Mau Mew

33% of women avoid going to the doctors because of anxiety and embarrassment (UK)

2024-03-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

This is not strictly speaking about cats and I apologise if you want to read about cats only 😒. The truth is I have more or less run out of articles about cats because I written well over 20,000 articles over the years. Yes, a staggering amount and I hope you can understand why I have run out more or less.

But this is a study which I think is very significant. The Independent newspaper reports that a third of women steer clear of doctors because of anxiety and embarrass according to a study.

There is an indirect reference to cats here because a lot of single women look after cats. They do so company and cat companions make great company.

Vet fees

There is an interesting side issue here as well because I've just written about the extortionate (as far as I'm concerned) veterinary fees in the UK because of a corporate takeover of independent veterinarians.

Vet fees are so high in the UK now that if a cat is badly injured in an accident the average cat owner will have to have their cats euthanised rather than treated unless it is covered by medical insurance. That's my personal assessment.

Women's inequality

Anyway, back to women and their inequality in the UK. A study by The Fawcett Society reveals that almost 66% of British women believed that their health problems are not taken seriously. And about a third reported suffering from poor health due to their gender.

Partnering with The Fawcett Society were researchers for the not-for-profit healthcare provider Benenden Health in this study. They discovered that six in 10 women have had a negative encounter with healthcare professionals while a third believed that they were given a late diagnosis.

The study polled 10,000 women in the UK. It also revealed that a third believe that their illness was misdiagnosed. And 25% say that they were placed on the wrong medication.

It reveals a stark inequality in the UK today said the chief executive of The Fawcett Society, Jemima Olchawski.

The Independent newspaper also reported in their exclusive research that "a third of those with with a women's health condition have been made to wait three years or longer for a diagnosis."

It also believed that health conditions affecting women receive less funding and research.

And a number of studies appear to confirm that women suffering from painful conditions are taken less seriously than men under similar circumstances.

The newspaper paints a high degree of inequality between men and women with respect to medical care. I don't know if this is true but the study states that it is.

The most worrying part of it is in the headline to this article with a high percentage of women simply not going to see a GP because of anxiety and embarrassment. The government needs to look at this very seriously.

Poor mental health drives youth inactivity to new high in the UK

It may be particularly relevant today because there is a high percentage of young people with poor mental health who are economically inactive and on long term benefits. A lot of these will be young women.

One in five adults who are not in work and are not looking for jobs are apparently on benefits. And it seems that poor mental health has pushed people out of work. Perhaps some of these people are the women I refer to.

"Having a litter of kittens will settle down a female cat"

2024-02-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

Some cat owners think that their female unsterilised cat should have a litter of kittens before they sterilise them because it helps them to settle down and live a more contented life.

They appear to believe that a female cat should have kittens because it's instinctive to them to have kittens and if you deny them that pleasure it is upsetting to them.

Until they have kittens they can't settle down and be their normal selves. That is the argument as I understand it but it is entirely false and dangerous thought for the obvious reason that there are already too many unwanted cats in the world and to bring more into the world because of a misconception is irresponsible and ultimately cruel because what happens to the kittens? Can you find a good home for them? Will they be happy? Will they have good lives? Will they be homed with a person who is sensitive to their needs and so on?

It is a myth that having a litter will settle down a female cat. It's a myth that the cat will feel more fulfilled after having kittens.

It might be useful to touch on how female humans feel after having kids. That might provide us with a little insight. Mothers are often harassed and overstretched and pressured on having a young family. They certainly don't feel more settled down.

The veterinarians state that a spayed cat will be more playful, people-orientated and they won't miss what they never had.

Briefly, on an associated topic, there are other reasons why cat owners sometimes want their female cats to have a litter of kittens. It might be because it provides them with enjoyment. They'd like to witness the birth of kittens. They might enjoy raising them and find the whole process rewarding.

They might love the appearance of their female cat and they want to produce offspring to maintain the bloodline. Or they might do it for financial reasons to sell the kittens for whatever they can get for them to make a few pennies on the side.

If the cat is a purebred then they can sell them for a reasonable sum of money but the amount would be dependent upon whether there was a registered lineage with a cat association.

That said you will find some cat owners advertising on Facebook purebred cats for sale at discount prices. Don't buy these cats and kittens at the prices asked. You are probably not going to buy a genuine purebred cat and I would expect it to be unregistered.

And lastly, some cat owners may have a deep emotional bond with their female cat and want to have the experience of raising a kittens to create a stronger connection with the cat and their offspring.

All these reasons may be good ones from the person's perspective but in the grand scheme of things, I think it would be fair to say that it would not be the best decision to make in terms of general animal welfare for the reason stated above.

Jodie Foster would join social media if it was only about cats and dancing

2024-02-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

I really like Jodie Foster. I always have since she became an adult actress. It's difficult to find out exactly whether Jodie Foster does in fact likes cats although I think it's pretty certain she likes dancing because she likes to see dancing on social media, I understand.

Jodie Foster. Picture: Wikipedia.

But apparently she suffered a traumatic experience with a big cat after, it is reported, a lion mauled her. I don't know the circumstances but she appears to have a fear of big cats but the opposite for domestic cats. How do I make that latter assessment?

Well, there's a headline on the People website which goes like this: "Jodie Foster says she'll use social media 'If it was just dancing and cats: I'd be all for it'".

So she would like to look at dancing or presumably look at anything to do with dancing on social media and domestic cat stuff but other than that social media doesn't interest her. In fact I think she'd have her own channels of social media if it was limited to cats and dance.

The reports are that she is very "normal". On the basis that that is true, it's a fantastic endorsement for her because to be normal is wonderful if you are a top film star. And personally, I love normal by which I mean well balanced and rounded. Although we don't really know what "normal" means but I think you can use your imagination and have a good guess at it.

She is 61 years of age at the moment and says that she would be all for joining social media for the reasons stated.

She's received praise for her show True Detective: Night Country. Fans have responded positively to the series. She is proud of it and she said that she wouldn't like to change anything about it whereas often in the films she's been involved with but not as a director, she would like to change some things.

