Neutered male cat wants to mate with a spayed female in the same household. Why?

A cat owner on the Reddit.com website finds it difficult to understand what their male cat is doing to their female cat. They are both sterilised. The male cat is neutered, and the female cat is spayed. Therefore, the female cat doesn't come into heat. Why is the male cat pestering the female for sex?!

Neutered male cat wants to mate with spayed female. Image: u/Ok_Reference2122 on Reddit

The owner of the cats asks: "What is my cat doing to my other cat??? He will do these little chirps and follow her around mounting her like this but why? They are both fixed so he can’t be in heat."

My answer on Reddit was: 

"Neutered male cats might still desire to have sex with a spayed female cat. They may also desire to have sex with their owner's arm! The drive to mate is still there despite being neutered and the removal of testosterone. It's in their DNA. So being fixed does not stop this but it depends upon the individual cat. The little chirps he makes is a sign of excitement before mating."

The fact of the matter is that male cats even after being neutered and therefore even after the stopping of the production of testosterone, can still have a drive to mate with a female even when that cat is herself neutered.

And sometimes male cats have sex with their owner's arm or perhaps a leg or some other similar object. We see this quite a lot with dogs as well.

RELATED: Reason why some dogs try to mate with your leg.

Clearly, the drive by a male cat or dog to mate with a female is in their DNA and they will try and do it even if it is impractical. It becomes instinctive and illogical sometimes because they want to have sex with your arm.

It's just this internal drive and a lack of testosterone doesn't stop it in some individuals. I think this is very much about individuals and how they personally react to being neutered.

I speak from first-hand experience by the way because my cat has sex with my arm every day! I let him do it because it pleases him. There is a duty on all cat owners to please the domestic cat and it doesn't do me any harm so why stop it!?

For most dogs, the environment is sterile in terms of opportunities to mate with females. Forgive the pun. There is no opportunity and therefore they dive for the nearest object which is a substitute such as their owner's leg or the leg of an armchair or something like that.

It's all normal and dogs and cats should not be criticised for this behaviour. It's just that humans put them in a world where this kind of 'strange' (to humans) behaviour happens. From the dog or cat's perspective it is not strange but entirely normal.

Katie Price should be banned from owning pets. Discuss.

NEWS AND COMMENT: Recent news media reports indicate two stark facts about Katie Price's ownership of companion animals (1) she has lost six pets through accidental death during her time as a caregiver and (2) she's recently lost her sixth, a pet pooch, who ran into the road and was run over by a car outside her home.

Price with puppy Captain. Image: her Instagram channel.

Her disastrous attempts at companion animal ownership have resulted in observers of this British celebrity calling for her to be banned from owning any more companion animals. She is a slow-motion car crash when it comes to companion animal ownership. Note: to be banned she'd have to be prosecuted in the criminal courts for animal cruelty and that is highly unlikely.

Katie Price is reportedly in "bits" over the loss of her pet pooch. The dog's death on the road was reported as "rotten luck" by The Sun newspaper. Apparently, the dog ran out into the road after a gate to her property was opened. Looks more like carelessness to me.

"A puppy has died in the last 24 hours in Katie Price's 'care' she bought this puppy for her 13-year-old child 3 weeks ago. Which was killed in an accident no one witnessed." - the petition on change.org.

I'm going to speculate about the pooch's death because this is an opinion piece. Katie Price wants to go out perhaps to her car with her dog. She opens the gate without her dog being on a lead. Outside her home is a road. The dog in their excitement runs into the road. A car comes by. The car hits and kills her dog. Would it not have been better if she'd had her dog on a leash at that time bearing in mind that there is road traffic outside her home? This points to careless dog ownership.

We are told by the Mirror newspaper that more than 24,000 people have signed a petition which claims that Katie's pets are dying due to a lack of proper care. They say that no more animals need to die and a ban should be in place against her.

The catalogue of animal deaths in her care is rather startling. Back in 2017 one of Katie's horses was killed after it was struck by a vehicle. 12 months later, a driver ran over her Alsatian, Queenie.

