Rescue cat, Marley, wins top prize as a women's safe-house cat

Marley, is a rescue cat who works his magic at a safe house for women who have been enslaved, exploited or trafficked. He has won a national award. Marley, who is black-and-white, beat thousands of other entries to be named Cats Protection cat of the year in recognition of the way he offers comfort to people at Caritas Bakhita House in London.

Marley in the garden. I think he has a good life too. Great story of positives. Image: Ciaran McCrickard/PA Wire.

He's been named Cats Protection's National Cat of the Year 2024. He is seven years old. He has the "gift of empathy". The head of the house, Karen Anstiss, 59, said "I'm so proud Marley has won National Cat of the Year - he's a wonderful example of the power of love. Often Marley placing a paw on our guests' legs is the first kindness they've experienced in years. He has this incredible gift of empathy and has assisted many, many women along the road to recovery."

"Before he went into rescue, I think he had a hard time. So, he recognises our guests' trauma because he has suffered too," Ms Anstiss added.

"Initially he sits really close, to see how the women respond. Then he gently puts a paw on their leg letting them know they're not alone.

"We had one guest who was so traumatised she didn't speak to us - only to Marley - and because she trusted him, over time we were able to reach her."

She added that, "nobody is allowed to touch his patch of daisies" in the garden. Marley often joins the staff and guests at a dinner and one guest has even composed a song for him. Marley was selected as overall winner by a panel of celebrity judges.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Heart disease (HCM) affects 1 in 7 shelter cats as per a study

The title may seem concerning to readers. It certainly concerned me which is why I am writing about it. The information comes from a scientific study so it is pretty sound. The researchers tested 1007 cats over the age of 6 months in shelters. They were all healthy on the face of it.

Tabby shelter cat keen to be adopted. Image in the public domain.

Of the 1007 they obtained 'complete data' for 780. 40.8% had a heart murmur. Although I understand that this condition does not automatically mean that the cat has heart disease. That said the percentage is high.

"The prevalence of HCM was 14.7% ". Yes, 15% of the cats or around 1 in 7 cats had HCM which is a common type of feline heart disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The left ventricle enlarges and the heart malfunctions.

The scientists concluded with the following words:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is common in apparently healthy cats, in contrast with other cardiomyopathies. Heart murmurs are also common, and are often functional.

I am unsure what the phrase 'often functional' means in this context. Taking a common sense interpretation it means that the heart although diseased functioned.

Comment: 15% is a high percentage. It encourages me to believe that tests for HCM should be conducted on all shelter cats as a default procedure. The study might not represent the general shelter cat population.

If I was adopting a shelter cat I think I'd ask about HCM and whether they did tests.

Study details:  Cardiomyopathy prevalence in 780 apparently healthy cats in rehoming centres (the CatScan study). Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvc.2015.03.008

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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.

27-year-old woman adopted a rescue cat of the same age and becomes a record holder

The Guardian reports on an interesting story for me. I think that this story is actually unique in the world of cat adoption from a rescue centre. Vicki Green adopted Flossie from the well-known UK cat rescue charity Cats Protection in the summer of 2023. She adopted Flossie on the passing of her childhood cat, Honeybun, with whom she was very closely connected.

Vicki wanted to adopt another cat and had the opportunity when she finally purchased her own flat in London last summer. She wanted to adopt an older cat and a rescue cat. She achieved her objectives.

She was told by Cats Protection that Flossie was a 27-year-old tortoiseshell. She thought that the charity was mistaken and meant 17, but no, they meant 27 which is an extraordinary age for a domestic cat and particularly a rescue cat at a charity.

Flossie. Screenshot

At the time Vicki Green was 27 herself and so the cat world had that highly unusual situation where the adopter, a 27-year-old young woman, was the same age as the rescue cat that she was adopting.

Vicki thought that Flossie wouldn't live more than a few months but she wanted to give Flossie a good end-of-life experience which I think is very commendable. Some people like to do that and they play a valuable role in the cat rescue scene. It is altruistic. It is a very nice thing to do and there are in fact benefits for both the cat and the adopter although you have to deal with end-of-life issues which are tricky and distressing.

