Japanese company adopted nine office cats to improve productivity

Tokyo, Japan, 2017: This is a reminder that having companion animals, either cats or dogs, in the workplace can improve productivity. Dogs are probably easier than cats but in this instance a Japanese company, Ferray Corporation, took the plunge and adopted rescue nine cats. 

Japanese company adopted nine office cats to improve productivity. Photo: Ferray Corp.

The company is office-based and provides Internet solutions. They are located in Tokyo. Before I go on, this brings to mind Apple Inc. which also allow companion dogs in a part of their huge office complex in California, America. The same reasoning applies namely that it improves the work environment. This leads to better productivity and more contented employees.

Of course, you have to have somebody or several people who take on the responsibility of looking after the cats. This is a fairly big responsibility. So there's a downside there in terms of effort. But the enlightened management in this company decided that overall the upside was greater than the downside.

The pictures show that the cats are healthy and happy. One aspect of this which is very positive is that in Tokyo there are very few landlords who allow renters of  apartments to keep pets. Perhaps this is why they have cat cafés where people can mingle with cats. There must be many people in Japan who want to live with a companion but can't because they can't afford a property and the only type of apartment they can rent prohibits the keeping of pets.

This company helps to fill that gap in their lives. That's probably partly why it is a success. The boss of the company says that he likes them there and that there has been a noticeable increase in inter-office communication. Apparently the employees talk more. I hope they talk more about work than cats! They say they feel less stressed. This is a known quality of being with domestic cats: they help reduce stress. That has been scientifically proven by the way studies.

Another potential downside is that there's lots of computer equipment in this office with cables and sometimes cats like to nibble at cables. That can be dealt with through sensible protect.

In a further cat incentivised environment, Ferray Corporation offers a bonus of $42 a month to any worker who adopts a cat while at the company. Amazing. The top man or woman must love cats and good luck to them.

Nice snapshot of life as a TNR volunteer in San Diego, California, USA

This is a recent Facebook post from Karenna Huangg of Feral Cat Rescue (Helping Feral and Stray Cats). At the time of posting this, Karenna had added her Facebook post about one hour ago. She published a photograph of a dark alley (a good photograph as it is evocative of what life can be like when trapping feral cats to neuter them). She is waiting in this dark alley for a grey tabby-with-white socks to walk inside her trap. She said that he had to be hungry enough to try and get the food but that she had been waiting for 20 minutes and she was finding the experience boring. Totally understandable. Very boring and it must happen a lot.

TNR volunteer photograph of a dark alley while she waits for a feral cat to be enticed by the food in her trap. Photo: Karenna Huangg.

She said:

"Sometimes waiting in the alley until they go inside is sooooo painstakingly boring. Hope this dark grey tabby with white socks goes inside. I saw him by the wooden pole when I first pulled into alley. He must be hungry enough … ugh it’s been 20 min already. 😣"

They do great work which is often unpraised and unrewarded except for the fact that they know they are doing something good. I like these sorts of photographs because they tell us far more than mere words about what it's like to do this kind of voluntary work. They are amazing people who do this because they've got to fit what must be unsocial work (sometimes) around their lifestyles which sometimes can't be easy.

She caught the cat at 11:50 PM and was ecstatic 😄.

ASSOCIATED: 3 volunteers sacked over hot animal shelter.

Update:

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.

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What is the largest litter of kittens?

This is a Guinness World Record for the largest litter of kittens born to a domestic cat. It happened in Kingham, Oxfordshire, UK on August 7, 1970. A Burmese/Siamese hybrid owned by V. Gane gave birth to 19 kittens. Four were stillborn. That is all we know. Technically it is possible that a larger but unreported litter has been born but we'll never know.

Burmese kitten. This kitten has nothing to do with the record. This charmer is here to illustrate the page, no more. Photo: Pinterest.

A female domestic cat can give birth to anywhere between 1 and 10 kittens normally. The 19 of the record is, on the face of it, unique. An average litter consists of 4 or 5 kittens.

Mel and Fiona Sunquist in their excellent book Wild Cats of the World state that the record is 13 kittens. I am afraid they were incorrect. Their book was published in 2002. 

New-born kittens weigh about 90-110 grams at birth. This is 3 percent of their mother's body weight.

Normally the weights of individual kittens declines as the litter size increases.

Kittens are born with their eyes closed. Very rarely kittens are born with teeth. Usually they are born without teeth. They have poor hearing but a good sense of smell and touch as they are able, within an hour of birth, to find 'their' nipple and begin feeding. They return to their dedicated nipple which avoids arguments. Brilliant system to create calm and better feeding.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: 12 facts about the domestic cat purr

The kittens purr to their mother while feeding to say all is well. The mother responds likewise. It is their first purr signifying contentment. Many more will come in a good home.

