A hairless cat, probably a Sphynx, poses like a celebrity starlet at the Cannes Film Festival. A very strange photograph. Was it posed by the photographer by positioning his/her cat and rapidly taking the photo or was it photo-edited? I have no idea. I'd go for the former because it seems highly unlikely that a cat would take up this pose without human intervention and it sure looks odd. Hairless cats are prime candidates for odd but interesting photos. Of course, this hairless cat is entirely nude. So, it is rude if I say it looks like a film starlet. This adds to the strangeness of the image. CLICK FOR PAGES ON HAIRLESS CATS Hairless cat poses like a celebrity starlet at the Cannes Film Festival

Here's a list of a dozen K-Pop idols who're said to be seriously in love with cats. But I wonder if they truly are sometimes. Aren't these pop idols artificially created by producers and entrepreneurs? They are the guys who make the big bucks. They filter some of the money down to the artist. Minimum wage stuff! It is a production and I wonder if part of that production is the cat. The cats are always beautiful, sometimes pristine white to match the beautiful girls and androgenous boys. Jisun and white cat. She is said to love cats. Photo in public domain. Jooheon (MONSTA X) Lisa (BLACKPINK) Kun (NCT) Jisun (fromis_9) Kang Daniel Rina (WEKI MEKI) Jaejoong (JYJ) Jimin (BTS) Hyolyn Yura (Girl’s Day) Handong (Dreamcatcher) Kyulkyung (PRISTIN) To a Westerner it looks a bit strange. It certainly looks artificial. No doubt these are talented girls and boys but they are plastic caricatures of real people. And I believe that the cats are there to dress them up. They are the acco

Often, TNR volunteers spend money on cats before they spend it on themselves, which is why Feral Friday's free spaying and neutering service provided by the Golden State Humane Society, in Long Beach, is so welcome. They don't operate the Friday service every week because of insufficient funding but on this occasion, on August 23, they operated the discount service because of a $1,500 grant from Petco Love, the pet supply company's non-profit foundation. Registered Veterinary Technician Tracey Murphy, left, and Ruby Areilla prepare a cat for a neutering surgery at Golden State Human Society. Photo by Harry Saltzgaver, Grunion Gazette/SCNG. Golden State's Executive Director, Alexandra Casswell, correctly stated that the volunteers won't stop. They really don't stop because they are driven by compassion. There is a huge body of people, nearly always women, who can't let feral cats struggle and starve and do nothing about it.  They have to get involved. So,

This is an article for people interested in technology and people who have unfortunately lost both hands (hopefully very rare) and who want to stroke their domestic cat. Prosthetic hands are normally very expensive and quite heavy because they are made of metal and motors. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) together with engineers/scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China have come up with what appears to be a brilliant alternative. This is an inflatable prosthetic hand that can be controlled with the mind and is 20 times cheaper to make than the metal and motor variety. Inflatable prosthetic hand can pet a cat and do lot more besides. Photo: MIT. It picks up electrical signals through the wearer's arm. When the person imagines making a fist with their absent hand the prosthetic hand picks up the muscle signals and carries out the command. It can do four types of grasps including making a fist, cupping the palm, pinching two fingers together

The website Pets4Homes has decided to clamp down on unscrupulous breeders and fraudsters who use the Pets4Homes website as a portal through which they sell puppies imported illegally or bred under cruel conditions and then sold through the site despite being sick or dying. In short, Pets4Homes want to stop criminals using their website to sell sick animals, particularly puppies which are imported illegally. Cawley travelling family were engaged in fraudulent practices in conning customers. Photo: SWNS Pets4Homes has employed digital forensic experts in collaboration with the charity Animal Protection Services to secure 85 prosecutions with 35 cases pending decisions. They've used cyber analysts to block 40,000 adverts in five months on the website. A significant percentage of these adverts were created by gangs shipping dogs from abroad and/or using litters from stolen pedigree dogs kept under very poor conditions. On one occasion 'travellers' in the UK made at least £30

Mr Paul 'Pen' Farthing and his animals landed at Heathrow Airport, near London, UK, on Sunday morning. He was accompanied by 173 cats and dogs. They have to enter a four-month quarantine period as I understand it. With that number of animals, they have to be distributed to other shelters around the UK. And one of those shelters is the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary who took to Twitter to share images of the animals. The only animals that I have seen are dogs. A staffer at the sanctuary said in a tweet that they are very happy to be able to help. Note: all the pictures that I have seen of Nowzad animals are dogs. I have not seen one cat. Do they really exist? I am concerned I have to admit. Surely, we would have seen some cats by now. I have seen all the photos from Nowzad and no cats. The Sun headline: "Pen Farthing says most of his 173 cats and dogs are lined up for new homes in UK as he praises ‘phenomenal’ UK troops" - good news. First pictures of Mr Farthing's

