Chasing cat and rat fatally stuck in organ pipe (both mummified)

This is a short story from The Times following a similar story that was recently well reported on news media regarding a cat trapped in a disused shaft in St. Paul's Cathedral. That cat was a Burmese stray and microchipped. She was rescued by the RSPCA and will be rehomed.

However, in a new cat and cathedral story, the cat faired a lot worse. As told by a former school boy of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, a mummified cat was found in the organ pipes. A mummified rat was also found.

Many years ago a cat had chased a rat into the organ and into the pipes and become stuck in perpetuity. It must have been a terrible death for both. I feel for their distress and slow death from starvation and no water.

The mummified cat and rat were mentioned in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake according to Anthony Mc Gibney writing to the Times.

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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.

10 cats found dead on a rural road in Staffordshire, UK

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a very recent report from the BBC. 10 cats have been found dead on a rural road namely Butt Lane in Gnosall, Staffordshire, UK, on Christmas Eve.

The report does not tell us the cause of death. The police are investigating and PCSO Patrick Wright has appealed to the public for any information that they might have concerning the incident to come forward.

Comment: it is highly unusual perhaps almost unique for this kind of event to happen in the UK. In fact, I have not heard about this sort of event happening anywhere else including the USA. Sometimes cats are abandoned by the side of the road in crates or in boxes but to find 10 deceased cats on the side of a country lane is very disturbing and I would say perhaps unique.

If you know something then please tell the police. They are investigating we are told.

The road concerned:

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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.

Cat killed on road after parents screwed up when cat-sitting for daughter

This is not Kylo but another tuxedo cat. Image: MikeB.

I want to ask the readers (not many I guess!) who they think is most at fault in this story. I'll say right away that I'd apportion blame at 50:50. What do you think?

Here is the story:

In America, a young woman (26) with a full-time indoors tuxedo cat, Kylo, asked her parents to take care of her cat while she moved to a new state to live with her husband. She gave her parents strict instructions that Kylo was an indoor cat because her previous cats had been indoor/outdoor cats who'd come to early, unnatural deaths such as being poisoned and a hit and run.

Her parents agreed. But they had three dogs and liked to keep the backdoor open! Not good and I guess she might have foreseen what was going to happen and it did.

Kylo escaped the home and was hit by a car outside and killed. Her father telephoned her to inform her that her cat had been killed and she yelled at him: "I told you to keep him inside!". His response was, "Oh stop, it's just a cat". Not good.

This made things worse. She'd had begged her parents to keep Kylo inside but despite their promises they failed to respect her decision. The parents said that Kylo was curious and hinted at that they wanted him to satisfy his curiosity.

"I constantly told them 'no, Kylo is an indoor cat, keep him inside'. I begged and begged them to respect my decision with my cat and I had thought they had…I received a phone call from my father saying that Kylo was hit by a car and killed today. In the midst of sobbing and yelling at my dad, 'I TOLD YOU TO KEEP HIM INSIDE!!' my dad said 'oh stop… it's just a cat' so I promptly hung up on him and immediately called my best friend (26f)."

Comment: Not good enough. The parents failed her terribly. It highlights the problems of getting relatives to cat sit. It is very risky. There is a huge responsibility on the cat sitter to protect the cat or cats. I don't think they realise the responsibility sometimes. But the cat's owner failed her cat too I am afraid. She has ultimate responsibility for her cat. She made the decision to leave him with her parents who apparently were unsuitable and not up to the task.

One issue is failing to recognise the value of a domestic cat. The father clearly didn't. For him it was 'only a cat' which is sure to lead to carelessness.

The response from the daughter is to ban her parents from baby-sitting which is sad but understandable.

The daughter said:

"After a good cry and a stern talking, my husband and I decided to keep my parents from watching their grandchildren without us there, no matter the circumstances. If they can't respect my one wish for my cat, what is to say they will respect my wishes for my children? So, am I the a**hole for not allowing my parents the chance to babysit their grandchildren?"

The source of the story is Reddit.com. 

Cat 'Kolo' who visited a hospital's emergency department to cheer up patients gets a statue in his memory

Kolo, a male tabby cat, lived near Southmead Hospital in Bristol, UK. He clearly liked to visit the hospital particularly the Accident & Emergency department. It is not that unusual for a local domestic cat to visit an organisation like the NHS because there is no doubt in my mind that these individual cats have been left alone all day and they need the stimulation of interaction with people. That's a result of their domestication. And so, they go and find people.

