attack that. So again, he watches TV, Jay doesn't do that.

You know how on my hallway, when you're walking down into the TV room, there's that one step up? Because where my stairs come down, the stairs don't time out correctly, so there's one whole step up area in my hallway. So if you were running at top speed, you could trip because you have to step up

and then back down into my TV room. Jade, once it gets dark, Jade will, if we're all in the TV room, she will hear her whimpering and she'll be four feet in front of that one step and she is afraid to walk up that step and come in the TV room. So she's in the hall and she's afraid to go up the step and then down into the TV room.

Yes. It's like a barrier. And it's like a cow in like a cow fence or something. I think she sees it as a big hole or something. That's my theory. So I'll go in there and I used to pick her up, you know, I babied her a lot. Oh yeah, really? Yeah. But I've stopped doing there and I used to pick her up, I babied her a lot. Oh yeah, really?

Yeah. But I've stopped doing that and I go behind her and I use my foot and I like, I nudge her in the butt and make her skid all the way up to that step and then jump over it. Sokka on the other hand, just kind of walks over it. Yeah. Which is kind of normal.

Something else that she does that Jade- That's not, I'm not impressed yet. Oh, you're not impressed? I think that's more of a Jade deficiency than something to be impressed with. How about this? So this could come as no surprise. Jade will not walk up the steps to our bedroom

on the second floor. Well, that's because she's seen things. Sokka will, I'll be in my bedroom, brushing my teeth or whatnot. I like, sometimes I like to walk around my bedroom and brush my teeth. You go out of the bathroom into the bedroom? Sometimes, yeah.

I'll just brush my teeth in the, and the cat's just walking around up there. How'd you get up here? Oh yeah, you walked up the stairs because you can do that. Yeah, that's not odd. It's like, wow. That's normal. You've mentioned two things that are just normal.

He can open doors. Okay, I'm listening. Pretty impressive. Now, big heavy doors, some of them, they're old and they don't latch. So he doesn't jump up and like turn the knob, but a lot of them don't latch. And he will sit there and like,

he'll push his way into rooms through doors. Jade would never think about doing that. So I'm saying he opens doors. Jade just might be a little, how do I put this? What is a good word for this? Perfect. Dumb. Jade's not dumb.

Jade's timid, man. You don't, okay, all right, she's timid. Okay, that's what it is. I mean, part of it's my fault because like because she's part wiener dog, I was real fixated on not hurting her like vertebrae in her back so you're not supposed to let a wiener dog jump down off of couches or beds.

But she's not really that long though. She's not. So I don't know if she's not really that long though. She's not. So I don't know she's gonna have that many problems. She probably wouldn't, but I was still so concerned about it that I wouldn't let her run down the steps and so I would pick her up and carry her upstairs or carry her downstairs. You did it.

But the one step, I never carried her over the one step. She just kinda extrapolated into- Steps are dangerous. You taught her steps are dangerous. But it's kind of good because now I can keep her in places. This cat, you cannot keep this cat anywhere. It's just, it's too much. The main problem with Sokka is-

Before you get to the- There's no problems with Jade. Before you get to the problem though- Jade's not stupid. What you just said though, it sounded like, so you started, you said things Sokka can do that Jade can't and it was like, and what was I supposed to think about?

Like, what were we supposed to think about that? Like, oh, okay, cats are, is this a competition? I don't, what am I supposed to think? I'm trying to like observe and appreciate. You're trying to love this cat. I'm trying to love the cat, man? I'm trying to like observe and appreciate. You're trying to love this cat. I'm trying to love the cat, man. I'm trying to. But what if the cat will never love you?

I think it's because of his testicle. Okay, here we go. He's got one. He's only got one? There's only one we can see. And we're pretty sure there's another one. Just like an NFL kicker. I bet he could kick a mean field goal.

This is an inside joke. And I don't know how many of you who grew up when we grew up thought this, but like we were told by someone and then spread far and wide in our circles that NFL kickers had one testicle removed for flexibility purposes. Just to be able to get that leg back and forward.

Get it way up there. And I was like, man, you know what? It's a serious job. I guarantee you they would be willing to do that. I mean, you got to, it's redundancy anyway. I mean, you know, the phrase, I'd give a left nut to be a NFL kicker is not, it's just rooted in reality.

