Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for May 08, 2023

Oh the joyous sight of packing peanuts! Clean up aisle EVERYWHERE!

Styrofoam peanuts – the polymer that sticks to everything and everyone.

Packing peanuts!!! I love this story. (Don’t like packing peanuts though. Team crinkly paper forever!)

Delivering for DoorDash, I’ve observed that dogs get excited because we’re bringing food. Cats get excited because we’re bringing bags.

Love that deafness did not slow down Lupin as he could read whiskers. Love it.

OT-Sheila and Salem

I’ve had experience with packing peanuts & cats – specifically, the cornstarch-based biodegradable packing peanuts. Now, when water hits the stuff it gets absorbed quickly while the material starts to melt – the result is rather slimy, sticky and icky…

Smokey (a house varmint from about 4 decades ago) took an interest in them; they passed the sniff test, so he gave one a tentative lick… He didn’t like it, made grotesque faces all the way to his water dish, and glared at me for the rest of the day for not preventing him from licking it in the first place.

Packing peanuts for days!

For those interested, the original was 2018-02-26.

https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2018/02/26

Now, if only the box in which they (and whatever other silly People thing was in there) were impossibly tiny! (Sadly, not the case, but still full of adventure!)

Packing peanuts and Toe Beans!

The box is a bonus as well.

My boy Atticus tries to eat packing peanuts at every opportunity. He seems to especially enjoy the biodegradable ones. When he’s done, they are mushy slimy blobs.

Do not eat the peanuts!

Lupin and Elvis look very happy.

You know that the peanuts breed in hiding places throughout the house. That’s why they are so hard to clean up.

With two dogs and three cats (at various times in various combinations), we learned to open all packages in the garage. Transport items to wherever they belong and then with the packing materials. Much prefer the crushed brown paper which can be flattened, folded, and recycled with the boxes or used for other paper purposes. The biggest problem with the peanuts, besides their unsuitability as pet snacks, is the static cling, followed by their ability to fly in all directions when in contact with a broom.

::butt wiggle::

Swat, swat, swat!

::pounce:: ::surf the wave::

SWAT, swat … swatswatswat!

No matter how many times I see Lupin’s Big Fang Smile, it never gets old. ❤

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

At the Beach

Iggy: It’s a great day to build sand pyramids and run through the sand.

Ora Z: Can I leap on your sand pyramid now?

Iggy: Wait a little bit. I’m just about finished.

Ora Z: Okay. I’ll splash in the water a bit.

Wally: It looks like a Tsunami out there.

Beatrixia: Anyone wanna race?

Wally: I’m game. I know you’re a championship swimmer.

Bea: It’s all in the paws.

Iggy: Alright, OZ. The pyramid’s ready.

THWUMP!

Sometime Later

Wally: Looks like it’s time to head back.

Iron Glove: Yeah. I heard Thomios is having an acorn salad for Adobe Style and me.

Bea: Look out on the horizon. Looks like a ship is coming in.

Iggy: I’ll bet that’s the Red Planet Spider.

Packing peanuts? What is that?

I love this storyline!

Artificial legumes! Time to spread the crop, everywhere!

Hey!

Unpack green peanuts from the shipping box

And smile, smile, smile

When he’s a naughty cat, mayhem just rocks

Smile, destroy, that’s his style

What’s the use of worrying?

It never was worthwhile, so

Cause lots of trouble with the shipping box

And smile, smile, smile

- George Henry Powell – Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile

Be sure to store some under the refrig for later re-batting!

The packing peanuts must flow

Elvis with a rare smile. Beautiful.

Suddenly I want to order a treadmill or a giant TV or something crazy, so that I too can know the joy of being buried in packing peanuts. The cats make it seem appealing!

Look at Lupin’s sweet face- fangs and all!!!

It has been more than half a decade since I have ordered anything that came packed in Styrofoam packing peanuts.

.

I still occasionally find one hiding in a corner somewhere. I think my cat has hoarded them.

The shipment was the p-nuttiest!

The soluble ones are okay, they go straight into the compost bin, and our cats don’t seem interested, fortunately.

Lupin looks just like Iggy in that second panel.

Green packing peanuts? Never saw them.

Just what they need, a bunch of useless carbs in their diet.

For those that don’t understand, most packing peanuts are made of non toxic corn starch these days. While it has minor nutritional value, it can be detrimental to cats, as they can fill up on such packing peanuts and fail to eat their regular high protein food. In a worst case scenario it can lead to hepatic lipidosis. A treatable malady if caught early enough.

Peanuts Galore! They have really hit the jackpot.

I couldn’t help thinking of this classic:

https://3844s16.tracigardner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ikea-cat-meme-cat-in-box-with-packing-popcorn.jpg

Anyone in the Mega-Orb ever seen these things?

https://i.redd.it/grm32hwx3lj41.jpg

https://media.wired.com/photos/59327a6658b0d64bb35d212a/master/w_1000,h_802,c_limit/eos-02.jpg

The packing peanuts story always reminds me of an anecdote from the set of Star Trek: Enterprise.

The set design team wanted to depict the surface of an alien planet – a dusty, grungy mining colony. (This is early in season three, for the Trekkies among us.) But they wanted it to be alien dust, and the set would be fairly dark anyway, so color didn’t really matter… So they got a ton of purple upholstery foam, and shredded it into “dust”, and scattered it around the shooting stage. Everything went fine, the scene was shot as planned, and…they tried to sweep up the purple bits.

Hahahahahahahaha. No.

Cast and crew found bits of purple foam everywhere for the remainder of the show.

WARNING: We are 6 months and a college education at a good state school into our kitty that ate a Styrofoam packing peanut just after Thanksgiving. Might have been fine if she didn’t have a taste for the stuff, but she can’t resist the crunchy goodness. She found one in the yard (!) and swallowed it whole. Lots of barf, X-rays, surgery, post-op, more barf, feeding tube, procedures – we cannot recommend this to others. Please be careful out there.

I don’t miss packing peanuts.

I do love a super-expressive Lupin!

Bubble wrap is more fun.

Packing peanuts should be illegal unless they’re the ones made from starch.

OOOOHHHHH the fangs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Elvis’ devious look!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES PACKING PEANUTS