Purebred stray Burmese cat trapped in St Paul's Cathedral

This is a rather strange story because we are told that the Burmese cat that fell 15 feet down a shaft in the basement of St Paul's Cathedral was sold (apparently) by a breeder and she is also micro-chipped.

The RSPCA rescued the cat. They named her Paula after St Paul's Cathedral which I think is a nice idea.

Purebred stray Burmese cat trapped in St Paul's Cathedral. Name Pauls after St Paul's. Image: RSPCA.

A teenager in the Cathedral yard raised the alarm after seeing Paula vanish under a slab. The teenager was playing in the churchyard after school. She saw Paula run off. The teenager became upset but she was able to give the RSPCA a geotrack location which helped the RSPCA officer to pinpoint the cat's position. Well done to this teenager.

The officer spoke to the Cathedral's security about gaining access and discovered that it is an old storage basement that apparently no one had used a key to get down to for 25 years.

She walked down a steep and narrow staircase into complete darkness before discovering a chamber which led to several corridors and found the cat hiding, covered in fleas. Clearly Paula had been a stray for some time.

It is fortunate that she fell onto a bed of leaves which broke her fall and she was pretty well okay except for a slight graze on her chin and in desperate need of flea treatment; indicative of the fact that she had been astray for some time. Although she doesn't look as if she was starving.

The RSPCA contacted Paula's registered owner as per the microchip details and discovered that the cat had been sold four years before. It appears that the microchip relates to a cat breeder and that the purchaser of the cat did not change the microchip details.

Therefore the RSPCA don't know the current owner if one could argue that Paula still has an owner because she's been astray for a long time and it appears lost or abandoned.

The RSPCA have put posters around St Paul's Cathedral in in the hope of finding her owner. Paula was treated at RSPCA Finsbury Park Animal Hospital before being moved to the RSPCA Laybourne Animal Centre near West Malling in Kent.

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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.

Burmese cats are attention-seeking according to study

An extensive study which referred to earlier studies said this about attention-seeking cat breeds:

"Burmese, Ragdoll and Maine Coon were ranked the most attention-seeking breeds [19], but only Burmese was replicated in our sociability toward humans factor. However, Siamese was ranked the second in the sociability factor, which joins results between studies."

The name of the study and the scientists are listed below.

What they are saying is that the Burmese cat breed has been claimed to be attention-seeking in comparison to other breeds in an earlier study and they came to a similar conclusion in their study. They called it the ' sociability factor'.

This must mean that Burmese cats are more likely to want to be interacting with and close to their human caregiver. I see this as a good character trait although 'attention-seeking' implies a negative character trait.

Readers have to be cautious when interpreting cat studies for a number of reasons. But they are useful guidelines.

The problem with the description 'attention-seeking' is that it cuts both ways. A neglected cat because of poor cat caregiving might be described as attention-seeking but the issue would not be with the cat but the person. You see the problem with the attention-seeking description.

That said these studies would have compared different breeds and found that the Burmese was more prone to seek attention under normal conditions I hope. Although often they send questionnaires to cat owners. This can lead to subjective answers which are less than reliable.

The attention-seeking trait would suit many people and not suit others. For me, the best cat-to-human relationships are close ones. Where there is a nice bond. Under that kind of relationship you might get an attention-seeking cat for the opposite reason stated above: the cat expects to be with their owner because that is how it normally is.

In each case it is down to the human to dictate affairs. The cat responds instinctively. Humans control the relationship and often dictate whether a cat is attention-seeking or standoffish.

P.S. Siamese cats also feature high on sociability and Burmese cats have Siamese genes in them as they are pointed cats. Siamese cats are said to be loyal.

Gloria Stephens in her book Legacy of the Cats says that the Burmese cat "loves to be around people and demands love". Well there you are. She backs up the study.

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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.

Study: Mikkola, S.; Salonen, M.; Hakanen, E.; Sulkama, S.; Lohi, H. Reliability and Validity of Seven Feline Behavior and Personality Traits. Animals 2021, 11, 1991. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11071991

Thailand: free giveaway Siamese cat, dark colour, two months old

The advert on the Cat Thailand website is:  แจกฟรี แมววิเชียรมาศ สีเข้ม อายุ2เดือน, which translates to "Free Giveaway Siamese cat, dark, two months old.

Thailand: free giveaway Siamese cat, dark colour, two months old.

The cat looks very much like a Burmese cat or a dark Siamese. Although it will not be a purebred cat because he or she is not registered with a cat association. But the cat has a very nice appearance, very reminiscent of a purebred Burmese although lighter in colour. But this is a nice pointed cat.

