Model with chronic back pain hits rock bottom and rebuilds her life with cat sitting franchise

A model has told The Sun newspaper that she hit rock bottom at one stage when she was a model because she developed chronic back pain which the surgeons could not fix. She had numerous operations which failed to resolve the problem but left her back looking a mess and at one stage she was confined to her bed in agony, contemplating suicide. She went further and tried to end her life but she was found the next day unconscious.

Helena when she was modelling. Image: Focus Features.

Her name is Helena Abrahams and she is now 52 years of age. She is a cat lover. She lives with nine cats. Her cats gave her inspiration to start a cat sitting business which proved highly successful. She now runs a franchise and has franchisees all over the country and she turns over £100,000 annually. She is making a good living thanks to her love of cats and getting her health back.

After multiple back operations. Image: Focus Features.

And she praises her cats for seeing her through the darkest days of her illness when she was surviving on Pringles because she had no money for food and any money that she did have she spent on food for cats.

She now has a successful business and a bright future. What is the moral of the story? Cat companions can see you through your darkest hours and give you inspiration to climb out of the abyss of despair and gradually build towards the zenith of success!

I will add a bit of detail to that overview of her story. She said that her whole career was based around her looks but because of her back pain and the multiple operations the surgeons "butchered" her back. It looks a mess but fortunately now after all these years it doesn't hurt as much.

She was even compelled at one stage to sell some nice jewellery that her parents had given her as a present. She had to pay her bills somehow. She had a relationship and that ended. She wasn't seeing anybody except her dad. In her late 30s she could no longer cope. Before she tried to end her life, she wrote letters about her cats to make sure that they went to good homes. She overdosed on the medication that she was using for her back pain.

She said:

"My cats really pulled me through the recovery, so it was natural for me to want to give something back. I really do care about cats, and how they are treated, and my clients see that. I treat every cat as though it is my own. I love working with animals and they have really turned my life around. I am still in pain, and I will need further surgery in the future, but I have so much to celebrate now. I have learned to see my scars as part of my journey, part of who I am."

She added: "For anyone who gets to that low point, please don't despair. There is always hope."

Jackson Galaxy is disappointed with the cat fancy and cat breeding

 It is no surprise to me that Jackson Galaxy, the world's most famous cat whisperer (cat behaviourist) dislikes or is disappointed with cat breeding and the breeds. Well, I have generalised and read his mind so I'll tell you what he says in his book Total Cat Mojo about the purebred cats and you can make up your own mind. 

He always adopts non-purebred cats. He does the right thing. Although he is high profile, he's very down to earth and a realist. He sees the big picture and the need to do the right thing and adopt rescue cat. He worked extensively in cat rescue before becoming a famous cat bebehaviourist.

Jackson Galaxy loved Barry deeply and misses him a lot. Photo: Jackson Galaxy.

He heads his section on breeding and the breeds with "The Puppet Master Enters: Purebred Cats".

You get a hint in that heading. He's saying that people are playing at God when they create new purebred cat breeds and create them for sale.

He explains that in the early days of the cat fancy there was no extreme breeding as there is today. For example, he explains that the Siamese cat's pointed coat was enough to distinguish that cat breed from the rest and it was and still is. 

And the Persian cat back in the old days was pretty much a standard-looking cat. There were no flat-faced oddities in those days. This is what he says. But today "breeding is an altogether different beast (so to speak), with organisations recognising anywhere from 44 to nearly 60 different breeds of cats (I think actually that TICA recognise more than 70)."

And he then goes on to talk about how the cat fancy developed in America in a detrimental way. He says:

"In the process, we have pushed cats' physical appearance to extremes, often without regard for the well-being of the cats being bred. We've made the Persian's face flatter and the Siamese space thinner and more pointed. Consequently, the changes we have imposed through breeding are in many ways detrimental to the Raw Cat."

The Raw Cat that he refers to is the natural domestic cat, the domesticated wildcat with a wildcat character beneath that domestic exterior.