And then her pet chameleon died of a 'broken heart' in the same year when her children went to stay with their dad Peter Andre.

And then, Price's Alsatian Sparkle was struck by another car in 2020. And then months later her French Bulldog Rolo was apparently suffocated when her nanny sat on the dog!

Apparently, she was forced to give up another Alsatian dog called Bear because the animal was attacking other animals. More careless companion animal ownership.

We are told that Ms Price is devastated about the petition demanding that she be banned from owning animals. She currently owns chihuahuas Captain, Buddy and Batman. She also currently owns a guard dog called Blade. How long will they last?

"Katie is aware of this petition. It comes as a devastating blow as it is wholly biased, based on hearsay and not actual fact. Katie loves her animals, to say otherwise is incorrect, unjust and unkind, it couldn’t be further from the truth." - a spokesperson for Katie. Comment: yes, she likes animals and cares but is far too damned careless and chaotic to be a fit and proper caregiver.

The petition apparently claims that Katie Price had puppies which allegedly drowned in a neglected swimming pool. And also, one of her cats was ripped apart by her dogs (by Bear perhaps?).

Katie Price lives in a "Mucky Mansion". That is a reference to a disorganised and untidy and perhaps dirty large house which appears to be outside a busy road judging by the number of animals of hers killed on the road. She gave her mansion a facelift recently. A temporary respite to the muckiness.

You would have thought that she would have learnt her lesson by now to keep dogs on a lead when she leaves her home.

Katie Price has been involved in several road accidents and criminal behaviour (drunk driving and driving without insurance for example) regarding driving as I recall. She has avoided jail by some miracle. She appears to live a chaotic life with scant regard for animal welfare.

P.S. She pops over to Turkey regularly for some cheap plastic surgery top ups. Her boobs perhaps or her face. It is never ending. Troubled person? Looks like it.

Video shows how lions escaped Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, Australia

The security camera video shows how a family of lions escaped from an Australian zoo. It wasn't particularly amazing as they just crawled (walked) through what appears to be a fence with a hole in it! The interesting thing is that they all came back of their own volition bar one who was tranquillized and brought back. It seems that they are all conditioned to feel safe in the zoo and returned to experience that safety.

The lions involved were lion cubs Luzuko, Zuri, Khari and Malika and adult male Ato.
    

As you can see this is a BBC video taken from the security camera footage. The video is 'embedded' in this website using code. If the BBC deletes the video on their website, it will disappear here. Just so you know. I can't control what the BBC do.

Video shows how lions escaped Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, Australia. Screenshot.

The video was released by the zoo which surprises me a bit because it shows us that the zoo management were allegedly negligent in allowing a hole to develop in the wire mesh fence. How did it develop? Weird. Perhaps it was faulty manufacturing and the lions gradually, over time, enlarged the hole.

Pandemic lockdowns exposed the less-than-optimal human-to-cat relationship

NEWS AND OPINION: I'm on my high horse again but I think that this is a very relevant topic. But first things first. The Kingston Humane Society has a nice photograph of a cat in one of their cages and what I like about it is the customised tent in one corner of the cage where the cat can hide. 

It's sad and nice at the same time. It's sad because cats in shelters need to hide because they are frightened but it is nice because the shelter has provided cats with a means to hide. A sort of home-from-home environment.

Kingston Humane Society cat in a cage with a tent to hide in. Image: the society.

The fact that cats need to hide indicates that their true character is probably not going to be shown at a shelter because of anxiety induced by the shelter environment. This affects adoptions.

That's the first point out of the way. The second point is this: like other cat and animal shelters, this one has too many animals in their care. Their capacity is 144 and they currently care for 315 which is more than twice their capacity.

The director of the Kingston Humane Society, Gord Hunter, puts this down to the after-effects of the Covid pandemic and those long lockdowns during which some people impulsively adopted a companion animal.

And there is the problem: people adopted these abandoned companion animals on a known temporary basis. They must have known that the lockdowns were going to end within a defined time. They must've realised that at the end of those lockdowns they would have to go back to their normal work routine, and they should have asked themselves whether they would retain their cat or dog companion when that happened.