Mr Paul 'Pen' Farthing and his rescued cats and dogs from his Nowzad animal rescue charity based in Kabul, Afghanistan, landed at Heathrow airport last night and immediately took a connecting flight to Oslo to see his wife who had left Afghanistan last week. The cats and dogs are in quarantine and they will remain there for four months as per the usual procedures. This will obviously be a very difficult time for them to add to the trauma already suffered. Some of the cats and dogs in Kabul on the way to the airport. They were probably offloaded to get air. Photo: The Daily Mail. I understand that his flight from Kabul went via Muscat. Initially the reports were that he was going to fly to Uzbekistan first and then on to Heathrow. Mr Farthing said that he has mixed emotions in his tweet which stated: "Arrived Heathrow with partial success of #OpArk Mixed emotions & true deep feeling of sadness for Afghan today. Heathrow Ops centre, Border Force, HARC & Air Pets w

NEWS AND COMMENT-WIGAN, UK: I am very reluctant to write about the story because nowadays I shy away from writing about cat abuse stories of this nature. There's too many of them and it's been overdone. Unfortunately, the news media do tend to rely upon cat stories which involve abuse. I suppose all news is bad news and it applies to cats like any other topic. Jasmine Dickinson and Katie. Photo: Jam Press/RSPCA. But I also think that the news media should not have picked up on this story. They say that the cat was stabbed nine times and survived. The cat's name incidentally is Katie and she is a black and white cat as you can see. But, in truth, if this cat had been stabbed nine times she would not have survived. These were not genuine stab wounds but slashing wounds which cut the skin but they weren't very deep. That is why Katie survived. So, the news media have exaggerated this with their title which I have adopted in order to emphasise the point that it is actual

  What is the effing point of this ridiculous video? It is horrible but thankfully it is short. It is a minor form of cat abuse. The video was made to amuse people. And, ridiculously, some people on YouTube are amused but I'm afraid they are airheads with nothing between the ears. The person who made this video thought he would do something cheap and easy to try and get the attention of people so that he could make a bit of money. It is the usual scenario; abuse a domestic cat to entertain people! Fortunately, the video is a failure because only 2000 or so people have seen it. You don't make a lot of advertising money with those kinds of numbers. But it is remarkable the number of videos you see on YouTube which are based upon animal abuse. And I have seen a similar video to this one many years ago in which a man yells at his Maine Coon cat to see the reaction. He even called the video "Yelling at Cats" or something like that. It was monstrous, worse than this one.

Yes , he has left. Finally, after much animosity between Farthing and the MOD, he took off with his 94 dogs and 79 cats at 4:30 pm, Saturday 28th 2021 from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. It's been reported that he travelled to the capital of Uzbekistan initially with the ultimate destination being England. The report is from The Telegraph online newspaper. Earlier reports in various news media outlets support this as they reported on a gradual, tortuous and dangerous progress towards the moment when they were evacuated. However, the news that Farthing has got out is not 100% guaranteed as news from Kabul is a bit shaky at times. Has Paul 'Pen' Farthing left Afghanistan? Yes. Mr Farthing was highly critical of the MoD, particularly the special adviser to Ben Wallace the Defence Secretary who he claims unreasonably delayed evacuation. Farthing claims that if the MoD had been more efficient and reasonable, he would have got his staff out as well. As it happens

Clearly, this is a couple of street cats but curiously they are using concrete parking stops as pillows. Cats with concrete pillows. Photo in public domain. The lumps of concrete are designed to stop a driver driving into the low wall at the edge of the parking lot. The tyres contact these blocks to remind the driver that they are at the limit of the parking area. They remind me of my cat actually. My cat likes to rest his head in this position on my leg. It's an alternative to the curled-up position. However, it does not look that comfortable. I have a feeling that they are siblings.  Probably like you, when I see this photograph, I want to help them. They should not be living like this. It is an interesting photograph but also a sad one.