The Cat Thailand website has lots of free cats. I find it interesting to explore websites from countries other than those in the West. It's instructive. We shouldn't confine ourselves to the cultures and ideas of the West. We need to push the envelope and go thousands of miles to Asia for example. It provides us with an insight into what happens in those countries on cat ownership.

In the West, you shouldn't see this sort of free giveaway cat advert. No doubt you do but it is frowned upon. This is because the cat can go to the wrong person. The kind of person who might abuse animals. Sometimes cats are used to train dogs to fight. These sorts of people scour the free cat adverts. As I recall, the website Craigslist.org prohibits adverts of this kind.

Thai tabby cat with shortened tail.

All the adverts are of non-purebred cats which is why they are being given away for free. There is another interesting one of a cat with a very short tail. This is a tabby cat. Random bred cats without tails are more common in Asia than in the West. This is not a Manx cat. He or she will be a standard moggy who inherited a stubby tail. These things happen and it is caused by a "spontaneous genetic mutation" to use the language of geneticists.

In another advert of a very pretty tortoiseshell-and-white cat, the advertiser simply states "looking for a home for a three month old female cat". They don't say that this is a tortoiseshell cat. I think it would have helped the advert if they had mentioned it. It seems that they don't know that they have a tortoiseshell cat.

There seems to be a certain amount of informal cat breeding going on in Thailand leading to an excess of unwanted cats. The same thing happens in the West.

What is the point of this article? It is to make us think about the worldwide cat issues. To explore cultures other than those in the West. To educate ourselves about them. There is a purebred cat marketplace in Asia but it is less well developed than in, say, America, which is the premier purebred cat marketplace. The UK is also very big on purebred cats but there are far fewer purebred cats than random bred cats in both these countries.

She’s painfully adorable and the clingiest cat I’ve ever met

The title comes from a tweet. It's good but of course all cats are adorable and some might be described as 'clingy'. However, I'm not sure that it is fair or reasonable to describe a domestic cat is "clingy". It's a negative or derogative term. It means that they want to be in contact with you all the time and are insecure and nervous. It's a mis-description as far as I am concerned. 

She’s painfully adorable and the clingiest cat I’ve ever met. Photo: Twitter. She looks like a Burmese or Burmese-type (non-standard as per the breed standard). I say that because he paws are white. This is not good for a Burmese. She is probably a moggy to be honest. Moggies are great, the best.

Some cats will like being with their human caregiver a lot which is beneficial to both parties. That's what you want as a cat owner. I normally see domestic cats been criticised for being too aloof and distant. And then you see people criticising domestic gas because they're too clingy. What do people want? Domestic cats are there to be companions and entertain. If they want to be with you they are better companions.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Are pregnant cats clingy?

And sometimes, if a person raises a cat from a new-born kitten that person is imprinted on their brain as their mother. And as they are kept in a permanent state of kittenhood they will constantly perceive the person as their mother and be more than normally dependent upon them. This should be accepted. It is actually charming to be needed.

When you have a cat you voluntarily take on the responsibility to care for the cat. And in discharging the responsibility you know that you will be needed by your cat. Of course that must be the case because they rely upon their owner for being fed and for the provision of security and warmth both emotional and physical.

Let's put away the concept of clingy domestic cats and think more about domestic cats would like to be with their human companion a lot. Another criticism of some domestic cats is that they are "attention seekers". This is another version of "clingy". I disagree once again.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Attention Seeking Behaviour in Cats

If a cat is being neglected then they might seek attention which is entirely normal. It is to be expected. If a cat is attention seeking then the cure is to pay attention and attend to the needs of your cat and enjoy it. 

If you find your cat is attention seeking then to be perfectly frank I'm not sure that you should have a cat companion. I'm not been critical because a lot of people are unsuited to have cat companions. That's okay as long as they realise it and don't adopt a cat.

Friendliest and most aggressive cat breeds

The friendliest cat breed is said to be the Oriental and Siamese both long and short haired. This is according to a University of Helsinki study in which they questioned the owners of about 4000 purebred cats living in Finland. They admit that when you assess cat personality through a questionnaire you don't necessarily obtain accurate information because subjectivity can distort the results.  Although they did their best to make the results as accurate as possible:

For validation, we studied the internal consistency, test–retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity of this questionnaire and extracted factors.

The Burmese ranks highly in friendliness too. They friendliest originate in the Far East - coincidentally?

Friendly Oriental Shorthair. Photo: Helmi Flick.

I will also add that it is difficult to label an entire cat breed with a clear personality because by and large breeders don't breed for personality but for appearance. That said, it is known that Siamese cats or those cats within the Siamese family, as I call them, are vocal and interactive. If a domestic cat wants to interact, they have to be called friendly. Cats of the Siamese cat family are like this. They can be quite demanding and have loud voices. 

