Whoopi Goldberg ate cat food in bed in the middle of the night

The video explains everything. In short, it would seem that Whoopi Goldberg simply - by mistake - in the middle of the night grabbed hold of some cat treats that were next to her usual pretzels which she loves. 

And because she was half asleep she didn't know that she was eating dry cat food treats. Initially she thought that the pretzels had gone a bit stale so she tried some more and then she suspected that her taste buds were a little bit wrong because it was two in the morning and she had barely woken up. All in all she ended up eating quite a few Temptations cat treats. The taste couldn't have been that bad because she grabbed at least two handfuls!

Separately, there have been reports of cat food manufacturers asking volunteers to taste their wet cat food. That's because some wet cat food is so refined it becomes attractive to people. It becomes very similar to human food because the ingredients are high quality. So there is an overlap here between cat food and human food. It's just about the quality! Cat food per se is not going to harm people on a one-off basis because it is designed to be eaten by carnivores. Humans are omnivores which means they both meet and nonmeat ingredients. Cat food is okay for people in essence but I wouldn't necessarily trust the additives.  And dry cat food is high in carbs.

I'm sure some people have eaten cat food and dog food because they were starving, were broke, and dog and cat food is normally cheaper than human food. And that brings me to another topic actually. Often cat food is more expensive than human food! It depends on what you're buying of course but high quality cat food on a weight-for-weight basis is sometimes more expensive than human food.

Which brings me to another point namely that if you are considering adopting a cat, make sure you can afford it! Do the maths. Work at the overall cost of cat food, cat litter, veterinary treatments, and in the case of purebred cats you'll probably need pet insurance. And pet insurance is notoriously expensive. Do some research on the inherited diseases of purebred cats before you adopt a purebred cat. It's important because you are going to need insurance for some of these fancy show cats. Believe me. And sometimes the insurance won't cover the veterinary treatment needed to fix problems like bilateral hip dysplasia in Maine Coon cats. That is just one example.

P.S. It is nice to know that she lives with at least one cat. She has my vote.

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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. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Cat and dog ownership is about pleasing people not the cats and dogs

Of course, in cat and dog ownership the caregivers often do their best to keep their pets happy. And that sentence appears to contradict the title. What I'm saying, though, is that the ultimate goal of a cat or dog owner is most often to please themselves; to find support from their companion animal. That's often the primary objective when people adopt or purchase/adopt a pet.

Human centrism as depicted by an AI computer DALL-E 3.

History

This primary goal shows itself in how pet ownership has developed over hundreds of years. If you turn the clock back in let's say Britain and look at cat ownership then, cats were allowed much more freedom to behave naturally. There were more community cats in Britain hundreds of years ago.

To allow cats to behave naturally is to please them. Of course hundred years ago there were no veterinary services and therefore cats had a shorter lifespan. They would have been ill more often which makes cats unhappy. 

They would been fed human scraps rather than specially formulated cat food. All these were negatives to cat contentment but at the heart of cat caregiving in the early part of the 19th century cats were allowed behave more naturally compared to today. That's the point I'm making ultimately.

Jumping forward to today, then, although cats and dogs are healthier in some regards today they are, arguably less content. I'll highlight some specific points to support that statement.

And I'm going to refer to an environmental historian who provided advice for an article on The Guardian newspaper online for some pointers on this. Their name is Troy Vettese. Troy said:

“If people really cared about animals, we would only engage in rescues and helping animal sanctuaries’ wildlife rehabilitation – things that we find fulfilling, but that also help the animal. [Instead] we only like relationships where they are easy, where the pets are well maintained, where we can hire a dog walker, where it impinges as little as possible on our life and we are extracting as much emotional support as we want from them."

He regards the relationship as very selfish. It is indeed human-centric. The cat-to-human relationship and the dog-to-human relationship very much centres around what the human wants and desires and gets. Of course, there is a wide spectrum of types of relationship with some being far better than others but that is the underpinning process.

Pandemic

The human-centric nature of pet ownership became very apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic. Cats and dogs were adopted because people were in lockdown. They wanted company. They adopted animals for themselves. They thought less of the long-term future and how they would cope with cat and dog caregiving which resulted in surrenders to rescues and sales on Facebook when the pandemic ended. Another signal of the human-centric nature of pet ownership nowadays.

This led to many reports of shelters being overrun with abandoned pets. The RSPCA were one example who complained about this.

Expansion

In America, pet ownership has expanded a lot as is the case in the UK and I suspect in other developed countries. A report on the pet industry in the US states that 70% of US households have a pet. A massive upscaling of pet ownership.

Indoors

But in parallel with that there has been a definite trend towards keeping cats indoors full-time which is good and bad. I have said in the past that people keep their cats indoors full-time primarily for their benefit; for their emotional well-being to prevent them being anxious about their cat when they go outside. Most people don't keep their cats inside to protect wildlife. They keep them inside to feel better themselves. But they don't enrich the indoor environment which leads to an unnatural environment for the cat and a less contented life.

And it is said that dogs have "less and less freedom to move around the world and be dogs". Those are the thoughts of Jessica Pierce, a bioethicist.

Breeding

And then we can turn to cat and dog breeding. The cat fancy didn't exist before the late 1800s and the same applies to dogs broadly speaking although dog domestication started 20k years ago compared to cats at 10k years ago. 

But since then, selective breeding has created some dogs and cats with extraordinary appearances which are unnatural and frankly unhealthy. Purebred cats and dogs inherit more illnesses than random bred cats and dogs. That's a result of selective breeding. And selective breeding is about pleasing owners. It's a human-centric process. And when you breed animals you kill more shelter animals. Another process which points to pleasing people rather than doing the right thing for companion animals.