He adds that:

"By selecting Persians for the brachycephalic (short-nosed) appearance, we have actually made it harder for them to breathe, increased the chance of skin, dental and eye disease, and made giving birth riskier and more difficult.

Scottish Folds are used as a model for studying pain and arthritis because the mutations that cause the folds in their ears also lead to painful degeneration in their bones and cartilage.

Manx cats are prone to back pain, constipation, and other elimination problems because of spinal cord deformities.

Maine Coon cats are prone to heart disease, and Siamese cats have a higher likelihood of asthma and hyperaesthesia. Sidebar from Michael: the modern Siamese is the unhealthiest breed and the Persian is in the top three.

RELATED: Siamese: The World’s Most Unhealthy Cat!

These are just a few examples. When you limit the gene pool, you increase the chance of dangerous mutations and disease. There is no other way around it.

Humans may be pulling the strings when it comes to cats' exteriors, but are we making any progress in understanding their inner world?"

As you can see, he is critical of a section of the cat fancy where they breed purebred cats to extreme meaning the anatomy becomes abnormal in order to create a cat which looks different and can be completely distinguished from the other breeds. 

The objective here is to sell more cats and to follow the breed standard accurately but breeders go beyond simply following the breed standard in their efforts to create more interesting cats at which point they create unhealthy cats as is emphasised by Jackson Galaxy.

Choosing a second cat to get along with your resident cat?

How do you go about choosing a second cat to get along with your resident cat? Perhaps the first question is why you want to do it? I think you need to explore that and make sure that you are doing the right thing. You may want to introduce a new cat because you feel guilty that your resident cat is left alone too often. Maybe there is a different solution to that problem such as working from home more often! That's the current trend and employers are having difficulty getting employees back to work in the office! Introducing a new cat is problematic as they say.

Utopia. If you achieve this you've hit the jackpot. Image in the public domain.

But if you are fixed on having two cats, how do you choose a cat which gets along with the other? And I am drawn to that question because in the newspaper today there is an interesting article which kind of answers the question. The title to the article in The Times today is, "For animal magnetism, opposites don't attract".

Similarities work best

Tanya Horowitz of the University of Colorado Boulder researched 80,000 British couples and they found that they got along better when they were similar in their characteristics, personalities and backgrounds. In short, similar individuals couple up.

"The characteristics most likely to be shared included political and religious attitudes, education levels and certain measures of IQ".

Cats - energy levels

That's talking about people and this article is about cats so there will be different ways of matching up but the underlying conclusion is that a similar character is best.

And this takes me nicely to Jackson Galaxy, the well-known American cat behaviourist. He has a section in his book Total Cat Mojo entitled "Choosing That New Cat".

He opens the section by saying, "In my opinion, the main criteria to factor in to matchmaking is to match cats by energy level. Even the cat's history should have less of an impact on your decision. I'd say that the first thing to do before even going to the shelter is to think about what personality type best complements your cat's".

He has decided that cats should be matched on their energy levels. In other words, it should be at a similar level which reinforces what I stated above regarding the Colorado study.

And he goes on to state that, "If you have a shy cat, you don't want that Dennis the Menace because he'll fray her nerves by trying to engage constantly.".

And finally, he concludes with this, "In general, you should try to complement rather than bring home a carbon copy."

I think that his words support what the scientists say about people being complimentary in a stable relationship. A similarity is going to be more successful than opposites. The old adage of opposites attract is incorrect.

Jackson doesn't think that the gender of the cat is particularly relevant in terms of matchmaking. One reason for this is that domestic cats are spayed and neutered. They are neutered individuals. This takes away some of their gender differences.

On the energy level topic, Jackson Galaxy says that it is not a good idea to introduce a kitten to a 12-year-old female cat in the expectation that the female adult cat will mother the kitten. He believes that the energy differences are too big.

Finally, it might be useful to quickly touch on what is often referred to as "expectation management". This is a reference to what the human caregiver expects of the relationship between her two cats when they first encounter each other. It would be a very rare situation where they both get along really well instantly and snuggle up to each other. However, it does happen and it's wonderful to see. And sometimes it happens between dogs and cats. There is this instant connection; it's chemistry on a feline and canine level.

