Women must say NO within 20 seconds to claim rape

NEWS AND VIEWS - ITALY: In an interesting and perhaps extraordinary judgement by an Italian court, the judge ruled that because a woman did not react within 20-30 seconds in saying 'No' to a man who wanted sex she cannot claim that she was raped. 

The judge in effect put a time limit on a woman's rejection of sex at the moment that it is about to occur. It's an interesting thought and perhaps it's a situation that needs to be addressed in order to clarify when rape is or is not genuine.

The man was acquitted by the Italian court who had been accused of sexually assaulting an airline attendant because she waited 30 seconds before fighting him off.

Clearly, a woman can say no verbally or they can say no through their behaviour and/or body language. But it must be done within 20 seconds according to this Italian judgement.

The alleged assault took place in Milan. The judgement follows a similar one in a separate case last year. Both cases have prompted a demand for a change in the law.

The woman representing the alleged rape victim said that "It's like we've gone back 30 years".

The alleged assault took place in 2018. The flight attendant entered the office of a union official, Raffaele Meola, at Malpensa airport. She was there to discuss a discrimination case.

According to The Times report she "took a seat, and started to read out a document linked to the case and he shut the door. Meola then stood behind her chair, caressed her neck and breasts and reached down into her trousers to lift up her slip." The words come from the woman's lawyer.

The woman is now 40 years of age. She told the court that she froze during those precious 20-30 seconds. She said that she was afraid, taken by surprise and became paralysed.

She's been to court twice about this. On the first occasion she lost the case and then she appealed it but lost that as well.

The lawyer said that the problem was Italian law on sexual violence. It requires the use of violence and/or physical or psychological pressure or abuse of authority in order for a conviction to be successful.

"What the law does not clearly state is that if there is no consent given, it should count as sexual assault."

Comment: clearly this judgement has put the law into a state of flux in Italy and although in one way it clarifies some aspects of rape as a crime in Italy it also creates further problems and it seems that this lawyer is asking that the specifics of rape need to be specified in an amendment to the existing Italian law. This is the work of politicians. I doubt that there will be any changes.

Note: this is clearly nothing to do with cats! 😎😻 But it is interesting and needs to be discussed. There is a weak connection: women are more likely to adopt a pet cat.

-----------

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.

74-year-old woman's cat attacked the 60-year-old man who was throttling her

NEWS AND COMMENT: A 60-year-old man was arrested for assaulting a 74-year-old women because she refused to permit him to drive her car which she had allowed in the past. The lady has a cat who dived into the fray and jumped on the man as he throttled the woman with one hand and covered her mouth and nose with his other hand. 

It appears that the man is scared of cats! Job done them. Fortunate outcome and brave of the cat. This is yet another example of a cat companion defending a human, this time an adult human, when under attack. In another post I reported on a female cat successfully defending her dog companion from an attack by a couple of coyotes in the backyard.

In other videos I have seen domestic cats protecting babies and kids from danger including falling down stairs and being attacked by stray dogs. It happens a lot, strongly indicating that cats see themselves as part of the family (and vice versa) and a protective mother to the family members with whom they are close. So much for the domestic cat being 'solitary' creatures. They are not. They've become very sociable.

Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA

Name of man: Nathaniel Charles Derouen

He is out on a bond of $35,000. A bond is posted on a defendant's behalf, usually by a bail bond company, to secure his or her release.

---------

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.

Keeping a good news secret will improve your energy levels

A recent study has suggested that people would do better to keep positive secrets to themselves as it can help energise them and make them feel more invigorated. It's an interesting concept.

The study is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The researchers worked out of Columbia University in New York.

The report states that: "Prior research on secrecy has focused on the effects of negative secrets, secrets that involve information that people consider unpleasant, objectionable or embarrassing. Yet many secrets are positive in nature, from marriage proposals to gifts, to surprises to unexpected good news. Although negative secrets have been found to be fatiguing, we proposed that positive secrets can be energising. We define feelings of energy as feeling alive, alert, active and invigorated."

