Cat follows school girl to bus stop every morning (video)

This is very cute and I have to confess that my cat does the same thing with me. I am not going to school as I am 74-years-of-age! I go to the petrol station (gas station) about half a mile away every morning at 06:15. Yes, very early. My cat follows me about one third of the way and stops to hide under a car in a driveway to wait for my return. You can read about it and see another video if that kind of stuff rocks your boat by clicking on this link.

The reason? The obvious one: a great bond between the two individuals. I'd suspect that the girl interacted with the cat when the cat was a young kitten and they bonded as mother (girl) and offspring (cat). Sometimes humans can be imprinted in the brain of a cat as their mother. This is stronger than the usual cat-to-human relationship which is arguable an offspring-to-parent relationship anyway.

In the wild mother cats take their kittens from the den on hunting trips in their development towards independence. This may be happening in the head of the cat in this video.

Is this play-fighting between a dog and cat safe?

The caregiver videoed their cat and dog play-fighting as they wanted to ask social media users if it was safe. I presume 'safe' for the smaller partner, the cat. And it think it is perfectly safe as dogs often 'mock bite'. They can bite very gently employing a 'pseudo-bite'. I've seen dogs carry young kittens in their mouths when nursing them as a surrogate mom.

Is this Safe Play with Dog Sister?
by u/Gartschool in cats

The owner says: Hey all, Apollo is my first ever cat, so I’m not super versed on what are safe interactions with his sister. Both are young, he’s only 6 1/2 months and she’s about 11 months. They play a lot, and most of the time he doesn’t run from her, he stands and holds his ground. We always correct and are training her to leave him be when told to, but we do want them to be best buds as they grow together. He does meow and ‘hunts’ her, I’m always trying to watch his body language but this video is a common way they play. I worry when she ‘pins’ him, but he doesn’t usually run away when I move her arm off him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

The 'sister' is the dog. Not the real sister! For me the dog plays more gently than many cats that I have seen in videos. 

When dogs and cats play, they have to use their mouths which is why they constantly bite each other but they are not genuine bites; just pseudo-bites. 

They haven't got hands to grab with. When humans play rough, they use their hands. Cats and dogs have to use their mouths to achieve a similar result.

How do I check the age of a cat I have rescued?

I think that this is a good question. It is the question that a person asked on the Reddit.com social media website. They wanted to figure out the age of a tabby cat that they had rescue. The picture of the cat is below.

Rescue tabby cat about 12 months old? That's my guess. Image: Reddit.com.

The first point to make is that this cat is not full-sized. This is not an adult cat. We all of us know what an adult cat looks like and therefore we can measure the size of the cat that we've rescued against what we know is the size of an adult domestic cat. This, I think, is a good starting point.

We also know that domestic cats become adults at about 18 months of age. So, if a rescue cat is smaller than adult cat and indeed looks a little bit juvenile because they do look juvenile when not fully grown, we can work backwards from that 18 months and decide from the relative size their approximate age. In this instance I have decided that this cat is about 12 months of age because they are a sub-adult both in facial appearance (juvenile) and size.

Once a cat has become adult you will have difficulty in deciding the age if you've rescued a cat. The domestic cat's appearance does change as they become older. They do indeed look older but the changes are subtle. I think you can bracket an adult cat's age between about two years and eight years and then eight years onwards to a senior cat; that is two brackets which is very general indeed.

It is easier to figure out the age of a young cat before they become adults. Indeed, you can do it very accurately and/or veterinarians can by checking their teeth. Deciduous teeth i.e. baby teeth are gradually replaced by permanent adult teeth. At 3-4 months of age the incisors (the small teeth at the front between the canines) erupt followed at 4-6 months by the canine teeth, premolars and molars.

By seven months of age the cat's adult teeth are fully developed. Knowing this sequence, you can then work out fairly accurately the age of a kitten.

It is difficult to work at the age of a cat through wear and tear of the teeth. This is something that can be done for horses because they grind and wear down their molars but for cats it doesn't really work because they sheer flesh with a scissor-like action. Their teeth do not grind and masticate food.

However, the general condition of the mouth in terms of oral health will give a clue. A cat of around 8-10 years of age may have some gum disease i.e. inflammation of the gums, some tartar and calculus at the border between the teeth and the gums as well. If you see oral health which is not excellent and some build-up of debris and bacteria around the teeth then you can be sure that the cat is not young but somewhere in middle age.

In old age, domestic cats move more slowly. They sometimes become thin due to hyperthyroidism. They might have arthritis which affects the way they move. They sleep more. They are static more often. And therefore, they are less active. All the signs indicate that the cat is elderly and therefore in the age bracket of about 12-18 years of age.

Gustav Klimt's masterpiece is the most expensive artwork ever auctioned in Europe and his studio cats destroyed his drawings!

Gustav Klimt had about eight cats in his studio destroying his drawings. He was a cat lover. No question about it. The picture below is of Klimt and his cat 'Katz' - a German surname from the German word "Katze." meaning cat.

Klimt and Katz. Credits: Far Out / WikiArt / Picryl)

He did not like to paint himself and preferred to paint women. His studio was a complete mess according to art critic Arthur Roessler, who visited the artist's studio. He was surprised perhaps shocked at the conditions under which Klimt worked.

The description is of a pile of drawings and papers together with up to 10 meowing and purring cats, play-fighting with each other. Roessler was surprised to see the cats which spoiled "hundreds of the most beautiful drawings".

Gustav Klimt appeared to be unconcerned. When the art critic queried what he was doing in allowing the cats to damage his artwork, he said that it doesn't matter even if they crumple and tear the papers because urine "makes the best fixing agent!"

But the fact is that apparently urine had damaged the drawings. Perhaps Gustav Klimt had got used to the smell of it. Domestic cat urine does not make a fixing agent by the way.

Gustav Klimt is in the news not because of his love of cats and allowing his cats to rummage around his studio which appears to have been in a complete mess, but because his works are being fully appreciated by the buying public as a painting of his, Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) is the most expensive artwork ever auctioned in Europe at $108 million. That price includes the commission to the auctioneer which is known as the buyer's premium.

The actual hammer price was £74 million (US$94.35 million). It exceeded the presale estimate of £65 million by a big margin. The previous European auction record was US$104.3 million (£65 million)

Calico cat delivers a speech to her alpaca followers about British citizenship

This is a British calico (tortoiseshell-and-white) domestic cat laying down the law for a bunch of alpacas who've flow in from South America to settle in the country.

She's the boss. The accompanying tweet below is good except there is one little mistake; they think this is a tuxedo cat (black-and-white) when she is a tortie as mentioned.

RELATED: Alpaca Cat! - this is the LaPerm

The photo must have been taken on an alpaca farm in the UK somewhere and the farmers have a sweet domestic cat whose made friends with the alpacas.

Calico cat delivers speech to her alpaca followers. Image: Twitter.

This is the tweet:

'Tuxedo' The Cat: "Thank you 'Alpacas' for being here for this Monday morning meeting. I know you all originate from South America, so welcome to the U.K. I need to lay down a few rules... (1.) I run things around here, so if you have any problems, simply ask me, okay?"