[delecti]

In my experience most people lovingly refer to their cats in negative-sounding ways. One of the terms of endearment we used for our most recent cat was "stinky little piss baby". I think most cat owners are well aware that they're unsanitary creatures.

[Jtsummers]

If your housecat stinks, it's likely unhealthy or you're not providing it with a clean litterbox or you have insufficient litterboxes for the number of cats you have.

[delecti]

He got the nickname while he was dying of cancer. He had stopped grooming himself because of his medications.

So you aren't entirely wrong, but rest assured that we were agonizingly aware of the ways in which he was unhealthy.

[bluefirebrand]

Calling your cat stinky does not actually mean they smell bad

[jjtheblunt]

dog person here : they're unsanitary how? they constantly fastidously clean themselves, from what i see. dogs roll in rotting anything for sport.

[delusional]

I suppose they're unsanitary in the same way all animals that aren't humans are: They don't was their hands? Cats don't strike me a particularly dirty creatures. They're not exactly clean and well groomed from nature, but no animal really is.

[jjtheblunt]

> they're unsanitary in the same way all animals that aren't humans are: they don't was[h] their hands

Raccoons say "hold my beer"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GLuR7a-hPs

[kevin_thibedeau]

If you covered yourself in spit would that be sanitary?

[jjtheblunt]

you just made me wonder if the fact we sweat serves a similar purpose as your spit covering example.

(i don't know, but you triggered a thought!)

[imp0cat]

Nope, it's evaporative cooling (like a swamp cooler) for your body.

[jjtheblunt]

that's only the famous part of the story, though.

here's what i was thinking...presence of protein lysing enzymes in sweat as a protective mechanism.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187439191...

[jjtheblunt]

check this out: it's super interesting, even the air is full of genetic material

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01099-2