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icanhascheezburger_feed at 04:00pm on 07/10/2025
icanhascheezburger_feed at 04:00pm on 07/10/2025
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 04:00pm on 07/10/2025icanhascheezburger_feed at 03:00pm on 07/10/2025icanhascheezburger_feed at 02:00pm on 07/10/2025Tuxedo cats look like they were born ready for a black-tie gala, already dressed in their finest evening wear. Their sleek black coats paired with crisp white bibs give the impression of natural elegance. It is as if they rolled out of bed, stretched, and instantly looked red-carpet ready while the rest of us are still fumbling with hairbrushes.
Put a bow tie on one and suddenly the transformation is complete. Your cat is no longer just a household pet but the James Bond of the living room. A red velvet or simple plaid bow tie turns every casual stretch into a suave pose. When he leaps across the couch, it is no longer playtime but a carefully choreographed action scene. Even a dramatic window stare becomes the plotting of his next secret mission.
Of course, tuxedo cats are not just about looks. Behind the fancy suit is a purrsonality that is part classy spy and part comedian. One moment they are gliding gracefully through the hallway and the next they are toppling water glasses with zero remorse. They carry the charm of 007 with the antics of a slapstick star, making them purrfectly unforgettable.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 01:00pm on 07/10/2025In this fur-filled fiasco, one cat-loving tenant found herself caught in a hissterical standoff between her new feline friend and her roommate's sneezy boyfriend. Two weeks ago, she brought home the purrfect kitty. Sweet, cuddly, and totally unaware of impending drama. The roommate initially agreed to see how it goes in two weeks, but apparently meant exactly two weeks on the dot. Now, her boyfriend is claiming "severe" allergic reactions… even when he's not in the apartment. Sounds a little pawssuspicious.
This cat parent has gone above and beyond. Vacuuming, purifying, spritzing, and even buying allergy-reducing food that takes weeks to kick in. Meanwhile, the boyfriend refuses to try allergy meds, acting like Claritin is contraband. The roommate's demands for the cat's eviction have reached full catastrophe levels, but really, how much power does an off-site boyfriend have in a shared apartment?
In the end, it's a classic clash of roommates, boundaries, and one very adored cat caught in the middle. With patience and compromise, there's still hope for a peaceful paws treaty.
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in_the_pipeline_feed at 03:29pm on 07/10/2025There’s a lot of interest - heck there has always been a lot of interest - in getting results from assays that more closely match what you get from living creatures. And it’s not easy. A prime example has been liver function (and its evil flip side, liver tox). You can biopsy animal livers (and even human ones, ouch) all you want and get piles of hepatocytes fresh from the source. But when you culture them in vitro, they rapidly lose the plot: their behavior (and their behavior towards your test compounds) becomes less and less reliable as a guide to what will happen in a real animal model or a real human.
This is where all the “organ on a chip” talk comes from, naturally. For many years now we’ve been trying to refine our culture conditions to make things as “liver-like” as possible (or as nerve-like, cardiac-muscle-like, what have you). Reliable assay systems of this sort would be a great boon, but so far all of them come with numerous asterisks attached to their results. I know that the current HHS and FDA administrators have been making noises that make it seem as if this is a solved problem and we’re about to take a great lurch forward in drug discovery and drug safety, but sadly, these are still only noises without enough data to back them up.
This new paper is one of the best I’ve seen in this area. It’s from a team of both academic and industrial drug researchers, toxicologists, animal-science experts, etc., and it’s evaluating the “PhysioMimix LC12” microphysiological system (MPS) for its accuracy in picking up liver toxicity issues. The company behind these is one of the major suppliers of advanced assay systems of this sort, and to the best of my knowledge this is pretty much the state of the art for what you can buy to run your own assays with. It uses miniature 3-D culture cell culture wells with continuous perfusal of recirculating cell culture medium in an attempt to mimic the sinusoid structures of a real liver, and it’s been the subject of several evaluations in recent years.
This one, as mentioned, is explicitly looking at its predictive abilities with liver tox problems, and to that end the authors started with primary hepatocytes (straight from tissue samples) from humans, cynomolgus monkeys, dogs, and rats. Previous work has established that the system performed best when starting with such primary cells, as you’d certainly have expected it might. The team evaluated the density of the cells in each chamber and monitored their secretion of albumin and urea for up to 14 days after inoculation, and the values were compared to “classic” 2D cell culture in 96-well plates.
Both of these systems were then exposed to a variety of compounds known to have lead to drug-induced liver injury (DILI), and especially to ones that have been shown to be trouble in some species but not in others, including bosentan, fialuridine, and chlorpromazine. Fialuridine, for example, is one that (very unfortunately) is toxic in humans but not in other common animal test species: during its development as a potential hepatitis therapy it ended up killing 5 out of the 15 patients it was first administered to, causing acute liver failure even though animal testing had shown no signs of any such effects. That’s clearly the exact sort of thing you’d want to be able to see coming (as well as clearly being the exact sort of thing you would not want to give to someone who’s already suffering from hepatitis!)
