Attractive woman destroys her face in trying to look like a cat in seeking influencer fame

Jolene's story in summary is below. And below the summary I provide my thoughts for what they are worth. There are also before and after pics for readers to judge for themselves. But I'd be surprised if anyone thinks the result is acceptable or anything other than horrendous.

Jolene Dawson, a 28-year-old musician from Gold Coast, Australia, has made a feline transformation that’s turning heads. She spent over £10,000 (approximately 10 lakhs in Indian Rupees) to achieve a cat-like appearance. Here are the details of her unique journey:

1. Cat-Like Features:

   • Jolene underwent injectables to give her a cat-like snout.
   • She also had an experimental suspension thread procedure to flare out her nostrils.
   • The result? A transformation that makes her feel more like herself and comfortable posting on social media without makeup.

2. Inspiration and Social Media Influence:

   • Jolene considers herself a social media influencer with 18,000 Instagram followers and a presence on TikTok.
   • She believes her cat-like appearance will inspire other young people.
   • Cats resonate with her because they are independent, self-sufficient, and chic, just like her.
   • As a child, she had a Devon Rex cat that she found very chic.

3. Previous Transformations:

   • Before her cat-like makeover, Jolene had already found success as a social media influencer.
   • She had previously spent £55,000 (around 106,000 Australian Dollars) on cosmetic surgery to look like a Bratz doll.
   • However, she felt that too many other influencers were replicating the Bratz doll look, so she decided to change her appearance.

4. Overcoming Past Challenges:

   • Jolene had previously undergone a botched nose job during her Bratz doll quest.
   • Despite vowing never to have similar procedures again, she opted for injectables and the thread procedure for her nostrils.
   • Her cat-like transformation cost her the equivalent of £6,000 for injectables and approximately £4,000 for the thread procedure.
   • Most of the expenses came from her savings and earnings as a musician.

In her pursuit of self-expression, Jolene has truly embraced her feline identity! 🐱

The reality

Before and after:

Before the surgery. Image: Mirror newspaper

After. Image: Mirror newspaper.

It seems to me that the reality of the story is very different to what this woman is thinking. She is like someone suffering from anorexia. She is looking in the mirror at herself and seeing something which is different to what actually is there in reality.

This woman's reality is distorted by her mentality. That must be the case because what we see after the surgery is a "destroyed" - as far as I am concerned face - that was attractive but is no longer.

And I fear that this woman will now proceed to the next stage of plastic surgery because it becomes addictive. And she will go on doing this until her face has been obliterated and there is no way back.

Secondly, I don't think it is realistic to think that if you look like a cat you are going to be a more successful social media influencer than if you look normal and attractive. But Jolene believes that if she looks like a cat (which she doesn't) then she will be more successful.

And that's another point. She doesn't look like a cat or even more like a cat than she did when she looked like a human. She just looks like a person who has had unsuccessful plastic surgery and her face has become less attractive, some would say ugly.

I don't want to insult or upset her but the result is horrendous to someone like me, a bystander commenting on this story.

Very sad

Also, for me, it is a very sad story. I hate to see a person - and it doesn't matter whether they are attractive or unattractive initiative - mess around with their appearance in the mistaken belief that it will make them more financially successful. 

We need to accept ourselves as we are. Learn to even love ourselves without being arrogant and conceited about it. And without being narcissistic. But we need to love ourselves as we are and live our lives as we are meant to live them with the skills and abilities that we have.

There is no room in life to modify our appearance like customising a motorcar. We are too precious as we are. It would have been much better for her if she had simply accepted her appearance. The work on herself should have been about her mentality not physically cutting into her face to end up like she has; looking quite crazy in my book.

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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.

Full-time indoor cats should be fed with puzzle feeders for mental stimulation

There really is an obligation on cat owners nowadays to use puzzle feeders to feed their cats. That wouldn't have been the case not that long ago but nowadays it is said that up to 63% of domestic cats in America are kept indoors full-time for a number of reasons, the most important of which is the cats' safety and security.