The moment a person discloses a good secret should be delayed so that the person can "spend more time savouring the information, reflecting on its meaning or considering possible joyful reactions to sharing the secret."

The experiments were conducted with 2,500 people. In all there were five experiments and they found that more than 75% of participants instinctively wanted to tell people good news immediately. Yes, I can understand that. It is common sense to tell others good news and counterintuitive to talk to others about it but it may be an opportunity missed.

They were shown 40 types of common good news such as winning on a bet, becoming pregnant, getting engaged or clearing a debt.

They were asked which type of good news they had experienced and which they had shared with others or those that kept secret for a while. And there were asked how they felt under these different circumstances.

They were also asked to imagine they had a piece of good news and to envisage two scenarios. In one they chose not to tell their partner until the end of the day. And in the other they try to call their partner but couldn't make contact and therefore had to wait until later.

In the first scenario they made a deliberate choice to keep the secret for a number of hours and this led to positive feelings while the second scenario did not.

Of course, secrets are very nuanced and very variable. Some so-called positive secrets don't make people happy when kept close to their chest. It might be a secret to avoid embarrassment because good news can make others feel worse about their situation. 

Or the good news might lead others to judge you negatively. A typical example would be if you bought a nice but expensive present for yourself, which might elicit negative reactions in others for reasons, perhaps, of envy.

-------

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.

How do I get my cats to stop stealing my man?

 It seems that the woman feels that her cats are 'stealing' her man because they love being with him as the picture shows. My response was this:

Let them both have the freedom to have their relationships as it will strengthen your relationship.

What I mean is if she tries to restrict access between the cats and her man, she'll stress her relationship with her man whereas in doing the opposite he'll appreciate it and it'll be good for her relationship. Giving your partner freedoms is the best way to bring them nearer. Restricting people pushes them away. Allowing freedoms brings the person closer.

But it nice to see that the cats seem to prefer the man! Uhm..that's good as the default impression we have from the internet is that dogs are a man's best friend and cats belong with women! Nah...wrong.

How do I get my cats to stop stealing my man? They get along great, don't they? Image: Reddit user: u/MckennaMakes

Woman believes her cat is her father reincarnated which freaks out her hubby.

The title describes the feelings of a woman who has narrated her story on Reddit.com and it's an interesting one. The 47-year-old woman adopted her cat Benji because she was finding it hard to keep herself busy around the house during the daytime. She rescued him when he was so small that he could fit into the palm of her hand.

"My cat is the reincarnation of my late dad but my husband gave him to a shelter without my consent". This is a made-up image by MIKEB as we don't have a picture of Benji or his owner.

They developed a very close relationship and she believes that Benji is the reincarnation of her dad. She said:

This may sound crazy to some, but I really believe Benji is the reincarnation of my dad. When I look into his eyes, I feel something more than a cat. Like a cat born with a human soul. All the timing adds up, it all makes sense to me at least. Even if I am crazy the thought brings me comfort and I don't see anything wrong with it.

But she said that her husband was freaked out by her very close relationship with Benji. She believes that it made him feel uncomfortable particular by the fact that she felt that Benji was the reincarnation of her father. Her father died two years ago and Benji saved her she said. He is the best companion that she could have asked for.

While she was holidaying with her mother and sister her husband took Benji to a shelter (he said that he had taken him to a friend). When she returned from holiday, she couldn't find him and after a frantic search in and around the home, her husband told her that Benji was staying with a friend.

She demanded that he call the person to return her cat as soon as possible. He wouldn't do it but he did tell her who he had given the cat to which allowed her to make enquiries.

The person he said he had given Benji to was a co-worker. The woman contacted the wife of the co-worker and explained what had happened. She asked for Benji back. The co-worker's wife said she didn't know what she was talking about. This enraged her and she eventually discovered that Benji had been taken to a local shelter and there was no co-worker involved at all.

