Saturday, 1 May 2021

Cat weaned too early sleeps with owner's finger in his mouth

This is both cute and sad. This black cat sleeps with his owner's finger in his mouth. This looks like the cat was weaned too early and that his owner's finger is a nipple substitute. It's like sucking your thumb when you're a child and you still do it when you become a teenager and older for emotional comfort. 

It's comforting for this cat which is cute but being weaned too early (which means being removed from your mother's feeding and her breast too early) can lead to this kind of insecure behaviour. I've seen it in a cat I fostered and you see it not too infrequently on the Internet. 

It may be one reason why Siamese cats are predisposed to sucking wool. Cats who have been early weaned will suck items of clothing or parts of the anatomy of their owner. The lanolin in wool smells like the mother's breast. I don't think there is much that can be done about it because the "damage" has been done. 

You might be able to alleviate it through plenty of tender loving care and creating a very secure environment. The cat should not be punished and in my view the owner should put up with it and let their cat do this because if not the cat may take from that human behaviour an understanding that they are being rejected. In other words it might undermine the bond between human and cat.

Cat weaned too early sleeps with owner's finger in his mouth
Cat weaned too early sleeps with owner's finger in his mouth. Screenshot.



Note: videos on this site are typically made by people other than me and held on YouTube servers or the servers of other businesses (not the server storing this website). Sometimes the videos are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened I apologise but I have no control over it.

Pregnant Australian woman wants rid of her cat because partner is pet-obsessed

NEWS AND VIEWS: A pregnant Australian woman living in New South Wales (I believe) has put her cat up for adoption on Facebook because her partner, she said, is pet-obsessed and she thinks that if the family cat is got rid of he will turn his attentions to her and the new baby. 

Pregnant Australian woman wants rid of her cat because partner is pet obsessed
 Pregnant Australian woman wants rid of her cat because partner is pet-obsessed. Photo: Pixabay. The photo is for illustrative purposes only.


She has done this in an underhand way because she has not told her partner about getting rid of the family cat. And she says that she won't be able to care for her cat once the baby arrives. Note: she might be alluding to the difficulty some women have in believing that cats do not present a problem to pregnant women because of the possible transmission of toxoplasmosis, provided they take care. I think she's referring to that but it is not mentioned in the story.

SEE A NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON THE HUMAN-TO-HUMAN RELATIONSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF CAT OWNERSHIP

She said that she wants to focus on her baby and herself and that she knows someone can take care of her cat after the birth of her baby. She said that she is exhausted by the fact that her partner won't "let our cat go". She said that her partner thinks that their cat is his "first child....And he's literally obsessed with the cat, like a cat daddy."

As a consequence she said that she feels sorry for their baby already but believes that he will change and take care of the baby when it is born. She still believes though that things would be much easier if he let the cat go by which she means relinquish or give up the cat to somebody permanently.

She said that she does not want to be mean and throw the cat away which is why she is looking for somebody on social media to take the cat off her hands. Unsurprisingly, Facebook users are unimpressed. They feel that the woman's behaviour is absurd and one commenter suggested that her partner should leave her. They rightly said that companion cats are part of the family. They should not be 'thrown away'. Note: the cat is not being thrown away, strictly speaking, but I take the point.

Another was astonished that she was giving the cat away without her partner knowing. They were baffled as to why she would feel overburdened looking after a cat once the baby had arrived. Comment: I'm not sure she is actually referring to the workload. I think it is more to do with toxoplasmosis and that unfounded fear plus a desire to force her partner to pay attention to her and her baby. I think it is more to do with attention-seeking.

Despite the social media criticism by some she has doubled-down and said: "I've tried my best and I am frustrated as there is no other option but rehoming our pet."

Comment: she is determined to get rid of the family cat and no amount of sensible argument will force her to change her mind.

P.S. I think she might be violation of Facebook policies but I am not sure.

Is it okay for a single person in the military to have a cat in America?

