The cat - photo by OwenX - licensed use under Wikimedia commons
The Cat of nine tails or Cat-o'-nine-tails is a device which tells us how brutal the world was in the 1700s and 1800s both in relation to humans and animals including of course the domestic cat.
We know the Cat of nine tails or "the cat" was and still is a whip with 9 strands (or thongs) used to inflict corporal punishment on miscreants (a wrong doer). It is still used in some of the British Empire's former colonies. One such place is Trinidad and Tobago, where it is used (and the birch) to punish criminal offenders prosecuted under the Corporal Punishment (Offenders over Sixteen) Act 1953 (src: Wikipedia). The cat in Trinidad and Tobago is made up of knotted cotton designed to cause a lot of pain.
It was first used in the British Navy. The armed forces of the then British Empire were well disciplined and this device helped to maintain discipline. Wellington (British Army) considered flogging essential to keep discipline as many privates were blaggards (the equivalent of louts today).
I had thought that the reason for the 9 strands was a direct reference to a cat's nine lives but it seems to have a religious context being 3 times 3 making a trinity (meaning 3) of trinities. The religious context presumably signifying the good of the punishment as a result of the bad behavior.
The term, "a cat has nine lives" originates from the trinity of trinities which in making the number 9 (3 X 3) was considered a lucky number. As the cat was resourceful she/he was considered lucky and said to have nine lives. So there is an indirect connection between these 2 phrases.
Formal punishment in the Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries was given on deck in front of the crew as a deterrent. It was also impractical to do it below deck due to cramped conditions. Hence the term "there is no room to swing a cat". The word "cat" in this phase being a reference to the cat of nine tails not an actual cat. However, this term may have originated earlier and in much crueler circumstances for the domestic cat.
William Shakespeare lived (1564-1616) in his play Much Ado About Nothing, writes: "Hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me." This is a reference to putting a cat in a bag and hanging the bag (leather bottle) from a tree for archers to fire at as practice. I suppose the cat would wriggle and move the bag making it harder to hit. This demonstrates the unthinking treatment of the domestic cat in those times. Many parts of the world still have that kind of relationship with the domestic cat. I sometimes believe that the domestic cat would have been better off remaining wild rather than becoming domesticated about 10,000 years ago.
The reason why the cat of nine tails was named is because it left marks on the back that resembled the scratches of a domestic cat who has attacked an animal or human.
Photo 2nd down - this image is considered copyright free due to effluxion of time (please correct me if I am wrong). It shows a soldier (not a sailor) being flogged by a cat of nine tails.
Photo: the small wild cats are the domestic cat ancestors - photo by Nick Lawes.
We hear a snake hiss, we hear a cat hiss, is there a connection? Well yes there is or that seems to be the case.
Domestic cat hiss
I feed a stray cat who stays into my home and then disappears. He hisses at my girl cat but it's getting less these days. This concerns me but my girl cat is just great about it. He makes a sound that is very similar to the sound made by a snake.
Snakes are to be avoided because they are often poisonous. We as humans know that. We associate hissing with danger therefore. Hissing is a form or protection for the snake and the same applies to the domestic cat.
Animals use mimicry a lot in the wild. There are 3 types of mimicry Batesian mimicry, Muellerian mimicry, and self-mimicry (src: http://rainforests.mongabay.com). Mimicry occurs when one animal imitates another for reasons of defense and self protection. Thus, a more vulnerable animal will pretend to be a less vulnerable or a dangerous animal, as a defense mechanism, against a predator.
A big cat, the Puma hissing - photo by deadeyebart a.k.a Brett
The small wild cat, now a domestic cat, has evolved it is thought to mimic a snake's hiss as a form of protection. So, when I hear my stray cat hiss at my girl it is not an attacking position he is taking but one of defense, as he is frightened. My girl cat does not hiss back, by the way, indicating a more relaxed attitude, probably because she is more secure. I am not sure if the big cats hiss or not, as they don't really need to. They are not vulnerable and don't need to pretend to be another animal. However some quick research indicates that they do (see the Puma above).
See a serval hiss...
Cats also spit when they hiss, further mimicking a snake's spit. The sand cat is particularly adept at this. And finally a cat may move her/his tail in a manner reminiscent of a snakes body.
All create the impression of a snake and a dangerous animal so the predator is forced to clear off. The cat hiss is a great act of deception and very effective.
Middle picture by Vaughan. All pictures published under a creative commons license kindly granted by the photographers credited.
