Domestic Cat Character

Domestic Cat Character - Superior looking? Yes this cat does look as if he thinks he is superior but this is exclusively a human concept. We shouldn't put ideas into the heads of others including cats. It is humans who think they are superior to others. Photograph copyright fofurasfelinas (the best Flickr cat photographer)

The Domestic Cat Character is misunderstood. I just read a new article about the voting in the presidential elections and the vote goes to Barack Obama for those who like cats (and I guess animals generally). He has a strong record on animal rights apparently. But the Guardian writer Emine Saner says that cats are known to be superior and selfish implying that the majority of people think this. I have never thought of the Domestic Cat Character as having these qualities.

Yet I can understand where this comes from. There is also a fear of cats because although they are small they are natural born hunters and if mishandled can hurt you. I wonder if it is a combination of these factors that encourages some people who are damaged (mentally) to torture and kill cats. We not too infrequently see stories popping up in the papers about people torturing cats. This is a cowardly manifestation of depression and a hatred of the world. The person taking his anger out on a vulnerable creature that he probably dislikes for the wrong reasons.

The idea that cats are selfish and superior must come from their demeanor and actions. They are independent to an extent and they are do not train well. Maybe will think that because we can't train them (i.e. control them as we can with dogs) then they are to be despised. I think in the opposite way. Their dignity and desire to exercise their own rights is to be admired. But independence and being difficult to train (or being difficult to get to do what we want them to do) does not mean that they are selfish and superior. Heavens knows where this author got the idea that cats are superior from. Cats don't and can't think of themselves as superior. We think like that not cats. This is just bad thinking.

There really is a ton of misconconceived ideas about cats and on many other subjects. I hate to say it but there is a ton of ignorance in the world. Education will solve so many problems. When you are ignorant life is harder because it is more difficult to resolve problems and get on. Things are more frightening and what we fear we kill (or hurt or are defensive about). Ignorance is the root of a lot of violence.

Lets all try and understand our fellow creatures including cats. They don't think they are superior; they just survive like you and me. And we are all selfish to a degree. We had a kind of contract with cats when they domesticated themselves. The contract didn't stipulate that your cat has to show altruism towards others and you. The contract was and is that the cat behaves as she is meant to - as a domesticated cat with the wild still inside her. The Domestic Cat Character is in fact beautiful and natural.

Hoarding Cats

A recent example of hoarding cats has come to light; an extreme example in which the person, a man, was found to have 300 (dead) cats and kittens in three freezers and about 20 live cats in the home. The usual mess, smell and chaos was present too.

We hear lots of stories like this about cats and humans. We pretty well know that the cause of this is due to a mental disorder called OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). This condition manifests itself in the hoarding of any manner of possessions from living to dead, it really doesn't matter. It is also manifest in actions. I can remember David Beckham saying publicly that he likes things to be tidy to the point of obsession. Tidying up objects so that they are inline or form clean shapes for example creates a sense of order (the objects look orderly). The individual is maintaining order around him in a chaotic world. This creates comfort.

OCD is a reflection of acute anxiety in the individual concerned, in my opinion. I don't know if this is agreed by the physicians or not. As it is treated with anti-anxiety drugs and anti-depressants they probably agree although I expect the experts are not completely sure.

I am convinced it is due to anxiety and fear. To vulnerable people and yes ignorant people day to day living can be frightening. It can be frightening to any person in fact. Just getting up can be frightening. The thought of work can be frightening. I think most of us at some time and a lot of the time are frightened to various degrees and get used to it as normal, almost ignoring it. For some it takes over their life and is translated into hoarding. Why hoarding?

Because hoarding creates a mild comfort zone. People are frightened to throw things away, they might need them, it feels safe to know you have things you might need. The collection of possessions creates a sense of security allieviating the anxiety. The excessive nature of it is a manifestation of an inability to cope and perhaps laziness.

If a person who likes cats has this level of anxiety it translates to cat hoarding. Cat hoarding presents more problems that inanimate object hoarding as they need caring for.