The question arose because I've just written about Sergeant Rode who fell in love with a ginger tabby cat in the Middle East who was injured and struggling to survive. She brought him back to America with the help of generous donations and a friendly organisation (PAWS OF WAR). But what will happen next because Sergeant Rode is in the military and it occurred to me that it might not be ideal to be a single person in the military and be a cat caretaker at the same time? And I am thinking about the cat, of course.

Sgt. Rode and Bubba the cat she rescued from the Middle East and shipped to America. Photo: PAWS OF WAR.

We know that cats like stability and routines. Even if a single military soldier or officer is stationed in America, they may be transferred to a different location or unexpectedly they may be deployed to a war zone even though that was not on the cards. I don't know how deployments are worked out but it seems to me that they could happen to anyone in the military perhaps even at short notice.

And under these uncertain circumstances it would seem that their domestic cat might become unhappy. And good caretakers do not want their cat to be unhappy. Good cat caretakers don't want to be stressed with the thought of making their cat unhappy because of reasons beyond their control. And when they bond with their cat being separated if stressful for both.

There are some good stories about this on the Reddit.com website which shed light on these difficulties and conflicting emotions. Some people say that you can be in the military as a single person and have a cat companion because if you are away from your home in the barracks for a while you can place your cat with a foster parent or with family and so on. That's all very well but you can't do it for a long time in my opinion. So I don't think it's particularly good idea unless the relocation is for a short time such as a max. of 2 weeks.

The average military deployment is between six and 12 months, as I understand it, for American military personnel. You can't really kiss goodbye to your cat for this sort of time. It undermines the whole purpose of having a cat in the first place. It's a question of providing the best caretaking for a cat and if a person can't do that they should let somebody else try. No?

One commenter on Reddit.com said that he or she was in the military, single and "got a cat". There was little chance of deployment for the person but notwithstanding that it did not go well. They ended up being sent to Korea for a year. She asked family to take care of her cat. When she returned he/she was stationed in a small town where it was impossible for her to find a rental which allow pets. It was very difficult and stressful to find suitable accommodation. And she had to move every 2-3 years. She found driving across country with their cat to be stressful and of course a cat would have found it stressful, at least potentially, too.

She felt terrible leaving her cat behind with friends and also felt that her cat would be miserable being boarded. Also she did not like leaning on friends to check in on her cat to feed her when she went away training for a couple of weeks. She realised that cats need people around and it will be too hard on a cat that had bonded if you are going to be away all the time. As a result, she eventually gave her cat to her father  "so it could have a stable life". I agree with everything this person says. But the situation is not black-and-white.

Others suggest that if you adopt two cats you will be okay but this is not a particularly good answer, sometimes. It is quite difficult to ensure that your cats get along, and anyway you can't just leave 2 cats alone for many weeks with a neighbour popping in to make sure that they are fed. It is simply not going to work and it is not good cat caretaking. It's a question of standards and if a person knows that they are unable to provide care to a sufficient standard they should pass up the opportunity to look after a cat and let someone else, better suited, try.

Another commenter said: "I knew of soldiers that had a pet while on active; it never ended well for the pets. It would seem that their life would be tossed to the wind and most just started to have behavioural problems."

Conversely, there are people that say it is workable. Another commenter said: "I am AD Army with three cats. I would say that it's pretty easy to have cats minus [sic] just having to arrange for someone to watch them while you're in the field or whatever as long as you're committed to making sure that you have a plan for your kitty in the event of your unexpected deployment (think family care plan), I think cats are great military pets. There are more challenges finding housing...."

Others say that "a cat will be perfect". You make up your own mind. I think it's about standards of cat caretaking. You can make alternative arrangements and have a support system which allows your cat to be cared for when you are away. But this is not ideal, far from it. There's no shame in rejecting the idea of having a cat companion if you think you cannot be an excellent guardian to your cat.

