Don't buy or use this F**k**g litter robot killer (infographic and video)

This is a cross-post as the information needs to spread around the internet like manure over a farmer's field 😱. Look, when a device made in China ends up killing cats it gets me very annoyed. And there is a long history of China shipping crappy products from their country to the West which kill cats and dogs.

Cycles vertically - a scissor action by Michael Broad

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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.

Recliner chairs and sofas are a serious danger to kittens and puppies

It is Christmas 2023. Many people with pets might be considering treating themselves with a comfortable reclining armchair or sofa (couch) or a riser recliner. They deserve it. But they need to realise that reclining chairs and sofas can be deadly to pets particularly kittens and puppies are they tend to explore more and are the right size to scamper underneath the recliner where they might remain for a while during which time their caregiver arrives to use it. The recliner becomes a killing machine as the kitten or puppy is crushed by the reclining mechanism.

Image: MikeB

It has happened a lot but the problem is under-reported. There are no surveys on Google Scholar which tells me that there is not enough concern about these potentially deadly items of furniture.

It is the mechanism which kills the companion animals if they are in the wrong position under the chair at the time it is used.

They are attractive spots for kittens and cats. Kittens are likely to be a little more anxious than adults especially if they have recently been adopted and are new to the home.

They will find a place to hide and what better place than under the recliner. The owner is blissfully unaware of the danger and is happy she has just adopted a kitten from the local shelter. Her present to her herself and her kitten at Christmas

This happiness just before Christmas can be shattered in a second when the kitten is crushed under the recliner.

My belief is that cat and dog owners should not possess a reclining chair or sofa. They are just too dangerous. Perhaps I am too sensitive to the danger. Perhaps I am overly concerned but I don't think so.

In the home there are many potential dangers to cats and dogs particularly the young ones. It is the duty of the caregiver to minimise these dangers.

RELATED: Recliner Chairs and Kittens.

I would put the reclining chair somewhere near the top of the list of household dangers to pets. At the level of toxic substances and plants like the lily.

Separately, using the wrong flea treatment is a massive danger to cats. For example using a dog spot on flea treatment on a cat. Never do that. It can be fatal. 

It only takes a second and a lapse in concern or awareness of the dangers to end up killing your kitten or adult cat.

I have written about this before and have been reminded to write about it again as it is Christmas and the warning needs to be restated.

Reclining chairs can crush pets.

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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.

Cats can get bird flu by eating raw chicken necks and experts recommend feeding raw chicken necks to domestic cats

You may have heard about the bird flu outbreak among domestic cats in Poland. It is reported that at least 24 sick or dead cats tested positive for H5N1 in Poland according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. There are uncertainties about how the cats contracted the disease but 13 were found to have been fed raw poultry meat.

Bird flu. Image: MikeB

My mind then jumped to advice that you can read on the Internet from various sources including veterinary websites about the benefit of feeding domestic cats with the raw neck of poultry because it is very good for the teeth and it is cartilaginous which minimises the harm that they might experience when biting into bones.

You can also feed domestic cats bird wings. Once again, the idea is to improve gum health because, to be frank, the large pelleted dry cat food is not that great at cleaning teeth and preventing the buildup of calculus along the gum line.

Dr. Bruce Fogle DVM and author recommends feeding raw chicken to cats so that they can bite on bone. There is a risk but he argues that the benefit outweighs the risk.

At present, with a bird flu epidemic in Poland and with bird flu present in other countries including the UK, I would suggest that people should not feed their cat companions with chicken neck because the risk/reward balance has been shifted by the presence of bird flu.

"H5N8 and H5N1 bird flu have been found in some poultry, other captive birds and wild birds in the UK." - NHS

The disease is zoonotic and therefore it can be transmitted from birds to cats as we can see from the Polish problem. In Poland, incidentally, one cat owner said that she feed her cat raw chicken purchased from a large supermarket chain. Within days of eating the raw chicken her cat became drowsy. A veterinarian suspected a cold but within days her cat began to lose balance and she fell off a chair.

Her hind legs were paralysed and she stopped eating completely. Antibiotics and steroids were unable to help and the cat died seven days after eating the raw meat.

Bathroom is dangerous for dogs and cats says veterinarian

I think this veterinarian has made an extreme statement but I understand where they are coming from. They specifically issued a warning to dog owners about their pets entering the bathroom. But they also add that it applies to cats as well. They said dogs should be banned from bathrooms.

The reason is that dogs tend to, or they might, drink water from the toilet bowl which is water that might be contaminated to a certain extent both from the faeces of their owner and from the chemicals used to clean the bowl. I have seen cats drink water from the toilet bowl probably because they were neglected and no water was left out for them.

Veterinarian says that dogs and cats shouldn't go in the bathroom because it's too dangerous. Image: MikeB

Fair point but that problem can be resolved by keeping the toilet seat down which I think is a better solution because domestic cats like to be in the bathroom particularly when their owner is in the bathroom on the toilet! This is because of the smell they produce which cats find reassuring but which people don't like. The problem there is that a lot of people don't keep the bathroom seat closed. Simple!

RELATED: Many articles on 'toxic to cats'.

Also, sometimes people store bathroom cleaning products in a careless way which might allow dogs to have access to them. A lot of cleaning products are dangerous to pets because they contain chemicals which are toxic. That issue applies to many chemicals in many cleaning substances anywhere in the home including of course in the kitchen.

There are, perhaps surprisingly, a large number of toxic chemicals in household products in homes where there are companion animals. More should be done by the manufacturers to make these products less toxic but of course in doing that they would become less effective and therefore the manufacturers won't entertain that thought.