Pictures-of-Cats.org Diary

This is an entry in the Pictures-of-Cats.org Diary. I thought I'd start to diarise the building and maintenance of the www.pictures-of-cats.org website. For all budding website builders this might have some value.

I've been building for about 18 months now. I work on the site each day and try and build at least one page a day. With the Blogger site I can build more quickly so it works about at nearer 2-3 sometimes. Some of the major pages can take several days to build.

What is the overriding sentiment that I have after working on the www.pictures-of-cats.org website for 18 months? This is it: it is hard, very hard to increase the number of visitors. The site is doing well. It get more traffic (per Alexa) than the Cat Fanciers Association website, for example. It gets more than www.messybeast.com, for example. There are a few (perhaps 2 or 3) cat websites that get more traffic in the world, yet I would like more and this is proving a challenge.

At a certain point attracting more traffic gets harder. You get a fairly steep curve and then it plateaus out. The most important personal characteristic in website building is persistence, no doubt about it.

The current Alexa ranking is about 110K. The current page views are hard to calc. but according to SBI it is somewhere in the order of 3-400,000 per month. It may be a lot more as SBI doesn't measure this Blogger site for page views. SBI tells me I get about 4,000 unique visitors per day to the main website to which I could perhaps add 1-2,000 for the Blogger site.

I am currently working on a page about cat head shape, having just finished a page on cat body types. These are, in a way, specialist areas about the workings of cat fancy people, people who are involved in showing top quality purebred but still of interest to those of us who like cats.

Bengal Cat Sundog

Bengal Cat Sundog, the very well known Bengal cat of Julie Gracie Moseley of ZenDada Bengals - Austin TX , has a wonderful classic (blotched) marble tabby pattern:


Photo copyright Helmi Fick -- click on the link to see this image in large format.

Sundog, in fact, is one of the best known Bengal cats in the world. I guess Julie Gracie Moseley is one of the best known Bengal cat breeders. You can see more of her work here: Marble Bengal Cat.

What is surprising is that the gloriously high contrast and high quality pattern has, in places, a 3-dimensional appearance. The hair of the pattern is slightly longer than the background. Julie Grace Moseley calls this 3D Spine Lines:


Bengal Cat Sundog. Photo copyright Julie Grace Moseley. This photo came from an email published on the Marbled Bengals Yahoo Group. I have made a decision to publish it here as it is the first time that I have seen a picture of these 3D Spine Lines. The picture was taken with a camera phone. I have provided a link to her cattery: Zendada Bengals.

On a simple level, all this means is that the dark patter fur is longer than the background. But it goes further. Is the hair finer? Does it feel different? I'd like to know. It must make the experience of stroking this cat a little special. Also, is this typical of all Bengals with a marble pattern. I am sure not. So what happened with Sundog? Lots of questions. I hope someone can leave a comment to answer them.

Apparently the King Cheetah has a similarly raised pattern. See more on the King Cheetah.

Bengal Cat Sundog to Bengal Cats for Sale

Lost Cat

Lost cat sign - photo by emilybean

Losing a cat is an experience many people have gone through, even for indoor cats. Indoor cats can get out. Some indoor cats want to get out, while others place an invisible barrier in the way, even when the door is open and freedom beckons. Or they are simply happy where they are.

My mother has lost a cat on at least two occasions. What I mean by a lost cat, is one that has disappeared, and not a cat that has gone over the rainbow bridge.

I was prompted to think about this for two reasons. Firstly, I now have two stray cats that have decided to come into my home without any prompting and encouragement. One who I have called Timmy is an unaltered (unneutered) boy cat. Well, I am guessing that he is "whole" as he is jowly (a kind of thickening at the sides of the face). He comes in for food, a sleep and some TLC. I guess someone lost a cat or lost their cat for a part of the day. Maybe he has no home and is a complete stray but he is socialized so I believe that he comes from a person's home, at least originally.

