Cat food should not be more expensive than human food but it often is

This is a cross-post. The title almost says it all. The truth is that in the UK and perhaps in other countries cat food can often be more expensive than human food. This is entirely wrong. I'm not saying that cats are not as important as humans. I am not saying that cats aren't equal to humans. But I don't think, in all fairness, that mass produced cat food should be more expensive than specific items of human food on weight-cost basis.

Hill's Prescription dry cat food is as expensive as steak by Michael Broad

I'm referring, in this instance, to Hill's Prescription Diet dry cat food which as far as I am concerned is inordinately expensive and as expensive as a sirloin steak in the UK on a weight per cost basis.

This is cat food produced en masse in a factory using the carcasses of diseased cows and other dubious sources. Some of these foods are probably based on better quality sources but dry cat food of all types I allege and believe is sourced from dead animals considered too unhealthy for humans and is therefore cheap. 

If you shop at Sainsbury's you will find that sirloin steak costs the same.

And I would argue that the big dry cat food manufacturers such as Hill's are indirectly driving concerned cat owners to buying cheaper products. Cheap dry cat food served up all day long every day is not good for a domestic cat's health in my view particularly if the caregiver is away from home a lot. 

In this instance (a fairly common one) you have a double whammy of problems: separation anxiety potentially which causes stress which can lead to a bladder infection and idiopathic cystitis combined with dry cat food which does not contain enough water which also exacerbates the potential for developing cystitis, a bacterial bladder infection.

You can see how things work and a lot of people go for the convenience of dry cat food and also for its cheapness provided they avoid the big manufacturers such as Hill's.

Hill's should take their leading role more seriously. They have a very heavy responsibility regarding protecting the health and welfare of domestic cats. They promote the concept that their dry cat food is veterinarian approved and based upon "prescriptions". It's a false narrative. I would allege that their foods promote the opposite in many domestic cats owned by people on tight budgets with not a lot of disposable income.

Only the relatively well off can, arguably, afford Hill's dry cat food. This is unfair on the vast majority of cat owners many of whom are single people on limited budgets trying to cope as best he can in a highly competitive world.

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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. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Use sounds of nature to de-stress (and connect with nature)

As a cat caregiver you want to be in the best state of mind that you can achieve in order to discharge your duties and responsibilities towards your cat companion to the highest standard! 😉😎 A pretty fancy introduction don't you think? But essentially true. 

The modern world is pretty stressful because it's more competitive than ever before and there's that background noise of impending WW3 and that background noise of climate change which I think makes a lot of people anxious as it is ever present.

Listening to the sounds of nature to destress on your daily commute. Image: MikeB using AI - Bing's Copilot.

So, we need to do all we can to de-stress ourselves and I've always said that if everybody connected with nature by walking in a park every day for half an hour it would help. I do it (Richmond Park - a fabulous place). 

But if you can't do that then you can listen to the sounds of nature on your daily commute on the train which, according to a small study, reduced stress levels by 35% compared to those who had listened to nothing at all.

This is called a 'pilot study' because it's quite small and non-peer reviewed. It was commissioned by South Western Railway, a British railway company. They conducted the test on a loop-line from Waterloo Station and back to Waterloo station; a 45 minute circular journey leaving London and then returning. I have used that line often.

Forty-two passengers participated. The participants in one group were asked to listen to nature sounds for 15 minutes, followed by a 15-minute break, followed by 15 minutes of listening to audio of their choice such as music or perhaps a podcast.

The second group did the same thing in reverse order. Their mood was assessed using a questionnaire described as an "industry-standard mood assessment questionnaire".

They reported "a significant decrease in the average feelings of stress when the passengers listened to the nature-inspired soundscape as compared to their baseline levels".

The research has not been peer reviewed and neither has it been published in a scientific journal. It was carried out in consultation with Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford.

Comment: as mentioned in the first sentence, I believe that all humans need to ensure that they connect with nature because we come from nature. Too often we distance ourselves from nature with concrete, steel, televisions and mobile phones. We live in this human-generated artificial consumer-orientated techno-world which is anathema to nature. Connect with nature, walk in nature as best you can and as regularly as you can and it will help ease some of that pent-up stress and simmering anxiety.

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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. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Fruit flies can teach us about love, risk and reward

It may surprise you to know that according to a study, fruit flies can teach humans something about love, risk and reward. You thought they were just silly, irritating small flies that got in the way and needed to be squashed at any opportunity. I understand that but read this article and see whether you change your opinion afterwards.

They say love is blind and for the fruit fly it's true. But then again it is sometimes true for humans as well. Sometimes a person in love can take untypical risks because everything in their lives flies out of the window (excuse the pun again 💕😉).

The study discovered that when a male fruit fly sets his sights on a female his sex drive takes over. He loses his ability to spot predators. When sex is the goal male fruit flies become "oblivious to physical danger". They pursue their mate with an abandonment of the risks because they don't register.