Kolo. Photo: Julie White (believed).

And if they wander into an A&E department of the local hospital and are not rejected by the people there, they will return. And that's how you develop a nice relationship between the hospital staff and in this instance Kolo.

By all accounts he was a very sweet boy. He was loved and he helped to keep the mood up in the hospital by providing comfort to the patients and they appreciated it.

Julie White, who works for North Bristol NHS at Southmead found Kolo to be a wonderful cat and she wants the staff at the hospital and visitors to remember him. 

She is trying to raise sufficient funds to leave a statue in his memory and in memory of all the smiling faces he left behind thanks to his pleasant nature and company.

Lynda Johnson is one those who benefited from Kolo when she was at the hospital. She said on the fundraiser page for the statue (see below):

"Thank you, Kolo, for comforting me when I was alone at Southmead in 2021. You sat and waited for me to have my X-rays, and then again while I waited for my lift home. You will be much missed."

And a spokesperson at the North Bristol NHS Trust said:

"We were very sad to hear the news that Kolo the cat has passed away."

They added:

"We're aware a fundraising campaign has been started, and we will work with the organisers of this campaign to agree an appropriate way to remember Kolo."

So far, the campaign has raised £3,835, more than three times the goal of £1,000.

Kolo was actually injured in a car accident presumably while he was approaching the hospital or leaving it. That was always a possibility I would have thought. It is a great shame that he had to be euthanised because he was too badly injured. Not a great way to die especially for a wonderful cat who was providing a therapy service to people who needed it.

Here is a short video of him. I can't guarantee that it will function for the lifetime of this website. Sorry.

@lokkidokkey #foryourpage #fyp #cat ♬ My House - Welcome To My World

Why do up to 10x more cats die under or after a general anesthetic than humans?

Feline anaesthetic deaths in veterinary practice are at approximately 0.11% (1 in 895 anaesthetics) of healthy cats. A study reports that this is more than twice as frequent as has been recently reported in dogs. And for humans it is 1-4 deaths per 10,000 anaesthesias.

Let's just recap that. One death per 10,000 is 0.01% which is about 10 times less than for cats. 4 deaths per 10,000 is going to be half the rate of cats or even better.

There is no way to avoid the conclusion that between double to 10 times the number of cats die under general anaesthetic compared to humans. We need to know why, don't we?

So far, I have not found an answer. Can somebody out there who reads this article tell me the reason why? Is it because veterinarians don't have the same standard of equipment that hospital doctors have?

His female cat went in for a standard spaying operation and came out severely injured. It makes me sick and mad to be honest.

Is it because veterinarians have to be doctors and anaesthesiologists at the same time? When you go to a hospital you have a surgeon and an anaesthesiologist in the operating room. Anaesthesiologist are highly trained specialists. There is lots of advanced equipment. Great care is taken. The standard is exceptionally high, normally.

My gut feeling is that the standard of care provided by veterinarians to cats when they are given a general anaesthetic is lower than for humans in hospitals. And it is this difference rather than a difference of cat and human anatomy which causes the up to 10 times greater fatality of cats when under a general anaesthetic.

And if I am correct, it is not good enough. But then perhaps this is a question of what the general public think they can afford when they take their cat or dog to a veterinarian. If a vet has to buy more advanced equipment they are going to charge more. There is already a problem with cat owners not taking their cat the veterinarians often enough. 

Veterinary cat care is well below that of dog veterinary care. Cat owners think that their cat is independent and with that thought in mind they tend to be switched off as to their cat companion's health problems.

This morning I wrote about a man who took his young to a veterinarian for a spaying operation. The cat was put under a general anaesthetic. The effect was catastrophic on this sweet female cat.

The video above comes from TikTok and it is tragic. It is hard to watch and it is extremely sad. It is not the first time that a female cat going in for a spaying operation has been killed by the anaesthetic. Years ago, a woman wrote in about her British Shorthair kitten who died under the same circumstances. She was bemused and confused. She didn't know why her kitten that died. Clearly the veterinarian had not told her. Perhaps he didn't know himself.

Ukraine: actress and her four cats killed by rocket fragment as she slept in 16th-floor flat

A well-known Ukrainian actress with a distinguished stage career, Oksana Shvets, was killed while she slept in her 16th-floor flat in Kyiv, Ukraine as a result of a freak accident, as it happens.

Oksana Shvets. Photo in public domain (assessed).

