People search for "cat body type genetic mutations". So I feel that I should provide a response to what is an enquiry by internet surfers. The thing is though, that there are no genetic mutations in the cat world, wild or domestic or in between (feral) which cause a change in the body type of the cat. By body type I am referring to the cat fancy's idea of what body type means - for example, cobby or foreign etc. See this page: Cat Body Types for a full description. Sure, genetic mutations alter aspects of the cats body on very rare occasions (one in a million perhaps) but not the entire body type. By this I mean the overall shape and size of the cat's body. Examples of where a genetic mutation has changed an element of the cat's body are: Manx - lack of tail American Curl - ear flaps that curl backwards American Ringtail - curly tail Scottish Fold - ear flaps that are folded flat to the head Dwarf Cats - short legs The Rex cats - curly coat (Rex

There is far too much written on the Internet about bad cat behavior. For me nearly all of it is wrong. If we really think about it, almost all domestic cat behavior that impinges on our lifestyle is due to us. So if a cat behaves badly in our eyes, it is either a misconception by us or an improper expectation or bad breeding (lack of socialisation) etc. I could go on. Often so called bad cat behaviour is simply behavior that we don't like or which does not meet our expectations even if our expectations are misplaced . The focus of bad cat behavior should be directed towards us. What are we doing that might create this behavior in our cat? We should be able to trace it back to us one way or another. Even things such as a cat spraying as a territorial marker can be traced to us. If a cat is spraying it is probably not neutered. That is our fault. Secondly if a cat is neutered or spayed and still spraying urine as a marker then something in his or her environment is causing thi

We cause cat inappropriate elimination. Therefore, it is our problem. It is not a "cat behavior problem" but a human-to-cat relationship problem. In the wild,  the small wildcat will defecate and urinate in certain areas on the ground, on the earth. Sometimes these areas are used as markers to tell other cats of their presence - the feces remain uncovered. Cat spraying is not inappropriate elimination as the purpose of cat spraying is to give signals to other animals of the presence of the cat. The purpose is not to eliminate the urine. The domestic cat is required by us to defecate and urinate on cat litter in a tray inside a house or some other human structure. From the cat's perspective the litter will usually be a nice place to go to the toilet because litter replicates earth. In the old days, before litter was invented, sand was used. This is why cats don't usually need training to use cat litter. However, from the cat's perspective litter might not be

Photo by WindRanch (Flickr) How do you spell Pixie-bob? You know, we just don't know for sure. The best source must be the "OFFICIAL PIXIEBOB WEBSITE". That is how they spell it: all joined up so it would be Pixiebob in lower case. But the heading banner to the same website uses the spelling: PIXIE-BOB with a hyphen. Then if we check the books on cat breeds - a good idea I think to get out of the incestuous and copycat nature of the internet - we can't find any reference to the Pixie-bob....correction, Legacy of the Cat (a fine book by the way) spells it "Pixiebob". That clashes with Wikipedia... The almighty Wikipedia spell it as I have in the title to this article. That is why I spelled it that way. But why the hyphen? The British Shorthair cat is not spelled British Short-hair is it? And then do we use lower case after the hyphen: Pixie-bob or upper case: Pixie-Bob? God knows. No I guess he doesn't. Now I have that little dilemma out of t

Sometimes for whatever reason your cat won't eat. Or her appetite is poor. A poor sense of smell in an old and senile cat can lead to what looks like a poor appetite. A cat will gauge how appetizing the food is through its smell. That is why heating it up a bit can get the low appetite cat to eat it. I sometimes microwave cat food that has been left for a few seconds just to give it a bit more odor. However that is not the tip! This is: I have always found that if I present my cat to the food and then stroke her before and during eating it encourages eating. I am not sure how this works. I think it is a feeling of reassurance that it gives the cat. It might mimic what happens to a new born kitten when nursing. Stroking is a human version of a cat's lick after all. Give it a try and report back if you have time. From A tip about making a cat eat to Home Page

The Siberian cat, as the name suggests, is a native of Russia. It is still a moggie in Russia as well as a purebred cat in that country and around the world, primarily in the USA, UK and the rest of Europe. Like many cat breeds including the similar looking Norwegian Forest Cat this cat started life as a moggie - a random bred cat. At the time the cat fancy grew in size and scope this Siberian moggie was transformed and refined by selective breeding into an imposing purebred show cat of considerable size and stature with a sweet face. Tabby Siberian cat Photo copyright Helmi Flick All the photos and text on this page are protected by copyright © except where indicated. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA). It is believed that the Siberian cat has a long history going back to the 13th century. Well, let's say that the pre-cursor to this purebred cat goes back that far. There were no formally recognised purebred cats before the middle of the 18th

Cat - by kevindooley To all the people who are tempted to violate someone's copyright here are some ideas about free public domain photos. First let's remind ourselves that everything on the internet is protected by copyright unless there something on or around the work that says otherwise. Nothing can be copied unless it is expressly allowed. That is the default position. Update: this was written around 14 years ago! :-? All images in public domain?! Things have changed. Pinterest pretty well single-handedly destroyed the concept of intellectual property rights for images on the internet. Everything they publish is almost certainly a breach of copyright. No one complaints. If they can do it why can't I? The true is that all I have said below is true but in practice at 2021 no one cares anymore . You can be sure that almost any image is in the public domain nowadays :)  ! Creative Commons (CC) Perhaps one of the best ideas to come out of the internet (did the int

