Humans must envy us....

 

Miaow.... its International Cat Day. Today we celebrate the sheer elegance of cats.

Gorgeous whiskers like mine, so much more beautiful than beards. 

Soft delicious fur, which poor hairless humans do not have.

Ears that can hear a mouse's footfall and the ultrasonic squeaks of bats in the hot evenings and mice in the wainscot. Humans, as they age, cannot hear these at all.

Ears that grow fur out of themselves - wisps of beautiful fur that add to our elegance, unlike the hair in human ears.

Eyes that reflect moonlight back to the marvelling human that notices this. Eyes that are tuned to the slightest movement and can see in the twilight dark. 

A waving tail that helps us balance on garden fences or the boughs of trees. A sense of balance that far outbalances our humans.

A graceful body at all times. A body that is so supple we can clean ourselves all over, except for the head. We can contort ourselves so that we look at our intimate parts without using a mirror. 

Humans, don't you envy us?

• Celebrate International Cat Day by buying my book here.

Stand up for rescue cats..... give affection

It's horrible in a cat pen, yet we have to be there if we need homes. Humans feed and water us, but do they do enough? Do they give us affection?

Just putting in food or water, or cleaning the litter tray, with perhaps a quick stroke, isn't reassuring. If that's all, we are more likely to get sick or withdrawn.

We need at least six minutes of gentle stroking, head to tail, tickle under the chin, and then more stroking every day, by a familiar person not just a passing stranger. Don't talk, just do this silently - which is the feline way. We don't like constant human jabber.

If rescue shelters made sure this was done, we cats would come to the front of the pen in hope of more affection. And cats that come to the front are adopted quicker.

So please, workers and volunteers in the shelter, please stroke more. Affection is as important as food.

• Want to know more? Read my book here.
  

Stand up for rescue cats..... homeless cats

I am lucky enough to have a home and regular meals. Many of my sisters and brothers lead wretched lives on the street - starving, flea ridden, and terrified. Please help them by

getting your human to wise up on what to do about them. Spread the word that these cats can be helped. International Cat Care has a lot online about how to help them - https://icatcare.org/unowned-cats/feral-street-community-cats/

Just feeding the cats, like the video above, isn't enough. But regular feeding is the beginning of a process. It is called Trap Neuter and Return - or TNR. Neutered cats are healthier than un-neutered ones. Females often die after endless kitten bearing and males die of diseases transmitted by fighting. Neutering means that the colony isn't full of diseased kittens, many of which will not survive into adulthood.

Feed regularly first. Then trap. Then neuter and euthanise those suffering from diseases. Rehome the stray cats that are used to human homes. Rehab, tame and find homes for young kittens. Return the adult feral cats to the site. Continue with regular feeding for a healthy colony and to keep an eye out for strays or feral cats that turn up.

That way, newcomer cats can also be trapped and neutered and the colony will eventually die out. This should please the people who want to see fewer cats. Their solution of merely shooting or poisoning strays and ferals usually merely results in newcomers taking over the empty territory.

Stand up for rescue cats.... when to neuter

Every kitten should be a wanted kitten. But there are too many cats without homes in this world. One way to reduce overpopulation is to reduce the number of cats that have kittens - but that needs human co-operation.

In the UK, cat rescues are beginning to change their methods. Till recently, they found home for their kittens and asked the adopters to make sure these were neutered. Some rescues handed out vouchers to help pay for this.

Adopters are only human (dumb animals) and so some forgot. Some decided they would like to cash in and sell kittens. The rescues had to follow up and make sure the neutering happened.

It was a mess. It cost time and money. Even veterinary humans were slow to realise that they had got it wrong and females needed neutering faster than they thought. We can get pregnant from 3 months onwards.

Now these rescue humans are beginning to wise up. They have realised they cannot rely on humans to do the right thing, so they are neutering their kittens before giving them up for adoption.

It's safe (researchers have looked into it) and it stops human error. Purrlease spread the word.

Prevent human error. Neuter kittens before adoption.

• Is it safe? Read 'Help Stop Teenage Pregnancy! Early-age neutering in cats,' Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, (2011), 13, 3-10
  

Thinking - the history of cat food.

Me. Deep in thought.

Pondering the cat-human relationship, I have decided it is much improved. Why? While nosing around the book shelves of my human, I came across this small pamphlet, issued by a maker of "Tibs," vitamin pills for cats. It is probably more than half a century old.

We know that humans are dumb animals. But in the l950s they were even dumber than nowadays when it comes to cats. Some of them thought that kitchen scraps (delightful though they are) were sufficient food for cats. Others believed a bowl of milk was sufficient.

Nowadays we know that cows' milk

can be very indigestible to many cats. If humans want to feed us milk, they should buy cat milk.  And kitchen scraps (preferably stolen) are no substitute for a bowl of the most expensive kind of cat food. Scraps yes, but as well as not instead of proper cat food!

We also know that cats require some specific ingredients* in their diets - ingredients which are found in a natural diet of rodents but were not found in l950s cat food.

Yes humans are dumb animals but not as dumb as they once were.

* Amino-acids which are taurine, arginine, methionine, and cysteine