Archeological cats

It's not widely known but we cats have long had an interest in archeology particularly in countries with a feline friendly climate like Italy. There is rarely an archeology site that does not have a resident cat or cats.

Take Herculaneum for instance. A feline guide is available for cat-human encounters. She enjoys human company and is willing to engage in shared meals whenever possible. 

The local human cat lovers have ensured that she is neutered and those employed on the site make sure there is regular cat food and water available.

It's a great lifestyle. Dry shelter in the roofed Roman houses, plenty of lizards on the walls to catch, and of course rodents are available. 

Best of all, there is freedom in being a community cat, not a house cat. Freedom to roam all round the site. Freedom to ignore tourists or to engage with them.

Read my paws....

 

Look at our front paws and you can read our feelings from them. If they are tucked neatly under us, bent towards each other or bent back under the chest, while we am sitting, it means we are relaxed and happy.

If they are under our bodies but firmly on the ground, it means we are anxious. /we have not relaxed. We have our paws ready for movement, so that we can back away fast or even flee for our lives.

 

Pay attention, humans. Read our paws.

Pain makes us grumpy

 

My ears hurt. Don't touch me or I will nip

When I have a pain in my ears, my tummy or my joints, I get grumpy. I might even nip my human. I can't help it. What else can I do to stop her petting me in a painful place?

Humans just don't understand this. They think we are being vicious. They should remember that they get grumpy too when they are in pain.

This is Mr Nipper Spangles. He has ear mites or something similar. So he is worried about being petted anywhere near them. 

He nips if he sees a hand coming close to his ears. It's the only way he can avoid the risk of being hurt. It hurts if his ears are touched.

Purrlease. Check us out for pain if we get grumpy with our humans.

Black cats lives matter.

 

Black cats need your help, this Halloween. Black kittens are usually the last to be adopted from a shelter. Adult black cats stay longer waiting in a rescue pen for a forever home.

Worse still, in countries where healthy cats are killed if nobody wants to adopt them, black cats are more likely to be put down. Humans want  white cats, tabby cats, ginger cats and even black and white tuxedo cats before they want an all-black cat.

Humans can help black cats in many ways.

• Adopt a black kitten. If you must have a ginger kitten, then add a black kitten too.
  
•  Adopt an adult black cat waiting for a home.
• Make sure you take a good photo of your shelter black cats. It's not always easy to get one, so take your time until you do.
  
• Highlight the plight of your black cats waiting for homes by sending that good photo to the local newspaper/TV/radio station.
• Add an eye-catching second name to the names of black cats waiting for homes - not just Blackie. Think of a celebrity name like Denzil, Obama, Rishi, Morgan. Or Oprah, Whoopi, Serena and Whitney.
• Tie a large ribbon or a banner to their pen with a heart felt message.
• Have a special black cat adoption day. Or week. Any time you have more than one black cat in rescue.
  

Why do we do the zoomies?

 

Humans don't understand why we do the zoomies. No, I don't mean that boring computer stuff. I mean when we take off and run madly round the house or garden. Frenetic Random Activity is what scientist call it!

Sometimes we do it just because it is fun to work off surplus energy that way. Sometimes we do it when we are playing with another cat. Sometimes we do it because it gets the attention of our humans, who laugh at us. Sometimes we do it the same time every day, because the daily routine has sort of space for this kind of thing.

But.....

Sometimes when we zoom away from the litter tray it is because we want to get our paws away from that disgusting mess. Human hygeine can be very thoughtless. We want a litter tray that is cleaned at least once a day and preferably twice. Or even more often.

We don't like getting our paws wet with damp litter. We don't like an overwhelming smell. We want out as soon as possible. So we zoom away to shake dirty litter off our paws.

So clean up more often, you human servants.