Perhaps, we might be able to link being normal and not being involved with social media. What I mean is that if you are normal, well-balanced and sensible you should avoid social media!

It is because it can be quite destructive and an entire waste of time as 90% of social media is waffle, achieving little. Strong words and perhaps I'm being a little bit over-the-top but I do think that a lot of social media is a waste of time and it is known that it can harm young people. I think it's a good part of the Internet if you use it to achieve something rather than allowing it to use you.

Also, there are some great animal rescue channels on Facebook which wouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they are without social media. These are personal views and I totally accept that perhaps the majority of people will disagree with me.

Off the grid van-life woman uses cat litter for herself instead of a toilet

2024-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

Yes, this brave and enlightened woman uses cat litter, not for her cat as she does not have a cat but for herself because her van (mobile home) does not have a toilet. Vicki Harper is on disability benefits living in the UK and she says that living on the grid - conventionally - is too expensive for her. She decided to use a converted Ford Transit 125 T350 van for her accommodation.

Vicki Harper revealed she has to use cat litter instead of a toilet Credit: CHANNEL 5

The mobile home has a cooker, storage cabinets, fridge, freezer and a nice bed but no bathroom! Hence the cat litter for humans.

Vicki is on television on Channel 5 to tell the world about her lifestyle. It is about people who've taken up living in a mobile home. The 'van life'.

Asked if cat litter works for her she said:

"Absolutely... where I park and with the way I park, I stay for two or three weeks, there are really no places to be emptying toilets. So I find that using cat litter, I can just get rid of it in a normal bin, so cat litter is the way forward.”

She is very happy not having to worry about how she is going to pay for her outgoings each month.

She said:

There’s no worrying about what's going to be paid this month or, you know, what's building up in debt etcetera, there’s none of that. It was quite strange when I gave the keys back to my property. It was like this massive weight was lifted off my shoulders, 100 per cent it’s freedom.”

For me, she is the first person who uses cat litter to go to the toilet. She dumps the used cat litter in public waste bins I understand.

We are not told how she keeps herself clean. Perhaps she licks herself all over like a cat 😍. That sounds like I am taking the Mikey out of her. I am not. Just having a bit of fun.

I admire her a lot. Well done Vicki. And good luck.

Cats Protection strongly criticize Claudia Schiffer for carrying a Scottish Fold to a premiere

2024-01-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

You may have seen the photos of the German model Claudia Schiffer on the red carpet at the premiere of the film Argylle in which she and Chip the Scottish Fold appear.

Claudia Schiffer and Chip the Scottish Fold in a glamorous carrier but the model, cat and carrier have all be criticized by Cats Protection.

She attended the event carrying Chip in one of those fancy cat carriers with a big clear perspex window and vent holes. It was all very glamorous but behind the veneer of glamour there is sadness really if you want to stand back and not be taken in - which is what Cats Protection have done.

They see two problems with the photos:

Because of the presence of a mutated gene that causes the Scottish Fold ears to fall into their signature position against the head, osteochondrodysplasia is seen in all cats of this breed to varying degrees. Read about this by clicking on this link: Osteochondrodysplasia is seen in ALL Scottish Fold cats. Claudia (as has Taylor Swift) promotes and glamourises a very unhealthy breed which some would argue should not exist. You would not be able to start the breed nowadays because there is a heightened awareness of cat health.
Chip would have been anxious with nowhere to hide. This is bad cat caretaking for which Schiffer is responsible at that time!

"It's extremely concerning to see a cat exposed to such a stressful environment while contained in an inappropriate carrier."

Claudia's daughter is Chips' caregiver/owner by the way.

Cats Protection's head of clinical services, Alison Richards said:

"Though some cats may appear to tolerate backpacks, the movement on a person's back is unpredictable and most lack adequate ventilation and space for the cat - leaving them cramped or uncomfortable," said the charity's head of clinical services Alison Richards."

And:

"The large window in the bubble backpack featured also means cats don't have the option to hide when they feel anxious, leaving them feeling exposed and vulnerable."

The premiere was in London at the Odeon, Leicester Square.

Update: the headlines a couple of days later are that two more major animal shelters and charities have also criticised the film makers and those involved with this film in employing a Scottish Fold. The correctly say that they are glamorising the breed and making it more desirable when the raw facts should be spelled out: this is a breed should not exist because of the mutated gene that causes the cartilage to be weak.

University student abandons her young cat on a park bench on Christmas Eve

2024-01-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a peculiar story in one way in that the owner of a one-year-old black cat named Mila, said that she loved her cat. But in a note left with Mila who was abandoned in a carrier on a park bench, the woman, who is a university student, said that she had to go back to university and could somebody take her cat and love her as she did.

Image: RSPCA

You wonder whether a person who abandons their cat like this on a park bench genuinely loved their cat. Does it make sense to you? It doesn't to me because the woman jeopardised the life of her cat. She put her cat in harm's way. She could have taken Mila to the RSPCA or to any other animal shelter. Or better than that, she could have used her best efforts to find a new owner.

But it seems to me, and I don't want to be horribly critical, she has been lazy in deciding to carry her cat to the nearest park and dump the animal on a park bench with a note begging people to look after her cat. Not great as far as I am concerned. And the RSPCA would agree with me.

Mila - rescued. Image: RSPCA

There are other questions which this story asks the reader. The woman in question says that she is returning to university. This tells us that she is already at university. It also means that she adopted a cat while she was at university knowing that she could not look after the cat when she was in a students' residence at the university. If that's correct and it looks like it is she should not have adopted the cat in the first place.

You don't adopt a companion animal of any sort unless you know with as much certainty as you can that you will have the means both in terms of time and funding to look after that animal for the remainder of their life. That's the ideal. Certainly things can intervene to upset that objective but at least you must start with that firm objective and do your best to stick to it. Yes, I'm being dogmatic perhaps and perhaps I am lecturing but I think this woman needs a bit of a lecture without, as I say, being overly critical.

She did abandon her cat which arguably is a crime in the UK. It is an act, arguably, of animal cruelty or abuse. The cat was rescued fortunately but what if the cat hadn't been rescued? What if the cat had been attacked by a dog inside her carrier? What if some idiotic person had found the cat and abused her. There are many possibilities.