If they didn't do that and many didn't, they were not committed to being the caregiver of a companion animal for the life of the animal. And that is the only way to adopt a cat or dog. If a person can't make that commitment, they should not adopt.

There might be some culpability with animal shelters in this regard by adopting out cats and dogs to people during the pandemic perhaps realising that this was a temporary state of affairs.

For me, it's a question of raising standards of cat caregiving. I know it's boring to discuss this, but the flood of unwanted animals adopted inwards to shelters such as the one in Kingston indicates a less than optimal human-to-cat relationship and standard of care.

This state of affairs is one reason why there are feral cats which are a perceived problem to many people. There needs to be some way of raising standards in the interest of human society and animal welfare. Education is the best answer and regulations are a secondary solution.

Source: Global News.

Dogs suffer from less motion sickness in electric vehicles (EVs) than conventional ones

There is a study currently out, hot off the press, which, according to the researchers, clearly indicates that dogs prefer being in the back of electric vehicles (EVs) compared to conventionally powered vehicles. And they prefer it because they suffer from less motion sickness otherwise known as travel sickness or car sickness.

Dogs suffer from less motion sickness in electric vehicles (EVs) than conventional ones. Image: Image by Ferenc Tóth from Pixabay.

And the professor, Prof Mills, who led the study in the UK with the assistance of the second-hand car retailer CarGurus, said that he believed that the lower vibrations and lower noise in EVs is a major contributing factor in their findings.

Both cats and dogs suffer from motion sickness. I'm not sure that many cat owners know about this. We know that cats don't like travelling in cars when they go to the veterinarian, but they might not realise that their cat might also be suffering from car sickness.

Car sickness in people, and pets, is caused by a clash in the sensory signals coming from the inner ear which regulates balance and the eyes which also helps to orientate the cat and dog in terms of their position in relation to the surroundings. It is worth noting that cats and dogs have excellent hearing and that cats don't understand cars. They see them as hostile creatures when travelling.

Prof Mills said that he believed that the lack of noise and vibrations helped to put the dogs at ease. Although the research is about dogs, I've taken the liberty of extending it to relate to cats because their anatomy is very similar. Although research is required on cats as well because I think this research reveals something which is very important to dog and cat owners.

Car sickness is a big problem for dogs. It is common. In this study they employed 20 dog participants who were placed in the back of a Genesis diesel vehicle and an electric vehicle. We don't know the manufacturer of the electric vehicle employed.

The professor found that the dogs were more settled when sitting in the back of the EV compared to the diesel vehicle as the tended to break their lying down posture in the diesel. The data revealed that dogs broke their lying down position 50% more often when in the diesel car compared to the EV.

He also found that two of the dogs suffered from nausea and car sickness when in the diesel Genesis test car. Their heart rate also spiked, and their behaviour indicated distress. Car sickness and dogs can cause whining and pacing, lethargy and distress combined with drooling.

The professor found that when the two dogs travelled in the EV their heart rate decreased by almost a third.

Prof Mills said:

"There were two dogs that, when I looked at them, they looked like they suffered from car sickness. They really started to salivate a lot and various other signs and although they weren't actually sick, they looked to me as though they were nauseated."

And he added that: 

"They seem to be much better in the electric car than the diesel cars and I found that quite an intriguing result and I think it's something that we ought to look at more because car sickness is a big problem for dogs."

The study revealed that dogs prefer less vibration and noise. Diesels are known for their vibrations. Electric vehicles are very smooth by comparison. I think we need to add in Toyota hybrids which are also incredibly smooth. These are vehicles driven by both battery and petrol engine simultaneously.

The findings have been submitted for peer review and they are important. Prof Mills added that given the high number of dogs that have difficulties in travelling and that they are very much members of the family, these findings will encourage people to buy EVs.

The findings suggest that dogs suffering from car sickness may be cured if their owner purchases in EV! The problem is that EVs are very expensive and the secondary problem at the moment is that the cost of electricity is highly inflated because of Putin's invasion of Ukraine and therefore the differential in the cost of running an EV compared to petrol engine car is not as great as it was.

