3 cats in sequence care for a rescued red squirrel

Interspecies relationships/friendships are not that uncommon. If they interest you please click on this link to see a range of interspecies relationships. Some may surprise you.

This story surprises me in one way: three cats in sequence (consecutively) mother, befriend and care for a rescued red squirrel in Denmark. The three cats are Coco, Tiger and Mrs (or Miss - I have forgotten 😎) Marbles.

As each cat dies and goes over the rainbow bridge the other steps up and takes over. This is perhaps unique in the history of domestic cat interspecies relationships.

The video tells the story nicely. Of course, we have to praise the man who rescued the baby squirrel and raised him. This is the beginning of the story as without that strong period of socialisation (domestication) of the squirrel none of this would have been possible.

The squirrel named Tin Tin (nice name) was socialised to both humans and domestic cats enabling him to feel at home in their company and form close bonds with the three cats consecutively.

Note: this is an embedded video. It is served from YouTube. If it is deleted on YouTube it will not longer work here.

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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. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

A super case of interspecies farmyard friendships (video)

Interspecies relationships are wonderful. It shows how the world can live in harmony even when the species are a predator and a prey animal as is the case in this video. The classic interspecies relationship is the human and dog or cat. We tend to forget that it is an interspecies relationship which has changed the world. There is an argument that cat domestication has been a failure overall as there are too many feral and stray cats. They should all be in nice homes. Cat domestication should not have turned out as it has.

Good morning, it's going to be a great day! pic.twitter.com/c43kCeOLJu

— Soxic (@WhiteSoxic) April 12, 2024

This is a very cute video of interspecies friendships. It is so good you wonder if it has been set up. It almost certainly has I think. It is just too good and strange.

If you like interspecies relationships you might like to click on this LINK to see a bunch of articles on the topic. There are some extraordinary friendships.

All of them originate in early years development - that precious first several weeks of life - when an animal can be socialised to almost any other animal and totally override their natural instincts. It is all about socialisation and learning that the other animal is not dangerous. That's how cat domestication and dog domestication works.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cat has five ferret servants

This is a very pampered cat and perhaps an even more pampered group of five very active but completely domesticated ferrets. And the caregiver loves them all. She treats her ferrets like royalty, takes them out on walks on a lead and allows them to play vigorously with her cat who leads them around the house as if they were his servants. The cat is very tolerant when they surround him and play but no doubt, they have grown up together and become very familiar with each other and so there is no fear but just friendliness.

I have set the video to start where the ferrets interact with the cat. You can adjust it if you want and go back to the beginning obviously.

Interspecies relationships are always interesting. Of course, the greatest interspecies relationship of all is the human-to-cat relationship and the same would apply to the equally popular, perhaps even more popular, human-to-dog relationship. It's useful to remind ourselves that these are interspecies friendships.

They very rarely happen in the wild. Interspecies relationships and friendships are really the domain of domestic animals.

Here the cat is the leader followed by his 'servants'.

The above are screenshots from the video.

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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.

The domestic cat would be a better pet if they weren't predators!

The video is about the capybara described as one of the world's friendliest animals. It is semi-aquatic which is probably one reason why it can't be a great pet despite the potential for being a much better pet than a cat! We are all familiar with the domestic cat as one of the world's most popular pets with the dog; but both cats and dogs are predators. This a great drawback to their success as pets. 

There are constant aggravations as a consequence of the cats desire to chase and kill prey. The predatory instincts are a barrier to the cat's friendliness. The weapons! Claws and teeth which scare a lot of people.

The capybara is said in the video to be the world's friendliest animal because they are not predators but herbivores. They don't make enemies. Other animals don't run from them. It's a point worth making. 

We have to play with our cat to entertain them especially if they are indoor cats. But play is centred around hunting. All cat play is a variation on hunting. And if there is a problem between cat and owner it can often be put down to undesirable cat behavior. This is an oblique reference to being bitten or scratched. And that comes from their predatory instincts often in self-defence when mishandled for instance by a human.

I'd bet the capybara wouldn't do that!

The reason why indoor cats often become bored is because they can't hunt. It is such a deep-seated desire. It needs to be expressed. Sometimes I think that domesticating the wild cat was a mistake. 

