Be Honest: Your Cats Keep You Awake at Night!

Are you getting enough sleep or are you being kept awake by your cat?  Doctors at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota state that pets may inhibit our sleep.  They state that having a pet next to you can keep you awake at night.  I agree with that completely but I still let my cat sleep next to me at night although sometimes I politely ask him to give me a little bit more space!

Apparently the scientists at the Mayo Clinic discovered that snoring, whimpering dogs and wandering kittens are the main reasons for keeping us awake.  Well I can add to that.  My cat keeps me awake because he lies next to me and he's hot, he's dammed hot and he is very static.  He's a hot water bottle that you can't get rid of and I can't turn and adjust my position.  This is what keeps me awake.

The research also concluded that there has been a small rise of 1% since 2002 from pet owners complaining about being kept awake by their pet.

Many people probably sleep even better with their cat or dog beside them.  If they read this article they would find it hard to believe but some people have different experiences.  It must depend upon the individuals, both companion animal and person.

The Mayo Clinic was researching sleep problems and they concluded that about 10% of pet owners in 2013 blamed, at least in part, their companion animals.

Another problem would be that some pets act as alarm clocks.  That must be a reference to the domestic cat because the domestic cat is crepuscular waking up early at dawn demanding food probably as that is the time they would normally go hunting for prey.

Multi-cat households must have a greater potential impact on a person's sleep. There may be an increase in multi-cat households hence the small rise in complaints.

Committed and Dedicated Cat Hoarding!

This lady went the extra mile in her cat hoarding.  She rented 2 apartments and in the apartments were 70 cats but not her!  She lived somewhere else.  She rented apartments for her cats. Unfortunately she failed to cope as usual and the cats were in a poor state as is almost invariably the case with cat hoarders.

The online newspaper where the story comes from says the woman turned her apartments into giant sized litter boxes! That gives a very clear idea what the apartments looked like. The cats and the very young kittens lived amongst their faeces and urine - many were covered in fleas etc.

She actually lived in the apartments at one time but moved out two months ago realising that it had all gone wrong and then very rationally she sought help from the local authorities. That single step indicates that cat hoarders are not always (if ever) crazy cat ladies.

There are some ladies who simply want to help but get in over their head. Nearly always they are unable to look at what they're doing objectively and even believe that what they're doing is good for the cats when quite clearly it is not. It starts off well and ends up a disaster when the number of cats become such that they lose control completely.

This lady simply provided food and water and nothing else which is clearly completely inadequate but at least she realised it. The address where the cats lived within 2 apartments is: four-plexes at 8208 Everton Ave, KANSAS CITY, MO.

Article on cat hoarding. There many others on the site.

You Can't Be a Great Veterinary Nurse Without Loving Animals

A central component of a veterinary nurse's skills is his/her love of animals.  Through that love and compassion her learned skills are far more effective.  Without that central core of tenderness towards her patients a veterinarian or veterinary nurse will only ever be average.

Veterinary Nurse Anna Johansson. Photo: RVC.

I believe that this is the thinking behind the selection procedure for applicants to a university in Scotland who wish to participate in a vet tech course.  In the UK, vet techs are called veterinary nurses.

Applicants to Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, have to interact with a dog during interview and demonstrate to the interviewer that they are able to do so to the requisite standard.  In this way the selection panel are able to reassure themselves that the person not only has the requisite academic qualifications but also the right attitude towards patients.

I need not say anything more.  All medical personnel, and I'm thinking particularly of nurses working in hospitals treating people, should have a compassionate approach to their job.  It is a vocation and the same applies to veterinary nurses.

Europeans Preferring Pets to Kids

It seems in some countries in Europe a percentage of women prefer to have a cat or dog, usually a cat, instead of a child. For example, in Italy women now have an average of just 1.29 babies each, which is far short of the required amount to maintain the population.

I recall, that in Germany they have a similar dilemma.  Economies are based upon a workforce and unless there is a sufficient workforce coming online then the economy will flounder especially when there are more and more elderly people living longer due to advances in medical care. The UK workforce is supported by immigrants.

It may be that this general trend in Europe, especially in northern Europe, prompted the current Pope, Pope Francis, to warn people not to have pets as a substitute for children.  He provided the advice that couples without offspring end up lonely and bitter.

The point he is making is that when you have an adult child or children, at least you have their company in old age.

I respectfully disagree (partly) because a lot of independent-minded people living alone who care for a companion cat are not lonely in part because of their cat.

Pope Francis delivered his message to married couples in the age bracket 25-60 who were invited to one of his morning Masses at the Vatican's St Martha's guesthouse, his home.

He went on to say,

“Jesus does not like...  marriages that are sterile by choice...  This culture of well-being from 10 years ago convinced us: it's better not to have children!  It's better!  You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be carefree.  It might be better, more comfortable, to have a dog and 2 cats, and the love goes to the 2 cats and dogs."

Pope Francis says: “this is true or is this not?  Have you seen it?  Then, in the end, this marriage comes to old-age and solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness."

Pope Francis likes nature and he wishes to preserve it.  He's a good Pope.  He does not have any pets, although his predecessor is a renowned cat-lover.  Before becoming Pope, Benedict XVI shared his Vatican flat with four cats.  When he became Pope he had to arrange for a cardinal to look after them.

Benedict agreed to the publication of a children's book (which I presume he did not write himself) entitled: Joseph and Chico: The Life Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat.

Pope Benedict has a collection of ceramic and crystal cat statuettes given to him over the years.  We are told he takes walks in the Vatican Gardens with stray cats.....

Martha's Vineyard: Piping Plovers Are More Important Than the Cat

At Martha's Vineyard the free roaming domestic and stray cat appears to have less value than the threatened piping plover. The piping plover is a sparrow-sized shorebird.

Last season there was concern about the plover's mortality rate and the assessment was that the feral or domestic cat was responsible for three deaths.

Piping plover preyed on by cats in Martha's Vineyard. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region.

That is pretty much all you need to know.  This is a straight competition between the value of a bird in the value of a cat.  It appears that humankind wishes to intervene into what goes on in nature naturally.  Perhaps the underlying motivation for this is because the domestic cat is non-native to America whereas the plover is a native species as far as I am aware.

So people are trapping these cats.  They do the best they can with them to re-home and return them to their owners but I suspect that if this goes on for long at least some of them will end up at shelters and at least some of those cats will end up being euthanised for no good reason other than they were taken to the shelter by people who wanted to protect species of bird.

I see the dilemma.  It would seem that the answer as to what to do is based upon the value of each species as I said and the value of each species is dictated by factors such as whether the species is non-native or native to a country and whether the population is large or small.  The decision also depends on whether the population is growing or declining.  On all those criteria the bird comes out as more vulnerable and therefore people decided to protect it and where necessary sacrifice the more abundant and more able domestic, stray and feral cat.