The flat is in the south-east of Kyiv miles from any frontline fighting or any previous missile strike. Regrettably, a missile that was flying above her flat was intercepted by Ukrainian rocket.

The Russian missile exploded and broke into several parts. One of those parts flew through her bedroom window, while she was asleep, killing her instantly.

Shvets was a known cat lover. She fed the local strays and took them in. At the moment she was struck by this piece of missile junk, it appears that her four cats were in her bedroom, perhaps on her bed at the time. Accordingly, they died with her.

Perhaps we can be comforted by the fact that it must have been an instant death. Perhaps she did not even realise it for a second.

It is incredibly sad that this well-loved person had her life taken from in such tragic circumstances. There is another potentially good aspect to this, if it is possible to say that, which is that her cats died with her. Without her they would have struggled to survive.

Sasha, an IT engineer was in the next room at the moment she was killed and survived unscathed.  I think he is her son.

Natasha Tsytsiarieva, a neighbour next door, said: "She was a beautiful person, a real star, kind to us all".

A fellow actor, Anatoly Petrov, 66, said that it is hard for him to believe that she has gone as they were acting on stage at the start of the war last month. Her last performance on February 12 was of a classic manipulative, scheming mother-in-law in a Ukrainian tragedy. Petrov played the young wife's father.

Her body was laid out amid the broken glass in front of her apartment block, covered by a shroud. Her son Sasha, 35, knelt over her body in shock and distress.

This is another tragic and distressing snippet from this brutal, unnecessary and illegal war started by Putin who wants to annex Ukraine and call it Russia. He wants to increase in an instant the population of Russia because it is declining. 

And he wants to return Russia to the old USSR. He is scared of Ukraine's democracy. He fears that it is contagious and that there might be a revolution in Russia to depose him. He doesn't mind whether he takes possession of a country that has been destroyed by his forces. And he doesn't mind if it takes possession of a country in which the citizens universally hate him and therefore his objective is entirely futile.

There is no doubt in my mind that he has engaged in war crimes. I agree with Biden on this. Many others will agree with me too. We can only hope that when this is over, he is somehow taken to The Hague, Netherlands, for a trial.

But it will never bring back people like Shvets.

What can I do if my cat dies at home?

The way I see it, you can do one of 3 things in terms of burial or cremation. However, before you deal with that it makes sense, I think, to spend a short some time with your cat and grieve over him or her. These are the last moment that you will be with your cat companion. 

Urn for your cat's ashes. This is for sale on etsy.com . It is a very nice one.

There is a caveat here. Rabies still exists in America albeit rarely. It is possible it seems to me to get rabies from a deceased cat. Apparently, the virus remains alive inside a deceased animal for 48 hours. That possibility should be observed but this is going to be a very rare occurrence because rabies is rare and the virus is normally injected into a person via a bite. Although irrelevant to this discussion I remember a Vietnamese guy eating the brains of a monkey or dog and getting rabies. A bit mad anyway to eat the brains of a dog but I think it is a cultural thing.

Nearly all diseases affecting cats are not zoonotic which means they can't be transferred from cat to human. I'm just making a small point for the sake of completeness.

Veterinarian arranged cremation

You can take your cat to your veterinarian and ask them to make arrangements for your cat to be cremated. They will probably charge a fairly modest fee. This takes away the hassle of making these arrangements. It's convenient. The downside, as I see it, is that the ashes that you receive might not be the ashes of your cat. This is because the pet crematorium may cremate several animals at one time. Not that this should be a huge worry because all traces of DNA are removed from the animal when they are properly cremated.

Individualised cremation

A better option, if you want to go down the route of cremation, would be to telephone your local pet crematorium and make arrangements for a private cremation. You take your cat to the crematorium, meet with an individual, and they will walk you through the process. You can watch your cat been cremated and receive the ashes while you wait. It is a while-you-wait process, essentially. And it should be because you want to make sure that it is a genuine individual cremation. It needs to be supervised in my opinion.

Backyard (back garden) burial

A third option is to bury your cat in your backyard or back garden (in the UK). In the UK it is perfectly legal to bury your cat in the back garden. You do not need permission for this. Just make sure that you bury him or her deep enough to avoid foxes sniffing around and digging up the body of your cat. About 3 feet should do. You might place some stones over the top or bricks is to make sure.

