Sometimes a relationship ends but one part is unaware of it

I've been in this situation so many times, almost always on the aware part, but either way, it never ceases to be heartbreaking. Friendships, sadly, sometimes take the worst part of romances, and people in them exhibit behaviours such as nagging and jealousy outbursts; or you find out one day that you are much more important to your friend's life than that person is to you. That, I think, is what's happening to the woman who shared the story below. Also, there is some difficulty setting boundaries and being assertive going on, but we'll discuss that later. I just wanted to preface what I'm going to comment on about this story by saying that it would be great if friendships were the place where we could let all that programming from romantic relationships fly out the window, and just enjoy ourselves and be free.

How far would a mama cat go to protect her children?

Any parent out there understands the primal need to protect their children, no matter what. They always come first, and there is nothing you wouldn't do to ensure they are happy and safe all of the time. This parental instinct is obviously not something only hoomans feel. We see parents of all shapes and forms giving their all to protect their babies, which is why we feel it so strongly. Every mother and every father shares those thoughts and needs.

Bearing witness to how a fluffy parent in nature is trying to protect their children is one of the most beautiful things we hoomans get to see. And there's nothing more satisfying than also being able to help. Even just easing the mind of that sweet pawrent, by providing food, water, or shelter to them and their kids, is a great honor, and we appreciate anyone who does so.

That is how we imagine the hoomans in the story below feel. The cat distribution system quite literally dropped a mama cat and her five kittens out of the sky, since they landed on the hooman's skylight and seemed to enjoy their moment in the sun. However, living on top of a skylight is not sustainable, so the hooman knew that something should be done to help the feline family. They wanted the mama cat to know that her kittens are safe with them and that she has nothing to worry about. Slowly, they started gaining the family's trust and working to get them inside the house.

What can we say… They did everything right. They built the kittens a play pen, took them all to the vet, and never separated them from each other, even for a second. They took all six cats in and welcomed them to the family. And now, they are living better than anyone could have expected…

Keep scrolling for the full tale!

What is your favorite activity to do in the summer?

Even though summer is technically just starting, as adults, most of us don't really get to enjoy the summer vacation. Sure, some of us may take a few days off, here and there, maybe even travel someplace with a beach and a pool, but that is nothing compared to the wonders of the summer vacation we used to have as kids.

Summer vacation had endless possibilities, all of which felt like a new adventure to explore. It could be as exciting as a week-long vacation abroad with the family, or a trip to the mall with some friends, but we were always so excited to get out of the house and make the most of our days. We wanted to get as much done as possible before school started again, and somehow, even though we were kids, we knew how to manage our time so that we felt accomplished by the end of it.

That said, even without the freedom of a full two-month vacation time, as adults, we learn to find our wins where we can and use the time we do get outside of work to the best of our abilities. For some people, that time is spent during the weekends, chilling at the beach or having a picnic in the park. For others, those who were might never have been that excited about summer in the first place, their time off is spent at home, with a nice homemade lemonade, a book, and a cat on their lap.

However you like to spend your free summer time, we recommend bringing some good entertainment with you, which includes this hissterical collection of funny cat memes to keep fresh wherever you choose to go. Go ahead and scroll down to enjoy this collection, and we hope you have fun with your summery days, no matter how you spend them!

It's Monday, let's celebrate in one brain cell style and be chaotic like orange cats are. 

Don't pretend like you're not familiar with the stereotypes of orange cats. They're not called one brain cell for nothing! They're not just a bit on the slower side, they're known for their mischievous behavior. Like everything else red, orange cats are hot headed. They like to create chaos, they like to misbehave more than other cats. They will knock your keys off the table at double time, they will scratch all your papers more than other cats, and they'll participate in midnight zoomies far more than a tabby or Persian cat. 

Since it's Monday, it might be the purrfect day to scroll orange cat memes. There's a certain chaos to Monday because it's the first day of the week. No one likes Mondays, and we're all in a daze as we come out of the restfulness and fun of the weekend. Enjoy these silly, wholesome, hilarious, and adorable ginger cat memes for folks who also feel they have one brain cell. 