She tracked down the shelter and using all the documentation that she had at her disposal regarding ownership and a good argument, managed to convince the shelter to return Benji to her. Benji is currently with her sister because she has decided to divorce her husband apparently on the back of his behaviour concerning Benji. They might have been some background problems developing in any case.

She can't trust her husband. She logged a report with the local police against him and apparently has filed for divorce. Her family is supporting her in her decision.

The power of the domestic cat is huge when there is a close relationship.

Kindhearted, cat-loving widower, one of 10 murdered by stabbing in Canada

NEWS AND COMMENT-SASKATCHEWAN PROVINCE, CANADA: The world has heard about one of Canada's deadliest mass killings on record leaving 11 people dead and at least 18 injured. Two attackers went on a stabbing spree in the rural heart of the country murdering people at random, one of whom was Wes Petterson, 77, a widower. He was stabbed at the same location as Lana head, 49, a mother of two and a 14-year-old boy and an emergency responder.

Damien and Myles Sanderson, the suspects. Image: Associated Press.

Ruby Works, a resident of Weldon, with a population of about 200, many of whom are retired people, said that Petterson was like an uncle to her. She said: "I collapsed and hit the ground. I've known him since I was just a little girl."

She said that Wes loved his cats and that he was proud of his home-made Saskatoon berry jam. He frequently helped his neighbours. She said that "He didn't deserve this. He was a good, kind-hearted man. No one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They going to be terrified to open the door."

It is reported that the two suspects, Damien and Myles Sanderson, travelled south of their killing zone in a black Nissan Rogue SUV for about 210 miles. One of them had been stabbed in the face. It looks as though one of his victims tried to defend themselves or was successful. It is reported that he approached the daughter of Doreen Lees, 89, from Weldon with his face covered asking if she would call for help. She did not assist him. She went back into her home.

Myles Sanderson is thought to be at large while Damien's body has been found by police. His injuries were not self-inflicted. We don't know who inflicted the injuries.

But this short article is about Wes Petterson who I would like the world to remember as a decent man, kind to others, a gentle cat lover who it seems had a good retirement and enjoying the company of his cat companions and whose life was taken from him unnaturally and for no apparent reason by a man intent on stabbing him to death. Why? The world is unfair, we know that. 

His cats will miss him. They will be confused. I hope and I believe that they are being cared for by the neighbours who he helped.

Clever non-verbal teenage girl identifies as a cat

NEWS AND COMMENT-MELBOURNE PRIVATE SCHOOL: A year eight student at a Melbourne private school who is described as being 'phenomenally bright' but is non-verbal has decided to identify herself as a cat. There's been a trend of adopting a furry animal identity and there is a kind of a culture among some kids in some schools to do this. People take a different attitude towards it.

School kids. Pic: Getty Images.

Those who support the woke movement are very sensitive towards it and the school is providing support staff to deal with a range of psychological issues. The school said that some students were presenting with a range of issues including mental health, anxiety and identity issues. These sorts of issues are present in a sizeable percentage UK school kids according to reports. Self-harming comes to mind as well as a manifestation of these pressures.

The school in question is tackling the issue gently and their approach is to always take matters on a student-by-student basis and seek professional advice.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the right-wing types such as Sen Ralph Babet who has criticised the Melbourne schoolgirl in a tweet (see above). He said that the girl identifying as a cat is:

"...a symptom of allowing the woke radical left in society to run rampant, unchecked. Can we just put a stop to this garbage right now. You go to school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. You are not a cat. You are a little girl. The end".

That, it seems, would reflect a lot of people's views who don't believe in the woke movement.

I do not think that it is appropriate to talk to a girl who identifies as a furry like that. I don't think people should either encourage them to be furries or criticise them. You have to address the underlying cause of it sensitively. That is the only way forward in my view. From the child's perspective it is very real. You can't just shout at them and criticise them.

