Cat Chit Chat

  Cat at veterinarian surgery - this is not at Taunton cat hospital - photo copyright Mirandala Taunton cat hospital is one of two cat hospitals in the United States that is searched for on the internet much more than others. The other cat hospital that is searched for is Houston Cat Hospital . The Taunton hospital does not have a website, which is strange considering that it is popular and it is very easy to build websites these days. If they ask me I'll do one for them for free. I reckon that I could build a website for them in about 1 hour that was found by Google within the day. Anyway, this is the location:-      This is the phone number: Phone: (508) 824-2287 I have little in the way of details about this cat hospital, but am pleased to promote it. I have just noticed that Louise Collins DVM seems to be the chief veterinarian at the hospital. They care exclusively for cats, have boarding and grooming. They feed with Purina, Hills and Royal Canin and accept Mastercard a

Photo copyright cattoo The Houston Cat Hospital is a searched for term. There are many cat hospitals, of course. But only two come up when doing a keyword search that stand out from the rest. The other is Taunton Cat Hospital but they do not as far as I can tell, have a website. The Taunton referred to is the one in the USA (MA). The The Houston Cat Hospital is located at: 11169 Westheimer Road Houston, TX 77042 View Larger Map As you can see from the map it is near the Royal Oaks Country Club and about 8 miles or so from the center of Houston. The road that the hospital is on appears to be a major road running east and west from the center of town. If you go to their website http://www.houstoncathospital.net/index.htm l you can print off a coupon and get a 10% discount on your first visit. It's a really simple website but it does the business and gives them a web presence. Houston Cat Hospital to Warrior Cats (they need hospital treatment living in the wild as they

Stray cats photo copyrigth J i J y Abandoned Cats seem to be on the increase in the UK. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the country's biggest animal charity says that the number of pets abandoned has increased by 25% in a year. We know that (in the UK at least) we have become a throwaway society. It is often not financially viable to repair things. This is in part due to cheap imports from China. Perhaps the mentality that we have developed over inanimate objects has rubbed off on our behavior towards pets including cats. Cats were the biggest victims of this worsening situation. There were 7,347 abandoned pets. Half were abandoned cats. As cats are relatively easy to care for it is disturbing that they form the vast majority of abandoned pets. The current figure for the number of people keeping cats is about 9 million (6.5 million people keep dogs) It shocking to read of the circumstances under which people abandon their cats. To give up

Photo ©polandeze Two bits of news about cat scratching (there are, I am sure, many more) tell us a bit about ourselves and our relationship with cats. The first concerns a B list actor named Adrian Grenier. He was at a party and the host's Abyssinian cat (probably the most popular cat at the moment - the cat above is an Abyssinian ) joined it. He said, "It belongs to my friend". I don't like this statement, if it was one he actually made. He uses "it" indicating an inanimate object possessed by humans. I don't think we possess cats, we keep them, care for them as they depend on us. We agree that arrangement. He also uses the word, "belong", to reinforce this misconception and one which causes a lot of problems for domestic cats. If we all thought of cats as equal and fellow creatures the situation regarding the feral cat populations and the treatment of cats would greatly improve. Adrian then says, "the cat wanted more attention and

Swiss Cat Fur is still being produced in large quantities in Switzerland despite a new Swiss law which addresses the much neglected matter of animal rights. The Swiss federal government's actions are contradictory. On the one hand they are demonstrating to the world that the government is enlightened enough to grant rights to animals that are normally only granted to humans and on the other they seem to be doing nothing about the production of Swiss cat fur. The cat fur trade in Switzerland seems to be in fine shape. There is high demand and a plentiful supply of free fur. This is because the feral cats of Switzerland are caught, killed (how?, probably without any controls as in food production), skinned and made into yet more consumer objects such as cardigans and blankets. Do people know that these products are made out of cat fur? I doubt it. When the Swiss people in this despicable business run out of feral cats to kill (they were once a domestic cat), they pop across the F

Norwegian Forest Cat as warrior cat Norwegian Forest Cats. This cat breed likes water so they might belong to the RiverClan - photo: copyright gari.baldi under Creative commons license. Click this text to go to a nice original story on the arrival of a warrior cat I had a cat who was a warrior cat . She was also a forest cat - half Norwegian Forest Cat . She died at the hands of mankind by a car whilst crossing the road to go in the woods and fields that were so attractive to her just as is was for Rusty in the Warrior Cats book. Her name was Missy and I miss her terribly. She is with Starclan . She would have been well received as a true warrior cat of great and athletic skill. If she was (and she may have been when she went into the forest) a true Warrior Cat in the fashion described in the book, she would probably have been a member of Windclan as she was loyal and a bit nervous but a fantastic runner and climber. She was made to climb. We took her to the Cotswolds (a

