Cat Falling: Heart Stopping Video

Well, I hope you found it as heart stopping as I found it. It is a bit shocking. We don't know if the cat was uninjured despite running away. Cats do this even when injured. Such a fall may have injured he chest and/or chin.

I'd be surprised if he/she was uninjured. What was she doing trying to climb that wall? And what is the person doing recording the moment? Was it set up and why did the cat turn near the top?

He actually recorded it using a motor driven still camera as this is an animated gif file, not a true video although I call it that for convenience.

Lawyer for Kristen Lindsey defends his client in letter to Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners

Lawyer for Kristen Lindsey defends his client in letter to Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners

This is a cross-post as I want to spread the word on this one because there is considerable public interest in the outcome of the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners' investigation into the alleged criminal behavior of Dr Kristen Lindsey in killing her neighbor's cat with a bow and arrow while in her backyard.

If you click on the link you can read more. Below I reproduce the letter again. Lindsey's lawyer says that her alleged behavior has nothing to do with the veterinary profession. Do you agree that? I don't because the attitude and personal standards of a veterinarian are crucial to how she conducts herself at her workplace. Compassion is an essential ingredient to being a decent vet. Lindsey has demonstrated her fondness for killing animals - the opposite. Additionally, the way vets comport themselves outside of work impacts on the profession as a whole.

The veterinary profession must be trusted and trustworthy. All vets have a duty to promote that image. Shooting a domestic cat through the head at close range for entertainment is damaging to the veterinary profession.

Note: at this stage a court has not found her guilty of criminal behavior so these are allegations.

Are animal rights advocates extremists?

I don't believe animal rights advocates are extremists. The establishment like to label them extremists as they don't want the establishment disturbed by change. The don't want things to change because they are fine as things are; exploiting poor people and animals.

It is more sensible to describe the establishment as extremists in respect of their attitude towards animals. This is because, in the UK, they are about to reinstate fox hunting, a "sport" that is obviously inhumane and immoral to anyone with a conscience.

For donkey's years the establishment allowed cosmetics companies to test their non-essential products on animals.

Farming is part of the establishment and we know what happens on farms to animals - think factory farming.

Factory farming is extreme farming and cruel to animals yet it is accepted by the establishment. It is the establishment who are the extremists.

Then there are products such as foie gras, a luxury food beloved of the establishment and the rich, which is produced in the most cruel way.

These are only a few examples, there are dozens more.

Animal rights advocates are simply focusing very keenly on the failure of many people to relate to animals is a decent way. What is extreme about that?

How I cured a fox of mange by hand feeding

This is another cross-post. It was an event in my life about five years ago. A lot foxes where I lived had mange. Mange is an awful parasitic disease which causes hair loss and great irritation in foxes. There are many urban foxes in London.

I used to fed this female fox and she got mange. I could easily tell because her tail lost its fur. And then other parts of her body. It was distressing.

I sourced a homeopathic cure in liquid form which I poured over chicken slices. In the early hours of the morning I offered them to her and she took the chicken from my hand tenderly in her mouth. There was never any chance of a bite. She was a gentle, trusting fox.

Over many weeks her mange disappeared and her fur came back. One day under the bright sun on the manicured lawn she rolled onto her back and wriggled around in delight. She was pain free. I could tell.

From that day on I have not seen her again. I believed she had been shot by a government employed hunter who I believe cull urban foxes. This might be incorrect.

I am happy I helped her. It is horrible to see a fox suffer with mange. It kills many urban foxes quite quickly because of exposure (loss of body temperature) and diseases caused by self-mutilation in biting and scratching the irritated skin.

If you click on the link at the top of the page you'll see another picture of her in reasonable shape and another video. She came into the flat one day! Here is the video:

UAE's destructive fascination with exotic animals

Rich arabs in the UAE tend to be fascinated with possessing exotic animals and a favourite is the cheetah. Why the cheetah? Because it is quite a shy, retiring large wild cat species which is fairly easy to handle and which has been employed for centuries to go hunting with their human 'master'.

The big problem is the rich arabs of the UAE circumvent regulations and treaties such as CITES to smuggle these animals into their country to populate their private zoos whereupon, through gross ignorance and a lack of sensitivity, they gradually starve the animal to death via neurological disorders. Some UAE residents haven't a clue how to care for a large cat. It will please and amuse them for a while and then it will die at which point, I suppose, they smuggle in another. They are disposable, you know, even if they are endangered.

Only this month a post-mortem on a cheetah revealed carpet in it stomach. It must have been so hungry it ate carpet.

These arrogant, exotic cat owners don't kill their 'pets' deliberately. God forbid. They kill through ignorance. The buyers of these animals act on a whim. It shows. No doubt they like the status of possessing an exotic wild cat. It is pathetic and sad.

And we have to criticise the people who are meant to enforce CITES. This treaty is meant to stop illegal trade in wild species but it has to be enforced if it is to be useful. Money circumvents enforcement.

Cheetahs and other large wild cat species are in the UAE for the sole purpose of entertaining the rich with connections.

There are no laws in UAE regulating private zoos. There should be. The rich arabs of UAE are contributing to the extinction of wild cat species in the wild. Something must be done. People in authority need to take steps. They need to take responsibility. They are not concerned. They are too involved with how to spend their petro-dollars.

Three Siamese Cats on the Rampage

This is a nice picture:

It tells us that claws are useful so don't declaw! It tells us that cats can be a bit destructive sometimes but it isn't their fault. They are only behaving naturally in an abnormal environment that contains our possessions. If it was outside it wouldn't matter.