It is hard to not be drawn to the conclusion that sometimes some military personnel might adopt a cat, despite their circumstances being far from ideal, because they need to adopt a cat to benefit themselves and they have temporarily brushed under the carpet the needs of the cat. That said, a cat living with a military person whose life is not particularly stable is probably in a better position than a rescue cat in a shelter. On that assessment you have to go along with those who support the idea of military personnel having cat companions.

Jacqueline Fernandez meditates on the balcony of her apartment in Mumbai with Bengal cat in background


Jacqueline Fernandez and her white Persian showing tear staining due to tear duct overflow. Photo: Instagram.


Jacqueline Fernandez is a Bollywood star born in Sri Lanka and a former model. She likes animals. Thank God for that because the more celebrity animal lovers we have on the planet the greater likelihood that humankind can gradually start to live in harmony with animals. We are very far from that at present. Jacqueline Fernandez lives with four cats we are told. I know that one of them is almost certainly a Bengal cat (see below) - the one you see in the photograph on her Instagram page - another is a pointed Persian A.K.A. a Himalayan cat and a third is an all-white Persian. Both flat-faced with associated health issues such as tear duct overflow.

Fernandez mediating on her flat balcony with her Bengal cat. Photo: Instagram.


The Persian is a contemporary bred cat with a flat-face. They are called "punch-faced Persians" in India because it is as if they have been punched. Not a great description I would hasten to add. Perhaps the description might, just might, encourage cat abuse. But a strong counter to that is Jacqueline Fernandez and her love of animals and cats.

Yoda, I believe, a pointed Persian with a flat-face (Himalayan). Photo: Instagram.

Of the four cats that she lives with, one is also a Ragdoll in my opinion. The cat appears to be a seal-pointed Ragdoll. I don't know the breed of the fourth cat. But please read more about that if you want to by clicking on this link which takes you to the main website.

Note: embedded videos or photos on this site are typically made by people other than me and held on YouTube servers or the servers of other businesses (not the server storing this 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.

Press photographers surround Socks, the Clinton family cat, in Little Rock, Ark., in 1992

This sort of photograph always amuses me. I used to be a photographer back in the 1970s. The main part of my business was photographing actors for promotional, handout portraits for casting purposes. Although I did variety of work including press photography and portraits of other celebrities which were published in magazines. So I know a bit about professional photography. It was harder in those days because digital cameras were unheard of. They had not been invented. I found it very hard to make a living out of it which is why I eventually became a solicitor. More stable work.

Press photographers surround Socks, the Clinton family cat, in Little Rock, Ark., in 1992
Press photographers surround Socks, the Clinton family cat, in Little Rock, Ark., in 1992. Photo: Mike Nelson - AFP via Getty Images. I claim fair use! 


Digital cameras became pretty common in the 1990s and the photograph on this page was taken in 1992 by Mike Nelson. I suspect that this is a film photograph i.e. was taken with 35mm film rather than digitally. It has that quality and there is some grain. I will also presume that all the guys you see in the photograph were using 35mm film cameras. Perhaps professional photographers were slow to take up digital cameras. As they weren't that good in the early years, perhaps there was good reason.

The man lying down, getting dirty, at cat height on the sidewalk is the press photographer getting the best photograph, by far. All the other press photographers are photographing Socks' back! Of course, they are waiting for that moment when Socks turns around and looked up at them.

ASSOCIATED: US PRESIDENTS WHO LIVED WITH A CAT

But you get a much better cat photograph if you get down and dirty to the level of the domestic cat. It is uncomfortable. And cats are hard to photograph even when cooperative. Although some positively hate being photographed. You point the camera at them and they think you are taking their soul from them like the secretive and isolated Amazonian tribes. It helps to have a second person 'wraggling' the cat or cats. Or even a third!

Perhaps the best photograph taken that day is the one we see on this page: of photographers taking a photograph! The Bidens are about to introduce their new cat to the White House. Will there be problems with their German Shepherd Major?

Featured Post

i hate cats

i hate cats, no i hate f**k**g cats is what some people say when they dislike cats. But they nearly always don't explain why. It appe...

Popular posts