Picture of Bengal Cat Opening Door Using Handle

We have all seen it but never any better than this. This Bengal cat has been caught red handed so to speak.

Photo: Pinterest.

We also know that cats learn by observation. It makes sense that they watch humans open the door and the enterprising individuals with sufficient nous decide to give it a try and voila, you have a Bengal cat looking a bit sheepish caught in the act of doing what his owner does.

Bengals are wild cat hybrids as you know. This boy is possibly an high filial cat judging by his size and if so he has more wild genes in him which in turn should make him more intelligent. I don't think high filial Bengals should be full-time indoor cats. They need more than the normal stimulation but also security. You can't let then roam around the neighbourhood. He'd get stolen.

The obvious way to be a responsible owner of a Bengal cat is to build a nice garden enclosure. So when opens the door and 'escapes' he escapes into a cat containment area.

What Does Margays Mean?

People ask the rather strange question "what does margays mean?" The word margays is the plural of the name of a small wild cat species called a margay. It lives in central and South America. The 18th-century naturalist George Buffon was the first person to use this name. Mel and Fiona Sunquist in their book Wild Cats of the World say that the name probably originates from the Guarani mbaracaya, meaning "wild cat".

Photo: Felidae Conservation Fund

Guarani is the language of the Guarani . There are over 3 million speakers of this language. My online research indicates that the language is one of the main divisions of the Tupi-Guarani language family. It is also the national language of Paraguay. They you are. I've answered the question "what does margays mean?" I hope this helps.

280 Cats Rescued from Cat Rescue Organisation

This might be a record for the number of cats to be rescued from, yes, a cat rescue organization. As it happens the organization concerned, Fur'N Feather Farm, rescues cats and birds judging by the title. It is located in Plant City, Florida, USA.

Lori Letzring, manager for pet resources and community services.

The 280 cats were seized because of health concerns. Florida Fish and Wildlife are helping out with respect to the birds. They were unsure how many cats there were inside the house as people were unable to enter it. I believe they have now entered it wearing protective gear.

Six cats have been euthanized. They were too sick. They had multiple health problems such as parasites, dehydration and respiratory infections. There are no reports at the time whether the owner of the organization is going to be charged with a criminal offense.

The organization's Facebook page has been taken down, which is a shame because it would have been useful with respect to photographs and more information.

Fox13 say that 247 cats have been rescued. However, they also say the number could be higher as the place is searched. A woman runs the shelter. I should say ran the shelter. We don't have her name. That is all I have for the time being.

Comment: it is not that uncommon for cats to be rescued from so-called rescue organizations or cat shelters. This is because the owner and manager and often the only worker becomes out of her depth and can't cope. They can't admit that it's gone wrong. They may even be hoarders in which case there would be borderline personality disorders causing the problem.

Heavy Metals in Pet Food

I'm not going to go over this in detail because I have recently written about heavy metals in pet food on the main website. You can read that article by clicking on this link.

I am simply spreading the word. But because the required standards are much lower for pet food it allows pet food manufacturers to produce food which is arguably unhealthy under the cover of the regulations which protects them. I'm talking about the USA by the way but I am not saying the UK is better. I will check that out later.



All that the pet manufacturers have to say is that they are complying with regulations and that the FDA says that their food is safe and they are home and dry. But a study recently discussed online concludes that heavy metals in pet food is between 8 and 670 times higher than in human food. The food would be considered unsafe for humans but under the regulations it is considered to be safe for cats and dogs.

I don't see how that argument stacks up. Anything which is poisonous or detrimental to the health of a human will also be poisonous to a cat or dog. Their anatomy is very similar.

A respected veterinarian, Karen Becker, says that almost all pet food is unacceptable. She cannot recommend almost all the pet food on the market because the standard is too low. She says that one in two dogs die of cancer and one in three cats die of cancer because she believes of the food that they eat.

The heavy metals that I am referring to are such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. These metals are linked to cancer, respiratory disorders and neurological disorders.

Please read the main article where there's more detail. The point is this: there needs to be a tightening up of standards and regulations and to maintain those standards in respect of pet food in America. The pet is a second-class citizen to put it bluntly. It is acceptable to feed them unacceptable food in terms of human standards. Surely this is incorrect.