This fine picture came up searching for "cat purr" - they must be purring - photo by isazappy (CC)
We as humans should learn to purr to our cats. A cat purr is motivated by contentment, isn't it? We all know that when we stroke a cat she/he purrs because she is content. But it is not as straightforward as that because cats also purr when in pain and injured. You'll rarely be around to notice but you'll hear a cat purr when a cat is in labour or even when near death.
What is a cat purr and why does it happen?
It seems that the trigger for it is when the cat is asking for friendship (a form of request) or receiving friendship (a form of thank you).
A kitten first uses this form of communication when she is suckling on her mother, drinking milk. The kitten will purr while drinking which tells the mother she is receiving milk while the mother will purr in return to tell her kittens all is well her end.
Purring can be performed with the mouth shut and in a two way motion, meaning when inhaling and exhaling (and also when drinking). Pretty amazing really.
Big cats such as the Cheetah (the smallest of the big cats) and the Bengal Tiger (the most common tiger but still dangerously close to extinction) cannot purr two ways and their one way exhalation purr is less accomplished. They can roar though and I've never heard my cat roar....! So it's evens between the big and little cats in respect of their communication abilities.
Sometimes the purr is very quiet. I can check if my cat is purring by gently placing my fingers on her throat to feel the vibrations. This is a way of communicating with my cat as I'll know she is content and she'll tell me she is content.
Photo by kcl_seattle under creative commons license. We use the warm cat's purr to give the impression a place is comfortable, cosy and content.
The next question is how is a cat's purr produced?
These are my thoughts: The sound is obviously produced deep inside the cats body as her whole body can vibrate. For me it originates near the vocal cords, throat, neck area. Air from breathing is passed over a piece of anatomy that vibrates in much the same way a singers voice produces a vibrato on the long notes. The purr though is not produced by the vocal cords and as it emanates from the area of the vocal cords it must be another piece of anatomy in the air passages in the throat (leading to the lungs) that vibrate.
What do the experts say? A cat's purr has a frequency between 22.4 - 30.2 hertz. The experts are not sure how the sound is produced but it probably emanates from the larynx, an area of the throat that houses the vocal cords. It is thought that the muscles of the larynx are constricted and relaxed in quick succession.
A cat purr has good harmonics apparently. A harmonic is one of a number of component frequencies (sounds) of the main sound produced (that is my layperson's interpretation of the word harmonics - if I am wrong please tell me in a comment if you have time).
So, the purr is quite a complex process and it sounds really nice too.
Cat feces and pregnancy go together in a negative way because of the disease, toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite called toxoplasma gondi. Astonishingly up to 20% of American people are affected by this parasite (source: http://www.metrokc.gov/). Cornell University says that the parasite is found in nearly all warm blooded animals (humans are warm blooded animals).
So it is very common. However, in 80% of the cases of people affected there are no symptoms and the person is unaware he/she is infected as the body's immune system deals with the parasite to neutralize it. It is in the body but not doing anything. The same applies to cats, there will be no symptoms.
For people with suppressed immune systems for whatever cause (e.g. chemotherapy or due to another illness such as AIDS) then symptoms can be present, which can include:- fever, sore throat, aching muscles, swollen glands (lymph glands), headaches, confusion, blurred vision, chest pains, trouble breathing and coughing up blood.
So how do cat feces come into this situation? A cat can be infected as well as humans. A domestic cat can become infected if he/she eats the raw meat of another animal or drinks the milk of an infected mother cat. So, for cat keepers their cat might become infected if she/he is an outdoor cat and likes hunting. You'll see clear signs of that in your cat's activity. A lot of cats in the USA are exclusively indoor cats which would mean little or no chance of being infected it seems to me.
In the UK cats are more indoors/outdoors so more chance of infection. If your cat is infected the parasite can be passed to his/her feces and thence to the cat litter is she uses it or to the garden potentially if she goes to the toilet in the garden (on soil in the flower beds). The parasite can live for a long time (about one year) in cat's feces. The chance of being infected by your cat is small (source: Cornell University)
If you're pregnant and you get infected the parasite can harm your baby causing possible: miscarriage, poor growth, early delivery, still birth and if born with the disease can suffer nasty conditions such as water on the brain, eye conditions and convulsions. So it is serious, very serious.
So there is the connection between Cat feces and pregnancy. However, the most common cause of infection in humans of toxoplasmosis is through eating raw meat and not from contact with cat feces.
What to do if you have a domestic cat and you are going to get pregnant or are pregnant. As I understand it some doctors advise to get rid of your cat. This sounds impossibly harsh but understandable as the damage that can be caused is potentially severe. It is all about risk it seems to me.
