Cats versus ferrets as rat deterrents and killers

I was keen to write about comparing ferrets and cats as rat deterrents and killers after reading an article in The Sunday Times about a father and son's enterprise in using domestic ferrets to chase rats in Marseille out of their hiding holes, into the open where they are trapped and put in drums and euthanised with carbon dioxide!

My immediate thought on that by the way was that killing animals with carbon dioxide is highly distressing (for the animal and some people 😊) and I wonder whether this father and son enterprise are unwittingly in violation of the animal welfare laws of France. You might find that ridiculous because I am being concerned about the welfare of rats but I don't practice speciesism as some other people do.

In fact, even in Marseille where this couple operate, there are residents there who actually quite like rats and respect them as sentient beings living side-by-side with the Marseille residents.

Anyway, ferrets have a long history of being rat catchers or rat deterrents, more accurately. They rose to prominence during the Black Death when rats were thought to be spreading the plague. The ferret took on semi-mythical status in the 19th century when Victorian Britain was teeming with rodents.

Queen Victoria's official ratcatcher was Jack Black. He lived in south London and became a celebrity. He wore a scarlet waistcoat and a leather sash inset with cast-iron rats. He was known for being able to hide six rats beneath his green topcoat. Black's favoured method for killing rats was ferrets.

The father and son family I mention are the Raynals. They have a team of 20 ferrets dominated by females because females work harder than males. The Raynals ferrets don't aim to kill rats themselves. They just scare them out of their holes into a wide net at which point Alexandre, the son, "tackles them" by which he means he put them in drums and then kills them, as mentioned with carbon dioxide which suffocates them.

The newspaper tells me that "by last Wednesday afternoon, the Raynals had caught about 30 rats in Square Paul Mélizan where [they met the journalist], and in several other small parks and squares. He said he might have 60 by the end of the week. These may sound like modest numbers, but a female rat can give birth to 2500 kittens in a lifetime, which is about three years. If 60 rats means about 30 females, the Raynals will have stopped about 75,000 rats from being born."

Ferrets and cats both have hunting instincts, but they’re effective against rats in different ways, and each has its pros and cons as a deterrent:

Ferrets as Rat Deterrents

• Strong Hunting Instinct: Ferrets are natural hunters and have been used historically for pest control, especially in tight spaces where cats may not reach.
• Scent as a Deterrent: Rats often avoid areas where ferrets live, as the ferret's scent is a natural deterrent. They emit a musky odour that rodents find threatening.
• Aggressive Toward Prey: Ferrets are relentless when chasing small animals and can be very effective at hunting down rats. They’re also more likely to explore small areas where rats hide.
• Challenges: Ferrets aren’t as independent as cats and need more supervision. They can get into small spaces and may harm themselves if left to roam unsupervised. Also, they don’t necessarily seek out rats independently as cats might.

Cats as Rat Deterrents

• Natural Stalkers and Predators: Many cats are instinctual hunters and enjoy stalking and catching small animals, including rats. Their presence alone can make rats wary of sticking around.
• Lower Maintenance: Cats are typically more independent, requiring less supervision than ferrets, and are often content to patrol their environment on their own.
• Ongoing Control: Cats are often better at providing ongoing control since they tend to stick to their territory and are vigilant about their surroundings.
• Challenges: Not all cats are interested in hunting, especially well-fed domestic cats. Some cats might ignore rats entirely, making them unreliable if they lack the hunting drive.

In Summary

If you need a dedicated rat deterrent, a ferret may be more reliable in the short term for flushing out rats from their hiding spots. However, a cat may provide a longer-term solution due to its territorial nature and independence.

What about killing rats?

When it comes to actively hunting and killing rats, both ferrets and cats have distinct strengths, though one might be more effective than the other based on certain factors.

Ferrets as Rat Killers

• Instinctive and Aggressive Hunters: Ferrets are naturally inclined to hunt small animals and are known to be tenacious in tracking down and killing prey, including rats. They are quick, agile, and relentless, which can make them very effective at catching and killing rats once they locate them.
• Adaptability to Tight Spaces: Ferrets can maneuver into small, confined areas where rats tend to hide. This agility allows them to root out rats from burrows, walls, and other hiding spots that cats might not access.
• Focus on Smaller Prey: While ferrets are skilled hunters, some larger rats might put up more of a fight, and ferrets, being relatively small, might not always win against a particularly large or aggressive rat.

Cats as Rat Killers

• Larger Size and Hunting Skills: Many cats, particularly outdoor or semi-feral cats, have both the strength and skills to kill rats, even larger ones. Cats are stealthy and are adept at the "stalk and pounce" method, which can be lethal for rodents.
• Selective Hunting Behavior: Some cats are excellent hunters and will kill rats, while others, especially domesticated cats, might ignore them. Cats are more likely to kill rats if they have a strong hunting drive, but this varies widely between individual cats.
• Efficiency in Patrolling Territory: Once a cat establishes its territory, it will often keep it largely rat-free, hunting down any that wander into its domain. This is effective for long-term rodent control, as cats tend to "patrol" their area.

Who’s Better at Killing Rats?

If the goal is a consistent, proactive rodent killer, a ferret might excel at flushing out and killing rats in a targeted manner. However, a highly motivated cat, especially one with a strong hunting drive, can be very effective at killing rats, particularly larger ones.

------------

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. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

It's normal that a cat might hiss at a cat sitter (video)

The video gives the impression that this cat who hisses at the cat sitter has a unique personality; that her behaviour is rather strange but I would beg to differ as this is entirely normal. Some cats will be tolerant of cat sitters but by-and-large cats are going to be wary of a cat sitter that they have met for the first time for obvious reasons; they are complete strangers. 

