Taunton cat hospital

 

Cat at veterinarian surgery - this is not at Taunton cat hospital - photo copyright Mirandala Taunton cat hospital is one of two cat hospitals in the United States that is searched for on the internet much more than others. The other cat hospital that is searched for is Houston Cat Hospital. The Taunton hospital does not have a website, which is strange considering that it is popular and it is very easy to build websites these days. If they ask me I'll do one for them for free. I reckon that I could build a website for them in about 1 hour that was found by Google within the day. Anyway, this is the location:-

   

 This is the phone number: Phone: (508) 824-2287 I have little in the way of details about this cat hospital, but am pleased to promote it. I have just noticed that Louise Collins DVM seems to be the chief veterinarian at the hospital. They care exclusively for cats, have boarding and grooming. They feed with Purina, Hills and Royal Canin and accept Mastercard and Visa payments as far as I can see. If I am wrong I apologise. Taunton cat hospital to Warrior Cats - they need care from time to time!!

Houston Cat Hospital

Photo copyright cattoo

The Houston Cat Hospital is a searched for term. There are many cat hospitals, of course. But only two come up when doing a keyword search that stand out from the rest. The other is Taunton Cat Hospital but they do not as far as I can tell, have a website. The Taunton referred to is the one in the USA (MA).

The The Houston Cat Hospital is located at:

11169 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77042




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As you can see from the map it is near the Royal Oaks Country Club and about 8 miles or so from the center of Houston. The road that the hospital is on appears to be a major road running east and west from the center of town.

If you go to their website http://www.houstoncathospital.net/index.html you can print off a coupon and get a 10% discount on your first visit.

It's a really simple website but it does the business and gives them a web presence.

Houston Cat Hospital to Warrior Cats (they need hospital treatment living in the wild as they do!)

Abandoned Cats

Stray cats photo copyrigth J i J y

Abandoned Cats seem to be on the increase in the UK. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the country's biggest animal charity says that the number of pets abandoned has increased by 25% in a year.

We know that (in the UK at least) we have become a throwaway society. It is often not financially viable to repair things. This is in part due to cheap imports from China. Perhaps the mentality that we have developed over inanimate objects has rubbed off on our behavior towards pets including cats.

Cats were the biggest victims of this worsening situation. There were 7,347 abandoned pets. Half were abandoned cats. As cats are relatively easy to care for it is disturbing that they form the vast majority of abandoned pets.

The current figure for the number of people keeping cats is about 9 million (6.5 million people keep dogs)

It shocking to read of the circumstances under which people abandon their cats. To give up a cat is one thing. Sometimes there will be a good reason, often there isn't. However, some people who give up their cats simply dump them. The reasons are equally concerning. One person bought a new sofa and the sofa was more important (she didn't want it scratched). If you have a cat you must expect some damage to possessions and so what, they are only possessions. Another said that she had bought a new carpet and the cat didn't match the color. Now that is arch consumerism.

I really think that too many people keep cats who shouldn't. It is these people who are irresponsible and don't neuter and spay their cats and then abandon them. This causes a lot of suffering for the cat and creates a problem for us generally in a growing feral cat population, which appears to be worse in the USA.

It seems that some people dump their cats when they move. It's just so callous. I have personal experience. My tuxedo cat, Missie, found me in London about 15 years ago. She had been abandoned by a neighbor of mine who had moved. She was reluctant to leave the small front garden of the house where she lived despite being locked out and it being very cold. Eventually she came with me and stayed.

Some people when they abandon simply, for example, put the cat(s) in a plastic refuse bag and leave them with the rubbish. Is the increase in abandoned cats an indication that society is getting worse?

Abandoned cats to Stray Cat

Cat Scratching

Photo ©polandeze

Two bits of news about cat scratching (there are, I am sure, many more) tell us a bit about ourselves and our relationship with cats.