RELATED: I have written about this before but Google failed to pick it up hence this cross-post.

That's obviously a big benefit for the cat but set against that there must be detriments, downsides and in the case of full-time indoor cat it is mental stagnation, boredom, inactivity, lack of stimulation and lack of environmental enrichment. These have potential health problems.

I know that I am going on but you can't just close the doors and windows on a domestic cat for the rest of their lives and expect things to carry on as normal. You have to stimulate your cat because they lose all the usual simulations that they obtain from the outdoors once you keep them indoors full-time.

And one way to enrich the environment of domestic cats is to insist that they are fed with puzzle feeders. These are feeding devices which make it a challenge to the cat to get at the food.

And studies have found that for captive wild cat species, puzzle feeders have proved to be successful in creating an environment for them which at least to a small extent provides the cat with some semblance of a normal life.

In this study, a small wild cat species called a fishing cat was fed live fish. When this happened the cat in question reduced their sleeping time by 60%. That means they were more active than normal. The cat showed increased hunting behaviours and they used their enclosure more effectively and more dynamically. They were turned on emotionally and these benefits persisted for about two days after they were no longer given live fish up to a maximum of eight days of improved behaviour.

An Asiatic leopard cat was fed four times per day and three times per day with food hidden in small piles of brush to help stimulate natural hunting behaviours and they found that when the food was hidden multiple times the cat's exploratory behaviour increased from 5.5% to over 14%.

And their pacing i.e. stereotyped behaviours, which is highly indicative of boredom, reduced.

You can bring that study forward to the domestic cat in a home. Full-time indoor cats live somewhat like captive wild cat species in zoos in my view. There is an acute obligation I feel to try and entertain cat kept indoors and one way is to employ a puzzle feeder. In fact, there should be two or three different types in the home.

In addition to that the environment can be improved for the cat by adding climbers and high platforms et cetera. The key is to increase the number of climbing devices so the cat can rest at a high level. Cats need to move radically as we all know.

But this article is about puzzle feeders and they are cheap and effective. I sincerely hope that people try them.

As I mentioned, one study says that 63% of all indoor cats in the United States are kept indoors full-time. That may be too high a figure but it is at least 40-50% and growing year-on-year. It is beyond the time when there needs to be an emphasis on environmental enrichment and mental stimulation of full-time indoor domestic cats.

It is ironic that cat owners keep their cats indoors full-time for their health. And many of them in a survey say that there cat are healthy both physically and mentally when they keep them indoors but I think they are incorrect. How do you assess a domestic cat's mental health and well-being? Through observation? You don't really know what's in the mind of a domestic cat. 

What we can judge through common sense is that a cat able to express their natural desires and motivations is going to be mentally healthier and more content than one who cannot do this. 'Hunting' food with a cat puzzle goes a little way to also feeding a cat's natural motivations.

And keeping cats indoors full-time without any attempt to substitute what they are missing when allowed outside to hunt, walk on wet grass, climb trees, smell the air, meet other cats and meet wildlife is a derogation of the duty of a good cat caregiver.

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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.

NO EVIDENCE that using Facebook is bad for mental health - new study!

A lot of experts have consistently said over a long time that Facebook is addictive and bad for mental health especially for today's youngsters who can spend hours on the site daily. Now The Times reports that:

There is no evidence that the global adoption of Facebook is linked to psychological harm, a study has suggested.

So, you can go back on Facebook (FB) if you ever left it and check out some more funny cat pics or cat rescues! Seriously though I have to doubt this research. Oxford University said that Facebook users may even benefit from the social media site. 

Is this harmful or beneficial? Image in public domain.

The checked-out data from a million people in 72 countries. Facebook's owner, Meta allowed access to user data. But it took 3 years to get the information and write it up!

The researchers said that Meta did not fund the research. This information is intended to tell us that the report is not a Meta PR exercise. But is it?! It might be. Meta wants more research on the wellbeing of users. This study is certainly a boost to Meta's public profile.