Objects

Jessica Pierce claims that people nowadays are more likely to treat dogs and cats as objects than they were in the past. This is evident in the selective breeding argument above. Selective breeding is a moulding of a cat or dog so they have an interesting appearance while almost ignoring the health consequences. You couldn't get more human-centric.

Family members

And we know that cats and dogs nowadays are very often treated as family members. Like little people. Like kids. Like toddlers and people buy them clothes sometimes and dress them up. They do this to please themselves but not their cat or dog. And sometimes perhaps rarely dog owners have an artist paint a portrait of their companion animal and hang it over the mantelpiece. Just like a family member.

Starter kids

The business side of the pet ownership industry has burgeoned. And people are having pets rather than children. They sometimes adopt a cat or dog as a starter child. This has upset the current Pope who wants Italians to have children rather than adopt a pet.

The process is one of converting an animal to a human. If you treat a cat or dog as a human you are not really respecting the animal and doing right by the animal. There should be a focus on what an animal needs to be content which means creating a world fit for the animal in which they can express their natural desires.

Overindulge

And people sometimes overindulge their animals which has resulted in what veterinarians describe as an 'obesity epidemic'. Once again this is about people wishing to be nice to their pet resulting in overfeeding and a lack of exercise for their companion animal. Human failings based around but humans want to do and not what is right for their animal.

Emotional support

Pierce claims that often people tend to adopt a dog as a support animal, and emotional aid. She says this is not good for dog health and claims that veterinary literature reports that the level of dog anxiety is "off the charts".

People are asking dogs and cats to fulfil a human need and looking for unconditional love. This appears to be humans controlling their pet to the point where they are only allowed to give unconditional love. If they were allowed more freedoms with they give it?

Focusing on cat and dog needs

Another thought is that even when cat and dog owners are very thoughtful and conscientious they intend to underestimate the needs and desires of their companions. It's difficult to say it but the domestic cat is a top predator. They need to prey on animals to be content. It is their raison d'être. It is the centre of their lives. Bang them up in they home full-time and they can't do it and they become unhappy. They lack mental stimulation and opportunities to do what they want. They sleep all the time. They eat for pleasure. They become fat. Sometimes they suffer from separation anxiety when their owner leaves them alone all day.

Boredom

Vettese believes that "the boredom of animals is intense." He is referring to parrots stuck in cages bored out of their minds and stressed. But the same can apply to many indoor cats.

The captivity of cats is an issue. The full-time indoor MO makes them zoo animals in effect. And we know how bad zoos are the wild animals and the domestic cat, at heart is a wild animal.

Adopt from rescues

One thing we can do better is to adopt animals from rescue centres only. In line with this, many American jurisdictions are preventing pet shops from selling animals such as cats and dogs and forcing people to adopt them from shelters or the pet shop can be an extension of a shelter. The concept of breeding cats and dogs and then buying them is very human-centric and treating them as objects such as a new car. Dog and cat breeds are about appearance because humans are fascinated with appearance.

Ownership and caregiving

There is a distinction between owning and caring for a companion animal. The concept of ownership is wrong in terms of fostering good cat and dog caregiving. Ownership fosters or reinforces a problematic attitude towards animals and renders them as a property whereas caregiving fosters treating animals as animals. Respecting them more.

Failure

I have argued that cat domestication is a failure when considered overall. A thought. Too many feral cats. Each feral cat is a sign of failure.

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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.

You will need a high IQ to spot the hidden clue revealing the cat's owner

There is a brainteaser on the Internet today. It is an image of three women and one cat. Each woman has a sign on their clothes or person which is meant to tell us that they own the cat being held by the woman in the middle with the pink dress.

Only one of these three women owns the grey cat. All three could own it because they all have a sign which indicates that they might. So which one is the cat's owner?

I'm going to debunk and spoil (sorry) this brainteaser because I don't think it works 😈. So I will spare you the agony of trying to figure it out if it does cause you agony!

The owner of the cat is said to be the lady on the right-hand side with a green top and blonde hair.

Three women and a grey cat. Which woman owns the cat? Image: The Sun via Freshers Live.

The woman on the right is the owner because her green top has been torn by her cat's claws under the arm by the armpit.

Criticism and observation: 👿domestic cat don't tear clothes like that particularly in that area. Cats can scratch people and tear the skin for a whole range of reasons often innocuous or simply being defensive or because they are a bit anxious. Or most commonly in play. They just don't quite get it when they play with the hands of their owner.

But a domestic cat is not going to tear their owners clothes as we see in the image. This tear is about 10 inches long. And as mentioned it is under the armpit.

The length of the tear is almost unimaginable for a domestic cat to create. A cat might damage clothes slightly by kneading them. Domestic cats often knead the clothes of their caregiver because it is a kitten's instinctive behaviour and, as I have mentioned in other articles, the adult domestic cat is nearly always kept in a mental state where they believe that they are kittens because they are constantly provided for by their owner, with their owner acting as a surrogate mum.

So domestic cats knead clothes but that doesn't cause the damage that we see in this image. Cats don't scratch clothing like that unless under very rare and exceptional circumstances such as wrestling with their owner which really wouldn't happen. And in any case it is in the wrong position if that circumstance happened.

And lastly, the way it is drawn makes the image ambiguous. Does it look like it's been torn by a cat or by anything else? I don't think it does. It doesn't look like anything to me. It certainly doesn't look like it has been torn.

