Tuesday 31 October 2023

Cat direct register gait seen brilliantly in the snow

Direct register cat gait is seen clearly when walking in quite deep snow. Image: MikeB from screenshot taken from video below on Twitter.

The domestic cat walks with direct register which means that cats place their hind paws directly in the same spot where their front paws landed. This creates a narrow track with overlapping pawprints in the snow as you can see. The reasons why cats and in fact many other animals do this is because of the reasons set out below the video.


Stealth and balance. It allows the cat to move silently and precisely. They minimise the amount of noise and of course disturbance that they make while walking. And in the snow, it is probably quite important because walking in the snow can be quite noisy and if the hind paws registered directly with the forepaws they don't go into the snow. They are silent.

It looks like this cat has walked along this snow track before and returned, using the exact same positions for his or her feet.

Cats instinctively walk silently and stealthily because they are one of the world's most skilled hunters. And when hunting they need to go undetected.

Direct register walking also helps in maintaining balance particularly when the cat is walking along a narrow surface or along a branch for instance.

Energy conservation. With a gait in direct register, the cat as a skilled predator can move more efficiently and they can conserve energy. They minimise the distance travelled by their bodies' center of mass between each step. This minimises their movement and reduces unnecessary movements which allows them to retain energy for more important activities such as a surge in speed when hunting or escaping larger predators.

And also, it goes without saying when looking at this video and the still image that walking in direct register provides a kind of camouflage for the cat's presence. The cat leaves a narrower and less conspicuous trail. This makes it more challenging for a predator of cats to detect and attack them.

The direct register gait of cats applies to walking. Cats do not maintain a direct register gait when they are running. They transition to a form of movement called the "rotary gallop". This form of movement allows them to move much faster while the direct register method of walking is mainly used for slower, stealthy movements. The rotary gallop is used for quick bursts of speed when hunting over a short distance after the stealthy approach.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Woman transitioning to a 'human cat' with many body modifications and more to come

The image and videos that you see are of a young 22-year-old Italian woman named Chiara Dell’Abate aka Aydin Mod who wants to transition to a 'human cat' through plastic surgery, piercings, tattoos and other body modifications. Does she look like a cat? The answer is no quite definitely. I don't know what her thinking is but to an outsider like me, she has not realised her objective; nowhere near. I find it very sad indeed that she has done this to herself. For me she looks revolting.

Italian woman transitioned to a 'human cat' through 20 body modifications with more to come
Chiara Dell’Abate aka Aydin Mod. Screenshot (modified) from YouTube.

Apparently, she is very excited about her transitioning to a human cat. She started the long journey at the tender age of 11 when she received her first body mod. She now has 72 piercings in her body.

Her body modifications include punched nostrils, 0.8 cm upper lip piercings and a 1.6 cm inner labia piercing. Her tongue has been split (see video below). Horror. I can't see that that is anything at all to do with being a domestic cat. Domestic cats do not have split tongues but snakes do. 

She struggles to speak properly. I wonder if she struggles to eat properly too. And what about day-to-day functioning? These body mods must get in the way.


But she is very happy with her body. She said, "I'm thinking that I would be a pretty cool cat lady".

In addition to the above, she has submitted herself to a blepharoplasty which, I'm told, removes excess skin or fat from the eyelids. Her eyeballs have been tattooed!! She has pointed ears, forehead implants and claw-like nails. And permanent eyeliner.


She added: "I think becoming a cat lady is more appropriate for me as I don’t really want to look like a cartoon character. I have always loved cats, and I think I’ll look really bold and fierce as a cat lady with the right body mods."

She is not finished. She was to become more like a human cat.

"To achieve the full cat-like look, I will need a cat eyes lift or canthoplasty — surgery to produce more elongated and naturally almond-shaped eyes — teeth reshaping, upper lip cut, more fillers."

And she said that she will employ something called a transdermal which is like a micro dermal to attach a tail and definitely more tattoos. 


She said that the procedures hurt a lot but the pain is temporary and not a big deal to her. Some people have slammed her for her desire to dramatically alter her appearance. For me, the alterations are very much to her detriment. She looks horrendous to me. But I am an old man with particular views. Perhaps I'm a bit old-fashioned but....she looks horrible...

Some people have labelled her psychotic and disturbed. Others have been supportive and praised her for living freely. She said that through her body modifications, "I feel free to stay true to myself, regardless of what people think."

I just wonder whether she wants to modify her body because she is unhappy with it. I wonder if she does have mental health problems. I am not saying that she does by the way. She sounds perfectly normal and rational but I also wonder whether she will think exactly the same way in 10 or 20 years' time. I doubt whether she will. I wish her well.

But because there is more to come, she'll get progressively worse until she turns into a monster. And what about the cost? And has anyone checked out her mental health? People should be protecting her.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Around 10% of Taiwanese domestic cats are infected with hepadnavirus linked to chronic hepatitis in cats

I find the conclusions of this study rather alarming. Scientists in southern Taiwan researched the prevalence of domestic cat hepadnavirus which is associated with chronic hepatitis in cats. They say that it is similar to hepatitis B virus infections in humans. It's the first study to investigate the level of infection in Taiwan although it was first identified in Australia in 2018.

Around 10% of Taiwanese domestic cats are infected with hepadnavirus linked to chronic hepatitis in cats
Image believed to be in the public domain.

They tested 71 cats, eight of which (11.25%) were positive for this virus (DCH). They say that the "study highlights the importance of continuous surveillance of DCH and further research to elucidate the pathophysiology and transmission route of DCH."