Everyone loves sleep, even precious sweepy wittle kitties. 

It's true that everyone loves sleep. It's crazy to think how crucial sleep is and how little we prioritize sleep. These days, a lot of that is changing, but some people still would rather be out at night with friends than get a good night sleep. It's a well-known fact that cats love to sleep too. They will sleep all day if you let them! No sense of responsibility with them…just kidding. They are just wittle babies and deserve all the best sleep in the world. When we sleep, our whole bodies go through many important things. Physical recovery from the day, mental and emotional recovery, and even metabolism are all affected with the amount of sleep we get. If we don't get enough sleep, our basic functioning can be altered. They say that not sleeping well and driving is worse than drinking and driving. It doesn't matter if you agree or not, the point is that sleep is deeply important. 

Cats have the luxury of sleeping all day, and especially when you leave the house. Most of us don't have that luxury because we work. If you're someone who works from home or has a flexible schedule then it's not surprising you're more alert than the rest of us! If you're someone who feels a bit sleep deprived, who could use some zzz's and dreams, someone who wants to get cozy and whisk yourself away to your own unconscious, then these memes are for you. Enjoy! 

When should our nitpicking stop?

In these modern times, there's a pretty widespread idea that our partners should be there to satisfy our every need, and that we should be so pragmatic as to leave them ASAP if there is a very minor box they don't check. Evidently, I do not subscribe to that way of thinking, and today I'm going to explain why.

The woman who found herself in this desperate situation states she has no resources left to solve it and that it is a deal-breaker. And who are we to judge her? We'll just stick to using the story as an excuse to do our own bull session.

The road from "we can't keep her" to "we can't imagine life without her" is surprisingly short.

When Aya first showed up in the family's village, she was in bad shape. She was sick, weak, and unlike any of the local cats the family recognized, leading them to believe she had likely been abandoned there. Rather than turning away, the family stepped in to help. As often happens in stories shared on Reddit's r/CatDistributionSystem subreddit, what began as helping a cat in need eventually turned into something much more permanent.

The first month or two were filled with vet visits and around-the-clock care. Aya needed a lot of help before she was healthy again, and the family spent weeks making sure she got the treatment and attention she needed. Thankfully, all that effort paid off, and she slowly regained her strength.

At the time, bringing Aya into the house wasn't a popular idea. Some family members didn't want to take in a stray cat, so her rescuer had to work hard to convince everyone to give her a chance. Eventually, they agreed.

Five and a half years later, Aya has become a fixture in the household. The family says that when people walk through the door, they often stop to pet Aya before greeting anyone else. The cat they once weren't sure about keeping has become one of the first things everyone looks for when they get home.

It's hard to imagine a better outcome for a cat who arrived with so much uncertainty. Aya found a family willing to care for her when she needed it most, and in return she became a beloved part of their lives.

The start of a new week is the perfect time for a small reminder that you've got this.

A fresh week has a way of making everything feel urgent. There are calendars to check, messages to answer, chores waiting to be done, and goals we'd like to accomplish before Furiday rolls around. It's easy to look at everything at once and feel like you're already playing catch-up.

Cats don't seem to have that problem. They wake up each day with a remarkably simple plan. Find breakfast. Find a comfortable place to sit. Investigate anything remotely interesting. Demand affection when necessary. Repeat as needed. It's not a bad system.

Meanwhile, hoomans have a tendency to turn a five-item to-do list into a full-blown crisis. Cats would never make that mistake. If a task can't be completed right this second, they'll simply move on to something else, preferably involving a blanket or a nap. Their priorities may not always be practical, but there is something admirable about their commitment to staying unbothered.

That's a useful mindset to carry into a new week. Not every day needs to be perfect. Not every goal has to be accomplished immediately. Some days are for making big progress, while others are for taking small steps and keeping the momentum going. Both count.

The felines ahead are bringing the kind of energy many of us could use right now. A little confidence. A little patience. A little optimism. And a reminder that even on busy days, there's still room for small moments of happiness.