Conclusion: this brainteaser doesn't work. Yes, I'm being critical. Sorry for being serious about this. Just my style. 

Incidentally, I chose the lady on the left because I can see there's a cat image on her dress. The lady in the middle is meant to have a cat tattoo but once again the drawing is too poor. Does that look like a cat tattoo? It looks more like a crab to me!

The only clue that is 'readable' or recognisable is the cat image on the dress of the woman on the left! 😃

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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.

Do you have sinus problems? Take an antihistamine tablet before you go to bed!

This is indirectly about cats: it is about the mental state of the cat caregiver. The better he/she feels the more likely it will be that their caregiving will be of  high standard. Miserable caregivers because of poor health might struggle to be a good companion to their cat.

I suffer from sinusitis. It is not bad but I do have a sinus problem. I use various tricks to deal with it. I'd like to pass them on as they work for me. I am 'paying it forward' as they say although no one told me about these methods. It was a case of trial and error over many years.

The key is prevention. If the sinuses become full of fluid they create a good medium for bacteria to grow. You can develop a bacterial infection in your sinuses particularly after a viral infection due to a cold. I believe I needs to minimise the amount of liquid in one's sinuses. It is about DRYING UP the sinuses.

You can achieve this by taking an antihistamine tablet at night, every night. You wake up with a clear nose and the benefit carries through during the day. Taking the pill at night is useful because if it causes drowsiness it means you sleep better. Taking antihistamine pills in the daytime can sometimes make people a little drowsy which impairs function.

In addition, I use NeilMed which is a solution to flush out your nose. This helps to keep it clear which reduces the possibility of irritants being in your nasal passages which in turn might stimulate the production of sinus fluids. The objective once again is to minimise the amount of liquid inside your sinuses.

I also use a pressure equalizer. This is a device which opens up the eustachian tube from the ear to the mouth. I'm not sure how much this helps but I do it anyway.

Please feel free to ask a question in the comments section.

Note: I am not a doctor. I'm just passing on my personal experiences. Antihistamine tablets are bought over-the-counter and therefore you don't need a prescription for them. The advice I'm giving cannot cause harm but if you have some concerns then please see your doctor. The basic advice I am delivering is based on common sense but it took me a long time to work it out! :)

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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.

Conflicting cat and dog ownership policies between Singapore and Hong Kong

The vast majority of Singaporeans live in publicly owned accommodation in high-rise flats (HBD) where cats have been banned for 34 years but not dogs. Now, at last, Singapore has decided to lift the ban on cat ownership in these flats. The ban on cats "was first introduced in 1989 because they are “generally difficult to contain within the flat”, according to the Housing Development Board's (HDB) website".

The cats and dogs of Singapore and Hong Kong are owned under different rules. Image: MikeB

That is probably very fair but there are downsides because it means lots more cats living in small flats which places an added and quite demanding responsibility upon the caregiver to ensure that the environment is as enriched as possible because a cat living in a one-bedroom flat while the owner is away at work is going to be catastrophically bored and it might result in stress leading to cystitis among other stress-related diseases.

But that is another issue. It just shows that Singapore now has consistency between dogs and cats in respect of ownership in these flats. The same cannot be said about Hong Kong at the moment as in 2003 due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Hong Kong, dogs were banned from public housing complexes except for rare exceptions. They can currently keep small pets such as cats and birds but not dogs I'm told.

Notwithstanding the ban, people apparently flout the regulations by secretly keeping dogs and it also seems that they get away with it a lot of the time.

This policy seems to be in conflict somewhat with another policy about educating young people about companion animal caregiving as delivered by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong. They are learning about how the take dogs for walks and to groom them et cetera.

Hong Kong has seen an increasing number of pet owners and the government open 54 parks for pets in Hong Kong where there are now 170. And there is a pet friendly shopping centre. It seems that the Covid-19 pandemic created a heightened interest in pet ownership because during those long lockdowns, pets helped people deal with loneliness and stress.

All this is inconsistent with the restrictions on dog ownership in public housing. It's interesting that in Hong Kong dogs aren't allowed in public estates while in Singapore, in the past, cats weren't allowed in public estates but dogs were. A very confused situation.

As you might expect, there have been calls for the ban on dogs to be lifted in Hong Kong. Rather disturbingly, it is reported that Hong Kong Housing Department staff provoked dogs into barking by playing barking recordings and making a noise outside homes to provoke the dogs into barking to allow them to catch those who were in breach of the regulations. 

It's caused some distress among the tenants with one reportedly slitting her wrists because the Housing Authority kept pressing her to get rid of her dog.

In Hong Kong, also, there are many private housing estates were there are strict regulations on keeping companion animals. It is believed that if the authorities allowed pets in public housing estates it may change the attitudes of landlords who own the private housing estates.

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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.

People care less about their cats than they do about their dogs

If, like me, you are a cat lover and caregiver, it is rather depressing to think that, in general, cat owners care less for their cats than dog owners care for their dogs but the difference depends on cultural attitudes which in turn depends on the country where you live.

To be honest, I've known this for a long time. Many years ago, I looked up what American citizens spent on veterinary services on their cats and dogs. I went to the AVMA website and in quite a shocking revelation, I noticed that dog owners spend a lot more on their dogs then cat owners spent on their cats in terms of veterinary care. This showed a marked difference in emotional connection between people and their pets as this had little to do with disposable income. Although money is no doubt a factor.

