Senator Larcenia Bullard in Florida has introduced a bill (a draft law - actually, I think it is a proposed amendment to an existing law) that breeders of cats and dogs should provide a sort of 'health warning' to buyers. The proposed written warning notifies buyers of purebred cats and/or dogs of the potential of a genetic disease being present but not apparent and recommends that the buyer has the companion animal screened. This is of course being opposed by breeders. They like to fight for their rights. And I agree that it sounds a bit insulting as decent breeders will monitor genetic diseases themselves and minimise the risk of the disease occuring. Indeed sometimes cat associations stipulate breeding practices that are intended to eradicate or minimise unwanted deliterious conditions that are manisfest through the transmission of mutant recessive genes. But and this is always the case, there are breeders who go a bit too far in their desire to create the perfect cat th

Kathrin and Martin Stucki of A1 Savannahs are in the news, and rightly so. They have a fantastic business breeding Savannah cats . It is more than a business, though. Their passion comes through in the commitment to their work and the quality of the cats that are created at A1 Savannahs. The video below comes from News OK, an Oklahoma new website. A1 Savannahs is at Ponca City in Oklahoma. All being well (volcanic ash permitting), I will be visiting them in May and I intend to bring back some decent photographs for the website: Pictures of Cats org . View Larger Map From to Home Page

Here is what I would call a 'cat mountain'. He is Charlie. Now, before anyone thinks that I staged this, I didn't. Charlie just likes to stand up like a meerkat. He uses this position to see better. He can have a good look at what is going on. He also uses the position to get attention. If he is asking me for food and I don't respond quickly enough, he jumps up like this. I then get the message loud and clear. From The Cat Mountain to Home Page

I have just bumped into some more nice Burmilla photographs on Flickr that I am permitted to publish her under a creative commons license (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic). Thank you kind Flickr photographer. Here they are: See the above in larger format on the original Flickr page . Next is Priscilla: See the above photograph in large format on Flickr Photographs are by Oz-Aspects (Flickr)

The Burmilla is part of the Asian cat group in the UK. In fact, it is the first in the group.  Accordingly, it is one of the Asian cats. I have made a post about the Asian cat on this page: Asian Cat where I discuss it in some detail. You know I am not sure why the word 'Asian' was selected except that the Burmese is one half of the parents of the Burmilla and the Burmese hails from Burma, in Asia - or does it really? - see There were no Burmese cats in Burma . The Burmilla is an "Asian Shaded". It includes both shaded and tipped cats. The coat should not be so lightly tipped that it appears white. The undercoat should be pale. Tabby markings should be limited to the face, legs and tail and broken necklaces 1 . Note: 1. Encyclopedia of the Cat by Dr Bruce Fogle.

I guess you have heard about the Siberian tigers starved to death, all 11 (or is it 13 3 ) of them in a Chinese  Zoo (I have seen a picture of one of the starved but living tigers and it is horrendous). The zoo couldn't afford to feed them so they fed them all manner of rubbish that was highly innappropriate and eventually they starved to death at which point the zoo buried them to keep it all quiet until they were dug up. That is not the whole picture though. This same zoo was allegedly, illegally, selling the ubiquitous tiger bone wine or is it "tonics" (a quite ridiculous product based on pure ignorance). Some zoo. The Siberian tiger is becoming extinct in the wild because of people's activities in destroying habitat and sport hunting etc. and this largest of all the tigers is being starved to death in captivity. How bad does our behavior have to become before we take steps to change things? The whole thing disgusts me frankly. And I find it acutely depressing.