So why don't the risks register any more? They studied the neural pathways that are activated in the brains of fruit flies to see what happens. When the fruit fly is close to mating with a female there is an increase in dopamine caused by his sex drive. This increase in dopamine overrides the fly's sensory receptors. This in turn "reduces the ability of the fly to respond to threat, causing it to focus on mating".

That's according to the study published in the journal Nature. The researchers have suggested that a similar process might take place in the human brain. The suggestion is that when humans are close to achieving their goals risk is subsumed by the potential of the reward.

"You can see this kind of motivation that play all the time among humans. Imagine you are climbing a mountain and you're close to the summit. If the weather changes and conditions become dangerous, you might disregard that threat because you are so close to your goal."

Those are the words of Dr. Lisa Sheunemann, of the Free University of Berlin who contributed to the study findings.

It seems that the male fruit flies develops tunnel vision when pursuing a mate. Dr. Carolina Rezaval, also of the study and the lead researcher, said that: 

"Our study shows that as courtship progresses, dopamine increases, acting as a sensory filter that blocks distractions and helps the animal focus on the task at hand when close to its goal. We are excited to explore if this is a general decision-making mechanism that is also present in mammals, including humans."

Comment: my life's experience tells me that it is also common in humans. Perhaps particularly males as is the case for fruit flies. We can learn something from fruit flies.

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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. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Animal shelters need an open-door policy to save lives

America's greatest advocate for shelter animals is concerned that many animal shelters in the US are sticking to pandemic methods for potential adopters and requiring that they make an appointment rather than allowing people who want to adopt a shelter animal to simply turn up and have a look. This is leading to more killings of shelter animals because of less adoptions according to Nathan.

America's rescue centres need to revert to the pre-pandemic methods asap to save the lives of shelter animals.

Nathan Winograd says this in an email to me:

"A new study proves that requiring an appointment to adopt out animals leads to fewer adoptions — and fewer adoptions leads to more killing. The No Kill Advocacy calls on “shelters” to open the doors."

I confirmed this through ChatGPT which said the following:

Yes, it is true that some animal shelters in the US have shifted to an appointment-based system for adoptions rather than allowing walk-ins, and this change has been linked to a decrease in the number of adoptions.

This trend gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many shelters adopted appointment-only systems to manage social distancing and reduce the spread of the virus. While this system helped shelters manage the flow of visitors and ensure that they had enough staff to assist each potential adopter, it also had some unintended consequences.

Critics argue that requiring appointments can create barriers for people who might otherwise adopt on impulse or visit a shelter on a whim, leading to fewer animals being adopted. Potential adopters may find it less convenient to plan a visit in advance, and some may be discouraged by the additional steps required to schedule an appointment.

On the other hand, supporters of the appointment system believe that it can lead to more thoughtful and prepared adoptions, as it gives shelter staff more time to assess potential adopters and match them with the right animals.

Overall, while the appointment-only system can have benefits, it is true that in some cases, it has led to a reduction in the number of adoptions.

Nathan adds:

Data shows that shelter intakes remain below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, 6.8 million dogs and cats entered U.S. shelters. In 2023, that number was down to 6.5 million. In 2024, that number continues to remain below the baseline. Despite this, dog killing is up 12% from pre-pandemic levels, and cat deaths are up from 2022.

And the following:

Not surprisingly, allowing people to visit the kennels without an appointment led to increased adoptions. Moreover, adoptions didn’t just increase slightly during these periods; they skyrocketed by 82%. This was also true of large dogs, which pound managers argue are the most challenging to adopt — and are often killed in greater numbers. Despite limited hours when people could visit the kennels without an appointment — two days a week for a meagre 2.5 hours each of those days — those hours accounted for 83% of large dog adoptions. This one change — ending pandemic-era closures by fully opening to the public without an appointment — will vastly increase adoption and significantly reduce killing.

Comment: is this change in MO a sign of post-pandemic laziness? It makes life easier for shelter administrators if visitors have to make an appointment. There are less people milling around the shelter. I sense that this new MO is down to shelter administrators wanting an easier life.

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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. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Latvian authorities send cars of drunk drivers to Ukraine (no compensation)

If you are arrested for drink driving in Latvia, you lose your car and it is sent to Ukraine to support the country in their fight against the Russian invaders. More $1m of cars have already been sent (by Dec 2023). Lithuania is planning on doing the same. Also, all vehicles with Russian registration plates are confiscated and sent to Ukraine for the war effort. Great. Tough for Russians living in Russia.

The drivers are not compensated financially when their vehicles are confiscated due to drink driving. The confiscation is part of the penalty for the offense. In Latvia, this measure is intended to be a deterrent against driving under the influence, with the additional benefit of aiding Ukraine by providing vehicles for their efforts in the ongoing conflict.

The loss of the vehicle is a consequence of the criminal act, and the government does not provide financial compensation to the convicted drivers. This policy aims to send a strong message about the seriousness of drink driving and the importance of supporting Ukraine.

How about that? Amazing don't you think? Very bold action. The UK government might learn from that and be a lot bolder in their actions to put things right in the country. 

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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. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.