"This cat sitter was told that Maple's a sweet cuddly girl, so she was surprised when Maple greeted her with nonstop hissing" - video caption. Comment: being a sweet cuddly female cat is consistent with that cat hissing at a cat sitter! 😃😎. It is an instinctive reaction of self-preservation.
 

Cats are instinctively defensive and focused on self-protection. To hiss at the cat sitter as this cat does is to be expected as the hiss is a warning from a cat to another to beware saying that 'I am potentially dangerous and will attack in self-defence.'

Once the cat understands that the cat sitter is friendly - made possible by being fed treats and play interactions which are so important for cat to get to know someone - the hissing starts to disappear. It may continue for some cats as an instinctive reaction borne out of slight anxiety and nervousness. Some cats are more nervous than others obviously.

Sometimes cats even hiss at their caregiver with whom they have lived for many years. This might happen when an indoor/outdoor cat brings home a mouse that they have successfully hunted and want to keep for themselves as their owner tries to get it off them.

The cat acts instinctively in protecting their kill and fleetingly the loving caregiver-to-domestic cat bond is forgotten and the cat reverts to their wild instincts and hisses at their loving owner much to their consternation. This is one example. There will be others.

-----------

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. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Why do domestic cats 'chatter' when looking at a bird through a closed window?

The infographic provides my answer to the question in the title. I don't think that you will see a better answer to this much asked question. If you have some thoughts please comment. Thanks.

------------------

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. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

13 super-short amusing cat behaviour stories

The picture is free to use under a Creative Commons license.

Cats are known for their quirky and unpredictable behaviour, and there are plenty of amusing cat stories out there. Here are a few that might make you smile:

1. Armpit Licker: One cat owner shared that their feline friend, Earl, has a peculiar habit of licking their husband’s armpits while he’s sleeping. Quite the unexpected wake-up call! 😸

2. Anti-Reading Marv: Another cat, Marv, apparently despises when their owner reads aloud. Marv resorts to desperate measures, like climbing on top of the book and biting their owner’s wrists in protest. Perhaps Marv prefers audiobooks? 📚

3. Art Critic Cat: A cat owner had a portrait of Jesus leaning against a wall, waiting to be wrapped as a Christmas gift. Their mischievous cat decided to drag the picture frame across the room. The cat’s artistic intentions remain a mystery! 🎨

4. Gassy Cat: Imagine a cat that farts like a grown man! Vanessa Ryan’s cat certainly does. It’s a talent, I suppose! 💨

5. Hair Dryer Enthusiast: One cat spends a solid 10 minutes every morning licking the hair dryer. Perhaps it’s a secret spa treatment? 💆‍♀️

6. Xbox Controller Sabotage: A crafty cat learned how to press the release disc button on an Xbox. Whenever their owner was playing, the cat would give them a knowing look and eject the game. Clever kitty! 🎮

7. Gas Stove Aficionado: A cat owner discovered their feline had turned on the gas stove and was huffing the fumes. Safety first, though—those stove knobs had to be removed! 🔥

8. Kisses on the Mouth: Some cats wake their owners up with gentle kisses. But this particular cat aims for the mouth, which can be quite surprising (and sometimes painful)! 😽

9. Plastic Wrap Connoisseur: Ever met a cat that exclusively nibbles on plastic wrap from loaf bread? This cat has a unique taste preference! 🍞

10. Anti-French Anthem: Sing the French national anthem anywhere in the house, and this cat will find you and launch an attack. Clearly, it’s not a fan! 🇫🇷

11. Thumbtack Collector: A sneaky cat steals thumbtacks from corkboards and deposits them into shoes. Shoe surprises, anyone? 👠

12. Proclaimers Fan: Whenever the song “I’m Gonna Be” by The Proclaimers plays, this cat rushes to the stereo and stands on its hind legs. Musical taste, perhaps? 🎶

13. Fireplace Stare-Down: All three of Katyna Singleton’s cats stare into the fireplace when the flue is open—even when there’s no fire. Spooky! 👀

These delightful cat tales prove that our feline friends are full of surprises. Sources: Buzzfeed, British Newspaper Archive and Floppy Cats.

RELATED: Weird cat behavior explained (video and words)

--------------

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.

Cat copies his opera-singing young female caregiver (video)

This will make you smile. Or it should do. I think the cat is copying their owner. Cats do this a lot. They learn by observation. Think about cats learning to open doors for instance.

Either that or there is something behind the camera which has caught the cat's attention and provoked her/him to make these sounds. The second theory is probably the better one. You can see the cat looking intently at something off-camera.

>barges in
>sings a solo
>refuses to elaborate
>leaves pic.twitter.com/jCYU2e1VRO

— Punch Cat (@PunchingCat) April 27, 2024

Please remember that embedded videos from social media sometimes fail because they are removed at source i.e. on the social media platform. If this video has stopped working I apologise but I can't control its existence. 😢🙄

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.

What do domestic cats dream about? My thoughts.

What do domestic cats dream about? 

Past experiences and emotions reprocessed in the rarefied and distorted environment of a dream in order to mentally process them to help make them emotionally acceptable. - My thoughts.

You can tackle the question in the title in two ways: you can rely on your personal experience in observing your cat and how they behave when they are dreaming or you can rely on research which in the USA would suggest that cats may dream about things that have happened during the day or in the distant or recent past which is similar to the way dogs and humans dream.

We are going to have to guess and that's exactly what Dr Desmond Morris has suggested. It's a question that he can't answer and neither can anybody else with certainty but I think we can rely on our personal, human experiences and the dreams that we can recollect and what they mean.

I have suggested that a lot of the dreams we have are a means to divest ourselves of anxieties. A lot of my dreams are about becoming anxious in trying to do something that can't be done such as catch a train at a station which is impossible to get at or hitting a golf ball which is impossible to hit or take an exam which I am bound to fail. These are expressions of frustration in trying to get things done and the anxiety that they produce.

