Black Oriental Shorthair is your perfect vampire cat companion for Halloween

This is a beautiful jet black, Oriental Shorthair with a slight squint and golden eyes, together with massive bat-like years and fangs, which make him, Toivo, ideal as your vampire bat accomplice for the forthcoming Halloween parties.

Image: A Tuomas Ikonen and MikeB collaboration.

RELATED: Why Siamese Cats Are Cross-eyed. Note the Oriental SH is a member of the Siamese cat family and Siamese cats are predisposed to being cross-eyed.

He is five years old and he lives in Finland and a social media star. I have taken his photograph and removed the background and added some fun background objects to make him look more like a Halloween cat. 

I hope his owner accepts it and perhaps approves of what I've done. Anybody can use it provided the copyright owner agrees. I believe the copyright owner is Tuomas Ikonen. I have sent a message for his approval.

Toumas clearly loves the Oriental Shorthair breed, which has a very particular look: slender, sometimes very slender which is described as "Oriental" by the cat fancy.

He is a very calm cat according to his owner. Despite looking like a badass, vampire cat with massive fangs, he is a sweetie with a great personality and a big voice which sounds like an out of tune falsetto opera singer.

He loves attention and of course he has found fame at this time of year. This brings to mind a more serious side to Halloween and black cats. It is that time of year when sometimes, crazy people, like to abuse black cats because there are hints of witchcraft about them if you believe in that kind of stuff. 

This is a throwback to the Middle Ages; around the 13th century. It's crazy but as I recall, some animal shelters do not let people adopt black cats at this time of year to protect them from these crazy people.

And of course, there is another serious side to this time of year which is fireworks. This is one of my pet hates and you will find that it is a pet hate of many cat owners (and dog owners). We don't know how Toivo deals with the sounds and sights of fireworks but if the general population is anything to go by, he hates it just like I do.

I have a page on advice from the UK's Cats Protection charity about how to look after domestic cat during this torrid time of year which you might like to peruse at your leisure by clicking on this link!

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

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.

Girlfriend kicks out boyfriend's cat so he kicks out his girlfriend

This is a story on Reddit.com under the banner "Am I the A**hole?" subreddit. The man explained that he agreed to let his girlfriend of 2 years move in to live with him a few weeks ago. It was quickly apparent that she didn't like his 3-year-old black cat, Raven. They carried on and ignored the problem until not long after he was horrified to discover that his cat was missing. As Raven is an indoor cat this was astonishing and unprecedented.

Girlfriend kicks out boyfriend's cat so he kicks out his girlfriend. Image: Pixabay.

The man's friend then spotted Raven a couple of blocks from his home and brought the cat home. The next step is predictable: the man confronted his girlfriend about what had gone on and she admitted that she'd kicked Raven out of their home.

He wrote on Twitter: "I was furious, saying she had no right to kick him out and told her that since she thought she had the power to kick my cat out, I wanted her out of my house by the end of the month."

She cried and said that she had nowhere to go and that she would have to live on the streets. In response he said that he didn't care but gave her until the end of the month to leave his property.

RELATED: Pretty Cat Amongst Ugly Human Behavior.

He was asking Reddit.com users as to whether he was too harsh because his friends think that he is being too harsh. He says that his cat could have died because of his girlfriend's callousness. Also, he could not trust her anymore and had to stop her trying anything else.

In a little twist to the story, she kicked out Raven around Halloween. This genuinely did put the cat in danger because we know that black cats are vulnerable during Halloween in America. Some shelters don't allow people to adopt black cats during that holiday period for fear that they are going to harm the cat.

RELATED: Human behaviour beneficial to cats.

One Reddit user said that Raven is lucky to be alive. Another Reddit user said that he would have kicked her out on the same day that she admitted throwing out Raven. And the argument is that the man is being more generous than she was towards his cat.

What do you think? Was he too tough or not tough enough? By her actions she is effectively telling him that the relationship is not going to work. You don't unilaterally do something like that which puts a pet cat in harm's way. It was highly irresponsible and something which was bound to upset a boyfriend substantially enough to quite possibly break the relationship which is what happened. 

On the basis that the relationship is broken she might as well leave immediately. And I think she was trying it on when she said that she would become homeless. She was just trying to get some sympathy. But if she was genuine then I would try and help but I would insist that she leaves immediately or as soon as possible.

Jet black mom and her dozen jet black kittens with luminous golden eyes

This photograph has been banging around the Internet for a while I think. I picked up on it quite late in the day. I don't know what to make of it to be honest. It looks as though it could be photoshopped but you never know nowadays. It just seems a little bit artificial, to put it mildly. And this is one litter of kittens. I have counted a dozen kittens which is at the very top end of the number of kittens for a domestic cat litter. Anyway, I don't know but it is an interesting image which I think needs to be featured on this website. 

The cats are all jet black with gold, luminous eyes. If the kittens are genuine, the photographer has creatively placed them in a pumpkin bed which is a hint of Halloween. Black cats go with Halloween but often in the wrong way. I'm sure you know all about the potential hazards for black cats during that holiday period. It's a ridiculous throwback to witchcraft and it amazes me that witchcraft still has a place in society today. Some people even believe in it which tells you how inherently superstitious humankind is.

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:

• When did black cats become bad luck?
• What is the origin of the black cat superstition?