'My friend's grandad feeds the local strays, this is what he woke up to today', said Reddit user: u/Gaib_Itch. I sometimes think that these guys see a photograph on the Internet that they like and figure out a caption to it which will catch the eye on Reddit.com. It's a way of generating a post on this well used website.  I don't think the photograph was taken by this Reddit user. I think it was taken by somebody else under entirely different circumstances. That said, who cares because it's a nice photograph and it shows a whole bunch of young cats snuggled up in a flower pot. I think that you would call this a ' clowder of cats '. I am going to suggest that the photograph was actually set up by the photographer. I might be accused of being cynical but I would say that I'm being realistic. It looks too neatly arranged to me to believe that it happened spontaneously.  My friend's grandad feeds the local strays, this is what he woke up to today. P

NEWS AND COMMENT - KANSAS CITY, USA: I don't have much information about this but it caught my eye. A hospice patient, Clara Burnett, 83, had a lifelong wish fulfilled last week when she received a Sylvester the Cat cartoon to her forearm.  Hospice patient gets Sylvester the Cat tattoo as a final wish. Photo: Opera News. Clara is a resident of Harbor Hospice in Johnson County. That's all I know! The reason is because the website is barred to me because I live in Europe and the website owner does not want to comply with European website regulations on privacy. Quite a lot of people have Sylvester the Cat tattoos! Incidentally, I have a page on cartoon cats ( click here to see it ). Here is a little bit of information about Sylvester. He is a Warner Bros cartoon star. His biography would include the fact that he has a lisp and is a bird-craving, black-furred, white-bellied cat who began his screen career in Life with Feathers in 1945. He had a saying which is very well known

All of the lily is the answer to the question. I have spent a reasonable amount of time researching an answer to the question in the title, in terms of the specific chemical, without success I have to confess. I have searched the Internet using Google Scholar looking for studies on this topic. The studies that I found are quite old (e.g. 2009) and they tell me that they don't know the specific chemical that causes such toxicity to cats. But they do tell me that all parts of lilies i.e. the whole plant-petals, stamen, leaves, and pollen are toxic. What part of lilies are toxic to cats? All of it. Image: MikeB Not all lilies are toxic, funnily enough. You can click on this link if you wish to find out which lilies are not toxic . However, as a cat owner you should not have any lilies in the home at any time in my honest opinion. This is because they are lethally toxic. They are just too dangerous and only a small amount of pollen from a stamen can harm or perhaps kill a cat. Ther

@katiesquibb My moms retriever and her new kitten that was rescued! ##goldenretriever ##kitten ##dogsofttiktok ##catsoftiktok ♬ original sound - Katie Squibb They got to know each other and are in a close relationship. The dog is timid and enjoys the kitten's company. The kitten is braver as they climb on top of the dog to rest and feel warm and secure. Nervous golden retriever meets new family member: a tiny kitten. Screenshot. One day the video will stop playing but, in the meantime, enjoy. I don't control the existence of these videos. CLICK THIS FOR A PILE OF INTERSPECIES FRIENDSHIPS

Your cat is skittish. You want to help. He or she is probably skittish for three main reasons (1) he is timid and shy or (2) he is in a new home and has not settled down properly or (2) the home is unsettled in terms of ambience. Background animosity between humans and cats can make a cat skittish through anxiety. Image: MikeB The last factor I think is a key one. It is now common knowledge that domestic cats like to live in a calm environment with solid routines and rhythms which are integrated with their human caregiver. If you add into that a home which is adapted, at least to a certain extent, to a cat's behaviour plus plenty of play a cat should not be skittish for environmental reasons. It would be hard to shake skittishness due to timidity which is inherited. The best you can do there is to once again create a very calm, friendly environment to enable a skittish cat to feel calmer and become more confident in their environment. Skittishness is a product of anxiety or fear

We been told over and over again that America's domestic cats are overweight. There is a pet obesity epidemic we are told by the country's veterinarians. One reason, perhaps the overriding reason, is that people are losing their perception of what is a normal weight. If people think fat is normal then their pets will be fat. And today, The Times , tells us that America's children are fatter than ever. I take from that sad information that there is little chance that domestic cats will be slimming down in the future because America's next generation are going to be fatter than the previous. Obese and diabetic tabby cat. Photo: Pixabay. It isn't just America, although it's the worst, which is suffering from an obesity epidemic. The report says that American children eat more junk food, are fatter and suffer more from diabetes than they did 20 years ago. The prevalence of type II diabetes in the age range 10-19 rose by 95% between 2001-2017. Cases of type I diab

This is a note, no more, but when I read about 90,000 people being evacuated out of Kabul to the West, to safety, I am naturally pleased but also concerned. This is a very large number of people and surely some of these families must have pets. There must be cats and dogs in these homes as companion animals to the families. So, what happened to them?  90,000 evacuated from Afghanistan but what about pets? There is only one possibility which is that they've been left behind to fend for themselves. There is no way that the UK and US governments would allow them to take their cats and dogs with them. Although I have seen a photograph of a dog in the passenger seat on a plane taking off from Kabul airport. The dog apparently was owned by an embassy staff member. There were some complaints because it was claimed that dogs should not take precedence over Afghani people. So, embassy staff can take their dogs back home but Afghanis can't. And, it is almost certain that these cats an