The first concerns a B list actor named Adrian Grenier. He was at a party and the host's Abyssinian cat (probably the most popular cat at the moment - the cat above is an Abyssinian) joined it. He said, "It belongs to my friend". I don't like this statement, if it was one he actually made. He uses "it" indicating an inanimate object possessed by humans. I don't think we possess cats, we keep them, care for them as they depend on us. We agree that arrangement. He also uses the word, "belong", to reinforce this misconception and one which causes a lot of problems for domestic cats.

If we all thought of cats as equal and fellow creatures the situation regarding the feral cat populations and the treatment of cats would greatly improve.

Adrian then says, "the cat wanted more attention and attacked all of us". Where did he get the idea that the cat was seeking attention and that the cat was attacking them to get attention? Perhaps the cat was simply defending him/herself from a violation of his space. Cats do not scratch and attack people to seek attention. It's not even logical or sensible and cats do everything in a natural and therefore logical (in terms of nature) manner. Cat scratching is normally defensive.

It is clear that this cat was upset and defensive probably by the invasion of people for the party. The cat may lack proper socialization skills. If so it is because he/she was raised/breed incorrectly - a human failing. The keeper of the cat should have intervened and ensured that the cat had more space and felt secure.

Adrian tried to calm the cat down and put his head near the cat (at a time when the cat was agitated). Wrong I am afraid. That probably made the cat feel even more insecure. A strange person approaching very close. This is scary. And frankly dangerous (for the human). Cat scratching is OK on hands etc. but near the head can mean damaged eyes. That was careless of Mr Garnier.

Everything that went wrong regarding this Abyssinian cat was due to the people involved but the story sends out the wrong message about cats. It implies (incorrectly) that cats are bad, unpredictable, can cause injury etc. Cats are highly predictable if we understand them and we owe it to ourselves and the cats to understand them as we agreed to live with them and keep them. If we cannot do this correctly then lets not keep cats and lets stop breeding cats.

In another story about cat scratching a women was driving along with a cat on her lap. The cat "scratched" her. It may well have been that the cat was using his/her claws to climb up to her. But when we hear the phrase, "a cat scratched someone", we assume the cat attacked that person. This is incorrect, often. It just so happens that cats have claws where finger nails are for humans. These are useful tools for survival. You cannot blame a cat for using them naturally.

Anyway after the driver got scratched, she crashed into a "power" pole causing the pole to topple and cause disruption. Who caused this problem, the cat or the human - be objective and honest answers in the comments section, please?

Cat Scratching to Abyssinian cats

Swiss Cat Fur

Swiss Cat Fur is still being produced in large quantities in Switzerland despite a new Swiss law which addresses the much neglected matter of animal rights. The Swiss federal government's actions are contradictory.

On the one hand they are demonstrating to the world that the government is enlightened enough to grant rights to animals that are normally only granted to humans and on the other they seem to be doing nothing about the production of Swiss cat fur. The cat fur trade in Switzerland seems to be in fine shape. There is high demand and a plentiful supply of free fur. This is because the feral cats of Switzerland are caught, killed (how?, probably without any controls as in food production), skinned and made into yet more consumer objects such as cardigans and blankets. Do people know that these products are made out of cat fur? I doubt it.

When the Swiss people in this despicable business run out of feral cats to kill (they were once a domestic cat), they pop across the French/Swiss border, it seems, and kill some of those too. They ship them back to the slaughter house and keep skinning.

How can this be right? The new laws cover social animals. There are many tens of thousands of domestic cats in Switzerland that live with their human companion in harmony - an extremely social situation; why aren't these laws protecting the cat? Their animal rights laws cover such things as ensuring that people who keep dogs attend a course (paid for by the keeper) on how to keep dogs.

These new laws come into force on Sept 1 2008. They may be difficult to enforce. It would though be easy to enforce a ban on the cruel Swiss Cat Fur trade as they must know where these businesses are.

Swiss Cat Fur to Home page