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Information on cat behavior – 13 snippets

But sadly, the Turkish Van has been branded the most aggressive cat breed by quite a margin by this group of scientists (but how big is the difference?). Once again there has to be a caveat against their conclusions. I suggested in an earlier post that it is possible that the human participants in this study all bought their Turkish Van cats from the same breeder. And what if that breeder had a foundation male cat who was a little bit aggressive but a beautiful specimen in terms of appearance. That would distort the results. Or perhaps the same male foundation cat's offspring were all used by various breeders in Finland. That, too, would have the same effect. I'm just suggesting that distortions in these sorts of surveys can occur and I'm sure the scientists would go along with that.

Aggressive Turkish Van? No, but perhaps in comparison to the more friendly Siamese and Oriental. Photo: Helmi Flick.

However, I have read in the past, in a different study as I recall, that the Turkish Van has this reputation. It's interesting in one way to because I believe that the Turkish Van and Turkish Angora are the same cat. I believe that the cat fancy split one Turkish cat into two breeds. On that basis you would have thought that the Turkish Angora will also be aggressive but it is not listed in that way in the study.

There is difficulty in assessing a cat's personality in any case. The circumstances under which they live affects their behaviour and therefore the assessment of personality. A breeder can alter personality through selective breeding. This is a cat's personality being affected by inherited genes. But personality is also affected by environmental conditions and experiences. For example, a Turkish Van living in a slightly difficult human environment where the owner perhaps is not there a lot of the time and there are other cats, one of which might be a bully, would result in that individual Turkish Van presenting a less appealing personality to their owner.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Siamese Cat Behavior Problems

I believe that when assessing cat personality, you have to do it on a cat-by-cat basis and in a good environment from the cat's perspective to ensure that you bring out the best in them. I don't know whether these conditions were wholly met by this study. I doubt it. The strength of the study is that they looked at 4000 cats or more. That's a large number and therefore some of these wrinkles that I have mentioned might have been ironed out to a certain extent. Therefore, the study has some value.

The friendliness of the cats of the Siamese cat family squares up with the views of Gloria Stephens who wrote the book Legacy of the Cat. She knows cats very well particularly cat breeds because she was a show judge. Her views validate the conclusions of the scientist. But I would make your own mind up on whether the Turkish Van is aggressive. I think that you will find many very friendly examples of this breed. But as for the Siamese, Oriental Shorthair, Oriental longhair, Balinese and Burmese, you'll find that they are friendly. But are they any more friendly than many other individual cats of other breeds or non-purebred cats?

That's an issue which needs to be mentioned briefly. If you're talking about friendliness and aggressiveness in individual cats, you will find millions of fantastically friendly shelter cats waiting to be adopted. You don't need to go to a breeder and rely on her and fork out $1000. You can pay the far cheaper shelter adoption fee and probably find an individual cat which is more friendly than even the friendliest of Siamese cats.

There is one last point that comes to my mind. If you say that the Turkish Van is more aggressive than the Siamese you have to ask by how much. If it is by a small amount, you might not even notice it in day-to-day living. It is a question of degree. Once again, I am watering down these results because I am sceptical about them although by all means read the study if you wish which you can do so by clicking on this link. It is called: Reliability and Validity of Seven Feline Behavior and Personality Traits.

Zibeline Cat

This is a domestic breed of cat. The name is a French term for the sable Burmese. It means "like the sable", which is very dark brown. It was suggested as an alternative to "Burmese", but it was never widely accepted. In 1957 Dechambre proposed that the modern, pedigree Burmese cats should be called "Zibelines or Sables, because of their coat, and to distinguish them from the true Burmese".

Burmese 'Raison' standing on hind legs. Photo copyright Helmi Flick.

The body type of the Burmese varies from country to country. This cat breed has a longer body and legs in some countries which makes the breed different from those bred in the United States. In the Australian breed standard for this cat, they are described as of "foreign type" which means slender, such as the Oriental Shorthair. In North America, under what I presume is the CFA breed standard for the Burmese this cat is a round, cobby, small but heavy individual.

In the early 1930s Dr. Joseph C Thompson brought back from Burma to San Francisco a chocolate-coloured Burmese cat named Wong Mau. This cat was bred to a Siamese as no other cats of her colour were available for mating. It's been decided that Wong Mau may be regarded as the first Tonkinese according to Gloria Stephens in her book Legacy of the Cat. Although she says her 'type' was different to today's. The history is complicated but if would like to read more about this breed then please click on this link. There are many pages on this cat breed.

Tonkinese Health

There are few health problems reported for the Tonkinese. The foremost book on cat breed health and genetic diseases in cat breeds says that Tonkinese cats have a low resistance to upper respiratory diseases (also called URIs). Upper respiratory diseases are one of most common cat illnesses.