NEWS AND COMMENT: A Virginia couple have been charged with the homicide of their 10-day-old daughter, Raven, but they claimed that her death was caused by the family cat who they say was sitting on her neck when they discovered her. Couple claim that their cat killed their 10-day-old daughter. The father Mathew Sebolka. Police photo dressed up. Elizabeth Sebolka. Police photo. Matthew and Elizabeth Sebolka are being held in jail pending the outcome of the investigation. The father claimed that his daughter was sitting in a car seat at the time that he went to a bathroom. When he returned, he said that the family cat was sitting on their daughter's neck. The news media does not explain how this indicates that the cat killed their daughter but judging by the statement he appears to be implying that bruising to the baby's head, a fractured skull, and other suspicious injuries consistent with child abuse were caused by the innocent family cat. It appears to have been a desperate

Brothers Arthur and Gabriel are both blind and they are going to make somebody very happy. There are a lot of advantages to a cat caregiver in adopting a couple of blind cats who are best buddies. That may sound strange but I have a strong feeling that it is true. Arthur on the left and Gabriel. Photo: RSPCA Firstly, you will have to keep Arthur and Gabriel inside all the time. That's a great relief to a lot of people. You won't need to trouble yourself about letting your cat outside to live a full life while being tormented about the dangers that there are outside the home. That decision is off the table. They will be full-time indoor cats and they will be happy because they can entertain each other. A great problem with full-time indoor cats is ensuring that they are fully stimulated but being blind they have challenges which they cope with very well. But these challenges stimulate the brain and because they come as a twosome, they can also stimulate each other. I would ex

Katy Perry started off loving dogs and became a cat lover. I figured out that as at Monday 20th April 2020, Katy Perry possibly has one remaining cat, Monkey because her other had just died. But tell me if things have changed since then which I expect they have. She thinks that cats are like women. This is what she said in the video: "Women are like cats, like, you know they want to be loved on their own time. They want people to earn their affection and they'll eat whenever they want but do not shove food down their throat." Katy Perry says women are like cats Her interviewer says that it is a brilliant analogy. I don't think it is brilliant. It's passable. It seems that the wanting to be loved in their own time is a reference to the stereotypical image that cats are independent which is inaccurate. Or they are aloof. That, too, is inaccurate. It certainly is for me in my relationship with my cat. We're bonded. Perhaps my relationship is closer than normal

Ricky Gervais is on YouTube talking to Ellen DeGeneres on her show about cats and dogs. Ricky Gervais is a well-known animal lover (well-done). He doesn't keep dogs because he travels too much which is entirely understandable. But he gets it wrong on cats. I'm a bit surprised by this. Ricky Gervais is wrong on cats. Screenshot. He says that you can leave cats alone for as long as you want because they don't care. But you can't do the same thing with dogs. He thinks cats are highly independent. This is his first error. And before I go on, I want to say that I respect Ricky Gervais for his love of animals. But the fact of the matter is that cats are not independent. They are dependent upon their human caregiver for company, sustenance and security. And they mind when left alone for long periods. Perhaps the problem in this instance is that Ricky does travel too much and therefore he does not have an ideal connection with his cat. It would appear that he leaves his cat

This black-and-white female cat was living under a motorcycle cover in America somewhere (I believe). The person who owns the motorcycle saw her. At the time she was scared and pregnant. This unknown person whose Reddit username is: u/mama-and-babies, provided her with a beautiful, secure, safe and warm home for her family.  Everything looks perfect and you can't beat cardboard for keeping cats warm. She looks content and safe. Whoever the person is they've done a very good job. It sort of restores faith in the human race! Black-and-white cat gives birth to tortoiseshell kittens. Photo: as per above. As I said, the mother is black-and-white, while her kittens appear to be tortoiseshell-and-white with plenty of white (calico). They have very interesting and beautiful patterns. I think they are going to be popular cats for rehoming when the time comes.  The father can't be a tortoiseshell because tortoiseshells are always female and if they are male, they are usually steri

This photograph of the jaguarundi reminds me that this wild cat  is the one that looks the least like a cat. And I am not the only person who might think it. It is the most widely distributed and commonly seen cat in Central and South America although you will be hard-pressed to see one! But it's biology and behaviour are still largely a mystery (as at 2002). And the experts have said that "Taxonomically, the jaguarundi is an enigma". Jaguarundi. Photo: unattributed. The scientists have put this cat by itself when categorising it i.e. they have assigned the jaguarundi to its own genus (as at 2002). This cat has 38 chromosomes while all other small South American cats have 36 chromosomes. It is also unique in that it has five pairs of E group chromosomes and no F group chromosomes. it has been suggested that the jaguarundi is more closely related to the cheetah and puma than to the other South American cats. It has been difficult to categorise this cat taxonomically par