Apparently the RSPCA are investigating the abandonment. That tells us that they see that it as at least potentially a crime under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Animal abandonment per se is animal cruelty. It depends on how it pans out as to whether it is an actually act of cruelty.

Lee Ricketts, an RSPCA investigating animal rescue officer said that Mila was "very likely to be found when she was. It was getting dark and it was unlikely that there would be much footfall in the park for the rest of the evening or on Christmas Day. She could have been attacked by a dog or a fox and the cold weather could have been really dangerous as well as having no food or water in the carrier. She was taken to Finsbury Park animal Hospital for a check up and is now at an RSPCA branch."

Woman watched her neighbor abandon their cat and then gave him a new life until he passed

2024-01-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

Rolo being abandoned. Screenshot.

The first part of this story is all in the video which I found charming of course. What I really love about this video is this charming woman talking about the cat opposite, over the road who was abandoned by their owner. The cat's name is Rolo. He's quite masculine looking with quite a square face which indicates to me that he was neutered after puberty, relatively late in life.

He's got that masculine appearance which I like in male cats. Sadly, a lot of male cats have a slightly feminised appearance because of neutering before puberty but that's a personal viewpoint and a different topic.

This woman observed Rolo over the road and saw the moment that he was abandoned, as her neighbours drove away in their car. His former owner even petted Rolo on the head before she disappeared into the sunset never to be seen again. Rolo waited patiently outside the home. He appears to have been and remained a mainly outdoor cat.

His owners never returned and the kindness in the woman who tells the story, was kindled by seeing Rolo alone and abandoned. Like a lot of good people she had to do something which was to firstly gain his trust by feeding him and then gain his trust some more by playing with him and then eventually adopting him, bringing him into her family.

A family that was going to be better at caregiving than the previous one. She lives with a nice man as well who is good at making toys and is sensitive to her desire to help this cat. It was a good ending.

Rolo landed on his feet and was in a better home; all thanks to her, this charming whose name, I just discovered (at the end of the video) is Maria Montes. And I have searched out her social media channel: TikTok mariamontes862.

Second part of the story

Having found Maria's TikTok channel, I then discovered some shocking news; Rolo had passed away. He must have been fairly elderly when she rescued him from her neighbour's abandonment. I don't know how many years Rolo lived with Maria and her husband but it probably wasn't that long, certainly not a full life. But a great life with her and her husband. She is a cat lover and a gentle, kind woman. The world needs more of them.

"Thank you for the life you’ve given him. You’re an amazing person for helping him live the best life possible. Fly high sweet boy 💕💕💕" - Koda a commenter on the above video.

"Thank you so much!! And thank you for loving our sweet baby rolo ♥️♥️" - Maria

High rise falls by pet cats and health consequences

2023-12-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

A study looked at the injuries sustained by domestic cats under what is called 'high-rise syndrome' i.e. falling from an apartment block usually. I don't have the distances fallen but there is an optimum height at which the cat suffers the least injuries because the cat has the time to fan out their limbs flying squirrel style and slow their descent plus stabilise their body and land on their feet.

Cat falling as the building was on fire. Image: Screenshot.

Here are the summarised findings:

132 cats were studied over 5 months
The average age of the cats was 2.7 years. Comment: young cats which points to reckless behaviour by the cats and perhaps less than optimum concern or concentration by the cat owner.
90% of the cats suffered some type of thoracic trauma (the thorax area of the cat's body: the chest).
68% suffered pulmonary contusions (an injury to the lung parenchyma - portion of the lungs involved in gas exchange - in the absence of laceration to lung tissue or any vascular structures).
63% had pneumothorax (the presence of air or gas in the cavity between the lungs and the chest wall, causing collapse of the lung.)
55% had abnormal breathing.
57% suffered injury to the face (facial trauma).
39% suffered limb fractures.
24% were in shock.
18% had 'traumatic luxations'. I believe this to mean dislocations of joints.
17% suffered hard palate fractures inside the mouth.
17% were hypothermic.
17% had dental fractures (damaged teeth).
37% required emergency vet treatment.
30% need non-urgent treatment.
30% were observed and did not need treatment.
90% of the cats survived
10% died.

The study: Whitney WO, Mehlhaff CJ. High-rise syndrome in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 1987 Dec;191(11):1399-1403. PMID: 3692980.

Cats like to play fetch just like dogs but when it suits them

2023-12-15T03:07:00.000-08:00

There have been a number of studies about domestic cats playing fetch. And I know that you will find thousands of cat owners who attest to their cats' ability to play fetch just like a dog. They thoroughly enjoy it. For the cat it is play-hunting repeated. For the dog it is often a functional behaviour for which they been trained.

But for a cat, chasing a ball is like chasing a prey animal. They catch it, grab it in their jaws and then bring it back to their owner because they want to repeat the process. This is not an example of a working cat but a cat simply replicating the hunting process and in their relationship with their human caregiver they have learned that they can ask him or her to do certain things such as feed them, open doors and engage in a game of fetch.

That's my take on cats playing fetch and I'm going to refer to a study recently published online in the journal Scientific Reports.

They concluded that cats like to play fetch when they're in the mood. I would add to that and say that not all cats play fetch to the same level or at all. But it does come naturally to them provided they have the cognizance to bring the ball or object back to their owner to restart. That's the key because all cats will chase something but can they bring it back to their owner who threw it?

The researchers found that cats are more likely than dogs to have a particular item that they will play fetch with. They tend to reject other objects. And some refused to play with anything other than a cotton bud which is clearly an object which is more likely to elicit a game of fetch for a domestic cat.

In the study researchers also found that cats "only play in certain rooms and only fetch for particular people."

The researchers of the University of Sussex worked with 924 cat owners owning 1154 cats. All of these cats enjoyed playing fetch. The objective was to find out if the cat's behaviour was instinctive or whether the animals required training. They also wanted to find out if the cats initiated the game of fetch or it was initiated by the cats.