Some earlier research found that FB is liked to increased incidences of mental health problems. The new research has been challenged by some campaigners.

The new study said that "evidence for harm is on balance more speculative than conclusive."

The lead author of the new study, Professor Andrew Przybylski, said that earlier studies have been proven to be inaccurate because they focused on the UK and USA over a short timeframe and relied on surveys from people about their social media use.

The professor added that "The best global data does not support the idea that the expansion of social media has a negative global association with wellbeing across nations and different demographics."

The study looked at 2 age brackets: 13-34 and 35-plus for the years 2008-2019.

There was a "small but significant" indication that FB users' wellbeing improved.

A critic, Fances Haugen said that "the study isn't well designed to assess the actual impact of Facebook". She said that people should be cautious about the finding that using FB is beneficial.

Another critic, the Molly Rose Foundation said that "the coroner at Molly's inquest...concluded that the torrent of harmful content that she was algorithmically fed contributed to her death". And "that Meta's own research has long found that Instagram [also owned by FB] has adverse impacts on the health and wellbeing of young people."

What do you think?

2 more ways to be a better cat caregiver by being healthier

Image in public domain,

Here are some more ways to be a better cat caregiver by being healthier. It is very difficult to be a good cat caregiver if you are unhealthy and feeling ill. And it's also difficult to be a good cat caregiver if you feel depressed. Depression is on the increase in the US and in the UK.

Previously, a separate report released in May from Gallup found a similar national prevalence of depression in the United States, also finding that about 18% of adults say they are depressed or receiving treatment for depression, a jump of more than 7 percentage points since 2015. - CNN report 15th June 2023.

I have recently written about some ways to improve one's health both in the interests of the caregiver and of the cat:

1. Infographic on 8 habits that could add 24 years to your life (and improve cat caregiving)
2. Be a better cat caregiver by being healthier in consuming olive oil and going vegetarian for 6 months.

Today I would like to address a couple more methods to improve one's health and welfare.

Handful of nuts linked to lower risk of depression

Eating a handful of nuts every day is linked to a 17% lower risk of depression according to scientists. Nuts contain nutrients that could help mental health. Data was gathered from the UK Biobank. This is an online database of medical and lifestyle records concerning half a million Britons. 

The analysis suggested that middle-aged and older adults who ate a daily 30 g serving of nuts including pistachios, hazelnuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, almonds and walnuts were less likely to report to their GP that they were depressed and are less likely to be taking antidepressants.

The study has been published in the journal Clinical Nutrition. This is an observational study which means they saw this link but they don't explain why the link exists. But they speculate that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of nuts may act as antidepressant nutrients.

The scientists explained that nuts contain bioactive substances such as phenols or phytosterols. They also contain micronutrients, fibre, high quality protein, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids together with vitamins all of which could play a role in improving mental health.

The lead author, Bruno Bizzozero-Peroni, a researcher at the Health and Social Research Centre at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, in Spain said: "Our findings highlight yet another benefit of consuming nuts."

The researchers looked at data from more than 13,000 people aged between 27-73 over the years 2007 to 2020. They did not report having depression at the start of the study. The researchers asked participants to complete questionnaires to assess nut consumption and they compared this to doctors' diagnoses of depression or antidepressant use which was recorded.

More than 1100 cases of depression were recorded representing 8.3% of the participants after a follow-up of more than five years. And they discovered, as mentioned, that those who ate 30 g of nuts a day had a 17% lower risk of depression compared to those who did not eat nuts.

Just 2337 steps a day can cut risk of disease

This is about something a lot of people know quite a lot about namely walking and measuring how many steps you take when you go for a daily walk. I'm told by The Times that in the lead up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, marketing executives started a campaign to promote a new pedometer and suggested that people should walk 10,000 steps a day. It has, since then, been touted as a good target to stay fit and healthy.

It is quite a high target. You have to go for about a 50 minute to 1 hour walk or more to reach that figure but a new study shows that if you walk the equivalent of 2,337 steps daily it's enough to reduce the risk of dying but the more you walk the more the benefit.