Study shows that Covid can cause heart damage in cats and dogs

A study now shows that Covid can cause heart disease in cats and dogs. We already knew that Covid can cause acute myocardial injury and chronic damage to the cardiovascular system in people. Although, in a study on 460 athletes who had Covid, they found that only five had inflammatory heart disease namely myocarditis (three) or pericarditis (two). 

This study on cats and dogs produced a different result although the study size is small. They tested 11 animals none of whom had typical symptoms of Covid but all had common indicators of cardiac disease. They had developed symptoms of myocarditis or heart information.

The pet's owners said that their companion animals has shown signs of respiratory illness before they became sick or tested for Covid.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Luca Ferasin, described the animals as "depressed [and] lethargic". He said that they had difficulty breathing because of an accumulation of fluid in the lungs due to heart disease. They were even fainting because an underlying abnormal heart rhythm.

They researchers state that the animals were infected with the alpha variant of Covid-19. The study is said to report the first cases of cats and dogs affected by the alpha variant of Covid-19. They state that there is a risk to pets but it appears that the main risk is a transmission of the disease from companion animal owners to their companion animals rather than vice versa.

Most companion animals recover quickly from the disease. And my reading of the situation is that most companion animals have mild symptoms and they have immune systems which can cope well with the disease. Therefore, this study is indicative of something more serious as it mirrors heart disease in people caused by Covid-19.

The research was carried out in the UK and the researchers noticed an uptick in patients with symptoms of myocarditis. Incidentally, there was talk of myocarditis been caused by Covid vaccines. They were very rare cases.

The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre in Buckinghamshire England said that during last December 2020 about 1.5% of companion animals referred to the centre were diagnosed with myocarditis. 

But in the period between December and March of this year (2021), the number jumped dramatically to 12.5% with confirmed myocarditis. They found that many of the companion animal owners had tested positive for Covid or had symptoms of the disease within 3 to 6 weeks of their pets becoming ill. It appears that they have transmitted the disease to their pets.

This correlated with the surge in the spread of the alpha variant of the virus in the UK which prompted the research study referred to.

Sources: International Business Times and NBC News.

Novel idea: cat faeces everywhere to deter burglars!

NEWS AND COMMENT: At her trial, this woman, a cat hoarder, stated that she kept her home in a complete mess with cat faeces everywhere including on armrests because she wanted to deter burglars.

Margaret Fakesch. Photo: Katie Pugh.

She wanted her home to be as smelly as possible to keep burglars at bay. I quite like that as an argument although it is complete fiction. She was very disagreeable at her trial and kept interrupting the clerk and the prosecution lawyer, it's reported (Daily Express).

She kept 12 cats at her filthy home. She refused to take the advice of veterinarians and didn't trust them. She thought she could heal her cats by placing her hands on them. Or she used homeopathic medicine. Some cats were ill with the usual upper respiratory infections.

Margaret Fakesch, 60, has been banned indefinitely from owning and looking after any animals and was fined £262. The RSPCA brought the prosecution. Officers found the home in the usual condition that investigators find the homes of cat hoarders, namely in a pitifully disgusting state with so much cat faeces on the floor that it was impossible to walk around the home. She lives in Hull, UK by the way.

RSPCA officers had attended the home earlier and offered advice to improve the situation. She barely responded. We are told that she made a small space among the clutter to allow her to walk down the corridor. When they revisited almost nothing had changed. She told RSPCA officers that she wanted her home to smell as bad as it could to deter anyone might break in to try and burgle her.

It's reported that a pile of used litter trays were found in stagnant water in the bathroom and a number of soiled adult nappies were littered around the house. It's just unbelievable. Sadly, we've heard it all before with cat hoarders.

This is the desperate last argument of a woman who I simply lost control and is trying to wriggle out of her responsibilities as a cat caregiver. I feel sorry for her because it's a mental health issue. She can't cope but she shouldn't be harming cats. If she can't care for cats properly she shouldn't be doing it. And to take such an offhand attitude towards veterinary advice is unforgivable when the cats suffer as a consequence.

I would expect her to ignore the court order banning her from keeping animals and to go back to her old ways. I would expect the RSPCA to have to visit her again in the future and the cycle will continue. The report does not tell us what happened to the animals. I presume that they were taken from her and rehomed via a animal rescue organisation. Let's hope so. But what caught my eye was the novel and ridiculous argument about deterring burglars.