Indoor/outdoor cat

In dreaming about them I believe that we can divest ourselves of these anxieties and renew the brain for the next day's fight.

I know that my cat dreams and has nightmares sometimes or a feline's version of nightmares. He might suddenly wake up with a start and he might vocalise his difficult experiences during his nightmare. I can only guess that he has encountered a fox or had some other very bad experience in his dream which has woken him up.

But his dream will be based on his day-to-day experiences, possibly a particular bad one that occurred outside in which he now dreams about. It may have happened a long time ago or recently.

Indoor cat

I don't think you can expect a full-time indoor cat to have the same kind of dreams experienced by an indoor/outdoor cat.

In fact, I would suggest that a full-time indoor cat is rarely if ever going to have nightmares unless they are being bullied in a multi-cat home. And I would suggest that their dreams are going to be less difficult and painful or distressing particularly if they are well looked after in a pleasant home by a nice and considerate caregiver.

If it's true that a person or cat processes their anxieties in their dreams, I would expect very few dreams to be recalled by domestic cats that live a cosseted and pleasant indoor lifestyle. 

They have nothing nasty to process. They should have no anxieties because all their needs are met. They have security, warmth and food and a loving caregiver. There is no room therefore for anxiety. Perhaps they just dream about nice things. Every dream is a pleasant experience.

Dreaming experiences

But the bottom line is that either people or cats dream the things they've experienced but in a dreamlike way which is distorted but ultimately, in my case, these negative dreams boil down to a feeling of anxiety and my brain's desire to process them to make them more acceptable. 

The image is by Bing Co-pilot using DALL E 3.

--------------

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.

Cats like to scratch chenille but dislike synthetic leather or waterproof grosgrain

A test with rescue cats in a rescue cat setting showed that the cats preferred to scratch objects covered in chenille but disliked scratching synthetic leather or waterproof grosgrain fabrics. That's all I know! The information comes from a study published on July 19, 2021.

Chenille. Image in public domain.

I think the study is actually interesting but we need more information. I would like to see a full list of fabrics at the top of which would be the fabrics that cats most liked to scratch and at the bottom of which would be the fabrics that they least liked to scratch. This would assist cat owners when purchasing furniture.

I didn't know what chenille really looked like so I looked it up. It is a tufted, velvety, fluffy yarn, used for trimming furniture and made into carpets or clothing. It looks a bit like velvet. I guess that it is a fabric that cats can get their nails into, which feels nice when they scratch it. It is probably effective in sloughing off the outer cuticle of the claw, which is one reason why cat scratch furniture or a scratching post ideally.

RELATED: Infographic on the reasons why cats scratch armchairs.

We know what synthetic leather looks like. It's sort of plasticky which I suspect is by cats don't like it. Their claws go through it in an uncomfortable way and it might not be as effective in sloughing off the outer cuticle.

Of course, just because cats are less inclined to scratch waterproof grosgrain it doesn't mean that they're not going to scratch the fabric but I guess less so.

By the way, grosgrain is a tightly woven plastic fabric as I understand it. You can see a picture of it below. I suspect that it is too tightly woven for claws to penetrate freely.

Grosgrain ribbon showing the nature and texture of this fabric. Image in public domain.

Study citation: 

Alexandre P. Rossi, Cassia R. C. dos Santos, Caroline M. Maia, Claudia C. B. Terzian, Deisy F. Predebon, Juliana S. C. de Queiroz, Laraue P. M. Pereira, Marina Z. N. Bastos, Maurício Choinski, Patricia E. Tsapatsis, Samantha R. M. de Assis & Tatiana M. Corrêa (2023) Rescued Cats Prefer to Scratch Fabrics Commonly Used to Cover Upholstered Furniture, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 26:3, 313-324, DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2021.1949595

-----

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.

Domestic cats can lift your spirits and make you smile

This cat has a charming way of responding to their caregiver's loving greeting. Take a look:

So, what can we say about domestic cats lifting your spirits? It happens all the time. Just their presence lifts the spirit by preventing loneliness creeping in if you live alone as I do.

And many other people living alone rely on their cat to help balance their lives. It is very easy to become despondent when you live alone if you don't have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 

Interacting with your cat is vital. This charming cat responds in a way that I have not seen before. So charming. Both her body language and her sweet voice.

You can see that I have decided that she is female. She has female written all over her as far as I am concerned.

Here are some more thoughts about how a domestic cat can prevent despondency and lift your spirits

Companionship

I mention this above but let me add a few pointers. Domestic cats can be incredibly affectionate as we see in the video. People who don't know cats should understand that they are sentient beings with emotions and their own personalities. Once again, I refer to the video. This charming female cat responds to a loving greeting in her particular and very special way. And just having her there, nearby, can bring a sense of comfort and connection. She made me smile. Cats can do that.

Emotional support

Cats do have a calming presence and they can sometimes sense when their owner is feeling down or stressed. They may come up to you under those circumstances and sit on your lap and start interacting with you. You'll see videos of that on the Internet too. And simply stroking a cat can lift your mood because it can release endorphins in your brain to which you can add the purring sound of your cat which is known to be beneficial to one's health.

It's about the resonance and the frequencies of the cat purr which can help to heal a person.

Playfulness and entertainment

Cats are curious and playful. You can play with your cat. You can occupy yourself in this nice pastime. Both of you will like it. It's cool way to distract one away from any despondency or loneliness that you might be suffering from. And cats entertain their owners when they play because they can be quite funny.

Mindfulness and relaxation.

Simply watching your cat grooming themselves or jumping up onto their cat tree can be calming and a mindful experience. Looking at your cat being relaxed and comfortable can make you feel better as well. That's because you created the environment in which your cat can feel like this. You can pat yourself on the back.

