Infographics on cat behavioural changes linked to health and on osteoarthritis in elderly cats

The information in this infographic about osteoarthritis in elderly cats may surprise you. It is a major health issue about which cat owners should be aware as it affects cat caregiving. Looking after domestic cats entering old age demands a little bit more vigilance to spot changes in a range of activities and sounds etc..

Observant cat caregivers can see changes in their cat when they are ill. They might not be able to identify the illness but to observe changes in activities, vocalisations, gait, and general behavior can be a signpost to understanding an as yet unidentified illness. 

The infographic below may help a cat caregiver in guiding them through these difficult times. This is a double cross-post from 2 other posts. They are overlapping topics concerning cats entering and during old age.

I hope you find them handy and if so please leave a comment and share your personal experiences to expand on the topic.

China - farmer mistakenly adopts an Asiatic leopard cat thinking it was a tabby domestic cat

This has happened before in other countries. I can remember a guy adopting a bobcat kitten in America thinking that he was rescuing a cute tabby kitten until the kitten's behavior made him suspicious that it was something else.

It confirms what I have always said that the cute wild cats and wild kittens can be pretty wild and the sounds they make are sometimes extraordinary. Nothing like a domestic cat.

The Asiatic leopard cat is actually wilder than the bobcat so I expect that this farmer quickly realised that the cute kitten that he had adopted was far too wild to be a stray domestic kitten. He stumbled across the ball of fur while working his hillside farm in south-west China's Yunnan province, we are told by The Sun newspaper.

He had spotted the kitten strolling alone and thought that he or she had been abandoned perhaps and decided to take him home. He quickly realised that this was not a stray domestic cat.

He struggled to care for the kitten as he would have because these little balls of fluff are very wild. And the Asiatic leopard cat is known to be particularly independent-minded.

He consulted the police and realised what he had done. He had adopted a leopard cat. It is an endangered species across the planet and in China. They are protected in China.

He let the police take the cat from him and look after it. The video tells us that the police will hand the cat over to a rescue center where the intention is to prepare the animal for release into the wild.

I am not sure about the way the police are handling the kitten so much apparently, which can only make the task of releasing the cat into the wild harder.

They do look a little bit like tabby cats. Only the markings are a little more intense and you will see white fur next to the dark tabby markings on the head. Although in kittens the markings are less distinct.  But these higher contrast markings indicate wild cat and not tabby. That is a giveaway for me.

They believe that the mother was out hunting while leaving her kitten in a safe place. The kitten perhaps wandered off and then was taken by this man. The mother would have returned to where her kitten was and found that she/he had gone. It is almost certain that the mother had not abandoned her offspring.

Why do cats isolate themselves to die? They don't.

This is my opinion, essentially, based on common sense and a general understanding of feline and animal behavior, although I did a bit of reading up on it before putting pen to paper. Cats don't decide to 'isolate' themselves to die. It's the wrong word. Firstly, in my opinion, domestic cats don't know that they are dying. They are not making a rational decision to go away to die on their own. 

They do know that they cannot defend themselves against a predator because they are injured. And they do know they have to find a safe place to protect themselves from predators. The domestic cat is behaving as a wild cat. They don't recognise the fact, under the circumstances, that they have a human home to go to for help (when the injury occurs outside the home).

Why do cats isolate themselves to die? Photo in public domain.

And so domestic cats find a safe place to protect themselves when they are badly injured or very ill. 

There is a complication here because if a domestic cat is very ill, they will normally be treated by a veterinarian with their owner's help. There is no opportunity to find a safe place to hide. The concept of finding a safe place to hide really is about indoor/outdoor cats and the cat being outside and getting into trouble. Or they live in a household where the owner is absent and unconcerned, perhaps even negligent.

They don't do the same thing if they are dying of natural causes in my opinion. Domestic cats will find a safe place for protection if they are seriously injured but not if they are dying of natural causes, but it depends upon whether they are dying of old age (general failure of the body's organs due to old age) or of a specific illness in my opinion.

I think this is a correct assessment because, as mentioned above, they don't know that they are dying (disagree with me? Please leave a comment). And therefore, if they don't feel pain, they don't feel vulnerable and if they don't feel vulnerable there is no need to find a safe place to protect themselves. Under these circumstances they will simply stop breathing wherever they are. 