In the USA it isn't quite as straightforward. There are 50 states in the USA and although the vast majority allow you to bury your cat in the backyard, there are exceptions. My research indicates that: Arkansas, Vermont, Wisconsin, urban California and most of cities of Arizona do not allow people to bury their cat in the backyard. However, I can't completely trust this information and therefore for the sake of certainty it is probably advisable to telephone the local authority just to make sure you're receiving the right advice.

If it is illegal to bury your cat in the backyard, but want to bury your cat, you could make arrangements with a pet cemetery/pet crematorium to bury your cat at their facility.

Preferred option

The preferred option, I believe, must be an individualised cremation as mentioned. You can then bring your cat's ashes home and keep them there. I find this emotionally supportive. It is about emotion and not reality because as mentioned the ashes do not contain the DNA of your cat. They could be the ashes of an armchair in terms of hard science. But that doesn't matter. You arranged an individualised cremation and these are the ashes that you received. They represent your cat. It works for me.

Purebred kittens and puppies are being smuggled between mainland China and Hong Kong by boat

The Asia One website reports the death of an alleged Chinese smuggler of 28 kittens and puppies whose body was found in Hong Kong waters after a high-speed chase. Two men were involved in the smuggling of kittens and puppies from mainland China to Hong Kong. The police tried to intercept the speedboat. It took off at high speed. The pursuit took 10 minutes during which one of the men fell from the speedboat about 1.8 km offshore. They think he might have jumped to avoid capture.

Kittens, cats and puppies are being smuggled between mainland China and Hong Kong by boat. Photo: SCMP.

The police found 15 puppies and 13 kittens inside eight cages on the speedboat together with other contraband. The pets were expensive breeds. They projected that each could be sold for as much as HK$10,000 each in Hong Kong (£928). It seems that expensive purebred puppies and kittens are being smuggled from mainland China to Hong Kong for sale. This must be happening to avoid importation laws and duties.

UPDATE: The Guardian newspaper reports terrible news causing outrage in Taiwan:

"The animals were estimated to have a value of $10m New Taiwan Dollars (US$357,504). All were put down on Saturday, which also happened to be International Homeless Animals Day."

Last November 34 kittens and 9 puppies were also smuggled into Hong Kong from the mainland. On that occasion no arrests were made. The kittens were expensive purebred cats such as Ragdolls, Russian Blues, British Shorthairs, Scottish Folds, American Shorthairs and Bengals.

On another occasion, sadly, 15 cats and dogs were discovered deceased inside cages. They believe that the cages were thrown overboard while the smugglers were being pursued by the police. Apparently smuggling also takes place in the opposite direction from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland. When companion animals are smuggled from Hong Kong to China it is believed to be because mainland Chinese working in Hong Kong return home and ask an agency to have their pets sent to them. They pay 40,000 yuan for the service.

Comment: I don't know the laws pertaining to the importation and exportation of animals in and out of Hong Kong and China but clearly there are heavy restrictions. There is a land border between Hong Kong and China and a sea border. I'm going to guess that the smugglers chose the sea border because they felt it was far more likely to succeed. It appears that smuggling pets in this way is not uncommon. Covid may be the main reason for smuggling pets as there may be an absolute ban on pet importation into Hong Kong at this time.

Ultimate source: SCMP.

Feline pancytopenia deaths linked to pet food recall reaches at least 335

I feel that we should remember the quiet disaster that is befalling many households at the moment. You might have read about the rare feline disease called feline pancytopenia affecting many cats in the UK. It is believed that this bone marrow disease has been caused by a range of cat food products manufactured at the same facility. 

Sushi died of pancytopenia after eating Pets at Home AVA dry cat food. She was actually euthanized at the vets. Photo: Mrs Kenny.

But the point of this short post is to report that the Royal Veterinary College has issued a warning about the surge in cat deaths reaching 335 at the date of this post. In all 528 cats have contracted the disease. These are the cases that the college are aware of but there may be more. In fact, they say that this information probably represents only a percentage of cases because many of the sick cats may not be taken to a veterinary practice and therefore diagnosed by a veterinarian.

The information has not been verified and many UK vets are not actively reporting to the Royal Veterinary College at this time.

The investigation so far as reported by the college is that there appears to be no link with common feline infectious diseases, no link with common toxins, and no link with deficiencies or excesses in vitamins or minerals.

Investigations are still taking place including analysis by the college of cat food involved in the product recall. If you not read about this then please click on this link to go to a list of the products believed to be affected.

