Look at this eyes!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Solving The Cat's Purr Mystery using Accelerometers
Ever since the Egyptians started worshipping the cat, philosophers, scientists and cat lovers worldwide have wondered why cats purr. Fauna Communications and ENDEVCO initiated a novel research study that recorded the purrs of five species of cats - cheetah, puma, serval, ocelot and the domestic cat. This research has contributed valuable information that may solve the mystery behind the cat's purr.
It is commonly believed that cats purr when content. However, cats also purr when they are severely injured, frightened or giving birth. So if cats were purring solely out of happiness they would not purr when injured, especially as the generation of the purr requires energy, and an injured animal will generally not expend precious energy needed for healing on an activity not directly connected with their survival.
Since the purr has lasted through hundreds of generations of cats, there must be a survival mechanism behind its continued existence. Suggesting that the purr evolved to function solely as a vocalisation of self-contentment goes directly against the basic tenets of evolutionary psychology and natural selection. Could the purr in any way link to the fact that vibrational stimulation not only relieves suffering in 82% of persons suffering from acute and chronic pain but also generates new tissue growth, augments wound tissue strength, improves local circulation and oxygenation, reduces swelling and/or inhibits bacterial growth?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Winning strategies for feline weight loss
Cats can live to be more than two decades old, and most of mine have still been climbing, jumping and playing until they were nearly that age or older. My mother's cat Misty was active, lean and agile until her death at the age of 22. So if your adult cat of any age spends most of her time sleeping, eating and then sleeping some more, something's wrong — and statistics suggest what's wrong might be that your cat is overweight.
House cats, like their wild cousins both large and small, are meant to be lean, sleek predators rippling with muscle. Unfortunately, far too many of them — nearly half, according to one study (pdf) — are more like the "furry sofa pillows" I wrote about in an earlier column: inactive and overweight.
Why are so many cats fat? There are a number of factors contributing to a rise in feline obesity. One is that more and more cats are being kept indoors for their own safety or that of wildlife, and they aren't getting as much exercise as outdoor cats. They're also bored, and the widespread practice of leaving food out at all times means they end up eating from boredom as well as hunger.
Additionally, many owners overfeed their cats, either because their cats beg for food, or because they don't have a clear idea of just how little food cats really need. As few as six extra pieces of kibble in a single meal can make a cat gain unwanted weight.
There's another, almost entirely avoidable cause for the growing number of overweight cats. Most cat owners are assured by veterinarians, animal shelters and pet writers that "spaying and neutering won't make your cat fat," even though it's well-established in the veterinary literature that spaying and neutering lower the metabolic rate and caloric requirements of cats.
So why aren't cat owners being advised to watch out for post-altering weight gain in their pets, and educated in how to intervene if they see it? Because the goal of near-universal spaying/neutering is seen as so important that many animal advocates are willing to silence or even deny any negative information about the procedures.
But this attitude, while understandable, doesn't serve us. It's perfectly possible to prevent weight gain and still have near-universal spaying/neutering of pet cats. Cat owners simply need to be advised to watch carefully for weight gain in their altered pets, because in nearly all cases, all they need to do is slightly reduce the amount of food their cat is eating and the cat will be fine. Assuring cat owners that "spaying and neutering won't make your cat fat" might be literally true, but it creates a false impression in many owners that there are no metabolic effects of altering, which is incorrect. This cheats cat owners out of a chance to intervene at an early, easily-managed stage of their pet's weight gain, with what can be dire effects on feline health.
And make no mistake: The consequences of feline obesity are serious. Just as with dogs, excess body weight can cut your cat's life short. The risk of death for middle-aged obese cats is nearly three times greater than for cats at their ideal weight. One landmark age-controlled study "showed that obesity is a risk factor for diabetes mellitus, skin problems, hepatic lipidosis, and lameness." Cats who are overweight are also at increased risk for conditions such as urinary tract disease, problems with anesthesia and other drugs, respiratory difficulty, heat intolerance, impaired immunity and skin problems.
The first step in combating feline obesity is awareness. Is your cat thin, fat or at a good body weight?
Ideal weight varies widely by breed, gender and body type of cat, so it's impossible to give a specific range. If possible, determine how your cat's current weight compares with her weight at 12 months of age, which is when most cats reach their full adult size. Ideally, your veterinarian has weighed your cat at each annual checkup, and you should be able to see if your cat has gained weight over the years.
