Some Strange Weird or Sick Cat Stuff

The first bit of strange cat stuff is a weird picture of a….well it is obviously not real. There are a lot of sites peddling a wide range of sensationalist images and videos of any subject.

It is all circulating around the internet.

Here is this weird photoshopped image:

Despite being a bit disturbing it is well done.

Next comes a video. This is a nice video but the title is…Little lion survived in Siberia due to “adoptive dogmother” . This gives the impression that the lion cub was in the wild in Siberia. As there are no lions in Siberia the cub must have been born in captivity in Siberia.

The strange bit is not the dog nursing a lion but the title.

Next comes “Cat Missile”

This must also be a clever piece of photo editing using Photoshop or some other similar software.

Next one…You have to figure out what the image is..can you see the girl?

Next some images that I find disturbing:

Picture above: He was up there for 18 hours! These are power cables!

Not a clue how this cat ended up like this. Someone must have put this tape on. Although the caption on the original says that the cat achieved this all on his or her own. Possible? Not sure.

This last picture makes me feel ill. A tabby cat shot by a crossbow for fun no doubt. He survived. He wandered around like this for a week before making it home. That is the story. I have one slight doubt. Is this a genuine photograph. It almost looks like the arrow is resting underneath the cat and not piercing it. I hope that is the case. If I am right then it is sad that people publish this kind of thing.

This is the real world of the internet where people crave weird and strange images and videos for instant gratification. It is a sad reflection on us.

All the images are in the public domain.

Some Strange Weird and Sick Cat Stuff to PoC Forum

Witchcraft banned cats from the bible

Witchcraft banned cats from the bible. Crazy? Absurd? No not really. Here is my argument. The bible contains no reference to the domestic cat whatsoever. The domestic dog is mentioned but not that frequently. Lions and leopards are referred to rarely.

At the time of Christ the cat had, by mutual consent, been domesticated for more than 6,000 years. In Egypt the African wildcat had been well and truly domesticated also by consent with the cat. In other words the cat and humans gained from the relationship.

For a while, the domestic cat in Egypt before the time of Christ (a cat that is the Eyptian Mau even today), was revered and worshiped. We know about that. As a result, a lot of potential existed for a least a mention in the bible. But nothing. Zilch. Rien. Porquoi?

It may simply be that the authors of the bible found nothing in the domestic cat that related to their stories. That seems a fair assumption as the bible is about people. And the bible was written second hand many, sometimes hundreds of years after the event. It is not necessarily an accurate account of events.

And then we have the translation. Lost in translation might apply to the bible. Did the 47 Church of England scholars who translated the Greek text of the bible into the King James Version do it objectively, accurately? Or were they tempted (as I would be) to put in a bit that I thought is more important and which would guide readers in the direction that the Church of England wanted them to go?

At the time (early 1600s) cat familiars (black cats that lived with so called witches) were thought of as real. People believed in them. Might it have been very easy to erase the few references to the domestic cat that might have been in the original text to "clean it up" for modern England? What I mean is modern in relation to the origins of the bible.


Black Cat - Charlie

You know, translating text from one language to another, particularly an old language allows for a good amount of artistic enterprise. The translator is looking for the true meaning of the text as they understand it. It is objectivity built upon subjectivity - a dangerous concept.

So, if as I say witchcraft and cat familiars were part of the national consciousness in the days when the bible was translated into the most widely used languages, it is not beyond the bounds of reasonable thought to suggest that the cat was removed from the text. After all, witches familiars revealed the devil to the witch. It was possessed by the witch. How could an author put a cat in the bible on that basis?

My conclusion as to why there is no reference to domestic cats in the bible is:

• They were not that relevant to the stories in the bible
• Cats were seen as evil and possessed of the devil at the time translations of the bible were being carried out
• The bible was written 50 to hundreds of years after the events. The stories are second had and somewhat historical. Under these circumstances only the broader issues where referred to. Detail mentioning the cat were irrelevant to the stories as mentioned.

The Islam faith has a more practical and open culture and teaching regarding the domestic cat because Mohammed kept a cat as far as I remember. A great start for a domestic cat. I don't know what the modern Muslim feels about the domestic cat but if they read the books they will be tender and compassionate because that is what is taught.



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Wildlife Conservationists Can't Do It Alone

It is perhaps obvious but little discussed. Wildlife conservationists can't preserve wildlife on their own. They can't work in isolation, which sometimes seems to be the case.

There are two "ends" to the wildlife conservation problem and it is a problem as wildlife is being hounded off the planet by increased human activity.

At one end is the conservationists, the people who wrestle with symptoms of ever increasing human activity that destroys habitat and destroys wildlife directly as it frankly gets in the way of human activity. Most human activity is commercial activity.