Flossie and Vicki. Screenshot.

Anyway, Flossie is still living and alert and very much alive. She likes to play and has her little routines like all domestic cats do. She's obviously a full-time indoor cat living in an apartment which probably suits her down to the ground at her age. She likes to go out onto the balcony which Vicki describes as Flossie's sanctuary.

She likes to jump onto Vicki's chest in the evening when she goes to bed and then she moves down to her lap and then finally settles down at her feet for the night. She wakes up at 6 o'clock looking for her breakfast with a loud and confident meow.

This is so typical of a domestic cat and one that is much younger than Flossie. Vicki bought her some stairs to get up onto the sofa but Flossie doesn't need them. And she says that "She doesn't look old at all."

"She never turns her nose up at the chance of a good meal," Vicki says.

 

She might make 30 and that would be very, very exceptional. It's nice to report on this unique story. Vicki believes that she owns the world's oldest living cat. She is absolutely correct because Flossie is recognised by Guinness World Records which has confirmed that she is the world's oldest living cat at the moment.

Details: The oldest cat living is Flossie (UK, b. 29 December 1995) who is 26 years and 316 days old, as verified in Orpington, UK, on 10 November 2022.

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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.

Quirky, honest advert and good photos get this anti-social tortoiseshell cat adopted!

The story of Quinn, I think, helps us understand how best to ensure that a rescue cat at a shelter is adopted. Quinn is a female cat but to me the name is male but that is an important. She is a tortoiseshell-and-white cat with attitude. And her adoption advert from the Humane Society of Washington County in Hagerstown, Maryland, USA, has been reported on social media.

Quinn. Photo: Humane Society.

Fox News reports it which is highly unusual. They describe the adoption advert as funny and honest. It's quirky. It's different. And I suspect that the person who wrote the advert, a staffer at the Humane Society, had become exasperated because Quinn was the longest-term resident at a shelter run I believe in partnership with the Humane Society.

The advert went viral on Facebook and was picked up by news media. Here's a taster of what they wrote to attract attention:

"Do you want a cat who doesn't want you? Do you crave the feeling of being judged in your own home? Do you need someone who will slap you back into reality without notice? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we have the cat for you. Meet Quinn."

They made it clear that Quinn was not a cat for everyone but somebody might like her icy stare and sudden snacks! And they said that she has "an uncanny ability to make people feel unwelcome in her presence - which is perfect for those who are 'tired of visitors'." 

And further they said that Quinn is essentially a...

 "lively houseplant, because all she really needs a human for is food, water and changing her litter. If you adopt Quinn, you will not be her owner, because Quinn cannot be owned. She will own you, your house, your belongings and everything you hold dear." 

You get the drift. Added to these derogatory words about Quinn which were tongue in cheek, there are some really nice photographs. I think all shelter should produce what I call readable photographs meaning photographs in which you can see the cat clearly. They don't have to be beautiful, pretty pictures but should be clear and clean.

The stark change in advertising M.O. came about because originally their advert was very standard and conservative but nobody get the bait. They weren't interested.

The Humane Society shelter (the Humane Society works in partnership with shelters as I understand it and do not run their own shelters) decided that honesty was the best policy and it certainly is as shown by this new story.

And if you read between the lines you know that you're going to adopt a cat which is a typical domestic cat in many ways. This is a tortoiseshell-and-white. They are known to have a bit of attitude but beneath that personality there is a loving cat waiting to get out.

And on November 24, the Humane Society tells us that Quinn has been adopted.

The lesson from this story is to be honest, clear and forthright in telling the world about a rescue cat to which you add nice, clear and crisp photographs and then you let the cat do the talking because somebody will come along who appreciates the honest direct approach.

Here is a Facebook post from the Humane Society.

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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.

Ogling and carrying on about a "double-snouted moggy" is an act of gross speciesism and it is ugly human behaviour

There's been a story going around the Internet from the UK about a rescue cat, a moggy, who has an anatomical defect with respect to their nose. There are three nostrils and the news media are talking about a one-of-a-kind 'double-snouted moggy'. And it's unfair. It is speciesism to parade this cat all over the Internet.

