The skin of a cat is not tightly attached to the muscle below

This is about how small cats - the wild cats and the domestic cat - are able to better protect themselves in the event of a fight with another cat over territory thanks to their anatomy.

Small wild cats and the domestic cat are able to protect themselves thanks to their anatomy. Image: MikeB

Small cats try and avoid physical fights to avoid harm which, in turn, ensures that they remain as fit as possible to be the excellent predator that they are. Injuries can blunt their predation and even lead to starvation. 

They avoid other cats by marking territory with scratch marks, urine and faeces. Also they can sometimes scream loudly at their neighbours to tell them not to encroach on their home range.

In short a range of methods are employed to achieve a result without actually fighting.

When there is physical confrontation between small cats over their home range, they will try to avoid fighting by sumo-style standoff signalling using sounds and body language postures. If effective the weaker cat slinks off very slowly. Job done.

The last resort is an actual fight and under these extreme circumstances the small cat has an anatomy which helps to protect them.

RELATED: ChatGPT on animal welfare, sentience, cat anatomy, declawing, speciesism and more.

Here are some aspects of the small cat anatomy adaptations to inter-species fighting.

1. The skin of the small cat is not tightly attached to the muscle below.
2. The cat's body is very loosely enclosed within their skin.
3. The muscles move and slip within the skin.
4. Small cats seem to be able to rotate their body with their skin allowing the cat to often squirm free.
5. The cat's fur protects them.
6. The cat's fur seems to slide when grasped.
7. A combatant's teeth and claws might penetrate fur and skin but they a less likely to penetrate muscle.

These aspects of the small cat anatomy helps to thwart the grip of a combatant. The odds are that a couple of small cats fighting over territory will come out of a fight without serious injury. You see ears mangled sometimes for example but that won't hinder survival.

They often return to their home ranges and continue to patrol it diligently as before.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Neutering operation blinded a feral cat but turned him into a domestic cat overnight

NEWS AND COMMENT-NORTH CAROLINA ANIMAL SHELTER: This interesting story from America confirms what we already know about anaesthetics on domestic and feral cats. It can blind them. As I recall, there is a about a one in 400 chance of a cat being blinded by a general anaesthetic.

So, this cat whose been named Scoot lost his sight after he was brought to the shelter and neutered. That would have been a standard process. You can see in the photograph that his left ear has been trimmed, called 'ear tipping' indicating that he was a feral cat cared for under a TNR program.

Scoot. Image: The Charlotte Observer.

But here's the interesting bit: he was a scratchy, irritable and difficult cat as feral cats are prone to be unless they have been through some sort of socialisation.

But in this instance, because he became instantly blind, his temperament became much milder and of course he became reliant on his caregivers. It seems that he decided he had to integrate into human society in an instant in order to survive. Which made him a good pet overnight. In fact, he pretty well instantly transformed into a domestic cat.

He was adopted by a shelter worker, Mariah Shields.

She said:

“It’s very obvious how new he is to being blind, and he started out very quiet and unassuming,”

Apparently, he's opening up and he started to knead his owner (regards her as his surrogate mom) and is becoming very sociable. He greeted her with a meow in the morning and when he is petted, he wants to play. 

And recently he hugged her. He's become a bone fide pet cat of the highest quality all because he was instantly made blind by an anaesthetic.

I guess you could say that this is a silver lining in the heavy risk of anaesthetics seriously harming domestic cats and this can happen in the most innocuous operations such as teeth cleaning.

That's why people who know about the dangers of anaesthetics are reluctant to take their cat to veterinarians for teeth cleaning which often is a necessity.

Cats are NATURALLY aggressive. Discuss.

Dr Bruce Fogle in his book 'Complete Cat Care' makes a statement which caught my attention: "Cats are naturally aggressive". We don't think of it like that very often. But it is true. And it is a source of potential trouble in the human-to-cat relationship. 

Despite the beautifully relationships between cats and their caregivers all over the world, the domestic cat is a top predator armed with weapons: claws and teeth. 

And they like to use them in play because play for domestic cats is play-hunting. All play is centred around hunting and hunting employs sharp canine teeth and even sharper claws on their forepaws.

They are programmed to hunt and kill. It is their major activity in life. And we know how cats act on instinct. This makes their genetic programming more effective as it is not tempered by rational thought.

Man used hand as a cat toy. Bad idea. Image in public domain and modified by MikeB.

Sometimes a cat caregiver can become annoyed and emotionally hurt by their cat as they feel that they've been respectful and gentle with them only to be scratched or bitten in return. 

Perceived behavioural problems can lead to a breakdown in the relationship and the surrender of the cat at a rescue centre or to a neighbour. Aggressive behaviour is in the top 10 reasons for giving up a cat. Understanding the deep emotional need to be aggressive for cats helps to restore the relationship.

The classic form of feline aggression that pops up from time to time is the 'love bite'. It sounds innocent and loving but the cat love bite is not the same as the human version. We know that.

Another description of 'love bites' is 'petting aggression'. Your cat is relaxed and enjoying your company. You gently pet your cat without thinking too much about how you are doing it and wham, your darling cat companion crunches down on your hand with her sharp canine teeth while holding on with the forepaws.

To release from this uncomfortable situation, distract your cat with the free hand and in that window of opportunity release the trapped hand slowly. Or use the free hand to scruff your cat's neck and then release the other.

RELATED: 11 types of domestic cat aggression and how to resolve them.

Cats' teeth are designed to pierce the skin and break the spinal cord of prey animals. Stroking triggers mixed emotions. Domestic cats enjoy touching their human caregiver and other pets normally.

My cat likes to reach out with his paw to touch my hand when he is with me. They like to be physically connected with their human companion, but they can become worried by it because the domestic cat's adult wildcat ancestor does not make physical contact with others except to mate and fight (normally). 