This is why you read stories of domestic cats dying of old age anywhere in their owner's home. It might be in their favourite place or in the kitchen or on their owner's lap. They suddenly pass away perhaps during the night and their human caregiver simply discovers them.

But if they are injured, they will do their best to find somewhere safe which affords them protection, to allow themselves time to gain their strength and to heal themselves. They are not predicting into the future that they will be able to heal themselves. It's all instinctive. They just instinctively know that they need to have time in a safe place to try and get back to good health. They may well pass away at that place and often do.

They do not go away 'into isolation' to hide from associates (friends) but from predators. Although I would appreciate the views of others. I did a quick search of the Internet to see what other people thought and, by and large, the general mood is as I stated on this page.

Is Joe Exotic dying of cancer in prison?

NEWS AND VIEWS: You remember Joe Exotic, don't you? He is the former private zoo owner, addicted to big cats and breeding big cats who is currently in prison for animal abuse and plotting to murder Carole Baskin the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Florida. His jail sentence is 22 years. There were 17 charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire. Pretty serious stuff.

Joe Exotic. Image in the public domain (assessed).

And he developed prostate cancer but has refused further treatment. He has blood in his urine and his medical consultant is urging him to take further tests to see whether the cancer has spread to other parts of his body.

He has refused and said that he wants to let the disease take its course. He added that he is not frightened of dying and simply wants to see his partner and fiancé, Seth.

He said:

"I want to stay here and just let it take its course. I could care less about dying, my birthday is coming up soon and all I want is to see Seth".

He has been imprisoned for two years and has a long way to go. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2021 one year into his sentence.

RELATED: Joe Exotic was terrified of big cats and wickedly cruel says film producer.

An online fundraising campaign has been started to raise money for his funeral. He's confirmed that he wants his ashes to be scattered at the same place as his late husband Travis Maldonado who took his own life in 2017 aged 23.

While Joe Exotic is seriously ill in prison with the prospect of his cancer spreading, his targeted victim who he tried to murder, Carole Baskin, is enjoying great success at the moment.

Through a committed campaign, she successfully pressed for the Big Cat Public Safety Act which in effect does away with all the kinds of tiger abuse that took place at the hands of Joe Exotic such as raising cubs to be abused at roadside photo sessions and when they grow up to be discarded.

The Act basically does away with the private ownership of big cats and makes it illegal for exhibitors to allow direct contact with cubs. It will protect all the big cats that would end up in private zoos where they're often abused because private zoo owners in America are not infrequently unqualified and unable to care for big cats properly. That's why some of them ended up at Big Cat Rescue.

TikTok vet Ben says 'Dear God, never get a Munchkin cat'. He explains why.

TikTok vet Ben says 'Dear God, never get a Munchkin cat'. He explains why. Screenshot.

Here is Ben the Vet on TikTok explaining why people who love cats should shun the Munchkin, the founding dwarf cat. 

I wrote about the diseases that these cats tend to inherit many years ago. The health problems are linked to the dwarfism which makes them cute. This is due to a genetic mutation. To the problems that he mentions I can throw my knowledge into the ring and say that they can inherit: Lordosis and Pectus excavatum. You can read about them by clicking on this link.

If we are honest there is a moral dimension too. It is unacceptable really to breed dwarf cats. It is what the Germans would call torture breeding. Funnily humans see dwarfism as not cute in humans but cute in cats. It sheds light on the human-to-cat relationship.

@ben.the.vet #stitch with @Margie the growing popularity of Munchkin cats is a great animal welfare concern #catsoftiktok #veterinary #animallover #learnontiktok ♬ Puff - Hany Beats

Please note that the video above does not have a super-long lifespan as its presence here depends on its presence on TikTok. If it is deleted on TikTok it disappears here as you can expect and I have no control over it.

There are no studies on these diseases in dwarf cats regrettably. They are very cute cats and are still quite popular despite the potential health issues. 

This is because humans tend to place appearance above all other aspects in many walks of life. For example, during Covid-19, in the UK, people adopted French Bulldogs in large numbers in the knowledge (or they should have had the knowledge) that they suffer from health issues. 

RELATED: 21 genetic diseases inherited by the French bulldog. Are they always in pain?

And that they were often imported from European puppy mills. They just loved the appearance. There is a bit of a backlash now as they understand that pet health issues are in fact more important than appearance at the end of the day.