Ogling and carrying on about a "double-snouted moggy" is an act of gross speciesism and it is ugly human behaviour

There's been a story going around the Internet from the UK about a rescue cat, a moggy, who has an anatomical defect with respect to their nose. There are three nostrils and the news media are talking about a one-of-a-kind 'double-snouted moggy'. And it's unfair. It is speciesism to parade this cat all over the Internet.

There, I won't show the nose. This is a fine cat and she should be respected and not ogled at by voyeuristic humans. Image in the public domain and modified by me.

Humans are being voyeuristic. This is like a Victorian freak show. You know back in Victorian times when in their ignorance entrepreneurs put on shows with people who were victims of a congenital anatomical defects which made them look strange. This is exactly the same thing but we are doing it with a cat.

It devalues the cat. It is making the cat a curiosity; something 'weird'. To ogle at her is just not right. It is morally inappropriate.

But the news media does don't get this at all. They completely miss the point about this kind of gross speciesism.

The cat, by the way, is at the Cats Protection Warrington Adoption Center. They have named the cat Nanny McPhee after the fictional film character with a distinctively shaped nose.

Doctors have checked out the cat and they call it a "congenital malformation". Exactly, that's what I've just said above. It's a birth defect. It is a developmental defect when inside the womb. It is inherited and it's unfortunate for the cat.

It is doubly unfortunate because humans are seeking pleasure from looking at this cat and I don't like it. It's about time people respected the cat and behaved in a slightly more moral way if that's possible.

Lucy the 'bat cat' nude kitten with hydrocephalus

Lucy is described by her owner as "the bat cat". Not a particularly flattering title I have to say. You might know me and that I dislike these sorts of Instagram accounts because you get owners of strange cats vicariously achieving some fame for themselves through their cat. 

Often these cats are misshapen through a genetic defect or in this instance this hairless cat suffers from hydrocephalus which is a buildup of fluid on the brain which puts pressure on the brain and which can damage it. It is treatable and for humans and the survival rate for treated hydrocephalus is high. 

Lucy the bat cat. Photo: Instagram

Sorry if I upset some people in disliking these sorts of social media accounts. The pics are from Lucy's Instagram page. They were taken by her owners.

Lucy is called 'the bat cat' because of the obvious reason: she looks a little bit like one of those strange bats. And the stranger the cat looks the better for the celebrity cats.

My research indicates that a cat suffering from hydrocephalus may be asymptomatic. Alternatively, the symptoms might include, wetting or soiling in the house, sleeplessness, blindness, seizures, excess globalisation, hyper-excitability, a large dome-shaped head which is due to intracranial swelling, walking abnormalities, cross-eyes, abnormal breathing, arching their head back and extending all four legs and coma.

Lucy the bat cat. Photo: Instagram.

There are various causes including, inherited (congenital), genetics, prenatal infection, vitamin A deficiency, intracranial inflammatory diseases, masses in the cranium, brain haemorrhage in newborn after a difficult labour, exposure to teratogens (these are drugs which interfere with the development), coronavirus. We don't know which cause is applicable for Lucy. My guess is that it was inherited.

Credits as per above.

Lucy is a Sphynx cat by the way. She has 35,400 followers on her Instagram page. Her birthday is on March 15. She was born on March 15, 2019.

Split Foot Cat

A stray cat who has been named " Clawdia" has a very rare congenital condition called split foot. The medical terminology is ectrodactyly. She is an ectrodactyl cat (a cat with less than the normal number toes), the opposite to a polydactyl cat (a cat with more than the usual number of toes).

Photos: PH

She is in the care of Cats Protection, UK. As you can imagine she is very popular because she is so unusual (and her character is great). At the date of writing this article (25/02/2018), I believe that she is still available for adoption and if you are interested you can visit the following website: http://warrington.cats.org.uk/

I'm told that she has four weeks of prepaid pet insurance and she is spayed, vaccinated and micro-chipped. She is also wormed. She is a great looking cat in good health and ready for adoption.

Apparently, every effort was made to find her owner but the search has now been exhausted. She is believed to be about 11 years old. She was found as a stray in the Great Sankey area of Warrington.

The usual number of toes on each front paw is five (the fifth is the dewclaw). Therefore she is missing three on each front paw.

She was born with some of her toes fused together. You can see that the central digits are missing giving a claw-like appearance. It is a rare form of congenital disorder. This disorder is seen in humans as well. In humans it is seen with other congenital anomalies. As far as I'm aware Clawdia does not suffer from any associated congenital anomalies.

This is the first time that I've seen a cat with this condition.