Although community cats and domestic cats form friendships and can rest together in close contact. But there is a different relationship between cat and human. And there is a big size difference which can work against the relationship. Humans can be intimidating to cats.

When a domestic cat becomes 'emotionally confused' during petting, as Bruce Fogle describes it, they may start to become instinctively aggressive. 

Human caregivers need to spot the signs of feline irritation such as a flicking tail and a tenseness developing in the cat's face and general demeanour. Your cat is warming up for an aggressive act by our standards. Not hers. It is play but all cat play is aggressive.

For people it is all about understanding cat behaviour and respecting it. All feline aggression in the home towards humans can be avoided and should be avoided by reading cat body language and understanding feline behaviour and their deep-seated instincts inherited from their wild cat ancestor which are just below the surface.

Aggressive behavior in a cat - focusing on psychological damage

Aggressive behavior in a cat is almost always going to be because of something we (as humans) have done, on the basis that the cat is healthy. If she is sick or injured, she may be aggressive for that reason. Note: this article was initially published on Jan 19, 2008 😊. It remains useful particularly for the section about a cat being psychologically damaged which results in what humans would regard as untoward behavior. It comes from first-hand experience.

I believe that she had experienced mistreatment by her previous owner which came out in mild aggression under certain circumstances. I loved her and rescued her from a neighbour who had abandoned her. Photo: MikeB. She was about aged 15 at this time and it was about 2008.

I have a quick fact check page on feline aggression which covers all the causes and treatments for cat aggression which you can read by clicking on the link below:

RELATED: 11 types of domestic cat aggression and how to resolve them.

A lot of people have misconceptions about cats and being scratched and bitten by them. Aggressive behavior in a cat is often misunderstood I feel. My partner (human partner I mean) had misconceptions until she met my girl cat and learned how to interact with her and communicate with her. She now loves her whereas before she loved only dogs.

I really have to draw on my own experiences here. They are usually the best way to learn about cats. I currently have two cats, or perhaps one and half cats. My second cat is a stray (as was the first), but the second is not quite settled in yet (comes and goes).

See a new page on Aggressive Cat Behavior which significantly expands on this page.

Cat has psychological issues due to past experiences?

My first cat, a girl (now about 15 years of age - as at 2008) is slightly mentally damaged. She has nightmares. I can tell because she constantly wakes up with a start, sometimes with a shout or scream. It is the same nightmare each time I think (the signs are it is anyway). I'm not particularly observant but it pays to get to know cats generally and your cat well, as it avoids problems.

I decided that my damaged girl cat was hit by her previous owner, probably on the backside near her thighs. This may have happened when she sat on the person's lap as she does not go on laps and she does not like to be touched too much or in certain ways on the rear of her body. I think the sensitivity to touch at that position and her nightmares are possibly linked.

I might be wrong but I am always careful when I stroke and comb her. This avoids irritating her which in turn avoids her being aggressive towards me; an aggression born out of a bad life experience. Although her aggression is a mild form of aggression. Aggressive behavior in a cat is as I say above a reactive action. It is not something that comes from the cat as an instigator of the action.

Sure, she may be damaged (by a human perhaps) which makes her more sensitive (but aren't we humans all damaged too to some degree). It is up to us as the supposedly more intelligent animal to behave in a manner that does not provoke our cats natural instincts.

Cat aggression towards humans. Montage: MikeB. See link below.

RELATED: Cat aggression towards humans - 3 types discussed.

Play - a well-known source of aggression

Sometimes, for example, I can play too firmly with the boy cat. There is a moment in play (if you are doing it with your hands) when you should sense that you have gone far enough because play is a form of hunting training for a cat and play can turn to the point when your cat starts hunting and killing your hand :)

Our boy cat is young and strong so if I go too far, I pay for it. And that is correct. Personally, I see no need to reprimand my cat for overstepping the mark in play - it's my fault. Nor should you hit your cat or cuff your cat in my opinion. Cuffing is recommended by the About.com cat expert. I disagree with her. The idea in cuffing (as a mother cat would) is to train your cat not to scratch or bite your hand. It is almost impossible to replicate what a real mother cat would do and reprimanding or punishing a cat can alienate that cat from its human caretaker.

It is us who actually need training and not the cat - cat behaviorists nearly always alter human behavior not cat behavior. It is worth noting that when a cat bites or scratches in play it is usually not "full-on" but tempered (less effect). When my cat oversteps the mark, I sometimes just make a certain noise, not aggressively but a noise that she recognizes as a request to stop, please.

If you do that and let your hand, go quiet and dormant, she will calm down fast. Don't pull your hand away as you will do more damage to it.

In conclusion, love and understand your cat, she is at heart a wild cat, and make sure her reactions are the ones that you want to see. We dictate the reactions, the cause and effect.

Illness

Update: If we are behaving correctly and our cat is still aggressive despite being in good health (we think) it may be stress. Your cat may be in unfamiliar surroundings, for example, or in hunger and/or physical discomfort and stress. In which case a cat might demonstrate defensive aggression. We should also remind ourselves that we are giants to cats. It is not easy for us to frighten cats simply on the issue of our size and movements.

Socialisation

There is also, of course, the issue of socialization. Cats when young should be familiar with and comfortable in the company of people. If not it will produce stress and defensive behavior. Feral cats are aggressive sometimes but there are many tales of people rescuing feral cats and the cat becoming the best friend they ever had. It is a form of late socialization but it is possible and very rewarding, of course. See the feral cat page and the submissions by the visitors on the main site. Submit something yourself, why not? Here is the link: Feral Cat Submissions.