There, I won't show the nose. This is a fine cat and she should be respected and not ogled at by voyeuristic humans. Image in the public domain and modified by me.

Humans are being voyeuristic. This is like a Victorian freak show. You know back in Victorian times when in their ignorance entrepreneurs put on shows with people who were victims of a congenital anatomical defects which made them look strange. This is exactly the same thing but we are doing it with a cat.

It devalues the cat. It is making the cat a curiosity; something 'weird'. To ogle at her is just not right. It is morally inappropriate.

But the news media does don't get this at all. They completely miss the point about this kind of gross speciesism.

The cat, by the way, is at the Cats Protection Warrington Adoption Center. They have named the cat Nanny McPhee after the fictional film character with a distinctively shaped nose.

Doctors have checked out the cat and they call it a "congenital malformation". Exactly, that's what I've just said above. It's a birth defect. It is a developmental defect when inside the womb. It is inherited and it's unfortunate for the cat.

It is doubly unfortunate because humans are seeking pleasure from looking at this cat and I don't like it. It's about time people respected the cat and behaved in a slightly more moral way if that's possible.

Jackson Galaxy is disappointed with the cat fancy and cat breeding

 It is no surprise to me that Jackson Galaxy, the world's most famous cat whisperer (cat behaviourist) dislikes or is disappointed with cat breeding and the breeds. Well, I have generalised and read his mind so I'll tell you what he says in his book Total Cat Mojo about the purebred cats and you can make up your own mind. 

He always adopts non-purebred cats. He does the right thing. Although he is high profile, he's very down to earth and a realist. He sees the big picture and the need to do the right thing and adopt rescue cat. He worked extensively in cat rescue before becoming a famous cat bebehaviourist.

Jackson Galaxy loved Barry deeply and misses him a lot. Photo: Jackson Galaxy.

He heads his section on breeding and the breeds with "The Puppet Master Enters: Purebred Cats".

You get a hint in that heading. He's saying that people are playing at God when they create new purebred cat breeds and create them for sale.

He explains that in the early days of the cat fancy there was no extreme breeding as there is today. For example, he explains that the Siamese cat's pointed coat was enough to distinguish that cat breed from the rest and it was and still is. 

And the Persian cat back in the old days was pretty much a standard-looking cat. There were no flat-faced oddities in those days. This is what he says. But today "breeding is an altogether different beast (so to speak), with organisations recognising anywhere from 44 to nearly 60 different breeds of cats (I think actually that TICA recognise more than 70)."

And he then goes on to talk about how the cat fancy developed in America in a detrimental way. He says:

"In the process, we have pushed cats' physical appearance to extremes, often without regard for the well-being of the cats being bred. We've made the Persian's face flatter and the Siamese space thinner and more pointed. Consequently, the changes we have imposed through breeding are in many ways detrimental to the Raw Cat."

The Raw Cat that he refers to is the natural domestic cat, the domesticated wildcat with a wildcat character beneath that domestic exterior.

He adds that:

"By selecting Persians for the brachycephalic (short-nosed) appearance, we have actually made it harder for them to breathe, increased the chance of skin, dental and eye disease, and made giving birth riskier and more difficult.

Scottish Folds are used as a model for studying pain and arthritis because the mutations that cause the folds in their ears also lead to painful degeneration in their bones and cartilage.

Manx cats are prone to back pain, constipation, and other elimination problems because of spinal cord deformities.

Maine Coon cats are prone to heart disease, and Siamese cats have a higher likelihood of asthma and hyperaesthesia. Sidebar from Michael: the modern Siamese is the unhealthiest breed and the Persian is in the top three.

RELATED: Siamese: The World’s Most Unhealthy Cat!

These are just a few examples. When you limit the gene pool, you increase the chance of dangerous mutations and disease. There is no other way around it.

Humans may be pulling the strings when it comes to cats' exteriors, but are we making any progress in understanding their inner world?"