Unconditional love

A lot has been spoken of the domestic cat's unconditional love. It is quite distinct from human love in this respect. They don't expect anything in return. There are no games. There are no conditions. It's a very simple, raw and fundamental connection which is quite special. This could have a positive impact on your emotional well-being. And they have a non-judgemental nature which can be great to create a safe and comforting environment.

Why do cats seem to like uncomfortable positions?

Obviously, the question has been asked by a human with human perceptions. That I think is the point. To humans, cats can seem to enjoy snoozing and resting in uncomfortable positions and in uncomfortable ways and on uncomfortable substances. But to the cat they are not uncomfortable otherwise they wouldn't do it.

Here is a famous picture now in the public domain of a cat seemingly in an uncomfortable position where he is fully asleep! It is on an associated website - click here to see it.

I believe his name is Tigar.

So, cats are more tolerant of these so-called uncomfortable positions or they might even find them comfortable. In fact, that is likely in many instances because if a cat is sleeping and resting in what appears to be an uncomfortable position to a human it has to be comfortable to them. If it wasn't they'd get up and change their position.

For example, initially it surprised me that my cat, Gabriel, likes to sleep across cables that are on my duvet. The duvet is very comfortable for him. It keeps him warm and it's soft but if there is cabling for my computer on the duvet he will sleep over the cabling and not select a part where there is no cabling. Very strange. Or is it? He just doesn't feel it or care about it.

One obvious factor is that the fur on a domestic cat creates a nice buffer or barrier between irregular surfaces and their skin. This must help to iron out any wrinkles on the surface which makes them less noticeable.

What about this? Should make you smile. From Twitter X.

And I'm going to speculate and say that one reason why domestic cats don't care about sleeping on a regular surfaces is because they've inherited this trait from their wildcat ancestor. Wild cats must, by default, sleep on rough surfaces sometimes such as stones or twigs and rough ground. They have to accept it. They might have found a nice den which is safe but the ground is rough. They prioritise the safety of the den over the rough ground and accept it.

The domestic cat has inherited this trait I would argue. And another reason why cats appear to be in uncomfortable positions because they are inherently very flexible. This once again goes to their wildcat ancestor. The wildcat has to be flexible to be a good hunter which requires being highly manoeuvrable, a good climber, able to keep balance well and being able to wriggle around and over obstacles. Flexibility is built into the domestic cat so when they look as if they are distorting themselves in a very uncomfortable way, it isn't uncomfortable for them.

Perhaps another reason why cats might accept uncomfortable positions is because the place where they have taken up the uncomfortable position is particularly warm. For example, cats sometimes sleep on computer keyboards. The computer gives off heat and maybe the keyboard is not particularly comfortable for their head but they accept it. Cats are very tolerant actually of many things. There brain processes input information differently to humans.

Image in the public domain. He is perfectly comfortable than you very much.

I believe this is another factor in this discussion. The tolerance of the domestic cat. They tolerate cold very well and of course heat. Cats like it warmer than humans because their body temperature is higher than that of humans and once again, we have to refer to their wildcat ancestor, living in dry, arid conditions in North Africa.

Domestic cats are inherently inquisitive as well which is part of their hunting skills and mojo. When investigating things, they have to be flexible and agile. I'm back to agility and flexibility here which makes them more accepting of contorted positions.

All in all, cats don't mind being in uncomfortable positions as perceived by humans because they are not uncomfortable to the domestic cat.

This is about human perceptions. There are many instances where human perceptions can misguide the human about cat behaviour. And sometimes humans project onto their domestic cat companion their own thoughts and attempt to read their cat in a misguided way. This is all normal actually and to be expected. Domestic cats are often a member of the human family and treated as an equal. It's no surprise that they are sometimes regarded as little humans resulting in expectations that they should behave like a human!

In San Francisco it is NOT cats who are defecating in public places but PEOPLE!

Decayed San Francisco. Image: DALLE-E

Ron DeSantis, the presidential candidate, recently threw his hat into the ring on the discussion about the new woke culture. It's said that he made a bizarre speech. He was speaking to the Conservative group's Road to Majority conference and was discussing wokeness. And he made this comment about it:

"When woke overtakes our criminal justice system — like it has in San Francisco, like it has in Los Angeles — the average person becomes less safe in their communities as a result.” He vowed to leave “woke ideology in the dustbin of history.”

“Don’t tell me it doesn’t affect people’s lives. I was just in San Francisco. I saw — in 20 minutes on the ground — people defecating on the sidewalk. I saw people using fentanyl. I saw people smoking crack right there in the open, right there on the street. It was a civilization in decay.”

Yes, he is saying that he saw the gross degeneration of society's values to the point where adult humans were defecating on the sidewalk and getting high on fentanyl and so and so forth. And he put it all down to wokery; the new woke culture.

It's quite nice in a way to see humans being criticised for defecating in public (if it is true) because so often we see criticism of feral and domestic cats who are pooping in a neighbour neighbour's garden for instance or in a public place which neighbours don't like. The feral and outdoor domestic cats get a very bad rap in the news media concerning going to the toilet in the wrong places.

You might be wondering what the word "woke" means. 

Well, as I understand it, it means that the people who have adopted the woke movement are enlightened enough to see the truth in society. To be ENLIGHTENED and to act fairly towards everybody even if their attitudes and standards are different. And this applies a lot to the binary and non-binary discussion about people's gender.

The woke culture would argue that there are a spectrum of genders or sexes whereas the non-woke person might argue that gender is binary, either you are female or male based upon your biology/anatomy.

Afghanistan

When I was in Afghanistan in the 1970s it was common practice for the citizens of Kabul, the capital, to defecate down a side alley. The trousers had a sort of vent in them to allow them to shit without pulling them down! True.