The conservationists are the equivalent of the veterinarians, they try and cure the illness. But despite huge efforts they are weak compared to the "illness" and, in fact, effectively powerless. They certainly are not curing the problem, just sticking a plaster over it.

This is because the illness is not being tackled at source by the other party to wildlife conservation; the businesses.

Some businesses are concerned with wildlife and help to conserve it but generally wildlife and wildlife habitat just gets in the way and it is an overhead to business that is best cleared out of the way.

So the other end of the problem is business, human activity. This is far bigger than conservationism. Nothing is being done about human population growth. Little if anything is being done about world pollution damaging the planet and wildlife habitats.

Forests are continually chopped down for pristine white paper - it is madness of course but nothing changes because the model of "economic growth" remains supreme and unchallenged.

We need to think again about the ideal model upon which we are to govern activity on this planet. Economic growth cannot go on increasing without massive investment in protecting the planet. Better still it must slow and cease. We must get used to zero economic growth and find a way to make that work.

Then we must shrink the world population and rejig everything. Then and only then will the tiger and all the animals below it be safe.



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Male Serval Morpheus

This is a picture of male serval Morpheus looking inquisitively at me. The picture is in fact a bit misleading as he was probably figuring out how he was going to spray urine all over me. This he did not long after this photograph was taken.



As mentioned, his name is Morpheus and despite looking rather sweet in this photograph, when I was with him in his enclosure I cannot say that he behaved in a particularly sweet way.

That is not to criticise him. He behaved exactly as I would expect a wildcat to behave towards a human who he is unfamiliar with. He was a bit hostile and wanted to make me smell more like him! And it was pretty well impossible to avoid his spraying particularly as I was fully occupied trying to tease him into position and photograph him at the same time.

Decent compositions and interesting expressions were extremely fleeting. On one occasion I placed by cat tease (a feather attached to the end of a flexible stick) to close to him and he caught me with his front claws. I felt that.

Morpheus lives in an enclosure with his girlfriend or spouse. They are breeding serval cats. There is a market for servals in the United States, which is where Morpheus lives.

Breeders want to buy servals for breeding and individuals want to keep them as domestic cats.

Servals, however, are not great domestic cats in my opinion. They are too large and too wild no matter how well domesticated they might be. They also spray as I have mentioned.

I don't see the point of keeping a serval as a pet. Many people in America will disagree with me, which is fine. Although I was relaxed and got on well with Morpheus in his enclosure, he was a bit intimidating. If that is the normal feeling one gets when close to a serval I don't see how a relationship with one can be ideal.

Hope you like the picture. Here is another:

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Siamese Cat Personality

Classic looking Siamese cat (left) and a grey cat (right) at Cat sanctuary

Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil - Cats: Bishop and Bella-Donna,  Photo by fofurasfelinas

In the cat fancy - the world of purebred cat shows and breeding - the Siamese cat personality is very well known as it is very distinctive.

What comes to my mind immediately is the relative intelligence of the Siamese cat and its desire to speak to us, or to put it more technically its vocalisation skills.

Before I go on though, let's remind ourselves that there are a number of cats that are in effect Siamese cats or at least Modern Siamese cats in terms of personality. The only difference between the following cats and the Siamese cat is their coats:

• Balinese - long haired Siamese (update: Marie Clements a Balinese and Siamese cat breeder says that the Balinese has a similar but different personality. She breeds traditional Balinese cats. Read her page here).
• Oriental Shorthair - wide range of coat types
• Oriental Longhair - long haired version of the shorthair

Let's also remember the Thai cats (classic Siamese cats in my opinion - between modern and traditional Siamese in terms of body shape). These too will have the same or similar personalities subject to selective breeding practices within those breeds. And lastly the Applehead Siamese (traditional). See all three shape varieties of the Siamese cat.

So, beyond ranking highly in cat intelligence testing (ranked second below the Sphynx), what else does the Siamese cat personality offer us?

They are vocal to the point of loudness on occasions. They produce a certain type of cat sound - very Siamese, demanding. They are quite active as well. Of course this is relative to the other breeds. They take pleasure in sitting on their human companion's lap and occasionally sharing their human's pillow!

In short, this group of Siamese cats like to get close to their humans. That I guess makes then demanding on occasions and it is a sign of confidence. But let's not forget that individual cats have their own characters and that their own personality may well supersede the breed personality.

Being intelligent they are bound to be more demanding and it also means that they will be inquisitive, investigating whatever takes their fancy. They may get under your feet and god forbid annoy you sometimes.

The bottom-line is that they demand our love. Is that so hard? In doing that we satisfy the demands it makes through increased contact and play.

The Siamese is a very popular breed presently third in this websites long standing popularity poll (see an overview of the Siamese cat). That tells us that its personality is liked, loved and preferred by many people. This is borne out by the fact that many well known personalities and actors favoured the Siamese cat including the Jean Cocteau and Anna Pavlova to name two here (see Siamese cats and films stars)

You know..the Siamese cat personality is really like the personality of all cats, except a little heightened.