And now we have a quite profound study, an important study, published online which compares cat owners and dog owners and their emotional connection with their companion animals.

In essence, they concluded that cat owners really do care less about their cats than dog owners care about their dogs. Although there is a cultural difference depending upon where you live. In this survey they looked at cat and dog owners living in Britain, Denmark and Austria.

They used for different methods of measuring cat and dog owners' concern about caring for their companion animals:

1. The Lexington attachment to pets scale (LAPS). This is a well-known test for measuring the emotional connection between owners and their pets.
2. Whether owners had taken out a pet health insurance policy.
3. How willing were owners to pay for life-saving treatment?
4. And the expectation of owners as to veterinary diagnostic and treatment options.

The difference between dog and cat owners was greatest in Denmark. Austria was in the middle in terms of treating cats and dogs differently and there was the least difference between dog and cat owners' attitude towards caring for their pets in the UK.

More dogs and cats were insured in all three countries but there was the least difference in the UK in this respect. The difference was much greater in Denmark.

In terms of expensive life-saving treatment, more dog owners than cat owners were willing to spend over a certain amount in all three countries. However, the difference was most pronounced in Denmark compared to the United Kingdom. The researchers felt that this criteria revealed a clear difference in concern for the welfare of cats and dogs.

In Denmark and Austria, dog owners expected more veterinary treatment options to be available than cat owners. But the difference was not noticeable in this respect in the UK.

The researchers concluded that in all three countries, "people care more about their dogs than their cats but with a clear cross-country variation and a very modest difference in the United Kingdom. Therefore, it does not seem to be a universal phenomenon that people care much less about their cats than their dogs.".

What they're saying there is that there is a clear difference between how people care for their dogs compared to their cats; the former getting better treatment than the latter but this difference in caregiving depends upon cultural attitudes in different countries and in Denmark there was the greatest difference whereas in the UK there was the smallest difference.

My personal opinion as to why people care for dogs better than they do cats is because the dog is a pack animal and they look to their owner as the alpha leader for guidance. This helps to generate a better connection between owner and companion animal. And with that better connection on an emotional level the person is more likely to spend more money on their pet because the emotional bond can be greater.

Conversely, the domestic cat is seen as independent which by the way is a misguided myth in large part, and therefore there is less of a close connection in many homes between owner and cat. This leads to the belief that the domestic cat can be left alone to live their lives and come into the life of their owner as and when they need to. This automatically leads to less caregiving and therefore less expenditure in terms of veterinary care.

There are misconceptions about both dogs and cats. For example, the media: books, movies and advertisements and online adverts et cetera can stereotype the dog as being loyal, affectionate and in need of care and attention. They are a "man's best friend". Conversely, cats are sometimes depicted as aloof, independent or less in need of human companionship. This may portray the concept that they require less care.

Save £50 per year when making a cup of tea and have less limescale in your kettle!

With this hack you'll save £50 per year and have less limescale in your kettle! Help the cat caregiver to help the cat! Image: MikeB

Here is my tip, trick of hack to save money and reduce the amount of limescale build up in your kettle. And it takes less time to make a cup of tea.

In the UK, the price of energy is high currently. It'll probably remain pretty high for the foreseeable future and the cost of living has risen. Budgets are tight in many homes.

What has this got to do with cats?! Nothing directly. But indirectly, yes. We need to look after the cat caregiver to look after the cat!

The 'hack'

Rather than taking the kettle to the faucet (tap) to fill it up enough to make a cup of tea, you take the mug to the faucet and fill it up to between 2/3rds to 3/4 full of water depending on how you like you tea (with or without milk).

Take the mug to the kettle and pour in the water

Boil the kettle and as you do so place a tea bag in the mug

Stay by the kettle as it boils because it'll be fast!

When boiled, pour out all the water leaving as little as possible in the kettle to minimise the buildup of limescale.

How much money will you save?

It depends on the current price of electricity wherever you are! But in the UK, it costs around 1.2 pence to boil a kettle with the correct amount of water in it for one mug. It'll cost around four times that if you just partly fill a kettle.

On average people make four teas/coffees per day.

That makes 4.8 pence to per day (min cost) and 19.2 pence per day the more careless way.

This makes £70 per year for the careless way and £17.52 the more precise way I have described.

The difference in cost is £70 minus £17.52 making £52.48 per year!

If you make a mug of tea in the conventional way you are wasting about £50 per year.

Wrong? Tell me in a comment and we can discuss it!

Vegans have just 30% of the dietary environmental impact of high-meat eaters.

This is about cat owners becoming vegans as they should because they love cats and should love animals and if you love animals, you should love nature and if you want to protect nature and the animals that live in it you should do you bit to stop global warming!! Phew.

Vegans harm the planet a lot less than meat-eaters. No surprise, I guess. Here are some details from an Oxford University study: Low meat diets reduce environmental harm from food production.

• Vegans have just 30% of the dietary environmental impact of high-meat eaters;
• Vegans also had just 25% of the dietary impact for land use;
• Vegans have just 46% of the dietary impact for water use;
• Vegans have just 27% of the dietary impact for water pollution;
• Vegans have just 34% of the dietary impact for biodiversity (i.e. detriments to biodiversity).

The study concluded “that even the least sustainable vegan diet was still more environmentally-friendly than the most sustainable meat eater’s diet.” And that doesn’t include the abuse and killing of animals.

Deforestation for cattle farming. Image in public domain.

The researchers took information from over 55,000 individuals. The scientists are from the Livestock, Environment and People project at the University of Oxford. The participants classified themselves as vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or meat eaters.