There was a recent story, in January, when a group of students at a Michigan, USA school identified as furries and the news went viral because there was a report that the school was providing litter trays for those kids who identified as cats. This was denied by the school.

RELATED: School accused of installing cat litter trays for students who identify as ‘furries’.

Psychologists, Judith Locke, living in Brisbane, Australia, said that she wasn't surprised at this trend of young girls and boys identifying as animals because they romanticise them in their lives and through television and film. And a lot of kids have difficulties in accepting themselves. Comment: Facebook does not help with influencers presenting perfect bodies thanks to photo-editing. Kids are going to hate their bodies.

Another Australian psychologist, Michael Carr-Greg, said that he had a patient, a boy, who identified as a dog but once stressors in his life were removed, he resorted to identifying as a human being. He has only dealt with one patient with this sort of psychological problem.

Furries tend to be teenagers and young adults although there are some in their late 20s and 30s. You even find some 70 and 80-year-old furries.

Comment: I feel I've got to make a comment about this. I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist. But if a child, a 13 or 14-year-old in a school in Brisbane, Australia, commits to identifying as a cat and behaves as a cat as best they can by, for example, being non-verbal, this has to be a mental health issue and they clearly don't want to be themselves. They want to be something or somebody else.

And that desire must be based upon the fact that they don't like what's happening around them, it seems to me. They want to escape the human world and transition into the animal world where perhaps they think that they will be treated better. I sense a desire to escape the human world which places unacceptable pressures upon some teenage students. Arguably adults - the grown-ups - are creating a world that is unacceptable to our kids. And this does not surprise me because it is also unacceptable to the grown-ups too!!

If that is correct then the adults have to do something to improve the lives of teenagers. And I wondered too whether the woke movement encourages teenagers to identify like this. There is a massive discussion about children identifying as the opposite sex and in the UK, there's been a scandal about an NHS clinic (The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust) providing the permanent means for children to transition from male to female and female to male without doing proper research and taking a more holistic approach. 

They took what is called the 'affirmative approach' which means that if the child affirms that they want to be the opposite sex that was enough upon which to provide them with life changing treatments. That clinic is going be sued by about a thousand people because they ruined some lives.

And the argument is that the woke movement encouraged the so-called experts to go down the wrong path and encourage opposite sex identification when the patients were not ready to really know what they wanted and needed. I think this case is a bit similar to that. Teenagers don't really know how to cope with life's pressures. 

The cure it seems to me would be to alleviate those pressures and teach schoolchildren how to cope with the pressures that remain.

Can cats "catch" yawns from each other?

Both domestic and wild cats can "catch" a yawn from each other. However, domestic cats don't, it seems, catch a yawn from their owner. The information comes from a research paper which is published online and from personal experience. And there is a video on the Reddit.com website of a mother cat yawning and her kitten immediately following the behaviour (see below).

Yawns are contagious between cats, but must they be related? Image: MikeB from Twitter images from the account of Twitter user @nanao_ssan.

With respect to cats, the question that I have is whether the yawn is contagious between unrelated domestic, stray or feral cats or whether it is confined to related cats and even mothers and their kittens. The point is not clear to me at this time. Yawns are certainly contagious between mothers and kittens. I think they are contagious between related cats or at least cats who are close associates or friends but beyond that it is unclear, and I doubt whether it exists.

Yawning is due to boredom or fatigue and if a human copies another human yawning it performs a social function. It is a form of empathy stating that they agree that they are bored and or tired. The question is whether when cats 'catch' a yawn, they perform the same social function. I suspect that they do.

There is a difference between dogs and cats in this regard. It's been found that yawns are contagious between people and their dog companions. In other words, when a dog owner yawns their dog might follow and yawn as well. This difference is probably based upon the fact that a dog considers their human family a pack in the same way that the dog's ancestor, the grey wolf, follows the alpha wolf and perhaps occasionally catches a yawn from them.

Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source, or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.