Tonkinese - photo by julicath/Cath (On- Off ;-))

The Tonkinese may be sensitive to "certain vaccines". Finally, this excellent book says that when anesthetizing the Tonkinese for whatever medical reason it is best to use gas rather than intravenous injections. Anesthetizing a cat carries risk of injury and death, please note.

It would seem then that this cat escapes the rather more extensive list of genetically inherited health problems associated with the Siamese and to a lesser extent the Burmese. The Tonkinese is a Siamese/Burmese hybrid.

I am a little surprised, accordingly. You might like to see the page on genetic diseases in purebred cats to see what I mean.

Source: page 181 of Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Aspects of Purebred Cats - ISBN 0-9634124-0-X

Picture of Cat Hissing

This is a picture of a cat hissing. It has to be, judging from the demeanor of the cat. The photographer does not say that the cat is hissing, however. This is probably one of the best photographs of a cat taking up an aggressive stance that I have seen.

Photo by Hannibal Poenaru

We know that hissing is intended to deter or see off an aggressor and it is a defensive measure. It is intended to mimic the snake's hiss. This has evolved over eons. It appears that animals recognise that the snake is dangerous otherwise there would be no point in mimicking the snake. You can see the ears starting to flatten too. This is to protect them in an ensuing fight. Cats ears get damaged in fights.

This particular cat could be a purebred. She looks a bit Burmese or Burmilla and she looks clean and cared for indicating a house cat rather than a feral or stray cat.

The teeth and gums are in good condition. She is probably quite young. The eyes sparkle. The picture was taken in France near Paris. The photo is published here under a creative commons license.

What is a purebred cat?

Purebred Burmese cat
Photo by Ma1974

A purebred cat is a cat of a recognized breed. These are cats that have parents of the same breed and so on for several generations. When the parentage is recorded by a cat association the cat is also a pedigree cat. The two go together in practice. Although you can have purebred cats that are unrecognized by cat associations such as the Bahraini Dilmun. This cat is arguably a purebred cat.

Purebred cats are all about ensuring that the lineage or parentage is pure. This means avoiding cats that are genetically not of the same breed.

The trouble is that when you do this to the letter you are likely to end up with genetically homozygous individuals. Or individual cats that are inbred. This is why the laws of marriage (for humans) in the UK prevents marriage to close relations. This rule is in place for health reasons as inbreeding results in health issues such as congenital defects, infertility and suppressed immune systems. The Burmese cat has a number of genetic illnesses.

Wild cats in captivity are frequently not purebred despite giving an impression to the contrary. The Bengal tiger in captivity will often be a "generic tiger" or cross breed but not of pure genes. Other wild cats, the small wildcats in captivity, will have little chance of survival because their population size is so low that they are inbred resulting in an unsustainable population.

Breeders of purebred cat sometimes have to outcross to other breeds and moggies to improve the genetic diversity. There is a constant battle between health and appearance. Appearance usually wins.

Burmese Cat Health - Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome

Burmese cats have a predisposition to acquiring Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome (FOPS).  The condition occurs mainly in Burmese cats and associated breeds (Tonkinese, Burmillas and occasionally Siamese cats). There is another disease that affects the head of this cat breed: meningeoncephalocele. See Burmese cat health.

What is FOPS? It is acute pain in the mouth and face that is so severe that is causes the cat to scratch at the mouth and self-mutilate on the outside of the mouth and inside (the tongue). It is obviously very distressing for cat and cat caretaker alike. It is similar to the human version of this disease and in other animals.

It seems that it is not entirely clear what causes it. Is there a genetic inheritance connection?

Certain things bring on FOPS such as kitten teething, mouth disease, stress and dental work. Damage to the trigeminal nerves seems to be one cause. Trigeminal nerves carry sensory messages from the face to the brain.

Treatment is multifaceted: bandaging claws to prevent self-mutilation, pain relief, tube feeding because cats do not wish to eat as it hurts (i.e. facial movement by chewing brings it on), tranquilisers?, possible euthanasia if the cat is in continual severe pain.

This page will tell you more (opens in a new window). I don't know if FOPS only affects American Burmese cats. There are different breeding processes and standards between the USA, UK and Europe. Breeding practices may have had a role to play in the creation of this disease in Burmese cats.

Burmese and Siamese Cats

The Burmese cat started out in Asia in these countries: Siam (now Thailand), Burma and the Malay Peninsula (now Malaysia). The breed started life in the USA when a female Burmese cat was imported from Asia in 1930.

Burmese cat - photo copyright Helmi Flick.

This cat was mated with a Seal Point Siamese. From the offspring of this mating, a male cat was bred back to his mother. The result was the Sable Burmese.

That is the connection between the Burmese and Siamese cat breeds.

You can read about the Burmese cat by clicking on this link.

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