Data on the environmental impact of their diets was assessed in relation to biodiversity loss, water pollution risk, water use, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions.

It took into account how and where the food was produced. There were substantial variations according to where and how the food was produced. But the relationship between environmental impact and animal-based food consumption is clear they said.

They want action to reduce production and consumption of meat. The report on the project is published in Nature Food.

RELATED: Be a better cat caregiver by being healthier in consuming olive oil and going vegetarian for 6 months.

The global food system as they called it is responsible for 70% of the world's freshwater. They also reported that around 75% of the land area of the planet excluding those areas covered by ice have been affected by human use primarily for agriculture and land use change such as deforestation causing biodiversity loss.

The lead author is Prof Peter Scarborough of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University.

He said:

Our dietary choices have a big impact on the planet. Cherry-picking data on high impact plant-based food or low impact meat can obscure the clear relationship between animal-based foods and the environment. Our results, which use data from over 38,000 farms in over 100 countries, show that high meat diets have the biggest impact for many important environmental indicators, including climate change and biodiversity loss. Cutting down the amount of meat and dairy in your diet can make a big difference to your dietary footprint.”

Past research would support this research and that plant-based diets have a much lower impact on greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use and also reducing meat intake tends to be healthier.

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.

Ukrainian mother refugee in UK misses her cat in Ukraine and will return

Olga Pavolvska and her daughter, Masha are refugees from Ukraine who were welcomed in the UK as a consequence of Putin's invasion of their country. They are among more than 82,000 others from Ukraine in the UK. Olga found settling in the UK difficult. Her daughter, Masha, has found it easier because her English is better and being younger she is arguably more adaptable. She has made friends.

Masha and her mother Olga. She will remain in the UK while her mother will return to Ukraine. Photo: Vicki Couchman.

While her mother will return to Ukraine shortly, Masha, 15, will stay and has been offered a free place at a private school in September. She plans to go to university in the UK afterwards. Of course she misses her home in Ukraine and her friends the but it appears that she is settling well in the UK.

In an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper, Olga said: "It has been difficult and sad. I miss my dog Bekky, my cat Dafne my home and all my plants."

And of course she misses her husband. She has been married for 26 years. And she is worried that her flower business in Lviv, where she and her husband own two shops with three employees, might fold without her presence.

As I understand it, her home is in Kyiv, the capital, from which millions of residents departed and became refugees travelling towards the West and thence to Poland and thence some to other European countries. 

But Putin stopped his assault on the capital a couple of months ago and there is therefore relative calm in Kyiv while all the fighting now takes place in the east. The capital's mayor, Vitaly Klitschko, said that nearly two-thirds of the city's 3.5 million pre-war population had returned.

Olga says that Kyiv is safer that it was and the cost of living in the UK plus her home sickness and the fact that she misses her cat and dog and husband so much means that she is going back together with 2.8 million return crossings at the Ukraine border according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The cost of living in the UK is forcing many Ukrainian refugees to return. With inflation running at near 10% the cost of living is rapidly becoming more expensive than ever.

Yes, Olga is joining 2.8 million other Ukrainians returning to their country. I hope, for their sake, that Putin continues to leave Kyiv alone and that the war can be confined to the east only. This now seems to be the sole target because he wants a corridor from Russia to the eastern part of Ukraine to the Black Sea for trade purposes. And of course because he found out that he can't win a broader war and annex the whole of Ukraine.

My thanks to Hugo Daniel for his article in The Sunday Times June 26th, 2022. My apologies for stealing the photo.

Owner-surrendered cats find animal shelters harder to deal with than stray cats

This might be common knowledge among animal shelter workers but I think it's still worth repeating. A study published in 2007: Behavioral differences between owner surrender and stray domestic cats after entering an animal shelter, found that when a cat owner surrendered their domestic cat companion to a shelter the cat found the whole shelter experience more stressful than stray cats brought to the shelter.

Shelter tabby cat keen to be adopted. Photo: Pixabay.

I can't read the detailed conclusion or the reasons behind this finding because I have to pay for access to the entire study but I think I can reasonably guess the reason why. 

Domestic cats are used to a friendly environment. Stray cats are used to a hostile environment. When a stray cat goes into a shelter there is perhaps not a lot of difference in the sense of hostility that the environment brings to them. But for a domestic cat it's a shock. They go from what should be a calm, pleasant environment to one which is noisy and where there are a lot of people coming and going and cats and dogs in cages making noises.

It is a foregone conclusion that an owner-surrendered cat is likely to feel stressed. The amount of stress they feel will depend upon their personality and their previous lifestyle.

In this study they examined 86 domestic cats (some of whom were stray cats). They measured their behaviour for the first three days after entering an animal shelter. They labelled the owner-surrendered cats as "OS" and the stray cats as "S".

The conclusion was:

"Results indicate that OS cats showed the greatest behavioral measures of stress and arousal compared to S cats."

They also found that the "mean behavioural stress rating" of cats that had been euthanised due to illness or disease was significantly higher in the OS group compared to the S group.

Further, when they examined archival data from 260 shelter cats that had developed an upper respiratory infection, the OS cats became ill much sooner than the S cats. They concluded that this was because they suffered from more stress than the S cats.

OS cats suffer from more stress than S cats when entering a shelter environment which impacts their behaviour, their health and general well-being. It can also lead to euthanasia as opposed to being adopted.

It's is a known fact that shelters can be very stressful places for cats. It makes them prone to behavioural problems and health issues. These include weight loss, self-trauma, over-grooming, aggression, withdrawal, bladder problems and upper respiratory infections.