Sphynx cat -the smart one! photo copyright dracorubio Cat Intelligence has interested people for a considerable time as has the intelligence of a dog. Who is the smarter and are they smarter than a chicken? Recently humankind has gradually become aware of the intelligence of other animals on the planet. Some cats are more intelligent than others it seems, but this is anecdotal evidence. Often cat breeders writing about the cat they breed will understandably promote their chosen cat breed by describing it as more intelligent than others. An interesting article in a newspaper, the Penny Illustrated (UK) dated 1st June 1912 asks the question, "Does your cat or your dog think? If so, do they think in the same way as you do?" The article refers to published research work at the time by Professor Thorndike of Columbia University, called "Animal Intelligence". The professor approached the question from the standpoint of experimental psychology (experimental t

History of Cat Litter - what has this picture got to do with cat litter? Read on. These are Fullers cleaning woolen cloth with a mixture of what we now call Fullers Earth and water. The picture is copyright free as it was made in 1770. These ladies are making what was probably a boring job as interesting as possible by chatting while working (look at their open mouths). The History of Cat Litter is in fact much like the history of the creation and growth of many businesses but it was a damn good idea. Mind you it was an idea that was destined to be formulated at some time or other. Apparently the story starts in 1948 just after the second world war, a time of opportunity and growth. Mrs Draper used sand as litter for her cat(s) in those days. Sand was the material most used for litter boxes at that time. So litter was being used but in an informal manner, it seems. She wanted something better if she could find it and spoke with Mr. Lowe a neighbor who was in the industrial absorben

. Cat History - A cartoon from 1oth March 1894 by Louis Wain who I understand was a well known artist of cats in the form of cartoons as above. In fact Louis Wain was a famous artist and a cat show judge plus he was the second President of the National Cat Club, which was formed in 1887. These images are copyright free from my understanding of the complex copyright laws which I have checked. If I am wrong please tell me. Some more cat history in the form of newspaper articles about the domestic cat for the Penny Illustrated. These are transcribed verbatim as there is no longer copyright. They provide an insight into how we have changed. Siamese cat history is informative and interesting. 28th May 1887 An early form of cat hoarding by a Countess no less. I have reassessed this. I don't think she was a cat hoarder. THE COUNTESS AND HER CATS At Hammersmith, last Monday, the Countess de la Torre appeared to answer the adjourned summons for disobeying an order made by Mr Curtis

Cat History - Modern Siamese Cat - photo copyright ©Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton . The Siamese cat referred to in the text below of 1894 didn't look like this. She would have been a Traditional Siamese . Reading about cat history tells us quite a lot about ourselves. A domestic cat's life is bound up with ours. The development of the domestic cat tell us about our own development. And in understanding our own development we understand ourselves better. The cat fancy has only be around for about 140 years or so. It has changed out of all recognition. It started in England, UK. I have a page on the main website, which set out a "timeline of events from the beginning of cats to the present, charting the dates of origin or discovery of the domestic cat breeds we now have in the world. It is a page about cat history from a slightly different standpoint. This short post though is part of a series of posts on newspaper articles from 1861 to about 1913 so it covers the p

Maine Coon Cat Facts - In the snow using the coat to good effect - Maine Coon Cat - photo copyright Jackdaw Here are the most important facts as I see it: Size Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when you think about this cat breed is her size. This is a major factor in this cat's popularity. By my reckoning (at that of most others) the Maine Coon is the biggest domestic cat breed . But it is not quite as straightforward as that. This is because if you work out the largest cat breed by cat association you are bound to include the Savannah under TICA, for example. And the Savannah rivals the Maine Coon for size. If you bring into the equation the first generation Savannahs as I think you must for the Savannah as people like first generation wildcat/domestic cat hybrids, then the Savannah is the biggest cat breed under TICA. See more analysis on this page on the sizes of the breeds. Maine Coon Cat Facts - History Another important element in the make up of this cat

Here are some pertinent and succinct Himalayan Cat Facts as I see them anyway. I've tried to stick to the major points and keep it as concise as possible: Breeding The Himalayan is just like a Persian cat with the pointed coat and pattern of a Siamese Cat. This is because this purebred cat breed is a hybridization of the Persian and the Siamese. I am going to make a presumption here and say this must mean the Traditional Siamese, which has a more rounded face. Because the Himalayan is so close to the Persian in appearance, conformation and character it is debatable whether she should have been a different breed. After all, the cat associations allow some cat breeds to have any type of color and pattern coat (e.g. the American Bobtail to name but one). It must have been a political decision to keep it separate from the Persian. In order to achieve the colorpoint Persian (the UK name for this cat breed) there had to be a lot of selective breeding including interbreeding