They concluded that: "For the vast majority, 94.4%, fetching appeared to be an instinctive behaviour in the cats. They also found that most of the cat started fetching as kittens or young cats with 36.7% reported to 1st fetch under the age of seven."

Note: they have appeared to have missed the point that playing fetch for a cat is playing at hunting with a modification: bringing the 'prey animal' back to the owner to restart as mentioned.

The lead researcher, Jemma Forman, of the University of Sussex said: "Our findings show that cats dictate this behaviour to directly influence how their human owners respond."

I would suggest that normally nearly all games of fetch with a domestic cat are instigated by the owner in a desire to please the cat, to exercise their cat and to mentally stimulate them in what might otherwise be a less than optimal environment by which I mean the full-time indoor cat environment. The game is then continued with the input of the cat playing the game.

But the cats participating in this study normal started the fetching play session as they were trained up to do that. That had got used to these play sessions:

"Cats initiated and terminated fetching bouts more often than did their owners. Thus, cats who fetch demonstrate independent and co-ordinated agency in the onset and maintenance of fetching behaviour with their human partners."

My thanks to The Times - Kaya Burgess

Do humans or free-ranging domestic cats kill the most animals in one year?

2023-12-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

The domestic cat is criticised almost daily on the internet for being a manic, indiscriminate killer of animals. The human is hardly ever criticised for killing animals. The only people who criticise humans are vegans and animal advocates but their voice is quieter than that of the cat critic lobby.

Well, the first point to note when answering the question in the title is that all we have for cats killing animals are estimates. Or guesstimates. You can't genuinely count on the number being accurate and it is probably the worst case scenario. So here goes:

Free-ranging domestic cats kill around 21 billion animal per year worldwide. This is a midpoint between the max and min estimates.

We know how many animals humans kill as there are records. And the total livestock animals we kill per year amounts to 92.2 billion. I think we can fairly add around 1 billion non-livestock animals to that number making 93.2 billion. That's probably a big underestimate but I stick with it.

And so humans kill 4.4 times the number of animals per year compared to free-ranging domestic cats.

I think humans need to look at themselves in a mirror. It is also worth saying that the farm animals killed often lead horrible lives until they are killed. I mean they are often abused all their lives until slaughtered.

Cats, by contrast, often kill dying birds and infirm mammals. Do you ever see a dead bird lying on the ground? No, because their dead bodies have been scavenged by a variety of predators including the free-roaming cat and the feral cat.

I would doubt that the scientists put this into the equation when estimating the number of animals killed.

The human is the victor in this competition. Oh, one last point, many millions of animals are abused for the fun of it by humans worldwide. Cats don't abuse animals for fun.

Almost forgot: cats have to kill animals as they are programmed hyper-carnivores. They can't eat plants as the nutrients aren't there. Humans are omnivores. We can leave animals alone entirely and probably be healthier.

There are many studies which say that a vegan diet is healthier than a conventional meat diet.

Scentsicles are a Christmas tree scented ornament that might stop your cat climbing the tree BUT IS IT SAFE?

2023-11-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is a "hack" in modern, internet parlance. It's a little trick dreamt up by a lady on TikTok. She has a successful TikTok account where it is obvious that she loves Christmas but she finds ways to save money and make her home look nice.

I HAVE TO ADD A CAUTION AGAINST THIS PRODUCT. ON MORE RESEARCH I THINK THIS PRODUCT IS UNSUITABLE AS A CHRISTMAS TREE CAT DETERRENT AS SCENTS CAN BE TOXIC TO CATS.

They smell nice to humans but the opposite to domestic cats! Image: MikeB

And because she lives with a cat or cats, she needs to protect her lovely Christmas tree from them because as we know cats see trees as something to climb even if it's almost impossible to do because of the decorations.

How many times have you seen a Christmas tree being felled by a cat trying to climb it? On the Internet you will see it happen quite a lot.

The lady's name is Jess and she discovered that a certain Amazon product designed to make your Christmas tree smell nice deters cats from the tree. In America they cost eight dollars, a very modest price and the product is called:

Scentsicles Scented Christmas Ornaments for Christmas Tree, All Natural Holiday Air Freshener (Christmas Berry Holiday Fragrance) Includes 6 Ornaments & Hooks

To give you the full description from Amazon. They are an "Amazon's Choice". And they get a very good rating of 4.3 out of five.

They make the tree smell nice as I say but according to Jess, cats strongly dislike the smell and therefore stay well away from the tree. They are not designed to be cat deterrents! It just so happens that Jess's cats hate the smell. I can't guarantee that this dislike applies to all cats.

Caution

You might wish to give them a try. Please be cautious though because I don't know whether this product is dangerous to companion animals. I don't think it is.

What I mean is some products you can buy Christmas can look nice and smell nice but if you have a dog, for example, they might like to chew on it and it may contain some substances which are toxic to dogs or perhaps cats as well. So just be careful there, please.

Toddler prefers cats to candy!

2023-11-09T21:04:00.002-08:00

Or, who needs candy when there's a kitty. The father wants his child (daughter I believe) to grab some candy (sweets in UK language) but she is far more interested in the family cat. She insists of interacting with the cat while dad tries to get her interested in the candy.

For me it is great to see. We have a child who likes cats more than sweets. That's very good in terms of cat welfare and human health going forward.

I sense the world has a really nice adult human in the making.

Lost cat found in mineshaft by the family's dog who insisted the owner followed her

2023-11-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

Daisy, a dog, lives with Michele Rose together with Mowgli and Baloo, both cats. And then one day Mowgli went missing and he was lost six days at which time Michele Rose had almost given up hope of seeing him again.

Daisy and Mowgli. Picture: Michele Rose.

But she said that she saw Daisy "going berserk". She was running in and out of the woods near her home in Harrowbarrow, a village in East Cornwall, England, UK.

Near Michele Rose's home there is an old mineshaft, part of the Prince of Wales old mine workings, discontinued long ago.

Daisy insisted that Michele followed her and guided her along a footpath towards the mineshaft where she stopped dead in her tracks.

Michele said that Daisy "was persistent in making me follow her, it was amazing."

She added that Daisy "is a superstar, she's an amazing dog."

