Sunday 13 November 2011

Meat By-products in Cat Food

In the USA the buyer should be aware of "meat by-products in cat food". What does this euphemistic phrase mean?  Meat by-products are actually obtained from 4-D animals. These are animals, mainly horses and cattle that are either: dead, dying, diseased or disabled at slaughter. They may have drugs in them that were used to keep them alive. These drugs and the pathogens that killed the animal remain in the carcasses after slaughter. This means that meat by-products include, diseased tissue, pus, carcasses in varying stages of decomposition that have been sterilized using heat, pressure and chemicals.

Sources:
  1. www.greyhounds.org
  2. Low Cost Natural Cures for your Dog and Cat Your Vet Doesn't Want You to Know

Saturday 12 November 2011

Deer Befriends Orange Tabby Cat

Dorothy showed me photos of a deer that has befriended a cat and I love them. They are a lesson to us. Here are a couple of pictures. The first one shows the orange tabby cat climbing over the deer. This is an act of friendship. The deer visits daily apparently to see his or her friend.

Deer and cat together as best friends. Photo author unknown.

Here is another picture of the deer "kissing" the cat:

Deer visiting and kissing orange tabby cat in back yard.

There are many other examples of cats being friends with other species of animal. I have seen cat and rat, fox and cat, monkey and cat, and horse and cat. I love them all.

Turkish Angora Personality

Gentle, easygoing and affectionate, so says one of the best sources about the Turkish Angora personality. Gloria Stephens in Legacy of the Cat says that the Turkish Angora is "quick-witted" (intelligent) and quick moving. She even says that this breed of cat can be quick tempered. I am not sure about that last comment.

Dr. Fogle who wrote, The Encyclopedia Of The Cat says that this cat breed is "energetic and exhibitionist".

Turkish Angora Ankara Zoo, Turkey

I would treat both these commentaries on the Turkish Angora personality with a bit of caution. There may be an underlying character trait for this breed of cat but we need to factor in the personalities of individual cats. This depends on breed characteristics to a certain extent and also how the individual cat was raised by the breeder.

For me, in any case, it is somewhat questionable whether we can say a breed of cat has a personality trait. All breeds are one species of cat. And all individual cats have their own personalities.

Roaring Sound of Tigers

Technically tigers don't roar despite the roaring sound of tigers being so well known. The tiger roar differs with respect to certain "critical features"¹ to the roar of the jaguar, leopard and lion. The tiger is therefore not one of the roaring cats. However, the tiger does roar and these four wildcat species are the only ones that do.

Air is expelled through the open mouth while the mouth is progressively closed. People can hear the roaring sound of tigers 3 kilometers away. It is therefore a long range sound telling other tigers of the caller's presence, but also used in other contexts.

A tiger might roar:
  • after killing large prey
  • before mating
  • during mating
  • when a female is calling her cubs
The lion, leopard and jaguar employ a roaring sequence. The tiger rarely employs a "regular species-specific structure"¹. Videos of tigers roaring are often not misleading as the tiger is not technically roaring. The video below would seem to be a genuine roar.



Note: (1) Wild Cats of the World ISBN-13: 978-0-226-77999-7


Prusten Sound

The prusten is a sound made by certain wildcats when in close proximity with other cats that is of low intensity and short. It is a snorting call. The wildcats that make this sound are: clouded leopard, tigers, snow leopards and jaguars. The clouded leopard makes similar sounds to the tiger.

The prusten sound lasts less than one second. It is a soft sound a bit like a horse snorting. Air is expelled through the nostrils. The larynx plays a part too. It is used in friendly encounters. It serves a similar function to gurgling and puffing. In the early part of the video below the tiger does a prusten. Note: videos are sometimes removed by YouTube without notice.



Featured Post

i hate cats

i hate cats, no i hate f**k**g cats is what some people say when they dislike cats. But they nearly always don't explain why. It appe...

Popular posts