Hurting Cats Fearing Cats. What has this picture (copyright wander.lust ) got to do with that? Two things for me. One it portrays a feeling of impending doom warranting fear, which is in tune with this post. Two it is a damn good photograph. Hurting cats and fearing cats is not that unusual. Why do some people hurt cats? Or go even further and kill cats or are cruel to cats? A lovely saying (I have it forgotten verbatim) which I can remember the gist of comes to mind. It comes from the philosophy of Native Americans, who occupied North America before Europeans arrived in the 1590s. In simple terms they said that what we fear we kill. If you water this down a little it is so true. If we are frightened of something we are liable to become defensive towards that person or the situation. Defensiveness turns to aggression. Isn't this the classic fight or fright response? We either run from frightening things or we fight them. Aggression can so easily lead to killing or if not kill

Understanding cats - This is another fine photograph by probably one of the best cat photographers anywhere (the best, I think, is Helmi Flick). The photograph is copyright (Flickr Name) foturasfelinas . Her real name is Giane Portal. She says in the caption below this picture that in order to understand a cat you must realize that he has his own gifts, his own viewpoint and even his own morality. I read this as saying that cats have their own feelings, which many times are based on the same or similar principles and causes and effect as ours. When you look at this picture do you see an angry cat? If you do you might be frightened of cats. We must never allow cats to falsely reflect our own anxieties. Understanding cats is something that you would have thought all cat breeders would be good at. This is not the case, I feel. The vast majority will though be well versed in a cat's ways. But do they get into a cat's head? I wonder if the very nature of cat breeding is an ob

There are a number of bobtail cats , cats with very short tails or indeed without tails at all. A good example of the former is the American Bobtail or the Pixiebob and the latter the Manx or the Kurilian Bobtail . We know that human nature drives us to ever develop and explore things, to try and make things better. This applies often to areas such medical research or scientific discoveries. Sometimes we tend to go too far in a particular direction. In other words we are not sure when to stop. The reason for the drive is either commercial reasons and/or shear inquisitiveness, the need to improve and to know. This drive is valuable - most often but it can work against us and against other species on the planet. Cat breeding has developed a lot it seems over the last 30 years or so. There seems to be a constant desire to create new breeds. Bearing in mind the above this is to be expected. The cat associations or at least some of them control this by disagreeing to register new breeds

Domestic Wild Cat - His name is Jack and he is wild, wild, wild...! He is a great and fine and yes in some people's eyes humble Moggie mixed breed cat but he is wild at heart. Photograph copyright Helmi Flick So you're thinking of living with a Domestic Cat that is also a wild cat . This breed of cat has gained in popularity over the preceding 20 years or so. The whole thing probably started with the Bengal cat the first domestic cat/wild cat hybrid that set the ball rolling. Jean Mill was responsible for that. I think she has recently retired. The main points to note about the Domestic Wild Cat are these: The SBT Bengals or 4 th generation onwards are only just domestic wild cats with about 12% wild blood. They are really true domestic cats although very athletic and alert. It is the first and second generation fillials that are the domestic cats that have a high percentage of wild cat in them and which will as a consequence behave more like a wild cat. They are bi

Above: this is darling Faolan a Traditional Persian Cat of awesome appearance. He lives with Dani Rozeboom who runs the cattery Yeri Shaes in The Netherlands. Dani's partner is Rick. The photograph in copyright Dani Rozeboom. Dani is a fine cat photographer. Types of Domestic Cats is another search term sometimes used and it does make me think. On the face of it there is only one type of domestic cat - the domestic cat. But the domestic cat can be categorized in various ways. The method of categorization dictates the type of domestic cat. For example there are mixed breed and pure bred cats. There is only one mixed breed cat but he or she has an infinitely variable appearance. The number of purebred cats varies. It depends on which association you're talking about. The Cat Fanciers Association say that there are 41 (I think it still is). TICA say there are more. There are more North American cat associations with slightly different views. The Europeans (GCCF and FIFe) c