She had stopped dead at the exact spot where Mowgli had fallen into the mineshaft to a depth of about a hundred feet (30 m).

Michele was able to call the RSPCA who I believe called Cornwall Fire and Rescue but at the time they located Mowgli it became too dark too quickly, and they had to return the next day when they were successful in rescuing Mowgli.

Remarkably, he was uninjured and pulled to safety. While inside his carrier, Mowgli was greeted by Baloo. They did a friendly nose touching greeting - see below.

RELATED: Cat Saves Dog from Dog Attack.

Baloo meets Mowgli after his rescue from the mineshaft. Picture: RSPCA.

Michele Rose said that she adopted Mowgli and Baloo in December 2022 as kittens and introduced them to Daisy, the resident dog at that time.

Daisy was a year old when she met the kittens and they made friends immediately and have been inseparable ever since.

Daisy behaves a bit like a mother to the cats and puts up with them. She is very protective of them and in return they love her.

The story is just another little example of how dogs and cats have very close relationships and where the dog can sometimes act as a mother. Many dogs like being mothers and if there are no puppies then little kittens will do just nicely thank you very much.

What is the best cat food? A novel and different answer!

2023-10-18T07:04:00.004-07:00

The question has been asked a million times on the Internet and there are a million answers and therefore this page will not be seen when I provide my answer which I think is the best one (!) as there will be too much competition. I'll press on nonetheless.

The answer must be this: a mouse, yes, a live mouse that does not have any worms in their gut! The mouse is the ideal food for a domestic cat. As cats are obligate carnivores, their ideal diet is 40% protein, 50% fat and only 3% carbohydrates. And inside the stomach of the mouse there is some vegetation - a bit of roughage when combined with mouse fur. This is the ideal diet. But the problem is that mice sometimes have worms in their gut and the domestic cat acquires these worms when they eat mice.

It's no big deal as you can administer deworming pills but it is not ideal. However, in terms of a balanced diet a living mouse attacked and eaten by a cat is very healthy.

Next in line would probably be home-made raw cat food [link to a full page on this] which meets all the requirements of a balanced diet with all the required nutrients added in (you can buy a nice mix online). The problem here is that many people don't know how to make home-made raw cat food and neither are they sure about how to store it to avoid cross contamination. It is a bit tricky and the vets say cat owners should not try. Too risky.

But certainly, a genuine expert who is also a cat owner could make some excellent raw cat food themselves. There are many people who promote this kind of diet particularly some breeders who have acquired the expertise to do it properly.

And then next in line after that, would be the highest quality wet cat food on the market because it should replicate exactly a whole living mouse! And there may be some added nutrients as well which will be of benefit to a domestic cat. It must be balanced and complete.

And then last in line would be poor quality dry cat food because it's just too dry and domestic cats don't compensate for this dryness by drinking enough water. Plus, the carb content is far too high. It is very unnatural albeit convenient for the owner. Some vets think that dry food promotes feline diabetes and obesity.

There is actually another option in respect of dry cat food which is vegan dry cat food. A lot of people will wince at the thought of it because they have this firm belief that domestic cats can't be vegans but commercially made vegan dry cat food contains all the nutrients that a domestic cat requires. The only difference is that the protein is plant protein rather than animal protein. There is little difference between the two in terms of nutrition for the cat.

And there are advocates of this kind of dry cat food who say that their cat's health has improved. I am going to try it out myself and I will report back.

Are cats smarter than dogs? A common question but difficult to answer.

2023-10-15T09:35:00.005-07:00

People like to ask whether cats are smarter than dogs or vice versa; a topic of debate on the Internet and has been for many years.

The answer depends upon how you measure intelligence as both cats and dogs are intelligent but arguably, they possess different types of cognitive strengths and abilities. This is because dogs have been domesticated for about twice as long as cats (for around 20k years for dogs) and secondly dogs have a background of being working animals, serving their human owner whereas initially cats were working cats employed as rodent killers but nowadays they are companions and entertainers to their human caregiver.

So, these animal species have different purposes in life. This affects their skills and how you measure those skills and therefore how you measure intelligence. Cats are known for their independence and problem-solving skills. They are great hunters with great predatory instincts. They can learn from observation and can manipulate their environment. They often learn from their human caregiver such as when opening internal doors or the fridge door.

A cat's senses are incredible. It is thought that they are sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field which guides them home if they been removed from their home by their owner who is moving to a new home. You may have read the stories of cats going home after their owner has moved. My cat did that actually. This is because cats are attached to their home range - their territory - arguably more than they are attached to their human caregiver!

But we don't read stories of dogs finding their way home on their own using the Earth's magnetic field. That said, dogs are highly social animals and they excel in areas such as social intelligence, they are known for their emotional understanding and their ability to cooperate with humans. They seek guidance from their human caregiver as the alpha dog in the pack.

So, dogs and cats are different in terms of the development of their cognitive abilities due to many thousands of years of domestication and this makes it very difficult to compare intelligence. Essentially, they have evolved different cognitive abilities to suit their respective lifestyles and relationships with people.

Dogs are easier to train because they are pack animals and they look to their owner for guidance whereas cats are more independent as mentioned. But cats can be trained and they develop strong bond with their owners.

And there will be variations between individual animals. Some cats will be smarter than others and some dogs likewise. It is perhaps difficult and unwise to generalise and it is also tricky to compare cat and dog intelligence.

Conclusion

Having studied this aspect of cats and dogs for about 15 years, and read studies, I cannot put my finger on a definitive answer to the question. In the human world, and against my best instincts, I would probably lean towards dogs as being slightly more intelligent than cats but mainly because they are better at relating to humans due to their longer domestication as a species and the fact that they are pack animals.

Picture proves that cats like warmth and height

2023-10-11T02:47:00.002-07:00

The old Volkswagen Beetle pulls up after a long journey. The ambient temperature is slightly chilly. A stray cat is huddled nearby watching as the driver gets out and walks to their apartment across the road. The cat seizes her opportunity to both feel safer and be warmer. The engine vent allows the hot air surrounding the engine to gentle emerge from the engine compartment and the rear light fitment which illuminates the car's registration number provides a neat if slightly cramped platform for the cat to hop onto.