San Francisco

Note: San Francisco is said to have gone downhill massively because of slack and soft administration resulting in a crime wave and people moving out of the city in droves.

Are cats ticklish under their arms and on their belly?

Are cats ticklish!! We don't know. Image: MikeB.

The truth is that we don't really know why humans tend to be ticklish. If we don't know why humans are ticklish, we are not going to be able to answer the question in the title!!

There is another obstacle to discussing the ticklishness of domestic cats. Cats don't laugh. When a person is tickled, they laugh. It's a kind of social bonding if you agree with what is stated below.

And thirdly, it is impossible to tickle a cat's skin. Genuine tickling, as I understand it, is about touching the skin directly often under the foot of a human. But there has to be direct contact between hand and the skin of the person being tickled.

We can't do that with a cat. There's too much fur in the way.

I conclude, therefore, that cats are not ticklish because you can't tickle them in the first place and they don't laugh in the second place. And we wouldn't know if they were ticklish or not anyway because we don't understand it.

Some more in answering the question: Why do humans laugh when tickled?

The phenomenon of laughter in response to tickling is still not completely understood, but there are a few theories that attempt to explain why humans and some other animals laugh when tickled. Here are a couple of the prominent theories:

Reflex Theory: According to this theory, tickling triggers an involuntary reflex response that causes laughter. When someone is tickled, the body experiences a tactile sensation that can be interpreted as a potential threat. The laughter is thought to be a way for the body to signal to others that it is experiencing a non-threatening interaction, thus helping to maintain social bonds.


Social Bonding Theory: This theory suggests that laughter resulting from tickling is primarily a social behavior. Tickling is often associated with playfulness and is commonly performed among family members or friends. The laughter that arises during tickling serves as a form of communication and bonding between individuals, reinforcing positive social interactions.

It's worth noting that not everyone finds tickling enjoyable, and different people have different tickle sensitivity thresholds. Additionally, tickling oneself is generally not as effective at inducing laughter because the brain can predict and suppress the tickling sensation when it's self-induced.

Cats don't want to gender transition

This is a discussion. The title sounds mad. It might be. But I don't think it is. The point of the title is that there are no signs in behavior to tell us that some domestic cats think they are in the wrong body and want to transition from male to female or female to male. Gender transitioning is big human news. But it is exclusively about humans. It is a human condition. The desire to gender transition can only come from a higher non-instinctive intelligence. 

Cats don't want to gender transition. Image: MikeB

Animals behave instinctively. Instinctive behavior does not provide an avenue in which thoughts about gender transitioning emerge.

Thoughts about gender transitioning requires the intelligence and social pressures that only humans enjoy or submit themselves to.

Instinct is natural. It is a part of nature's way. But we should all respect people's thoughts and desires. If a woman wants to be a man and human society can help, we should help. 

But human society should make damned sure beforehand that the woman genuinely wants to transition because the transitioning process is irreversible in truth and young people pass through phases when their thoughts change frequently.

They are in the process of finding their character and ideas. They can be influenced by others and society's pressures.

I'm not against gender transitioning. I'm just for doing it with extreme care. That means doing it when the person is more mature and emotionally settled. What age might that be? Not sure. Thirty maybe. Yes, much older than is currently the case. And there must be neutral, unbiased advice available.

Bethany

Bethany feels that she was rushed into taking testosterone and having a double mastectomy. She is now in the process of 'detransitioning'. She said:

I do regret the loss of time. I am 26 and think 'what have I done?' I wish someone had advised me to properly explore my feelings when I was 19. I was offered no psychotherapy. It is only now, at the age of 26, that I feel I am a mature adult, and it is no coincidence that it is now I am realising that transitioning is no solution.

She now knows that she is gay and not meant to be a man.

She is one example of a number of individuals who are detransitioning. Not good. Too rushed. Too many societal pressures and 'experts' with their own agenda to push onto others.

Human minds can be fragile and fraught; more so in the 21st century with tons of stuff on the internet.

Humans are more intelligent than cats. They are more vulnerable to misleading thoughts that are not instinctive. Cats rely on nature's instinct. It is rock solid.

Do male cats kill kittens? (The disturbing truth)

There are a lot of theories about if and why male domestic and stray cats (tomcats - unneutered) kill kittens. There are different points of view about this. I've seen all those points of view and it's confusing. That is the disturbing truth! It appears to me that we are unsure about the reason and how rare it is.

I've just watched a video with the same title as this article and I don't think the person who presents that video is accurate (see video at base of page). Essentially, they say that male adult domestic cats kill kittens because they are threatening and they threaten to upset their territorial objectives. I don't believe that. I don't think kittens are threatening to adult male cats. I can't see how that can happen. So, I believe there is a lot of information on the Internet on this topic which is misleading.

Image: MikeB

A person I admire and respect, Sarah Hartwell, tells us that a tomcat will normally establish a territory which contains a number of female cats. I agree that. She then goes on to say that "it is in his own interest to repel other males and to destroy kittens which may have been fathered by another male and which contain the genetic complement of his rival". 

She goes on to explain that a tomcat will be able to recognise his kittens through their smell and their appearance. She is more or less reciting what people say about lions in the African Savannah when they kill kittens produced by other male lions within a pride as part of the process of taking over that pride.

I'm not sure that she is correct to be perfectly honest. I tend to prefer the thoughts of another person I admire, Dr. Desmond Morris (a great zoologist and author). He states in his book Catlore that the male domestic cat has been looked upon as a sex maniac for centuries. He disagrees that tomcats (unneutered male cats) destroy the litters of kittens in order to get the females back on heat again more quickly. This, once again as a reference to how male lions behave when taking over a lion pride. He says the story has lasted "well during the past two millennia and many people still believe it".