I would have thought a sensible procedure could be set up to deal with cat feces. I would also have thought that all women with husbands or partners could insist upon the partner doing the cat litter and the gardening (lean on the man a bit). If you are a single woman you may have other children who could be taught to deal with the cat litter. In other words you don't go near cat litter (this also means not breathing in cat litter dust - you might move the cat litter box to a safer place). That to me is the safest method.
But more importantly, it would be wise to deal with the more important and common sources of infection such as raw meat - simple answer, don't eat raw meat or unpasteurized milk and don't touch raw meat and if you do wash hands afterwards and the utensils (this is in fact simple good cooking practice anyway). Cat feces and pregnancy need not be a bad combination but no doubt the situation needs to be taken very seriously for the baby's sake.
One last point: lets not blame cats. I guess they could in theory catch it from us or by our actions (e.g eating raw meat left out in the kitchen - wrong? please tell me in a comment). Perhaps they do....?
Thai cats are Classic Siamese cats. Well, in my opinion they are. The Messybeast author says that the classic Siamese is the Modern Siamese; this is wrong I am sure. The word "classic" conjures up authentic or old, the opposite to modern. Before I proceed let me say that my views as stated here might seem provocative or downright incorrect by some people in the cat fancy, particularly the people who produced the Thai cat! But this site is not written in the style of an encyclopedia. I don't regurgitate the "facts", I give my views on what I have decided is the truth. It is extremely factual but facts are often modified by opinion even in encyclopedias. I'd like people who disagree to tell me by leaving a comment if they can spare a moment.
Update 19-5-09: I am pleased to have received some information on this breed from Dr. Cris Bird, President PREOSSIA; chair of Thai breed, TICA. I have added her comments below.
Update 29-12-09: I am also pleased to hear from Mary Alexander of Blue-Gem Siamese. Please see below.
The Thai cat is a new/old cat breed. This new breed is a reflection of the drift back to the way things were in the Siamese cat world until about the middle of the 1900s (about 1960 to be more precise).
The Thai cat can also be called the Classic Siamese cat or even the Traditional Siamese cat. A Traditional Siamese cat breeder, Victoria (of the Thai Legend Cattery) in Russia says this:
"My cattery is registered in WCF (World Cats Federation). In this association the Traditional Siamese (apple-head) are named Thai cats..."
This is an example of one of her cats:
Above:As can be seen this is a traditional Siamese cat but called a Thai Cat in Russia and other countries that register their cats through the Word Cat Federation. This highlights the complications with the Thai cats. It would have been better if all cat associations and cat fancy people had stuck with "Traditional Siamese" to refer to old style Siamese cats. What am I talking about? It's actually all spelled out in a long article on Siamese cat history.
In summary, when the Siamese cat was imported from Siam (Thailand) in the late 1800s (1884) this cat, rare as it then was at that time, was simply a normal looking cat with a pointed coat. In fact, the face and body were quite rounded, not at all long or "foreign" in type ("foreign" in the cat fancy means slender and "type" means appearance and shape). In the mid 1900s the cat fancy (cat breeders) decided to "refine" the appearance.
This meant making the cat more delicate and elongated, rather peculiar looking in fact and not at all natural in appearance. A bit like an over done face lift. By the end of the 1900s and in to the 21st century the appearance of a once normal domestic cat had changed out of all recognition to a cat breed referred to as the Modern Siamese cat. The cat breed was still called the Siamese cat, however.
Thai cats photo copyrightHelmi Flick
The traditional Siamese cat was side lined as the breed was the wrong shape to be shown at cat shows. The breed standard (the guidelines upon which the cat breeders breed cats of all breeds) had been adjusted to reflect the new appearance. A backlash occurred and eventually a major cat registry TICA (The International Cat Association) accepted back into the fold the old fashioned Siamese cat under a new name, the Thai. In the meantime, the appearance of this cat having been elongated, it became unclear how long the face should be.
What happened is that there is now a range of appearances from the contemporary (Modern ) through (via) the Classic to the Traditional (more rounded head and face). There is no definition of a Classic Siamese or a Traditional Siamese as far as I am aware (except for the new breed standard for Thai cats) but Thai cats are probably closest to the mid range Siamese cat or Classic Siamese cat. It is a great day for traditionalists. And it is apparent that things are changing as Helmi Flick, one of the worlds best cat photographers is now being asked to photograph Thai cats. Until recently she would rarely meet the traditional looking Siamese at cat shows for the above reasons.
Thai cats - Rock - photo copyright Helmi Flick
Update 19th May 2009: As mentioned above Cristy Bird has provided some helpful information. She disagrees with parts of my description and makes these points.
"Traditional Siamese" and "Classic Siamese" are not official breed names.
