Cat head backyard fence is delightful

Well, it is the first time I have seen a fence like this, and I am impressed. It is uncomplicated. It weathers nicely and in fact the weathering of the fence makes it look better. The slats are staggered which makes them more distinct and I like the way the slats are separated slightly so each one becomes a cat. It's an ideal fence for a cat lover obviously.

Cat head backyard fence is delightful. Image: Twitter.

You just have to make sure that you don't live next door to a cat hater! Because if you did it would irritate them tremendously. I don't think it would cost that much for a carpenter to create this and add real character to your backyard or back garden. Or perhaps it would be better in the front yard so the world could see it more easily.

Here is a closeup:

Photo of 'conjoined cats' wins prize but is it photoshopped?

This is a photograph taken in Japan by Kenichi Morinaga of one white cat and one ginger tabby cat who appear to be "conjoined". They are sitting on a fence. The photograph won first prize in the 2022 Comedy Pet Photo Awards.

'Conjoined cat' won a photo prize but is it photo-edited? Photo: Kenichi Morinaga.

My immediate reaction when I saw it was to ask if the photograph has been created with photo-editing because it very much looks like it. I just don't think that you can get this appearance by two cats being in close contact with their heads facing away from the camera. Anatomically it is impossible to achieve this, I would say. But it beat the judges! Perhaps they accept photo-edited images?

The news media say that the "cats are pressing their necks together to give the appearance of being conjoined". It just doesn't look right to me. And I know how to photo-edit photographs and it would not be that difficult to photo edit this image as follows.

How he did it using photo-editing

One of these cats was sitting on the fence and the photographer acquired another cat from the Internet that was in a configuration ideal to place it on the fence when the background was removed. The photographer then removed the heads of the cats and placed the two cats together. He made sure that the connecting point was roughed up a little bit so that it looks more natural.

How he'll spend the money

The prize was £2,000 plus a £5,000 donation to an animal charity of his choice.

Morinaga said that he likes to spend time travelling around Japan's islands to photograph street cats.

The photographer has a fascination for the antics of cats. He said: "When I returned to Japan, I continued to seek them out, they really cheer me up, especially after the last two years of the pandemic. They are so funny, even when they are doing something serious."

He is going to use the prize money to fund more photo trips around Japan. He said: "I would like to continue photographing many cats and bring many more smiles to people's faces. Through funny photos I hope that the world will one day become a kinder one, where cats, dogs and other animals are not abandoned or mistreated."

Does my cat understand when I pick him up and hug him?

A social media user asked: "Does my cat understand when I pick him up and hug him, or is he just waiting to be moved/put down?"

Does my cat understand when I pick him up and hug him, or is he just waiting to be moved/put down? Image: MikeB based on image in the public domain.

The answer to the question depends on the circumstances. However, if you have the habit of picking up your cat gently and gently talking to him and gently loving him and you do this as an expression of love and friendship, your cat will understand what it means and respond accordingly. 

However, if you regularly pick up your cat and transport them to another place under certain circumstances and you do it over and over again then your cat will understand that picking them up and transporting them means just that and it is not an expression of love towards your cat. 

Like I said it's a question of circumstances and how a cat links your behaviour with those circumstances to deduce what is going on.

There is also the issue of how you pick a cat up and whether you do it in the correct way or incorrectly and how you hug your cat when they are in your arms. Do you carry your cat like a baby which is feet up and, on their back, or do you carry them in a way which is less intimidating to them? 

Sometimes when people treat their cat as babies the cat can become a little anxious. In which case they will want to be released. And cats vary tremendously in their preferences.

Some cats like to be carried or jump on to their owner's lap while others are less keen. Some cats actively dislike being picked up and carried and they'll complain. For them, picking them up and hugging them cannot be a pleasant experience of affection from their owner.

And clearly, there has to be a good general relationship between cat and person. If the relationship is slightly tense or fractious, a cat will not wish to be picked up because it will only tend to make them nervous. The opposite will happen if there is a good relationship, and the cat likes to be picked up and understands that it is a demonstration of affection from their human caregiver.

Neighbor from hell threatens to kill the stray cats that I feed

USA: This is about a new neighbour from hell and how to deal with him. It is not an uncommon problem, but it is an almost intractable one and my advice based on a lifetime of experience is to move home.

A social media user is desperate for advice. They say that they bought a house five years ago after much effort and he is pleased that he has managed to secure a safe haven for himself and his family. It has a large backyard and a forested area beyond. Therefore, there is lots of wildlife including possums, foxes, raccoons, deer and groundhogs and even an otter. He enjoys this.

How do you combat neighbours from hell who want to kill stray cats that you feed, and this is in the country. Image: MikeB

And there are two neighbourhood stray cats hanging around his carport, so he feeds them every night at the same time that he feeds his three indoor cats.

