Australians: 'We need more responsible cat ownership'. True?

This neat little audio presentation gives us a snapshot insight into cat ownership in Australia. But it depends on the state of Autralia where you live. Nontheless the domestic cat is less popular than dogs in Australia and the feral cat takes a bashing almost daily as it kills precious Australia native species. Of course there'd be no feral cats if there was better cat ownership. 

Aussie feral cat with ear tipping. Image in public domain. All feral cats originate in
domestic cats.

There is an ongoing debate about how to reduce predation by outside domestic cats and feral cats on native species. This particular discussion is about controlling domestic cats. The authorities have already decided to kill as many feral cats as possible. Cruel? Yes. TNR would be more humane but impractical as the problem has gone on for too long.

There is a real possibility that an Australian state will introduce a leash law for cats. The authrorities are struggling with the best way to manage indoor/outdoor domestic cats.

   

The ideas mooted are such schemes as nighttime curfews which keep domestic cats indoors between the evening and the next morning. This would prevent a lot of domestic cat predation and drive them mad as they like to hunt at dawn and dusk. 

Introducing this sort of restriction after a cat has had years of going out at will would be problematic for the cat and therefore also for the owner. It would be chaos actually if the cat was a keen hunter.

Leashes are another possibility but it is hell trying to get domestic cats to walk on a leash. They tend to flop over onto their side! This is a reflex response. If you get them to walk they'll stop all the time.

Obligatory enclosures is another idea but it forces home owners to fork out high costs and a lot of cat owners rent and they won't have the permission under the lease or agreement to build an enclosure.

It is a tricky subject: stopping domestic cats killing wild animals. Historically domestic cats have enjoyed complete freedom outside and legally they can't be done for tresspass. This feline right to freedom might change in Australia as the pressure builds to protect small native mammals and birds.

Mycotoxins in extruded (dry) commercial cat food

There is a fairly recent study called: Occurrence of Mycotoxins in Extruded Commercial Cat Food, which supports the news media story of 28 dogs in the US dying of aflatoxin poisoning (late Dec 2020). Aflatoxins fall under the umbrella term 'mycotoxins'. 

Fungal spores. This is to illustrate the page only. Image: in the public domain.

Both highlight a hidden danger in dry cat food which is rarely discussed: the presence of this fungal (mould) toxin produced by the Aspergillus flavus mould. There are other species of mould which also metabolise into mycotoxins.

The underlying point is that extruded dry cat food has grain in it. The mould referred to feeds on these grains which is why it ends up in cat and dog food. Why is grain in cat food? Because it is cheaper despite cats being obligate carnivores. 

It seems that poor quality grain is sometimes bought by the smaller pet food manufacturers which perhaps increases the risk. 

Two scientific studies that I have read indicate to me that there can be worrying levels of these toxins in dry cat food. One study analysed foods from Poland, Italy, Brazil, Poland, South Africa and Austria. Not the USA. 

But they concluded the following:

The results from the present study showed that mycotoxin contamination represents a critical point for pet food safety. Certainly, given the high stability of mycotoxins through the cooking process used to produce dry pet food, scrupulous monitoring of incoming ingredients undoubtedly represents the most effective strategy to prevent mycotoxin contamination.

AND

Pets are traditionally fed with the same type of diet for long periods of their life. Therefore, the scientific community should be aware of the potential chronic exposure of dogs and cats to relatively low levels of different mycotoxins and the consequential detrimental risks to their health.

The toxin is very dangerous. It seems that there is an ever-present possibility that they will be present in dry cat and dog food. It is simply a question on the level of contamination. If it is low there is low-level poisoning which would go unnoticed.

When the contamination is high it can kill as evidenced in the Sportmix dog food recall scandal in which 28 dogs have died. This figure may climb. 

The purpose of this post? To educated cat owners about a hidden potential danger.

The toxin damages the liver causing jaundice, lethargy, vomiting and loss of appetite. It can kill.

Prevention? Buy the best quality food that you can. Avoid the smaller manufacturers. I buy Hills Oral Care as the kibble pellets are larger which helps with teeth cleaning and it makes him chew the things. Cats sometimes swallow small pellets whole. Not good for digestion.

The study referred to is published on the US National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health website.

Dog Food Recall:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is cooperating in the recall. Sportmix is based in Evansville, USA, as I understand it.

