Pet food bank allows unemployed man on welfare to keep his cats

For me, this is a story which looks at the cost-of-living crisis, unemployment, anxiety and depression, domestic cat caregiving, alleged laziness and the state of the Scottish economy! It goes well beyond cat caregiving.

Chris Forrest became anxious that he would have to give up his four black cats, all males and two sets of siblings. They look great. He says that he depends upon them to help him with his mood. They are, in effect, therapy cats for him.

But he lives on employment and support allowance (welfare) in Scotland because the BBC says that he is unable to work due to severe anxiety and depression.

He lives in Granton, Edinburgh, Scotland. His cats are like his children he says. He said: "The cats keep me going-they interact with me and get me up in the morning as they need to be fed. I am in a much better place having them, I'm more chilled out and relaxed."

Chris Forrest and Shadow. Image: BBC Scotland (believed).

There is a really nice picture of him smiling broadly with one of his black cats on his back on the BBC website. He does not look depressed in that picture.

Because of rising prices, I guess, and what is euphemistically called the cost-of-living crisis in the UK, Chris is dependent upon a pet food bank set up by Mike Dougan, the community outreach and development manager of the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home according to the BBC.

He started the pet food bank when he discovered people were sharing the human food that they had got from food banks with their pets. That's interesting. Clearly it is not a good idea to give your cat exclusively human food because it does not contain the required nutrients for cats. Human food is not "complete and balanced" to use the terminology of pet food manufacturers.

You don't need vouchers to receive pet food from this pet food bank and they also provide other items such as food bowls, toys and harnesses. They do a great job I think and certainly if pet food banks help people to keep their pets it is a great service because nobody wants more cats and dogs surrendered to animal shelters.

Chris says that "The pet food bank is a lifeline. I get so much from my cats; the cats make my day better and I talk with them more than I do humans."

He's a great cat caregiver and lover but I do question his way of life. It is very difficult to talk about depression and anxiety and I don't know Chris. But one way to tackle these mental health problems is to get out and be active.

Working at least part-time is a way of managing depression and anxiety. Staying at home if that is what he does is a sure-fire way of exacerbating anxiety and depression.

I'm not saying that Chris is lazy. But a lot of Scots think that other Scots who are on welfare are lazy. Sir Jackie Stewart, the famous F1 racing driver, accused fellow Scots of being lazy and too dependent on jobs for life in 2007.

And in a survey a high number of Scots thought that poverty is caused by laziness. I read somewhere that less than 50% of Scots actually contribute to the wealth of their nation.

Scotland has consistently spent more than the country earns. There is a sense south of the border that Scotland is living beyond its means. And you wonder if as a nation they can work a little bit harder but that will no doubt rub people up the wrong way.

We have to face the fact that there is a section of society who become dependent upon welfare. And we have to face the fact that certain health conditions are only diagnosed on the basis of what the patient says namely health problem such as back pain and depression and anxiety.

You can't diagnose depression and anxiety other than through what the patient tells the doctor. I'm not saying that this is what is going on with Chris, but it does happen, and it needs to be challenged by the authorities. It is a sensitive area, but a lot of people believe that not only Scotland but also Wales and England have become a little bit lazy.

The UK has a poor productivity record. There are a lot of people out of work in the UK because they are ostensibly ill after the Covid pandemic. These are men and women of working age. Are they genuinely ill? Are they shirking?

The Covid pandemic lockdowns and the furlough scheme, I believe, engendered laziness in the population. And it is a great excuse to stop working by simply saying that you have Long Covid. Long Covid as a way out of working in this country and it has to deal with it more robust in my view.

I wish Chris Forrest well. I hope that he finds he can get back to work at least in some capacity because I think that it will do him good. And then he will be dependent upon a pet food bank or any other charity.

Unusual looking cat is a cross between Judd Hirsh and Liev Schreiber in human terms

A stretch of the imagination I agree but there are some similarities between this cat and these well-known humans. The point is that this is an unusual feline face.  The cat might have some Oriental Shorthair DNA because of the long muzzle. He is described as having a great personality. 

There is certainly a slight human quality about this cat. Some domestic cats are like that, but they are almost aways selectively bred pedigree cats. This boy looks very much like a random bred moggy which makes the unusual appearance all the more interesting.

Montage: MikeB. I claim fair use in using all three images.

We are not told if the cat is male or female, but he has a very thick set neck, and the face is very masculine. Sometimes looks can be deceiving but I don't think so in this case.

There is always the possibility that the cat is a photo-edit creation. It is hard to tell these days. But I don't think so. When people photo-edit cats they normally go for something outrageously extreme.

There is one other factor: when you place a wide-angle lens near the fact of your feline or human you distort it by drawing out the centre towards the lens. I don't think this explains the appearance.

How long do bobcats stay with their mother?

The answer to the question in the title is a little bit elastic because the moment when young bobcats no longer stay with their mother is itself elastic and they disperse at various ages. Essentially the answer is: until 7-12 months of age, but dispersal occurs at 9-24 months of age.