Old Cat. The photographer "Steve took it" (photograph copyright "Steve took it") says he is 20 years old making him 93 in human age. A long life. How Old is My Cat is a question that cat owners ask themselves sometimes. I actually don't know the exact age of my cat because she came to me from under a stationary car on a cold street in west London in November 1993. At the time I was living in Notting Hill Gate. I always thought that the method for calculating a cat's age was to multiply by 7. If that was true my cat would be 105 and I don't think that is correct because she is pretty fit, eats well, likes her prawns and tells me what to do. So I guess the formula of times 7 is a bit unsophisticated. A more accurate method is provided by the Cornell University of Veterinarian Medicine (who could be better qualified?). The author on the Cornell site says this. Old age starts to show itself at about 7-10 years of age. Here's a chart based o

Fat Cat photograph copyright danperry.com A Healthy Cat Weight is a growing concern for people who care about cats including veterinarians. Vets are seeing more overweight cats than before. This is probably partly or perhaps mainly because people are getting fatter. People are getting fatter because the world is getting richer and cat afford better food, which tastes better and encourages eating. Eating can be pleasurable. People accept being heavier than before and pass that mentality to their cats. Obesity Obesity in cats it seems affects (in the USA at least) about 50% of cats in the age range 2-10 years ( src: Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM "Your Cat" ). Information on weight be it high or low is useful in diagnosis of illness. Obesity in cats is much more common than underweight cats in the United States. It is said that obesity is the "leading nutritional malady" as reported by USA veterinarians 1 . Although lack of exercise is a major factor in a cat becom

Senior cat care - Old cat - photograph copyright junku-newcleus under creative commons license kindly granted by the photographer. The name is his Flickr name. My cat is a fighting fit but slightly fat 15-16 year female Tuxedo Moggie of great distinction. She is built like a brick and sh*t* (excuse the language) like a trooper, a sure sign that she is healthy. You can learn quite a lot about the health of your cat companion cleaning the litter. Senior Cat Care is something I know a bit about from first hand experience. But seriously for a minute it can be quite worrying living with an older cat. We know that their average life span is around the late teens. Mind you some breeders of purebred cats think the late teens is unattainable. If fed and cared for properly it is certainly attainable. As a cat nears the end of their lives it gets hard for human and cat alike. Mentally I am (or indeed have) prepared for my cats death and I feel sad when a think of it, very sad as I will miss

Cats with Squirrel tails are not hugely uncommon. Squirrels let their tales droop at the top - real cute I think but not so good perhaps if you are in the show cat business. Squirrels also have plumed tails. The Squitten is a mutated cat with defective and shortened forelimbs that looks a bit like a squirrel particularly when the cat has a plumed tail. These are squirrel tailed cats I presume. There is one cat, an extremely rare cat, that has a squirrel tail plus. This is the American Ringtail cat . The tail can fold over in the shape of a ring. In the Ringtail cat the tail is very much like a Husky dog's tail and is due to a benign genetic mutation. By benign I mean the mutation does not cause other nasty disorders. If cats with squirrel tails are not Squittens they are probably cats with the usual genetic make up (i.e. the tail is not due to a genetic disorder) but the cartilage in the tail is probably a bit less stiff so the tail flops forwards at the end when held hi

Unusually Cat Spraying and Elavil may go together. Cat breeders will suffer the consequences of male cats spraying as it is part of their natural ways to mark territory and is part of the way cats communicate as they have a fantastic sense of smell. Spraying marks boundaries. The urine contains pheromones which help identify a cat. Males do it more often than females but both do it. Neutering reduces it but it can still happen. Intact males do it more than neutered males because they are more into the male thing when intact being driven by their testosterone. Spraying can be brought on through anxiety. A cat will spray when anxious because it reassures him and makes him feel calmer. In catteries studs are kept in cages (outside it seems sometimes at least) in part for this reason. They a probably pretty impossible to live with sometimes. Apparently drugs either homeopathic or otherwise can help. I am not a breeder but apparently it is not unknown for breeders to give a drug to cats

The female sex and cat breeding go together as they should. Cat breeding is about raising babies into adults. It is very similar to human child rearing. It requires all of the skills a good human mother can bring to the process. I guess women are drawn to cat breeding for that reason. Writing this short post is difficult as it could be perceived as sexist. It is not meant to be. When ever a person refers to the sexes in anyway it can be seen as sexist. But that shouldn't stop people talking about the different skills each sex brings to the table. In the cat fancy women naturally predominate. But this is not to say that a lot of men aren't involved either. I read somewhere that at one time men were thought of as sissy if they were involved in cat breeding. They would not be thought of in the same way if they were involved in say horse breeding. It could be that cat breeding is essentially a female domain where men enter at their peril :). The point I am making is this; there