And here is the finished result: a warmer and safer cat until the drive returns to use their car again.

You must know this by now. The basic tenet of cat caregiving is to provide security for your cat and after that comes warmth, food and high places! Those high places are so important because the cat feels safer there and embedded in their DNA is this desire; this instinctive desire inherited from their wild cat ancestor, to climb. To climb a tree and if there is no tree to climb a manufactured cat tree in the safety of their family's home.

For a stray cat this luxury is missing. But the substitute will be a light fitment on a Volkswagen beetle next to an engine air vent to keep her warm.

I was going to say that all drivers should check inside the engine compartment of the car during the winter to make sure that there are no kittens or adult cats there but I have to be realistic and practical and say that it is impractical to do that every time. However, many stray cats are injured after they sought warmth within the engine compartment of a vehicle that's just parked up and therefore the area around the engine is warm.

On the topic of cars, you will find the odd neighbour complaining about their neighbour's cat who likes to jump on top of the hood (bonnet in the UK) of their car. They might claim that the cat scratches the paintwork. I would argue that that is very rare because cats are good at jumping onto objects precisely. They don't need to use their claws. And the reason, once again, why a cat is jumping up onto the hood of a vehicle is because it is warm there and it is a high place! The same rules apply.

Rather than complaining about a cat doing this people should ask more profound questions about why there is a stray cat on the streets who needs to do this. Why the neighbour's cat is stuck outside wanting to do this. Anyway, it's pretty rare for a cat to jump up onto a car hood although it does happen.

Distressing video example of cat separation anxiety in action

2023-10-10T07:53:00.005-07:00

This cat was apparently left alone for a mere 30 minutes. They would appear to have a very close connection with their human companion. You can see that the cat is suffering from separation anxiety. She is howling and looks confused. It's unclear why she is carrying a lead around in her mouth but I will guess.

The owner probably takes her out on a lead from time to time for a walk. The cat might be an indoor cat. And therefore, this cat understands that in order to get outside she must have a lead and therefore grabs it in her mouth and is trying to offer it up to their owner who isn't present. It's all instinctive behaviour so it doesn't make sense but that's my take on this.

And, I think you will agree with me that it is a distressing video in a kind of subtle way. It might not bother some people but what I see here is a cat in distress and stressed. And separation anxiety is very common and it can and does cause stress. Stress can lead to health problems. And in addition, cat owners who are away from home quite a lot tend to put down dry cat food because it is convenient.

Dry cat food is clearly dehydrated food and it causes mild dehydration in the cat because they don't really compensate for that lack of moisture in the food by drinking more. This is because of their wild cat ancestor's inheritance in terms of behavioural traits. This kind of scenario can lead to cystitis. It might lead to other health problems.

And people say how does my cat know when I'm going to come home because they are always behind the door when I arrive. Well, if that person has a fixed routine, then the cat's internal clock will help guide them went to wait by the front door but if their owner is absent for a non-routine reason then their cat won't know when he or she is going to return and under those circumstances, I believe, they will wait behind the front door or near the front door for many hours.

It is even plausible to suggest that they might remain there all day. They might be desperate to be reunited with their human caregiver. I think cat owners should be aware of this potential problem. And it may also be useful if they purchase a camera trap video camera for around $40 on Amazon which will be motion sensor activated and which will allow them to quite possibly detect what their cat is up to when they are away. You may need two or three of the cameras in different rooms to get the full picture. I think it would be money well spent.

Cat purring is like people talking with a vocal fry

2023-10-09T07:41:00.004-07:00

I'll try and explain the title. The human vocal fry is vocalising in a deep, creaky, breathy voice. I think you hear it quite a lot in advertisements when a man speaks in a vocal fry register to compel people to be attracted to a product.

And it may surprise people to know that a recent study which I believe has been peer-reviewed but which requires follow-up studies, indicates that when a cat purrs it's a simple case of an airflow passing over connective tissue masses within the larynx of the cat. Human vocal fry requires a shortening of the vocal cords.

The study researchers compressed the larynx slightly and then passed air through it and they produced a purring sound. How did they achieve this? They received the consent of owners of cats who had been euthanised because of chronic illness. And they surgically removed the larynxes of the disease cats. They were then able to pass an airflow through the larynx having, I believe, restricted it slightly.

The point is this: it was a very simple test. It only required an airflow going over these tissue masses inside the larynx to create the sound. This is a very low rumbling sound as we know made by animals much larger than the domestic cat. It is therefore a very specialist sound.

It registers with a frequency in between 20-30 Hz as I recall. The study is called: "Domestic cat larynges can produce purring frequencies without neural input."

The referencing the title to "neural input" means that the brain doesn't have to send signals to the throat to constricted and then release it many times a minute which is what the experts originally thought was the process of creating the purr. It was more or less universally thought that in order to create the purring sound the throat had to be constricted and then released rapidly through a nervous system signal. We now know that that isn't the case.

Although, the people who conducted the study say follow-up work would be useful, the lead researcher in the study, Christian Herbst, believes that it should shed some light on animal and human vocal communication. It shows that the cat converts aerodynamic energy which is the flow of air caused by breathing into acoustic energy via the "passive, cyclical oscillation of tissue".

In the early days, many experts were mystified by the domestic cat purr and some proposed that it was created through the flow of blood through the cat's main veins into the heart. When it was increased it caused turbulence and the sound of the turbulence were transmitted to the animal's chest and amplified by the diaphragm. A very complicated and entirely incorrect hypothesis as it happens.

An interesting aspect of the study is that we know that kittens purr while they are drinking their mother's milk. So, cats can purr and drink at the same time. I would like that to be explained to me. There must be a simple explanation for the ability of a cat to do that.

The last point to make is that cats purr when they breathe out and in, which creates this continuous sound.

Are cats telepathic?

2023-10-07T07:38:00.005-07:00

To answer the question, you have to ask first whether telepathy is a genuine subject to discuss seriously. I think that you will find that the scientists and the experts believe that telepathy is pseudoscience. I don't think there's any hard evidence to prove that it exists in people. Therefore, it will not exist in cats either.