"At a loss about animal hating new neighbors" - social media user desperate for help.

A new neighbour bought the house next door about a month ago. It is clear to him that his neighbour is an animal hater plus a neighbour from hell. For example, his neighbour said that he saw a groundhog in his backyard and that they are going to feed it with food baited with a constipation treatment so that the groundhog shits itself to death.

"Feed it Ex-Lax so it will sh*t itself to death" - neighbour from hell

And also, the animal hater has told them that they need to stop feeding the stray cats because they scratched his car (probably a lie). The neighbour said that unless they bring the stray cats inside, he is going to kill them.

When they told him that they've been feeding the stray cats for years he said that he didn't care.

As a consequence, they called the police non-emergency number, but they said that there is nothing that they can do because the cats are stray and also because the neighbour from hell hasn't actually done anything yet. Typical police, negative response. They could have at least spoken with the man.

Then they decided to bring one of the stray cats inside, but this made her miserable and the resident cats were also unhappy as expected. The other stray cat gets into fights with other cats and is a genuine feral and they can't get near him.

They want to protect the two stray cats but don't know how to do it except to keep an eye on them. The trouble is that he works and can't protect the cats 24/7.

To sum things up, the man (65 years of age) is seeking advice and has been living in a property for five years and his new neighbour hates animals and is threatening to kill stray cats that he feeds.

My advice

My advice on social media was very negative advice and one that I feel that many people would reject but I think it's the right one and it is this: to move home. I know that sounds awful but when you live with a neighbour from hell you can't beat them. 

Well, you can probably beat them in the end after an awful lot of argument and possible litigation but when you have achieved that you've actually lost because you are then living next to a person who hates you and will probably do all they can to make your life miserable for years.

As soon as you enter into a major dispute or long-term disputes with your neighbour even if that dispute was caused by their bad behaviour, there is no reasonable answer to the problem except to get out and move on.

In fact, my experience tells me that under the circumstances you should not complain about your neighbour from hell's behaviour. You should not talk to them. We should not do anything other than move home quietly.

If you complain about them and put in formal complaints to the local authority or whatever it has to be declared when you sell your home, and it will put off potential purchasers.

Neighbours from hell are irrational. And therefore, it's impossible to deal with them rationally. It's impossible to make progress with them. It's impossible to negotiate or discuss things with them because they want to dictate terms from the onset. Therefore, you either accept what they say, or you get out.

I guess there is another outcome which is to let the madman kill the cats but that is probably less acceptable than moving home. And in any case, you are left with living next to a neighbour who is a complete nuisance and likely to be a nuisance about something else in the future.

Nicolas Cage's best friend is his cat Merlin

Nicolas Cage, the iconic American actor who has made some super films and many flops 😒 says that his cat Merlin loves him and is very affectionate. Merlin loves contact and jumps into bed with Nick and hugs him and he thinks it is his wife but 'Nope, it's Merlin!'

Cage and Merlin. Is this really Merlin. The cat in the video looks like a blue purebred British Shorthair but 'Merlin' is a 4-year-old Maine Coon. The cat in the video is not a Maine Coon. Image: Screenshot.

Merlin shows Nick Cage a lot of affectionate energy and he calls him a 'real sweetheart'. And he means it. And I am sure all of us who have been loved by their cat companion know what he means. 

When a cat loves you and shows it in their behaviour it is special. We are privileged to experience cat love 😊💓✔️.

Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source, or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.

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What I positively don't like about the video is the stupid video editing which, for me, dilutes the genuine affection that Cage has for Merlin and vice versa. 

And the cat is a Maine Coon while Merlin is a Maine Coon. So, the video maker got that entirely wrong. I can't find a reliable photo of Merlin at the present time.

The video takes the piss out of the relationship, and I believe that it is a genuinely loving relationship. You don't take the piss out of that. I am being too serious perhaps but that's how I see it. Maybe it is Cage who's taking the piss out of the relationship, but I don't see that happening as he is a known cat lover.

P.S. Initially I misspelled his first name which was unforgivably careless of me. And as I dictate these posts his surname was also misspelled, and I missed them both! Horrible. Sorry. Doing things too fast.

Humans moan about feral cats, but human carelessness created them

Every day on the online news media - every damned day (yes, I am annoyed) - we see hundreds of articles on local, state and federal newspapers and from other countries particularly Australia, about feral cats and the nuisance that they cause. The biggest complaint about feral cats is that they kill birds. But of course, they kill other animals too, sometimes native species, which really irritates local authorities and going higher up to federal authorities.

This sort of picture annoys millions of people, and they blame the feral cat. Let's go one back and blame the people who are careless cat owners. Image in the public domain.