It has an origin. Right. Yeah. In college it's outlawed. They had to crack down on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you have to be a professional. You have to be getting paid to kick a football to have a testicle removed.

Right. A lot of people, and there was that one guy who got, in getting ready for the NFL draft, he had one more lot of people, and there was that one guy who got, in getting ready for the NFL draft, he had one more year of college, but he wanted to go into the draft and he got his testicle removed, and then he was like, but it was a little premature. No longer eligible.

Right. Yeah, the NCAA cracked down on him. Right, and then he was left in a lurch because he didn't get drafted. Couldn't kick the final year. Thought he would get away with it, but you can tell. You can just, you- It's another, there's a few inches of flexibility.

Like, oh, that guy must, oh, he's missing a ball. Plus, if you look where the testicles are, sometimes if they're like, that little thing that holds the football. The tee. The tee. Yeah. You know, when in the college people use the T and they bend over to pick up the T,

that's when you look at- Yeah, that's when you can tell. That's when you look at their testicles to see if there's two. So your cat is gonna be an NFL kicker. The other testicle- Why is this a problem? You're gonna get rid of it anyway. I think his, what I think is that the other testicle

is up there, it's just afraid of him. So it hasn't dropped. You're saying it hasn't dropped. His ball hasn't dropped, man. Can I tell you something real quick? There's a video I gotta show you now that you're talking about testicles dropping. I saw this video of this bull.

I'm a bit afraid. I saw this video of this bull. How? On Instagram. Oh God. And this bull. How? On Instagram. Oh God. And this bull's balls were hanging so low. What? That it was swinging around

and he was having to like step weird to like avoid stepping on his own balls. I gotta show you this video. I don't want to see it. His balls had fully dropped. Oh wow. They were about to drag. It was like drag and drop. Drop and drag.

Drop and drag. So that hasn't happened to Sokka. Yeah, we took him to the vet and we said, "'Listen, this cat is out of control. Please tell us that, they can't remove the balls until they drop. Unless they, and after a certain time of them not dropping, first of all, you gotta remove the balls

before they turn a year old. And we're well within that. Because they can go pollinate somewhere. Yeah, it becomes a problem with them like spraying or whatever. I don't know. Well, I'm talking about sex. I'm talking about the actual act of sex. It will go have sex with something and make another cat.

I know that, but I'm saying there's also like the cats will spray. I don't even know what that- Spray what? I don't know, man. I don't wanna know. That's why I gotta lock that nut off. You don't know anything about cats, man.

I'm telling you everything I know and it's a lot. I've talked for freaking 15 minutes about everything I know about a cat. Yeah, right. I think half of what I said is so tropish because that's what I've learned. Oh, the cat people are so mad, both of us. Cats are just tropes, man.

They're just stalking tropes, that's all they are. Yeah. But I want it to love me, but I think the balls have got to drop and be removed or we're gonna schedule them for exploratory surgery to go up in there, coax the second one down, and then take them both off, and he should mellow out some.

Wow. That is our hope. You gonna video that? I could. I don't think I will though. I was just asking. I'm not going to, no. Okay, good. I wouldn't watch it anyway.

Yeah, you would. I mean, when the bull ball video comes up, I'm not gonna watch it. It's not that gross. Don't reach for your phone. It's not that it's gross. Were you Googling this? No, no. If it just comes across your Instagram, It's not that it's gross. Were you Googling this? No, no.

If it just comes across your Instagram, what's wrong with you, man? Oh look, what is that? It's a comedian I follow that does voice, Tony Baker. Look at this, man. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Look at that.

It looks like. What on earth? It looks like two baseballs in a pantyhose. Oh my gosh. That's a butter sock, man. You know about a butter sock? No. My kids talk about a butter sock all the time.

And I'm sure that Tony Baker is saying something very funny about it. Shout out to Tony Baker. Double butter sock happening down there underneath that bull, man. Shoot. So anyway, that's what can happen with testicles. I knew you were gonna make me watch it.

