Pretty Chinese Woman Commits Ugly Crime against Her Cat

This pretty, young Chinese woman has an ugly side to her.  She has a mean and nasty side to her, no question about that.  She adopted a cat and within 2 weeks, in a fit of anger about something else, she cruelly beheaded her cat, dismembered her cat and then posted the photographs on China's equivalent of Twitter.

She says she had vented her anger on her cat.  She said the reason was her family had been destroyed by her father's extramarital affair.

She was criticised heavily by other visitors on the website where she had posted the bloody photographs. She was forced into apologising in an open letter.  She said she had abused her cat under the influence of alcohol.

She said she lived in fear and guilt due to the torrent of criticism that she had received.  One user of the website said that she had disqualified herself as being a human being through her behaviour.

It is an extraordinary example of animal abuse. It is totally unimaginable that a person could do this to their domestic cat companion.  There is no doubt that this person disqualifies herself for life from keeping a domestic cat or any other pet for that matter.  As far as I'm aware there has been no prosecution of her and therefore no punishment. Certainly, it has not been reported and as we are well aware China does not have a fantastic reputation with respect animal welfare.

This pretty woman's name is Li Pingping. She used to be a marketing consultant and now works for the Chengzi Culture Communication Company in Huizhou. Shame on you Ms Li. Never go near a cat again for the sake of cats.

Original story: Daily Mail

Scientists Developing a Bad Reputation in their Relationship with Cats

Of course scientists are people and within a group of people you will find some who don't like nature, don't like wildlife and don't like cats.  Within the past week there has been a spate of stories about scientists and their relationship with domestic cats and the scientist does not come out of the stories in a good light.

Just yesterday there was a story of a talented and well-known scientist in the UK.  He developed new light equipment in order to treat cancers.  We are told that he "inadvertently" or carelessly killed a neighbour's cat.  He put poison down to get rid of the rats on his land in Cheshire.

He put down a mixture of bacon, tuna and slug pellets.  The trouble is almost any animal could eat this poisonous concoction so if he intended to target rats he did it very, very carelessly indeed.  It is difficult to believe that a pioneer in cancer research and invention was that careless.  It makes me think that he put the poison down deliberately, knowing that it might well kill animals other than rats.

His name is Colin Whitehurst (54).  His neighbour is David Furness (41).  David found his cat dying, foaming at the mouth having eaten Mr Whitehurst's poison.

What David says is important:

“The chap would openly say to me he didn't want any wildlife living in the area-but what I can't understand is why he bought a property with all that land."

Mr Whitehurst had a two acre parcel of land adjacent to his property and apparently put the poisonous mix on that.

Mr Whitehurst was prosecuted and taken to the criminal court where he admitted causing unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.  He was handed down a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2493.03 in costs.  The magistrate said that he had a disregard for wildlife.  He certainly did.

I must also refer to an animal testing facility at London University in which the scientists conducted Frankenstein-like experiments on domestic cats, cracking open their brains and inserting electrodes. Also, opening up the spinal-cord and inserting electrodes in that as well.  All in the name of some sort of vague benefit to people.  We don't quite know what it was about.  It doesn't really matter because it is totally unacceptable.

These are scientists who are highly educated many to Ph.D. level.  They should know better.  They should have a high level of morality and ethics built into their work and their behaviour.

Then we have the New Zealand Ph.D. economist who wants to exterminate all cats on the islands.

There have been cases reported in the past of scientists demonstrating bias in their work.  This is in relationship to the impact of the domestic cat preying on native species.  There's no doubt in my mind that there are many scientists who dislike cats in the same way that there are many people who dislike cats.  However, fortunately there are probably many more people who love cats.

Domestic Cat Urine is a Vast Resource as a Rodent Deterrent!

Domestic Cat Urine Odor as Rodent Management Strategy in Crop Fields

In Tanzania, Africa, researchers are seriously looking into the possibility of using the urine of female domestic cats to deter rodents from crop fields instead of using the usual chemical which is zinc phosphate.

Obviously cat's urine is perfectly safe on and in the ground while chemicals almost invariably cause some sort of environmental damage and often damage wildlife and in this case the chemical used can kill livestock such as chickens.

The chemical is a blunt instrument to try and deter rodents while the urine of female domestic cats is a highly precise, well targeted deterrent.

Apparently, female domestic cat urine is more effective than a male's.