The scientists analysed information from 226,889 people involved in previous studies in many countries including Norway, Australia, America and Britain.

The daily average step count was recorded and compared to their likelihood of dying during a follow-up period averaging seven years. The study has been published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology. It confirmed what I have stated. The 2,337 steps a day has been identified as the minimum at which one can see a significant reduction in the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke.

The lead author, Prof Maciej Banach from the Medical University of Lodz in Poland Said: "Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better. We found that this applies to both men and women, irrespective of age and irrespective of [where you live]. In addition, our analysis indicates that as little as 4,000 steps a day are needed to significantly reduce deaths from any cause, and even fewer to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease.

The NHS recommends that people should do at least 150 minutes of moderately intense activity such as walking every week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity over the same period.

Be a better cat caregiver by being healthier in mind, body and spirit.

Suicidal social media influencer quits after death threats because she killed two cats as a child

You may remember this story. It is rather disturbing in several ways. The woman concerned is Emma Claiir. Her name is spelled correctly. The headline is: "Social media influencer quits and says that she was left suicidal after receiving death threats because of her admission that she killed two cats as a child."

She is an Australian. In April, she admitted to her 105,000 followers that she killed two cats when she was a child. Her admission occurred on an episode of her pod cast, Simply Chaotic. 

Emma Claiir. Image: Instagram.

It was a bizarre confession. Her co-host, Christy Jean, on the pod cast was stunned by it. She said that she didn't mean to kill the cats but that she was a child.

She said: "I was swinging my cat around. Like, I was thinking it was a stuffed toy. And I accidental let go of it."

She believes that the cat died from fright rather than because of injuries suffered as it was hurled across the room. During her confession, she giggled and explained that "this happened years and years and years [ago]". And she went on to explain that she also killed her best friend's cat by accident.

Her honest confession shattered her life. She received widespread criticism and she was dropped by makeup company MCoBeauty not long afterwards. Three more brands then cut ties with her. One of them is a vegan make up company that promotes how it does not test its products on animals. You can understand why they cut ties.

Social media influencers depend upon these sorts of arrangements to generate an income stream. So, she lost a lot of income. We don't know the precise amounts but it may be that she decided that it was no longer worth it being a social media influencer.

But it goes deeper and wider than that. She says that the story got taken out of proportion and that people started to witch-hunt her. She felt that they wanted to destroy her.

She said:

"I lost my job; my mental health was impacted massively and people were just having a laugh about it. I realised it was taking me away from my son and making me not present with him so I took a small break."

She added:

"Since my return after that people decided it was okay to spread cheating rumours, make up lies and try to continue to ruin the life of a new mother who was already pretty open about her mental health struggles in life. Not only did I have haters trying to ruin my life and spread hate and rumours but I also had close friends doing the same. Friends who I thought were there for me, friends who I trusted and friends who I thought would never stab me in the back."

She reached breaking point. She felt unsafe in her own bubble. She started to feel unsafe in her home. Her anxiety increased when she went out into public places. She felt violated. There were death threats. The lies and rumours mounted and became louder and oppressive.

She considered ending her life. Eventually her mental health "finally crumbled. I entered a very dark space that was extremely scary and unfamiliar".

She told herself that the only way to make the nightmare go away was to take her own life. She said:

"The only way to make the haters happy was if I disappeared for good and officially left this world. Maybe my son and my husband really would be better off without me and I should just let them go, maybe my friends and family will also be better off without me, so I should just let them go. These are thoughts no new mother should be having."

She left a very long post on social media in which she signed off from the role of social media influencer. It concludes like this:

"Now to end. I have and always will be a mental health advocate. It is something that is so close to my heart and something I witness every day in myself and my family. Working online I always wanted to be open about my struggles and help those who needed it, help those who needed to feel less alone or those who needed that little push to get the help they needed. I never would have gotten through what I went through if it wasn't for seeking help from professionals and those around me. Check in with your family, your friends and most importantly yourself. Take a step back and ask yourself if your actions could be damaging and dangerous to someone's mental health. And lastly always remember that the online space can be horrible, fake and harmful whether you have a following or not, so it's okay, strong and powerful to walk away when needed. With love, Emma Claiir."