Man, I'm gonna be going to bed tonight. I'm just gonna see that thing dangling. I don't know, man. I wanna love the cat. Maybe the balls will make a difference. I'm sure it will only help. The cat will mellow out over time. Here's the thing, sometimes, I have a ray of hope

because sometimes he and Jade will lay down in the sun on the same floor mat. With the lion and the lamb. They're not touching. They're not in the same bed yet, but they're enjoying the same patch of sun. And that gives me a little bit of joy. Well, can I just tell you how I think this might end?

Yeah. This is anecdotal, of course, based on my experience. In families where there is a cat and a dog, or any combination of numbers of cats and dogs. Okay. It seems not to be uncommon that there comes a time in which people seem to have a fruitful,

loving, affectionate, two-way relationship with the dog who they refer to by a name. And then the cat, they refer to as the cat. Yeah. And the cat does whatever the hell the cat wants to do. Right. And the cat is not really in an emotional relationship with the humans or the dog. It just is kind of in.

Around. It's around. Yeah. That, again, anecdotal. I don't know if this is representative of the reality, the general reality, but it seems that those families are perfectly happy and it seems that the cat is perfectly happy.

He'll move to the fringe of our society. But it is a distinctly different thing in those scenarios. I know that there are cats that are exceptions to this rule. Again, I've been tweeted many of them. But what I'm asking you is that if that is what is in your future, okay? How do you feel about that? Could be worse.

You know, I think there's, it's not what I'm hoping for, but it's not what I'm afraid of. I can be fine with that. But what if it's more about what the cat needs? And by the way, it's not gonna keep us from getting another dog. Cause I, Chrissy's also looking at a bunch of dogs

and sending me pictures. And so I think this cat could move to the fringe and then- Especially if you get another dog, I mean, then it's outnumbered. Oh yeah. And it's like, okay, I see the writing on the wall. But I'll call him by name, Sokka likes Jade. And when one of them gets up, the other one, when Jade gets up late,

Jade sleeps late, Jade gets up and immediately looks for Sokka and they, you know, they are friends, it's working, you know? So I don't think we're going to that fringe territory yet and I think, hey, let's get these balls behind us and then maybe some purring will enter my life but- What if the purring isn't as good after the balls are gone?

What if the balls have something to do with it? You thought about that? And also, different question. I have not heard that from anyone. Do you get to keep the balls like in a jar? Oh yeah, like a rabbit's foot. Really make like a necklace out of them? Or at least earrings, I mean, that would work.

I mean, I have noticed that the ball sack is very furry. They don't cut the ball sack off. Oh, I think they do. Yeah, cause then you just got this like empty sack dangling back there. I don't think, I've never seen a cat with just a flat sack. I think if there's not balls in there, it kind of just sort of reabsorbs itself almost.

You think they suck? I will film it, okay? I know you're into this. Having never done this kind of surgery. The way to get red into cats. I haven't never. Start with the balls. Never done this kind of surgery before,

even thought about it. I've never done surgery of any kind. Never had surgery done on me, but. I think they cut the sac, man, and then they suture the sac. Well, I know that in the case of a bull, a lot of times what they'll do is they'll put. You and your bull balls.

They'll put like a rubber band of some kind above them. And then the balls just fall off. Again, that could be like the NFL kicker thing. That could be just a. That bull you showed me doesn't need a rubber band. He could use a whole like PVC pipe. How many times does he accidentally step on his own balls like that, I mean, just in that one like seven second clip,

he almost stepped on his balls at least three times. You're gonna make Kiko put this in the video version. No, I'm not, you can go, no, you can find it. Do it, Kiko, we don't care, put it in there. No, don't, don't, don't. The bottom line is, man, Sokka makes Lily happy. I don't know why or how, but he does. And you know what?

Like I said at the beginning, I'm ultimately, I'm a Lily person. And I will hopefully win this cat over. And then maybe it'll be more of a connection to Lily when she's off at college. I will hopefully win this cat over. And then maybe it'll be more of a connection to Lily when she's off at college. I don't know, maybe there's something to that. Well, I think maybe one day the cat is going to, you're gonna leave the door open at a time you don't mean to.