Recently, a relatively small black cat (a moggie, as is Timmy) has found her (I think she is female but I haven't got close enough to confirm) way into the home. This cat has a collar but no name or number on it. She is hungry and it is cold outside. Someone is in the process of losing a cat. I can only guess the owners of these two cats are not that involved with their cats. They appear to be neglecting them; gradually pushing them away and eventually losing them.

I don't particularly want to pick up the pieces as I haven't the facilities and I have my own cat who may be put out by these other cats coming in. I owe her a quiet and undisturbed life. Cats have emotions.

A story from America is another reason why I am posting about a lost cat. Some lost cats are going to be stolen, particularly the desirable purebreds. When Bengal cats were a novelty in the UK there was a spate of thefts (see Bengal Cats for Sale). This post concerns what seems to be a purebred Siamese cat (although often cats are not purebred, even though they have the appearance of a purebred). The cat is a Traditional Siamese cat. The cat is called Merlin and I presume he is an outdoor cat. (see cats indoors or out)

Essentially, it seems that the neighbors of Merlin's owner stole the cat. At least this had been alleged and their actions bear this out. They seem to have taken a fancy to Merlin. They took the cat, housed the cat and treated Merlin as their own with no intention of returning Merlin despite knowing who the owner was. OK, it looks like straight forward theft and lets remember the domestic cat is a "chattel" (an object, such as furniture) in the eyes of the law. See Cats and the Law.

The police were called out but in time honored fashion washed their hands of the matter. Why? Because the neighbors who had taken Merlin had expended their money on vets bills and had then placed a "lien" over the cat. This is allowed in the State concerned, namely Oregan.

A lien is a kind of mortgage. The neighbors who created the lien were saying that they should be allowed to possess the cat until the money expended on Merlin was reimbursed by Merlin's owner. This form of legal charge clearly scared the police into doing nothing as they declared the dispute a civil matter. Police like to do that as it gets rid of their problem very efficiently.

This meant protracted legal proceedings and legal costs. Fortunately, Merlin's owner found a generous lawyer (yes, there are some) who seems to be a cat and animal lover as he waived the majority of his charges.

The owner got Merlin back eventually. The whole matter could and should have been dealt with as a criminal matter. The police could have recovered the cat. The alleged thieves could then have sued in the civil courts to recover the money expended, if they wished. They would not have done this as their money was spent without the the cat owner's consent.

The police could then have sensibly dropped any idea of prosecuting the alleged offenders on the basis that is was not in the public's interest and the whole matter would have been resolved in about an hour. Sometimes a lost cat is a stolen cat but you'll be damn lucky to get any police force where ever you are to get them to do anything about it.


Lost Cat

From Lost Cat to Cats and the Law

Lost Cat Photos: second down is by Whiteleaf. Both are published under creative commons:

Cats and Cars

Photo by karolina michalowska

Cats and cars can go together in a nasty way. I'm not thinking this time of the fraught journey to the vet in our car with our cat becoming anxious (and us too) in the cat basket on the front seat and panting (the cat I mean).

No, I mean winter, cold weather and warm cars. This is when oudoor cats and cars are a dangerous combination. We know cats like to sit on car hoods (bonnets in the UK) to benefit from the warmth that gently rises from the engine. We see it all the time and if we don't actually see the cat on the bonnet we can sometimes see the muddy paw prints.

The trouble is, cats sometimes like to get a bit closer to the heat, which means getting under the bonnet and this is not to do some repair work. They will sit there keeping warm. It might be the neighbors cat or a stray cat who finds his or her way to a warm spot under your car's hood.
I was reminded of this in part because of the cold weather in London and a story about a cat who disappeared for 3 days only to return with half the skin of her face hanging off. She was still chirpy and friendly but distinctly shocking to look at (for a human at least). Her name is Edgar. She was 4 years old at the time of the accident. 

She had warmed herself up against the engine (not sure if it was the owner's car) and when the car was started the fan belt caught her and tore the skin from her face. The story has a good ending, though. The vet stitched her up and she appears fine. A testament to the quiet endurance and uncomplaining nature of the domestic cat.