People who hoard cats don't care for the cats properly. This is due in my opinion to an inward looking personality and plain ignorance. They like cats but can't care for them properly. This is compounded by the OCD. A lot to sound minded people mistreat cats through ignorance. The cat hoarding extends to the dead cats. They are hoarded too. In a freezer.

So this person who had 300 cats in three freezers is mentally ill but not profoundly so. He is also I think ill educated and unable to cope and probably (and I am sorry is this is not PC) plain ignorant.

Source: Me
Picture: From Wikipedia Commons. This is object hoarding not cat hoarding but the same principles apply

Hoarding cats to Cat facts

Cats on Your Bed

photo copyright DDFic

Cats on Your Bed is bad, some people think. Personally, I just don't get this. There may be some good reasons, sometimes for some people to keep a cat of the bed at night but generally, there is no evidence to suggest that this harmful. I have kept cats for many years without the slightest suggestion of transmission of disease from my cat to me (zoonotic diseases are those that are transmittable between animals and humans). I actually have never considered that there is a distinction between animals and humans as humans are simply a more intelligent animal. Humans cannot though be considered to be intelligent in an absolute sense. Look at the mess we make of things! In short we are all animals, just different species.

And as far as I am aware, the great naturalist, Desmond Morris has similar thoughts. That's not the reason that I have mine, though.

Some diseases that a cat can have can be transmitted to us and if she sleeps on your bed it would seem that there is a greater chance of transmission. However, as the Cornell University College of Veterinarian Medicine puts it, you are more likely to catch an ailment from another human than a cat. So, if you stop your cat sleeping on your bed to minimize transmission of disease, you'll have to do the same with your partner if you are to apply fair standards. In fact you should remove your partner first on the sole basis of transmission of disease.

Most zoonotic diseases are harmless to humans. Some people are more vulnerable such as the very old and very young because of immature or weakened immune systems. The most common zoonotic disease is cat scratch disease. A certain bacteria transmitted through the scratch or bite of the cat that breaks the skin. This doesn't mean that all bites and scratches result in this disease - far from it. I have had many scratches (in play) and no trouble. Never had a sign of a disease.

Cats on Your Bed will not increase the possibilities of transmission of this disease, obviously. Unless you play rough with your cat and that is in our hands. Note too that only some cats have cat scratch bacteria to transmit. I don't know the percentage but it is probably very low.

So, this is about risk really. There is a risk of getting something from a cat or dog etc. There is risk in everything we do and my argument is that the risk of catching a disease from a cat is much lower than being hurt from other sources in our daily actions. The logical thing to do is to modify our behavior to minimize injury in those areas where the risk is high before thinking of arguing that Cats on Your Bed is a bad thing.

All that said a sensible and reasonable approach to keeping a cat should be employed. Avoid getting scratched and bitted by sensible handling of your cat (but don't be fearful). For example disease can be transmitted through a cat's faeces. Toxoplasmosis is the classic disease that can be transmitted this way so handling cat litter sensibly and keeping the litter tray clean is important. Of course the cat has to carry the disease in the first place.

Fleas are another problem, a very common problem. I would always be alert to fleas :). Check your cat frequently and comb them out with a flea comb. I wouldn't use sprays or chemicals. But if it's bad the drops that are placed on the back of the cat work well for about one month. But the cat's skin smells different and it affects the cat (in my experience it made my cat more sleepy initially).

Another transmittable disease is ringworm. Cats on Your Bed is good for both human and cat with a bit of care.

Animals in War

Animals in War - A sculpture illustrating a dog surviving in a battle zone. Swedish Army Museum. Photo copyright surstubben under creative commons

Lets think of animals in war. Not this time those brave animals who have assisted humankind in conflict (I'll make a posting about them another time) but the innocent victims of "collateral damage" or even the victims of in my opinion unnecessary cruelty towards animals by forces involved in conflict. And lets not forget these cats (and dogs) left behind by their human keepers when they go to war (and left forever if they don't come back).