As you can see, he is critical of a section of the cat fancy where they breed purebred cats to extreme meaning the anatomy becomes abnormal in order to create a cat which looks different and can be completely distinguished from the other breeds. 

The objective here is to sell more cats and to follow the breed standard accurately but breeders go beyond simply following the breed standard in their efforts to create more interesting cats at which point they create unhealthy cats as is emphasised by Jackson Galaxy.

Great looking cat with a moustache is unwanted at a Blue Cross shelter, UK

This is very strange. The cat's name is Miko and she has a stunning appearance. It's the kind of appearance that would normally attract a lot of attention with people applying to adopt her quickly. If people want a cat that looks interesting this is the kind of cat you would want to adopt. But we are told by the Blue Cross charity in Hertfordshire, UK that Miko has received no applications for her adoption. She appears to be unwanted. She has no behavioural problems and is described as a confident girl.

Interesting-looking Miko is unwanted but why? She is 10 and healthy with a nice character. Image: Blue Cross.

There appears to be no health problems as far as I am aware (please check with Blue Cross). She looks a little bit overweight in the picture but nothing really to report. The key factor might be this: she is 10 years of age. This is not particularly old but it is middle-aged towards old age by some people's standards. 

The reason is that older cats are more likely to suffer from ill-health and you have to deal with the end-of-life complications and pressures sooner. But older cats can be great companions too as they 'know the ropes'.

It is known that older cats are harder to rehome than for example kittens. But you would have thought that her appearance would make up for that age barrier. If you are interested, please click on this link to go to the Blue Cross website to meet Miko on that website.

Location: Kimpton Btm, Hitchin SG4 8EU, UK.

Her description is as follows:

Meet the gorgeous Miko

Miko is a cat who is full of quirk and personality, she has stolen the hearts of all the cattery staff here at Blue Cross Hertfordshire. Miko is a confident girl but she can take a while to build a bond with a new person, however once she has, she is affectionate on her terms and might even give you some licks on your hand. Despite her age, she is full of life and enjoys playing with feathers and rod toys. She especially loves chewing on some cat grass!

Miko is looking for a home with a lovely garden for her to sunbathe in. She needs a home with only adults or older teenagers and no other pets. Miko is a truly unique girl, who likes things her way and will make an amazing companion to someone looking for a bit of company and a furry friend to share their life with.

AITA for giving away some of my girlfriend's rescue cats?

The man asks on Reddit.com whether he behaved badly (AITA) when he felt he was forced to rehome some rescue cats that his girlfriend had found. The title sort of indicates that he might have behaved badly but when you read the story carefully, he hasn't at all.

Reddit's AITA category for discussion.

His story

He works from home and he owns his home. His girlfriend of two years lives with him in his home. She also works from home. She does not pay rent.

She found a box of 6, 2-week-old abandoned kittens by the side of the road (that stuff happens which is appalling). She asked him whether she could bring them in to the home and he agreed even though he has a severe cat allergy. Although he asked whether she could take them to a shelter but she didn't want to do that and he relented.

Conditions he set

But he said he would allow them to come into his home on condition that she adopted them out at eight weeks of age. In the meantime, they should stay in the guest room/bathroom. And he agreed to look after them if he had to in an emergency otherwise the responsibility was his girlfriend's.

She breaks the agreement?

After four months they were still in the house and they needed fixing i.e. spaying and neutering and he did not want the expense. Also, they were now roaming around the house. His girlfriend tried to get him to clean the litter tray because she didn't feel like it, he said.

He said that his allergy to the cats was a real problem for him and that he had to constantly take precautions like wash clothes et cetera to minimise the allergic reaction.

Warned her of adopting them out

He told her three weeks before he adopted them out that he would do so. Eventually he posted them on Facebook offering them for adoption. She agreed to it.

A couple of people responded and met with him. She agreed with that as well. As a result, four of the cats were adopted out. She appears to have been out of the home at the time and when she returned, she "flipped her shit".

He was very surprised. He said that she was angry because he didn't let her say goodbye to them. He said that he gave her two months of goodbye time. He asked AITA?

