Lilac British Longhair kitten

A nice photograph from Nathalie Bruyns of her lilac British Longhair kitten. He is a male born: Date of birth: 23/01/21. The British Longhair is a very attractive cat. It is very similar to the traditional Persian in appearance in my view. Very normal and balanced appearance which I like as I dislike extreme breeding. There is no need for it. The more natural look is more attractive and the cats are likely to be more healthy too. Click here to read and see more about this breed.

Lilac British Longhair kitten.

Why do lions kill cubs?

Male lions sometimes kill cubs. It works like this. A coalition or group of male lions take over a pride of lions. They kick out the other male lions, kill the cubs of the females and then procreate with the females to create their own offspring. They kill the cubs so the females become sexually receptive almost immediately. They need to do this quite quickly because another coalition of male lions will come in, in about two years or more, to kick them out. So they have to do it quickly to ensure that they protect their offspring. The objective of all this? The male lions want have their line of offspring, their family. Not all male lions achieve it. The bigger and the more virile they are the better the chance.

It does not always happen that males kill the cubs of the females in the pride that they are taken over. The female might be pregnant and she can then disguise the offspring as the offspring of one of the takeover males. Or she might be able to hide an existing cub and then raise a new cub and the existing one together as if they were the offspring of the incoming male lion.

Alternative description

Not all lions kill cubs. Male lions sometimes kill cubs. Male lions want to leave offspring of their own. They do this when they have tenure of a pride of lions through a coalition of male lions. The average length of tenure of a pride in the Serengeti is only 26 months. Some male lions, the smaller ones for example, don't get the chance to mate. Killing small cubs after a takeover of a pride reduces the time a lioness takes to produce new young.

Image by Ian Lindsay from Pixabay 

A lioness becomes sexually receptive almost immediately after losing her young and can conceive as soon as two weeks after the death of her previous litter although the interval is usually much longer.

So, when a coalition of males take over a pride the incoming males kill small cubs and evict older young, thereby inducing females to come into oestrus and mate. This makes sense from the males' perspective. It is infanticide. It represents the best chance for a male to leave offspring of his own.

Males killing cubs is a way of increasing their chance of having their own offspring. 

Also because cubs are vulnerable to infanticide for 2 years an incoming male sires his cubs as fast as possible so he can protect them by increasing the chance of being around i.e. before the next takeover of the pride.

Why do cats have wet noses?

The first question to ask is whether domestic cats have wet noses normally. Under normal circumstances, by which I mean nothing strange climatically, domestic cats do not have wet noses. Their noses are quite dry and I can rely on personal experience - years of it. So a domestic cat's nose is dry and we are referring to the nose leather as cat lovers call it. This is the tip of the nose.

Image by I. Aa van der from Pixabay 

If the nose leather is wet it is probably due to one of two reasons. Firstly: condensation - if a cat is outside in cold weather their warm breath exiting through the nostrils of the nose condenses on the nose leather and when it does so the breath turns into liquid which makes the nose leather wet. Humans encounter this all the time when, for example, going for a walk in winter. 

The second reason would be that the cat has a cold or to put it more technically an upper respiratory infection (URI) which causes a nasal discharge, some of which ends is up on the nose leather.

Ah..there is a third possibility. A cat has licked his nose due to displacement activity! That happens quite a lot. When cats are unsure they temporarily remove the uncomfortableness of that feeling by displacing it with a nose lick.

That, as far as I can see, is the full answer. It appears to me that some people think that a nose should be wet because the question is pitched in a way which presupposes that the nose is wet. This is not true in my opinion. It's a misconception. If it is wet a lot for some cat owners then it is because of condensation as mentioned above. It may be because their home is quite cold.

If the home is cold a cat's nose leather will be cold. So when the hot air of the breath meets the cold nose leather the water vapour in the breath condenses into a liquid on that surface. It's just a question of physics. We see condensation all over the place. It happens most normally or likely on windows inside the home or the car.

If there are, say, four people inside a car and it is winter, the breath of these people may condense on the cold windows of the car. It's exactly the same physics. That's enough I think! No, here is some physics.

What is condensation and how does it work? Condensation is the opposite to evaporation, which is when a liquid water becomes a vapour. In condensation water vapour becomes a liquid. When water vapour condenses on a surface it is because the air is cooled to its dew point. The dew point is the temperature at which condensation happens. The dew that we see on the grass in the morning is water that has condensed out of the atmosphere. The dew point varies based on the saturation levels of the water in the atmosphere and the air temperature known as relative humidity.

Why do cats wag their tails?

Definition: wagging a tail means moving it from left to right horizontally. Cats do this when they are unsure of what to do. It is an indicator of uncertainty which may lead to irritation. Some say tail wagging indicates annoyance. I disagree, unless the irritation leads to annoyance.

Tail wagging in cats reflects an uncertain state of mind. Picture: MikeB

CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE IF YOU WISH.

Tail wagging mirrors the tail's function as a balancing tool. It moves from right to left horizontally when a cat - wild or domestic - needs to correct balance usually when climbing.

The word 'balance' is important because a state of uncertainty is a mentally balanced state. A position between two outcomes. 

So, the tail reflects a state of mind which is between two decisions. When the decision is made the tail stops wagging. Tail up is a friendly greeting. 

