What's in a roll....

This is the affectionate roll for a human

Human beings are illiterate. They read body language so badly that they do not realise the many meanings of the feline roll. They call it the "social roll", but it can be unsocial and even threatening.

OK, so sometimes I roll in order to greet my human. It doesn't mean I want a belly rub but it is a way of showing some affection. I guess that is the social roll.

Being friendly to another cat.

Sometimes I roll in front of another cat to show that I am trying to be friendly. Maybe that is the social roll too.

And sometimes I roll for fun during a play fight. I guess that is being social

The defensive roll ready to attack

But sometimes I roll in order to defend myself against another aggressive cat. It means I have all four paws, each with four dagger sharp claws, ready to rip out bits of his fur.  That is hardly being social in a kind sense.

And sometimes I roll around when I am playing with a dead mouse or a toy. That isn't social at all.

Playing with a mouse

So, humans, somehow you have got to factor in all these complications and not make easy (and false) categorisations.

As I said, humans are illiterate in body language.

Mew Year resolution - save a difficult cat

Brody: www.sunshinecatrescue.org.uk

Now is the time when we cats make resolutions for our humans. Purrlease do something..... and this year I want to ask humans to adopt difficult cats.

Brody is one of the cats waiting for a home who may have to wait a long time. He is a hands-off cat, because he both bites and scratches humans who get too close.

Quite a few cats will let a human pet them for a few seconds, then scratch. But Brody has decided to get in early and do it before he is touched. 

He has been in a home and enjoyed the warmth and comfort, though not the human contact. So it seems a bit hard to just give him a home in a barn or stables even with regular meals.

Yet he cannot go into a home with young children or with any adults that are elderly, ill or have immunity issues. His biting and scratching might mean that they become seriously hurt.

Keep safe at Christmas

Humans go mad at Christmas. We cats know this only too well. They fill the house with strange relatives (bad), put up a pine tree in the living room (good and bad), cook and serve a lot of food (good), make weird singing noises called carols, and get drunk on alcohol, their equivalent of catnip.

What does this mean for us cats?

• Relatives... they take up space in the spare room where we usually sleep. Some of them bring horrible dogs with them. They bring strange smells with them. Some of them bring young human kittens that try to cuddle us. Uggh.
  
• Christmas tree. It's fun to play with the glittery things dangling from the Christmas tree. It's fun to climb up it. But sometimes the tree comes with the smell of dog pee. It's been sitting outside on the pavement and a passing dog has urinated on it. What can we do with the upsetting smell? Spray on it, of course. And the pine needles can get in our feet and be very painful.
  
• Food. Turkey is good - but beware the bones which can stick in your gut. The gravy may have onions in it - another danger to our digestion. Christmas pudding may also be poisonous but some of us eat it anyway. Cake with all those raisins in it is also bad for us.
• Carols - just like caterwauling.
• Alcohol. Don't be tempted. What makes a human silly can be a fatal overdose for a cat.
  

Keeping safe. Human killers or animal killers?

 We cats get very frightened when we hear about humans serial killers of cats. How can we tell the difference between a killer and a human friend? Now we can relax a little, if we live in Croydon, a suburb of London.

There isn't a human cat killer at large. The killers were foxes.

Hundreds of cats went missing there, but now a scientific study reported here says the deaths were due either to foxes attacking and killing cats, or foxes scavenging on the dead bodies of cats that had died from different causes.

However, how can we keep safe from foxes? 

The best way to do this is to stay indoors at night. Please, humans, lock the cat flap when you come home from work. 

Yes, we won't like it. Yes, we will complain at first. So call us in for a special meal or special treats, so that we are rewarded when we get indoors.

It's the simple way to keep us safe from predators....

Get microchipped

 So many cats get lost when they stray from home. They have to roam the streets looking for somebody who might help them survive. Or they end up in traffic accidents and their grieving owners never know what happened. Now, at long last, the UK government is going to do something about it.

Microchips can help all cats. That is the message from International Cat Care. But somehow many humans either just forget, or don't care, or feel it cannot happen to them. Why should you be microchipped?

• If you get lost and are rescued by a human, a vet can read the microchip and you can be re-united with your family.
• If you are injured in a traffic accident, a vet can treat you and find your home.
• If, (Bastet or some other cat goddess forbid), you meet your death under a car, your body can be scanned and your humans can get closure. It's awful for them, if you just disappear, and they never know what happened to you.
• Cat rescue organisations will be able to rehome stray cats immediately, if they are microchipped. That means they can take in more cats that need help
• Microchipping may help stop thieves who steal cats to resell them.
• Irresponsible cat owners, including cat hoarders, can be taken to court - which gives them the chance to be re-educated in cat welfare.
• Irresponsible or disorganised cat charities (and there are a few of them) will have to shape up to proper welfare standards. Just handing out cats without microchips won't be good enough.