Cat sucks paw for comfort. Screenshot. Like a child sucking their thumb for comfort, this domestic cat does the same thing except that it appears to be their paw pad. Sometimes when cats suck objects it will be their thumb just like babies. It is akin to wool sucking and human ear lobe sucking. These are behavioral issues brought about by being weaned too early. It is a shame. It is not great to see. Cats do it to calm themselves. It makes them feel better. It is probably a sign of underlying anxiety. I fostered a tabby cat who was obsessed with sucking my hand or arm. He was a cute and nice cat but this was an unwanted behavioral problem which I think went against him as the adopter relinquished him after quite a short time. Fabric chewing in cats may be like thumb sucking in infants Pictures of kittens sucking their thumbs From @mikancanon : "みかんちゃん　私の傍に来たと思ったら恒例のチュパを始めたよ ฅ(=✧ω✧=)ฅ🐾 《どアップで失礼します🙏》" #catsofinstagram pic.twitter.com/vfynWJJwxu — Cats of Instagram (@catso

This comes on the heels of a prior commitment of $10,000,000. Unfortunately, its allocation is a missed opportunity to maximize lifesaving according to Nathan Winograd who gave me the heads up in an email. What no-kill means. Image: MikeB In a Facebook post, Nathan Winograd reports on the signing by the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, of legislation that provides $45 million to help animal shelters reduce killing. You can read legislation if you wish by clicking the following link:  https://bit.ly/3zMqJ8v You got to be a bit of a nerd to read it but it is educational. Having read Winograd's Facebook post I was interested to read that initiatives like this one to save the lives of animals at shelters and to drive them to a no-kill status benefit the economy of the state, city or county concerned.  They are 'revenue positive' as he calls it. He refers to a University of Denver study as an example which found that one city's no-kill initiative yielded over $157 mi

RENSSELAER COUNTY, USA - NEWS AND COMMENT: Rensselaer County is in the US state of New York with a population as at 2010 of 159,429. They are the latest jurisdiction to want to establish an animal cruelty registry and the county executive should have signed the ordinance into law last Thursday according to online news media. Animal abuser marched to jail. Photo from video. The database will store information on anyone who has been convicted of a crime related to animal cruelty and who is over the age of 16. Animal welfare organisations and rescues will have access to the database from a central website. This will help them to adopt out animals to suitable people and avoid adopting out animals to those who have a criminal record of animal cruelty. Albany County has had an animal abuse registry for 10 years. Further, Greene County has also joined that the list of jurisdictions who have an animal cruelty registry. It provides the opportunity for these counties to create a network so that

NEWS AND COMMENT: I think that this is a troubling story. We are told by the New York Post that a prominent feline geneticist, Leslie Lyons of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Missouri, wants more animal testing on cats because they have shared characteristics to humans in their DNA's "dark matter". Prominent feline geneticist wants more animal testing on cats. Photo: in public domain. DNA dark matter refers to an estimated 95% of our DNA which is nearly identical to all other animals. The experts had thought that it wasn't important to study it because it contains superfluous genetic information but recent studies have indicated that it holds important factors in our development. And Leslie Lyons says that cats are predisposed to certain genetic diseases which is related to dysfunctional genetic dark matter. As humans also inherit diseases it may help to do animal tests on cats to help understand how medicine can remove this

John McKie, 68, has been banned from keeping animals for a further 10 years. He was exposed by a concerned person who reported to the RSPCA that he was keeping cats at his property. In December 2013 he was handed a 10-year ban on keeping animals after he had been cruelly neglected his German Shephard dog, Prince. The dog was found collapsed and infested with maggots. The dog was taken to a veterinarian who euthanised him. John McKie has been banned from keeping animals for the second time. Photo: Newcastle Chronicle. On receiving the report, the RSPCA visited McKie's home at Thropton Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7, UK, to investigate. Inspector Kirsty Keogh-Laws found three cats inside his home. She advised him that as he was subject to a ban on keeping animals, the cats would have to be removed. A couple of days later McKie admitted to a fourth cat at his property which was also taken into care. Three of the cats have been checked over and rehomed. A fourth, an elderly cat, h

LUGO, N.W. SPAIN - NEWS AND COMMENT: A home alone cat somehow turned on the music in a flat where they were living and turned up the volume. The neighbours were disturbed as it was that bad and they called the police. They arrived expecting to deal with a raucous party and difficult partygoers but there was no one home except a domestic cat. We don't know the name of the cat and we don't know anything about their owner but the news media has dubbed the cat "Feline DJ". News media reports that the volume was turn to the maximum. Home alone cat turns on music and turns up the volume to the annoyance of the neighbours. Credit as per the image. Comment : I suppose we have to guess how it happened. The cat jumps up onto a sideboard where the music stereo device is situated. They climb onto the device and push the on button. The hind leg is dragged across the volume dial turning it up. That's a wild guess but it's a possibility. It is worth mentioning that the ca

