Cats prefer to go under rather than over obstacles when possible!

Domestic cats prefer to go under than over obstacles. Screenshot.

If this white traditional Persian (much better than the 'ultra-Persian') is typical of all domestic cats, and I believe that she probably is, domestic cats prefer to go under rather than over obstacles because it requires less effort. This can only be the logical reason. And what is extraordinary if the tiny space that adult cats can squeeze through. Domestic cats really do have very squidgy bodies. Perhaps one reason is the floating clavicle (collar bone). The video is by mmeowmmia - Mia & Jerrie on TikTok.

 

@mmeowmmia Mia VS descending gate #catchallenge #cat ♬ original sound - Mia & Jerrie

 

You might have thought that as cats are such good jumpers they'd jump over as a choice when the space to crawl through is tiny. But no. I believe that this about conserving energy. Conserving energy aids in survival as less calories are bunt. That might be important if food was scarce. Just a guess.

Polio is back in the UK but it cannot be transmitted to animals

Polio is not zoonotic meaning that it cannot be transmitted from person to animal and vice versa. However, that a report today in the online news media saying that polio is back in the UK and it has been declared a national incident because it is the first time it has been found to exist in the UK for nearly 40 years. 

Girl has polio. Photo: Courtesy of the Boston Children's Hospital

They believe that the poliovirus came from a live vaccine given to a person living abroad. They came to this country and the poliovirus was in their faeces. This latest virus apparently has mutated over time and is now classified as a "vaccine-derived" poliovirus type II which behaves more like a wild polio. 

They picked up the virus in sewage I understand. Most people in the UK are vaccinated against polio as I understand it. I certainly am out but I am 73 years old.

On the rare occasions that it can infect the spinal cord and the base of the brain it causes paralysis, normally in the legs, which develops over hours or days. Sometimes the breathing muscles are affected which can make it life-threatening.

To someone like me, polio is something which we never consider at all. The UK was proclaimed to be polio-free in 2003 and the last wild case was detected in 1986. Let's just say that it has not been around in the UK for a very long time which is why people forget about it. In turn, that is why this information is a little bit surprising or even shocking to some people.

But the reason why I am posting it on this website is because people who have domestic cats need to be reassured that it is not transmittable to cats and vice versa.

Former president Trump had an aide play 'Memory' from 'Cats' to prevent rage

Stephanie Grisham, one of former president Trump's White House press secretaries and communications directors, said that Trump's temper was scary. She has written a book about her experiences telling all. She says that when Trump descended into turmoil and near rage, his staff used to summon and aide who was nicknamed the 'Music Man' to play songs from musicals to help calm him down. And apparently a favourite was Memory from the Broadway musical Cats.

The former president is facing accusations he encouraged violence against counter protesters (Image: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Further, another ex-aide, Cassidy Hutchinson has gone into staggering detail to the House select committee hearing on Tuesday about Trump's character which she described as 'unhinged'. She claims that he was often wildly out of control.

The committee is investigating the invasion on Capitol Hill by Trump's followers which he allegedly supported and encouraged in order to try and overturn Biden's election victory.

The New Yorker identified the Music Man as Max Miller. He is a former boyfriend of Stephanie Grisham and also a former aide. He is now a Republican candidate for Congress in Ohio.

The New Yorker Journalist, Adam Gopnik wrote that because Trump needed to be calmed down by a Broadway musical it degraded the office of the presidency "and of a great American institution".

It appears that Trump's character has been trashed at this committee investigation hearing.

Why do up to 10x more cats die under or after a general anesthetic than humans?

Feline anaesthetic deaths in veterinary practice are at approximately 0.11% (1 in 895 anaesthetics) of healthy cats. A study reports that this is more than twice as frequent as has been recently reported in dogs. And for humans it is 1-4 deaths per 10,000 anaesthesias.

Let's just recap that. One death per 10,000 is 0.01% which is about 10 times less than for cats. 4 deaths per 10,000 is going to be half the rate of cats or even better.

There is no way to avoid the conclusion that between double to 10 times the number of cats die under general anaesthetic compared to humans. We need to know why, don't we?

So far, I have not found an answer. Can somebody out there who reads this article tell me the reason why? Is it because veterinarians don't have the same standard of equipment that hospital doctors have?

His female cat went in for a standard spaying operation and came out severely injured. It makes me sick and mad to be honest.

Is it because veterinarians have to be doctors and anaesthesiologists at the same time? When you go to a hospital you have a surgeon and an anaesthesiologist in the operating room. Anaesthesiologist are highly trained specialists. There is lots of advanced equipment. Great care is taken. The standard is exceptionally high, normally.

My gut feeling is that the standard of care provided by veterinarians to cats when they are given a general anaesthetic is lower than for humans in hospitals. And it is this difference rather than a difference of cat and human anatomy which causes the up to 10 times greater fatality of cats when under a general anaesthetic.

And if I am correct, it is not good enough. But then perhaps this is a question of what the general public think they can afford when they take their cat or dog to a veterinarian. If a vet has to buy more advanced equipment they are going to charge more. There is already a problem with cat owners not taking their cat the veterinarians often enough. 

Veterinary cat care is well below that of dog veterinary care. Cat owners think that their cat is independent and with that thought in mind they tend to be switched off as to their cat companion's health problems.

This morning I wrote about a man who took his young to a veterinarian for a spaying operation. The cat was put under a general anaesthetic. The effect was catastrophic on this sweet female cat.

The video above comes from TikTok and it is tragic. It is hard to watch and it is extremely sad. It is not the first time that a female cat going in for a spaying operation has been killed by the anaesthetic. Years ago, a woman wrote in about her British Shorthair kitten who died under the same circumstances. She was bemused and confused. She didn't know why her kitten that died. Clearly the veterinarian had not told her. Perhaps he didn't know himself.

Indoor cats stop fighting to watch a bird outside the window

This video on Instagram has caught the eye of many people. They are amused by the fact that this couple of domestic cats suddenly stop fighting when they hear a bird outside the window. They have a common enemy which stops them being enemies. That is the argument. However, it is a false one because these two cats are buddies. They are friends. And in any case a bird is not the enemy of a cat. They are a 'prey item'.

Cats stop fighting to watch a bird.

They are not fighting with animosity. They are play-fighting which comes entirely naturally for domestic cats. They are playing like kittens because - and I have said this before - they are kept in a mental state which is similar to that of a kitten. This is because they are looked after by a human. They have a permanent mother and therefore they do not need to grow up and become truly independent.

That said, clearly their predatory instincts are immediately aroused and take instant priority over their play-fighting. And this is to be expected as well. The domestic cat is a top-quality predator. Their instincts immediately drive them to react to the sounds and sights of prey animals.

And being full-time indoor cats, the window to the outside world is like a television for them. Windows are "cat television" to full-time indoor cats. Knowing that, there is a good argument to make watching it as comfortable as possible by placing some sort of bed or platform near the window. Perhaps cat condominiums should be placed near a window.

RELATED: Cat Television – a good example.

There is one negative about this. When a full-time indoor cat sees a cat outside the window they will be aroused because the cat outside is on the territory. Strictly speaking this is not their territory because they are indoors all the time but from the cat's perspective it is his home range. And therefore, he wants to go out and attack the intruding cat. Obviously, he can't which is going to be frustrating.

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Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.

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