An illness that can cause aggression is thyroid problems. One last point. You should not try and forcibly try and calm a cat down. The best thing to do is to leave her or him alone, create calm surroundings and speak quietly. This is on the basis that the cat is not ill. A vet should be consulted if in doubt. Aggressive behavior in a cat always has a reasonable cause as is not simply a cat being nasty. Cats are not "nasty" in a human sense.

Tips for when your cat is biting or scratching humans

Here are some quick thoughts about domestic cat scratches and bites. When your cat is biting or scratching humans, including yourself, and if it goes on in a consistent manner, major damage can be done to the relationship. It is the emotional connection between the person and the cat which is chipped away. It can get to the point where there is a breakdown in that relationship. This can, in turn, lead to the cat being given up to a rescue centre. Or simply abandoned. That happens too often. Or as the relationship deteriorates, the cat become more anxious and more likely to bite or scratch in defense. A downward spiral.

Unwanted feline aggression but what is the cause? You need to analyse. Pic in the public domain.

Analysis through observation and thought required

If the person living with a cat is the kind of person who would abandon their cat under these circumstances, then this article is probably useless because it requires some effort to rectify the problem. It can require some detective work and reflection on what you are doing.

Unpredictable aggression or a pattern?

You might think that your cat bites and scratches you and other people in the home unpredictably, out of the blue and randomly. You might put this down to your cat becoming rogue and simply behaving badly. This won't happen. There will be a natural reason. It is just finding it. And invariably the cause will be with human behavior in one way or another.

Medical issues?

The first tip is to try and step back and not think emotionally (damned cat!) about it but to analyse the situation to get to the bottom of it. The professionals always say that you should check that your cat is in good health and not feeling pain or discomfort under certain circumstances before you go to the next step in the analysis. 

This is because cats are stressed by pain. And then when they are touched or picked up the pain is probably exacerbated. They interpret this as the person picking them up causing the pain. They strike out at that person in defence; defensive aggression, but the person picking up the cat doesn't realise it.

A cat might be injured, if they are indoor/outdoor cats, on their flank or on one of their legs. You can't see it because the injury is covered by fur e.g., if there is a broken bone. It hurts when they are picked up. Or they are ill with a disease that shows no immediate apparent symptoms. This might be cancer for example.

You've got to have a good look at your cat's health and rule out the medical issues that might be present.

When does the biting and scratching occur?

The next stage is to see whether your cat's aggression occurs at certain times of the day. You are looking for a pattern of behaviour. Your cat has body rhythms (circadian rhythms) just like people. They will be more active at certain times of the day than others. During those more active times they will need to release their energy. This would normally be in the form of hunting. The substitute for hunting, for indoor cats, is energetic playtime.

So perhaps, your cat jumps at your ankles in the late afternoon when you are pottering around in bare feet. This is the time when she would be outside hunting if she was allowed outside. She finds some object to hunt and it happens to be your ankles. Her body rhythms drive her to be active at dusk.

You can take proactive steps to meet her desire to be active and hunt at those times by playing with her instead. That should stop attacks on your ankles.

Play in the world of cats is not a luxury but a necessity. Particularly so for full-time indoor cats. It is something which I feel most cat caregivers don't give enough time to. I am poor at it myself. It is one way traffic really from the caregiver to the cat. The cat is thoroughly enjoying it and the human is discharging their responsibilities but rarely do people enjoy playing with their cat and certainly not to the same extent that their cat enjoys it. This is why humans don't instigate play sessions enough from the cat's perspective.

Where does the aggression take place?

And your analysis should look at, if applicable, where this aggression takes place. It may, for example, take place after your cat has been looking out the window and seen an intruding cat on her territory. This is territory outside the home which she might never use but from the cat's perspective it is her 'home range' nonetheless. 

A stranger on it is an invading cat. The resident cat should chase the cat away but they can't do it. Therefore, they have to be aggressive towards their human caregiver instead. This is normally described as redirected aggression or displaced aggression. The human is the innocent bystander under the circumstances. So, this analysis will help you find out whether the aggression is linked to the location where the aggression takes place.

Play turns to hunting hands?

Play sessions with cats can develop into aggressive sessions. I guess everybody knows that by now. There is a limit to how much roughhousing you can deliver to a domestic cat before the reactive behaviour of the cat becomes frankly dangerous and harmful to the person especially if hands are used inappropriately. This is overstimulation and petting becoming provocative from the cat's standpoint. It is described as 'putting your hands in the blender'.

Trim nails

Another thing you can do is to keep your cat's nails trimmed. And you should train your cat not to see your hands as toys. That means using a cat tease to play with your cat rather than thrusting your hand into the blender as mentioned.

Defensive aggression from timid cat?

Some cats are going to be timid and some domestic cats are going to be more confident. Timid cats may feel more threatened under perhaps innocuous circumstances. And when threatened a timid cat might become an aggressive cat.

One way to avoid timid cats becoming defensive and aggressive is to allow them a space where they can hide or avoid others by climbing vertically. This means a hiding space on the ground and/or a vertical space high up to where they can retire to feel safe and to perhaps avoid the unwanted attentions of other cats, another cat or people in the home when it is a multi-person home and there's plenty of noise and where maybe one person is not so great in handling cats.

Tell me your tips please.

I hope these thoughts help someone and their cat.

Berkeley cat has sudden aversion to being petted

I have taken the title from The Mercury News. The reason why I am writing this note is because a reader of that online newspaper asked a question of their resident expert, Joan. They said that their nine-year-old beloved indoor cat had suddenly taken to clawing at her after she petted him for more than a minute. She found it very odd because he is usually very docile. She wanted to know the cause. I'd like to throw my hat into the ring.

Cat being petted. Image: Getty.

Joan suggested two possible causes: that the cat was feeling pain for some reason and petting him exacerbated the pain causing the inadvertently provoked aggression in response. And secondly she thought that he might be feeling stressed because of a change to his lifestyle as a result of the pandemic.