But a year is a long time, and a cat who was at a good weight one year may have gained several pounds by the next. Also, not everyone has lifelong medical histories on their cats. In those cases, your veterinarian should give you what's known as a "body condition score" for your cat.
BCS is calculated differently by different veterinarians, but all scales will rank the cat from emaciated to obese. This score is arrived at by evaluating the cat's contours. If the cat is at her ideal weight, the ribs and hipbones should be easily felt but not seen. The veterinarian should be able to easily palpate the abdomen without fat inside the abdominal cavity impeding the process.
If you've taken a long, hard, objective look at your cat and decided she is overweight, or your veterinarian has told you that she is, what should you do next? This is where things can start to go wrong.
In writing this article and its companion piece on canine weight loss, I spoke to several veterinarians who didn't want to be interviewed because they hadn't had a lot of success helping their clients' pets lose weight. And that's a shame, given the significant health risks of feline obesity. What's behind this epidemic of pessimism, and what can you do to succeed where others fail?
I asked Sarah K. Abood, DVM, Ph.D., co-author of the "Manual of Veterinary Dietetics" and a small animal clinical nutritionist at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, what factors contribute to feline weight loss success and failure.
Success, she said, comes from "a high level of conviction and a high level of confidence, on both the part of the animal owner and the veterinary health care team. If all members of the team, owners included, are not convinced that weight loss will be beneficial for the animal, and if they are not confident that the weight loss plan presented can be accomplished, then the risk for failure increases and the chances at success drop dramatically."
Attitude is certainly an essential part of a winning strategy, but Abood identifies five other critical components of feline weight loss success, starting with taking a team approach. And because your cat lives with you, is fed by you and depends on you, its obvious that you're an important member of that team — but so is your cat's veterinarian. "Many veterinarians in general practice observe that their clients do not adhere to diet or exercise recommendations," Abood told me. "But I think this is directly related to the fact that often, veterinarians do not provide all the communication and follow-up monitoring that they should for these patients and owners."
That means that you might have to convince your veterinarian that you're serious about weight loss for your cat in order to get her enthusiastic support and participation. But even if your veterinarian starts out with nothing more useful than a recommendation to buy a bag of diet cat food, don't let it get you down. Be persistent. Tell her you want her professional expertise and monitoring so you can have the healthiest possible feline family member. Use your own enthusiasm to spark hers.
Once you have your veterinarian and her staff on the team, it's time to talk turkey. Or lamb, beef, chicken or fish. In other words, what are you going to feed your overweight cat? And how?
If you have only one cat, things are fairly simple. Ask your veterinarian to recommend a cat food or recipe that is formulated for what's known as "active weight loss." It doesn't mean a cat food that's lower in calories, "lite," or labeled for senior, indoor or inactive cats. Nor does it mean a diet lower in fat or carbohydrate or protein. It doesn't even mean feeding less of the same food you're giving your cat now, unless the weight gain is minor and recent.
Recipes and commercial foods created for active weight loss provide the full nutritional requirements of the cat while also providing reduced calories. By feeding less of a maintenance diet or using a food that's not specifically formulated for active weight loss, you run the risk of depriving your cat of nutrition she needs, and causing the very health problems you're trying to avoid.
There is also no "one size fits all" recipe or food that will take weight off every cat. Cats have lost weight on canned foods, dry foods and homemade diets formulated by veterinary nutritionists. You may need to try several different diets or recipes before finding one your cat likes and loses weight on. Work through this process with patience and don't get discouraged. Most cats can be switched to a new food fairly easily, but even the tough cases aren't impossible, no matter how hard your cat tries to convince you otherwise.
As Abood points out, people who own multiple cats, some of whom don't need to lose weight, face special challenges. Part of the problem is that many multiple-cat owners practice what's called "free-feeding," and leave food available to their cats at all times. Even those who feed only at meal times usually don't separate their cats. There's a reason why "herding cats" is a metaphor for an impossible task, and it can be hard to control who eats what.
This is when you have to demonstrate that something more than opposable thumbs sets us higher on the evolutionary scale than our pets. In other words, who is smarter, you or the cats?
The first step in handling weight loss in multiple-cat families is to switch from free-feeding to meal-feeding. This means putting your cats' food down at a certain number of times a day, then picking up the uneaten food or dirty bowls after the cats have had a chance to eat. If all your cats are healthy and in good weight, that's a minor change in routine. But if one or more need a special diet, you'll also have to separate those cats from the others and feed each cat by herself. You can use a room with the door closed or a cat carrier for this purpose. Many people feed their cat in the laundry room, for example.