Associated: Fears that Pets at Home’s AVA cat food killed this cat

It is believed that feline pancytopenia in this instance has been caused by mycotoxins which are toxic compounds that are naturally produced by different types of fungi. They grow on a variety of different crops. Cat food does contain cereal to pad it out and it appears that these mycotoxins on the cereal have found their way into the commercially prepared cat food.

There has been a reduction in the number of reported cases. The peak number of cases reported occurred in mid-June of this year (2021). Seven cases were reported on July 12.

If you think your cat has been made ill by this cat food then you should of course contact your veterinarian immediately to ask for a blood test to look at the levels of red and white blood cells and platelets in your cat's blood. These blood cells decrease in number when a cat has contracted pancytopenia. Bone marrow produce these cells.

75% of kittens born to free-roaming domestic cats die or disappear within six months

This is going to be short because I don't have the full study results but I do have the conclusion. A study titled Reproductive Capacity of Free-Roaming Domestic Cats and Kitten Survival Rate published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that 75% of kittens born to free-roaming domestic cats died or disappeared before six months of age and trauma was the most common cause of death.

This photo is so damned sad. It is horrible. It is from Facebook. The photographer was Chris.

CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE STORY BEHIND THE PIC ABOVE

The study observed 2332 female cats brought to a TNR clinic for neutering. In addition, 71 female cats and 171 kittens from 50 litters were also incorporated into the study and they were from managed colonies (believed).

The data that they collected included pregnancy, oestrus status, lactation and the number of foetuses for pregnant cats. They also collected data for feral cats and managed colonies including the number of litters per year and kittens per litter. In addition, they collected information on the date of birth, kitten survival rate and causes of death.

They observed pregnant cats in all months of the year and the percentage of cats that were pregnant was highest in the months of March, April and May. The cats produced an average litter of 1.4 kittens with a median of three kittens/litter. The range was from 1-6 kittens per litter.

Overall, 127 of 169 or 75% of the kittens died or disappeared before six months of age. They say that trauma was the most common cause of death. The conclusion is that these cats had a high reproductive capacity and the information may be useful in controlling feral and free ranging domestic cats.

Tenting for termites killed 6 community cats in South Beach Miami

SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI - NEWS AND COMMENT: Six community cats were killed by a fumigation chemical possibly colorless sulfuryl fluoride when they entered a building that was being 'tented'. There are businesses which cover a building in a tent so no gases can escape from it and then they pump in fumigation chemicals to kill every termite and nasty organism inside the building to render it completely free of these pests.

This is a file photo from Wikipedia of a tent fumigation process in Los Angeles, Calif.

Clearly it is a dangerous process because the chemicals can harm animals and people. Therefore, there must be strict rules on how they go about fumigated buildings in this way. They have to check to make sure the building is free of all life before they pump in the chemicals. They have to make sure there's no means of an animal getting into the building.

In this instance, six cats did get into the building or to buildings that were being tented and were trapped after they draped the tent over the building. It seems that nobody checked to make sure the building was clear and as a consequence they were poisoned. They were community cats which means that they were domestic cats living in the community being cared for by volunteers.

CLICK FOR PAGES ON KIDS KILLING CATS

The volunteers got to know these cats very well and they become their pets. One such person is Holly Whalan who lives in South Beach, Miami. She said that three of the cats who died were come into her home and snuggle with her on the sofa. One cat, Sol, would hug her. They had become her pets she said and she is extremely distraught. She said: "I can only imagine their fear. Being suffocated to death and having nowhere to hide."

The 6 cats killed by tenting. Montage: 7News Miami.

Three of the cats, Maru, Sol and Chloe were known to Whalan. They were three of 15,000 community cats living in Miami Beach. A local non-profit caring for the cats in partnership with the city, SoBe Cats, emphasised that they were not feral cats and that they were looked after in all respects including veterinary bills, by volunteers.

Whalan said that the building had a crawlspace which allowed the cats to get in which was subsequently fixed. She says that it was a code violation to leave that crawlspace access open to the cats. She claims that it was a code violation. SoBe Cats made a complaint to the city about the fact that the openings were not covered properly.

A further three were also killed in the same way. These cats were Oreo, Barbie and Lemon. Another South Beach resident was very fond of them. A local news media business, 7News, said that the city had known about this problem for a long time and therefore it must have happened before without any action being taken.

The city say that they cannot pass laws regulating fumigation companies because it is the state's responsibility. In the meantime, the volunteers wonder what can be done to protect community cats under the circumstances.