Definition of telepathy: the supposed communication of thoughts or ideas by means other than the known senses. Sounds like mind-reading. Cats don't mind read but they can understand pick up our mood and learn our habits.

So, I'm going to stick my neck out right away and say that cats are not telepathic. However, they have skills which might hint to some people that they are telepathic. I will provide some examples.

Your cat is always at the front door when you come home. They are behind the front door waiting to greet you. Or they sense when you are going to get up when they're on your lap. They appear to be reading your mind.

But this is not mind-reading. Cats greet their owners when they return home back because they've waited very patiently for a very long time (perhaps hours) behind that front door and they know in general terms through their internal clock and through the rhythms and habits of their relationship with their owner that he or she is going to come home at a certain time plus or minus an hour or two. That's how it works. It is far more functional and realistic than mystical.

And if a cat jumps off your lap before you get up even when you are thinking of getting up it is because you are showing signs of getting up such as, for example, turning off the television so there's no sound coming from the TV. Or putting down the newspaper. There will be some sort of signal as a preliminary to you getting up which tells your cat that it is going to happen at which point, they prepare for it.

This is because cats are very sensitive to auditory and olfactory stimuli. They have great senses. Their hearing is more sensitive than ours and they can detect higher frequencies. Their nose is more sensitive than ours and they can detect smells which we can't. Their sight is not better than ours and is slightly worse in fact but they combine their sight with their hearing and sense of smell to become very sharp on picking up changes in the environment around them.

You might, for example, be sitting with your cat and he suddenly turns his head looks towards a wall or the back door. You've heard or seen nothing. He has seen and heard something probably heard something more than seen it and is inquisitive about what it might be. My cat does this all the time. He picks up the sound of foxes outside when I haven't. Or someone coming to the front door.

Cats are more instinctively and intuitively sharper in terms of sensory input than humans in my opinion. And they are very sensitive to the rhythms and habits of daily life. They like these routines to be set in concrete actually. They like each day to be the same. They like their owner to do the same things day in and day out because it gives them certainty and it reassures them. But they also learn these rhythms and respond to them. This means they can predict sometimes what is going to happen next.

RELATED: Cat Memory: How Good Is It?

This is not telepathy but memory in combination with their sharp senses. And cats do have decent memories by the way. They remember their owner even when they haven't seen them for many years. This has been categorically proved when a lost cat is found and reunited with their owner. They settle in immediately to the way they were five years ago.

People might like to believe that cats are telepathic because people like to believe in mysterious things/myths and legends (think big cat sightings in the UK for instance when they are all false). I would rather try and be more scientific and explain feline behaviour from that standpoint.

Cats watching cat television seated like humans

2023-10-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

You tell me if these photos are photo-edited or real because I am unsure. Nowadays the photo-editors have become so proficient at manipulating images that it is all but impossible to tell if an image is manufactured. And with AI coming in quickly it is harder. Some of the AI images are amazingly realistic which is worrying as it is easy for people with dangerous agendas to spread disinformation using social media and create trouble. Anyway, that is another matter. Let's concentrate on cats for a minute.

'Cat television' is the window to the outside not human television as you probably know. For indoor cats looking out the window is very important. It gives them hours of enjoyment. So put the cat tree next to the best window you have and let your cat spend hours snoozing and watching the world go by.

The best windows are those that look out onto the backyard if there is a bit or a lot of wildlife in the backyard. It'll get them chattering as they practice their killing bite. You know how cats chatter when they see a bird outside but they can't get at it because they are indoors all the time? It is called a vacuum activity because it happens in a vacuum meaning it is not real; a bit like air guitar.

If you want my verdict on the photos, which are from the Cheeseburger website incidentally, I'd say that they are fake. Cats just don't sit like this. Some might do it in exceptional circumstances but it would be extremely rare.

The pictures remind me of a Maine Coon eerily sitting on top of a chest of drawers in the same way. Here is the picture which has fascinated the internet for a while. We are still working out if it is real. Once again, I'd say that it is not.

Real of fake? Certainly, bizarre and eerie. Image in the public domain.

Putting catnip in the home diffuser (video)

2023-09-28T11:27:00.004-07:00

A woman put catnip in her home diffuser and she has two cats. She videoed it and this is what happened but I have a word of warning for the person. The catnip is okay as we know catnip is not harmful to cats. But what about the essential oils in the home diffuser?

Screenshot.

The Pet Poisons Helpline states that, in general, essential oils are poisonous to cats. They include in a long list: tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, clove oil, pennyroyal oil, cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, Ylang Ylang oil, pine oils, sweet birch oil and oil of wintergreen in addition to orange oil.

RELATED: Is lavender safe for cats?

We don't know what essential oils this diffuser is emitting if any at all but I am sure that this might be dangerous for the cats. In the video the cats don't seem to have responded particularly to the diffuser. It is a worry. It is all jazzed up with weird sounds. Nothing really happens but the oils might have an effect in the future.

@josh_amanda
Catnip in the diffuser! Like a scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 😂
♬ original sound - Today’s News 💯

Why do dogs eat anything but cats are picky?

2023-09-28T09:35:00.002-07:00

Cat are not picky eaters per se. There is one major reason and one minor reason why dogs eat anything can cats are pickier:

Dogs are omnivores which means that they eat a variety of both plant and animal foods and;
There may be an issue with bitter taste receptors in the cat which makes them pickier.

Strangely, the articles on this topic seem to hint that the major difference is that cats have more bitter taste receptors than dogs but it seems obvious to me that it must be because dogs are omnivores and cats are strict carnivores.

You can almost stop the discussion there because the range of foods available to an omnivore is much wider than that which is available to a carnivore. This naturally means that dogs are able to eat almost anything while cats have to eat prey animals such as mice and birds or manufactured foods that mimic these prey animals.

Cats might eat a little bit of grass to aid in digestion or to obtain the folic acid from the grass but by and large domestic cats are genuinely carnivorous and you won't see them eating plant type foods. P.S. there are seven possible reasons by cats eat grass - click this to read about them! P.P.S. the snow leopard is the world's best cat plant eater!