You will find that some websites state that when a cat wags her tail, she is annoyed. In short, it is a symptom of annoyance. I think this is probably incorrect but "annoyance" is very close to "uncertainty". I'm arguing that a cat wags her tail when she is uncertain about what to do next as a kind of visual balancing act between making one decision and another. Uncertainty creates a little bit of irritation and irritation is quite close to annoyance and therefore I see an overlap here.

The thing is that dogs wag their tail as a clear signal of happiness and excitement and perhaps a bit of nervousness. This knowledge may misguide us in interpreting domestic cat body language and behaviour.

I am following, and I agree with, the best expert on the planet in respect of domestic cat behaviour. His name is Dr. Desmond Morris. He wrote the world-renowned book CATWATCHING. And he starts off his page about cat tail wagging by stating, "Most people imagine that if a cat wags its tail it must be angry, but this is only a partial truth."

He then goes on to say that "the real answer is that the cat is in a state of conflict". The cat wants to do two things at once and each desire blocks the other. You might see this when your cat wants to go outside but it is raining. His tail may start to wag as he sits behind the cat flap trying to decide to go out. 

He may go out but becomes wet and therefore more uncertain about his decision and so his tail may wag more furiously. He decides to come in again. At that point he's made his mind up and his tail stops wagging. This is because he had resolved his conflict. The mood is not one of anger but of frustration and irritation.

This balancing act between two decisions occurs under a wide range of circumstances. That said, I do not see my cat wagging his tail very often. If he does, it'll be because he is on the lawn behind an object waiting to stalk a pigeon feeding on birdseed. 

He will have to traverse the lawn in his final rush to capture the pigeon. He is uncertain as to whether he can be successful or not. Can he make it to the pigeon before the pigeon flies off? Should he hold back? His mind is in mental conflict and as a consequence he wags his tail by being brushed across the lawn from left to right.

Feeling your cat's shoulder blades, ribs and spine

Judging by searches on the Internet, there is a concern among some cat owners about the weight of their cat and the fact that they can feel their cat's shoulder blades, ribs and spine. I'm not necessarily referring to feeling these aspects of anatomy at the same time but all three bone structures can be felt when a cat is in good health and not necessarily underweight. The photo shows a slender stray cat. They are often slender because they eat less than domestic cats and move more! This cat is slightly underweight.

Image by Liselotte Brunner from Pixabay showing a slender cat

Shoulder blades

These invariably stick up when a domestic cat is in a certain position. They are quite prominent most of the time in a cat of the correct weight. There is quite a large depression in between them. It's all normal. Obviously there are various degrees of prominence of a feline's shoulder blades. No doubt when they are very prominent the cat is likely to be underweight. But when they are modestly prominent and can be felt by their owner and indeed are visible as well, the owner should not be concerned about their cat being underweight.

Ribs

They should be felt as if covered slightly or lightly by some fat when a cat is of the correct weight. It is notable that there should be some covering of skin and fat to take away some of that definition from feeling the ribs. Under these circumstances the cat will be of the correct weight. If they can be felt quite markedly and if the spine is also overly visible or can be felt too easily then I would suggest that the cat is underweight.

Spine

My cat is about the correct weight. He tends to be what I would describe as "fighting fit". That means slender. He is slender because he is active and does not overeat. I can just about feel his spine when he sits down in the upright position i.e. on his bottom in that familiar pose that we see in ancient Egyptian statues. Also when he is walking around on my lap. This is all normal. You can feel your cat's spine when he or she is within the normal weight range. But you might not which would also be in the acceptable weight range. 

Once again, the amount the definition that you can feel will vary and at one end of the spectrum where the definition is pronounced it is likely that your cat will be underweight. If the spine is visible then it is likely your cat is very underweight.

But the point here is that if you are able to feel your cat's spine by rubbing your hand along it with slight pressure, it does not mean that your cat is underweight. Although it might mean that he is underweight depending upon, as mentioned, the amount the definition of the spine that you feel or how pronounced the spine is. But you can't jump to an automatic conclusion that just because you can feel your cat's spine that he or she is underweight.

The reason why I am going on about this is because I sense that quite a lot of cat owners are concerned, because they can feel these bone structures of their cat, that there cat is underweight. And weight loss is a very general symptom for a wide range of illnesses. Illness leads to lack of appetite and of course lack of appetite needs to loss of weight.

How do I conclude this short post? I believe that if you want to assess a cat's weight you have to look at various visual aspects and the test does not exclusively include feeling for the bone structures mentioned.

Assessing weight

To be honest, I think people should take a commonsense approach to assessing their cat's weight. We all know what an overweight person looks like and we all know what an underweight person looks like. Use that basic common sense to assess your cat in the same way. There are many resources online as well if you are unsure. For example, on another website of mine you can have a look at some photographs or illustrations which may guide you by clicking here.

Senior cats

Senior cats tend to put on weight, the opposite problem. So unless maintaining a good body weight is a problem, senior cat should be on a reduced-calorie diet. There is an obesity epidemic we are told by the veterinarians. Obesity leads to illnesses such as diabetes. If your cat is overweight she should lose weight gradually to avoid fatty liver disease. You can read about that by clicking this link.