Cute caterpillar looks like a cat

Note the word 'cat' in caterpillar. Very appropriate in this instance as this cutey's head looks a like a cat's head with the big 'ears' and tabby markings on the forehead 😎.

It is the caterpillar of the brown Chinese bush butterfly or Mycalesis gotama which has a snout that is familiar to the whole world in the shape of the Hello Kitty logo.

Please click on the play button twice.

Find out what your cat likes through observation and deliver it

Instinctively, I spend quite a lot of time observing my cat and finding out what he likes me to do. Yes, I know, it is a form of cat-training-human, but I like it. I feel that it is my duty to try and please him and it is no hardship to me. And you do this by interacting with your cat and observing the effect. Of course, it helps to understand domestic cats generally.

Gabs on top of the Sky television box which emits quite a lot of heat. Like many domestic cats he loves warmth. Click it for a large image. Image by MikeB.

My cat likes the back of his head to be stroked. He likes my hand to be placed on the back of his head. I think that he likes both the contact and the warmth. It has got to the point where he asks for it not by meowing but by looking up at me in a certain way which I now understand.

And this request always happens when he is on my lap, when I'm in bed, as is the case right now. It's about cause and effect. You do something with your cat, and you can tell if he or she likes it.

Another thing which he likes is to be flea comb around the cheeks and down the side of his neck. Also, on the top of the head. He likes the feeling of it, and he likes the way his fur feels afterwards I believe. These are areas that he can't get to and therefore it is fairly obvious that it will please him.

The benefits of doing this are twofold: you check for fleas and if there is one in that area you remove it and kill it and the whole experience is pleasurable both for cat and person. It is pleasurable for the person because it is a warm, friendly interaction which is exactly what people are after when they adopt a cat companion.

My behaviour in this instance is the same sort of behaviour that another friendly cat would perform when allogrooming. You often see two domestic cats who are friendly with each other licking each other. And they nearly always focus on the top of the head or other inaccessible parts. Perhaps that, too, is instinctive.

It is quite easy to get into routines with respect to behaviours that please both cat and person. The cat enjoys the interaction, and the person enjoys their cat's company and delivering a form of behaviour which their cat enjoys.

Here are some other human behaviours (not a complete list) that my cat responds positively to which I therefore do in order to please him:

1. When I sit down to watch television, I call him to come over and sit on my lap. He prefers it when I wear an old dressing gown which I guess provides extra warmth to him. He almost invariably comes over and takes up the offer.
2. I know that my cat likes warmth. Many domestic cats do. I do my best to provide it. In fact, he likes it on his belly. I know this because when he lies on my lap he spreads out and hangs over the edge of my knees while putting a paw on the coffee table. He likes to have one paw on the coffee table and to please him I bring the table towards him so that he can do this.
3. I know that my cat prefers to go into the back yard through the bifold doors rather than through the cat flap. So, if it is possible, I open the bifold doors enough to allow him through. This encourages him to go into the backyard and I join him there for a cuddle and to see what is going on. While in the backyard he likes me to pick him up for a short time of about 30 seconds. This gives a high vantage point, and it allows for an intimate form of contact. He lets me know when he wants to be put down by looking at the ground.
4. I know that he likes to sleep in a place where there is protection above him. I know this because he likes to sleep on a chair, the lower half of which is under the dining room table. He likes that feeling of protection that the table above him provides. A lot of cats have the same feelings. Therefore, I have splashed out and bought him a special little "bedroom". I have not constructed it yet but when I have, I will provide a picture on this page. It was expensive and had problems on its delivery. It's manufactured in Poland, and I was not aware of that when I bought it online. There were duties to pay i.e., VAT which I wasn't aware of. I renegotiated the purchase price with the manufacturers, and they gave me a discount which was more or less equivalent to the amount of VAT. But the point here is that a lot of cats including mine like to sleep with something above their head for protection. It allows them to sleep more soundly. This is an example of finding out what your cat likes through observation.

Magic tip: how to stop a persistent tickly cough

This is nothing to do with cats, but I feel that I have to try and get this great tip out there. It really is good, and I don't see anyone mentioning it on the internet. 