Going a step further you can also argue that the wild cat hybrid pets cats such as the Bengals are a mistake especially the F1-F3s which retain some wild cat traits which makes it more difficult to live with them.

Am I being too negative? I don't think so. Just exploring the difficulties of satisfying a top predator and the domestic cat is a fantastic predator. Their anatomy has evolved over eons to hunt and kill. It is all about that.

The mutually beneficial relationship between cats and writers

Canadian novelist Robertson Davies (1913-1995) amusingly described what he saw as a mutually beneficial relationship between domestic cats and writers in his line: "Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reason". He wasn't alone in those feelings.

Robertson Davies. Image: Wikipedia.

There is a natural connection between domestic cats and authors both in their character and in their lifestyle. Introverts tend to make good authors. It doesn't mean that all authors are introverts but it is probably fair to say that the majority are.

Introverted authors are introspective and they often work alone. There is a similarity in lifestyle right there because the domestic cat has this slightly solitary nature, living apart a little from mainstream life, doing their own thing. The cat's activities intersect with those of their human caregiver. There is this slight distance between cat and caregiver in contrast to that of the dog. That's because of the cat's solitariness.

And the writer works alone. Sometimes they go away to a quiet place to work, to think, to create to be introspective. It is said that writers can be shy because they are fearful of being rejected, being judged and not being good enough.

RELATED: Authors Who Loved Cats.

I guess one aspect of writing is that you are offering to the world your opinion, thoughts and ideas. In writing a novel you are expressing your imagination. You are opening yourself up to criticism. You're giving the public a bit of yourself. You are exposing your inner self to the public which can be difficult. Sometimes you have to put your head over the parapet so to speak to potentially be shot down.

The great Mark Twain loved cats and gave them strange names. He said that the reason was to teach kids how to pronounce words! Image in the public domain.

There is perhaps a similarity here between writers and cats. Cats, I would argue, are inherently slightly fearful of the environment that the human creates for them. It doesn't take much for a cat to become anxious which is why one of the primary roles of the caregiver is to create a calm and friendly environment for their cat companion to counteract this potential for anxiety.

And when a writer writes, alone at their desk, they create an ideal environment for a domestic cat companion. It's almost a merging of minds and character. And in being alone, the writer has an ever-present friend in their cat. They can just be there warming up the place emotionally without distracting by interfering except perhaps when desiring to sit on their lap or on their paperwork. Unlike dogs who are prone to loud barking and making demands to go for a walk.

One of the literary world's greatest cat lovers was Colette (1873-1954), the author of Gigi. She wrote, "By associating with a cat, one only risks becoming richer".

It is the aloneness of writers which enables them to produce their best work. If many are introverts, they love to read, sit quietly with their cat. Introverts love written communication. It gives them time to put their thoughts together.

They like attention to detail, in editing their work and they are constantly thinking, creating ideas and polishing their thoughts.

It is said that they are the masters of introspection. In their solitariness they observe the world around them. They are great observers. My mind turns to Dr. Desmond Morris, probably my favourite author who observed the world so well that he was able to write so beautifully about what's behind the behaviour of our feline companions as well as their human caregivers.

You can see the similarity between authors and cats! Cats are great observers too. Very alert to events occurring around them with sharpened senses.  Writers are also alert to events and happenings. And they think about them in their creative process.

Cats and authors go together like custard apple pie or steak and chips. Of course, not all authors like cats. Some will be fearful of them just like other people. But all things being equal you'll see a higher-than-average association between cats and writers.

Can a cat yawn cause a contagious yawn in a dog?

Here is a video of a cat yawn leading to their dog companion yawning due to the contagious nature of this form of behaviour. Yawning contagion crosses the species barrier.

Cat yawn is contagious to their dog buddy. Screenshot.

RELATED: Is yawning contagious to cats?

Cats can cause a dog to yawn when they yawn. It's called contagious yawning and it is likely that you have heard about it. And, interestingly, contagious yawning also affects dogs when their owner yawns. The point probably is that if the dog is in a close relationship with a sentient being - normally another dog or a cat or a human - who yawns, then they are likely to yawn as well.