It's a good question which implies that for many years this woman has been petting her cat in a completely acceptable way. Therefore nothing has changed in the way that she is petting her cat. Therefore the change must come within the cat i.e. there is pain or the environment has changed.

The most likely cause would be that this middle-aged cat has developed sensitivity to petting. This could be quite easily investigated. It may be a certain area of his body which is tender. The owner could do what veterinarians do namely palpate her cat which means to feel her cat and apply a bit of gentle pressure. She can then observe her cat's response. An aggressive response after palpitating a certain area would clearly indicate pain in that area. She could then telephone her vet is there was no external injury.

Cats perceive these circumstances as the person being aggressive towards them. They don't rationalise the fact that they are injured and the person is trying to find the injury. They just feel pain and the pain is being caused by a person so they think that person is deliberately causing them pain. And this would apply even if they have lived with that person for many years in a very good relationship. It's instinctive.

If that doesn't produce any results then you need to look to the environment. I don't believe the coronavirus is the problem (but see below). There may be something else in the environment which is upsetting him. For example, there may be a cat outside which he has noticed which is irritating him because that cat is invading his territory. He wants to attack the cat but can't because he's an indoor cat. Therefore he redirects his aggression at his owner. Petting can irritate under these circumstances and therefore he claws the owner. This, I believe, is the most likely kind of environmental issue causing this abnormal response to petting.

There might be someone else in the home which is upsetting them. Or the owner might be away a lot more than before. On reflection Covid might be a factor on this basis because if the owner was home all the time and then it suddenly away from home the cat might be upset. However the aggressive reaction under these circumstances is unlikely.

The first thing to do is to check health as Joan said (the most likely cause) and then to go through the environmental tick box possibilities until you hit the right answer. The problem might subside naturally with patience.

Do cats bite more than dogs?

Officially, in terms of recorded incidents, cats do not bite more than dogs. In fact, it is quite the reverse. For example, statistics tell me that in the US dog bites are by far the most common type of animal bites with around 4.7 million incidents annually (2009). An estimated 800,000 dog bites resulted in medical care for the victim. And about 30+ fatal dog bites occur annually. 

Classic Dracula cat bite marks on human leg. Pic: MikeB

By contrast, there are an estimated 400,000 cat bites annually in the US. They lead to an estimated 66,000 hospital emergency visits (once again as at 2009).

However, rabies is more often transmitted by cat bites and dog bites. There were 18 rabies cases from dogs and 300 rabies cases from cats in the US in 2009. The source for this information is the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the US.

RELATED: How often do cats transmit rabies to people in the USA?

The reason why domestic and stray cats are more likely to transmit rabies to people is because they are off the lead. They wander freely. They are more likely to encounter wildlife who then pass the disease to them in a bite. It is just the nature of how companion animal ownership takes place.

RELATED: Walking your cat on a leash to explore and stimulate. A lifestyle to aspire to?

It's almost certain that recorded incidents in official figures, as stated, are not the true figures. There must be millions of small bites by cats and dogs that take place inside homes and in backyards across the planet annually which go unreported.

Therefore, I don't think we can be certain as to the answer to the question in the title.

For dog bites, the injury rate is highest for children in the age range 5-9. The rates decrease with increasing age. The rate is significantly higher for boys compared to girls. When boys and girls are 15 years of age there is no difference in terms of being bitten by a dog. Injuries normally occur to the arm and leg followed by the leg and foot, followed by the head and neck. When a dog bites a young child under the age of four they attacked the head and neck region (source: CDC).

I don't have CDC figures for cats but they are likely to bite hands more than any other part of the human anatomy because of over-petting and cats treating hands as play objects. Or a person reaches out to a stray cat and the fearful cat bites the person's hand.

Legs as well will be attacked by cats because they are at the same level as them.

Note: I believe that the 2009 CDC stats come from 1994! Anyway the comparison is the important thing.

Classic stand-off between resident cat and invading cat

This is a classic stand-off between a resident cat, the orange cat that you see in the video, and an invading cat which is the grey-and-white cat. The resident cat wins the stand-off. It's entirely classic and normal and the intention is to avoid a fight which would harm both of them. Common sense dictates that they don't want to be harmed if it can be avoided. 

Apparently these two meet frequently like this and on every occasion the resident ginger wins the argument. This is probably because he is the resident cat. It's his territory and the grey-and-white knows it. If the roles were reversed I would expect the grey-and-white to win the argument. 

Although, of course, you get cats who are inherently more dominant and those that are inherently more submissive in the same way you get cats that are more confident and those that are more timid. This would be a factor in who wins this kind of stand-off argument.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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ASSOCIATED: Cat ear positions.

You can hear this strange yowling sound which has bemused people in the past but thanks to the Internet it is now understood. It's just a close-range sound to intimidate the other. You'll note that the ears are pulled back slightly. They are not pulled all the way back to fully protect them. I think this is because they probably both knew that they were not going to physically fight because of the fact that they've met before under similar circumstances and know the outcome.

ASSOCIATED: Do domestic cats fight to the death?

The video was made in the town of Gudauta in the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia. She must have sent the video into the Daily Mail newspaper who pay for videos. It was made by student Salima Sanguliya, 20, who is the caregiver of the ginger cat, Simon.

She gets very close to the cats at one time which I think was unwise because there was lots of aggression on display and one of them might have redirected it against her.

74-year-old man shoots and kills his neighbour's cat

NEWS/COMMENT: The information is skimpy but it comes from the police of Brookville, Pennsylvania, USA. Police were called to a home on Summit Street on Sunday after a neighbour had shot and killed his neighbour's cat. 

We don't have a photo of the man or the cat. Sorry. Photo of police are in the public domain.