The breed should not be referred to as "Classic" or "Traditional" Siamese. The only correct names are "Thai" (recognized by TICA and WCF) and "Old-Style Siamese" (semi-officially recognized by GCCF and the OSSC in the U.K. at www.oldstylesiamese.co.uk, as well as by PREOSSIA in the U.S. www.oldstylesiamese.com). My response: I am pleased to make the correction but as I said I am simply presenting my argument as I see it. The terms Classic and Traditional are widely used in the cat fancy generally.
Cristy also says, "be sure to use only photos [of the breed] obtained by people who show the breed in TICA, WCF, and GCCF. Photos from breeders who don't show are often of non-authentic cats. There are a lot of cats being sold as "applehead Siamese" that are not authentic. The non-authentic cats typically have fluffier coats, stocker bodies, and heads like a British Shorthair or American Shorthair." Thanks for that enlightening information.
The TICA website makes this further points about Thai cats: The Thai cat is the breed that is intended to represent the original cat from Siam as it then was. In Thailand the breed is called the Wichienmaat and elsewhere as the "Old-Style Siamese". TICA says that this cat breed closely resembles the 19th and early 20th century Siamese. Update 29th December 2009 Mary Alexander has contacted me. Here are some photographs of some kittens from her cattery Blue-Gem Siamese. This cattery is registered with the CFA, TICA and CFF and is in Massachusetts, USA.I can't add or improve Mary's comments about her kittens and the Thai cat generally so here they are:
I think it's important for people to see what a beautiful modified wedge Siamese should look like. These kittens...are sired by my Bacchus, who's grandfather was a recent import from Thailand. Bacchus grandsire was brought into this country by Dr. Cris Bird. She and a few others, like me, are working to preserve these genetic linage's, and promote a healthy well balanced Siamese cat. The kittens photo's are taken at 5 weeks old. All seal points, Thai. Or what some people also call a Classic style Siamese.
Photo above: copyright by Blue-Gem Mary...Thank you very much for sharing your experience and expertise with us. Update 26th January 2011 All the above relates to the USA market. In the UK the Thai cat exists as a group that started as just the Korat. The Thai is two naturally appearing variations (despite what anyone may claim) in the Korat. They are the (a) Thai Lilac a lilac self cat with green eyes and (b) Thai Blue Point Blue pointed cat
Both are of Korat Type and are recognized by the GCCF (UK cat show judge who has judged Thais). "To all intents and purposes, the Thais are simply Korats wearing a different coat"(Korat Cat Association).Thai cats - TICA Breed Standard Summary of interesting points The head and body of the Thai are both less narrow and rangy than the Modern Siamese. The Modern Siamese is "The" Siamese (or was the only Siamese with a breed standard) so it is nice to see how the standards compare. TICA says that the shape of the head should be a modified wedge.
This is classic breed standard speak for pretty much a normal cat head shape only the standard goes on to say that the head should be longer than wide but not in an extreme way. The reference to "extreme" is a reference in my opinion to the extremely narrow Modern Siamese cat head. As expected the description of the head shape is in so many words saying that it should be somewhere in between the Traditional and the Modern (my interpretation).
The acceptance of Thai cats by TICA (but not notably the CFA) is for me (this is my view only) a quiet admission that cat breeders got the breeding of the Siamese cat wrong and bred too far from the conventional Siamese appearance with resultant health and frankly appearance problems. People just found the Modern Siamese less attractive than the good old fashioned Siamese cat. Although TICA wouldn't agree to this assessment.
They have maintained recognition of the Modern Siamese (or what is referred to as the Siamese cat). The TICA "general description" section of the breed standard states that Thai cats should resemble the original indigenous pointed cats of Siam (now Thailand). In my view the original pointed cats of Siam were in fact more cobby and rounded than even the Thai so I am not sure that TICA have got this right. The Siamese cat history page on this website bears out what I say. TICA stress again in this section that this cat must not be extreme.
TICA reinforce this by saying that Thai cats are really a recognition of the breeders who stayed loyal to the traditional Siamese cat. As to the body it should be "slightly to moderately long". In other words more normal but not stocky or in any way cobby. This is well demonstrated in the photographs of Helmi Flick. As expected cross-eyed Thai cats will be disqualified in competition. This is a recognized defect (Siamese cat health problem) of the Siamese and can be found in the Himalayan too.
the birch) to punish criminal offenders prosecuted under the Corporal Punishment (Offenders over Sixteen) Act 1953 (src: Wikipedia). The cat in Trinidad and Tobago is made up of knotted cotton designed to cause a lot of pain.