Overall, the authors found that the PhysioMimix system “represents a sensible model for longer-term in vitro studies, particularly in cases where hepatotoxicity may arise through complex or delayed mechanisms”, which is certainly positive. But they noted that the efficacy of the system declines with time, i.e. the same problem as with all cultures from primary hepatocytes has not been solved. The paper notes that you cannot image inside the microchannels of the device, so you really don’t know how many viable cells you have in there, especially as time goes on, and this number would be expected to vary between samples from the same source and certainly between samples from different species. But it picked up on the filauridine toxicity when the 2D assays missed it, which is certainly something. The paper recommends incorporating transcriptional profiling into the workflow rather than just relying on the amounts of normal substances (albumin, urea, bile acids) and signs of damage (AST, ALT, etc.) flowing out of the cells.
Another problem is throughput. This system is not capable of evaluating things at the scale of 2D cultures, and it’s both resource-intensive and rather complicated to keep running. The authors recommend running 2D cultures as a first pass, or perhaps spheroidal cell cultures as an intermediate step to help figure out the best doses and time points when you move to the PhysioMimix platform. One problem there is that the 2D cultures are only useful out to about a week, where the newer system can go out up to 14 days, so there’s going to be some “flying blind” involved no matter what.
In the end, this system is another useful tool - but it is not an instant replacement for existing cell cultures nor (most certainly) is it yet a replacement for whole-animal studies. As these things are improved, we can hope for that, and there’s no reason to think we can’t get to that point - but we’re not there yet.
icanhascheezburger_feed at 12:00pm on 07/10/2025Who needs an alarm clock when you have a cat? I don't know about you, but I don't wake up to the beeping or buzzing of a phone, I wake up to my cat hopping on my bed, putting his paws on my face, nudging me with his head, and meowing in my ear. Some might call it unruly, but I call it adorable. And even though it may be hours before I need to wake up, it's the sentiment that he's so excited to be with me, get pets, and of course breakfast.
Cats have a special way of ruling everything, especially the morning. Whether they're inconsiderately knocking over your mug or curling up on your laptop keyboard while you're trying to work, their capricious chaos feels oddly comforting. They remind us that life isn't meant to be rushed, or taken too seriously. How can you have a bad day, cry from a breakup, or study for an exam while your cat is purring next to you. From nap time together, to watching him jump high up in the air while we play with shoelaces, he's my special little guy.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 11:00am on 07/10/2025When living with roommates, everything becomes a hassle, a chore, a conversation, and something to agree or disagree on. I used to live with roommates, but I'll never go back to that lifestyle. It's such a pain to have people eat your food, or move your things around, or play music loudly when you want to sleep. The list of issues that could arise with roommates is endless, and it's absolutely daunting. In the story here, the protagonist complains about a roommate who initially agreed to getting a cat, and then turned the tables when she actually went through with it.
The protagonist adopts a cat, and while both roommates initially agreed to it, one of them has decided to express her fear of cats after the fact. We always have 20/20 vision in hindsight. Now the protagonist is in a difficult situation, where she is trying to compromise with her roommate, but also let her new kitten have a nice life.
icanhascheezburger_feed at 10:00am on 07/10/2025There are many things that define our feline friends, but purrhaps more so than most is their obsession with sitting in places in which they barely fit, giving birth to the phrase 'If I fits, I sits". And while they do use their incredibly flexible forms to get themselves into some seriously squished places, their philosophy is much larger than just sitting where they be fitting.
For them, as long as a singular leg fits within the container it counts, and they will do whatever they can to balance the rest of their body around the object to make the sit count. So while you while away the hours at your desk we figured you might enjoy a little respite and purrhaps some inspiration for an in office challenge with this collection of silly cattos doing their best to fit into a range of cardboard boxes, all in the name of 'If I fits, I sits'.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 09:00am on 07/10/2025You know, they say that taking many micro-breaks is actually better for purrroductivity than overworking, getting burnt out, and then taking really long, demotivating ones. At least, that's what we like to tell ourselves - it's like giving yourself mini rewards for completing tasks. But, they key point is that they have to be quick, no more than a few minutes. In today's world, there's not much you can do in a few minutes. Not much point in going for a walk when you have to wait a few minutes for the elevator to take you down to the street. And grabbing a snack is nice… until it's your fifth snack in a few hours.