Associated pages:

Siamese cat health

Siamese cat history



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Laser declawing is as bad as the knife

This is a photomontage created by Ruth who is a passionate anti-declaw campaigner. I admire her greatly for her consistency and perseverance.
The point that she is making is that although vets say laser declawing usually causes less pain, it still causes pain and in any event it is still unnecessary mutilation of the cat.



Vets in the USA should be spending their time educating cat keepers not chasing the almighty dollar with new methods and gimmicks to deceive the public into thinking that declawing is acceptable and reasonable.
See Ruth’s post here: LASER DECLAWING IS AS CRUEL AS ANY OTHER METHOD.

Traditional, Classic and Modern Siamese

I think this is quite a nice picture for showing the three types of Siamese cats. The original Siamese cat shape is the top one. The is the Traditional Siamese and it has the nickname, “Applehead Siamese” because of the apple shape head (i.e. rounded in comparison to the long Modern Siamese head shape).
The Modern Siamese is the bottom one and the backlash or change away from the slender (oriental body shape) is the middle Siamese cat that I would call a classic Siamese cat and which is now a new breed called the Thai cat and which is registered with TICA but not the other cat associations.

Indoor Outdoor Cat Debate

I feel that I have to revisit the indoor outdoor cat debate. People have strong views about the subject. And they are often very polarised views. In the USA people tend to keep cats in full-time. This is a culture thing, the norm it seems. One reason for this, I sense, is because there is a much greater possibility in the US for cats that are outside to be attacked by large wild animals. There are few large wild animals in the UK that would attack a cat. It is extremely rare for a domestic cat in the UK to be attacked by a wild animal whereas in the USA coyotes are commonplace it seems to me and they attack cats. Coyotes are dog like animals to people who are unfamiliar with them.

I see many indoor outdoor cat debates on the internet and many words written but I have never seen anyone mention or discuss the philosophical or more profound issues behind the whole thing.

We must admit that the outdoors is the cat's natural home. It is full of fantastic stimulation, the smells, sounds and activity is exactly what a cat needs to satisfy its natural innate drives. Deny these to a cat and you are asking for trouble, I say. But the full-time indoor advocates will rightly say that to let a cat outside is to place a cat into a potentially very dangerous environment. I suspect that more domestic cats die from road traffic accidents than any other cause. The car is the enemy of the domestic cat.

We have responsibilities towards our cat, of course. The first responsibility is to keep him or her safe. That points to a full-time indoor cat existence as the correct choice. We also have a responsibility to make our cat's life as natural and therefore as interesting as possible. I would wager a bet that the lives of a great percentage of full-time indoor cats is not very interesting. We like our cats there for us, nice and safe but do we do the extra work required to make their lives interesting in what is a very unnatural and potentially unstimulating environment.

So, is a long boring life better than a interesting short one?  I think on average and in general it comes down to this choice.

I think that to keep a cat indoors full-time is a complete admission of failure on our part. I believe that people generally should not keep cats at all if it means providing them with such an unnatural life. That is a provocative thing to say and if followed would lead to there being far fewer domestic cats in the world but that I say is not a bad outcome.

We need to raise the bar in terms of standards of cat caretaking. I think we need to turn the clock back in respect of keeping cats. The outdoors of 2010 is very different to the outdoors of thousands of years ago when the cat was first domesticated. With human population growth we have massively increased the dangers for outdoor domestic cats. As mentioned the car is the biggest killer. Lower human population would result in less cars. We can't turn the clock back in terms of human population but we have created a hostile world for the domestic cat and we then fix the problem by making the cat's life dull by keeping the cat indoors. I just feel that we have it all wrong at a fundamental level or that we can do a lot better.

As a compromise the cat enclosure must be the best solution but few people take up this option. The next best "solution" is to let a cat outdoors but take precautions. This is a compromise again but one that I think strikes a better balance between safety and letting our cat live a normal interesting life.

How do we achieve cat safety outdoors? We also need to ensure that our cats do not cause a nuisance to neighbors who don't like cats.

Careful preparation and/or thought is required. One suggestion from Dr Bruce Fogle the well known veterinarian and writer is to train your cat to speak back to you when you call his or her name. If a cat can do this, you will be in a better position to find your cat if it has gone missing, is trapped, injured or too frightened to return home.

He suggests that the best way to train your cat to "meow on command" is to hold a food treat in front of your cat while it is hungry and repeat its name. During training most cats will meow to demand the food. When this happens the cat should be rewarded with food and plenty of verbal praise. The sound to which your cat meows need not be your voice, Dr Fogle says. It might, for example, be the sound of a dry food container being shaken. This may be more appropriate if more than one person will do the calling. A cat is more likely to respond the voice of one person.