He doesn't see any "possible biological advantage of such a reaction on the part of tomcats". He, too, appears to have got that wrong because male lions do this in order to father their own kittens in order to further their breeding line. But do unneutered domestic cats do this?

Dr. Morris likes to refer to observations of the European wildcat. He is referring to the ancestor of the domestic cat which is actually the North African wildcat but there is no difference between that subspecies and the European subspecies in terms of behaviour.

He says when you observe the behaviour of the wildcats you will see that "far from being kitten-killers, the males sometimes actively participate in rearing the young."

He adds that:

"One tom was seen to carry his own food to the entrance of the den in which a female had given birth and placed it there for her. Another tom did the same thing, supplying the female with food while she was unable to leave the nest during the first days after producing her litter."

And this tomcat became very defensive and threatened human visitors in a way that he had not done before the kittens were born. These observations took place in a zoo where he says it would be more likely to see tomcat aggression towards their young.

In the wild, cats have very large territories. The chances of a tomcat coming across a female in her den with kittens is remote. This means there is little possibility of a male cat providing parental care or parental infanticide. In a zoo which is crowded and in which the cats are in closer proximity there will be an increased likelihood of tomcat/kitten encounters where four types of reactions might occur:

1. The male cat simply ignores the kittens.
2. The male cat behaves paternally towards them as mentioned.
3. The female attacks the male soon as he approaches her nest and drives him away before he can do anything concerning the kittens.
4. The male cat kills the kittens.

The fourth reaction is the traditional one that we read about a loss on the internet. But it is, in reality, extremely rare.

Dr. Desmond Morris states that a female cat sometimes experiences a false heat a few weeks after she has given birth. This may excite a nearby tomcat. The female normally fights him off and drives him away.

The male cat is in a great state of sexual arousal at this point. He is frustrated. If he meets a small kitten at this time, he may try to mount it and mate with it.

This may be enhanced by the low crouch to posture of the kitten which is similar to the sexually responsive posture of an adult female cat.

The kitten is unable to move away quickly when the male cat mounts it which acts as a sexual signal to the overexcited male cat. This, Dr. Morris says "seals the fate of the unfortunate kitten".

The male cat does not deliberately attack the kitten but when mounting the tiny offspring he performs the normal neck bite that he employs when mating with a female in order to keep her passive. For a kitten, this feels like their mother maternally grabbing the kitten when moving them to a new den. The kitten does not struggle. Indeed, it responds by keeping perfectly still. This is the sexual signal from the adult female that tells the male that she is ready to mate.

This compounds the misunderstanding which causes disaster when the "mounted tomcat discovers that the kitten is too small for mating. He cannot manoeuvre himself into the correct position. His response to this problem is to grip the kitten's neck tighter and tighter as if he is dealing with an awkward adult mate. In the process he accidentally crunches the tiny kitten's delicate head and it dies.

Once the kitten has been killed it may trigger off a new reaction in the tomcat. Dead kittens are often devoured by their parents as a way of keeping the nest clean. As a consequence, the male cat's sexual frustrations may now lead to the kitten being eaten as a further anomaly in the feline mating sequence.

These are rare instances but they led to stories of tomcat cannibalism painting the male cat as a savage monster intent on slaughtering and eating their offspring.

Dr. Morris goes on to say that often rare events when they become established become the "norm". They become part of folklore. But they are exaggerated and over-egged stories based upon, as mentioned, extremely rare and unusual instances.

That, in a nutshell, is what Dr. Desmond Morris states about tomcat killing and eating kittens. It does happen. I will leave it to you to decide what you think is the right answer. There is one certainty; it's a rare event and people should not think that it is normal male cat behaviour.

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.

For how long should I cuddle my cat?

For how long should I cuddle my cat? The short answer is not long. Image: MikeB.

These are my unresearched views on the topic. Please share yours in a comment as I'd be pleased to hear from you.

What do cats do?

For how long should I cuddle my cat? This is a question people ask on the Internet. The short answer is not long (normally, but there are exceptions). How often do you see cats cuddling each other? And if you do see one domestic cat with their 'arm' (foreleg) around the other (which happens) for how long do they do this? To the first question the answer must be rarely if not sleeping together and to the second question the answer must be for a short time (unless sleeping together).

Domestic cats regard us as surrogate mothers. That's why we keep them in a mental state of kittenhood. On that basis, they wouldn't expect to be cuddled, human-style, by their feline mother other than for a short time unless they are sleeping together. That's a point worth making I feel.

Sleeping together

There is probably a bit of an exception here. Sometimes cats can settle down on a cold winter's night with their human and spend hours with the arm of their caregiver around them. A quiet, gentle cuddle. But this is I feel an exception to the general rule.

It is a state of affairs where humans can share their behavior with cats and dogs.

Cat cuddles a dog friend sleeping. Image in the public domain.

Cultures

This is really about a clash of cultures. The human race has a culture of cuddling each other when needed. And it is needed quite often as a form of reassurance and friendship. It can be part of a greeting or a departure. It's a sign of affection indeed love. We know all these things.

Cat greetings and contacts

But domestic cats don't have the same culture. When they greet in a friendly way, they do so with their tail held erect with the end just flopping over slightly (tail-up greeting). They might touch noses having approached each other (the nose touch greeting).

In subsequent interactions they may rub against each other flank-to-flank. One cat's tail made curl over the other cat's back. These behaviours happen quite fleetingly. They are delicate movements.

But as mentioned there can be long-term cuddle contact when resting and sleeping.

Devon Rexes cuddle. Image in public domain.

Human cuddle

The human cuddle is quite a forceful action. There is an element of squeezing in the human cuddle. This is likely to be uncomfortable for a domestic cat even if they have a close bond with their human caregiver.