That's why we think enjoying mini scrolls through some silly kitty conundrums is the purrfect mental break. It only takes a minute or two, gives you that dopamine rush from all the cute cats and their hissterical shenanigans, and they leave you feeling pawsitively satisfied and in a great mewd! So if your boss catches you scrolling through these feline funnies, just tell them that it's your way of staying purrfectly productive. We'll vouch for you.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 07:00am on 07/10/2025We don't know if you know this yet, but cats… are little criminals. And one of their favorite crimes is breaking and entering. We have seen cats break into just about anywhere. If they put their minds to it, it will happen. We've seen cats break into science labs, probably to do research on how humans manage to open wet food cans without any claws. And we've seen cats break into Yankees games and send security on hilarious chases. We've even seen a cat break into a lawyer's swearing in ceremony, because apparently, the cat decided this human was not quite ready to enforce laws.
And of course, cats break into our homes all the time. Now, you can never know exactly why they are doing this. You can only theorize and speculate. In most cases, that is true. But not in this one. In this case, the reason for the cat breaking into this woman's bedroom was made very clear very, very quickly.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 06:00am on 07/10/2025When cats use the cat distribution system, sometimes, they go for difficult targets. Sometimes, cats will adopt people who "hate cats" and work hard to change their minds. Other times, cats adopt people who never wanted a cat, never planned on getting one, even if they like cats. And sometimes, cats will adopt someone who already has cats, and so, it is up to them to not only warm up to the human but to the cats as well. Of course, it all works out in the end, and if you were chosen by a cat, then the cat will stay - they will make sure of it.
But it takes a while for some people to accept that they have been chosen, which… leads us to stories like these. Another case of the CDS at work - a cat showing up at a random person's sawmill and simply refusing to leave. Now, it seems that the man does not realize his fate is sealed yet, but it is, and sooner or later, he will find out about it.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 05:00am on 07/10/2025icanhascheezburger_feed at 05:00pm on 06/10/2025questionable_content_feed at 09:52pm on 06/10/2025
Teh cake is a lie!!1!
icanhascheezburger_feed at 04:00pm on 06/10/2025icanhascheezburger_feed at 03:00pm on 06/10/2025Cats may not have calendars, but if they did, you just know they'd loathe Mondays as much as the rest of us. Picture it: the alarm blares, hoomans groan, and the cat is rudely dragged from a blissful nap because someone insists on going to "work." Monday for a cat means fewer snacks on demand, less lap time, and way too much commotion. Naturally, their response is pure cattitude. Dramatic yawns, paws over eyes, and the ultimate flop pose that screams, "cancel your plans and stay in bed with me."
Cats embody Monday moods better than any meme. The slow, reluctant stretch across the carpet is the feline version of hitting snooze five times. The grumpy stare from a windowsill? That's the same look you give your inbox at 9 a.m. And when they bury themselves under blankets, tails flicking in protest, you can practically hear them meowing, "I didn't approve this schedule."
At the end of the day, cats remind us of a universal truth: Mondays are for naps, snacks, and minimal effort. We should just follow their lead.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 02:00pm on 06/10/2025Our cat's names' do matter, as much as people say they don't. Sure, it's not like a person's name, or a dog, where they definitely won't respond to other names. A cat is a little more confused, and even I'm not sure my cat knows his name (but I'm pretty sure he does…). The point is that the name matters, but of course that doesn't mean one can't change it, like what happens to the couple in the story below.
They get a new cat together who already has the name Opossum. Personally, I think Opossum is an adorable name, but I guess it's not for everyone, or maybe it doesn't fit the cat. But the girlfriend in the story wants to change his name, and her boyfriend disagrees, arguing that it's cruel to change the cat's name after it's already been given the name. But read the full story below, and comment whether you think Opossum is a keeper, or going to be changed.
icanhascheezburger_feed at 01:00pm on 06/10/2025There is no doubt that cat rescues can be dicey, sometimes it is because the cat themselves is a little bit of a menace and is unpredictable to the point where it might cause those around it harm. And other times it is because the cat is so tame and cuddly that you cannot be all to sure whether you are simply stealing someone's cat who went out for a walk and lost their collar.
This story is related to the latter type of cat albeit in a setting that you would not necessarily expect a cat to be cared for. More often than not, cohabiting young men are the perpetrators of catto neglect, not the saviors of cats from neglect. But this group of young people showed that there are indeed some well-mannered youths out there who will go above and beyond for the needs of a cat child.
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icanhascheezburger_feed at 12:00pm on 06/10/2025Cats sure are an interesting bunch. With personalities that vary widely and wondrously all the way from woefully worried and scared of every little thing in the world, to callously courageous to the point of stupidity.
The problem being that while your cat child might fit into a certain point along that spectrum, at a moment's notice they can jump to another point within that spectrum without you having the faintest idea how or why they made the move. And that is what the pawrents of this story's cat found out the hard way, when their long time indoor cat child made the leap to outdoor legend by leaping out of the boundaries of its home to discover the outside world. Little did it know that coyotes frequent the outside world near his home, but seeing that he was found months later, one might assume that he figured out a way to lead the coyotes without becoming their lunch.
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