Comment: based upon the report on 7News it is clear that the fumigation business was negligent but they not been punished because of a lack of evidence, apparently. And it seems that nothing will be done in the future in the way of proactive steps to stop a recurrence.

Colombian woman in Madrid eaten by her domestic cats

NEWS AND COMMENT: The headline sounds awful and impossible but it is essentially true in that a 79-year-old Colombian woman died in her apartment about three months ago it is believed and she had cats. The cats were full-time indoor cats and all of a sudden there was nobody there to look after them and so they turned to the body of their owner for sustenance; which is why the headlines state that the woman was eaten from the waist up by her pet cats.

The apartment block where Clara lived

This has happened before because I can remember similar headlines about a year ago when the news media were chewing over the possibility that domestic cats eat people. And their imaginations ran riot for a week while they joked about the possibility of domestic cats eating people. They don't eat people as we fully well know. But the story is incredibly sad, not really for the lady who passed (although that is sad enough) but for her seven cats. Five of them had died of starvation and two had survived by eating her.

The woman's name is Clara Ines Tobon. She was a Colombian living in Spain. They believe that she died from Covid-19. The alarms were raised in the usual way: smells emerging from her apartment from a decaying body. And there were flies too.

The police asked firefighters to force entry into the apartment on Monday through one of her windows and they found her dead in one of the rooms. The two surviving cats were taken to a local animal rescue centre. One neighbour said to the Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo: "A police officer said it was the worst thing he had ever seen since in his job."

Clara had been living in the apartment since 1996. Her family lives in Colombia. As I mentioned, this sort of event is not that unusual. 

Dog under similar circumstances

Apparently, in September 2019 a dog survived after their owner died of cancer by eating part of his body. This, too, happened in Spain and the man's body was undiscovered for about a month. When he was discovered, there was no flesh on his legs. Once again there was a rancid smell coming out of his apartment which notified neighbours that something was badly wrong.

The dog was taken to an animal rescue centre. They said that the man died of lymphatic cancer and that he was a chef aged 56.

Dying of starvation and dehydration

The Humane Society of America tells us that when an animal dies of starvation they suffer from tremendous pain. It is said that they suffer from a "myriad of painful symptoms throughout each stage of their physical deterioration."

When an animal dies of starvation chemicals known as ketones build up in their blood. They cause mild euphoria which act as an anaesthetic for the animal which I presume is a form of survival. The brain releases feel-good hormones called endorphins. This is the same chemical that is released when you do strenuous exercise.

The immune system is harmed because of an extreme deficiency of vitamins and minerals. Sometimes starving people die of immune-related diseases because of this.

There is, of course, a loss of body fat followed by a loss of muscle and general atrophy and ultimately organ failure. The liver degenerates, there may be skin lesions and anaemia.

The body becomes acutely dehydrated which itself causes a general degeneration of the body and brain as the electrolyte balance is disrupted. The brain cells dry out causing convulsions. The respiratory tract dries out resulting in thick secretions which can plug the lungs and cause death. The major organs stop working causing death.

The five cats that died of starvation and dehydration suffered acute pain for quite a while before they passed. May they rest in peace. We should think of them.

"Today I said goodbye to my buddy Benjamin: never experienced a more affectionate and loving kitty."

The full title: "Today I said goodbye to my buddy Benjamin. I adopted him as an older kitty and have never experienced a more affectionate and loving kitty. He was one in a million" is direct from reddit.com. I feel I need to comment on it here, on this website. When I comment on reddit.com it disappears. No idea why. I find the photo very sad. I guess I can feel the guy's distress as I have been through it before several times.  The passing of my first cat hurt the most. It was over 25 years ago and I still feel the emotional pain. It will never leave me. 

They say cats are members of the family. It is true and for me her passing was more distressing than the passing of my sister, mother and father. None of these deaths were anywhere near as painful as the passing of my darling cat. It was love. Anyway, I won't go on as it is too maudlin. Shouldn't indulge in self-pity. Have to move on. 

This guy's cat almost looks like a Bengal cat because of the strong tabby markings and the rich, golden brown background colour: very reminiscent of the Bengal. But I don't think so. He says that he adopted him as an older cat which might indicate a rescue cat. His cat looks elderly in the picture.

You can build a friendship with a cat even if initially you are not sure. Just be consistently loving and interact gently and frequently, over years and bingo, you will probably be handsomely rewarded with a very loving and attentive cat companion who'll sleep on your arm as you see in this photo from reddit.com.