A strong suggestion is that the best way to reduce stress in residents who are at a shelter in the long term is to remove them to a foster home which gets them out of the shelter environment. They should stay there until they are adopted. This should not just be a de-stressing tool. And foster carers should be trained and allowed to adopt out cats in their care.

The shelter can make arrangements to advertise the cats online and at their facility in the usual way and then refer potential adopters to the foster carer's home to meet the cat and discuss adoption.

An alternative is to divide shelter cats into two groups: one group is better able to deal with the shelter environment and are fast tracked for adoption while the second group may become more stressed and are therefore subject to more attention to alleviate stress and make their stay more acceptable to them. This should happen as soon as they enter the shelter.

Unusual. Cat wanders onto neighbor's backyard. Neighbor shoots cat owner dead.

I've prefixed the title with the word "unusual". I'm being deliberately low-key to emphasise the extreme behaviour of the man who has been charged with second-degree homicide. His name is Clifton Anthony Bliss Jr.. He has a history of instigating fights with members of the community according to Corporal J Lightle as reported on NBC News.

NOTE: THIS IS A STOCK PHOTO -- Unusual. Cat wanders onto neighbor's backyard. Neighbor shoots cat owner dead.

The victim is a neighbour of Mr Bliss, 41-year-old James Arland Taylor Jr.. His cat had wandered onto Bliss's backyard. Bliss was so upset by this simple, innocent act that he grabbed his .22 rifle, walked across the street to Mr Taylor's home and shot him twice. Taylor died at the scene it is believed.

The usual outcome in this kind of story is that the perpetrator shoots the cat with a .22 rifle not the cat's caregiver. An extreme act as mentioned.

Sergeant Paul Bloom of the Marion County Sheriff's Department stated that Taylor pleaded with Mr Bliss to not shoot his cat. It looks as though Mr Bliss complied with that request and decided to shoot him instead.

The unusual cat-related events took place near the central Florida city of Umatilla. The matter was reported on NBC affiliate WFLA.

Comment: Cat's 'tresspassing' (cats can't legally tresspass) can rile some property owners when they are in the anti-cat brigade. It wouldn't surprise me if these two had had words before on several occasions although that isn't reported.

ASSOCIATED: Audio recording of Steven Mishow admitting to shooting neighbors’ cats

An awful lot of friction can be generated between neighbours over a tresspassing domestic cat. Many home owners in the US shoot feral cats when they come onto their land. They believe that they have to right to do it. Although my research tells me that in every US state it will be a crime under animal welfare laws unless a rare exeption applies in some states. The police are disinterested in enforcing the law or the shooting is unreported.

Horace Walpole's favourite cat drowned in a goldfish bowl

Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was, by all accounts, a careless pet owner. He was an English writer, artist historian, man of letters, antiquarian and a politician. He is described as an 18th-century Gothic writer by The Times. The newspaper reports that his favourite cat, Selima, drowned in a goldfish bowl while trying to grab the goldfish. As a consequence, Walpole the author of The Castle of Otranto, asked his friend, the poet Thomas Gray, to write an epitaph for his beloved cat. It is called: Ode On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes. The poet described her as the "demurest of the tabby kind". His favourite cat was a tabby cat.

That famous goldfish bowl was placed on top of the pedestal as a memorial to Selima and it is to go on display at Strawberry Hill House, the Gothic-revival mansion in Twickenham south-west London, the home he built from 1749 onward. I have visited this house. It is a very interesting place and the photograph below was taken by me which gives you an impression of what it's like, I hope.

The goldfish bowl is being displayed as part of a series of exhibitions about objects associated with the property. The reason why I have stated that Horace Walpole was a careless pet owner is because The Times also reports that in 1739 his King Charles spaniel, Tory, was killed by a wolf in the Alps. The next dog that he lived with, Bettina, died when falling from a balcony in Florence. Another spaniel that he lived with, Rosette, died in a fire.

Perhaps he wasn't careless but just too busy to really care for his companion animals carefully. He created a pet cemetery at Strawberry Hill.

Domestic cats' guardians are at the centre of their lives

It does us good to remember that cat owners are at the centre of the lives of their cats. A domestic cat's life revolves around the human home and their human caretaker. It is a human world that they live in and they have to do their best to adapt to it. There can be a bit of fiction sometimes because the domestic cat is not completely domesticated. That wild cat within seeps out often and it can cause a clash with human culture.

My cat when he was confined to the backyard (garden). Photo: MikeB

This is only a short note but something happens with my cat quite often which reminds me that the title to this article is correct. Although, the character of individual cats varies, I do believe that in the best households, where there is a strong bond between human and cat, the cat looks to the human as the centre of their world.

My cat is an indoor/outdoor cat nowadays although he started off living within the home and a back garden which was surrounded by a cat confinement fence. He broke out of it (only 1 in 1000 do I was told) so I gave up on that idea. But when he goes out for a quick patrol around his territory sometimes he comes back about 20 minutes later, walks through the cat flap, looks up at me, and immediately returns to his outside stroll.

He is checking up on me. He is checking that I am still there, a companion to come back to. An animal, in his eyes, who provides for him, gives him comfort, security and warmth both emotional and physical. So he is thinking of me sometimes when he is out there in the wild behaving as a wild cat. This reminds me that domestic cats' guardians are at the centre of their lives.