If your schedule is unpredictable or you travel a lot, switching to individual feeding and meal-feeding can be more difficult. If your cat's health problems are serious, it may be necessary to arrange for boarding, a cat sitter or even hospitalization during times when you can't be there to supervise meals.
Most cats, however, won't need more than a little owner ingenuity. For instance, all the cats can be fed separately at mealtimes, and the skinny cats can be given an extra meal before bedtime. There are also automatic feeders that can be set to feed on any schedule, including multiple times a day, enabling you to feed your cats multiple small meals instead of leaving food available at all times.
Automated feeders, however, don't allow for easy separation of cats at mealtime. The solution? Something borrowed from agriculture. Sometimes ranchers want lambs, kids or colts to eat foods that aren't meant for sheep, goats or mares, so they construct what's known as a creep feeder. They make an opening in a fence or other barrier that a small animal can fit through, but not a larger one.
You can leave a bowl of kibble or an automated feeder in a room — even a closet — that's accessible only through a hole your skinny cats can fit through, but not the heavier cats. There are also cat doors that activate only when the pet is wearing a special magnetic tag, which can be placed on the collars only of the skinny cats.
The truth is, other than a little bit of owner inconvenience, there's no downside to individual and meal feeding, and plenty of upside. In addition to helping your obese cat lose weight, these practices can help safeguard your cats' health by enabling you to easily monitor their food intake. Cats stop eating or eat less when they're sick or injured, and this can be a valuable first sign of a problem like kidney failure.
In addition, cats, especially those who are overweight, are at risk for a condition known as "hepatic lipidosis," or fatty liver disease, which is often fatal. Knowing that your cat has stopped eating — or is refusing to eat a new food — before too much time has passed can literally save her life.
Abood's fourth strategy for success is exercise. Cats are natural athletes and gifted climbers, but cats, especially those who are being kept indoors for their own safety, often become extremely sedentary once kittenhood is past. Abood says that many cat owners believe, "If we get a kitten, then maybe our older, heavier cat will get the exercise he/she needs," but she calls that idea a myth. Although sometimes two cats are more active than one, cats don't always play with each other. And it's possible, even likely, that the older cat will see the younger cat as an annoyance rather than a playmate.
Instead, it's up to you to make sure your overweight cat's activity level increases while she's losing weight. Sometimes all you need to do is put her food at the top of her cat tree and make her climb for it, to give the cat's metabolism a boost. Toys such as "cat dancers" and laser pointers are also easy ways to motivate most cats to play, pounce, stalk and jump. Even a few minutes while you're watching television in the evening can make all the difference for a sedentary cat — and the truth is, watching a cat play is better than anything on television.
There are plenty of great suggestions for exercise at the Web site of Ohio State University's Indoor Cat Initiative, as well as in my earlier article on enhancing your cat's life with activity.
After you've had your cat's body score determined by your veterinarian and found a weight loss diet and exercise program that works for you and your cat, the next step is monitoring — what Abood calls ongoing communication and follow-up among all team members. And yes, that means weighing your cat and reporting back to the vet at regular intervals.
People who own big dogs usually have no choice but to head for the vet's office to weigh their pets. But because cats are small, you can simply weigh yourself, then weigh yourself again while holding your cat and calculate the difference.
It's important to use a very sensitive digital scale for this, because feline weight loss should be measured in ounces, not pounds. Due to the risk of hepatic lipidosis, it's essential that your cat's weight loss be slow and steady. Do not exceed 2 percent of body weight per week in loss — which for a 15 pound cat is around an ounce or two. Be patient.
Even if you can weigh your cat at home, plan on returning to your veterinarian on a regular basis so her progress can be evaluated. Call in her weekly weight so it can be noted in her chart, and if she hits a plateau, ask your vet to help you re-calculate her caloric needs for her new weight. Ask your veterinarian about a weight loss graph, which can help you see the overall trend downward even when you're feeling progress is slow. Other tools might include keeping a food and exercise diary for your pet.
Losing weight is an active, not a passive process, for you as well as your cat. It's not as simple as changing your cat to "lite" food, but it's not as hard as many cat owners — and veterinarians — seem to believe it is. Once you've made a few small changes to what and how you feed your cat, and added even a few minutes of exercise each day, the benefits over time will be enormous, and your cat will be playing and purring for years or even decades to come.
Christie Keith is a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection and past director of the Pet Care Forum on America Online. She lives in San Francisco.