---

The research paper referred to: Contagious Yawning in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus) by Ariel Lombardo Aghishian submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Animal Behaviour and Conservation, Hunter College City University of New York.

Girls are like cats and boys are like dogs!

What do you think? Are these the wise words of a young man on TikTok or just a nice, convenient analogy? I don't think it is as straightforward as he makes out. It get the message but you can't pigeon hole all females in the same group in terms of their attitude towards dating and the same goes for males. 

It is all depends on many things. Today in particular with the woke movement, you cannot pigeonhole all females and all males as separate groups. There is an entirely fluid group in the middle made up of members of the LGBTQIA+ community and so on. 

The sexual preferences and gender of all humanity is a spectrum. You cannot compartmentalise it in the little boxes. It is far better to visualise it as a continuous spectrum. Nonetheless, I quite like this bloke's analogy which he delivers with confidence and clearly with first hand experience.

Note: to run this video, click on the center play button followed by the play button bottom-left 😎. High tech.

Although there is another error in his analogy. He says that when you pick up a cat the cat becomes pissed off. This is not necessarily correct. 

If a stranger picks up a cat, she/he will likely be frightened, be pissed off and jump out of the person's hands. The person may get scratched if they resist. But often a cat will want to be picked up by their human caregiver and be given a nice cuddle.  Cats often ask for this. Mine does in the garden.

RELATED: The wild cat within the domestic cat which holds them back.

It just depends upon the circumstances and who is picking the cat up. I know I am stating common sense but it is wrong to paint all domestic cat with this behavioural trait. It ain't true. There is a general truth here about not forcing a cat to do something. That never works. It is far better to use one's intelligence and trick a cat to do something or you train them! The same applies to women 😎. The cat's 'independence' comes out when you try and force them to do things. That said the same also applies to men, don't you think?

Dr Fogle DVM says that some cat owners treat their cat as a dog (or as babies) which is not going to work very well. Dogs are far more obedient than cats.

RELATED: Idiotic study tries to equate cat behaviour with psychopathic human behaviour.

Mumbai: medical student beaten up by a group of thugs for feeding cats

NEWS AND COMMENT - MUMBAI, INDIA: A 25-year-old animal-loving medical student, Moin Asif Darvesh, agreed with his father's request to feed stray cats outside of Sir Elly Kadoorie school at 7:30 PM in the evening. It was something that they did regularly and have done for 7 years.

Unbeknownst to the 25-year-old, his father had been threatened 4 days earlier by a few people who objected to him feeding the cats. It appears at the same people approached Moin and insisted that he stopped feeding the cats with chicken. There appears to have been a short discussion at the end of which Moin refused to comply with their demands.

Medical student Moin Asif Darvesh. Image: Mid-day.com

Four more people approached him and allegedly started to kick and punch him. The attack continued for 15 minutes. Onlookers gathered to watch. Police on patrol rescued him.

He sustained injuries to his face, elbows and forearms. He was taken to a local hospital and treated. He later attended the police station to register his complaint and provide evidence.

His father then confessed that he had been threatened 4 days earlier and told that he would be taught a lesson for feeding the cats. He didn't argue with them and went home. He said that the attack on his son was planned for him. He had not told his son to miss that feeding session at that spot.

He accuses a politician for backing the thugs who attacked his son.

The Byculla police recorded a series of offences against the alleged attackers including: voluntarily causing hurt, voluntarily causing hurt by weapons and means, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon, rioting and every member of unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object. These are crimes specific to India. The description of the crimes is different to those in other parts of the world including the UK.

Two people have been arrested concerning the incident and the senior inspector said that there was a search on for the others.

Comment: this is not the first time and it won't be the last when a person is attacked for feeding stray and feral cats. It has happened in America. On occasions the violence escalates. I can recall one cat feeder being shot dead by a murderer.

The animosity can become severe between those who don't like stray and feral cats and those who feel sympathy towards them and want to help. Stray and feral cats polarise the viewpoint of society probably in almost all countries of the world along the lines indicated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

RELATED: Pretty Cat Amongst Ugly Human Behavior.