It appears that the deceased cat was an indoor cat who escaped and which had made his/her way to inside a neighbour's porch. The neighbour, a 74-year-old man, tried to remove the cat from his porch using a broom. He tried on two occasions which appears to have aggravated the cat causing the cat to become aggressive to him which resulted in the man retaliating by shooting the animal. 

There is no more information. I feel I need to comment. There would appear to be some background antagonism in this story which is not been mentioned. There will also appear to be antagonism towards cats by the person who shot the cat. And, perhaps more importantly, the man who shot the cat aggravated the cat with a broom on two occasions to the point where the cat became aggressive. Yes, I know I am repeating myself but the point needs to be stressed. Although I am guessing as to the cause of the cat's aggression as the story is short on detail.

If I'm correct, and I are almost certainly am correct because domestic cats do not attack people willy-nilly without provocation, this is a case of animal cruelty under the local applicable laws which will not be applied in this instance because they really are.

Wild Whiskers of Tauranga, New Zealand do a great job in managing community cats

The photograph that you see on this page caught my eye, which is why I was drawn to writing about this rescue organisation: Wild Whiskers of Tauranga, New Zealand. In New Zealand there is an issue with feral cats. In line with their neighbours, Australia, the country want to kill feral cats and simply get rid of them in the most convenient and expedient way, which leads to cruelty. So it is particularly nice to read about this caring organisation, managed and owned by veterinary nurse Sharna Asplin.

 Wild Whiskers of Tauranga, New Zealand do a great job in managing community cats. Photo: Wild Whiskers.

Sharna is a smart cookie. She is very sensible and organised. Everything that she has said about community cat in her area is absolutely spot on correct. Every organisation concerned with managing and caring for community cats in the interests of the cats and the residents should see how she works.

She runs a volunteer-run group and they have two focuses. In the summer it is kitten season and over this period she uses her best efforts to take in feral kittens (she describes them as "wild kittens") and to socialise them so that they can become loved domestic cats in their adulthood. The kitten should be within that critical timeframe, the first eight weeks of life approximately, when they can be socialised successfully and relatively easily. It's much harder to socialise adult feral cats.

She has 20 foster carers across Tauranga who take the kittens in. They make sure that the kittens will become excellent companion animals and after that assessment they treat the kittens for fleas and worms and sterilise, vaccinate and microchip them.

They put them up for adoption. The other focus is during the winter months when they employ TNR techniques. They do this with considerable care and the involvement, wisely, of the residents. They make sure that the community cats are not owned by posting on social media. They also scan for microchips and if possible they place a "found cat collar" on the cat. They also contact local veterinary clinics. They then neuter the cats and release them back to where they came from.

She says that they only conduct TNR where there are proper systems in place, namely that there is a volunteer to manage the colony or cat and a regular food source so that the cats does not present a danger to native wildlife.

Sometimes they have to euthanize a feral cat because of injury and/or sickness.

She says that they have rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed over 100 kittens in the past season from October to April and they have trapped, neutered and returned adults.

She makes the excellent point that as these are community cats she needs to ensure that she engages with the community to obtain their cooperation. This, I'm sure, helps to avoid antagonism and it also helps to create a community spirit in dealing with what is a community problem. She says that if a citizen of the area finds a stray cat the best thing that they can do is to take photographs and post a description of the cat online. This helps to get the ball rolling because they can find out whether the cat is feral or owned.

It can be difficult to distinguish between a domestic cat which has become a stray, looking dirty and starving, and a genuine feral cat. People should not assume that because a cat is dirty and thin that it is a feral cat. The same by the way goes for behaviour. Often domestic cats can be fearful of strangers which is a behavioural trait of feral cats. For this reason, I have always argued that people should not be shooting at cats that they believe are feral (if approved by the local authority). It might be shooting someone's pet which has become lost or has been abandoned. Anyway it is essentially very cruel.

In acknowledgement of her good work the local authority has provided her with a $4000 grant which has been a great help to her during the coronavirus pandemic because it precluded her ability to raise funds. Well done to Sharna.

My thanks to Sun Live for the report.

Males cats try harder when females struggle during mating

I am referring to domestic cats. My personal research indicates very clearly that during mating when the female struggles or complains the male tries harder and continues beyond the point at which he'd normally have stopped.

Savannah cats mating at a cat breeder. Photo: Mike B

You know that the male prevents the female moving away by grasping her by the scruff of the neck in his mouth (as seen in the photo above). It is quite a brutal process. It sort of looks a bit like rape as it includes violence of a sort. The biting of the females neck to keep her compliant and the barbed penis raking her vagina when it is withdrawn. It's not a loving event, let's put it that way!

My cat likes to have sex on my arm when I am wearing an old fleece dressing gown. This is not uncommon. Or this sort of vestigial sex is seen in various forms by male domestic cats and dogs even after neutering. Testosterone is not the only motivator for sex.

But if I move my hand when he is about to stop, he continues. And he will continue as long as I move my hand. He stops eventually but he sees my hand moving and decides that the female he is having sex with is struggling to be free of him. His response is to deny her that release and continue.

If my imaginative interpretation is correct, I am unsure why he does this. It may simply be a process of dominance and the struggle by the female may provoke him to continue. It may even excite him as violence can excite humans during sex.

I am speculating wildly but it is very noticeable so something is happening. It has never been reported before perhaps because it is hardly important.

The photo is by MikeB.

Humans looking like Martians attacked by super aggressive Sphynx cat in madhouse

'Cat Can't Get Over The Loss Of Her Kittens And Becomes Aggressive' - is the title of the video but it looks more like a madhouse to me with the people in it dressed like monsters to the cat. They are dressed in full cycle gear with cycle helmets and to any normal cat they, I think, would look incredibly hazardous. I think this a joke video. If it is not something is terribly wrong.