Bobcat photograph by PD Ryan on Flickr.

My resource, which is the excellent book Wild Cats of the World by the equally excellent Mel and Fiona Sunquist, states that "Kittens are dependent on their mother until about seven months of age, after which they spend progressively more time away from her, although some mother-young associations may last a year or more".

You see what I mean by the elasticity of that moment? It varies from seven months to 12 months.

The authors go on to state that before bobcats become adult in terms of size and weight young bobcats leave their "natal ranges" (the home range of their mother) and wonder looking for a home of their own in "unoccupied habitat". They become part of a "transient or floating population" of bobcats.

And then the bobcat disperses by which the authors mean bobcats leave their mother's home and set up their own home permanently. This moment varies also with some young leaving as early as nine months of age while others might be two years of age before they disperse and become an independent bobcat living in their own home range.

And the way this takes place also varies with some young bobcats upping sticks suddenly and rapidly travelling many kilometres while others may take several months to do the same thing.

Sometimes, rarely, an individual might set up home in their mother's range if, for example, the mother has disappeared or has died.

Newly adult bobcats want their home range because it's a prerequisite for successful reproduction.

How far do bobcats travel in a day? Studies on radio-tagged bobcats indicate that the distance they travel in one day varies with male bobcats travelling farther than females and movement patterns vary by season and region, but estimates vary between as little as 2.6 km to 18.5 km per day. The longer distances are normally associated with the mating season.

How long is a bobcat's tail? The tale is about 14 cm long being white underneath and marked with dark bands above.

For how long do Iberian lynx live?

The excellent book Wild Cats of the World states this about the Iberian lynx lifespan: "There is little information on the longevity of Iberian lynx, although one skull in the collection of the Estación Biológica de Doñana was estimated from counts of tooth annuli (annual rings, like those of a tree) to be 14 years old."

This Iberian lynx lives for 20 years, a record it is believed.

The book was published in 2002. The stated 14 years of age as a likely and normal maximum lifespan and probably still holds true today. Wikipedia state the average age as 13 years.

Occasionally, and very exceptionally Iberian lynx lifespans can be as long as 20 years as is the case of Aura, who is in the news today as giving birth to more than 900 Iberian lynxes according to the reports. Longevity as you can imagine is greatly enhanced in captivity. The bobcat (part of the same genus as the lynx) also has a long lifespan and is one of the longest lives wild cat species.

Aura was born when there were 94 Iberian lynxes remaining on the planet and it was the most endangered wild cat species. That was when conservation of the Iberian lynx wasn't really seriously on the radar but since then a lot of work has been done to protect this rarest of wild cat species and their numbers have grown.

Each Iberian lynx cost €169,000 to create

Back in the day few Iberian Lynx died of natural causes. About three quarters of all lynx mortality was attributable to human-related activities such as trapping, snaring, poisoning, poaching, shooting and such other countryside activities.

There was even illegal trapping in the above-mentioned national park. Things have changed. Aura was described as a grumpy, strong-willed Iberian lynx. Another reason for the then dire endangerment of this species was a loss of rabbits, the main prey of the Iberian lynx to haemorrhagic disease.

She lived the last part of her life in captivity I guess in order to protect her which may account at least in part for her longevity.

Iberian lynx – comprehensive treatise focusing on conservation 2022

If you like to read more about the Iberian lynx, then please click on the above link which takes you to a full page on the species.

What type of cat behaviour is this?

Here is a video from social media and accompanying it is the question: What is this behaviour? And the answer which you probably know all too well is that this is feline play-hunting behaviour.

All domestic cat play is based on hunting, which inevitably means chasing, stalking, attacking, tearing to bits, killing an artificial prey animal. The toy should be made of a material which can be destroyed (killed) to keep them interested.

Cat play-hunting. Screenshot.

In this video we have a cat hanging on to a bit of ribbon which looked like a cat tease. At the other end is the owner pulling on it. The cat resists because for her or him this is a prey animal trying to escape their grasp. 

From the cat's perspective she has caught the prey animal and now it is trying to escape. This is the tug on the ribbon which is being resisted by the cat.

That is the answer. And it is the reason why petting your cat can lead to your hand being scratched or bitten. Your cat may be stimulated into believing that your hand is a prey animal because you are petting a little bit too provocatively or too firmly or for too long. 

And your cat will suddenly pounce on your hand and trap it and then bite on it sometimes. Petting can become playing and playing is always about hunting and attacking and killing.

You never therefore play with a cat using your hand. Your cat will start to think your hand is a cat toy and whenever you wave your hand in front of your cat's face, she will grab it in her teeth or swat it. In fact, it is wise never to flick your finger in front of a cat's face because this mimics quick movement of birds and it might be attacked.

I always place the back of my hand towards a cat and do it slowly. That also protects my hand because if a cat does want to attack the back of the hand is more robust than the tips of the fingers. It hurts less!