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

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

RELATED: Human behaviour beneficial to cats.

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

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

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

Minnesota man allegedly blamed the family cat for severely injuring the baby that he killed

NEWS AND COMMENT: A Minnesota man, Kristopher Henderson, has been charged with murdering his baby child of 2-months-of-age. However, he allegedly blamed the family cat for leaving his child with severe injuries including broken legs and ribs. He was trying to pass off the killing on his cat.

A Minnesota man, Kristopher Henderson, has been charged with murdering his baby child of 2-months-of-age but he initially blamed the family cat. Image: Blue Earth County Jail.

His baby died in hospital after he allegedly inflicted severe injuries. After initially blaming the cat for injuries that no domestic cat could cause, he admitted to hitting his child forcefully to try and quieten her. '

Henderson was initially charged with first-degree assault which was upgraded to 2nd-degree murder with intent. He appears to have also been charged with first-degree manslaughter while committing malicious punishment to a child. It looks as though there are two alternative charges because one might be more applicable than the other once the court case starts. He is on bail at US$1 million.

This is absolutely mind-blowingly tragic but from my perspective it is also bizarre in that, allegedly, Henderson felt that he could get away with the ridiculous excuse that his domestic cat caused these horrific injuries. 

As he has admitted hitting his child forecefully he is going to be convicted in my opinion. I'm an outsider to this but although it looks very much like murder it is probably manslaughter as he probably did not intend to kill the infant (lack of mens rea - intent). It appears that the red mist descended and he lost all sense of reason and self-control.

Source: New York Times.

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.

Pregnant mother tells father that he can take the baby and leave if it is allergic to her cats

This is about a post on the Reddit.com website which has been picked up by The Mirror newspaper. It's an interesting little story which probably tells us more about the difficult time that a pregnant mother goes through emotionally than about the problems of cat allergies.

Pregnant mother tells father that he can take the baby and leave if it is allergic to her cats. Photo: Pixabay.

It appears that the woman is heavily pregnant and that the father of the child, to be, is predisposed to being allergic to cats which I presume he manages because they have two cats. He asked his partner (I don't know if they are married) what they should do if their child were to be allergic to cats. In response she told him that he can take "this baby you want so f****** bad and get out". He believed that she meant it but that she was worked up at the time.

The comments on the post reassured him by saying that she was probably just in a difficult emotional state because it was a time when hormones are coursing through a mother's body.

One wrote: "Dude I’m pregnant. Hormones are terrible. Our bodies are always hurting. The sound of someone breathing can tick me off.

"Some days I'm on the verge of murder (obviously in my mind) and other days I’m happy go lucky. You might’ve caught her on a bad day."

Comment: I feel compelled to comment about this. There is almost no doubt in my mind that this was just a tense moment between a couple. He chose the wrong moment to ask the question. Firstly, there's no point in talking about kicking out the father and taking the child based on the possibility that the child might be allergic to cats. It would be far better to wait to see what happens. It is very negative and destructive to talk about ejecting the father with the child that you will love because of a possibility that something might happen.

Secondly, it is possible to deal with allergies to cats. The father has a problem with allergies to cats and he has managed it. And if the allergy is fairly mild, being around cats gradually chips away at the problem. The body becomes tolerant and the problem fades to the point where it really isn't a big issue. That's my assessment. And if that doesn't work there are other ways of dealing with allergies to cats. Here are two possibles:

• Curing Your Allergy to Cats (new injection)
• Review: Purina LiveClear Allergen Reducing Sterilised Adult Turkey cat food

Thirdly, the argument does highlight the fact that sometimes domestic cats can be the centre of friction between a couple living together. It isn't over a potential allergy to cats, it might be over toxoplasmosis and pregnancy. It might simply be over the fact that one of them loves cats and the other dislikes cats. The man insists that the woman gets rid of her cats and she complies and then resents it. That's a possible outcome which is going down the wrong path.

