Posted on by Stilgherrian

Weekly Poll: How disturbing is a “disturbing image”?

Ah, I love the smell of democracy in the morning! But since we’ll be overloaded with election news today, I’ll avoid politics in today’s Weekly Poll. Instead, the scalping of a cat’s tail.

The other day Artemis, one of our cats, was run over by a car. Or at least the fur on her tail was, and a 20cm section was effectively scalped, exposing the flesh beneath the skin. Yummy.

I have a photo. It’s fairly gross. A TV newsreader might preface it with “Some viewers may find this image disturbing.”

Now I have no qualms about publishing good Anglo-Saxon swear words. We can hear them any day on a bus, so I reckon being coy and writing “f*ck” and “c*nt” is stupid. I mean, we all know what these words are, so adding an asterisk doesn’t change the received meaning. But I did hesitate before posting this photo.

So, should I publish it? Go to the website to vote!

[poll id=”14″]

Last week’s results: After a year of phoney campaigning and a long, 6-week election campaign, it looks like most voters are indeed very glad today’s election day and we can all move on.

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4 Replies to “Weekly Poll: How disturbing is a “disturbing image”?”

  2. @Nick Hodge: Yes, Artemis fine, or at least is likely to be. The vet says she was very, very lucky. There were two main concerns:

    • The arteries running down a cat’s tail are narrow and can be damaged easily. If the blood flow is destroyed, the tail can start to die and need to be amputated. However she’s been bleeding from near the tail’s tip — a good sign.
    • In another excellent argument against Intelligent Design, the nerves controlling a cat’s bladder run down the spine inside the tail before looping back. Tail damage can destroy bladder control. I’ve never been happier to see a cat pee.

    She’s remarkably perky considering she must be in pain.

  4. @Cassie ST: Well, so far the votes are for publishing the photo — without a warning. I tend to agree. But I’ll make the final decision on Friday.

    Artemis, however, did suffer blood supply damage to her tail, and amputation has taken place. I don’t know how much tail she has left. That’s our returning-home surprise.

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