The week ahead will happen one day at a time. For now, take a page out of the feline playbook: get comfortable, be kind to yourself, and remember that even the smallest step forward still counts.

Can a take-home assignment become intellectual property theft?

Isn't this just a wonderful vengeance story? As a writer who has been working for a while, I had to complete multiple assignments during interview processes, and it never occurred to me that recruiters might be using my work without paying me a single penny. I just can't get over the fact that a company would actually do that. But I guess sometimes these things can happen.

That's why I got so thrilled when I read that the applicant installed a tracker on his design work, to check if those people would actually use it… and as a matter of fact, they were. But not only the used it: they rejected the applicant. That job position might have ended up being a total scam… Is it possible for companies to pretend they need to hire someone only to get a job done for free? I'm might be losing hope in the work industry if this is true…

I believe we can all learn from this situation and just be a bit more mindful when job searching. While taking a home assignment can be a legitimate part of the interview process, it does create opportunities for companies to steal the work and not pay for it. Although many companies act in good faith and they really want to test the applicant, being careful about it is a smart move.

Wow… it really surprises me how competitive the job market is getting. I remember a couple of years ago, it wasn't really common for companies to send homework for you to do in order to test our skills. But now, with so many applicants, it's the norm. I guess the rules are changing for both ends, so taking care of your work and demanding what's yours seems pretty reasonable.

Let us know in the comments what you think about this designer! What would you have done?

Question: When is it okay to park in a handicapped parking spot?

Answer: Only when you have a permit to park in a handicapped parking spot. If you don't have a legal permission to park in an accessible parking space, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for you to park in one. 

Not even for five minutes, not if you stay in the car, not in any scenario. That spot is reserved for people who need it, and for a good reason. There are enough people who need it anyway, so don't be a reason someone can't park in a spot they deserve. It isn't worth the risk of preventing others from using it, it isn't worth the fine you might get for illegally parking there, and it generally doesn't make you a good person. Just look for a different spot, even if it takes a few extra minutes out of your day.

All of that is very clear to the customer who shared the story below, but apparently not clear enough to the drive-thru employee who told them to park in the spot in the first place.

This customer did everything right: They made an order on the app so they wouldn't have to wait for it to be ready, they went through the drive-thru line, and accepted the fact that their order might take a few more minutes to be ready. But when the employee asked them to wait for the order in the handicapped parking spot, the customer finally said no. This was not something they were comfortable doing, and they had no problem saying that to the employee. Why should the customer risk getting a ticket because their order wasn't ready in time? And who is the employee to decide who can park in an accessible parking spot?

Summer is here, and it's all about cat time!

When summer comes, we're thinking about cats, and only cats. Not that it's different from any other season of the year, because all cat people think about their cats constantly, and cats are great all year round. But when summer comes, and cats catch all the sunbeams, we're reminded that even the heat and the sweat can't bring a cat's spirit down. Cats enjoy summer just like they do every other season, which helps us contain this scorching heat even better.

This cat's summer affinity is evident in many examples, but a recent one truly caught our eyes, in the most wholesome way possible. @wildetide.co uploaded to Instagram the most adorable first-time visit of her family's kitten to the beach - and what started as a scardy cat experience turned into a fully-fledged family fun time that includes paws, purrs, and kitten joy. These instances fill our feline-loving hearts with happiness.

We can't say we could ever bring our own cat to the beach like that. She's curious alright, asking to go on a walk with the cat leash - though she's never walking far away from the building where we live. And generally, every sighting of a human that gets too close, or a dog across the street, sends her running back home. Her curiosity is not greater than her fear of the great outdoors, unfortunately. She'll have to make do with the street surrounding our building.

But some cats enjoy the outside like it's their second nature. Sure, cats started as apex predators of the great outdoors, but now they're mostly domesticated babies (no complaint here). But if you're lucky enough to have a cat with the instincts of a jaguar and can take your cat hiking, you're one of the lucky ones. For you, bringing your cat to the beach this summer should be a regular activity - and to be honest, we're low-key jealous. But with the same breath, we wish you and your cat a great summer!