It is based on personal first-hand experience, and I feel confident that it will work a lot of the time. Tickly coughs are common after an upper respiratory viral disease: a cold or Covid Omicron for example.

I had a tickly cough for weeks and it was driving me mad. I also felt under the weather with a headache. I don't know if the source of the cough was the same as for the headache, but I think it was. It may have been Covid Omicron which is like a cold.

TCP can cure a persistent tickly cough. Image in the public domain.

I got rid of the cough by gargling with diluted TCP at about 1 part TCP with 3 parts of water, which is a liquid antiseptic based on halogenated phenols.  Make the concentration as strong as you can take, even 1:1 and you might drink a little of it at the end. But only a little bit. If you want to pass on this last bit of advice that's fine.

I gargled three times in the evening and in the morning the cough was 90% gone. It felt like I'd gone to heaven. I did the same thing again yesterday and this morning and the cough has gone.

I also used Corsodyl mouthwash after the gargling just to be sure both bacteria and viruses were being killed. Although, phenol disinfectant can kill a wide variety of microbes such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

My research indicates that low concentrations of phenol cause bacterial death by deactivation of essential enzyme systems.

Phenols have a broad range of disinfection capabilities. They are effective against bacteria, micro-bacteria and fungi. They are also effective against envelope (easy to cure) viruses such as influenza. Therefore, phenol is more effective against bacteria and on that bases I wonder if a tickly cough is mainly caused by bacteria on the throat.

Phenol-based disinfectants have a high potency in disinfection of hospitals. Phenol derivatives can deactivate viruses such as HIV and other hydrophilic viruses within minutes at a concentration range of 0.5-5%. 

They deactivate pathogens by inducing membrane damage which leads to the leakage of intracellular components and denaturing of proteins! 

That's very technical but I'm just trying to add a little bit of meat to the bone here to try and explain why TCP is effective at reducing or eliminating the tickly cough after an upper respiratory viral infection possibly followed by a secondary bacterial infection and I think it is effective against post a Covid Omicron infection.

Gargling with TCP is unpleasant, but the result is pleasant. Mouth washing with Corsodyl hurts if you do it after you have brushed your teeth so do both the TCP gargle and mouth wash before brushing your teeth.

Give it a try if you have a bad tickly cough that is upsetting you. You might get lucky. If it works for you, please leave a comment. There is no danger and downside to the best of my knowledge. This is an over-the-counter treatment not requiring a prescription which is why I feel that I can talk about it here.

Europeans are apprehensive and experience heightened emotions. Cuddle your cat.

Google offers the world Google Trends. It's a useful service to see what people are thinking what they are doing in real time. It provides background information as to what is bubbling under the surface of the news and what we see happening around us. And today, Google search trends 2022 indicates that the searches are driven by heightened emotions. This applies to people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This implies that people in America are not suffering from heightened emotions. 

This is probably because the major source of heightened emotions is the Ukraine war which is a long way away from America and I sense that Americans feel distanced from the Ukraine war whereas it is on the doorstep of Europe.

And I say "suffering" because it seems that these emotions are anxiety or apprehension.

Peoples of Europe are apprehensive. Cuddle your cat. Image: Image by Prettysleepy Art from Pixabay.

And a reason why this exists is because of issues with personal finances due to high inflation which is destabilising the economic systems. With high inflation you have higher interest rates in order to suppress inflation and with higher interest rates you going to have far more costly mortgages when they are on variable accounts. This puts in jeopardy keeping one's house because some people can't afford to pay their mortgages anymore.

This leads to anxiety. There is just one example. And of course, you have the Ukrainian war which is costing the world about US$2.3 trillion in terms of trade and loss of revenue. The Ukraine war is seriously damaging economic growth and prosperity which has a knock-on effect in the way people feel and of course it fuels inflation because Putin has stopped the supply of gas and oil to Europe which has forced up energy prices dramatically. This has fuelled inflation and the consequential high number of problems that emanate from that.

And on a very basic and raw level, the Ukraine war threatens the lives of Europeans and arguably people across the world. It may expand to a world war and that would affect everybody including America. This possibility generates anxiety.