The University of Tokyo did a study and they found that just over half the dogs monitored yawned after watching their owners yawn. When the dogs watched a stranger yawning the contagion from those people to the dog was about half as powerful and they yawned about half is frequently.

And in the video below, we see a cat and dog who are very good friends. They are on Instagram (link). The dog is said to be a bit nervous and the cat is said to help calm the dog down. They are good buddies and the contagion effect is going to be much stronger from cat to dog under those circumstances.

Separately, in another study from the University of Portugal, they found that 12 of 29 dogs yawned when they heard a recording of their owners yawning. Powerful stuff.

You will find other studies on this topic. They've all come to the same conclusion that human yawning is contagious to dogs. I have extrapolated that information to strongly argue that cat yawning is also contagious to dogs if there is a close relationship between the two.

And the video on this page confirms it. I know that there is a possibility that the dog is simply yawning but it looks very much like contagious yawning to me.

Did you know that when lions wake up, they yawn to coordinate their movements?

Does Jake the Crow believe he is a rabbit because he is living with them?

Jake and his rabbit buddies. Screenshot.

The news media say that Jake the Crow believes that he is a rabbit because when rescued with a broken leg on a road he was placed with rabbits in a rabbit hutch and he gradually got used to them and now spends all his time with his rabbit friends. The people who rescued him say that he thinks he's a rabbit because he hops around them and does things with the rabbits.

But a quick bit of research tells me that this is unlikely to be true. Yes, he likes to live with the rabbits because he has learnt to trust and accept them and vice versa. That's a great thing and it is a good example of an interspecies relationship

However, it's a known fact apparently that crows are self-aware which means that they can recognise themselves in a mirror. They know what they look like. They understand what and who they are. 

And knowing what they are i.e. a crow, when they look at a rabbit, they must understand that they are not the same creature. They must understand that they are looking at an animal that is different to them. Therefore, they can't think that they are rabbit.

A minor philosophical point I guess but I believe one that is worth making. His rescuer said that:

"The rabbits have accepted Jake as one of their own. It's so funny, he hops around them and Jake has taken on the characteristics of the rabbits, and we know when he wants feeding because she lets out a big squawk, which is also why we call him Jake the Really Loud Crow."

Yep, he has copied some rabbit characteristics but he still knows that he is living with a different animal.

Cat follows school girl to bus stop every morning (video)

This is very cute and I have to confess that my cat does the same thing with me. I am not going to school as I am 74-years-of-age! I go to the petrol station (gas station) about half a mile away every morning at 06:15. Yes, very early. My cat follows me about one third of the way and stops to hide under a car in a driveway to wait for my return. You can read about it and see another video if that kind of stuff rocks your boat by clicking on this link.

The reason? The obvious one: a great bond between the two individuals. I'd suspect that the girl interacted with the cat when the cat was a young kitten and they bonded as mother (girl) and offspring (cat). Sometimes humans can be imprinted in the brain of a cat as their mother. This is stronger than the usual cat-to-human relationship which is arguable an offspring-to-parent relationship anyway.

In the wild mother cats take their kittens from the den on hunting trips in their development towards independence. This may be happening in the head of the cat in this video.

Are cats ticklish under their arms and on their belly?

Are cats ticklish!! We don't know. Image: MikeB.

The truth is that we don't really know why humans tend to be ticklish. If we don't know why humans are ticklish, we are not going to be able to answer the question in the title!!

There is another obstacle to discussing the ticklishness of domestic cats. Cats don't laugh. When a person is tickled, they laugh. It's a kind of social bonding if you agree with what is stated below.

And thirdly, it is impossible to tickle a cat's skin. Genuine tickling, as I understand it, is about touching the skin directly often under the foot of a human. But there has to be direct contact between hand and the skin of the person being tickled.

We can't do that with a cat. There's too much fur in the way.

I conclude, therefore, that cats are not ticklish because you can't tickle them in the first place and they don't laugh in the second place. And we wouldn't know if they were ticklish or not anyway because we don't understand it.

Some more in answering the question: Why do humans laugh when tickled?