And of course, the cuddle means that the two parties are in very close proximity. They are in contact. The human is much larger than the domestic cat. We can be intimidating. They live in a land of giants. We need to be sensitive to that.

If we place our head close to their head, they can feel intimidated. If we squeeze them at the same time, it can be uncomfortable as mentioned. These elements combine to make the experience perhaps tolerable but not particularly enjoyable for some cats.

And if it is enjoyed because they become habituated to it as it happens a lot, they'll normally accept it for a relatively short period of time perhaps around 30 seconds.

Body language

In fact, domestic cats tell you when they want to get down or stopping cuddle. They may wriggle a bit or if you are carrying them at the same time as you see in the picture, they may twist their bodies and look towards the ground to indicate they want to get down.

Wild cat ancestor

The answer comes from observing domestic cat behaviour. Domestic cat behaviour is the product of evolution of the African wildcat. This wildcat is solitary. The domestic cat has learned to be sociable within the human environment.

But essentially this solitary character is within the domestic cat and this is the last factor as to why domestic cats will normally accept being cuddled (but not always because it depends upon the individual cat's character) but for a time which is shorter than the human would wish for.

For our benefit

It perhaps is worth reminding ourselves that when we cuddle our cat, we often do it mainly for our benefit. We are seeking reassurance. We are looking for a friend and companionship. So, we do it for ourselves and therefore we can only expect that our cat will accept it rather than seek it.

Cats are individuals

That said, each cat has their own personality as mentioned and therefore sometimes cats will ask to be picked up and cuddled if, in the past, they have learned to understand that it is a sign of friendship from the human caregiver and enjoyable. Cats do pick up on human behavioral traits and some learn to copy them or integrate them into their livestyles.

Cat brings baby rabbit home and locates mother's nest so that it could be returned to its siblings

Well, this is interesting and a bit different. A woman has videoed her black-and-white cat bringing a newborn rabbit into her home and delivering it to her. Her cat then led her to the spot where the mother rabbit's nest was buried in the ground outside, covered in fur and straw. 

Cat brings baby rabbit home and identifies mother's nest so it could be returned to its siblings. Screenshot from video below.

Inside were the baby rabbit's siblings. She reunited the lost and found sibling with the rest of the family and left them alone. She confirmed that the mother rabbit had returned and continued to care for her family which confirmed that her intervention had not disturbed her parenting.

Her assessment is that the rescued baby rabbit had crawled out of the nest and was found by her cat who took it up in her jaws and brought it inside. The cat was handling the rabbit as if it was one of her kittens it appears. It was totally unharmed.

In bringing the rabbit home the cat was asking her human caregiver (acting as the cat's surrogate mother) to help her reunite the rabbit with its family. That's my interpretation. 

It is unusual but plausible in my view.

The key point is that the cat did not regard the baby rabbit as a prey animal but as one of her offspring. It appears that her motherly instincts were the prime motivator for her actions.

It is an example of a cat performing the task of rabbit rescue as opposed to a human performing the task of cat rescue. Something different as I said.

Super-noisy cat with camcorder ventures outside with his feline friend

A cat's point-of-view.

This is a fun video from Instagram. It is a 'point-of-view' video as the camcorder is attached to the cat's collar. He's noisy. He' screaming but in a charming way. And I think he is talking to his feline friend.

Note: these embedded videos tend to go wrong after a while so if that has happened, sorry.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Scott Irwin (@mr.kitters.the.cat)

Cats bring back prey because they know they can play with it without being attacked by predators

A form of feline behaviour which all cat owners are aware of and which the experts have spoken of is bringing prey animals back into their caregiver's home where they either eat the mouse if it's dead or they 'play' with it until it dies and then perhaps eat it.

Cat bringing prey home. Image in public domain.

Normal explanation

The normal theory for this form of cat behaviour is that domestic cats are bring their prey back to their natal den within their natal range because they have the mental state of a kitten and they are kept in that state by their human care givers who provide for them completely. They are bringing prey back to their mother in the den as she teaches them how to hunt (and see below - role reveral).

That is my preferred theory. 

New theory

A new theory has been proposed by Celia Haddon in conjunction with Dr. Daniel Mills FRCVS in their book Being Your Cat: What's Really Going on in Your Feline's Mind.

They say that domestic cats bring their prey to their owner's home because they want to play with it without being attacked by a predator. I have thought about this and these are my thoughts if you are interested.

Their suggestion indicates that the domestic cat makes a positive rational decision to bring prey back into the security of their owner's home to avoid predators and where they will have time to be cruel (in the eyes of humans) to the prey animal by playing with it.

Reasoning

Cats don't make rational decisions like that. They make instinctive decisions based on indoctrination. And their answer begs the question as to why domestic cats "play" with prey? The classic answer to that is that cats are not deliberately playing with a mouse to be cruel. 

Because they normally have little opportunity to exercise their natural desires to hunt, they want to extend the hunt by not killing the mouse immediately.

Secondly, they want to play safe by battering the mouse and killing it in a safe way rather than placing their mouth up to it and getting a bite which may harm them.

These are the classic responses to that scenario and I prefer them. The one aspect of Celia Haddon and Dr. Daniel Mills' response which is correct is that domestic cats will go back to the security of their home but this is for a general reason of security and to bring the prey animal back to their owner who is their surrogate mother.

Role reversal

Sometimes domestic cats kill the prey animal in a role reversal. In the wild, the mother teaches her offspring how to kill animals in the den. And in the classic domestic cat-to-human relationship, the cat is the kitten and the human is the mother.

But when an adult cat brings prey back home, they become the mother and the human becomes the kitten. The position in which the domestic cat is placed in the human home can be confusing to them. 

For example, it is automatically confusing for them to be constantly provided for as if they are kittens. They never grow up and have the opportunity to adopt the mentality of an adult cat except when they are allowed outside and suddenly within seconds, they become a wildcat until they return home again where they flick the switch and within about 15 minutes become a tame human companion. 