Comment: I really, really think that she's much better off quitting being a social media influencer. That kind of role is indeed potentially and often actually very toxic. She made a mistake and she's paid the price. But I think there is a silver lining for her; to live a more normal life not a fake life on social media pretending to be somebody she probably isn't.

Kids pretending to be cats are taking over the classroom in wokery nonsense but there are serious undertones

 The argument from the right-wing is that pupils pretending to be cats are taking over the classroom and undermining the teacher who's probably too sensitive to the woke movement. They've allowed kids to become furries and in doing so undermined their authority. It's worse. One teacher admonished another for refusing to accept the concept of gender spectrum (non-binary). This is a merging of two wokery movements. 

Note: there is a wide spectrum of sexuality to which we must be enlightened and sensitive but I believe - without being disrespectful - that there are two sexes. Sex is biological. All the rest is in the head.

This is impossible and it must be stopped with firm leadership and guidance from parents initially and supported by teachers. Image: DALLE-E.

One girl self-identifies as a male cat and insisted on being addressed as 'kit'. The girl had merged the furries movement with the trans gender movement. Highly complicated and confusing. The culture becomes very fraught.

It disrupts the classroom and the education process. The UK education secretary, Gillian Keegan, has said that it is silly for pupils to self-identify as an animal. She takes the common-sense viewpoint. I feel sure that most Brits would agree with her. But is it just silliness? It may be a symptom of much more troubling mental processes in pupils and girls in particular. Too many are suicidal.

In Britain the classroom is becoming an impossible place for teachers which is why huge numbers are thinking of quitting.  It is a disturbingly high percentage. According to the BBC four out of ten teachers are planning to leave the profession! It is a catastrophe. The British education system is in a silent crisis and it is deteriorating. You can add inflation into the mix. Teachers have been striking for a huge pay increase. This is partly due to the difficulties of the job. Who'd be a teacher in Britain?

It will need a much firmer approach from heads and teachers. I'll be sexist and state that there needs to be more men in teaching. There are far less nowadays than in the past. In 2021/22, 75.5% of school teachers were women. Women have moved into teaching believing that it will suit them but no clearly not for a huge percentage.

They can be too gentle. Perhaps they sometimes lack sufficient confidence to stamp their authority over the classroom. That said the teachers are asking for guidance from the Dept. of Education on how to deal with this problem. Keegan will provide it, she says.

To be fair, it is very difficult for a teacher to deal with a child who wants to identify as a cat because of the modern snowflake culture. If teachers are too firm with pupils they can get into trouble when the child complains to their parents who then complain to the head teacher. It is toxic.

Teachers are having to be surrogate parents as parents abdicate their duties. Too many are capitulating to their children's fads to be trans or cats!! There is a merging of these movements as mentioned. Is this all about confused kids bossing around parents and teachers because they are too frightened to be firm and provide old-fashioned guidance?

Kids are also in crisis with an astonishingly high percentage of girls self-harming or having suicidal thoughts (30%!!). This can't go on. To me it is clear that there is a link between the high level of suicidal thoughts and wanting to opt-out by self-identifying as a cat.

Are cat hoarders criminals?

You might be forgiven for believing that all cat hoarders are criminals because cat hoarding is almost invariably cruel to cats - a violation of animal welfare laws. That is the impression one gets. But it is not necessarily the right one. Although it is fair to say that perhaps 90% of genuine cat hoarders will be neglectful of their cats and through this neglect be cruel to them causing great harm and often including death.

Many cats in truck looking at camera. There were 43 cats inside this U-Haul truck. Image in the public domain.