The phenomenon of laughter in response to tickling is still not completely understood, but there are a few theories that attempt to explain why humans and some other animals laugh when tickled. Here are a couple of the prominent theories:

Reflex Theory: According to this theory, tickling triggers an involuntary reflex response that causes laughter. When someone is tickled, the body experiences a tactile sensation that can be interpreted as a potential threat. The laughter is thought to be a way for the body to signal to others that it is experiencing a non-threatening interaction, thus helping to maintain social bonds.


Social Bonding Theory: This theory suggests that laughter resulting from tickling is primarily a social behavior. Tickling is often associated with playfulness and is commonly performed among family members or friends. The laughter that arises during tickling serves as a form of communication and bonding between individuals, reinforcing positive social interactions.

It's worth noting that not everyone finds tickling enjoyable, and different people have different tickle sensitivity thresholds. Additionally, tickling oneself is generally not as effective at inducing laughter because the brain can predict and suppress the tickling sensation when it's self-induced.

Interspecies allogrooming

Interspecies allogrooming occurs when animals of two different species groom each other. This is mutual grooming. It may be the case that one member of the couple grooms the other more often than the other grooms them. So, it might not be entirely mutual.

In all cases it is an altruistic animal behaviour in which one animal grooms the other without expecting or demanding anything in return (unconditionally). They give it to them voluntarily and with pleasure. But it can be entirely mutual most often when the same species engages in allogrooming such as between two domestic or feral cats who are friendly with each other.

The unconditional nature of allogrooming must seem special to humans as we nearly always give conditionally even if it is not said but simply in the mind of the donor.

In this instance we see a group of cows frantically allogrooming a ginger tabby cat who must be very familiar to them because he lives in and around their barn. It's probable that the cat sometimes grooms the cows but because of size difference the effectiveness of a cat grooming a cow is going to be far less than a cow grooming a cat!

This cat has pretty well been licked all over within about 15 seconds thanks to the attention of their cow friends. I wonder how a cat feels when they are receiving the saliva of another species? They seem to accept it entirely which I find slightly strange because domestic cats are fastidious auto-groomers (self-grooming). They are very concerned about their personal hygiene.

You would have thought that they might only want their own saliva on their fur coats but apparently not. You see lots of dogs licking cats, normally in a home where there are cats and dogs as family members.

Perhaps the bigger animal takes on the bigger role in allogrooming simply because it is more effective if they do it.

I have seen some amazing interspecies relationships even with dolphins befriending domestic cats. Under those circumstances it is obviously impractical for the marine animals to groom a domestic cat but they can kiss each other! I've seen that.

The same would apply to birds such as crows befriending domestic cats, which I have also seen. You might see crows nibbling a domestic cat's fur as their form of allogrooming. This would possibly be effective in getting rid of ectoparasites such as ticks and fleas on their skin.

There is almost nothing better than a beautiful interspecies friendship. We should remind ourselves that this is exactly the relationship we have with our cat companions.

Rabbit digs to save a cat who couldn’t find their way out

This is a nice example of an interspecies friendship. Rabbits and domestic cats make good friends. We see it quite often on the Internet. In this instance, the rabbit thinks that their cat friend is stuck behind a corrugated iron barrier. They decided to dig a trench to allow the cat to escape. It's very cute. An act of friendship just like the kind of act of friendship which humans get involved in. Another example of animal sentience of which we should constantly remind ourselves to ensure that we respect animals.

If interspecies friendships interest you I have lots of them in many articles. Please click on this link to read about them. The two greatest interspecies friendships are human/dog and human/cat. We should remind ourselves of that fact too. Perhaps equal to those is the human/horse relationship which started 6,000 years ago. The dog/human relationship started around 20,000 years ago. We are unsure. Sometime between 14,000 and 35,000 years ago. The cat/human relationship started around 10,000 ago it is believed but once again we are unsure of the precise time. Rabbits were first domesticated around 1,500 years ago.

Just a monkey and a cat being best buds (video). But it's not all hunky-dory with monkeys.

Screenshot. Best buds.

I've seen a lot of monkeys making friends with stray cats on the internet. Perhaps there is something in the feline character which appeals to the monkey. Perhaps it is the same reason why cats appeal to hundreds of millions of humans. This cat seems less interested in the relationship than the monkey. It almost seems that the monkey needs the friendship because they are lonely. Perhaps orphaned. We don't know the backstory. But the front story is nice.