Perhaps you don't want your cat to think of you as the centre of their life. A lot of cat owners like their cat to be as independent as possible. This avoids them having to discharge their full responsibilities towards their cat's welfare. Perhaps I'm being unkind but I believe that to be true. A decent percentage of domestic cats are, to a certain extent, neglected. Their owners think of domestic cats as independent creatures and treat them as such. But, if you, through years of patient kindness and tender loving care, develop a close relationship with your cat both of you gain more out of the relationship and what I say above becomes a fact.

Cats harm the likeability of both heterosexual men and women

This is disappointing. I think this study has been written about before but it is worth addressing again. The study basically says that if you are looking for a date on one of the dating sites and you are holding a cat you are less likely to attract someone. That's the bottom line of it and what's surprising is that it negatively impacts both women and men.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

Straight men that own a cat have a 5% lower 'like' rate on average compared with straight men who don't own a cat and for women the 'like' rate is even worse at 7% lower.

For the heterosexual woman looking at the heterosexual man who has a cat with him in the photograph the man is perceived as being "less masculine when holding the cat, higher in neuroticism, agreeableness and openness and less datable."

That's interesting because they see the man as being more agreeable and more open but less datable. Therefore they don't seem to appreciate or rank the character traits of openness and agreeableness. Obviously neuroticism is not a great trait and I can see why they don't like that but this rather strange, isn't it?

And how do they equate having a cat with being neurotic? It seems that some women see man who have a cat as being more likely to be neurotic. I know that some women think that many man who have cats are homosexual. But both these trends or biases are, I would honestly suggest, incorrect. They are prejudices or stereotypes.

Perhaps it is all about perceptions and those perceptions come about through social media presenting fake ideas. Social media affecting the thoughts of people. Perhaps it is social media changing the opinions of people because they been bombarded with poor ideas and false concepts.

You might think it is true that men with cats are more neurotic but where is the science or logic that says this? You could equally argue that men who have cats are more likely to be decent people who appreciate animals and are concerned about animal welfare. That should make them more attractive to women.

Perhaps the problem is actually with the heterosexual women who might have a tendency to like disagreeable, testosterone-fuelled, secretive, unreliable and super-masculine men. Perhaps they have a tendency to go for that sort of man to their detriment. So the problem could be with the heterosexual women rather than the men.

The same, to be totally fair, could be said about men who see women as being less datable because they have a cat. But perhaps the reason is different in this instance. Perhaps when they see a heterosexual woman on a dating site with a cat they see competition. Perhaps they don't want to compete with the woman's domestic cat companion and therefore don't bother to make contact.

Or another possibility is that as women tend to prefer cats to men it may be that a heterosexual man looking for a woman does not like cats and therefore it puts them off.

It's particularly galling to note that the opposite is true with dogs. If either a gay or straight man is presenting himself with a dog they have a 20% higher chance on average of scoring a 'like' and for women that is a 3% higher likelihood. So dogs are beneficial to dating both for women and mainly for men.

This probably points to the suggestion that I made earlier that women want a more masculine heterosexual man. And if a man has a dog they might think that he is more likely to be more masculine. This in turn may go towards looking for a person who can protect them. Women might think that more masculine men are more able to protect them because they are more competitive and physically stronger et cetera.

It is all somewhat stereotyped to be perfectly honest. The logic isn't really quite their. It is a simplified attitude but nonetheless there it is; provided you believe that it is true because the study only had 1300 participants i.e. women looking at men. Perhaps more work needs to be done on this to get a more accurate picture and even then I'm not sure I would believe it.

The study comes from Colorado State University. It was reported on the Wall Street Journal and other online news media. I think this is a repeat reporting though.

Eleven percent of UK's domestic cats have never been to a veterinarian

An online survey by the pet food manufacturer Royal Canin found that out of 2,000 participants, 11% of them had never taken their cat to a veterinarian and 43% had not seen a veterinarian within the last year. This implies that 11% of cats are neither spayed nor neutered and are therefore intact and can breed. A source of unwanted cats.

Cool vet deals with angry caracal. Screenshot.

The main reason given is that their cat looked healthy and therefore did not need to go to a veterinarian. The counterargument is that cats hide pain and discomfort very well and therefore the criteria that your cat looks well is not a good one. Cats should be taken to a vet for a checkup to catch diseases at an early stage. Cats might hide their illness so well that it is only picked up at a late stage when treatment is less effective.

A second barrier is the cost of veterinary treatment. Surprisingly, out of the 2,000 participants about 50% had pet insurance but even then the cost of veterinary treatment prevented them taking their cat to a vet. Perhaps this means that their insurance did not cover the reason why their cat needed to see a veterinarian.

Another barrier is the stress of taking an animal companion to veterinarian. It is simply an uncomfortable activity to be avoided. Thirteen percent felt this way. If they were unable to take their cat to a veterinarian, 40% said that they would arrange for a home visit while 29% said that they would search for information online as an alternative and 26% would ask friends and family for advice.

Despite what is described as an obesity epidemic amongst the domestic cat population, only 11% of cat owners in the UK thought that there cat was overweight. It is felt that almost 40% of cats in the UK are overweight. Overweight cats are at an increased risk of developing serious diseases and shortened lifespan. Dogs are taken to vets more often than cats (my comment).

Audio record of a British couple's thoughts on domestic cat ownership

This is a very informal interview by me of a British couple on the subject of cat ownership. They own a tortoiseshell cat. The objective is to see if visitors can obtain some insights into cat ownership and to give a feel for how the Brits look after their cats. It is a bit different to Americans. The citizens of each country have their own ways on cat ownership.