I guess a couple with different views about domestic cats need to discuss as many aspects of domestic cat caretaking that they can before they live together! That sounds a little bit technical and formal but it may help to prevent arguments late in the day when it is much harder to find a successful solution.

Man charged with cruelly beating a cat belonging to woman he knew

ULTIMO, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NEWS AND COMMENT: A 25-year-old man, known to a woman who lived with a three-year-old cat, Summer, has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty offences against Summer, who was seriously beaten sustaining broken teeth, missing fur and bruising.

Man known to a woman who has a cat companion is charged with cruelly beating the cat. Stock photo (Pixabay).

The cat's guardian found her cat in a unit in Ultimo, Sydney at around 4pm on Saturday. Summer was taken to a veterinarian for treatment.

Police then arrested a 25-year-old man at a home on O'Briens Road, Hurstville after midnight on Sunday. He has been charged with committing an act of cruelty on an animal by reckless beating causing serious injuries. He attended court today Sunday May 9th. His application for bail was refused.

We don't have more details. 

Comment: Without more it appears to be a classic case of a matrimonial dispute with the aggrieved man taking it out on the woman's cat. This happens a lot. The cat is very vulnerable in matrimonial disputes and are almost invariably owned by the woman. If the man is aggressive the cat can be the brunt of his anger. Conversely, women use the children to emotionally hurt the man by withdrawing contact between them and her former partner. The vulnerable are innocent bystanders in matrimonial wars.

Pregnant Australian woman wants rid of her cat because partner is pet-obsessed

NEWS AND VIEWS: A pregnant Australian woman living in New South Wales (I believe) has put her cat up for adoption on Facebook because her partner, she said, is pet-obsessed and she thinks that if the family cat is got rid of he will turn his attentions to her and the new baby. 

 Pregnant Australian woman wants rid of her cat because partner is pet-obsessed. Photo: Pixabay. The photo is for illustrative purposes only.

She has done this in an underhand way because she has not told her partner about getting rid of the family cat. And she says that she won't be able to care for her cat once the baby arrives. Note: she might be alluding to the difficulty some women have in believing that cats do not present a problem to pregnant women because of the possible transmission of toxoplasmosis, provided they take care. I think she's referring to that but it is not mentioned in the story.

SEE A NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON THE HUMAN-TO-HUMAN RELATIONSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF CAT OWNERSHIP

She said that she wants to focus on her baby and herself and that she knows someone can take care of her cat after the birth of her baby. She said that she is exhausted by the fact that her partner won't "let our cat go". She said that her partner thinks that their cat is his "first child....And he's literally obsessed with the cat, like a cat daddy."

As a consequence she said that she feels sorry for their baby already but believes that he will change and take care of the baby when it is born. She still believes though that things would be much easier if he let the cat go by which she means relinquish or give up the cat to somebody permanently.

She said that she does not want to be mean and throw the cat away which is why she is looking for somebody on social media to take the cat off her hands. Unsurprisingly, Facebook users are unimpressed. They feel that the woman's behaviour is absurd and one commenter suggested that her partner should leave her. They rightly said that companion cats are part of the family. They should not be 'thrown away'. Note: the cat is not being thrown away, strictly speaking, but I take the point.

Another was astonished that she was giving the cat away without her partner knowing. They were baffled as to why she would feel overburdened looking after a cat once the baby had arrived. Comment: I'm not sure she is actually referring to the workload. I think it is more to do with toxoplasmosis and that unfounded fear plus a desire to force her partner to pay attention to her and her baby. I think it is more to do with attention-seeking.

Despite the social media criticism by some she has doubled-down and said: "I've tried my best and I am frustrated as there is no other option but rehoming our pet."

Comment: she is determined to get rid of the family cat and no amount of sensible argument will force her to change her mind.

P.S. I think she might be violation of Facebook policies but I am not sure.