These people are making things worse. It is said that the cat became aggressive after she lost her kittens and she is locked inside a room alone. This is going to make her very agitated and then when they let her out they are wearing clothes and headgear which protect them from her. This makes them look incredibly strange to a cat.

I have got to say that they look incredibly strange to me as well. It looks like a complete madhouse and a totally bizarre situation that has got fully out of hand. This cat is in a desperate situation. She is completely isolated emotionally and lost. This is not the solution. The answer is to totally normalise her life by making the home warm and friendly. She needs to be totally re-socialised. She has lost her socialisation in an entirely hostile environment devoid of emotional support.

The problem really is with the people looking after. Yes, she may have been emotionally disturbed by loss of kittens but I believe that she will overcome that in a proper friendly environment. This cat is also a full-time indoor cat so the environment is already somewhat artificial. It also looks incredibly sparse and unfriendly. Jackson Galaxy would have a field day in this place.

I feel very sad about this cat and an entirely different approach needs to be taken by these people if it is genuine and not a Mickey take.

Question: Is Lux The Celebrity Aggressive Cat Declawed?

Having followed the Lux story from its inception on the Internet I am yet to see any reference made to the possibility that this cat - who is supposed to have a history of aggressive behaviour - has been declawed. We know that Jackson Galaxy, the well-known cat behaviourist is figuring out what is wrong and what causes the aggression (his assessment will be discussed on his Animal Planet television programme “My Cat from Hell").  However, I'm certain that Mr Galaxy has not made any reference to whether Lux has been declawed or not. We know he has struggled to solve the riddle.

It is a question worth asking simply because a cat's behaviour can be detrimentally affected by the declawing operation. It depends on the individual cat. Some cats will be affected much more than others. Some cats will undergo a botched operation and may be suffering from acute discomfort with bone shards in their toes and/or nail regrowth under the skin. There are all kinds of possibilities and cats do not disclose their discomfort except sometimes in aggressive behaviour which apparently has no obvious cause. Cats can become vulnerable/fearful without claws, it is said, and tend to bite in compensation.

I am of course simply speculating. I do not have the faintest idea whether Lux was declawed and if he was whether it affects his behaviour and has turned him into a cat with a history of aggression. I am simply asking the question and I hope somebody is able to answer it. Perhaps Mr Galaxy can and will do so in his television programme which is very shortly to be aired.

What Does a Cat Signal with Its Ears?

A cat's ears are expressive because they are very mobile. They are mobile because there are many muscles to control the earflap. A cat's ears can change direction so the ears can pick up sound from different sources and they can also be placed into different postures. Each posture is a reflection of the emotional state of the cat.

There are 5 basic ear signals which are related to the following moods: relaxed, agitated, defensive, alert and aggressive.

RELAXED

When a cat is relaxed the cat's ears point forward. They also point slightly outward. The cat quietly listens and quickly picks up interesting sounds over a large frequency range. A cat's hearing range is wider than ours and can pick up much higher frequencies.

ALERT

When a cat picks up an interesting sound, the position of the ears indicate an alert mode. The cat stares at the point of interest and the ears become fully erect. The ears rotate slightly so that they point directly forwards. As long as the cat looks towards the interesting sound the ears remain pricked up. If while the cat is focused on this particular sound, another sound is emitted somewhere else one of the cat's ears will turn and face that sound. Only the ear points towards the new sound as the cat remains looking at the original interesting sound. Sometimes a cat will listen behind him by swiveling his ears to the rear (actually half to the rear) while looking ahead. This is commonplace in fact.

AGITATED

An agitated cat will be suffering from frustration, apprehension and might be in a state of emotional conflict.  The cat's ears will demonstrate a nervous twitch. A particular wild cats species called the caracal has the longest ear tufts of all the cats and the tufts is black. These tufts will move more than the ear itself and are used as a means of communication or to provide signals to other cats. The Maine Coon has, for a domestic cat, the longest tufts of hair at the end of its ears of all the domestic cats.

Another purebred cat that has more than the usual amount of visibility in respect of its ear tufts, is the Abyssinian.

Ear damaged in fight

DEFENSIVE

A defensive cat displays flattened ears. The cat's ears are pressed tightly against the head. This protects the ears if a fight starts. There are many photographs on the Internet of stray and feral cats with torn ears from fights so you can see why a cat has developed a method to minimise damage to them.

When viewed from the side, the flattened and ears are almost invisible and the head has a more rounded profile. The well-known cat breed the Scottish Fold has ears that are permanently folded down against its head which gives the appearance that the cat is permanently in a defensive mode.

AGGRESSIVE

An aggressive cat has a special ear posture. The cat's ears are rotated but not fully flattened. This posture allows the back of the earflaps to be visible to the opposite cat. This is a position which indicates to the opposite cat that the cat is ready for action and trouble. It is a preliminary behaviour and a signal that the cat is ready to fight. The signal can be made more pronounced and obvious in the species of wild cats because on the back of the earflaps they often have white or light coloured fur in the shape of a filled circle or similar shape. This makes the rotated ear even more visible than usual.

The position of the cat's ear under these circumstances is a warning to the opposite cat. The ears are not signalling that the cat is defensive. The cat is signalling that its ears are ready to be flattened into a defensive position in preparation for a fight; hence that this position is a signal that the fight will imminently start.

You will see the light coloured hair referred to above on the back of the ear flaps of wild cat hybrid domestic cats because their wild cat parents have those spots. The ear spots are called “ocelli". In the wildcat hybrid the spots are not as bright as they are on his or her wildcat parent's ears.

Requirements of Cats Kept in the Home

The requirements of cats kept in the home is important in America but less so in Britain for the obvious reason that a lot more cats are kept indoors permanently in America than in Britain. There is a definite culture difference with respect to cat caretaking between the countries. One reason may be that there are more purebred cats in the US and also going outdoors may be more hazardous with respect to predation by wild animals.