But normally you will do well if a new cat and the resident cats tolerate each other initially and then learn to get along and even become friendly with each other. To enhance that prospect, it might be useful to follow Jackson's advice and think about similarities but not carbon copies.

Woman who loves cats adopted a rescue cat and learned to hate him

This is a story on social media which tells us that it is possible to love cats in general, to want to adopt a cat and then finally adopt a cat after a long wait when you have your own property but thereafter to learn to hate the cat that you adopted. 

It's a sad story and it is possible sometimes for this to happen. Cat owners need to do a reality check and accept it when they feel that they can no longer live with their cat. That doesn't mean abandoning your cat but it might mean rehoming your cat to the best of your ability because that is part of the obligation of a caregiver.

In this instance, the woman said that she waited for the right one to adopt. She wanted an older cat who would be happy living indoors because she lived on the second floor of a house conversion in a one-bedroom flat without direct access to a garden. In short, she adopted a cat to be a full-time indoor cats.

But she found that her elderly male cat screamed at 3 AM in the morning until 6 AM in the morning every night. She had no idea why this was happening. She took her cat to the vet who gave him arthritis injections because they thought that he was suffering from arthritis causing pain. He obviously wasn't. Because the screaming continued.

She got to the point where she couldn't function any more at work because she couldn't sleep properly and she learned to hate him and sought advice on the Internet.

In follow-up posts she said that on third visit to a veterinarian they diagnosed megacolon. And because her cat suffered from megacolon, they decided that it was the reason why he was screaming during the night. I doubt that. 

That might have been one reason but the thing is this: the symptoms of megacolon of very specific and quite apparent and the lady never mentions these symptoms which are: straining to defecate, weight loss, lethargy, vomiting and anorexia i.e. a lack of appetite. And a painful abdomen as well as dehydration and depression.

I would have thought she would have had picked up these symptoms if they truly were present and that her cat was indeed suffering from megacolon. He might have been but I think the more likely reason why he was screaming at night was because this cat, historically, was an indoor/outdoor cat with free access to the outside unsupervised. Keeping him indoors full-time drove him nuts. He screamed at the top of his voice as a consequence. He was asking to be let out.

But the lady couldn't do it because she lived on the second floor and there was no access to the outside. The answer would have been to rehome the him but almost all of the very many people who advised didn't advise this. 

In the end she decided to euthanise her cat because the operation to fix the megacolon was going to be too expensive and perhaps too difficult. And the outcome was uncertain. She said that she he had five good months with her as the vet had administered medications for the megacolon and Feliway to calm him. I don't think the five months were that good. The Feliway indicates that he was agitated by being kept indoors.

I feel a little bit queasy about the story because, as mentioned, I think the underlying and genuine reason why this cat was screaming is because he wanted to be outside, to hunt at night, to roam freely as he had done before. I am guessing but the story indicates that.

To keep cats indoors full-time is a good thing sometimes because it protects wildlife and protects the cat from risk of injury and more severe harm. But sometimes cat caregivers have to accept that their cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. They have to accept that their cat is going to live a risky life relative to being an indoor life. 

People normally keep their cats indoors full-time for their own peace of mind primarily and the secondary reason is to keep their cat safe. I think people need to free up that thought and sometimes, just sometimes, they have to allow their cat to take life risks and decide that what happens is going to happen come what may.

If she decided that and found a way to allow her cat to go outside at night he might be alive today.

Japanese islands issue ID cards to all the cats

The Amami Islands to the south of mainland Japan, are considered to be a living fossil because it is cut off from the rest of the world and has great wildlife and for that reason. The local government has decided to issue ID cards to all the cats on the islands. ID cards are already issued to their owners. This, therefore, is an extension of the scheme.

ID cards for cats on Amami Islands. Image: Kazuaki Kanda.

But unlike for humans, the cats won't be getting the cards for social security and tax purposes but, instead, to ensure that they are registered and thereby improve cat ownership with the subsequent benefit of less predation on wildlife. The government wants the cat owners of these islands to keep their cats inside full-time.