If you were a conspiracy theorist you would argue that the food is deliberately of unsatisfactory quality and potentially poisonous to cats and dogs because it helps to supply a continual stream of health complaints to veterinarians. Therefore, you could argue that veterinarians are in league with pet food manufacturers. This is not a crazy thought because Hills prescription diet foods are heavily sold by veterinarians and they work in conjunction with veterinarians. As I recall, they get at veterinarians early in their careers and supply funding with respect to training et cetera. This pet food manufacturer is heavily embedded into the veterinary system in America. It's a two-way trade. The veterinarians get more business and the pet food manufacturers are able to make cheaper pet food and therefore increase their profit margins.

The FDA is silent about this as far as I know. It dismays a lot of people. Regrettably, however, the vast majority of cat and dog owners in America are unaware of these sorts of problems. I'm not criticizing anybody. There is a general apathy about the quality of cat and dog food. If it on the shelves is good enough to buy. They think that it is controlled adequately and the standards are high enough. They don't ask questions. Some people do ask questions and when they do they come up with these sorts of answers. Susan Thixon has a great website about pet food quality. Some of the articles that she writes are frankly shocking. The high levels of heavy metals in pet food is also shocking.

Very few people make their own pet food. Making raw cat food is quite difficult or people are put off doing it because they're uncertain about it. If they did it would certainly get around these health problems. People who make their own pet food swear by it. They say that their cats are healthier, their coats shinier and their poo less smelly!

Should 'lion' be capitalized?

No, the word 'lion' should not be capitalized. It's a standard noun describing a large wild cat species. However, if you wrote about the African lion, you will note that the word "African" is capitalized because it is common practice to capitalize the names of countries and places and words derived from those names.

It is interesting, by the way, that when I dictate articles as I am doing today using DragonDictate the software always capitalizes both lion and tiger. How about that? Very strange but it seems to be the default interpretation for this software which is, as mentioned, incorrect.

Evil Argentinian zoo drugs animals so tourists can pet them

Network for Animals tells us the story of an evil zoo in Argentina, Lujan Zoo, where they drug animals so that tourists can pet them and pose for photographs with them. It is cruel and heartless but no one cares. It is good business. The tigers are drugged. They are unable to stand. A lion was so drugged that he was unable to fed when provided with food. He had glazed eyes and a drooling mouth. He was in a deep stupor.

We know that zoos are bad enough but to do this is unconscionable and utterly unacceptable. The lions and tigers are drugged daily. The tourists are ignorant of what is going on. Or perhaps they realise but don't care. They grin into their cell phones posing while taking selfies.

As mentioned, it is illegal in the jurisdiction concerned, the city of Lujan, but the authorities don't enforce the law. A failure to enforce laws is as good as having no laws. Wikipedia says that Luján is a city in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina, located 68 kilometres north west of the city of Buenos Aires.

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Making Tattoo Ink from Cat Hair is a Misleading Concept

You may have heard of this. A tattoo artist is using the fur of your cat as a base for the ink that he uses. Once the ink is applied to the skin the concept is that you have a piece of your cat under your skin and therefore very close to you in perpetuity.

It's a way of having your cat with you after he or she has passed on. A female model, Kathrin Toelle, has had a large tattoo applied to her right thigh by a Swiss tattoo service known as Skin46 who claim that they extract medically clean organic carbon from the cat's hair and then transform that product into tattoo ink.

Tattoo Artist Roman Abrego/Model Kathrin Toelle

Skin46 say that they incinerate the hair through extremely high temperatures removing all impurities and carcinogenic compounds to create a pure carbon which is mixed with tattoo ink.

Of course it has to be purified because you cannot, as a tattoo artist, inject tainted material under a person's skin for obvious health reasons.

My argument is this: if you are reducing the hair of a cat to pure carbon you are destroying all DNA. If you are destroying all DNA then nothing remains of your cat. Therefore you are not injecting a piece of your cat under your skin.

My research indicates that the only time that DNA can survive a cremation is when bits of bone or teeth remain afterwards which are then crushed down. These fragments of teeth and bone will contain DNA. Of course, this cannot happen in the process described by the tattoo artist. The material has to be very fine, purified carbon and therefore this reinforces my opinion that it contains no DNA.

Therefore I would argue, politely, that Skin46 is misrepresenting their service. The client thinks that they have a piece of their cat under their skin but I would argue that they don't.

The concept is similar to making jewelry from the cremated remains of your pet. That process too would seem to be flawed.