At that point in time, they are adults as they've just left the wild. When cats are outside, they become adult wildcats. Back inside the home and they adopt the characteristics of a tame kitten.

Realism! Infographic on 5 barriers to a successful relationship with your domestic cat

This is a brief cross post to a similar article that I have just written on the main website. The reason? I think it's an important topic. Although I don't want to talk down the relationship between domestic cats and humans. This is a wonderful success story which is why there are about 90 million domestic cats in America and about 11 million in the UK and so on. There are perhaps around 250 million domestic cats in the world but as a sign of failure there are a similar number of unowned cats as well. Not great. A pessimist might argue that the domestication of the cat is a failure as a whole.

Realism! Infographic on 5 barriers to a successful relationship with your domestic cat. By MikeB

There are some barriers if we are to be realistic to the relationship. And I am a great realist. I believe in realism because in this way we can overcome those barriers. If we recognise them, we can then develop strategies to deal with them. Normally, we do this automatically. 

Claws

We learn to avoid being scratched by our cat. Well, at least most of us do. Sadly, some don't. The terrified weaklings and nervous types who declaw their cats are cruel quite frankly. It is a barbaric operation. And the word "barbaric" is not one of my making. The world's top veterinarian and author Dr. Bruce Fogle DVM has used it in his book Complete Cat Care.

Declawing is a cop-out. It is a cheap fix for the owner and a dire mutilation for the cat.

I won't go on about declawing but it is a horror story and it should never happen. It does happen because, as mentioned, the domestic cat's claws are a barrier to the success of a good relationship between human cat and vets can't pass up on the opportunity to make a few bucks. And there are four others.

Teeth

How many people have been bitten by their cat because of redirected aggression or because they played too hard with their cat? How many times have domestic cats been abandoned to rescue centres because a child was bitten by the family cat because of manhandling?

If a domestic cat did not have those gorgeous canine teeth but little incisor teeth throughout their mouth, there would be no penetrating cat bites injecting bacteria under the skin of the human. And there would be much fewer abandonment of cats to shelters for this reason.

"Bad cat behaviour" is a reason why people abandon their cats. One form of bad cat behaviour is to be bitten and scratched by a cat. Of course, the reason is invariably due to human behaviour because they lacked the foresight and wherewithal to avoid those injuries. It is natural behaviour that humans naturally dislike.

It is down to the human to use their intelligence to learn how cats behave and when they are susceptible to biting and scratching and to avoid those moments.

Circadian rhythms

The disparity in circadian rhythms between domestic cats and people is highly noticeable but I think people don't sometimes recognise it. In stark terms, domestic cats like to be active at night, particularly dawn and dusk, while humans have the deeply entrenched habit of going to sleep at night when it's dark, waking up in the morning and being active throughout daytime.

Domestic cats don't understand this. They see their human companion as a surrogate mother and therefore a feline. Why is their mother sleeping all night? They desperately want to wake them up. That is why they come onto the bed at four in the morning and start poking and prodding their owner's face or nose to wake them up. Or they do something else. Domestic cats are very creative in waking up their human caregiver's in the early hours of the morning. This then is a barrier to a successful relationship with your domestic cat.

There are perhaps millions of words spoken about keeping cats out of the bedroom at night or preventing them from waking up their caregiver at four in the morning. This is down to a disparity in circadian rhythms.

It is also down to the fact that the human bedroom smells very much of the human and domestic cats love it. They want to be there, at the center of their home range. To prevent them coming into the bedroom at night I think is unfair even cruel. Jackson Galaxy, the American behaviourist would agree with me.

Environment

This leads me nicely to the environment. There is a gradual, year-on-year increase in the number of full-time indoor cats in the West, particularly the UK and the USA. This is to protect wildlife and domestic cats. It gives the owner peace of mind. It is doing the right thing on conservation and in providing security to their cat companion.

These are all great reasons but the counterpart is a great failing in not providing a substitute environment within the home which goes some way to making up for the loss of the outdoor environment where a domestic cat can hunt to their hearts content. Hunting is the raison d'être of a domestic cat. It is the way their mind is stimulated and the way they find happiness.

To simply shut all the doors and windows and keep them captive inside the home without anything else is also in my opinion at least slightly cruel. Dopamine is released into the cat's brain when he hunts thus creating a feeling of eager anticipation which makes it less likely for him to feel bored, anxious, or depressed.

It is beholden upon cat caregiver to at least provide a catio environment where they can sniff the air and feel some earth beneath their feet. 

Where they can hear the birds and the animals. They might become frustrated but at least they can see and hear. Also, in a good catio they can climb to the ceiling to exercise their desire to move vertically. Catio cats are content cats and their personalities improve.

In the very best homes where the owner has converted it to suit their cat, the interiors are awesome. Very, very few people do this but when they do it is done beautifully.

Predator

The domestic cat, as you know, as a top-quality predator. Within their weight class they are the top predator on land I would argue. They have inherited all the weapons they need to be successful. I've mentioned them. But this is a barrier to a successful domestic cat to human relationship. A lot of people don't want their cat to kill animals. And they don't like it when they bring half dead animals into the home where they kill them and then eat them on the kitchen floor. Millions of cat owners have spent millions of hours trying to save mice from their cat to release them to the exterior. This is a barrier to a successful relationship.

My cat is a wonderful hunter. He often brings mice into the home during the warmer months, kills them and then eats them under my bed. I wake up to the sound of a once living sending creature being eaten. I also can hear the mouse crying in defence before the killing bite. Not something I like at all. I put up with it but it is a detriment to our relationship.

Let's accept the barriers and find ways around them. That's what most but not all cat owners do, which is why I have written this article and created this infographic.