What to do to prevent this happening? Maybe we should be aware of the possiblity of this happening and honk the horn when we start up the car on a cold morning (hope the neighbors don't mind) or if we have time and want to be more neighbor friendly, check under the car bonnet.  An intermediate method and probably the best is to bang on the hood a few times. A cat under it will probably jump out pretty smartly. Cats and cars can be a dangerous combo...

Cats and Cars to Home Page

Photos published under creative commons license:  

The second photo down is by kalebdf

Amur Leopard

Amur Leopard -- photo by ucumari -- this photographer is very good. He takes the best photographs of captive wild animals that I have seen. See, for example, the Wild Cougar page. This cat has a particularly beautiful coat. This perhaps escalated its demise.

What prompted me to make a posting about this handsome wildcat (and all the wildcats are handsome mainly because of their coats, although the smaller wildcats have coats similar to tabby domestic cats) was a story in the newspaper about captive Amur Leopard kittens at a reserve in England, called the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, located in Smarden, Kent.

Here is a video of them:



This leopard's natural habitat is a forest region in the Russian Far East, known as Primorskii Krai. It is where the river Amur flows, hence the name of the leopard.

Sadly, as usual, loss of habitat due to commercial human activity has caused this wildcat to become almost extinct in the wild. This is a very common scenario throughout the world and particularly in the East. Russia has shown a distinct lack of commitment to the preservation of wild species that by sheer ill fortune and bad luck happen to live there. It could be argued that the current President of Russia, Putin, is at least in part (perhaps a major part) to blame.



The Amur Leopard is ranked as Critically Endangered by IUCN Red List -- see IUCN Red List for Cats for a list of wildcats and their status under this listing.

I am convinced that in the future (for some wildcats, in the not too distant future) a significant number of wildcat species are only going to exist in captivity. Why? Because it is the only way humans can find a balance with nature. Wildcats and other species, no matter how precious and attractive they may be considered, simply get in the way of commerce. This includes deforestation and mining, as examples, that occur in Eastern Russia. Wildcat habitat gets cut up by commercial activity leaving small pockets of usable habitat for the wildcat and where the low populations of wildcats are trapped and are therefore unable to sustain viable populations due to inbreeding.

Between 1970 - 1983, apparently, 80% of the Amur Leopard's habitat was lost. In the 1970s in Russia, 70% of the Amur Leopard's range was lost due to habitat destruction for commercial reasons. Add to habitat destruction by the ever voracious human, poaching and sport hunting and the very existence of this animal becomes doubtful. There is also an indirect impact when sport hunters kill the prey of the Amur Leopard, roe and sika deer.

Underpinning all this, indeed I suppose encouraging it, are Russian politicians led by Putin. There is a distinct lack of commitment to save this wildcat. For example, soon after Putin took office the State Committee for Nature Conservation was abolished. Conservation went downhill from there.

The Amur Leopard's habitat also extends into China and we know about the animal rights/conservation record of China. For those who don't we only have to look at the horrendous bile bear business to remind ourselves of some of the barbarity that is perpetrated in China against animals not to mention the cat meat market.

Another beautiful wildcat, the White Siberian Tiger, suffers the same loss of habitat and consequential population reduction and is also nearing extinction in the wild.

Very late in the day conservation measures are being taken but the initiatives for these seem to largely originate outside of Russia and China. The above mentioned captive breeding program being one example. This, though, is captive Amur Leopard conservation. There is no chance that the cubs born in captivity in England will be relocated into the wild. In fact, there seems little chance of rectifying the damage done to the habitat at this stage. It would seem that we (the world) have acquiesced in its destruction and accept the demise of the Amur Leopard.

This wildcat is nocturnal and solitary. The Leopard's prey is deer, boar, hares, rodents etc. The male can weigh up to about 110 lbs. This is about half the average weight of male humans in America. They must be good climbers as they spend a lot of time in the trees eating and sleeping. This reminds me of the Clouded Leopard, which is one of the best wildcat climbers.

See:

• Laws and Cats
• CITES in relation to cats
  

Amur Leopard to Wild Cat Species