Dave the stray cat befriended by 2 England footballers in Qatar to come to England

 

Kyle Walker who marked Kylian Mbappe in the quarter-final match between England and France, said: "John [Stones] named him Dave. Some people really don't like the cat but I love him. I love him."

The Three Lions returned to the UK without the World Cup but Dave the cat is going to be shipped out of Qatar despite the fact that the players said that they would only do it if they won the World Cup. This is a great result for Dave.

Dave on his way to a shelter in preparation for flying to England in due course. Image: Daily Mail photographer.

The promise that they would take him home was made by England defenders Kyle Walker and John Stone.

Before Saturday's defeat against France, Walker added: "Dave is fine. Hopefully I can stick to my promise that he will come home with us if we were to win the World Cup."

The video on this page at the top of the article shows you that Dave is coming home and the ladies in the video I believe are the ones who work at the Qatar Animal Welfare Society. They are being paid £2000 by the players to prepare Dave for his flight to the UK.

He will be micro-chipped, vaccinated, neutered and then he will have to spend four months in quarantine before making his trip to his new life in Manchester, England.

Dave is going to dislike that quarantine session tremendously but his future looks bright because he has somebody who really loves him and who will care for him.

The lady's name is Janet Barry, 68. The Times tells me that she is the head of the society. She said: "Dave a really lovely, talkative tabby and it's easy to see why the players fell in love with him. He's a beautiful cat and will be staying with me before he's flown to the players because we don't want him doing a disappearing act from the hotel.

She further added: "The FA [Football Association] approached me to help them after the players said they wanted him properly looked after and brought home."

The manager of the hotel where they stayed said that there are lots of stray cats around the souq "but Dave is now one of the fattest and healthiest after being fed at England dining tables for so long."

The stray cats are familiar across Qatar. There is one England player who is frightened of cats. He is the midfielder, Jordan Henderson.

His teammates, being aware of this, played pranks on him. A fellow midfielder, James Maddison, said: "The other day [Henderson] was eating and I just went behind him and brushed his leg with my hand. I have never seen someone shoot up so fast. He was so scared."

Picture of a young woman and the 20-year-old cat she adopted so he wouldn't die alone

This is a picture, on Twitter, of a young woman who decided to adopt a 20-year-old cat so that he would not die alone. Her actions and the picture are inspirational. Other people on Twitter who have seen the photograph have been inspired to do the same thing. I have always said that if you adopt the unadoptable cats, you are invariably rewarded and of course always the cat.

"I love this! She inspired me to do the same the next time I get a cat! I have two now which is all I can handle." - Tiffany Davidson.

Picture of a young woman who adopted a 20-year-old cat so he wouldn't die alone

I don't know who took the photo, probably a shelter employee. The cat has fur shaved from their left foreleg. He must have been through medical treatment, probably linked to his age. It was probably known that he was dying because of the illness.

This kind of adoption does go against the grain. Although I have seen other instances of people adopting elderly rescue cats in shelters or even a couple of elderly cats at shelters for the same reason. These people walk into the shelter and they want to adopt the least adoptable cats there. They specify that. It is exactly the way things should be. It saves lives in a very dramatic and direct way.

There is always someone there for the kittens. They will always find homes. But the elderly black cats and the less attractive cats are left on the shelf until people like this young woman come along. It is a beautiful photograph which is exactly why it is inspirational.

It was taken during the coronavirus pandemic which is why the lady is wearing a mask. That is obvious but in five years' time if this website is still in existence, people might ask questions about that mask. You may know that there has been a big increase in both America and in the UK of rescue cat adoptions during Covid. 

CLICK FOR SOME PAGES ON ADOPTING A CAT

Dogs have also been adopted more frequently from shelters. However, most commonly dogs have been purchased from breeders and in the UK sometimes from pet shops who are supplied by puppy mills on continental Europe. Not a good thing to happen but demand surged.