My old lady cat I am getting a little exasperated. Every night these days my 19 year old lady cat wakes me at 3:30 in the morning crying out. Sometimes her cry is a very deep one and loud. It is insistent. And sometimes it is a standard loud meow. The deep cry is an interesting sound. She has only really started to make it fairly recently. She is not in pain neither is she ill. She is, however, very old and she is deaf or partially deaf. One reason she calls out is for the simple reason that the food that I had put down for her has been eaten by a stray cat! She is hungry! Although she won't eat dry food these days unless it is Hills C/d. Putting that reason aside, the reason she cries out is, I believe, to get attention and reassurance. She might also cry out after eating and after coming in from the outside. I believe that she feels isolated due to her deafness and needs comfort through contact with me to reassure her that all is well. During eating she is focused. When

Cat Tiffany lamp This lamp is called "The Cat's Meow". It lights up. It is claimed to be the first ever Tiffany style lamp design of its type. Click on the pic to buy it...! Athough it is robust and looks as if it is made of stained glass it is not. It is "hand assembled in high quality translucent vinyl". It is extremely colourful. I would expect it to be durable too. It looks particularly nice when lit up and the room is illuminated by subdued lighting. It cost $59.95 on Amazon.com. This is 4 cents cheaper than from Bradford Exchange who are sell it "exclusively". Not sure if that is exclusive! Next we have a similar looking cat Tiffany lamp: Dale Tiffany Tiger Cat Accent Lamp, Art Glass Shade A bit more expensive at $71.99 (prices as at date of post). This is because it is made of glass. The real thing you could say although I prefer the other design. Click on the image to go to Amazon. USA products only. Tiffany cat lamp A qu

This short post will tell you the name of the strongest house cat. I won't make this post detailed and long because few people search for this information, for one, and secondly it is a bit silly to be honest. We should not have a fascination with the biggest, fiercest and tallest but how to solve the feral cat problem . The largest house cat is probably the strongest house cat provided that the cat is not the largest just because he or she is overweight! Some time ago I provided a detailed list of domestic cat breed size and weights . The so called "house cat" must include wildcat hybrids as, although these are relatively rare , they are fully domesticated (if bred properly) and act as domestic cats should. The largest domestic cat is the first filial Savannah cat . This is a cat whose mother is a domestic cat and whose father is a serval, a medium sized wildcat. The best example of such a cat is Magic - deemed the world's largest "pet" cat. These

I got a email from a friend of mine in the USA, Bob Tucker. He looks after feral cats . He has a kind heart. He kindly told me about some cat food coupons that are currently available. Don't forget that cat food coupons are a bit elusive. Things change. They get pulled and new ones appear etc. So this post is date sensitive! Here is Bob's email.. Hello, In the last two weeks I've used five one dollar Friskies (Purina Co.) coupons and got three today I know of and maybe more in bags of food. We go through a lot of food here at the Critter Farm. The coupons I know of are in the cases of canned food and large bags of 9 Lives and Seafood Sensations dry foods. Some Purina coupons are here. http://www.purina.com/coupons-and-offers/couponsandoffers.aspx You might find some Friskies coupons here. http://www.friskiescoupons.com/ People and organizations can register here and be eligible to get donations of food for homeless dogs and cats in the U.S. They have dona

Cat depression affects cats who are ill. Cats that are ill might get depressed as this is normal. I think the word "depression" is the wrong word to use in this context. Depression indicated clinical depression. An ill cat will feel uncomfortable and unwell which will make him or her unhappy but not necessarily depressed. Picture in public domain You will find that anti-depressants are not prescribed (or not normally prescribed) for cats who have been diagnosed as depressed, as a free standing medical condition, because cats are not diagnosed in this way. It is not possible to accurately diagnose a cat as being depressed as a free standing mental illness in my opinion. This is supported by the book Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook where there is not reference to such a condition. Although cat behaviorists might prescribe anti-depressants to modify behavior - I disagree with this strongly. It is treating the symptoms and not the underlying cause and drugs such as th

Don't fight with your cat. Despite the domestic cat being a fraction of the size of the human, you are likely to come off worse. It is absurd to fight a domestic cat. Treat the cat well, nicely and sensibly and everything will be OK. A Texan thought he would fight a domestic cat with a knife! Afterward he was airlifted to Cleveland Regional Medical Center and then to Houston. He was clearly seriously injured. The cat was injured too but less so. I don't have details but this person was really foolish. I have done a Google News search today for "domestic cat" and spotted this story. I would recommend that people do the same. Go to Google News and search for "domestic cat". You will see quite a few stories that show an underlying bias against the domestic cat and lots of misinformation. I sort of despair at it. Here are some examples: The Birdkillers   Cats Pass Disease To Wildlife   How to stop cats pissing on your car ‎ These sorts of articles

Cat Pink Eye - Feline Conjunctivitis - Photo by Elisa Black-Taylor Cat pink eye is layman's language for feline conjunctivitis, which is an inflammation of the membrane at the back of the eyelids and the surface of the eyeball not including the cornea (the transparent front part of the eye). It is fairly common and nearly always caused by a viral and/or bacterial infection. The eye is red/pink. The eye itches. The cat or kitten will paw at the eye. If left untreated it can affect eyesight. A mild form of cat pink eye is "serous conjunctivitis". It can be caused by non-infectious agents such as allergens. If can also be a symptom of feline viral respiratory disease. It can be treated at home: eye cleansed with sterile ophthalmic irrigation solution as used for people. A vet visit may be advisable, however. When the cat pink eye is more serious i.e. when there is mucus and crust around the eye a secondary bacterial infection is indicated (chlamydophila or mycoplas