A government spokesperson said that, "By issuing the card, we want to increase the number of owners who keep their cats indoors and accelerate momentum to eliminate unwanted cats". Comment: they feel that they have a cat problem and a predation on native wildlife problem it seems to me. This move seems to be a reflection of the general trend worldwide to keep domestic cats indoors full-time more often to protect wildlife. There is a greater sensitivity to the protection of wildlife in many jurisdictions in 2023.

In every country or every jurisdiction there comes a moment when the government takes steps, quite severe steps, to protect wildlife from domestic cat predation. That moment has arrived on the Amami Islands.

Feral cats have been a persistent problem on the island because they prey on the Amami rabbit which is designated a "special natural treasure" by the government. And there are other species that the government was to protect from predation.

The card issued to people is called "My Number Card". For cats it will be "Maya Nyamber Card"

This is a play on words because "nyan" means cats in the local dialect while "nyamber" is a wordplay on "nyan" which sounds a bit like the meowing of a cat.

The inspiration for this seems to have come from a very popular video published in 2011. Nyan Cat is a YouTube video uploaded in April 2011, which became an internet meme. The video merged a Japanese pop song with an animated cartoon cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso flying through space and leaving a rainbow trail behind. The video ranked at number five on the list of most viewed YouTube videos in 2011.

The card will bear the name of the cat, their address and details about their appearance such as the colour of their coat. The card will carry a photograph of the cat and an emergency contact number other than the number of the owner.

Currently around 2500 cats are registered on the island. There are approximately 1600 strays. More than 90% of domestic cats have been spayed and neutered and 73% have been micro-chipped.

Private zoo owner employed emotional blackmail to raise money

Private zoo owner employed emotional blackmail to raise money. Image: MikeB based on images on the Daily Mail website.

Keith Evans, the owner of Lion Habitat Ranch, a private zoo in America, employed a company to fund raise for him. He blames that company for sending out a handwritten letter claiming that he would put down his big cats unless people made donations. It was a form of emotional blackmail because he was tugging at the heartstrings of people who are concerned about animal welfare.

Keith Evans runs one of America's dwindling private zoos. They are on the way out because of the Big Public Safety Act. There are far too many private Jews in America. It's a form of self-indulgent human behaviour and the victims are the big cats and other animals they keep.

Lion Habitat Ranch is home to 21 lions on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. In one letter and I presume in his handwriting, it says that, "It scares me deeply to think about what might happen if I can't afford to feed them. It's possible they would be euthanised because they simply have nowhere to go. I can't let that happen."

When he was asked by a local news station whether he would in fact kill the lions he said no that he wouldn't and he has blamed the letter on a fundraising company he has contracted with. He regrets the letter going out and has rescinded it. Although he had approved the letter.

He says that the company he uses make more from him than he makes from their fundraising. His lion sanctuary has a total income of $2.5 million for the year 2021-2022. Keith Evans paid a fundraising company, a Eberle Associates a total of $613,533, I presume, over a long period of time and Mr Evans complains that the money pays them is not good value for money.

Evans said that anyone who receives the letter should rip it up and Evans has asked Eberle Associates to stop sending out these letters.

Evans is now backtracking big time because this kind of fundraising is a public relations disaster for his lion sanctuary as it has been called. It shows how commercial they have to be. It shows us that ultimately these private zoos are commercial establishments making money for the owner and they are therefore exploiting the animals held captive at them.

All private zoos in America should be shut down, lock stock and barrel. Fortunately, Carole Baskin's Big Cat Safety Act bans the ownership of big cats in America within private zoos and therefore in the not-too-distant future they should be non-existent in America because this is a federal act governing all states. The new law allows private zoos to wind down.

The Internet is bloated and repetitive. I'll tell you why.

The Internet is too big and too repetitive in 2023. It is suffering from acute bloat. In human terms it is morbidly obese and it is still guzzling crackers and processed foods. No one is managing it. It is a product of human competition without controls. This article will be a victim of the bloated Internet. Hardly anybody will read it. I'll be lucky if it is read a hundred times. It's basically a waste of my time.