This is cat play. Ideally there should be specific places in the home where it can happen with a minimum of destruction but that may be somewhat far fetched.

Check out the bacteria in your cat's digestive tract

The bacteria in our digestive tract and the digestive tract of our cats is an important facet of our health. I believe that IBD in cats is caused by damaging stomach flora. Certainly this is the case with humans.

Four scientists at University of California, Davis are offering cat owners the chance to find out about their cat's digestive system microbiome.

I think this is an important study because, for example, if we say that dry cat food is far from ideal and caused health problems, studying the bacterial contents of the gut will tell us how that type of food affects a cat and whether that affect damages health and in what way.

Very little is known about a cat's gut bacteria. It would nice to discover that dry cat food causes problems because it would put pressure in the manufacturers to up their game.

Participants have to collect their cat's poop and send it to the scientists who will provide a analysis in return.

This is a ten year project. I don't have details of who to send the poop to! But a bit more research or a phone call might prove fruitful.

Certainly cat owners whose cats have known digestive tract problems or chronic health problems linked to the digestive tract should consider getting involved.

Holly Ganz is one of the scientists at UC Davis so she could be a good starting point.

Source: Kitty Kickstarter: See the Microbes That Live in Your Cat

It is almost impossible to catch cat abusers and murders

To a loving cat caretaker/guardian the death of your cat at the hands of brutal abusers is like murder. But when this happens it is all but impossible to find the murderer because outdoor cats wander sufficiently and at dusk or in the night. There are no witnesses. Even when the cat survives it is no good because cats can't be a witness.

Tabitha

I am indirectly referring to a cat decapitation in the UK. A vet certified that two knives were used to cut off the head of a 13-year-old calico cat whose name was Tabitha.

She was found outside in a puddle without her head. The head has not been retrieved. She was much loved. Tom Whitfield, the owner, feels it was a trophy killing. It may be. It may also be some sort black magic coven. Witchcraft is hidden in the UK but that does not mean it is rare.

The RSPCA are investigating, as usual. The vet who made clear that the killing was deliberate and by humans rather than another animal has cleared the way for the RSPCA to try and find the perpetrators.

Such macabre acts of brutality against companion animals are rare in the UK and often it is not a person but another predator who is the killer.

Condolences

Tabitha was well-known and loved in the community.

Tom said:

"We have just all got so many happy memories of Tabby that it is horrible to think of her going this way. People should have have to go through what we have been through."

The people who did this are heartless, callous thugs because to decapitate a living cat is impossible for any decent, human with an ounce of sensitivity.

Poor diet causing major health problems for big cats in private UAE zoos | PoC

Poor diet causing major health problems for big cats in private UAE zoos | PoC

This is a cross-post. In the UAE - the Middle East if you want to generalise - animal abuse is not uncommon although we rarely hear about it in the West. Nearly all the stories about cat abuse come from America, not because Americans are animal abusers but because there is far more internet activity and reporting of animal abuse in America.

In Abu Dhabi,  it seems that everyone is rich and with riches comes arrogance and ignorance. Add that mentality to a desire to own a flash car and a flash cat and  you have neglected large wild cats because in Abu Dhabi flash cats means large exotic cats smuggled into the country.

A survey found that about 30 percent of the captive cheetahs and lions in Abu Dhabi within private zoos were malnourished because of  a poor diet of chicken flesh without any supplements - bones and stomach contents and added supplements.

Plain chicken meat would make any cat ill over time including domestic cats. This diet led to neurological disorders so severe that some cheetahs and lions had to be euthanised. Chronic neglect.

Not all Arabs in the Middle East are ignorant on the subject of feeding big cats. Far from it. But too many are and it has been happening for a long time without any action being taken by the authorities to curb it.

There is also the obvious matter of the unacceptability of private zoos where big cats are kept for the amusement of the rich - not good. The whole thing stinks. From the point of view of conservation is is a disaster. But they don't even think about that. It does not cross their minds.

Click on the link at the heading of the page for more detail, if you wish. The picture shows a young cheetah in Abu Dhabi smuggled their from Namibia probably. Horrible.

Revocation of Kristen Lindsey's Veterinarian's License

Complaint about vet who killed cat will take up to three years to process

This is a cross-post. The link above discusses the same topic. Don't hold your breath! I expect that you are familiar with the now infamous veterinarian Kristen Lindsey who proudly declared to the world in a Twitter feed, with a photo of her holding a cat with an arrow through his head, that she enjoyed killing him. If you haven't heard about her this link will fill you in.

A complaint was made to the Texas Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (the Board) requesting (I presume) the revocation of her license. The response was standard and it indicated that the whole evaluation process of her right to practice veterinary medicine and what they intended to do would take up to three years.

This is a lengthy timetable. Perhaps that is convenient for the Board because the longer it takes the more likelihood there is of it being kicked into the long grass and forgotten.

People have short memories and nowadays short attention spans as well. Three years is more than adequate for this grizly episode to be buried. That would be a shame because Lindsey has declared that she takes pleasure in killing animals and in this instance she allegedly killed a neighbor's cat with an arrow who happened to wonder into her backyard. Her mum took the photo of her. At the time the photo was taken it is said that the cat was still alive with an arrow right through his head.

She is not fit to be a vet in my opinion. The selection of vet students arguably needs to be reviewed.

Here is a photo of the letter from the Board.