They moan and moan and they criticise feral cats over and over again. The dreaded feral cat is a constant concern to the authorities. They speak of feral cats as if they are monsters from another planet. They just arrived out of the ether, and they are a damned nuisance.

The old saying 'don't shoot the messenger' comes to mind. The feral cat is the bringer of bad news to people in the community. They don't tell citizens the bad news through vocalisations but by their presence. The bad news is that careless people created the feral cat.

But it would help if the people who moan about feral cats sat down and counted to ten and reflected on why feral cats exist and the reason is...wait for it...human carelessness and negligence. They should then moan about the people who caused the feral cat problem! And leave the innocent, persecuted victim - the cat and the messenger - alone or at least treat them decently unlike the bloody Aussies.

If the news media and the local authorities are going to moan about feral cats, they have to moan about people as well because they are the root cause of the problem.

And I want to see some more moaning about people and I don't want to see the feral cat victimised over and over again by ignorant journalists who don't really get to the bottom of these problems. They simply regurgitate what they read on some other online news media site. The articles are often written by a person with very skimpy knowledge of cats and without an opinion of their own.

Let's drill down and see why feral cats exist. It goes back to the beginning in Australia when migrants came to the country, but the problem has been perpetuated and exacerbated to further carelessness in domestic cat ownership and therefore when you talk about feral cat nuisance and that they need to be either eradicated or humanely euthanised after being trapped (or just shot), you have to talk about proactive steps to stop more feral cats being created. 

That can only take place through education. It has to be widespread education, probably part of the general school curriculum if you really want to get to the bottom of the problem.

You have got to change attitudes, fundamental attitudes in a small section of society because it is only in a small section of society, perhaps around 5% of cat owners, who spoil it for everybody else by not spaying and neutering their cats to ensure that they don't procreate. And by limiting the number of cats that they possess. In short, showing some self-discipline and demonstrating to others that they care about cat welfare and are not self-indulgently simply acquiring cats willy-nilly without proper controls and management.

There are even some people - even today - who believe that a female cat needs to have babies before she can be complete which is pure mumbo-jumbo. If all the people who think that that their female cats need to have babies, you have a cat problem and some of those kittens will grow up to be adult cats that are unwanted and some of them will become feral cats.

The more you read about domestic and feral cats the more you have to conclude that the domestication of the Middle Eastern wildcat has been a failure. This is because half the world's population of "domestic cats" are actually feral cats. So, if there are 500 million domestic and feral cats in the world, there are at least 250 million feral cats and that might be a conservative number.  It was never meant to be this way, but humans have learned to reluctantly accept feral cats which means they accept a ton of misery in animals that were created out of negligence.

Although we do not know the number of domestic and feral cats in the world. We have to guess. But my guess is that there are more feral cats than domestic cats when looking at all the world's domestic and feral cats.

This is because in Asia and specifically in India the majority of cats are 'community cats'. They are semi-feral. They are not true domestic cats. They are sometimes fed but they are not taken the veterinarians when they become sick. There is little or no medical care. The level of care to community cats is average-to-poor to very poor.

'Copycats' a cat picture I don't like

The picture is called 'copycats'. And the person who uploaded it to Twitter has the handle: 'cats being weird little guys'. Being a grumpy old man, I don't see cats being weird but humans being weird. They get a kick out of placing a real tuxedo cat (black-and-white) in bed with a bunch of plush toy look-a-likes. Then they take a photo and upload it to social media. I mean, I don't get it. 

'Copycats' a cat picture I don't like. Image: Twitter.

I suppose it is all about human entertainment, but it is at the expense of cats. But then no one gives a damn except grumpy old fools like me who complains. Why don't we celebrate the cat or simply stop using the cat to make funny cat pics for social media? Let's just end the funny cat pic and video era. It has gone on long enough. Way too long actually.

I don't think it helps with cat welfare as it uses cats as objects of entertainment. Someone out there will take a different message from the images and believe that cats can be abused in a more harmful way. There are a lot of people who get kicks out of hurting cats.

It is funny because at the other end of the spectrum of cat pictures we have cat rescue organisations trying to drum up donations by showing injured, rescued cats. They publish these uncomfortable photos on Twitter, and it is simply wrong. It is using cat cruelty to try and get people to donate money. It is another version of cat abuse.

Showing photos of injured cats, I have decided, is abusive. It devalues cats. And it inures people to cat abuse. People need to be sensitive to cat abuse and to roundly object to it and reject it. If you bombard social media users with pics of rescue cats in very poor health and injured, people become accustomed to these images and see nothing particularly wrong. It is becomes normalised.

I have asked cat rescues to stop showing injured rescued cats as it is clearly wrong. Let's see the cat treated in a kindly non-abuse way. The cat should never be used (abused) to try and achieve a human goal. But is happens all the time in many different ways.