Oh gosh. The cat's gonna get out and then some time is gonna pass. It might be hours, it might be days. And the cat's gonna come back and it's gonna have something in its mouth. Bird, mouse, gopher. Bull ballsack? Potentially.

And it's going to place it at the threshold of one of your doors as an offering to you. And that will be when it has determined that you are its God. And at that point. That's what we're after. You get the love that you're after, that your ego needs. Yeah, and until then, maybe I need to play more hard to get.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't be too obvious. I bet you I could train Jade to purr. I think I could do it. Think about it, if you were trying to get a person interested in you that didn't seem interested, seeming pathetic and seeming like a tryhard isn't gonna do it, I think you've got to be subtle. And I think you've got to play the cat game.

What if I told you about my actions that you're now describing as pathetic and try hard? I just pet the cat when it's sleeping. You seem a little too into the purring. I would play that closer to the vest. Okay, I think we're in this for the long haul unless we get my in-laws, well, I can't tell that story, it's too cruel. They lost a cat.

Yeah, I'm not. It was a strange circumstance. It would be funny in a book written in the 50s. You know what I'm saying? It's that kind of humor. Right, okay. Oh my gosh. Well, you know what? Let's give a rec, it Right, okay. Oh my gosh. Well, you know what?

Let's give a rec. It's your turn to give a rec. Sometimes I like to tie these things in thematically to what we talked about, but I guess, I mean, you did talk about how your cat sees everything as meat. Okay. As I like to do in giving culinary related recommendations. My recommendation this week is the ThermoPro

digital instant read thermometer, not a sponsor. Oops, no internet. I tried to click on it. This thing is, well, I can't, it's not that much. It's just a meat thermometer. This thing costs less than 20 bucks. I want to talk to you about the importance of having a meat thermometer, right?

Especially these instant read ones. I'm not talking about one of these ones that you just stick in there and you wait. This thing, so. I got one, yeah, I use it. So I'll do my, you know, you can't assume that one steak or one burger or one piece of chicken is representative

of all pieces of chicken. You gotta, if you gotta get every one of those to the correct temperature, and this little handheld instant read thermometer, I said, that felt like I said that weird, is super easy to manage multiple pieces of meat. And when I do my hot chicken and I'm frying like, you know, 12, 14 thighs at the same time.

You don't wanna overcook anything, period. You can't make assumptions, man. You'd let the robot do the work. I mean, yes, I know your grandma didn't use one of these and she went by her eye, but that's why your grandma had dry ass chicken. You know what I'm saying? So-

The meat guys who talk about this stuff, they're all pro thermometer. Even the charcoal that I buy, like high dollar charcoal, it tells you that you get a good meat thermometer. It's a piece of information that will help with the final product. There ain't no shame in it, is what I'm saying. And it doesn't make you a sucker.

It makes your meat better. So anyway, and this is one that has worked for me. I've got two of them. Just, here's my piece of advice though. Don't accidentally put it on Celsius and then cook to that. Yeah, that would be, yeah, yeah, yeah. 165 degree chicken in Celsius.

I don't even think you, I'm not sure you can. It's not even possible, but if you're waiting for that. It probably is possible. You're gonna burn your chicken in the process. It will be burnt. And I've been baffled a few times. It's like, damn, I thought this was, I knew this was done. And it's like, oh, I gotta toggle the Fahrenheit.

And let me just say, this does not replace the thermometer that you leave in the larger pieces of meat. I don't do like a pork butt and do the instant read thermometer. Piece of advice about that, don't eat that. Make sure you take it out of the meat before you eat the meat. And do not trust pop-out thermometers in turkey breasts.

Those don't work, they're not reliable. Now we're in rant territory. Okay. Are you, just any meat thermometer or that one specifically? The ThermoPro, not a sponsor, is, I think it might be Amazon's choice and that's probably why I got it, but it's, you know. It works. It works for me.

Got a fold-out probe. Yeah, it's orange, it's easy to see. Nice. LED backlight when it's dark out there in the grill. Yeah, it's got a light button. Gotta have it all. Hashtag Ear Biscuits, let us know. Y'all cat people gonna come out of the woodwork

and school us. Please be gentle with us. Let's do it. We like that engagement. Treat us like a ball of yarn, okay?