Asian Golden Cat Diet

Muntjac - Photo by Wm Jas

The Asian golden cat diet consists of the following prey items:

• birds
• lizards
• large rodents
• hares
• mammals to the size of small deer
• new born water buffalo calves
• domestic poultry
• sheep
• goats
• muntjac
• snake
• squirrel

This cat can kill large prey. The prey obviously depends on the area. Its range extends from Sumatra in the south to central and northern China in the north of its range.

Sources: (1) Small Wildcats ISBN 0-531-11965-3 and (2) Wild Cats of the World ISBN-13: 978-0-226-77999-7

Asian Golden Cat Conservation

What is being done about Asian golden cat conservation? The first question is, "does this cat require conservation?" Yes. But do the authorities think that it does? As at 2002 it was said that it was difficult to assess the status of this cat species in the wild because not enough was known about it.

In China it is on the Protected Species List. This however will provide little actual protection. During the period 1980-81 234 skins where purchased in Jiangzi. This is one example. The skins of the Asian golden cat were commercially desirable and probably still are.

Camera trap - photo siwild (Flickr)

Another threat will be habitat loss. This cat is a forest dweller and forests are being systematically logged in Asia. Other threats are snaring, loss of prey and being killed by farmers. It is classified as "Near Threatened" by the Red List™. Numbers are declining.

The IUCN Red List™ (and organization set up to help conserve wild species) says that the Asiatic golden cat (P. temminckii) is listed under under Appendix I of CITES. CITES is a international agreement on controlling and preventing trade in animal parts - see CITES in relation to cats. It is not very effective. It is protected in most areas of its distribution under the relevant national legislation. Hunting is prohibited in most places and regulated in Laos. In Bhutan it is not protected outside protected areas. How good is the protection? How well is it enforced?

Associated page: Asiatic golden cat pictures

Outstanding tabby cats can look like an Egyptian Mau

Egyptian Mau kittens. Photo: Helmi Flick published here with her express permission.

Some feral and domestic cats look like Egytian Maus. The Egyptian Mau is a purebred cat. It has a spotted tabby coat. It is a refined looking cat because it is purebred (selectively bred). However, it Egypt they are all over the streets. There are feral Egyptian Maus in Egypt and in the region. This refined purebred cat in the USA has ancestors that are feral cats and before that the African wildcat.

You will see some stunning random bred cats both feral and domestic that are similar to the Egyptian Mau because they have a similar long term history - they both come from the Africa wildcat some 5-9,000 years ago.

Apollo

For this reason it is not uncommon for people to question whether their random bred cat is an Egyptian Mau or an Egyptian Mau mix. It is almost certain that the cat is neither. It is just that they came from the same stock thousands of years ago.

The picture right is of a nice looking random bred cat with a tabby pattern. The human keeper asks, "Is Apollo an Egyptian Mau?...Hi, This is my cat, Apollo. Could he be part Mau? Thank you!"

The probable answer is that Apollo is neither an Egyptian Mau nor an Egyptian Mau mix but a really nice looking cat. One extra tell tale sign is that Apollo seems to have a mackerel tabby coat (striped) and the Mau's coat is spotted. Thanks for asking though.

How do you know if a cat is in pain?

How do you know if a cat is in pain? This is something that is worrying me. Cats put up with the pain of cancer much better than we do. If a cat has a low level discomfort or pain due to say the effects of kidney failure, how do we know? We should know because in a very old cat we have to decide when to euthanize a cat that is in constant pain and terminally ill.

Pain that is the result of an incurable disease is a major factor in deciding when to be kind and to euthanize that cat. If we can't work out with even a poor degree of accuracy whether our cat is in pain, even low level pain, how are we to decide? It is a worry to me because I live with such a cat (Nov. 2011).

There is nothing in the index of the best book on cat health on the question. "How do you know if a cat is in pain?".

When this book describes the effect of kidney failure, it does not mention pain. It does not tell us if the various symptoms of kidney failure cause pain. And if our cat does feel pain under these circumstances, how is that pain expressed? There are symptoms but do they include pain rather than discomfort?

If we pick up a cat that is injured and cause pain the cat will probably cry out. A cat that was given a bad injection (vaccination) cried out. That is a sign. Verbalizing pain. But long term low level pain is different. If I am in discomfort and pain, I become quieter and less active. I want to be left alone to manage it. Is that how cats behave when they are in pain? Probably, yes, and they might lose their appetite. Accordingly, weight loss may be a sign of pain.

Non-routine behavior may also indicate pain. This page describes some rather vague symptoms of cats in pain. It is a difficult subject. Administering pain killers must be done under vet supervision.

When cats are declawed they feel acute and prolonged pain. They can't keep still and try and tear off their bandages. Strong pain killers are administered these days. That was not always the case because at one time vets thought cats did not feel pain - bizarre isn't it?

Associated page: Do cats feel pain after neutering?

Why do cats like milk?

The fat in milk is what cats like. Whole milk contains 3.5% butterfat (fatty part of milk) content. Cats like cream as well and medium cream contains 25% butterfat. Fats are part of a cat's diet. They provide energy. The average man has up to 24% fat in his body. Men are mammals. Mice are mammals. I can't find a figure for the percentage of fat in mice but it would be similar to humans, I would have thought. So mice, the primary prey of the domestic cat, has lots of fat in it. Cats like fat and like milk because of that.

Also milk is the kitten's food source immediately after birth. There must be a connection there because we keep adult cats in a state of kitten-hood due to the fact that we provide for them in every aspect of their nutrition. A cat is drinking mother's milk even when she is 15 years of age!

I realise that mother's milk (colostrum) is not supermarket milk but there are great similarities. The problem is that most cats are lactose intolerant (due to insufficient lactase) because the milk at supermarkets is cow's milk. We, too, can be lactose intolerant. Have you tried drinking lactose free milk or soya milk to see if it improves your health? We are not cows.....