Who determines our relationship to love and marriage?

At first, I thought this was yet another story about a guy getting cold feet right at the moment he is asked a big question. This is how it always goes for me: everything seems to be going fine, and at some point, I decide to bring up some variation of the 'what are we?' question, and all we had goes up in flames. I think this is a fairly universal experience and not just my bad luck… Right?

Well, this wasn't the case at all for the young woman who shared this story, although it has some similarities with it which we're analyzing later. Also, his dragging the mother into the debate is all very cliché, but I'm not going to be prejudiced about this or project my love life frustrations onto it; the commentary will go in another direction, I promise.

With over 2,000 downloads in under 24 hours, developer Sebastian Seidel might have accidentally bitten off a bit more of Churu than he could chew!

As millennials, we loved everything about Pokémon Go. It gave us an excuse to walk around outside and relive the purest meowments of our childhood with all the cute characters we remembered from our golden years. We're pretty sure we increased our daily steps by 5x the normal amount during Pokémon Go's peak. Like all trends, it fell out of fashion after a while, especially when people realized that the company was actually using its users to build a giant map database using their phone cameras. Some people still play it to this day, but the number is only a fraction of what it was years ago.

Until now.

Just yesterday, developer Sebastian Seidel posted on his X page a celebration of his second app being up and running on the Google Play Store. It's called "CatchCat", and it's exactly what you're hoping it is.

CatchCat essentially runs the same as Pokémon Go, allowing you to "capture" cats you encounter in real life, turn them into playable cards, and build a cat-dex of hissterical cats to battle with your friends. The app even has anti-cheating measures that block you from simply uploading a picture of a cat! 

You know us here at I Can Has Cheezburger love anything nostalgic and anything involving cats, so this app is right up our alley. You better believe we're gonna catch 'em all, including all the stray cats in our neighborhood, and probably even yours. It's time to lace up our walking shoes because we've got to be the very best, like no one ever was. To catch them is our real test, and to pet them is our cause!

Food can look different in different cultures, but it always means practically the same thing. Humans have gathered around food since forever and have also constructed countless rituals surrounding it. Feeding is one of our first contacts with the world around us when we're babies and are fed by our mothers. Most of the time, food signifies love, community, connection, nurture, interdependence, etc.

Having said this, what happens when the food we're being offered is not yummy, and it feels like it's being pushed down our throats? That's what we're about to find out. The story below was shared by a tired sister who doesn't know how to take care of this growing issue surrounding her sister's rather nasty appreciation displays.

It's not really stealing when it's already his. We know this might be confusing, but let us walk you through the logic. Cats own everything they see, which makes everything in the neighborhood theirs. Therefore, the pool noodle that this cat "stole" was actually just him taking back what was his by birthright. 

It's sad when you can't even trust your local news sources anymore. We're not usually the ones to put others down, but this is a terrible smear campaign against our purrfectly adorable kitty posted in Reddit's r/cats community. However, this video actually made it to the local news, where they accused this fluffy feline of "stealing" a pool noodle from a neighbor's backyard. How do they know he was stealing? Maybe the cat lent it to the neighbor and they never gave it back? Purrhaps the cat was attempting to save the neighbor from the "giant snake" that was lying in wait in their backyard? We're just saying… if it had been a dog, they wouldn't have said he stole it.

What's more hissterical is that this story became 'breaking news' for this local channel, and the only thing we can say about it is we wish this was the kind of news that was breaking all the time. More impurrtant than the actual theft itself are his cute little legs trotting along while he carries that giant pool floatie down the sidewalk, and how his belly (technically it's called a "primordial pouch", but belly is much cuter) swings back and forth as he struggles to carry the noodle that's at least 4x his size. 

Not many will stand up for this cat, but I Can Has Cheezburger will. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Just because some cats are kleptomaniacs doesn't mean all cats are certified cat burglars. We won't rest until this cat has his name cleared! You can be the judge of his character for yourself by watching the pawsitively hilarious video below. We hope you'll be on the right side.