Note: this is a cross post from a similar article on the main website.

4 reasons why cats love to sit on laptops

3 reasons why cats love to sit on laptops. But do you want to!? Image in public domain.

I am not sure we need to discuss this in any detail because over the years a lot has been said on this topic on the internet and cat owners have learned a lot from the internet. And arguably the reasons are common sense. Here goes. The 4 reasons why cats love to sit on laptops are:

1. They are with their human companion and caregiver. People can sit at laptops for a long time! Me for one 😃😒. And as your cat wants to be with their human from time to time for common sense reasons, they have to be with them while they are at their laptops.
2. They seek attention and sometimes want to stop you using the laptop and pay attention to them instead.
3. Third reason: when a cat arrives at their human who's at their laptop, they often receive a reward; their caregiver pets them and says nice things to them. The owner informally trains their cat to come to them at the laptop. This does not always happen as I am sure that sometimes cat owners tell their cat to go somewhere else as it can be almost impossible to work productively and accurately at a laptop with your cat draped all over you. But in general, the reward is the normal human response. This is positive reinforcement training.
4. Fourthly, the obvious: a laptop emits heat. We see a lot of cats lying on laptop keyboards as a bit of heat is given off by the computer. Domestic cats love heat as it is in their DNA; inherited from their wildcat ancestor the North African wildcat which lives in arid, dry and hot conditions.

So, those are the 4 reasons why cats love to site on laptops. How to stop it? One way would be to place a pet warm pad (available on Amazon) next to you. Place your cat on it when he comes to you. He may get the message in due course.

Don't reward your cat for jumping up and onto your computer. You can't stop your computer giving off heat so there is no cure for that.

If and when they do it, gently lift them off and place them nearby on the warm pad! Yes, I am repeating myself. And pet them nicely at the same time with warm words.

Here is an infographic on the topic prepared by me:

Philosophical question: do you really want to stop you cat doing this? Cats rarely lie on the computer. They just want to be near you. Let them. It makes them happy. It is the caregiver's duty to make their cat happy at all times!

The solution is a compromise: allow your cat to be near you while you are on the laptop but not in a way which prevents you using it with ease. My cat lies on my legs behind the computer as I work in bed! Bed is the best place as I have a Tempur mattress which is kind on my bum. That's enough of the personal detail.

England World Cup footballers befriend a couple of stray cats

This is hardly earth-shattering news, but it is a nice little story which at least points to the fact that the English footballers are humans! I mean they have a brain and a heart. It also provides a little insight into Qatari life.

England World Cup footballers befriend a couple of stray cats. Photo of cats England Football. Note: I don't think the cat in the photo is Dave but a stock photo.

The England side are staying at a five-star hotel in Doha, Souk Al Wakra. And they've got some stray cats (believed stray cats) there which I find interesting. And the staff at the hotel allow at least two of the cats to wander around the grounds and inside the hotel. 

Bearing in mind the strict Islamic laws regarding citizens this is interesting. You'd think they'd 'clean up' the place by getting rid of stray cats before such high-profile guests. 

Perhaps it is the Prophet Mohammad's love of cats which makes them kindly towards them. Whatever, team-mates Kyle Walker and John Stones where in the 'canteen' at the same place they normally go to. Does a 5-star hotel have a 'canteen' or a restaurant? The latter, I think.

Two cats bowled up, one missing an eye.

“On the first night, a cat wandered up to us, so we chucked it a little bit of chicken and stuff like that. And then the next day, we went to the same corner, and he was sat there waiting for us"

They named this cat 'Dave' because it is the sort of name, they give Yorkshire people. The players are from Yorkshire I believe. The other cat was named Paul. 'Dave' was the first name that entered Stones' head.

Well done guys. Dave and Paul will be back for as long as you are in the hotel which won't be that long as you clearly are not going to go far in the tournament judging by your performance against the USA who played better than England. 😎😒