It isn't only elderly people who should adopt elderly cats. But if you are elderly think about it. You'll be a good caretaker because you're likely to be there for your cat all day. And you probably won't have to think about who'll die first. A 20-year-old cat does not normally have more than a year of two at most to live and probably less.

Rescued dog parents and nurtures rescued kittens and it's beautiful

This is a great picture taken, I believe, by Rachel a nurse at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home who also fosters rescued animals at the shelter. She volunteered to foster some very young kittens who had been cruelly abandoned by the roadside. It's a hard job looking after kittens at that age and parenting them. 

Bertie a rescued Lab retriever parenting rescued kittens abandoned at 2-weeks-of-age at the roadside. Photo: Rachel of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Bertie, her ex-Battersea rescued Labrador retriever stepped up to the plate and volunteered to help. He's done a great job and entertained Rachel at the same time. Rachel made the point that I want to make which is that it is wonderful to see a rescued dog looking after rescued kittens. 

It is a beautiful interspecies relationship which is in stark contrast to the relationship between the former owner of the abandoned kittens. It must have been incredibly poor for a person to throw away kittens on the roadside like that. 

It always bemuses me how people can do this. They must have abnormal brain function. A part of their brain is obviously missing because nobody can do something as cruel as that without something fundamental lacking in their mentality. Often it is down to poor education due to poor parenting but I don't know the background to the abandonment. What is clear though is that no one should ever throw away kittens at the roadside or in woods. There are rescue centers for these unwanted animals. Have the courage and decency to use them, please.

We see quite a lot of pictures of dogs parenting cats and kittens and vice versa. But rarely do we see a photograph this good in terms of its composition and the expressions on the faces of the animals. The lighting is pretty good too despite being artificial. I have to commend Rachel for the photograph if indeed she did take it. I expect she did because she was fostering the kittens and I believe still is.

Video: adopting an old cat

Just a short video of an anonymous person doing something fairly ordinary: adopting an old cat from a rescue centre but I find it touching and a lot of praise must go to the person who made the video and therefore who adopted this old gentleman cat. He looks like former street cat who has to be at least 15-years-of-age and perhaps older. He looks tired and as if he has been in some fights until he was rescued. It is difficult finding new homes for elderly cats like this guy. The good people adopt them because they know that they will have their reward. Old cats know the ropes and they are less work. They settle in more easily and all the while you know that you have saved his life and given him a good life for the last few years or months that he has to live. That is a beautiful reward. It's an act of altruism in adopting an elderly rescue But, it is also a selfish act because it genuinely benefits the person.

Screenshot from video below.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Reading to cats helps to socialise them

There is an interesting story in the news media (Kent Online) today about RSPCA employees reading to adult cats who had been neglected and therefore had lost some of their socialisation. Thirteen cats had been rescued from a house in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK. The cats had to fend for themselves because they had been abandoned. They were temporarily looked after at the Bluebell Ridge Cat Rehoming Centre in Hastings, East Sussex.

RSPCA employee reads to a rescue cat Babs who  is the black and white long-haired cat. Photo: RSPCA.

They are described as "scaredy cats" for obvious reasons. They were nervous and five of them, Lily, Babs, Pickle, Nutmeg and Basil have been treated to a rare form of feline therapy although I have seen it before once, namely, being read to. So why does this work?

There are two aspects to reading to a fearful cat, one of which is that you are present with that cat. You are quite close to the cat. This is a very gentle form of passive socialisation. In addition, the sound of your voice projected towards a cat is also a form of socialisation. If a cat has been neglected, living alone for quite a long time they lose trust with humans; they revert to their solitary, independent nature and you have to reintroduce humans to them. Reading to them, I think, is a very good idea in achieving that goal because it is gentle.

I suspect that it was the beginning of a process of reintroducing people to the lives of these nervous cats. Myra Grove the Centre Manager at the Hastings branch of the RSPCA said that the owner of the cats had gone into hospital and nobody had looked after them for several weeks and so, "They've had a tough start in life. We been working hard to socialise these cats and had taken a hands-off approach which means we been sitting with them and reading to them so they can start to get used to human company."