I'm taking this direct from Dr. Yuki Hattori's excellent book titled What Cats Want. Dr. Yuki Hattori is Japan's leading cat doctor. The book is recommended for beginners and those with a fair knowledge of domestic cat caretaking. It is written and illustrated very cleanly; easy to read. Tabby cat having a stretch. Photo in the public domain. The diseases that can be avoided if a cat is vaccinated are as follows: Bronchitis/pneumonia : this disease develops from a cold but becomes more serious and requires urgent veterinary attention. The symptoms are breathing problems, fever and cough. Feline lymphoma : this is a type of cancer affecting lymphocytes. The symptoms are weight loss and lack of appetite. This disease is often detected late. Feline viral rhinotracheitis : this is a feline form of the common cold as I understand it. It is passed on through nasal secretions or saliva. When a cat contracts the disease, they become a carrier for their life. The symptoms may on

I can quickly think of five cat breeds that are predisposed to suffering from HCM. They are: Maine Coon, Bengal, Ragdoll, Scottish Fold, and American Shorthair. The list is not comprehensive. It doesn't need to be comprehensive for me to question whether purebred cats are more predisposed towards HCM than random read cats. And if they are, why? HCM does affect random read cats and is the most common heart disease and is one of the most common diseases amongst domestic cats. Ragdolls can inherit HCM. Photo: copyright Helmi Flick You probably know that HCM describes a thickening of the muscles of the heart. The disease is listed as genetically inherited in my books but I also read that the causes are unclear. A study published in the Journal of Veterinary Cardiology titled "The genetic basis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats and humans", states in the summary that "mutations in genes that encode for muscle sarcomeric proteins have been identified in humans and

I recently wrote about the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which is a proposed animal welfare law going through UK's Parliament at the moment . It will enshrine in law the principle that animals are sentient. What this means is that the fact that animals have feelings and feel pain will be recognised in law and it will ensure that people, their policies and activities must not clash with the basic principle that animals are sentient creatures. American needs animal sentience legislation. Image: Pixabay. It is like a bedrock, a common standard, a thread that should run through all laws and activities in a country. When any new law or existing law clashes with this basic principle of animal sentience then it should be reviewed by a committee set up under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act, as it will become when it is enacted. It is a beautiful piece of animal welfare legislation (provided it is well drafted) because it automatically protects animals at a fundamental level. Of c

NEWS AND COMMENT: There was a surge in dog adoptions, mainly purchases of purebred, small dogs, during the coronavirus pandemic. In the UK, the pandemic, as we know it, is nearing its end, we hope. That is the general consensus and it is due to the great success of the vaccination programme which combined with a high level of infections without bad symptoms in unvaccinated, young people has resulted in near herd immunity. Once we get to herd immunity you could probably argue that the pandemic in the UK is over. Couple of shelter cats ready for adoption as a pair. Click for factors affecting the success rate of shelter adoptions . And at this time the Pets4Homes last quarterly report tells us that almost as many cats were rehomed in the first half of 2021 compared with all of 2020. The number rehomed this year so far is 156,193 whereas for all of last year the number is 179,298. In contrast, dog adoptions have faded from their peak when there was this manic desire to adopt a dog during

Minghao with a kitten. I have chosen this picture because I think it's very nice although I'm not completely convinced about the way the kitten is being held by Minghao. Better not to treat cats and kittens as babies.  I'm also not completely convinced that this is Minghao! :) The Twitter caption is not clear but I think it is. And if it is, Minghao is a Chinese singer, songwriter and dancer living in South Korea and a member of the South Korean boy group Seventeen. I have seen another photograph of Minghao with another cat so this guy likes cats.  His alternative name is interestingly "The8". It is a very novel name. It is a stage name. The number 8 is liked by many people in China. When it is "laid down" (whatever that means - rotated?), the infinite sign appears. That may be partly why it is considered a nice number. Minghao with a kitten. Instagram. It's interesting that if you search for "cats" on Twitter you invariably get a huge n

