Domestic Cat Lifestyle No Longer Compatible with Their Genes

Domestic Cat Lifestyle No Longer Compatible with Their Genes

The title to this post is a very interesting way of expressing the current problem that we have in caring for our domestic cat companions. It could be argued that currently, in general, we are failing in our care of the cat. This is because their lives are increasingly integrated with ours which results in them being subjected to the same pressures that we have because the way they live is the way we live but they are unsuited to this. The domestic cat is a whisker away from their wild cat ancestor.

Average weight community cats. You don't see obese community cats. Photo by donjd2

We are aware that there has been increasing obesity amongst humans in the West with a resultant increase in human diabetes; the same thing is happening amongst the feline population. An increase in feline diabetes is greatest amongst cats whose lives are more fully integrated with the lives of their human caretaker.

In the UK, whereas 50% of cats kept indoors are obese, half this percentage of cats that are allowed to go outdoors are obese. The conclusion is obvious, namely that the outdoor cat is more able to express his/her natural desires and motivations and in doing so exercise herself.

To keep cats indoors full-time is fully understandable because there are many dangers outside the home, particularly in America where there are predators. The usual danger is of course road traffic. But this creates a dilemma for the cat caretaker. On the one hand there is the need to protect their cat from injury and on the other hand there is the need to protect their cat from becoming overweight with the incumbent multiple health problems that brings.

The basic answer to the epidemic in feline obesity and feline diabetes is to turn the clock back and allow the domestic cat live a more natural life. This is impossible as the world develops and becomes more heavily populated with people. So you can see immediately that we are creating a world environment which is less and less suited to the domestic cat.

Cat caretakers have an ever greater tendency to feed their cats with tasty rich foods combined with high carb. dry food because this is the sort of food that they themselves eat. Being indoors the cat has less opportunity to exercise and the potential result is foreseeable: overweight cat.

Apparently, in the UK, the average weight of cat has ballooned by 25% over the past 10 years. Nowadays, the domestic cat is 400% more likely to become diabetic than 30 years ago.  Something needs to be done but this is an incredibly complicated problem because, as mentioned, the underlying problems are intractable namely the environment that we are creating for our cat companions disallows the possibility that he or she is safe to go outside.

I'm sure there are many cat owners who feel guilty watching their cat balloon up. One such cat caretaker is Michelle Howlett whose cat Daniel, aged 11, ballooned up to 12 kg which is getting on for three times the normal healthy weight for a domestic cat. I'm sure that she knew she was doing the wrong thing but as Lindsey Quilan of Battersea Cats and Dogs Home in London say:

“...  People often give their pets too much food or the wrong types of food as an expression of their love, although it is in fact a form of cruelty."

This is patently true but we can't help it sometimes because we want to please our cat and because people themselves struggle with their weight and tend sometimes to give up the battle.

Thousand years ago you would not have seen obese domestic cats.  They were often barn or street cats.  There were also community cats and sometimes they were domestic cats like you see today. The domestic cat, 1000 years ago, lived a shorter and less healthy life because of a lack of veterinary care but I'd be surprised if they suffered from obesity and diabetes, the modern feline disease of catastrophic proportions.

Was This Baby Cheetah Rejected by Mother?

The video and the story state that a 6 week old cheetah was rejected by its mother in the wild. The cub was given a new home at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The cub has been placed with a 7 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy for companionship and to learn socialisation.

The whole story is based upon the fact that this baby cheetah's mother rejected him or her. I wanted to know why the mother of a baby cheetah rejects him. Does it happen in the wild as stated?

Perhaps the first question is which country does this cheetah come from? The country where they are most populous is Botswana in the South West of the African continent. Perhaps that was his home. He is now a long way from his home. We don't know anything about the story of how he came to be transported to San Diego, USA.

The premier book on the wildcat species is “Wild Cats of the World". Having read quite carefully the section about the reproduction and development of the cheetah, I can't find any references to mother cheetahs abandoning their young. The general tenor of this section of the book indicates to me that cheetah mothers are extremely diligent and demonstrate a lot of commitment and care in raising their young.

We don't know what happened. Perhaps the cheetah mother simply lost her cub in the wild. Or, if one is more cynical, you could argue that this cute little cheetah was stolen by somebody in the wild. Big Cat Rescue states that cheetah mothers may abandon their young if it is too hard to feed then due to scarcity of prey. Perhaps the cheetah never lived in the wild?

In the video, you will note that the baby cheetah has an interesting pelage. The coat is silver-grey. Quite a different colour to the adult cheetah. There is a long mantle of silver-grey fur which covers the crown of the head, the nape of the neck and the back. We fur on the flanks and undersides is dark. The mantle is unique to young cheetahs and no other young felid has such long dorsal hair. As he grows up the mantle is lost. Cheetahs retain the remnants of the mantle as a mane or crest through adolescence.