However, keeping cats indoors reduces the home range for the cats significantly. It also places individual cats in close proximity to each other. However studies indicate that neutered male and female domestic cats can be housed successfully indoors if there is enough space of sufficient quality and provided the cats have become used to these sorts of conditions from kittenhood. Cats require more space than we think and they need to be able to get away from each other and and out of sight of each other from time to time.

Harmonious group - Photo by Bibi

In one study¹ of 14 cats who had 10 square meters of space each, it was found that most of the cats had a favorite spot. Sometimes a spot was shared and sometimes a spot was unique to an individual cat. In sharing places cats lived peacefully together by time sharing these places and thereby avoiding each other.

Male cats have larger home ranges than female cats generally and this is demonstrated in respect of full-time indoor domestic cats. In this study males had ranges of 4-5 rooms while females had ranges of 3-3.6 rooms. Females are therefore slightly more suited to indoor life.

Another scientist² recommended two resting places for each cat; one on the floor enclosed on three sides (my comment: for a cat to hide and feel safe. What about protection from above?) and the other should be elevated with a good viewpoint (my comment: there is no doubt that cats like high vantage points and can spend long periods on perches). This recommendation is important in preventing behavioral problems in multi-cat households.

In addition, positioning scratching posts or a "scratching surface" (my comment for posts: large, heavy and tall) at places of exit and entry in the home and near sleeping places is helpful. Litter boxes should be in quiet areas. They should be cleaned daily.

Another species of companion animal such as a dog is beneficial provided the cats are socialised to dogs. Elisa, a regular contributor this this website has a dog, Dreyfuss who loves cats and the cats in her home often love him and rest on him. Elisa has a harmonious multi-cat home. Elisa's caring, cat orientated input contributes greatly.

Interactions with the human caretaker are important. Domestic cats are not "adapted to living in close proximity to each other". Moving away and dispersing to avoid aggression is harder for a full-time indoor cat. Cat behavior problems can be due to stressful environmental situations - "social factors". This is a reference to interactions between cats and cats to human.

Related cats are more likely to get on that unrelated cats. Four or more unrelated cats in a house are more likely to have behavioral problems than less cats that are related.

Cats introduced to a multi-cat household are chosen by the owner and these cats may not get on. They may not see each other as part of the same social group and be forced to live in close proximity to each other. This is likely to cause stress.

Associated:

1. The Multi-cat Household
2. Multi-cat Household

Reference:

1. Mertens and Schär 1988
2. Schroll 
3. Generally: The Welfare of Cats ISBN 978-1-4020-6143-1

Housing Cats at Shelters

The method of housing cats at shelters has an effect on how adoptable the cat is to potential adopters. It also affects the amount of stress suffered by the cat at the shelter. I'd like to summarise the conclusions of three studies into housing at shelters.

Ottway and Hawkins 2003

Cats that did not know each other and who were housed in communal groups were more stressed than cats that were either (1) housed singly or where (2) cats where housed as a group but the cats were familiar with each other.

Durman 1991

When cats are housed in small groups of 4-7 cats in rooms in a shelter, newly introduced cats were stressed and were aggressive towards other cats. After four days of attempts to escape and vocalisations that showed signs of stress, these signs subsided. However, other signs of stress such as sitting underneath shelving changed more slowly. After two weeks an "equilibrium" was reached. After one year cats were more likely to have formed friendships.

Gourkow 2001

Cats kept alone in small stainless steel cages with food, water, litter tray and bedding with visits and handling by a number of different people where "less likely to be adopted" or adopted later than the other cats. The other cats were handled by one or two people only in the same way each time and were housed:

1. as single cats in the same stainless steel cage but it had wooden shelving and an area to hide;
2. in groups of eight cats in a communal cage with hiding places and shelving;
3. as for 2 but with more furniture.

Overall conclusion (mine): new cats at shelters are probably better off being housed singly or in their original group until acclimatized to the new surroundings and then introduced to other groups if there is a space problem at the shelter. The environment should be "enriched" and provide hiding spaces. Being kept apart initial also allows checks on health and behavior etc.

Most Common Cat Behavior Problems

A discussion about the most common cat behavior problems. First we must recognise the fact that cat behavior problems are problems from the point of view of people. Often a behavior problem is normal behavior for a domestic cat that a person does not like; not strictly speaking a cat behavior problem. In fact, that is the default scenario. I know that obvious fact is hard for some people to digest, but it's true.

My research indicates that it is difficult to rank cat behavior problems as there is not enough widespread available research. In any case if the true problem is about our perceptions, likes and dislikes, all we are doing is ranking what we don't like about domestic cat behavior.

In no particular order the most common cat behavior problems referred to Pet Behavior Counsellors (APBC), a UK organisation were:

• Indoor marking behavior - this will be spraying urine and depositing feces. Feces are used by wild cat species to mark territories. Domestic cats can do it too from time to time for various reasons.
• Aggression towards people. This is particularly unhelpful as often aggression towards a person will be defensive in nature. Accordingly it might be argued that the aggression as caused by the person.
• Aggression towards other cats. This was complained about half as much as aggression towards people. Once again the root cause of this form of cat behavior problem might be traceable back to the person who looks after the cats. If he or she introduces a cat into a multi-cat household that upsets the hierarchy leading to inter cat aggression it could be said that the problem is a human one.
• Difficulties with house training.
• Attention seeking.
• Self-mutilation (one cause: separation anxiety). This is often caused by stress and stress can be caused by an inappropriate environment created by a person. The point I keep making is that cat behavior problems are not free-standing but often a reaction to something we did.
• Of the purebred cats the Siamese and Burmese (related cat breeds by the way) were the most represented in respect of cat behavior problems. This does not automatically mean that these breeds are the worst behaved. It might mean there are more Burmese and Siamese cats in circulation. They are popular cat breeds especially the Siamese.