When help is not helping

I think there is something to say here about a road paved with good intentions, but anyway. Sometimes we analyze a situation and come up with the best solution we can think of, and we end up breaking something that was steadily functioning. The key to success might be communicating our plans to fix the thing instead of doing it as a surprise, but well, everybody makes honest mistakes, and it even feels unfair to call a situation like this a mistake.

This good-willed employee spent hours of her days doing something she thought would benefit the entire department and ended up finding herself in a very awkward position. What would you do in this situation?

Why do some people see financial independence as a threat to commitment?

Okay, I'll totally admit that I feel compelled by this story. I am the older sibling, and I will always do whatever it takes to help any of my sisters. No matter what. Even if that involves money. And I think any sibling would do something like this… So, this anecdote could easily have happened to me. That's why I think I'm very invested.

What I don't get is why the boyfriend is so upset with the older sibling. I mean, of course, she was expected to help her sister, and since he has been around for three years, I believe her behavior is very normal. I understand that he's heartbroken and that he wants to keep the girl, but taking it out on the sister is definitely not the way to go. Especially when he's blaming her for the separation. 

I understand the position where the OP is sat. And, let me just say, she has no business with the boy and for sure doesn't have to try to comfort him in any way, or try to be in his shoes. She's there for her sister, as she has always been. Now, I'll say that I'm curious about the little sister's approach. What's on her mind? Because, essentially, her ex-boyfriend is calling her immature and demanding that she pay him back for the very expensive lifestyle they indulged in while being together. That's a bigger fish to fry. 

I'm very amazed by how the boyfriend thinks that the little sister is following money, when I'm sure there's a reason why she's leaving the relationship. And the OP clearly states at the top of the story: "she's not impressed by money". I hope the boy can see that there are more reasons behind the breakup, and demanding money is never going to help the situation. I'm curious to see what you think about the conflict. In my opinion, it is a very interesting thing when money interferes with family problems.

We're not born knowing how to not be anxious around love, and our first experiences with it are filled with all-or-nothing scenarios. I remember how I felt every time my high school sweetheart didn't immediately text back. I would succumb to the deepest pit, thinking my life was definitely over. At that age, it's very hard to tell the emotional mind that the other person might be occupied and has not spend its afternoon thinking about how to destroy you.

Truth is, we learn all this from experience, and this puppy love might have to go through its own lessons to become a more established form of partnership, but we'll be here to analyze and discuss how things got to this point and what the boy can do about them before it's too late. Or is it already too late?

Unpaid volunteers are a special resource. They cost nothing; they show up out of pure goodwill, and the correct way to manage them, if you ask the manager in this one club, is apparently to treat them worse than paid employees while also expecting more

Bonding with a stray cat comes with risks. And rewards. Such as more stray cats. 

It is as simple as this, friends: once you bond with a stray cat, you have to deal with all the consequences that come along with that. That stray cat might walk into your home one day and demand that you adopt it, and you will have no option but to comply. That stray cat might turn out to be a pregnant cat, and then you will have not one, but many adorable fluffballs to take care of. And that stray cat might do what the kitty on r/notmycat did. That stray cat might bring a friend to share their meals with. 

This, of course, isn't the first time that we have seen this happen. Once you show kindness to a cat once, they remember it, and they are completely unashamed to come back and ask for more. Not that they should be. We are always happy to see them back. But generally, when we feed one stray cat, we don't expect to have a whole litter to deal with. But that - now that is our mistake. 

We, here at ICHC, have been warning people for years. Do not feed stray cats unless you are willing to deal with the consequences. Because cats remember. And cats report to the CDS. And once the CDS has you in its sights, you are not getting out of there without at least one cat to take care of. And most likely, more than one cat. 

Now, the cat in today's story wasn't supposed to be the kind to bring friends. Because, beforehand, all he did was run other cats away - away from his humans and away from his food. But one of them slipped past his defences - literal and metaphorical, became his friend, and the humans… well, they didn't have a choice but to go along.