Recalled lot codes are as follows:

50# Sportmix Energy Plus Lots Exp 03/02/22/05/L2, 03/02/22/05/L3, 03/03/22/05/L2
44# Sportmix Energy Plus Lots 03/02/22/05/L3
50# Sportmix Premium High Energy Lots 03/03/22/05/L3
44# Sportmix Premium High Energy Lots 03/03/22/05/L3
31# Sportmix Original Cat Lots 03/03/22/05/L3
15# Sportmix Original Cat Lots 03/03/22/05/L2, 03/03/22/05/L3

Cat and dog Covid vaccine given to orangutan at San Diego Zoo

This is a quick note to record the fact that San Diego Zoo has vaccinated 9 apes, one of them an orangutan named Karen, against Covid-19. The connection to cats is that the vaccine was developed by Zoetis with cats and dogs in mind.

Karen an organgutan first non-human primate to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Photo: San Diego Zoo.

The reason for the vaccinations? Their lowland gorillas caught the virus. There is a discussion about the potential for animals to form a reservoir for the virus. This is the first time non-human primates have been vaccinated for this virus.

All nine apes have had both doses. No adverse side-affects have been noted. A 49-year-old silverback gorilla got the virus last month and suffered from pneumonia. He's recovering after receiving experimental antibody treatment. Eight other gorillas are also recovering after falling ill.

Karen is a Sumatran orangutan born at the zoo on 27 August 1994. She is the first orangutan to have open heart surgery.

Did cats domesticate themselves?

It claimed that 'cats domesticated themselves'. But what does it mean? Firstly the statement should be amended to read, 'wildcats domesticated themselves'. That makes more sense and is more precise.

The cat domesticated itself? This is a European wildcat. The African-Asia version
of this wild cat species allowed themselves to be domesticated around 10,000
years ago but they did not 'domesticate themselves' in my opinion. Photo: Creative Commons
license on Flickr.

Specifically the African-Asian wildcat domesticated itself. But I am unsure if this is correct. The process of domestication takes two parties: the animal and the human. They play at least an equal role and perhaps in this instance the human played the major role.

What it means is that wild cats liked to be around farmers' grain stores about 10,000 years ago because there were hordes mice and other rodents there providing a supply of food. It was very attractive to a wild cat and it still is.

You'll still see wild cats near human settlements in Africa which is why they become hybrids having matted with domestic or semi-domestic cats.

Anyway because the cats willingly came to the farmers and hung around allowing the humans to get to know them it is said that the cats domesticated themselves. 

The better description would be that they allowed themselves to be domesticated as a consequence of being in contact with people. And of course the people desired that wild cat domestication. A two-way process.

The leader in the process must be the human. It is still the same now in the human-domestic cat relationship. The human leads and largely dictates the terms of the friendship.

Although there is a large amount of training that goes on by the domestic cat of the human. It is a gradual, informal version of training but equally effective but it once again relies on the agreement and cooperation of the owner.

Do male cats mate with their siblings?

Yes, male cats do sometimes mate with their siblings. They are not choosy it seems. Neither are the females as they will mate with a series of males such that their litter might have different fathers. But it depends on the opportunity and the personality of the cat. 

Forgive the rudeness of the photo. Cat mating on  a car's hood (bonnet in the UK).
Photo: in the public domain.

Male domestic cats are often neutered as are female cats. And male cats arrive to mate with a female in heat and then disappear as they are solitary animals. Except when they are forced to live cheek by jowl for example in a rescue setting where many cats live in the same home of perhaps a cat rescuer who has turned into a hoarder.

I remember seeing a photograph of about fifty white cats in one home. Clearly the parents had procreated and the male had mated with some of the offspring on a regular basis to create this huge colony of lookalike cats stuffed into the tiny kitchen looking for their dinner.

And there is that well-known picture of a Japanese island famous for its cat colony. There are hundreds of ginger tabbies or that is the impression. They family has inbred for donkey's years to create this massive family of orgiastic felines going at it from one year to the next.

Japanese island colony of look alike ginger tabby cats. Photo: public domain.

The thing is you don't read about it in the books on cats. It seems that the top writers on cats don't like to write about it.

Notwithstanding the apparent reluctance to write about cat orgies, Dr Desmond Morris in his book Catwatching states that a single breeding pair of domestic cats can procreate their way to a staggering 65,000 cats in five years, at least in theory because many die. The calculation is based on the presumption that males and females are born in equal numbers and that they all start breeding when they are a year old.

Kittens can grow into unneutered adults who are content to mate with their mothers. The males desire to mate due to their testosterone is not concerned with the finer points of life. Their mother is another female to mate with. A friend of mine tried to get his male white Persian to mate with his mother. The male was entirely disinterested. Is that a personality trait issue?