She said that they have seen some fantastic improvements with the cats gaining confidence and starting to accept interacting with people. Appropriately, the staff read books from the Warrior Cats series written by Erin Hunter which is a pseudonym for a group of three writers as I recall.

Apparently Basil needs more time to learn to trust people. He has shown his gradual rehabilitation by settling down to sleep while an RSPCA employee gently sits with him. Nutmeg is also still a bit nervous and it will take time for her to learn to trust. She is a calico cat around four years old. Basil is a black-and-white male cat about one year old. Babs, Lily and Pickle are between two and four years old.

Babs appears to be progressing faster than the others as she enjoys being fussed over. The RSPCA say that if you are interested in adopting the new have to be patient and kind with them and you should contact the RSPCA Sussex East and Hastings Branch on 01424 752121.

Story of Logan - werewolf street cat - is full of sadness, love, joy and more sadness

Logan was a rescue cat. He was saved from a very harsh life on the street. We are not told where or I can't find out where. He became famous because of his face, I guess. They called him a 'werewolf cat'. Are they referring to the cat breed the Lykoi also called the werewolf cat . They appear to be. But is Logan a lykoi?  Lykois are rare purebred cats. But maybe I am missing something as I have not followed this story very closely.

Logan is, I believe, a random bred cat and it seems that he lost some of his facial hair because of his ill-health (eye infection that spread to the area below his eyes?). Or was it ringworm? I don't believe so. He became very ill as a street cat. The vet thought he had FIP and he certainly suffered from viral and bacterial infections, infected eyes and teeth and so on. 

Logan a rescue cat with fur missing from his face  -- called 'werewolf cat' Photo: Tabatha Norton on Instagram.

His foster carer, Tabatha Norton, took care of him brilliantly and her vet was superb. The public rallied around and I presume helped to fund the medical treatment. All was going well on Logan's long journey back to health which was reported on Instagram started by Tabatha Norton. I guess she started the account because of Logan's appearance. Would she have started a social media account if Logan had been a standard black cat? Sorry, I don't want to be a wet blanket and no criticism meant but...

Logan's bloodwork came back normal one day and it seemed that he was out of the woods. Norton was elated and hopeful.

HIS BLOODWORK CAME BACK NORMAL!!! NO more high globulins and proteins! No more high neutrophils and white blood cell count! His source of infection (teeth/ gums and feline herpes virus flare up due to chronic pain and stress) has been treated and the infection is now gone! We can’t even put in words how ecstatic we are about this news!!! This has been such a long journey!

But then...suddenly Logan died and the last post on the Instagram account is the video below. Norton was wiped out by the suddenness of his death. She couldn't post to social media for a few months and then told Logan's followers that he'd died. She does not tell us why he died. She loved him deeply. It is great that he was loved so profoundly by his carer.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rescue Logan (@rescuelogan)

Perhaps he died of old age. He looks quite old. Sometimes cats do pass away like this. Unexpectedly.

Norton's words are poetic and poignant: 

He meant EVERYTHING to me. I cannot imagine my life without him. My strong survivor, my little warrior, my baby is now an angel in heaven. I am so grateful that we were able to spend so much time together and that I told you how special you are and how loved you are each and every day. Logan, you were my life, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH and you will ALWAYS be with me in my heart.

The fur on his body does not look too bad. Lykoi cats have very sparse hair, not like this.

The hair on Logan's back and flanks is not that bad. Photo: Instagram.

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What value a rescue cat with FIV?

In a world where there are too many unwanted cats at rescue centres, the FIV positive cat has less value than other adult cats. In just the same way that black cats have less value than a calico cat, for instance, and kittens have more value than adult cats. Decisions about life and death at shelters are made upon these issues.

The reason why I have mention this is because I have just written a story about a rescue cat in Britain who fell into a canal in Blackburn. He was stuck on a log in the canal for two days before firefighters turned up. They did a great job. It was quite an effort to rescue him.

They handed the cat over to the RSPCA who evaluated the cat. They decided he was FIV positive. It should be said that the test to decide whether a cat is FIV positive can be inaccurate and misleading. Nonetheless, because of this test they decided that he had to be killed.

