A new cat at the top....

 

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We've done it again. We cats have strolled into top paces. The Belgian prime minister has just adopted a special needs cat.

His name? Maximus Textoris Pulcher. That's Latin for "Maximus the beautiful weaver." A posh name for a posh cat living at the top of  Belgian society.

His ears look funny because he is a Scottish fold cat, a breed that has serious health problems. They have a genetic condition  called osteochondrodysplasia.

That means their joints are deformed and they are in chronic pain. Maximus is also FIV positive.

Here in the UK, we still breed them and they still suffer. But in Belgium, they have banned the breed. 

Oh, and by the way, the Belgian prime minister's name is Bart de Wever and he is not HIV positive!  So he has given his surname to Maximus.

If it's a man, meow louder

Getting human attention is always a problem. They just don't hear us. They are too busy doing the stupid little actions that their species seems to think are important.

Meow? They are staring into the computer and take no notice.

Meow? They are putting on the coffee machine for breakfast and take no notice.

Meow? They are reading a book in bed and take no notice. 

And the male of the species is worse than the female. The female will, if you meow AND wind yourself round her legs, probably remember that you need your  breakfast first.

And the female may put down the book and give you a cuddle last thing at night.

But the male staring at the computer? Not with us at all. Might as well be in another world. 

What is so funny about humans is that they have researched our meows and decided we meow louder when we are dealing with the male. Of course we do. We could have told them why, if only they had the wit to understand what we are saying. 

So Meow louder when it is a male human. 

 

• Want more info about humans? Buy my book for Christmas. 
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The spy in the litter box.

 

So this is the future. No more decent privacy in the litter box. They call it "pet monitoring."

Some evil human has invented a robotic litter box which tells our pet humans what we deposit and when.

It spies on us and sends messages to their phones. 

And look at that monstrosity of a litter box - more like a spacecraft than a decent box. Elderly cats wouldn't be able to get up there anyway.

Would humans like it, if we monitored their lavatories. Would they enjoy the idea that we know exactly when they urinated and how much they urinated, the size of their stools, and the texture of the faeces.

Do we need to remind humans that going to the bathroom (as they call it) is a private act. Yes, PRIVATE.

Do not spy on us, humans. 

 

Crunch that cockroach? Swallow that fly...

Tommy hunting flies

 Crunch, crunch.... there is nothing so satisfying for me than hunting down cockroaches.

The crunch is a bit like the noise my human makes when she is eating crisps. And the flavour is just as good. Very moreish. 

And if I can't find a cockroach, then a bluebottle will do. My hunting technique is to use my paws to smash them against the window pane. Then I pick them up with my mouth when they have fallen down and are wiggling. 

Spiders? Well, the outdoor ones with long skinny legs are more difficult, because the legs come off and the spiders whizz away. Besides, if I am outside, I have better things to hunt.

Indoors, the spiders that are stuck in the bath are more worth my attention. Not really crunchy but often much bigger than a mere bluebottle.

Researchers have just discovered that cats catch a lot of insects!* Boy, these humans are dumb. We have been eating them for at least 1.6 million years when our ancestors emerged on this planet.

We are pest exterminators for cockroaches. And bluebottles. And spiders. 

Your pest is our fun food!

 

•  "Social media highlights the overlooked impact of cats on arthropods," Insect Conservation and Diversity, DOI: 10.1111/icad.70038

World Diabetes day - am I a fat cat?

Boomer before his diet. He lost a sixth of body weight (6 kilos before the diet).  

My human pet, Celia, has just been diagnosed with diabetes. Hardly surprising due to the fact that she has been eating too much cake and biscuits lately.

I have put her on a diet. No sugar, no cake, no biscuits, but as much fruit and vegetables as she wants. She has already given up alcohol and now she has stopped drinking fruit juice too. 

She is not very happy.

Today, Friday November 14, is World Diabetes Day, so I started worrying about my own weight. Did my tum look too fat in my fur? Was I developing love handles?

Perhaps I should give up Dreamies. I only eat about five a day. But is this too much? 

Should I stop eating so much cat food? Change from the most expensive and delicious envelopes to some horrible dried food which isn't so tasty? 

Reading up about feline diabetes here made me almost as depressed as Celia.

It says the symptoms are drinking too much water and urinating too much. I don't think I do that. 

Purrhaps I am just being a hypochondriac.