You will see hundreds of thousands of articles on any one subject. What's the point? You will see millions of articles answering your questions that you have put into Google's search box. There are far too many websites and they repeat each other. They regurgitate the same stuff endlessly.

The Internet has become boring in its repetitiveness. It's a great wall of words and pictures, each one the same as the other. And authors in an effort to beat other authors of articles sometimes make them longer and longer to the point where they are unreadable because most people want to find answers quickly on their smartphones. If you've written a 3000-word article no one is going to get to the bottom.

I've painted a black picture but the Internet has got worse because of this constant competition by the owners of content websites. And the competition is to be visible which turns on search engine optimisation - SEO.

If there are 3 million websites with the same article on the same topic, they are all chasing the top five slots in Google's search engine results on page 1. Only the top 10 of those websites featured on page 1 of Google's search results get clicked on. All the rest are in the dark. They are a waste of space. The clog up the internet.

The tip of the iceberg in terms of Google search results is a tiny tip and below it is this huge mass of words and pictures. The problem, as that websites are chasing an almost impossible objective to be visible in the vast ocean of words.

They do this by trying to optimise their webpages from a search engine perspective. And that tends to create a very bland page written for a 14-year-old which is very repetitive and written in simplistic ways.

It's almost as if the Internet is destroying itself by becoming more and more bloated. It's like a huge overweight man or woman who is still guzzling on unhealthy food. Becoming sicker and sicker.

Piles and piles of repetitive semi-dead pages. Google tries to be fair and operates a kind of time share system which recycles websites to the top from time to time to give them some air time. But it is small fry.

It's the same with social media. Millions and millions of Facebook pages chasing a bit of visibility but hardly ever if ever achieving it. People try more and more desperate things to get seen.

They might rebuild their website but rebuilding a website doesn't really do anything. It might produce a short improvement in visibility for a while, for a short while but that soon fizzles out. And as all the content has been written there's nothing more to say.

That's the truth of it, there is nothing more to say except provide news. News always changes but even that becomes boring because news, too, can be very repetitive. You will see hugely repetitive news stories. And the news media run out of stories so we get these ridiculous click bait articles about a black panther roaming around the Buckinghamshire countryside in the UK or some other idiotic article.

And there are many websites which simply publish click bait articles. They provide misinformation and there are millions of pages like this. This just serves to degrade the Internet.

Back in the day, about 15 years ago the Internet was far less competitive. And before that it was even newer and fresher. The website could actually lead the way on something and be different. Now it is impossible for a website owner to be different because it's all been done before.

All you can do is write good articles with good content but, you know, content runs out. When it's all been said and done all you can do is repeat, rinse and start again. Repetitive, the same, boring, and web surfers are drowning in trillions of words seeking information and entertainment.

Google wants the Internet to expand which is fair enough because they are a business. They want to expand because they can make more money in advertising revenue but their objective is almost self-defeating. And it must get harder and harder for Google to provide good search results and harder and harder to index the trillions of website pages accurately and fairly as the Internet becomes ever more bloated and repetitive and samey.

It's time for a change but there is no way to change. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been promoted as being revolutionary and something that will improve people's search results and help them find top quality information quickly but I don't think this is actually happening.

AI simply feeds off the Internet to provide answers to questions. It is delving into the massive pile of the Internet and summarising what it sees. AI is good at summarising things. It provides a good précis of what's been said but the information that AI provides is very bland and very safe. It too is repetitive and boring.

Perhaps the size of the Internet should be limited. Perhaps there should be a neutral, independent and international organisation which governs the Internet and limits its size. Only the best sites should survive. All the rest should go to the wall to help create an Internet which is clear, sharp, precise, manageable without click bait. The survival of the fittest. Darwinism in action.

What should be on the internet? Here is an example. An inspiring story in a short video. A great woman. Her efforts are almost invisible on the internet. She should be at the top. That's another issue. Good things drown in the ocean of words, videos and pics.