# Explain this Garfield comic strip. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647 "2014-05-04T16:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/1 "2014-05-04T16:40:53Z")
A redditor today posted this and some suggestions have come in, but I’d rather just post the comic and see what you folks think. What is the joke? What is Jim Davis suggesting happened? [Litter of puppies.](http://garfield.com/comic/1990-05-30) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/2 "2014-05-04T16:45:49Z")
Eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!!! They’re obviously at the vet’s, and he just chugged a sample of … dog urine (or maybe semen)??? :eek: 😕 :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/3 "2014-05-04T16:47:12Z")
Liz is either messing with Jon or Jon drank some doggie fertility drug. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/4 "2014-05-04T16:48:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!!! They’re obviously at the vet’s, and he just chugged a sample of … dog urine (or maybe semen)??? :eek: 😕 :dubious: I was thinking the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/5 "2014-05-04T16:52:40Z")
Only dog jizz makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/6 "2014-05-04T16:52:50Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Liz is either messing with Jon or Jon drank some doggie fertility drug. Do they actually have such things? I thought there were too many unwanted puppies and kittens in the world as it is! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/7 "2014-05-04T16:55:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Do they actually have such things? I thought there were too many unwanted puppies and kittens in the world as it is! :eek: I imagine only professional breeders would be interested in [such things](http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Health/Infertility-Female/Treatment.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/8 "2014-05-04T17:02:04Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Only dog jizz makes sense. Can you tell if a dog is pregnant from her urine? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/9 "2014-05-04T17:33:09Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Only dog jizz makes sense. Not really. Messing with his head makes the most sense. Why would anything beneficial to the birth of healthy puppies be on the same table as a cat? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/10 "2014-05-04T18:19:28Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Why would anything beneficial to the birth of healthy puppies be on the same table as a cat? Because comics don’t need to make logical sense. (One might better ask why Jon keeps Garfield around, or why Liz dates Jon.) Dog semen seems to be intended. (Even if one concedes that Liz is messing with him, that would be what she wanted Jon to think it was.) If _Garfield_ had more jokes as revolting as that one, I’d like it a lot better.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/11 "2014-05-04T18:19:34Z")
That one’s a little…odd…for a mainstream strip. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/12 "2014-05-04T18:28:55Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > That one’s a little…odd…for a mainstream strip. About as odd as **this one** , though Larson claimed that the obvious interpretation was completely unintended (the dog was just supposed to be howling in triumph): [![](https://i.imgur.com/IyBZArh.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/IyBZArh.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/13 "2014-05-04T18:49:47Z")
This very strip was the [subject of the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6957987#post6957987) that made me decide to join the SDMB eight years ago. I laughed so loud that I scared my own dogs. (RIP, Jenny and Lacey.) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/14 "2014-05-04T20:05:33Z")
liz is playing a joke on jon. No vet would keep anything of importance in a coffee cup. Come to think of it, no one in any profession would. But I must say this is a huge improvement over 8 identical panels of garfield doing nothing and then a joke about how lazy he is in the last panel. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/15 "2014-05-04T21:34:54Z")
But still not quite as good as [Garfield minus Garfield](http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/page/7), which isn’t a comic strip about a pasta eating cat and _is_ about a lonely young man slowly going insane. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/16 "2014-05-04T22:30:05Z")
> [@Monstera\_deliciosa](#): > > This very strip was the [subject of the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6957987#post6957987) that made me decide to join the SDMB eight years ago. I laughed so loud that I scared my own dogs. (RIP, Jenny and Lacey.) I wish I’d see that thread at the time. So many puns come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/17 "2014-05-04T22:48:12Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > liz is playing a joke on jon. No vet would keep anything of importance in a coffee cup. Come to think of it, no one in any profession would. what about a barista? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/18 "2014-05-04T22:50:38Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > No vet would keep anything of importance in a coffee cup. It’s not clearly a coffee cup. No handle can be seen in the last panel. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/19 "2014-05-04T22:56:17Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > liz is playing a joke on jon. No vet would keep anything of importance in a coffee cup. Come to think of it, no one in any profession would. Surely Jim Davis was also cleverly calling attention to the unfortunate state of present-day knowledge of biology, with this depiction of a man who believes that conception occurs in the stomach. In the stomach of _males_. Sad, really. Davis performed a great service in highlighting it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647/20 "2014-05-05T00:17:52Z")
Well, given their relative positions in the strip, I was thinking of the old joke that ends “Aw, turn her over, dad! I want puppies!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-garfield-comic-strip/687647.md?page=2)