I would be remiss if, in the indoor outdoor cat debate, I did not mention cat identification. For an outdoor cat this seems sensible. The modern method is to microchip. Dr Fogle says this is a safe option. I am not entirely sure that that s true (Microchipping pets including cats). There is some risk in microchipping. He also suggests that an outdoor cat should always were a collar with an identity tag containing the cat caretaker's telephone number. Collars can be dangerous too so it should be one of the fail-safe kind that prevents the possibility of strangulation. A person should be able to slip two fingers under a collar that fits correctly. If travelling with a cat the ID tag should contain a local telephone number of course.

Outdoor cats should also use cat friendly gardens. There are such things. But God knows how many people even think of this never mind create one. The cat friendly garden should cater for a cat's natural behavior. One such piece of behavior is scratching. Wooden posts can be used to edge flower beds. These are ideal as scratching posts. If the wooden posts can be placed at different angles and heights so much the better as some cats like to scratch horizontally and some like vertical objects.

Posts at the edges or boundary of the garden could also serve as places where a cat can mark his territory by spraying. This would mainly apply to unneutered male cats. Most cats should be neutered for obvious reasons. Garden decorations such as brick for paths are cat friendly as brick retains heat. Cats as we know like a bit of warmth to lounge on.

If you want to avoid your cat using your garden as it would cat litter, soil can be covered using ground covering plants that are effective all the year. I am sure the local garden center can advise. Personally, I would prepare a special area where my cat could go to the toilet!

Such a toilet could be a small sand pit, for example. It should be sifted regularly like cat litter. It should be sited away from children play areas as there is a slight risk of passing toxoplasma (feral cats spread disease).

Other outdoor cat hazards to be aware of are:

• plants poisonous to cats
• cat poison

However, one good element of outdoor life is that we have the chance to grow herbs in the garden and cats love herbs and that goes far beyond catnip. See these posts:

• Herbs for a cat
• Catnip and Matatabi

The last and obvious note to make about outdoor cat life is the fitting of a cat flap. In my experience cats use cat flaps naturally in much the same way that they use cat litter naturally. They will be drawn to using it because it leads outside to the smells and sounds that are so attractive to cat. A bit of commonsense and gentle encouragement can help if the cat is reluctant.

Checklist for a safer outdoor life:

1. Prevent access to roads - this is a difficult call but vital. We must be aware of the potential for being killed by a car. If there is a road nearby the only way a cat should be let out is under close supervision (with a leash for example) or in an enclosed garden or enclosure. Or if the cat is very old and will not travel far. 
2. Train the meow response to calling the cat's name.
3. Provide ID tag and microchip.
4. Make garden interesting and useful.
5. Don't force a cat outdoors. These suggestions only really applies to cats who crave outdoor life and who have problems adjusting to FT indoor living. Some cats demonstrate clear signs of distress when confined to indoor life.
6. Vaccinate cat - outdoor cats are obviously more open to receiving infectious and contagious diseases

Indoor Outdoor Cat Debate - Note: 

Photo of cat on wall: by lambertwm
Photo of feral cat in tree: by * starrynight1
Photo of cat on patio looking at another cat: by :: Wendy :: 


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Harmony in a Meadow in Oklahoma

Well, this is not about cats. A relief to change the topic for a while, to be honest. But there is a connection between the photograph below and cats.

The photograph was taken in a meadow or very large field belonging to A1 Savannahs near Ponca City in Oklahoma. A1 Savannahs is probably the best cat breeder anywhere.

I spent a very enjoyable 12 days there recently. I stayed in the guest house, a large three bedroomed house next to the farm.


Harmonious serene dawn in sunny Oklahoma May 2010
- photo by Michael @ PoC

The cattery is of course on the farm and next to this glorious field.

For an English person (me) the weather in Oklahoma is more extreme than in Britain. Although it is probably more accurate to say that the weather in England is more dull than anywhere else.

There were storms about while I was there. The hail storms are ferocious. The hail can be very large and damage property and people. Staying in the guest house it was like someone throwing tons of stones onto the roof of the house at 4 in the morning.

However, on the morning of this photograph the weather was fine and hot. A hot day was to come. I had determined to go out into the field at dawn, at sunrise to see what the light and the farm animals could produce in the way of a photo.

Luckily things clicked nicely together. First the animals followed me into the meadow. All of them, it seemed. They swarmed all over me. They were very curious.

All I had to do was to move away from them towards the rising sun and then look back. That sounds easy but it was not that easy. I waited and stalked these lovely animals for quite some time until they formed a nice composition.

A major factor in the success of the image is that these animals were all best friends! They got on like a house on fire, sticking together and following one another around. One of the horses gave a ram a love bite.



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