Maine Coon Cat Gifts

As the Maine Coon is probably the world's most popular purebred cat it is not surprising that there are a good number of Maine Coon cat gifts. I would like to show a few on this page. This is purely a small selection. The first batch comes from a cat gift website called Animal Den.

Maine Coon Cat Bottle Stopper (Silver) Beautifully hand painted, this delightful Silver Maine Coon Cat Bottle stopper will be the talk of the party at your next get together. At approximately 1 ½" to 2" tall, our intricate Silver Maine Coon Cat Bottle stopper looks just right sitting atop just about any bottle. Weather a gift for a dear friend or family member or simply a new decoration for your home, all Maine Coon Cat lovers will surely enjoy this gorgeous stopper.

Maine Coon Cat Cookie Jar Nothing beats the exceptional look and quality of our Maine Coon Cat Cookie Jar. Among the finest made, you will be provided with great satisfaction and long lasting enjoyment. Why not pamper yourself or give a loved one a Maine Coon Cat gift to show them how much you care. The Maine Coon Cat Cookie Jar will make the perfect gift for any Maine Coon Cat lover. Shop with confidence, because all products come with a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. Click over now to see the big selection of Maine Coon Cat gifts we offer.

Below are some Maine Coon cat gifts from Amazon for the North American market



You just click and hold down on the arrows at the base of Ferris wheel to turn it.

Why is the Maine Coon (MC) so popular? It has everything. It is the largest pure (non-wildcat hybrid) domestic purebred cat. The MC is long haired and has a strong face. They have very definite breed personalities. What I mean is that the MC as a breed has a certain personality that people find attractive. You can read all you want to about this cat on this page: Maine Coon Cats.



From to Home Page

Cat handled during the first 8 weeks of life builds a confident cat

I think the title to this short post is actually common sense but it was one of the findings of a research study: Ontogeny of individuality in the domestic cat in the home environment by Sarah E. Lowe and John W. S. Bradshaw , Anthrozoology Institute, University of Southampton, UK.

Domestic cats have varying personalities and the factors that mold these personalities is the same sort of things that create our characters.

Ideally, domestic cats need to have rounded and confident characters if they are to be the best kind of cat companion. The more extrovert sociable cat interacts better with his or her human companion and mixes better with other cats and people. The frightened and/or shy cat is more likely to be defensive in nature and that can translate to aggression through fear.

What creates this boldness is correct handling during the first 8 weeks of life - in short excellent socialisation. These are the formative moments that are equivalent to the first 6 years of life of a person. Excellent socialization includes handling by people, interaction with other animals and other people.

The best cat breeders ensure that their cats are not only good looking but well socialised so that they do their job: be a fine companion to their human caretaker.

Incidentally, in feral cats boldness or a proactive character is beneficial as it improves the chances of having offspring (reproductive success) but a negative is that the bold feral cat is more likely to fall foul of the serious illness of feline aids. Overall natural selection seems to say that there is a benefit, however.




From to Home Page

Amino acid sequence of cat allergen Fel d1

This is an addendum to a page on the main website on cat allergen Fel D1. The amino acid sequence of Fel D1 has been ascertained.


Maltese rescue cat - photo by Michael at PoC
Yes you have the Fel D1 too.

The allergen is composed "of two polypeptide chains"¹.

Polypeptide means: short polymers of amino acids linked by peptide bonds.

Polymers are large molecules (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units.

Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side chain that varies between different amino acids.

Peptide bond is a covalent chemical bond formed between two molecules when the carboxyl group of one molecule reacts with the amino group of the other molecule, thereby releasing a molecule of water (H2O)

---

The two chains referred to above are encoded by different genes. Chain 1 of Fel dI shares amino acid homology with rabbit uteroglobin, while chain 2 is a glycoprotein with N-linked oligosaccharides.

Definitions for the above:

"Homology" refers to an homologous trait. Homologous means any characteristic of organisms that is derived from a common ancestor.

Uteroglobin also known as secretoglobin family 1A member 1 (SCGB1A1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SCGB1A1 gene.

Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains (glycans) covalently attached to polypeptide side-chains.

Oligosaccharides: a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten) of component sugars, also known as simple sugars (monosaccharides)

Source:

Amino acid sequence of Fel dI, the major allergen of the domestic cat: protein sequence analysis and cDNA cloning published by PNAS and authored by

1. J P Morgenstern,
2. I J Griffith,
3. A W Brauer,
4. B L Rogers,
5. J F Bond,
6. M D Chapman, and
7. M C Kuo

Definitions:

Wikipedia authors



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Cat Safety Collar With Bell

Is the cat safety collar with bell a product that is fair to the cat? Now, to those people who will go ballistic reading that simple and I think reasonable question, please calm down and read on.

Photo by Frana Blaylock (Flickr)

The reason I ask is because the argument for putting a cat safety collar with a bell on a cat is to prevent the cat preying on what might be described by some people as native wildlife that needs to be preserved and protected. I think that that argument needs to be tested and challenged.