The National Institutes of Health tells us that the first hepadnavirus to be isolated from carnivores came from a domestic cat in Australia. It was subsequently detected in Asian and European cats. It is associated with hepatic disease in cats.

Hepatitis is a liver disorder caused by bacterial or viral infections, parasites or metabolic diseases. It can cause the liver to become inflamed and prevented functioning properly or at all.

In a separate study dated 2022 from Japan, the scientists asked whether the "global prevalence of domestic cat hepadnavirus [is] an emerging threat to cats' health?"

In the abstract of the study, they state that it's prevalence rates were "6.5% in Australia, 10.8% in Italy, 12.4% in Thailand, 12.3% in Malaysia, 3.08% in the United Kingdom and 0.78% in Japan."

Separately, hepatic lipidosis is quite a common condition in domestic cats affecting the liver. It can be caused by anorexia, a loss of appetite which triggers this condition. It's characterised by an excessive accumulation of fat (triglycerides) within the liver which leads to liver failure.

The MSD Veteran Manual says that the cause is unknown but linked with a period of poor appetite.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Forensics will be able to use cat and dog hairs to help convict criminals

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is an interesting development in the world of forensic science. Until now it's been all but impossible to use cat and dog hairs at a crime scene to help identify the criminal because (1) most cat hairs do not contain a root or it is dead resulting in almost no nuclear DNA sequence and (2) domestic cats have a very small number of ancient ancestors resulting in very similar DNA and therefore it is impossible to separate one from another using, as I understand it, nuclear DNA.


However, a new method of screening uses every part of the mitochondrial DNA which enables the forensic scientist to detect tiny differences and in doing so they will be able to link a domestic cat that lives with the alleged criminal. This will help to convicted criminals.

Obviously, not all criminals live with a domestic cat but in the UK, you will find a domestic cat in 26% of the households. And in those homes, there is invariably a pile of cat and dog hair. It is one of the great bugbears of many pet owners: getting rid of it!

Now it appears that forensic scientists can actually use it and as I understand it, it works like this. The criminal lives with a cat or dog. The criminal commits a crime and leaves behind at the crime scene some cat/dog hairs that have come off his clothes and which are deposited onto the victim or other objects at the crime scene. These are collected and analysed linking the criminal with the crime scene.

Although mitochondrial DNA is less variable than nuclear DNA there is just a 3% chance that two cats share the same genetics in this regard. It will be another tool to use to help pin down the criminal.

And so, forensics will now be able to use those hairs to help convict an alleged criminal. Mark Jobling, Prof of genetics at Leicester University and the co-author of the study said that, "In criminal cases where there is no DNA available to test, pet hair is a valuable source of linking evidence, and our method makes it much more powerful. The same approach could also be applied to other species, and particularly dogs."

The other co-author of the study, Dr. Jon Wetton, also of Leicester University's Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, added that, "If the police have a case where there are cat hairs but no human DNA to link a suspect with a crime it is now likely that, using our approach, we would be able to exclude the great majority of cats as the source and demonstrate a stronger link to the suspect's cat. The approach could be applied to other species, dogs being the most relevant as their hairs are also frequently found on clothing."

The study is published online on the Forensic Science International Genetics website. The abstract (summary) in an earlier study of 2014 states that "Mitochondria DNA is often the only option for DNA analysis of shed hair."

And in that 2014 study the scientists add that analysis of mitochondrial DNA has been accepted in US criminal courts since 1996 which was the date of a murder trial concerning Henry L Polk Jnr. in Mississippi. This was the first legal proceedings in America where cat mitochondrial DNA analysis was produced as evidence.

Initially the court deemed it inadmissible but once the judge had heard the arguments it became admissible.

Mitochondrial DNA versus nuclear DNA


Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA differs in the following ways:
  • Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother while nuclear DNA is inherited from both parents.
  • Mitochondrial DNA is circular and smaller in size. Nuclear DNA is larger in size and linear.
  • Mitochondrial DNA replicates separately from the nuclear DNA and encodes for proteins that work only for the mitochondria. Conversely, nuclear DNA encodes for proteins that work for the entire cell.
  • Finally, nuclear DNA is found in the cell nucleus while mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria (source Bing AI).
Note: the source of this post is The Telegraph newspaper on MSN. I can't find the study online at this time to allow me to provide a link to it.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Monday 30 October 2023

Veterinarians who declaw cats must HATE them

The argument is that only a veterinarian who hates cats could declaw them because declawing is so obviously a form of punishment for the independent cat who refuses to be submissive towards the human as dogs are to their owners.

All declawing vets should be behind bars for the crime of animal cruelty. This vet declaws cats. His name is Dr Glenn Ephraim. Image: MikeB

That is a theory. Why and how else can a vet act so obviously and blatantly in clear violation of their oath not to cause harm? Declawing is non-therapeutic. It is elective. Elected by the cat owner who is scared of cat claws and perhaps scared of cats in general.

In the cat world in the United States, the elephant in the room is how the heck the veterinarians have got away with brutally and cruelly mutilating innocent kittens and adult cats since the 1950s.

You think I am exaggerating about the cruelty of the operation? No, I am not. It is the partial amputation of the ten toes of the forepaws of the cat. And sometimes all the hind leg paws as well. It causes excruciating pain and can ruin the cat for the rest of their life. Declawed cats are 7 times more likely to inappropriately eliminate. And they commonly bite their owners as their claws are gone. They compensate.


You think the owners who declaw their cats are better off? No, many of them abandon their declawed cats because their cats' behavior has gone wrong. Declawing can change a cat's character for the worse.

Only vets who hate cats could be so horrible towards them in doing something which is a clear-cut crime in many other countries. These vets should all be in jail.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

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