The Cat House on the Kings

But some cat hoarders do such a good job in looking after their cats that they can only be praised. Perhaps the most famous person on the planet looking after the largest number of cats is Lynea Lattanzio who is the founder and I guess manager of America's largest cat rescue based in California called The Cat House on the Kings. 

The last time I checked, they had about a thousand cats in their care. I dread to think what their veterinary and food bill is monthly. She is not a cat hoarder in the conventional sense but clearly, she can't say no to a rescue cat. And that is a quality that cat hoarders have.

But all the cats are very carefully cared for and she is the most admirable woman and a champion of cat rescue.

Over the years they have saved over 30,000 cats and even more than 7000 dogs.

Individual circumstances - case by case basis

Whether a cat hoarder is a criminal or not depends upon the individual circumstances and whether they cause harm to their cats due to a failure to provide a proper environment for them and to provide proper care. Are they breaking the relevant animal welfare laws under which they operate? 

UK - RSPCA - Animal Welfare Act 2006

Interestingly, I recently did a bit of work on this. I asked the question, "how bad does it have to get for the RSPCA in the UK to come out and investigate?"

The question was in relation to multi-cat homes. How bad does the home have to be in terms of gross smells and the place becoming uninhabitable before the RSPCA take action? And I mentioned a neighbour of mine who has 10 cats and there are horrible smells coming out of her home. Her home is just about habitable (but not to some) but it is pretty cruel on the cats in my view. They are all full-time indoor cats breathing ammonia daily.

I described the situation to the RSPCA and they told me that it was not breaking the law under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the UK. That gives you a guideline as to the point at which a cat hoarder becomes a criminal or simply becomes the owner of a multi-cat environment.

Mental health

If they do break the animal welfare laws of the state (in America) in which they operate then the question that has to be asked next is, "what is their mental state?"

Often, it is arguably inappropriate to criminalise a person with mental health problems. And genuine cat hoarders often have mental health problems. 

They often genuinely believe that they are doing some good by rescuing cats and they simply are unable to truly observe what they're doing objectively. 

So rather than punish them the argument is that they should be treated but at the same time they should be banned from looking after animals until assessed as being competent to do so.

Domestic cat bites off the end of her tail. Why?

The owner of this cat, Cleo, suggests that she plays with her tail because she was raised with dogs. The problem has deteriorated to the point where she growls and is more aggressive with her tail. She actually bit off the end off, which is self-mutilation and this cannot be normal. 

Kitten plays with tail. Photo: Warren Photographic published her with his express permission.

Perhaps a domestic cat might get into a habit of playing with their tail more often than normal and it may go wrong but I don't think a domestic cat can bite off the end of her tail unless something is wrong. I would suggest, therefore, that she has a mental health problem or she feels pain in her tail.

MENTAL CONFLICT

Firstly, she is in mental conflict or in a state of anxiety and is engaged in displacement activity. Displacement activity is when a cat does something which displaces their emotional state which is uncomfortable. The classic example of it is when a cat licks their nose. Humans do it when they bite their fingernails. Over grooming is also a form of displacement activity.

Sometimes the cat's owner may intervene in the wrong way, perhaps in an indelicate way which exacerbates the situation. And if a tail has been damaged in this way it may also exacerbate the situation because there would be pain. The tail may have to be amputated. The underlying mental condition would remain, however. They would need to be an assessment of the cat's mental state i.e. mental conflict causing this 'compulsive disorder'. And the pain would have to be managed. 

A barrier to biting the tail would have to be introduced e.g. a collar.

A veterinarian might prescribe mind altering drugs to calm the cat and also the owner can do a lot by creating regular routines and providing daily interactions. I think a lot of this sort of problem is due to anxieties which are difficult to detect.

BEHAVIOURAL

A second possibility but one which is probably much less likely would be that a cat has become too aggressive when playing with their tail. It is commonplace for a cat to play with their tail. I think that it can often be due to boredom and they have this natural hunting instinct so they hunt their own tail. It might develop into something which is too aggressive causing self-mutilation. If this is the cause then it is relatively harmless but once again a way out of it would be for the human guardian to engage with their cat more often in play and to ensure that their cat was fully stimulated.