Interspecies friendships are always charming. Perhaps we should occasionally remind ourselves that when humans have 'pets' that these are interspecies friendships. Each human-to-cat relationship is remarkable in many ways.

The monkey-to-pet relationship can go wrong. There was a recent story of a monkey in India abducting a puppy on a roof and carrying the animal away. It looked violent and unpleasant. It is believed that the monkeys are chucking the puppies from rooftops to kill them because the adult dogs are attacking and killing monkeys. It has gone terribly wrong. This problem is human-created. We need to admit that and do something to remedy the situation.

Kitten thinks he's a bunny and hops around like his bunny rabbit friend

Proof that cats learn by observation. Normally this means watching their mother do things which eventually leads them to independence and leaving the natal den and range. However, this kitten has lived with his rabbit friend for a while and thinks hopping like a bunny is the way to get around only he finds it a bit unnatural. He might be a bit confused. I think he needs a spell watching another senior cat behave in a feline manner to put him straight. Sorry about the music!

Young tabby cat appears to comfort his owner in a video

The news headline for this video is that a cat is trying to comfort their crying owner. I think this is a reference to the tear that you can see from the left eye of the cat's owner. Although, to be frank it is not clear that this man has been crying. 

Sometimes people shed tears for a range of reasons other than the emotional state of the person. Snoozing can lead to the production of tears as eyes can tear up when a person goes to sleep.

Although I will give the benefit of the doubt and say the guy is upset and his darling and charming cat is comforting him.

It is a charming video although I have seen many similar videos and I have personally experienced this kind of cat behaviour myself. I am sure many others have too.

The video comes from the Twitter account of Sander from the Netherlands. Although it is not clear that this is him or that he made the video.

The cat's caregiver is snoozing it seems to me, and his young tabby cat wants to cuddle up. His cat wants a bit of contact because cats like that sort of thing. Often you see cats who are friendly with each other lying next to each other.

And you often see cats touching their owner. They thrust their foreleg out and touch their owner on the face or hand. That is what we see here, and you'll see it happen all the time. It is a silent method of communication by a cat to their owner through their behaviour.

Mutual support between cat and person. Screenshot.

For example, my cat touches the edge of my duvet near my head when I am in bed her wants me to lift it up so that he can crawl underneath. Another example of communication through action rather than a vocalisation.

So, this young tabby cat wakes up his owner with a gentle touch by his right paw near his mouth and then he snuggles up. It is beautiful and it is what I would expect to see in a close relationship between person and cat.

Of course, it goes without saying that the relationship must be strong and the bond good. This is not the case in all households.

And, as mentioned, this is a young cat. I sense that this man might have raised this cat from a kitten. This enhances the bond between human and cat.

Sometimes kittens who've been raised by humans have their human caregiver imprinted on their mind as their feline parent. They genuinely believe that the person is the birth mother which as you can expect leads to a strong and lifelong bond.

Why should a cat want to lie on their human caregiver like this? Perhaps this is a silly question but perhaps not.

RELATED: 15 facts on cat bunting.

Cats like the smell of their owner through their body scent. They like to scent exchange which means they want the scent of their human caregiver on them, and they want to transfer their body scent onto their human caregiver. Emotionally speaking, this merges the two entities.

It is reassuring for a cat to do this, and I believe that domestic cats seek reassurance many times throughout the day. I believe that humans should be aware of the need to reassure their cat.

The human world can be a bit scary for a domestic cat who is a fraction of the size of a human. They live in an unnatural world to which they have adapted successfully.

Domestic cats are very alert and emotionally sensitive partly because their senses are so finely tuned. Small sounds can, for example, create temporary anxiety. Strangers in the home can make them anxious. Long periods of absence by their owner can leave them with separation anxiety.

RELATED: Size difference between humans and cats makes them vulnerable and fearful, a dog study suggests.

There are lots of possibilities for a cat to be anxious and it is the duty of a good cat caregiver to prevent these feline anxieties and to reassure their cat in a mutually supportive cuddle as we see in the video.

Europeans are apprehensive and experience heightened emotions. Cuddle your cat.