A study published in 2000  and 2001 (Bradshaw et al and Casey respectively) compared:

1. data collected from questionnaires given to English people living in the south of England with:
2. a diagnostic review from the USA.

Certain cat behavior problems were "over-represented" meaning occurring more than average. These were:

1. House soiling which includes inappropriate elimination and marking. Inappropriate elimination is a litter box/stress problem while marking is deliberate territory marking and
2. Aggression towards people and other cats.

Cat behavior problems that were under-represented were scratching and fearful behavior.

The studies produced different results to the APBC referrals. This is partly put down to differences in cat caretaker knowledge of cat behavior. Also people will seek help for problems such as house soiling as it causes a lot of disruption in a person's home.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy and Cats

Gentleness and kindness will work wonders with cats. Most cats have gentle dispositions. They resent ill-treatment and will respond accordingly. If you find cats gentle, interesting and good companions your beliefs will be confirmed in their behaviour. If, on the contrary, you are somewhat fearful of the domestic cat and believe that they are mean and nasty, you are quite likely to find that belief confirmed in equal measure. This is the self-fulfilling prophecy with regard to the keeping of cats and our interaction with cats.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is one where a misplaced belief comes true because in having that belief an individual's actions, directly or indirectly create the situation under which his beliefs are likely to come to pass.

In relation to the domestic cat it is easy to see how the self-fulfilling prophecy takes place a million times every hour of every day.  A particular case comes to mind immediately. An animal control officer thinks stray cats are nasty, disease spreading animals. He grabs hold of a stray domestic cat disregarding common sense principles and disrespecting the cat's innate defensiveness towards strangers. The cat hisses, struggles and scratches. The cat is deemed to have behaviour unsuitable for adoption and is put down at a cat shelter.  If an elderly lady had approached the cat and feed him an entirely different assessment of that cat's suitability would have been made.

The path to eliminating the self-fulfilling prophecy in relation to cats is education. A good understanding of the domestic cat leads to a proper respect for the character and skills of the domestic cat, which in turn enables a person to interact with the cat in the correct way.

Saving Cat And Crimimal

You'll love this win-win prison program in Washington state, USA. Everything about it is positive. I guess there will some downsides (having the cat litter in a 12x10 prison cell) but overall it is an enlightened idea. I love enlightened ideas that push the envelope. We need to do that to improve things.

This story concerns a program, Cuddly Catz, set up by the managers of Larch Correctional Facility in Yacolt, Washington. Yacolt is not far from Vancouver or Portland. 

The idea is to marry rescue cats that are considered unadoptable (and therefore destined possibly for euthanasia) with incarcerated criminals who are suitable to care for them. The primary objective as I see it is to teach the selected inmates to take responsibility for someone else. In this case a cat that needs someone.

The advantage to the prisoner is that they get out of a dormitory into a twin cell. That's the tangible, immediate advantage anyway. The longer term advantage to the prisoner is that they can begin to stop thinking of themselves and start taking responsibility for a companion animal that needs a caretaker.

Princess Natalie was a scared and defensively aggressive cat. After being cared for by Joseph Contreras she is still difficult to handle but much improved. She is the black cat in the picture above.

The guy in the larger picture above, Richard Amaro, holds Clementine. Richards says, “You get close to them.” It seems that Richard has improved his life and there is no doubt that Clementine's life has been improved to. She has probably been saved.

I presume these cats came from a rescue center. If true they deserve praise to. Very enlightened.

Original story: Global Animal - thanks

Should We Kiss Our Cat?

Yes, of course but...This is a controversial subject or a non-subject. It depends on your point of view. Nearly all of us kiss our cat. I do all the time and recommend it. We have an urge to do it. I am making the presumption that we are cat lovers and that we like cats; not everyone does.

The usual place to kiss your cat is probably on the forehead. I can remember a visitor to one of my Flickr photographs of a black cat annotating the photo "kiss". The spot was bang in the middle of the forehead.

But she would not have been able kiss that cat in my opinion because the cat was a fourth generation from the wild Savannah cat who had little contact with people. If you could get close to her and lean forward to kiss her on the forehead she would have backed off well before you got close. There would have been a risk of defensive action by her.

We kiss a cat for our benefit. Cats don't kiss each other. They greet in various ways but the nearest they get to a kiss is to touch noses. It is a greeting and they are probably smelling each other.

Cats are much smaller than us and our heads are a large object. Cats in general don't like large objects approaching them. They might become a bit anxious. It depends very much on the individual cat. Certainly if the kiss is placed on the forehead and the person approaches from the front, a cat might back off even if she knows you. Also some cats don't like to have the whole body of a person leaning and towering over them. Leaning forward to kiss a cat can mean that you tower over a cat. It depends on your positioning.

There is a slight risk of getting scratched on the face if you place your head quickly in front of a cat; especially if the cat is not familiar with you.

So, one possible downside is a scratch. What about ringworm? Ringworm is one of the most common diseases in cats. It is easily transmitted between cats and I am told that it is one of the most common diseases in rescue cats. I suppose this is because they are close together.

Ringworm can be transmitted from a cat to a person. It is conceivable that you could get ringworm from your cat if you kiss her. Ringworm normally develops at the site of contact. A cat with ringworm rubbing against your leg might result in ringworm on your leg. I have a seen a picture of man with ringworm all over his neck having cuddled his rescue cat.

Don't get me wrong. This is not a criticism of cats. I love cats. But I also like a bit of realism. We should respect our cat fully but also respect his or her behavior as a domesticated small wildcat and observe common sense in relation to possible downsides from what is an essentially a very pleasurable experience: kissing your cat.