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The couple are Barry and Kammy (who is a Thai). Their cat is Piedie and she is about 7 years old. They live in the suburbs of Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, England. Their house is situated in a cul de sac (a dead end road) and they have a large garden by British standards. I won't write anymore as it is all on the audio file except to say that part of the discussion is on indoor/outdoor cats.

Ninety-nine percent of Brits allow their cat to roam freely outside. It's the culture. Nearly all UK citizens don't think about keeping cats inside but I do and so does my neighbour. Also declawing cats is unheard of in the UK. Most cat owners have never heard of it.

John Dolan And George. The Power of Companion Animal Friendship

John Dolan has spent a total of 12 years in prison.  It was mainly for theft and drug offences.  He was living rough in east London in 2010 when he was given a Staffordshire bull terrier called George.  Dolan says:

 “Just before I got George I was on drugs, it was terrible.  The day I got the dog I wasn't sure what to do.  I realised I had a big powerful animal on my hands that needed a lot of looking after and there was I, barely able to look after myself...  What George has given me over the past three years is a belief in myself and my ability to draw."

Dolan credits George with helping him to transform his life from a homeless criminal into a successful artist.  He now sells his drawings to £2000 each.  John Dolan knew he had some talent because he used to dabble with art when he was a teenager.  While he was sitting on the pavement doing nothing as a homeless person with George he decided to draw the buildings opposite.  I suppose it kept him occupied. Up until that time he was simply begging for money it seems receiving the odd coin here and there.  Then he started to supplement the donations by selling his drawings for £10 and £20 each.

Gradually John Dolan became known as street artist and a lawyer, Richard Howard-Griffin, got to hear about him and recognised his talent.  He organised an exhibition of his work.  And now a forthcoming book is about to be published about John Dolan and his dog George - John and George: The Dog Who Changed My Life.  It is due to be released next month.

Which brings me nicely to the next topic of this short article which is that John Dolan's story very nicely mirrors the story of James Bowen who adopted an orange tabby cat named Bob.  At the time James was a drug-addicted busker. His story has been well publicised and as I recall, two books have been published about him and his relationship with Bob.  More than 1,000,000 copies have been sold.  James Bowen's life has been transformed and he too credits that transformation, at least substantially, to Bob.

John Dolan says,

“If I had not had George, I would never have picked up a pen.  He is my saviour...  He's like my child, the one I never had.  He's given me a life."

Both the stories of James and John remind us of the power of the friendship of a companion animal.  Don't underestimate it.

Photo by Rob Weir

Europeans Preferring Pets to Kids

It seems in some countries in Europe a percentage of women prefer to have a cat or dog, usually a cat, instead of a child. For example, in Italy women now have an average of just 1.29 babies each, which is far short of the required amount to maintain the population.

I recall, that in Germany they have a similar dilemma.  Economies are based upon a workforce and unless there is a sufficient workforce coming online then the economy will flounder especially when there are more and more elderly people living longer due to advances in medical care. The UK workforce is supported by immigrants.

It may be that this general trend in Europe, especially in northern Europe, prompted the current Pope, Pope Francis, to warn people not to have pets as a substitute for children.  He provided the advice that couples without offspring end up lonely and bitter.

The point he is making is that when you have an adult child or children, at least you have their company in old age.

I respectfully disagree (partly) because a lot of independent-minded people living alone who care for a companion cat are not lonely in part because of their cat.

Pope Francis delivered his message to married couples in the age bracket 25-60 who were invited to one of his morning Masses at the Vatican's St Martha's guesthouse, his home.

He went on to say,

“Jesus does not like...  marriages that are sterile by choice...  This culture of well-being from 10 years ago convinced us: it's better not to have children!  It's better!  You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be carefree.  It might be better, more comfortable, to have a dog and 2 cats, and the love goes to the 2 cats and dogs."

Pope Francis says: “this is true or is this not?  Have you seen it?  Then, in the end, this marriage comes to old-age and solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness."

Pope Francis likes nature and he wishes to preserve it.  He's a good Pope.  He does not have any pets, although his predecessor is a renowned cat-lover.  Before becoming Pope, Benedict XVI shared his Vatican flat with four cats.  When he became Pope he had to arrange for a cardinal to look after them.

Benedict agreed to the publication of a children's book (which I presume he did not write himself) entitled: Joseph and Chico: The Life Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat.

Pope Benedict has a collection of ceramic and crystal cat statuettes given to him over the years.  We are told he takes walks in the Vatican Gardens with stray cats.....

The Cat is the Veterinarian's Client

I think people forget that the veterinarians real client is the cat when a cat's owner turns up with her cat for treatment.

OK, it is obvious that a cat cannot enter into a contract with the vet. The cat's owner does that, which places her in the position of guardian and caretaker. It is a position of trust and bounded by morality. There are no professional rules to follow for the cat's owner. She just has to do her moral duty towards her cat. The moral duty may extend to a duty under statute if she acts in a criminal way towards her cat. I am referring to cat abuse.

The cat is the vet's client when treating a cat.

The veterinarian has a professional duty of care towards the cat and this is through the cat's guardian the cat's owner. The vet must also follow professional guidelines and his oath.

Sadly, from my perspective, almost all the vets in the USA are in breach of this simple duty of care when declawing cats because it is not done for the cat's benefit or welfare but for the cat owner's convenience. In fact they are probably in breach of the criminal code but are protected by convention. At the same time the cat's owner has acted immorally and in breach of common sense principles that she must act in the best interests of her cat.

I think it pays to dwell on that simple but shocking fact.