UK - Don't Buy a Pet On Gumtree

The story concerns a dog, Kai, and I am sure that a lot of people have read about this.  The dog was left abandoned on a railway station with all the bits and pieces that a person needs to look after the dog in a suitcase.  It was the classic Paddington Bear scenario.  There was uproar as to how somebody could leave a dog on a railway station, so cruelly abandoned and the abandonment was highlighted by all the accoutrements the person needed to look after the dog being left on the railway station as well.

As it turns out, the story isn't a simple case of the abandonment of a domestic animal.  I believe that we can lay the blame for this act of apparent domestic animal cruelty at the feet of a commercial organisation: Gumtree.  Gumtree is a bit like Craigslist in America.  It is the American version of it.  Anybody can sell anything on Gumtree.

In this instance we discovered that a lady, Fin Rayner, had left the dog at Ayr railway station, Scotland.  What happened was she had responded to an advert for the dog on the Gumtree website; the dog had been advertised for £400.  The dog is a cross breed shar pei.

'I went to buy a dog but the dog was not the same as the picture advertised.'

When she met the seller, a man, she realised that the dog was not the same animal that she had seen advertised on Gumtree and, in addition, she noted there was a problem with the dog's eyes (probably a breeding problem). She became suspicious and, in response, the seller asked for a deposit of £150 if she wanted to take the dog for a walk.  She appears to have done that but she hadn't got far before the man disappeared with her money.

Things got worse because the dog was clearly nervous and unsettled as he was peeing everywhere.  The lady felt she had not bought the dog and having tried to call the seller to return to collect his pet without success she decided to get on the next train to Glasgow and before doing so she told a member of staff at the station that the dog belonged to somebody else. She abandoned the dog.

She said: 'He lied about the dog. I can't believe he did this....I've been shaken for days....I don't think people should sell dogs on Gumtree.'

The moral of the story is that you should not buy a dog on the Gumtree website despite the fact that there are many cats and dogs and other pets on that site.  You simply cannot be sure what you are buying.  There is not only a problem in respect of the buyer but also the animal.  Many buyers will also be unscrupulous leaving the animals exposed to abuse having been sold on perhaps for animal research or perhaps dog fight baiting.

Of course, not all sales of domestic animals on Gumtree go wrong but the whole process is simply unethical and liable to go wrong and I'm thinking of the animals more than the people.  It is disrespectful to advertise them online.

The reason why the seller wanted rid of his dog is because he/she had an eye problem requiring surgery, the price of which was £1,000. He could not afford it. A vet did the surgery for free probably organised by the Scottish SPCA.

Justin Bieber's Fake Penis

Forgive me for the title and that there isn't a cat in sight.  It is just that this is so modern. The fakery.

Apologies for the rude title but it is honest.

It is isn't just fake muscles and fake chest and whatever else has to be fake in a fake world. Bieber has to make his penis look bigger in his underpants.

Big deal. I don't know whether he agreed to this Photoshopping. He should have vetoed it. He should have asked questions. He seems to have let his "advisers" take charge and make him look silly, to be candid.

When this sort of fakery dominates the online media there is little chance for people to comprehend the reality of the current situation regarding the plight of the wild cat species. Their conservation is failing but few people have registered that.

Whoops....I have mentioned a cat.

Riverview Sphynx cat found with dart in head

Riverview cat found with dart in head - WFLA News Channel 8

Calico Sphynx and bolt

The abuse that we see in the photograph is not unusual, to be honest. There's quite a lot of cat abuse of this sort and it takes place anywhere. In this example it took place in Florida, USA. It looks as though somebody with a crossbow shot at this cat from behind, aiming towards the cat's head and just connecting with the head sufficiently so that the bolt pierced the skin but not the skull thereby allowing the cat to survive.

The usual aspect of this photograph is that the cat is a Sphynx cat and a calico Sphynx, at that, so the cat is rare. Another unusual aspect of this story is that the cat was obviously outside wandering around so somehow the cat got out while the owner was away. This sort of cat breed should not be allowed to go out and I know the owner knows that but extra precautions should be taken because these cats are hairless or almost hairless and they are not suited to outdoor roaming for all kinds of reasons one of which is that they are extremely noticeable and therefore can be stolen and another is that anatomically they are unsuited to life outside the home as, for example, they can get sunburned or feel the cold. These are obvious points.

The cat's name is Akila. Tyra Bulluck is the owner.

The photograph is by Animal Coalition of Tampa.

Ambulance sent out for cat with diarrhea

In the UK there is a well-publicized crisis unfolding in the accident and emergency (A & E) departments of hospitals.

There are many reasons for the huge increase in the numbers of people presenting themselves at A & E, one of which is that the NHS 111 system is failing in that it directs too many people to A & E because it is run by an algorithm (a computer program) and the computer programme plays safe and defaults to A & E.

The NHS 111 system is a telephone, call center helpline to which people who have suffered an accident can telephone for advice. It used to be manned by nurses but is no longer.

The employees at NHS 111 are laypeople who are briefly trained and who rely on their computers to make decisions (to provide the advice to the caller).

An anonymous whistle blower disclosed that on one occasion, "One call handler sent an ambulance to a cat with diarrhoea". This shows that both the call handlers and the computer algorithm are unable to consistently make the right decisions thereby highlighting the failure of the system.

The government now understands where a major reason for the A & E crisis lies - thanks to a cat.

I wonder what the doctors at the hospital did about the cat's diarrhea ;) .

Cat Behaviorists Should Be Scientifically Qualified

Cat behaviorists should be scientifically qualified because cat behavior is a science. There has to be a good knowledge of the behavior of animals generally and specifically the wild cats. The cat behaviorist should ideally be a zoologist and an ethologist (scientific study of animal behavior). Ideally they should have a good academic qualification in zoology and ethology. I am thinking of a doctorate from one of the world's top universities.

The problem for me is that nearly all cat behaviorists dispensing advice on the internet are unqualified academically in a relevant science.

I know that years of observation of cat behavior is great training and is almost enough but a hard, scientific background from a university where the undergraduates have to think out the box and post-doctoral researchers create something new is the best training for a cat behaviorist.

These sorts of people don't necessarily follow the crowd. They decide for themselves. You'll see that internet cat behaviorists nearly always follow the same arguments. That is not necessarily a poor thing but an open, enquiring mind is better placed to provide the best answers.

Vets are often not best qualified to discuss cat behavior. General animal behaviorists may not be sufficiently experienced to advise accurately on cat behavior. Not all information on the internet, which is where most people do their research, is reliable.

I'd advise a good book by a well qualified author over casual internet research although the latter can add to the former.