But after Covid people want to socialise, they want to get out and do things. The end of Covid brought an optimism but this has been counteracted by apprehension. Google trends say that there are two moods in place: optimism and uncertainty. They say, "We are curious but cautious and were turning to search for answers".

Health is a bigger issue with people because of Covid. Long Covid is a major issue. It is believed that it affects the heart, and a substantial number of people suffer from it. And in the UK the NHS is broken causing long waiting lists which affects health treatment which of course affects the health of the citizens of the UK.

So, two fundamental problems exist which cause apprehension: health and wealth! In the background is the Ukrainian war which is like a disease that affects everything insidiously. It undermines society.

I would suggest that apprehension is outstripping optimism. I am not optimistic but I'm naturally pessimistic, I guess. I can see things getting worse not better all because of Putin and his mad escapades. He is digging himself into a massive hole.

Just recently the Nord Stream Gas supply pipes were blown up. There's a big question mark as to who did it. I think it is somebody in Europe we did it in order to ensure that Europe never goes back to Russian gas. It's a method of preventing Europe having two minds about going back to buying Russian gas because of the difficulties of doing without it. So, I think it's people who want to hurt Russia and to strengthen Europe's independence of Russia's energy supplies.

But it all adds up to more apprehension in European citizens. Which brings me to my last point: cuddle your cat! I had to get domestic cats into this discussion somehow, but we know for a fact that if your cat is sitting on your lap as mine is at the moment, keeping you warm and keeping you company, you feel better. You feel reassured and your cat feels reassured. You have a companion; you have a friend.

And cat companions are far more reliable than human companions. They will always be there for you. Good human caregivers reciprocate. For 15 or more years you have a relationship which improves your life and which chips away at that apprehension which world events, out of our control, generate.

Neglected, starving adult cats trapped in home killed and ate one of their kittens

In human terms, this is an extremely rare example of a gang of domestic cats "murdering" a young kitten because they were starving, and they were starving because they were neglected to the point of starvation by their callously negligent owner who has subsequently been convicted and punished. This is also a case of cat cannibalism.  I have found 9 reasons for domestic cat cannibalism.

The story comes from Bradford, UK. Four members of the same family, all women between the ages of 23 and 49, neglected seven cats to the point where some of these adult cats bit to death a kitten who was in poor health in order to eat that kitten to survive. The kitten was probably one of the offspring of one of the adult cats.

One of the starving adult cats who decided to attack and eat one of their kittens in order to survive. Photo: RSPCA vet.

I don't know whether you have heard of that happening before, but I certainly haven't, and it is an example of cannibalism. I have written about the nine reasons why feline cannibalism happens in domestic cats which you can read by clicking on this link if you wish.

In this instance, the RSPCA were called to the house where they found two urine-soaked cats in filthy crates in the kitchen and the other five running around loose in the home.

The "murdered" kitten was handed to an RSPCA inspector, Kris Walker, by the former partner of one of the women. This allowed the veterinarian attached to the RSPCA to assess the body and they decided that the kitten had been bitten around the neck and head and it was these bites which killed the kitten in conjunction with his or her poor health.

It appears that only part of the kitten was eaten. I know that is an unpleasant thought.

The four defendants ended up in the Magistrates' court having been charged under the animal welfare act 2006 for animal cruelty. The women are all related and appear to be a mother and her three daughters: Dawn Mawson (49), Sabrina Mawson (23), Elisha Mawson (23) and Elizabeth Mawson (25).

There were convicted of animal welfare offences under the Act mentioned and were given a life ban on keeping animals as their punishment. For me, that isn't enough. But perhaps they didn't have enough money to pay a fine.

The veterinarian who carried out the post-mortem said in a report that "The fact that the other cats in the house attacked him (the kitten) is quite unusual and it is possible they had done this as they saw him as a source of much-needed food."

And the report also stated that: "It is abundantly clear that the welfare needs of these animals were simply not met. This has been one of the worst cases of animal neglect. Custody was a real option we considered in this case."

The RSPCA inspector said: "It was awful the state these cats had been left in and how hungry they were when we took them to the vets. Sadly, they were so hungry that they had picked off the weakest link among them."