Grandma buried cat on farm for apartment dwelling cat owner

She wrote: "My cat, Mayhem, unexpectedly died about eight months ago. Since I rent, I didn’t have anywhere to bury him and I was too heartbroken to really deal with it. My 86-year-old grandma ended up volunteering to bury him out on her farmland. She sent me this email today."

Grandma buried cat from apartment dwelling cat owner. Reddit.com screenshot.

It is a cute story. It is also an interesting story because my first instinct is to ask why this cat owner did not take her cat to her veterinarian to organise a cremation. Or perhaps take the cat to a cat cremation facility where she could have asked for an individual cremation. It is unusual, I believe, for people to want to bury their cat in the garden.

Perhaps, there was an issue of money. An individual cat cremation might cost about $150 in America and the same in pounds in the UK. That's not inexpensive but for me it is an absolute necessity so I find the money. Obviously a burial in the back garden is entirely free but what if you move home? 

I know that I am asking an obvious question. You want your cat to be with you which is why you have buried your cat at the bottom of the garden. Therefore, this points to cremation although there is no DNA left in a cat's ashes. The connection between you and the ashes is entirely emotional and not physical.

The behaviour of the grandmother is very cute and sensitive. It is the kind of behaviour that I love to see. It worked out well. Perhaps burial, sometimes, is the best way to go. Just make sure that the cat is buried deep enough to avoid the remains being dug up by a fox for a meal. It's remarkable but foxes will do this.

I have an article on the rules governing the burying of your cat in America. You can read it if you want to by clicking on this link here.

Cat revived from near-death by firefighter in Volgograd, Russia

This is a video that I missed when it was first aired on February 28, 2018. It is a dramatic cat rescue and it is quite hard to watch because the cat is clearly near the point of death having been pulled out of what appears to be an apartment fire which killed three people.

 Cat revived from near-death by firefighter in Volgograd, Russia. Screenshot.

The cat appears to have been poisoned by inhaling smoke. We don't know whether the cat also suffered from heat exposure. Both smoke and heat can have long-term effects upon the health of an animal or a person.

We know that firefighters can suffer from heart attacks due to constant exposure to heat and of course we all know that people can die of suffocation in fires because of the smoke and fumes. Therefore, this cat's rescue is quite special. It is also nice to see firefighters attempting, often times successfully, to rescue companion animals from fires.

In these acts they are treating companion animals on an equal footing to human beings. Both are being rescued from a life threatening situation. The dedication to rescuing animals is the equal of the effort and dedication required to rescue the people. This is something that we should all strive for and which pleases me no end.

What is dramatic and harder look at is how the cat is near death and the firefighter administers heart massage, referred to as CPR, because it in addition to the heart massage he forces oxygen down the cat's throat. He does not use one of those special masks but does the best that he can with what equipment he has.

The cat revives but at one stage you think he's going to pass away. You can see this moment etched on his face. It's that close. He is on the cusp of life and death. He falls on the side of life. His owner is distraught. She is distressed and relieved at the same time. Starkly contrasting and conflicting emotions swill around her head.At the end, the cat looks noticeably better but the long-term prognosis might not be good. 

What of the smoke and carbon particles inside the cat's lungs. Will that cause health problems in the future? What would a veterinarian provide as a prognosis for this cat? And the heat may have damaged his heart as it does the heart of firefighters.

It's great to see his survival but I fear for his longevity.

Male jaguar kills female jaguar when put together at a Florida zoo. Why?

Harry and Zenta were two jaguars at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. Harry is still alive and he is twelve years old. He killed the female jaguar, Zenta, who was twenty-one years old. A mistake was made. They were both put into a holding complex. 

Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens poster featuring a jaguar. Is this Harry? Photo: Jacksonville
and Gardens.

Harry was put there for examination. The mistake was putting them together. Keepers tried to separate them unsuccessfully. As Harry attacked Zenta, they tried to immobilise him. I presume this means tranquilizing. They were unsuccessful and he killed the female who had arrived at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in 2006 they rescued animal from a private zoo. Harry was born at the zoo in 2009.

Comment: the question that I have is ,why did the male jaguar kill the female? In the wild male and female jaguar's meet to mate and reproduce. Roaring may function to bring them together for mating purposes. Females can end up being accompanied by several males. But I can't find any reports of male jaguar's killing female jaguars.