PAIN

A third possibility would be pain in her tail. There should be an attempt to alleviate it. There would have to be a full veterinary assessment to look for conditions such as neurologic diseases and dermatologic disorders. Animals do try and resolve pain by nibbling and biting and when it gets worse, they may end up self-mutilating. Along that way of thinking, there appears to be three overall possibilities. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion the three possibilities are (1) mental conflict (2) overaggressive play (3) disease causing pain and discomfort.

P.S. I am not a vet just a concerned cat owner.

18th-century poet, Christopher Smart, while in the London madhouse Bedlam wrote a poem about his cat Jeoffry

This is a touching story about the tragic 18th-century poet Christopher Smart. He was indeed smart being a distinguished Cambridge scholar and a fellow of Pembroke College before he descended into debt and poverty which led to ill health. You wonder whether actually he suffered from poor mental health. Perhaps not but he ended up in debtors' prison where he eventually died in 1771. 

Christopher Smart poet. Image in public domain.

Perhaps his mind was affected by the terrible travails that he endured as he was confined for several years to solitary confinement in Bedlam aka Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital. He languished in his dark rat-infested cell and composed a meandering, long poem about his pet cat, Jeoffry, called "For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry"

I am able to reproduce a long extract thanks to the poetrybyheart.org website:

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.

For having considered God and himself he will consider his neighbor.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness when God tells him he’s a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him, and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.

For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defense is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord’s poor, and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually–Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can sit up with gravity, which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick, which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master’s bosom.

For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Icneumon rat, very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God’s light about him both wax and fire.
For the electrical fire is the spiritual substance which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, though he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.

Comment: I find the stories very sad because her was a clever and talented man who loved cats and sought solace in writing about his cat when confined to a cell in a horrible place where he should not have ended up. It was just the way it was in 1763 which, as I understand it, is the date of the writing of this poem. Christopher Smart lived between 1722-1771. Today he would have been cared for sensitively in the UK. He would have recovered and lived a decent life with his cat. Apparently, he shared his miserable accommodation with his cat Jeoffry.

Are cats narcissists?

I think that it is ridiculous that anybody can find the time to ask if cats are narcissists. It's an absurd question but I'm going to try and answer it other than simply decry it as ridiculous. In order to answer the question as  to whether domestic cats are narcissists you have to first define the word "narcissist". It means, "a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves".

Incidentally, I realise that I am being unnecessarily serious because the question is meant to be a bit of a joke but there may be a slightly serious element to this which is why I'm discussing it a bit more than simply knocking it on the head.

You can see the obvious, which is that the definition starts off with "a person". This immediately cuts out of the equation all cats at a stroke! The concept of narcissism is exclusively dedicated to humankind. It is a condition created by people for people and defined by more people. It has nothing to do with animals and everything to do with the human-animal.

Narcissistic domestic cat? No. Flashy? Yes! Photo
in the public domain.

I suppose the question as to whether cats are narcissists might come from the fact that they are inherently solitary creatures and somewhat independent-minded (but becoming more sociable over years of domestication). Some people see them as aloof and difficult. They see them as demanding attention and pushing their human owner around. So if a domestic cat is demanding attention all the time or their human owner believes that they are demanding attention they might also believe that they are narcissistic.

Some cats like Siamese cats have a very positive and some would say demanding meow. It's quite a hard sounding meow. The Siamese is also a loyal cat and they like to be next to you. If you combine those two traits you might say that they are narcissistic, if you think being demanding is narcissistic. I am waffling really badly because in truth there is nothing more to say other than domestic cats are not narcissists.

People do tend to forget that domestic cats are cats and not little people. We do tend to anthropomorphise our feline friends. We project our emotions onto them and they are reflected back. So if we feel a bit down we will argue that our cat also feels a bit down because he looks a bit sad. The thing is they are not sad. We're just looking at their face and changing its appearance to suit our emotions and thoughts at that time.