This is cool. Jeongyeon is a 'celebrity' as I like to call them. A created celebrity as a producer created the band of which she is a member. She is a 24-year-old South Korean singer and member of the South Korean girl group Twice . She obviously lives with a cat. Here we have her cat copying her as she taps her leg. It is a clear example of domestic cats learning by observation which they are very good at as they learn to hunt and become independent when living in the wild as a feral cat. Kittens learn fastest when observing their mother or a close relative. I guess that, instinctively, they trust them the most. Jeongyeon on Instagram. Note: this is an embedded tweet. It may disappear over time as it may be deleted at source on Twitter. If that has happened, I am sorry but I can't control it. Jeongyeon also has two dogs: Nanan the poodle and Bbosong the white Pomeranian (source: aminoapps.com ). The same source says "she also has a cat named Bami, a Scottish Fold cat

I think it's great that a city (I think we can call it a city) with about 9,600 residents can make a law (an ordinance in the USA) which bans cougars and tigers as pets. They've also banned chickens and coyotes as pets but it is the cougars and tigers which interest me more.  Marysville. Photo in public domain. It's hard to imagine a cougar or a tiger being a good pet but some Americans do like to live with very exotic pets. They are not that uncommon. Perhaps the best-known celebrity to have a big cat pet is Tippi Hedren, the mother of Melanie Griffith (Hedren is still alive at the date of this post - she is 91). They kept a lion called Neil in the home. He looks truly domesticated in the photographs. But I believe that wild cats never make the same sort of pet as a domestic cat. Back to Marysville. This town is about 65 miles north-east of Detroit. The new ordinance comes into effect in mid-August. It comes after some residents complained about neighbours owning chicke

It's in development but a cell phone app which has been created using artificial intelligence can read your domestic cat companion's facial expression to tell you whether she is happy or sad, content or in distress and in pain. The technology is based on studies, recently conducted, which concluded that the various elements of a cat's face change position relative to each other when they are in pain just like the human's; although for domestic cats the changes are quite subtle as we well know. Cats tend to hide their pain and they tend to hide themselves when in pain.  Your phone will tell you whether your cat is happy or sad. Image: The Times. Sorry for stealing it. But the beauty of this application for cell phones is that cat guardians who are uncertain about how their cat is feeling can photograph their cat full-face (a bit like a passport photo) and then ask the software to analyse the image. The software has been programmed with thousands of images of cats and

This is one thing that all cat owners should do daily to make their cat happy. It's uncomplicated, it doesn't cost any money and it makes the person happy as well. It's a form of mutual grooming. It is called allogrooming.  But the point is that you are flea combing as well. It's a combination event. From the cat's perspective it is like being licked by another cat. The teeth of the flea comb are like the spines of a cat's tongue. It is delightful. But the added benefit is that you are checking for fleas and if you find one you kill them immediately. And every cat should be checked for fleas because they can be picked up very easily. Even full-time indoor cats living in a clean home can pick up a flea because they can be brought into the home by their owner . Flea combing should be a way of life. Every morning at the same time the owner should flea comb their cat around the head, on the cheeks, down the back of the neck and on the shoulders. These are the bas

NEWS AND VIEWS: A Croatian ferry operator, operating between the Croatian island of Hvar in the coastal city of Split had no idea that a customer was transporting an adult Bengal tiger in the hold where there were cars and passengers.  Tiger on ferry in Croatia. Screenshot. It called into question the animal welfare laws of Croatia and/or enforcement or non-enforcement. The Animal Friends Association criticised the ferry operator and said that the incident symbolised "the terrible reality of wildlife protection in Croatia". They intended to complain to anybody and everybody. The back story supports their outrage. The association had told the authorities 24 months ago that there was a Bengal tiger on Hvar Island at a private zoo which apparently was unregistered. The zoo housed a large number of wild animals and domestic animals including this tiger. The zoo is owned by Ivan Gospodnetic. He allows visits and there is no entrance fee according to the report by the Balkan Ins

NEWS AND VIEWS: Simon and Joanne Graham live in Gloucester, UK and they are both on 'welfare' to use an American term or 'benefits' to use a British term. Their entire income is from welfare payments from the local authority. They appear to live in private rented accommodation but the landlord has successfully applied to evict them because he is changing the flat to other uses which is one of the grounds for eviction in the UK. Simon and Joanne Graham with two of their 3 cats one of which appears to be a Ragdoll. Photo: Samuel Port. The local authority will not rehouse them until they are homeless. In this instance that means Simon and Joanne and their menagerie including three cats have to be on the street with all their furniture and other possessions before the council will consider rehoming them. In the meantime, they have been offered temporary housing but they say they need assistance with respect to their animals. The report in The Mirror states that the counc