Google offers the world Google Trends. It's a useful service to see what people are thinking what they are doing in real time. It provides background information as to what is bubbling under the surface of the news and what we see happening around us. And today, Google search trends 2022 indicates that the searches are driven by heightened emotions. This applies to people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This implies that people in America are not suffering from heightened emotions. 

This is probably because the major source of heightened emotions is the Ukraine war which is a long way away from America and I sense that Americans feel distanced from the Ukraine war whereas it is on the doorstep of Europe.

And I say "suffering" because it seems that these emotions are anxiety or apprehension.

Peoples of Europe are apprehensive. Cuddle your cat. Image: Image by Prettysleepy Art from Pixabay.

And a reason why this exists is because of issues with personal finances due to high inflation which is destabilising the economic systems. With high inflation you have higher interest rates in order to suppress inflation and with higher interest rates you going to have far more costly mortgages when they are on variable accounts. This puts in jeopardy keeping one's house because some people can't afford to pay their mortgages anymore.

This leads to anxiety. There is just one example. And of course, you have the Ukrainian war which is costing the world about US$2.3 trillion in terms of trade and loss of revenue. The Ukraine war is seriously damaging economic growth and prosperity which has a knock-on effect in the way people feel and of course it fuels inflation because Putin has stopped the supply of gas and oil to Europe which has forced up energy prices dramatically. This has fuelled inflation and the consequential high number of problems that emanate from that.

And on a very basic and raw level, the Ukraine war threatens the lives of Europeans and arguably people across the world. It may expand to a world war and that would affect everybody including America. This possibility generates anxiety.

But after Covid people want to socialise, they want to get out and do things. The end of Covid brought an optimism but this has been counteracted by apprehension. Google trends say that there are two moods in place: optimism and uncertainty. They say, "We are curious but cautious and were turning to search for answers".

Health is a bigger issue with people because of Covid. Long Covid is a major issue. It is believed that it affects the heart, and a substantial number of people suffer from it. And in the UK the NHS is broken causing long waiting lists which affects health treatment which of course affects the health of the citizens of the UK.

So, two fundamental problems exist which cause apprehension: health and wealth! In the background is the Ukrainian war which is like a disease that affects everything insidiously. It undermines society.

I would suggest that apprehension is outstripping optimism. I am not optimistic but I'm naturally pessimistic, I guess. I can see things getting worse not better all because of Putin and his mad escapades. He is digging himself into a massive hole.

Just recently the Nord Stream Gas supply pipes were blown up. There's a big question mark as to who did it. I think it is somebody in Europe we did it in order to ensure that Europe never goes back to Russian gas. It's a method of preventing Europe having two minds about going back to buying Russian gas because of the difficulties of doing without it. So, I think it's people who want to hurt Russia and to strengthen Europe's independence of Russia's energy supplies.

But it all adds up to more apprehension in European citizens. Which brings me to my last point: cuddle your cat! I had to get domestic cats into this discussion somehow, but we know for a fact that if your cat is sitting on your lap as mine is at the moment, keeping you warm and keeping you company, you feel better. You feel reassured and your cat feels reassured. You have a companion; you have a friend.

And cat companions are far more reliable than human companions. They will always be there for you. Good human caregivers reciprocate. For 15 or more years you have a relationship which improves your life and which chips away at that apprehension which world events, out of our control, generate.

All the dairy cows want to lick this farm cat

All the dairy cows want to lick this farm cat. Screenshot.

This is a cute and brilliant interspecies relationship. But in this instance, all the cows want to be friends with this farm cat and wash her. It must feel good to be so popular. An interesting aspect of the video is that clearly domestic cats enjoy being licked by another animal. 

Domestic cats are known to be fastidiously clean but here we have a cat which allows themselves to have the saliva of a cow deposited all over their head. You might think that this would be uncomfortable or even unacceptable but no. They like it and by the look of it seek out those licks.

You may have to click on the play button twice to get the video to work for which I apologise but this is Google software and I cannot improve on it. I apologise for the music. I did not make the video and I wouldn't have added music like this to it but the visuals are good.

