I always land on my feet.... clever me!

 

Reference - Higurashi et al, 2026  

DOI: 10.1002/ar.70165

We cats are brilliant acrobats. One of our most mysterious and wonderful actions is the way we fall.... on our feet.

Humans just fall to the ground. They hurt themselves - particularly the oldies - because they crash onto their heads, or their hips, or their hands. There is often blood on their bodies or the crack of a broken bone.

We cats survive falls because we land on our feet. 

The trick is that we swivel our bodies, righting ourselves as we fall. 

How do we do this?

We have amazingly flexible spines. The top chest area of our spines bends first so that the front feet point downwards, then the lower spine (not quite so flexible) bends so that the rest of the body is poised to land on all four feet.

Beat this one, humans. You can't. You just can't, you clumsy two-footed dumb animals. 

Why are our litter trays so small?

 

NOT BIG ENOUGH.

We cats are clean animals.

This is an important reason why humans like to be adopted by us. They enjoy living with animals who know where to toilet and generally stick to the same place, the litter tray.

But humans also make life difficult for us. Very difficult.

They give us tiny litter trays and often trays with covers. Sometimes we can only manage by leaving half our body outside the tray.

We need space. Space to get into the litter tray and dig a hole. Space to turn round and position our backside on that hole. Then we need to turn round, examine the situation, and start covering it up.

So we need space in front of us and behind us. We also need space sideways for turning. 

AT LAST - BIG ENOUGH

Minimum requirement... A litter tray at least one and a half times our body length from nose to base of tail. AND wide enough for us to turn round in it.

Do we get this? Not usually. 

 

 

I sleep, therefore I am a cat.

 We cats know the power of sleep.When we have had a big meal, we sleep. When we are tired, we sleep. When there is a warm fire, or a warm cat bed, or a patch of sunlight, we sleep.

And then we sleep some more. Time spend sleeping is never wasted.  

We are never ever, ever, workaholics like humans. Humans waste their time rushing around, shopping for food (it's a boring variation of hunting), vocalising to each other (they call it gossip), watching that box of lights (to them it is a TV), cooking (for themselves not us), going out "to work" (whatever that is, perhaps it is like patrolling territory), getting high on liquid alcohol (their version of catnip.)

Most of them only sleep at night. What a waste of what is one of the most wonderful life experiences  - a good sleep.

I really pity them. 

Helping my local stray females

Pregnant 

I know that female cats living on the street are better off without repeated pregnancies. Humans feed stray cats and think they are being kind. Well, they are being kind but they could do better. 

Please help your local mom cat get spayed so that she isn't worn out with repeated pregnancies. Even females that are riddled with worms or suffering from diseases will still get pregnant.

Many of them will lose their kittens - up to 75% feral or unowned kittens will die before they are six months old. And then the mother cat will get pregnant again... and again... and again.

We cats do not have a population crisis. We don't need more kittens. There are too many unwanted kittens and cats in the world already - living on the streets, eating from dustbins or thrown away take-away meals, dying from traffic accidents, starvation or disease.

 

•  My human has a substack on why females are better off spayed - http://celiahaddoncatexpert.substack.com

 

 

Why I am better off without my testicles

 

I am better off without these?

As a privileged house cat, with a devoted human servant, I have always understood that there was a trade-off. In return for the peace and comfort of sharing my bed with my human, I had to forgo the hurly burly of sex on the rooftops with a female cat. 

Was the trade-off worth it? I lost some of the excitement of life, it is true. I don't have kittens to continue my bloodline. I don't have the sharp short pleasure of the sex act.

What I gained was better health. I am free from the fatal diseases spread by fighting other tom cats -- Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukaemia virus (FeLV). I also don't have scars, wounds or even abcesses resulting from wound.

If I had my testicles I would be outside roaming around looking for sex. Wanting sex and not getting it, is not in itself a pleasure. And, moreover, tom cat roaming often means leaving home or being thrown out of home because I was smelly and peed in the house. Roaming puts tom cat at risk from traffic or bigger animals

So I am healthier and have all the pleasures of a regular and longer life. Worth it? I think so.

And I contribute a lot to human emotional welfare. 

 

• For my human's view on this go to http://celiahaddoncatexpert.substack.com