Author: Michael (see horizontal menu for my details). Source of cheetah information: Wild Cats Of The World by the Sunquists.

Question: Is Lux The Celebrity Aggressive Cat Declawed?

Having followed the Lux story from its inception on the Internet I am yet to see any reference made to the possibility that this cat - who is supposed to have a history of aggressive behaviour - has been declawed. We know that Jackson Galaxy, the well-known cat behaviourist is figuring out what is wrong and what causes the aggression (his assessment will be discussed on his Animal Planet television programme “My Cat from Hell").  However, I'm certain that Mr Galaxy has not made any reference to whether Lux has been declawed or not. We know he has struggled to solve the riddle.

It is a question worth asking simply because a cat's behaviour can be detrimentally affected by the declawing operation. It depends on the individual cat. Some cats will be affected much more than others. Some cats will undergo a botched operation and may be suffering from acute discomfort with bone shards in their toes and/or nail regrowth under the skin. There are all kinds of possibilities and cats do not disclose their discomfort except sometimes in aggressive behaviour which apparently has no obvious cause. Cats can become vulnerable/fearful without claws, it is said, and tend to bite in compensation.

I am of course simply speculating. I do not have the faintest idea whether Lux was declawed and if he was whether it affects his behaviour and has turned him into a cat with a history of aggression. I am simply asking the question and I hope somebody is able to answer it. Perhaps Mr Galaxy can and will do so in his television programme which is very shortly to be aired.

PETA Chases Mass Cat Killer With Billboard Advertisement

Billboard Advertises 22,500 Dollar Reward To Find Killer of Cats

This is a good one. This pleases me. I love to see this sort of commitment from animal charities in being the voice of animals and, by God, they need a voice sometimes.

Photos by PETA. (the collage prepared by Michael)

The high-profile animal charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) with other charities such as a HSUS took a bold step in placing a large billboard on top of a building in Yonkers, New York, USA, which declares to the world that they are offering $22,500 to anyone who can provide information that leads to the prosecution and conviction of the person or persons who killed 25 cats and kittens and who strung them up in black plastic bags on a tree in a wooded area.

It is one of those macabre, evil, dark animal crimes that leaks out of the underworld of society. It must be one of the worst cases of animal cruelty in the state of New York for a very long time.

The person who did it appears to be quite confident because in a way they advertised their criminal behaviour.  There was no need to put the battered kittens into binliners and then hang the binliners from a tree. That is another form of advertising. It is quite appropriate, therefore, that well-known animal charities are now using advertising on billboards to find this nasty person.

Lux Suddenly Snaps While Being Assessed by Jackson Galaxy

“It blew my world apart.” Galaxy talking about Lux

Jackson Galaxy with Lux. Photo: Animal Planet

Jackson Galaxy gets a surprise while assessing the behavior and character of his latest "patient", Lux, the notorious so called "cat with a history of aggression"

Jackson Galaxy has been assessing Lux in preparation for his television show “My Cat from Hell".

Like many of us, his initial assessment was that this cat had been provoked in some sort of way perhaps by the child of the family against the background of an environment that was not calm which caused Lux to become aggressive on occasions.

Jackson Galaxy admits that his initial assessment was incorrect.  He says has had to rethink the way he goes about dealing with cat behaviour problems. This is because Lux has thrown up new challenges.  It is the most difficult case he has dealt with in 20 years he states.

During Jackson Galaxy's six-week assessment, living with this cat, he fell in love with him.  They were getting along like a house on fire.  Then suddenly Lux showed him something unexpected.  He snapped and became aggressively violent, he says.  I have to presume that this outburst of domestic cat violence was totally unprovoked unless Jackson Galaxy was testing Lux to see how far he could go with him to check how well balanced, or not, Lux's character is.

In any case, he says that Lux blew his world apart, meaning, I presume, it changed his attitude towards cat behaviour problems.  We will have to wait and see what he says in his television programme scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, June 14 on Animal Planet.

Has anyone said if Lux has been declawed. If so that is a potential cause.

Having read what he has said about his relationship with this celebrated cat, we can pretty confidently say that 90% of all cat behaviour problems are to do with the environment in which the cat lives together with the socialisation of the cat but clearly some behaviour issues are inherited and some are caused by chronic discomfort or pain suffered by the cat. Perhaps the latter two factors have played a part in this instance.

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Note about the photo: I have taken the liberty in publishing it here in exchange for this link to the Animal Planet website and in promoting Jackson Galaxy's work and this important example of feline behavior.