Is this thing fur real?

Does anyone else live with crazy ladies?  These two sharing my space have me constantly scratching my head.  Sal is trying to teach me to count by doling out my treats one at a time and counting them one by one.  She always stops at four.  I might be a better student if she were trying to teach me to count to 15, but I’m not stressing my little cat brain for four treats.

Then on Saturday Mom introduces this new object into the house.  She is quite pleased with herself.  At the Fur Rondy Alaska Trappers Fur Auction on Saturday she has purchased a moose antler.  I’ll wait while you absorb that information.

Their new, absolute favorite nephew-in-law had expressed an interest in moose antlers for his man cave.  Mom jumped into action when she saw some for sale.  

Right now, the antler is taking up prime sunbeam space on the floor.  Other than that, after an intense examination of it, I’ve decided I can live with it until it makes it way down to Abingdon.  However that’s going to happen.  Like the counting, I’m not going to stress about it.  

Oh, and moose do have antlers.  Sheep have horns.  The difference?  

Antlers grow out of a stub of bone on their heads and are covered with “velvet,” a thin, soft layer of skin and blood vessels that gets scraped off over time.  Antlers are shed every winter when the connection between the stub of bone and the antler becomes loose.  Antlers are found in the deer family and are almost exclusively a male accessory.  Except reindeer; male and female reindeer have antlers.  

Horns are permanently attached to sheep, cows, goats and their relatives.  Horns have a full core of bone and are covered in a tough coating of keratin, the same substance that’s in my claws and your fingernails.  Horns are never shed and, in many species, continue to grow throughout the animal’s life.  Males and females, depending on the species, have horns.

Both sound like a lot of trouble to me.  And uncomfortable.  But, again, no stress here.