An RSPCA spokesman said that he was unable to live outside amongst feral cats because he might infect other feral cats. The chance of that happening are quite small because FIV is transmitted by a cat bite. In addition this cat appears to have been a domestic, stray cat.

However, the RSPCA said that he was unfit to live as a domestic cat in a home. He was unsuited they said. Therefore he was unsuited to live outside and unsuited for domestic cat life. He had to die on their reckoning. I disagree with the reckoning.

I think the real reason why he had to die is because there are quite a large number of unwanted cats in the UK and as mentioned in the first paragraph each has a value and when that value is low and when you have to make a decision about euthanasia, the low value cats are killed. It shouldn't be this way quite obviously. It's a sign that domestication of the cat has gone wrong.

FIV positive cats can live good, happy lives in the right home. You have to care for them carefully to prevent infections and illnesses developing but if you do that they are normal cats and they look normal. In an ideal world this cat should have been rehomed and it could have happened. No doubt the firefighters were disheartened by the fact that all their efforts came to naught.

The point really is that the reasons why the cat was euthanised, as explained by the RSPCA, must be incorrect because this cat could have been rehomed and therefore they are making excuses.

Without wishing to be overly critical, I don't think the RSPCA should make this kind of decision because it presents to the world the wrong public relations image for their organisation. They are there to save lives and they shouldn't make excuses like this which subtly indicates a lack of commitment to that task.

What are Bodega Cats?

Bodega cats are store cats. They live in and around a corner store or deli or Hispanic/Spanish/Latin mini-mart in New York. They will normally be rescue cats; either rescued from the street where the store is or from a rescue centre. The term "bodega" appears to be exclusively used in New York City.

These are typical corner stores. Run independently and selling all manner of products from wine to delicatessen products. These are the sorts of shops we see all over the world. Not all of them have a live-in cat. That's obvious. The bodega cat is a very nice addition to the store. They go together nicely. It looks natural to me. And they serve a function beyond keeping the shop owner company. They keep the mice away.

In less well developed countries you could argue that the default situation regarding the domestic cat is the store cat or community cat. This is closer to the original relationship between man and cat: the barn cat keeping down rodents.

The term "bodega" comes from Spanish to mean a wine shop. The meaning has been expanded to include a mini-mart although in these stores wine, beers and spirits are an important part of the stock.

The cat in the picture is Snowball. A beautiful white bodega cat in NYC.

Boston USA: Cats Required To Kill Rats

According to a recent Animal Planet article, Boston, USA has a huge rat population and is ranked runner-up to New York as the world's worst city for a rats. The rats have suddenly become visible. In one area, they have become noticed because of a certain ginger tabby cat called Linus who has been killing dozens of rats of late.  His human companion is Peggy Flattery.  And they live near the corner of Everett and Adamson Streets, which seems to be the hunting ground of Linus and he's having a field day.

There seems to be a need for more cats on the streets catching rats because the current rat problem has been tied to recent the development of vacant lots which appears to disturb the rat into making themselves visible causing concern amongst the authorities.

John Meany, the director of environmental services at the Inspectional Services informs us that the rat problem is a priority for the mayor.  He is concerned that property developers are not acting responsibly in ensuring that their sites are kept free of rats by treating them as if they were their homes.  He expects a higher standard from developers in the interests of public health.

Apparently, Boston's laws in respect of maintaining development sites are not strict enough with a maximum fine of about $300 a day, which I guess for a large developer is peanuts.

The solution is cats. Mr Meaney should have a chat with Linus's human companion, get some tips and then work out a strategy to place good quality rescue cats (with a pedigree of hunting skills!) at development sites to catch the rats.

However, no doubt, people will then start complaining about the nuisance caused by stray cats. However, if a development site was fenced off so that the cat or cats were confined to the site for a few days and provided the cats were well cared for during those few days we could reasonably expect the cat(s) to substantially reduce the number of rats at that location.  Let's put the rescue cats to good use like they were back in the mid 1800s (Maine Coon farm cats).
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