Ginger tabby in Turkey nurses parentless bunny

Osmaniye, Turkey:  A domestic cat named 'Sarikiz' is seen nursing an abandoned bunny. A lone rabbit was found in a field by Sarikiz's owner and brought home and they began feeding it. The ginger tabby domestic cat, Sarikiz, which had recently given birth to kittens welcomed the abandoned bunny and decided to breast-feed the little creature along with her litter. 

Ginger tabby cat nurses bunny in Turkey. Image video on Weibo.

Ginger tabby mothers a parentless bunny. Image: Weibo video screenshot.

It is not uncommon for a mother cat to breast feed another species of animal. It is cute though. It is generous and kind. You wonder what goes through the mind of cats when they do this. Do they know that they are being kind and generous? Is it merely an instinctive act as if she is programmed to let a bunny suckle at her breast? 

She must recognise that the bunny is not a kitten. It seems that there is altruism in the animal world.

Ginger tabby kitten asks for another kiss. Do cats understand kisses?

A super cute video. It seems to all the world that this little fella (ginger tabbies are nearly always males) wants another gentle kiss from his female caregiver and why not? Good idea. The way she delivers it is like the classic, friendly feline nose greeting. So perhaps her kitten interprets the kiss as that. Cats don't understand human kisses! Sorry but that is true. But they understand friendliness, warmth and affection from humans and respond positively to it as we see in the video.

Ginger tabby kitten asks for another kiss. Screenshot.

This is a TikTok video. They allow downloads and uploads. So, this is not my video. Update: I have delete it because Vimeo don't allow it.

It is a very successful one because of the behavior of the charming kitten. It reminds me of another post I wrote not long ago in which I said that cat caregivers should try and find out what their cat particularly likes and give it to them as much as possible and I am not talking about food! I mean, give them the food they like but not as much of it as possible unless you want your cat to become obese.

RELATED: Do cats know what kisses are?

My cat likes the back of his head rubbed and pressure applied to it. I always take the time to place my hand on the back of his head and hold it there. He meows silently to me when I do it with a look of delight on his face.

My cat loves the feeling of pressure from my hand at the back of his head and neck. I give it to him whenever I can. It is reassuring to him.

RELATED: National Kissing Day: Don’t kiss your cat on the lips.

Domestic cats need reassurance all the time I feel. They want to know that all is well. Perhaps this is because we make them feel like kittens even if they are adults. As we provide their every need like a mom, we keep them in that mental state. And kittens always look to their mom for reassurance. They purr to her and she returns the purr when nursing her them.

Dog cat lovers in big bite embrace

Dog cat lovers in big bite embrace

I think that the title sums up the video quite nicely. These two are "lovers". That is the best description I can give them. The cat is entirely in the mouth of the dog. Of course, the dog is not biting but it's an amazing love bite! And the cat is reciprocating with her version of the love bite as well. Very cute video and another example of how dogs and cats can form incredibly close relationships as good as anything between humans and between cats and other cats.

This is not feline attention seeking but feline friendship

Some people might say that this cat is seeking attention; feline 'attention seeking'. They might say that it is an example of unreasonable behavior. I don't see it that way. I simply see a cat who wants to be with this boy because they have a great relationship. The cat wants to be in contact with the boy. It's about reassurance and enjoyment. It's about a close relationship and this is the result. 

Cats don't do homework. Screenshot.

The homework is a side issue and unrecognised by the cat. From the boy's perspective his cat is slightly irritating at that point because he gets in the way of his homework. The cat does not recognise the fact that they are interfering with the carrying out of homework. It is not done deliberately by the cat; they don't see it as an issue because cats don't do these sorts of things. 

It is another example of cats seeing humans as cats and being confused sometimes about human behavior as it does not fit feline behavior.

The way to play the video below is to click on the centre play button and then click on the button bottom-left! That is the way it is done at the moment with Google Blogger video uploads it seems to me. Sorry about the complication.

I guess this is because in the wild if a cat is apparently doing nothing then the other cat can go up to them and lie close to them. It is an example of the differences in human behaviour and cat behaviour. It's also a nice example of the kind of close relationship that kids can have with cats. You can see that the mother or father is filming it because the child turns towards the camera at the end and asks with his eyes whether the video can now stop and he can get on with his homework! The mother agrees because that is when the video ends