Tame Fox Loves Her Caretaker

A lot of people dislike foxes. In fact a lot of people hate foxes. They think they spread disease and are pests. Personally, I love them. I think they're great and they survive against all the odds in the human world.



The fox in the video, Dawn, was raised as a young cub and lives in a sanctuary in the UK (Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary). There are 5 other foxes at the sanctuary.

 My Charlie has frequently bumped into a fox when he is outside in the evening but nothing happens. The fox more or less ignores him and Charlie hisses at the fox. On one occasion Charlie was aggressive towards the fox, who I was feeding.

What To Feed Feral Cats

Although dry cat food is not as good as wet (high in carbs and too dry), it is more practical for feeding feral cats because it can be left and it won't go off. Any brand of dry cat food would do; the best quality affordable.

Update: Experienced feral cat caretaker writes this:

No, no, no to an absolute dry kibble diet for ferals. That's a lazy mans' way. It's time consuming, but what I do is prepare my feeders as much as I can ahead of time. All feeders have wet food layering the bottom and then covered with dry. They don't get any less than what I give to the darlings inside my home. I don't see them as "less than". They are equals. I make no less than 4 visits to my colonies per day. Early morns are the big feed fest, late morn is checking water supply and taking up leftover food, early afternoon is "snack" feeders put down, and late afternoon is taking up feeders and replenishing water. Because it's scorching hot in summer here, fresh water is a must. I'm especially vigilent during these months.

If the person can supervise the feeding then wet could be put down but it needs to be taken up quite soon afterwards depending on the ambient temperature. It goes off rapidly in warm weather in my experience. I can remember Martha Kane's husband, Richard Vella, feeding feral cat colonies in Malta with dry cat food. Here is the video:



When feeding with dry food, fresh water should also be put down. There should always be a supply of fresh water  - common sense.

Feeding early in the morning would seem to make sense. Feral cats feed throughout the day. Evening and morning are probably favorite times as they coincide with their hunting activities.

One cup of dry cat food per cat per day would appear to be sufficient. If there is food left over it is probably too much and vice versa.

Dee an experienced cat lover may like to add to this in a comment. 

Cat Eye Color Change

A cat eye color change will take place at about 7-9 weeks of age in the life of a kitten. Until then the eye color is created by light refraction. Thereafter the formation of pigment in the iris of the cat's eyes creates the color. The change in eye color is due to a delayed creation of pigmentation in the iris of the young cat.

Below are pictures which show (a) the difference between the iris and pupil and (b) why kittens without pigmentation in the pupil always have blue eyes:



These images illustrate this page which explains things.

Pallas Cat Domestic Ownership California

The title is a rather clumsy phrase used by people searching for information about keeping the Pallas cat in California as a pet.  That is my reading of the search term.

Without going into lots of detail as to why it is inappropriate to keep a Pallas Cat as a pet in California, suffice to say that the keeping of a wild animal by individual person is banned in California.

There is one qualification.  If the person owned the animal in question before in 1992 they are allowed to keep the animal until I presume the animal dies.  In 2014 that would not be applicable to any wild cat species because none of them live beyond an absolute maximum of around 20 years.

Most often small wild cat species in captivity die relatively young because they are unsuited to that sort of lifestyle. Private zoos and public zoos have great difficulty in maintaining their stock for this reason.

The Pallas Cat is very cute looking and quite a few people think about having one of them as a pet but it won't work and it is not good for the cat. Even wild cat species known to be quite amenable to being domesticated are a handful and will challenge even the most dedicated exotic pet owner.

Below is a map from the excellent Born Free USA website which provided information about the banning or otherwise of exotic pets on a state-by-state basis:

Do Companion Animals Exhibit Jealous Behaviour?

Dogs Engage in Jealous Behaviours 

The answer to the question in the title is probably, Yes.  But the underlying reason for jealousy is probably not what you think it is.  We think of jealousy as losing a girlfriend or boyfriend. We think of jealousy in terms of human behaviour and at a rather superficial level.

It is believed by some scientists that jealousy originates in siblings fighting over family resources.  In short, it is more about survival than being jealous over a potential interloper into your love life.

In respect of domestic dogs, a study conducted by the University of California indicates that dogs exhibit behaviour which is consistent with what we describe as "jealousy".

36 dogs were involved in the study.  The owners were asked to pay attention to objects other than their dogs and the attention that they paid to these objects was the same as if they were paying attention to their dogs.

The objects were a pop-up book, a plush dog toy and a bucket.  As you can see, one of these objects is very similar to a living domestic dog and the test was to see whether a dog responded more actively when the person was petting and stroking the plush toy compared to engaging in similar behaviour with the other objects.

As it transpired, the dogs were twice as likely to try and gain attention of the owner when he or she was petting and interacting with the plush dog toy when compared to the bucket. Dogs were 4 times as likely to intervene when the person was engaged with the plush toy compared to being engaged with the book.

A clear indication is that the dogs perceived the plush toy as an interloper into their relationship and the situation needed to be stopped through the dog's intervention.

This was perceived as jealous behaviours by the scientist but they appear to recognise that the underlying purpose of these behaviours was probably more to do with survival than as we perceive the meaning of the word “jealousy". How cat I stop my cat's jealous behavior? (note: the article linked to was written some time ago and what is written may clash with this page).

Once again, a study has indicated that dogs are able to experience an emotion which human regard as a secondary emotion and beyond their capabilities. Humans are rather egocentric and find it difficult to believe that other species of animal are able to feel what they feel and are driven by the same sorts of motivators that humans are.

My wish is that these sorts of studies educate people to respect the domestic cat and domestic dog more and learn to treat them as an equal in value to themselves.  This should help to reduce the number of unnecessary acts of companion animal euthanasia across the countries where companion animals are kept by people.

Notes: this is a cross post from the main website to increase exposure. The study referred to is published on the Plus One website. Associated post: Attention seeking behavior in cats. Dogs participated in the study for the convenience of the researchers, I suspect. My feeling is that cats display similar behaviors.