I don't know how practical it is to use cat's pee on fields! It may be impractical but I doubt it.  It may be impractical to collect it and then transported to fields.  Scientists might be able to artificially create it using chemicals although I doubt whether it would be as effective because there's nothing quite like cat's urine.  It has a very long life because it is used to mark territory as we know and therefore it can withstand weather etc.

I also don't know whether there is any prospect that this process might be utilised in the West.  Is anybody doing any research on this in America or Europe?  I've no idea at present.  I would doubt it.

Is it impossible for people to recycle cat litter the same way that we recycle glass bottles and tin cans? Might it be possible for local authorities to collect cat litter and then use that either "as is" or processed for spreading onto crop fields?  I am dreaming crazily, no doubt ;)

Anything to improve the environment must be welcome and to put cat urine to good use is a great way to promote the image of the domestic cat in the eyes of people who are ambivalent about the domestic cat or indeed hate the cat.

Differences Between Cat And Dog People

This is another study on the differences between dog and cat lovers. The researcher was Denise Guastello, an associate professor of psychology at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.

This study reinforces what we already know from previous studies, but there's some additional information which is interesting.

Dog photo: USAG-Humphreys
Cat photo: Eirik Newth

In this study the researcher surveyed 600 college students. About 60% of the students surveyed said they would dog people compare to a much lower 11% who said they were cat people. The remaining 29% said they like both animals or did not like animals.

Those who said they were dog people tended to be more outgoing, lively and energetic while cat lovers were more open-minded, more sensitive and introverted than dog lovers. Importantly, cat people tend to be nonconformist. They appear to be more free thinking and more able to form their own ideas rather than follow the rules which appears to apply more to dog people.

Dog people won't like this but the study concluded that cat lovers were more intelligent than dog lovers.

A possible reason why dog lovers were assessed as being more energetic is because they have to be when taking care of a dog whereas the domestic cat being more independent and more able to take care of himself requires less in the way of energetic input. Most cats don't go outside on a leash for a walk with their owner whereas it has to happen once or twice a day for a dog.

For dog lovers the most attractive aspect of caring for a dog was companionship while for cat people it appears that affection was more important.

We know how dog owners sometimes look like their dog, well it also seems that people select their cat or dog on the basis that their personalities are similar. If cats are independent then so are their owners. There's a good match.

Cat Breed Head Shapes

Cat Head Shape

Cat breeders shape and manipulate the anatomy of their cats in order to differentiate them from another cat breed. The overall body shape varies significantly between the various cat breeds.

Another part of the cat's anatomy that cat breeders like to shape and stipulate in the breed standard is the head.

Cat breed head shapes -- extremes -
Photo RHS: copyright Helmi Flick

At one end of the spectrum you probably have the ball-shaped head of the Persian. The Scottish Fold has a particularly round head because the ears have effectively disappeared in lying flat to the head but the head is less rounded than the Persian's.

The cat breed standard for the Persian stipulates a round head but what is ironic about the Persian cat breed is that the breed standard also stipulates that the face is flat.  So the American cat fancy demands that the Persian has a rounded head but it cannot be rounded throughout the head because the face must be flat as if someone had punched-in the face.  That may be an unpleasant analogy but in India people who sell Persian cats call the cat a “punch face Persian". The Persian did not always look like this as 150 years ago the Persian had a more or less normal head shape (see a resume of the breed and the differences).

At the other end of the spectrum we have the long-headed cat breeds.  The best example of this sort of head is the modern Siamese cat.  Some people call the head “rat-like" and I can see what they are getting at.  This has been created through selective breeding.  The original Siamese cat did not have such an elongated face.  The idea was to make the Siamese look more elegant and refined but the process got a little bit out of hand!

In the middle, there are many cats and some cat breed standards insist upon the cat looking normal. They describe this as being not extreme.  These are my personal favourites.  The Bengal cat has a normal face.  The American Shorthair has a pretty normal head although it is a bit square and rounded at the same time!  That sounds peculiar but you might get what I mean.

The British Shorthair has a slightly rounded head with a face that is approaching the face of a Persian but far less extreme.

The Turkish Angora is interesting because the original in Turkey has a head shaped like a traditional Persian while in America breeders have elongated the head and made the body more lightweight to "refine it". I prefer the original by a mile. The same story applies to the Turkish Van. They are in fact the same cat!

If you click on the link at the top of this page will go to a full discussion on cat head shape.  This page has been written with the express intention of promoting the page on the main website because it is unique and it deserves top billing in my opinion.