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.

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.

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.

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!

Boris Johnson mentions Larry the cat's improved relationship with Dilyn his dog in farewell speech

Boris Johnson gave his farewell speech early this morning before flying up to Balmoral. He's been booted out of his job as the leader of the Conservative party and therefore the Prime Minister of the UK. And there has been some discord within the Conservative party. 

Government Chief Mouser Larry the Cat questioned over Partygate. Screenshot.

And also, there's been discord between his rescue dog, Dilyn, and the resident Downing Street cat, Larry. Larry is a celebrity cat and he's been at No 10 for some time as a mouser. He was adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. In fact, he was specially selected as a proficient mouser. I don't think he has caught many mice though!

Larry and Dilyn. Photo credit: Deposit Photos | BBC

Dilyn was fairly recently adopted by Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, also as a rescue animal and there were reports of them not getting along very well but Boris Johnson hints in passing in his farewell speech that Larry and Dilyn have made friends or at least there has been a rapprochement in their relationship. And he uses this snippet of good news to urge his fellow conservatives to work together under the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.

I always like it when cats are mentioned by senior politicians. Even if it is in passing. It kind of puts them on the map and in a small way it helps to improve their public profile. The video of his speech commences at the moment he mentions Larry and Dilyn.

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.

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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.