I will have to come to my own conclusion as the zookeepers at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens don't tell us why Harry wanted to kill Zenta. There were probably two overlapping factors. Both were captive, living in confined spaces much smaller than the amount of space they naturally require in the wild which would be something in the order of up to 152 km² for a male jaguar. Females require less space but still vastly larger than is available at a zoo. This probably constantly stressed both the male and female. 

In the wild, female home ranges can be within the home ranges of male jaguars which sometimes overlap. I would suspect that stresses built up because the natural social organisation of these big cats was completely disturbed by their captivity. 

The male wanted to get rid of the female because she was on his territory and competing for that territory. This is my assessment. I may be completely wrong but it is the only possible assessment, I believe. This was about territory and ownership of it. It didn't matter whether they were male and female or male and male.

Rapper Azealia Banks digs up her cat and boils the carcass to bring it to life

Rapper Azealia Banks has a Wikipedia page. She has celebrity and followers. I am sure countless thousands of youngsters look up to her. She is an influencer whether she wants to be or not. So why is she engaging in macabre and frankly mad behavior including digging up her deceased cat and boiling the carcass in a big pot on the stove? Oh, she says that she wanted to bring it back to life! She is as mad as a fruitcake if she genuinely believes that. 

Rapper Azealia Banks digs up Lucifer he deceased cat. Photo: Instagram

Perhaps she did this to shock and get noticed. She did upload all the information and a video to social media before deleting it. Her dead cat was Lucifer. The devil is often referred to as Lucifer. Isn't there a Netflix series called Lucifer and it's about a man who is the devil?

Perhaps Azealia Banks is incredibly superstitious and genuinely believes she can bring Lucifer to life by boiling his bones. She shared the video of her cat being exhumed on Instagram. It was quickly deleted. Bizarre behaviour. Was that to give people a flash but no more of her mad behaviour. The short publishing of the video may have been premeditated to avoid her falling foul of Instagram policy against uploading violent or digusting and offending material.

While she was digging up Lucier she joked "The cat is in the bag". The cat was actually in a bag. This seems to be a reference to the ancient saying "let the cat out of the bag" meaning to expose a secret. She captioned the video "Lucifer 2009 - 2020. My Dear kitty. Thank you for everything. A legend. An icon. Forever a serval serve."

In another video she boiled the cat. The water was murky probably because it was muddy. Her followers were horrified. One said: "I genuinely hope the girl gets help one day but...God damn."

Another said that her stomach was churning and that she should see a psychiatrist. Banks has a reputation it seems for trying to shock. In 2013 she was accused of being homophobic when using a gay slur many times when slamming a celeb blogger, Perez Hilton.

Her response to the comments is mocking and disdainful. She does not care, "Here we go again. Everyone pretending to be so shocked and moved by the word f***ot. It's like society is so bored with itself it needs to hold on to these outdated rules of what you can say and cannot say. Why has society accepted n***er as a colloquialism … But will not accept f***ot'? Everyones always acting like its f**king 1905 in this b**ch."

My comment about the cat: Very disrespectful. Immoral and apallingly poor behaviour. Even she might remember the saying "rest in peace" RIP. Not much peace for poor Lucifer if he is boiled on the kitchen stove. I don't think the cat is Lucifer. It's her. She's the devil.

Rapper Azealia Banks. Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

Delivery driver runs over kitten in driveway of property. Who is at fault?

A woman is in the process of receiving a delivery of groceries having ordered them online. The supermarket vehicle is parked up in the driveway and the goods are being offloaded. The woman lets her cats go outside. This is the UK. One of her cats is a 7-month-old kitten. She does not know where he is.

As she knows he could be outside she asks the delivery driver to move off slowly after the delivery has been fully offloaded. The idea is to give the kitten warning that the vehicle is moving. The driver does not carry out her instructions and drives off quickly. The kitten is crushed by one of the wheels. The kitten must have been very near the wheel when the vehicle moved off.

The woman is naturally distraught. The supermarket apologised, gave her flowers and £100. The woman is still upset and feels aggrieved. She is complaining to the company.



Who is at fault? It is not all on one side. I'd say the woman is equally at fault as the driver. She may have to bear the burden of most of the fault in my view. She knew the van was there. She knew her kitten could have been there. A tragic accident was forseable. She did not do enough to prevent it. The better solution would have been to either keep her cats inside when the delivery was being made or to inspect under the vehicle before it was driven off.