An awful lot has been said about the mental state of domestic cats including their mental health and their emotions. We don't know much, and I'm referring to the best experts in the world, about cat emotions and cat mental health. We know a bit in that they have emotions, at least the basic emotions, and we know that they can be content and discontent. We know they feel pain and can suffer from stress and feel the opposite: relaxed. But the finer details of their emotions, we don't know much in truth. If we do it is guesswork.

And the profound mental health disorders such as narcissism and psychopathic states of mind are not for felines but humans.

Cat in mountains on leash. Bad or good cat caretaking?

This tweet shows a beautiful grey cat on a leash high up in the mountains on a rocky ledge overlooking a beautiful lake. It's a great picture and for me it is the best sort of cat caretaking you can do. Do you think it is good or bad cat caretaking? If it's done properly with care and responsibility and with a healthy dose of common sense that it must be good for a domestic cat to do this. 

Video screenshot

It gives the domestic cat, who is perhaps confined to a home, the chance to smell the mountain air, feel the dirt and grass under their paws, and pretend for a while that they are just like their wild cat ancestor. If you can give a domestic cat the chance to behave safely as their wild cat ancestor did you have done them a good service. 

You've injected some mojo back into their lives. They really do need this and if you think I'm wrong I'm sorry because there is no doubt that I'm correct. I'm not saying people should take their cat to the mountains like this guy. I'm saying that somehow cat owners have to let their cats tap in to their raw wild cat personalities and satisfy that personality in order for them to be whole.

From @nassy_kitty ⁠: “Guess what attracted my attention? I am so excited to meet new wildlife😍” #catsofinstagram pic.twitter.com/xXMxUXZNc7

— Cats of Instagram (@catsofinstagram) November 25, 2020

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Watching television nature programmes improves mental health

In an extension of the well-known benefits of walking in the natural environment as a means to improve mental health, researchers also believe that simply watching television nature programmes can lift your mood and spirits, reduce negative emotions and help alleviate boredom during isolation, which is particularly prevalent at the moment during this nasty coronavirus pandemic.

Watching nature TV programs benefits mental health. Picture in public domain.

If you want to go further you can buy into virtual reality and buy a headset which apparently may bring even greater benefits so say the scientists from the University of Exeter. They studied 96 participants who were subjected to short videos. They first subjected to the participants to a very boring video to try and get them bored. They were then shown video footage supplied by the BBC Natural History Unit film for Blue Planet II. It showed colourful underwater scenes of fish and corals. Some of the participants used VR headsets with 360-degree video. Others wore VR headsets using interactive graphics. All the participants reported reduced negative feelings and levels of boredom.

Those using interactive VR headsets reported increased positive feelings i.e. happiness. They also felt better connected to nature. The researchers felt that the results might benefit people who are forced to spend extended periods at home. This of course must include the elderly, infirm and those who are considered vulnerable during the pandemic in particular. It is probably true to say that there are many more people who are confined to their homes than people realise.

The lead researcher, Nicky Yeo, said that the results show that "watching nature on TV can help to lift people's mood and combat boredom".

A co-author of the study, Matthew White, which was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology said: "We Are particularly excited by the additional benefits immersive experiences of nature might provide. Virtual reality could help us to boost the well-being of people who can't readily access the natural world, such as those in hospital or in long-term care. But it might also help to encourage a deeper connection to nature in healthy populations, a mechanism which can foster more pro--environmental behaviours and prompt people to protect and preserve nature in the real world".

The reason? Perhaps the obvious reason is that humans come from nature and therefore we are innately connected to it. If we immerse ourselves in nature we make a connection to our ancient roots which is healing to us. Perhaps it reassures us and grounds us. That is my personal theory. Another possible reason is that the unthreatening natural world triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which helps to restore the body to a calm state. And the third theory suggests that modern life over-stimulates the human which depletes attentional resources causing cognitive fatigue and a negative mood. Watching nature programmes help to restore a balance in the human being.