Let your cat guide you as to when and how you can pet her. This is all about that phrase that I constantly use "respect the cat". Part of the process of respecting the cat is to understand when she would like to be petted and how she would like it done. Each cat is an individual and their owner should be in tune with their cat's rhythms, routines, likes and dislikes. This is learned through intelligent observation. There are some basic rules in any case about petting a cat which I'm sure you know about. Let your cat guide you as to when and how you can pet her. Pic: Pixabay. Domestic cats like to be petted on the head, on the side of the face i.e. the cheeks, over the shoulders and down the back of the head and also down the spine . They also like to be stroked underneath the chin because all these places are either inaccessible or hard to get to. This makes grooming of these areas by their human companion more enjoyable to the cat and more functional. Beware of ov

AUBURN, Calif. (KTXL) – An emaciated adult male bobcat with burns to the bottoms of all four paws is now in the care of Gold Country Wildlife Rescue in Auburn, the organization reported Sunday. The bobcat arrived from Plumas County, where the Dixie Fire has burned.  Caregivers are “cautiously optimistic” about the bobcat’s prognosis.... Emaciated bobcat with burnt feet rescued from Dixie Fire, California. Photo: Fox40 FB page. I don't have more because it is still the case that some American news media websites do not allow Europeans to read their articles. They could easily resolve this problem by complying with European Union regulations but they would rather bar Europeans from their website than do a bit of work. And what is surprising to me is that this is the only story about cat rescue that I have found on the Internet coming out of the huge California wildfires this year. They happened last year too and they seem to be a perennial occurrence and they also appear to be get

One way that Australia's conservationists are controlling feral cats is to trap them in padded-jaw traps. They call this 'live trapping' followed by euthanasia but the euthanasia is a bullet to the brain. If the shot is accurate. Obviously, a padded trap is going to cause much less injury than the standard jaw traps which are excruciating.  But they admit that these leghold traps cause pain and distress. They can cause injuries and of course padded-jaw traps will trap animals other than feral cats. And therefore, the experts have advice on how to use them to minimise distress and pain (pestsmart.org.au). Feral cat caught in a padded jaw trap ready to be shot. Photo: Chris Rumpf. It's quite instructive. For example, once they are trapped feral cats should be killed as quickly as possible. This means inspecting the trapped daily. This prevents the animal dying from exposure or thirst and starvation. The traps can be set in places where there is some shade. Trapping sho

It is reported that bilby and kowari populations in Queensland's outback are increasing to the delight of conservationists thanks to a more efficient feral cat control programme which includes using thermal imaging cameras and, I presume, rifles to kill them. Both these animals are marsupials and they've spotted them in greater numbers this year. The bilby is endangered. The Department of Environment and Science recorded 471 bilbies at Astrebla Downs National Park. A bilby in Currawinya National Park makes its way to its burrow. Photo: Cassandra Arkinstall They also spotted a record 14 kowaris. This is a small carnivorous desert marsupial regarded as vulnerable in terms of conservation in Queensland. They put the increasing population numbers down to better control of feral cats. The Department said that they have removed more than 3,000 feral cats from the park since 2013. As mentioned in the title, they use thermal imaging cameras rather than spotlights to pick out the cat

There have been more studies on cats and dogs in respect of the coronavirus (Covid-19) recently, and they clearly point to the fact that domestic cats are more susceptible to getting the disease than domestic dogs. Cats contract Covid-19 more often than dogs. Montage: MikeB In one study published on the Science website titled: Susceptibility of ferrets, cats, dogs, and other domesticated animals to SARS-coronavirus 2 , they ranked pets in order of their susceptibility to contracting the coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2).  In the summary they say that the virus infects the upper respiratory tracts of ferrets. In cats the virus "replicated in the nose and throat and caused inflammatory pathology deep in the respiratory tract". But they say that "airborne transmission did not occur between pairs of cats".  In dogs, viral replication was not as prevalent as in cats and they had a low susceptibility to the virus. Pigs, chickens and ducks were not susceptible to SARS-Cov-2. In

It may surprise people to know that full-time indoor cats can be infested by a range of parasites. On this page I will briefly list them and how they come to infect full-time indoor cats. I'm not going to go over any other aspect of this discussion in this article but by all means click on the links below to read more about parasites. CAT PARASITES CAT WORMS Fleas are the obvious parasite which can infest indoor cats because they can be brought by their owner into the home. Or visitors to the home can bring one in or if there are other pets in the home which go outside, they may bring a flea inside the home. They will then jump onto the cat. The cat can ingest them when grooming. They can bite the cat causing a flea bite allergy which is most distressing. They transmit tapeworms to domestic cats. Cat flea the most common cat parasite which can infest a full-time indoor cat. Photo: Shutterstock. This brings me nicely to the next parasite which is tapeworms . This is a gastrointe