The first point to make is that in a study it was found that putting a collar with a bell on an outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat is effective in slowing the rate of predation.

I am referring to a study entitled: Bells reduce predation of wildlife by domestic cats (Felis catus) by Graeme D. Ruxton, Sarah Thomas and Jessica W. Wright - Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K. It is published by Cambridge Journals Online. I have only read the abstract as you have to buy the full document and I don't think it will add much to what I want to say.

The study found that over a four week period without a bell cats brought back to the home an average of 5.5 dead prey items. When the collar with the bell was worn the same cats over the same period brought back 2.9 items. The number of prey brought home had nearly halved (53%). An undoubtedly successful experiment if you want to stop cats behaving normally!

Update three hours later!: A study in Australia: Predation by house cats, Felis catus (L.), in Canberra, Australia. II. Factors affecting the amount of prey caught and estimates of the impact on wildlife concluded that "Nor did belling...have a significant influence on the amount of prey caught..." Well there you have it. This highlights the difficulty in achieving really solid so called "facts" through scientific studies.

On the basis that bells do curtail successful preying, should we stop our cat companion behaving normally and enjoying what comes naturally to them, if no harm is done? I am sure you would agree with that.

The only question that remains therefore is whether a domestic cat preying hurts the populations of wildlife such as birds and mammals, usually mice and rodents.

This is where things become murky and statistics from studies are used to support almost any argument so I'll simply report on a study in Bristol, England and a report by the RSPCA in the UK. Please remember that "estimates" and "projections" are essentially guesses and to be ignored.

Both support the view that wildlife populations are not harmed and in respect of birds, for example, domestic cats tend to catch the ill and dying, birds who would die anyway. Cats will always prey on the easiest animals to catch whether they are big cats such as the lion and tiger or the humble domestic cat. And mice, ground living animals are much easier to catch than fit and healthy birds.

There are the studies:

• Domestic cat preying unlikely to effect population size of prey species
• Domestic Cats Do Not Decimate Bird Populations

Also please see: How Feral Cats Affect Wildlife

Conclusion: lets not be too hasty in deciding to curtail our cat companion's natural behavior. We have a duty to allow our cats to behave as naturally as possible consistent with modern life and the cat's safety. Natural behavior promotes contentment. Cat contentment is our ultimate objective.





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Young male cats more likely to be in road accident

As expected, young, random bred (moggie), male cats are more likely to be involved in road accidents than other cats. Moral: keep 'em in or confined to a nice cat enclosure or high fenced garden or walled garden - anything - until they grow up! Or get an old, female, purebred Persian cat instead because Persian cats are probably the most static of all the purebreds and old cats are smarter and females take less risks and are less adventurous etc. etc...Phew. That was not meant in anyway to be sexist. I am just coming to the conclusions that can only be formulated from the research study: "Study of factors that may predispose domestic cats to road traffic accidents: part 1" by I. Rochlitz, BVSc, MSc, PhD, MRCVS1.



Charlie a 10 yr old male three legged cat who is in some danger from a road accident  - photo Michael Broad at PoC.

To put a bit of fat on that, male cats whether they are neutered or not are almost twice as likely to be in a road traffic accident than the average cat. And for every increase of one year in the age of a cat, the chances of being involved in a road traffic accident decrease by 16 percent.

Interestingly, the odds of a purebred cat being involved in a road accident is less than one third that of a random bred cat (a moggie or mixed breed cat).

I think the last statistic or conclusion is probably due to the fact that purebred cats are more likely to be cosseted, perhaps kept in despite the fact that the study was conducted in the UK where most cats are indoor/outdoor cats  - outdoor cat problems. This is because of the expense of adopting them and people who adopt purebreds are probably, in general, more aware and concerned about the dangers. That said there are many individual and wonderful cat caretakers of moggies who are better than purebred cat "owners".

The finding that older cats are much less likely to be involved in car accidents is because they are more static and less adventurous. There is probably an element of learned behaviour too - experience. My old lady cat, Binnie (18+ years of age), goes out daily but never travels further than about 20 yards from the cat flap. That confines her to a safe area. I feel confident, very confident in fact, that she will be alright when she goes out.

My three legged boy cat who is about aged 10 (a guess as he is a rescue cat) travels further and is at a much greater risk. He worries me slightly but I have watched and monitored him and I feel reasonably confident that he will be alright.

The underlying tenor of this finding is probably stating the obvious and it is very much inline with wildcat behavior. Young male wildcats when they leave the natal area, their home as adolescents with their mother, go much further to find their home range than the females who often stay close to their mother's range. A male wildcat's range is also much larger than those of a female and in fact it encompass female ranges. Male ranges rarely overlap, however. Male wildcats are also programmed to take more risks to capture a home range and hold on to it.

As I said, if you adopt a young boy cat, please watch and supervise him carefully. He should not be allowed to roam in areas where roads are nearby or even in the vacinity. It is far too dangerous.

See much more: Cat Behavior



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