It is just not in their character and their character has been created through evolution over eons. Don't forget that the carnivorous nature of domestic cat is directly inherited from the North African wildcat which is a small wildcat living in semiarid conditions.

Click this to read about the bitter taste receptors of cats.

Note: cats are not picky eaters. Just sensible and in line with their evolved anatomy.

In the world of cats there are two main categories of human

2023-09-27T04:34:00.001-07:00

I'm simplifying things but it is true. In the cat world - the domestic cat world to be more accurate - you can divide humans into two groups or categories.

Those that don't see sentience in the domestic cat and have the potential for cruelty towards their cat; not blatant or obvious cruelty but sometimes insidious slow-motion cruelty.
Those that are sensitive or very sensitive to the fact that the domestic cat is a sentient being with the capacity to feel pain and to suffer. These people pick up the pieces left by the other group. To put it another way they rescue cats and the other group throw them away.

Here is a story told by a woman which illustrates the categorisation:

She says that a cat "tried to come into my house at the end of June of this year while we were in the middle of a heat wave in WA". So, this is the US and it must have been damnably hot. The pic below is of the tabby cat concerned before and after rescue.

Rescued cat adopted so respectfully and with kindness. Image: Kitten LaRue (Quora.com).

I have just written an article about whether feral cats come into homes. Well, this story answers the question. They do if they are strays and not true ferals. This tired, old cat had been dumped by their owner because - I guess - they were old and tired and also sick.

The woman: "discovered the cat was very old, she has been declawed, so there was no way for her to catch any food for herself. The cat was horribly dehydrated, had 104 temperature, she was skin and bones and yet she was so sweet and loving!"

She took the cat to a vet immediately. She was x-rayed and found to have bad arthritis in her back. This may have come about due in part to being outside for a long time. She had survived despite being declawed.

The first category I mention above declaw cats while the second category do not. A profound difference in attitude.

The woman concluded her story with these words:

"Poor kitty could barely walk! So, this is quite a success story, I named her Ladybug and she is so much happier now! You can tell she feels like someone’s pet again. She loves to cuddle and gives back so much love, she didn’t deserve to be abandoned and left for dead."

You'll agree that far too many people throw away their cat companion when it is convenient to do so; when the cat becomes a bother or a nuisance. When they get ill because they are old. This is not treating cats as sentience creatures but as 'objects' to possess to decorate the home.

Retired accountant kept three turkeys in her front yard which disturbed the neighbours

2023-09-26T11:44:00.002-07:00

Note: within this bizarre story you will find reference to vegan cats which qualifies the story to be published on this website! It is a story about bad neighbours. Crazy neighbours and we have a lot of them.

NEWS AND COMMENT: A retired accountant likes to keep three pet turkeys in her front yard of a townhouse. The lady is Noelle Obcarskas, 64. Her neighbours criticised her for keeping the turkeys in her front yard because of the smell that came from the yard and the noise. News media says that in response she verbally abused her neighbours.

Obcarskas in her yard. Image as per credit.

She posted a series of videos on YouTube of her argument with her neighbours in the village of Pulford, Cheshire, UK.

News media hint or state that she had a tendency to make irrational statements and criticisms of neighbours on her videos and in one video she is shown rambling about "vegan cats" while touring her garden. That's the connection to cats in this article!

She also had a tendency to insult one of our neighbours, John McKimmie, 40, and called him a "little fat bully with a skivvy wife".

She had a tendency to argue with her neighbours both left and right apparently. On one occasion one of her neighbours argued with her because he accused her of deliberately blocking his driveway with large pieces of foam.

My understanding of this dispute (and yours, now, I guess!) is that neighbours on both sides of this lady's home were arguing with her frequently and the root cause of the arguments was the fact that she was keeping three turkeys on her front yard. They disturbed the neighbours.

In other apparent videos she paraded her turkeys down the street while chatting to them. She goaded one neighbour Gareth Lloyd and videoed it at the same time. And on another occasion, she rowed with a neighbour about litter and called him a bully.

We are told that Obcarskas is a vegan which is perhaps why she was talking about vegan cats. Comment: my guess is that she was trying to insult the neighbours by claiming that they fed their cats a vegan diet.

On one occasion she called Mr McKimmie and Gareth Lloyd who had complained about her turkeys, 't***s', 'd***heads', and 'c***s' and added: 'They have left their irrelevant a*** wiping skivvy fishwives out of having anything to say being mere females... In their ego little d*** minds, they are not even ladies.'

Obcarskas walks with a walking stick. At the end of the day after many more examples like the above which I won't bother to repeat here, she was found guilty at the Magistrates Court of harassing her neighbours.

Obcarskas is university educated and she has a partner who lives in Germany apparently. She claimed that she was being targeted by her neighbours because of her Lithuanian heritage and she described her neighbours as "lying Brexiteers with possible pre-senile dementia".

She didn't bother to attend the trial claiming that she had Covid and couldn't. She remarked about that by saying: "It's all about toadyism and Brexit and a couple of people who are very unpleasant. I wish I had gone to the court with Covid because at least I would have had my chance to have my say. I no longer trust anybody. I had never had any issues with any neighbours until Brexit and that's when two little people who are very puffed up wanted a lot of attention.

Sources: Daily Mail and The Times.

Female, moggie rescue cat grew up to be as big as a big Maine Coon

2023-09-25T12:00:00.001-07:00

This female, grey tabby, rescue cat looks a little like a big Maine Coon both in their strong, square muzzle and overall size at 17 pounds. She is a random-bred rescue cat. She was found in poor health but flourished in a great home where she is loved to become a monster!

Female rescue cat. A moggie who is loved and who weighs a reported 17 pounds but it looks more! Image: Quora.com.

She was trapped in July 2021 in the US with her three siblings. She's named Florence. They were living under a trailer in Fletcher. They had the usual URIs and were generally ill. They never thought she'd grow up to be so huge. She is adored.

There are some really large moggies out there. But it is rare to see a female this large. Very rare I'd say. I think she is the largest female moggie I have seen.

This is her when she was found:

Image: Quora.com.