Of those unnecessarily hurt by the military I refer to a previous posting about the feral cats in Baghdad. If these cats are killed under a standing military order then it happens all over the world where there are US forces. This is a hidden and cruel consequence of war. Why should innocent animals be deliberately slaughtered? There are better ways. Please read the story and come back. It is thought that the military kill cats on Iraq bases for tax reasons. The official reason is the prevention of spread of disease. I have never caught anything from my cat in decades of living with cats. Come on guys!

When the military are not deliberately killing cats, they are killed in the conflict or by the aftermath of the conflict. Here are extracts from a news article written on 10th December 1870:

"In the village of Bazielle, near Sudan, which was burned by the Bavarian troops on Sept . 1 - so completely destroyed that there is not a house left in the place - it is pitiful to see the poor cats. When the fighting took place the people all fled; a few took shelter in the caves or cellars of the houses; but when the place was fired all had to seek safety in the flight; the cats also had to fly. The unfortunate inhabitants could not return, for the village remained a mass of rubbish.....The cats of the village nearly all returned; each found out its old quarters. the destruction by fire and utter ruin did not prevent these domestic creatures from finding out their old abodes, and there might be seen sitting on the charred window-sills, looking starved and miserable. The village contains nothing but blackened heaps of stone and charcoal-nothing to eat, for every consumable thing was annihilated by the fire and poor puss is left without a friend or any source from which commissariat supplies can be got......"

So as we see, it is not only humans who suffer the consequences of war but we totally forget the other animals. We shouldn't.

Animals in War to homepage

UK cat shows

Early UK cat shows were held here. The Crystal Palace Exhibition Hall, London at the opening by Queen Victoria in 1851. This was in Hyde Park in the center of London. The glass and metal hall was moved to Sydenham (further out) in about 1853 and it burned down in 1936 - picture in public domain as copyright has expired

Early UK cat shows, the big ones, were held at Crystal Palace, London (see above). These shows go back to the beginning of the cat fancy (meaning the start of the era where cat lovers got together to show and develop cat breeds).

The cat fancy has changed enormously. When you read the very early reports (late 1800s to early 1900s) of cats shows and see illustrations it is evident that there was little concept of creating and developing cat breeds. Breeds were generally natural cat breeds and the breed was "refined" (as people in the cat world call it).

Here is an interesting extract from the Penny Illustrated from 1871:

"The Cat-Show" (comment: they hypenated the phrase then)

Shows are so various as the Crystal Palace that even a cat-show treat scarcely takes one by surprise. This exhibition is interesting; but, having to commence printing so early, we can only devote a few lines to the feline-show this week. Of the 150 entries, some were extremely fine animals. There was a live wild cat of Scotland (Felis catus) (comment: this is obviously the Scottish Wildcat, which has survived in the wild although there is concern about natural hybridization with domestic cats - a survey is being carried out), exhibited by the Duke of Sutherland; two stuffed specimens of the same variety (comment: don't like that, it wouldn't happen at a cat show today), sent by Mr. F. Buckland. The Hon. Mrs. Grey contributed an imported Persian cat of rare pedigree (comment: this would be what is now called the Traditional or Doll Face Persian the only type at that time), besides which there were many Persian cats of several colours; Angora, Aleppo, and other foreign sorts, including one of great rarity from Siam (comment: this must have been a Siamese Cat, now called the Thai by TICA or the Traditional Siamese in the cat fancy today).

Lady Lubbock sent a beautiful long-haired creature in this class (comment: this it seems to be a Balinese cat). There were also several of the tailless Manx cats, and many displaying curiosities of natural development and colour, some weighing as many as 18 lb, and 20 lb., and one tortoiseshell tom. Altogether this is a fine time for our four-legged fellows. We are next promised (comment: I presume that this phrase means that there will be a show next year)

UK cat shows to Traditional Siamese