House cats, like their wild cousins both large and small, are meant to be lean, sleek predators rippling with muscle. Unfortunately, far too many of them — nearly half, according to one study (pdf) — are more like the "furry sofa pillows" I wrote about in an earlier column: inactive and overweight.
Why are so many cats fat? There are a number of factors contributing to a rise in feline obesity. One is that more and more cats are being kept indoors for their own safety or that of wildlife, and they aren't getting as much exercise as outdoor cats. They're also bored, and the widespread practice of leaving food out at all times means they end up eating from boredom as well as hunger.
Additionally, many owners overfeed their cats, either because their cats beg for food, or because they don't have a clear idea of just how little food cats really need. As few as six extra pieces of kibble in a single meal can make a cat gain unwanted weight.
There's another, almost entirely avoidable cause for the growing number of overweight cats. Most cat owners are assured by veterinarians, animal shelters and pet writers that "spaying and neutering won't make your cat fat," even though it's well-established in the veterinary literature that spaying and neutering lower the metabolic rate and caloric requirements of cats.
So why aren't cat owners being advised to watch out for post-altering weight gain in their pets, and educated in how to intervene if they see it? Because the goal of near-universal spaying/neutering is seen as so important that many animal advocates are willing to silence or even deny any negative information about the procedures.
But this attitude, while understandable, doesn't serve us. It's perfectly possible to prevent weight gain and still have near-universal spaying/neutering of pet cats. Cat owners simply need to be advised to watch carefully for weight gain in their altered pets, because in nearly all cases, all they need to do is slightly reduce the amount of food their cat is eating and the cat will be fine. Assuring cat owners that "spaying and neutering won't make your cat fat" might be literally true, but it creates a false impression in many owners that there are no metabolic effects of altering, which is incorrect. This cheats cat owners out of a chance to intervene at an early, easily-managed stage of their pet's weight gain, with what can be dire effects on feline health.
And make no mistake: The consequences of feline obesity are serious. Just as with dogs, excess body weight can cut your cat's life short. The risk of death for middle-aged obese cats is nearly three times greater than for cats at their ideal weight. One landmark age-controlled study "showed that obesity is a risk factor for diabetes mellitus, skin problems, hepatic lipidosis, and lameness." Cats who are overweight are also at increased risk for conditions such as urinary tract disease, problems with anesthesia and other drugs, respiratory difficulty, heat intolerance, impaired immunity and skin problems.
The first step in combating feline obesity is awareness. Is your cat thin, fat or at a good body weight?
Ideal weight varies widely by breed, gender and body type of cat, so it's impossible to give a specific range. If possible, determine how your cat's current weight compares with her weight at 12 months of age, which is when most cats reach their full adult size. Ideally, your veterinarian has weighed your cat at each annual checkup, and you should be able to see if your cat has gained weight over the years.
But a year is a long time, and a cat who was at a good weight one year may have gained several pounds by the next. Also, not everyone has lifelong medical histories on their cats. In those cases, your veterinarian should give you what's known as a "body condition score" for your cat.
BCS is calculated differently by different veterinarians, but all scales will rank the cat from emaciated to obese. This score is arrived at by evaluating the cat's contours. If the cat is at her ideal weight, the ribs and hipbones should be easily felt but not seen. The veterinarian should be able to easily palpate the abdomen without fat inside the abdominal cavity impeding the process.
If you've taken a long, hard, objective look at your cat and decided she is overweight, or your veterinarian has told you that she is, what should you do next? This is where things can start to go wrong.
In writing this article and its companion piece on canine weight loss, I spoke to several veterinarians who didn't want to be interviewed because they hadn't had a lot of success helping their clients' pets lose weight. And that's a shame, given the significant health risks of feline obesity. What's behind this epidemic of pessimism, and what can you do to succeed where others fail?
I asked Sarah K. Abood, DVM, Ph.D., co-author of the "Manual of Veterinary Dietetics" and a small animal clinical nutritionist at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, what factors contribute to feline weight loss success and failure.
Success, she said, comes from "a high level of conviction and a high level of confidence, on both the part of the animal owner and the veterinary health care team. If all members of the team, owners included, are not convinced that weight loss will be beneficial for the animal, and if they are not confident that the weight loss plan presented can be accomplished, then the risk for failure increases and the chances at success drop dramatically."
Attitude is certainly an essential part of a winning strategy, but Abood identifies five other critical components of feline weight loss success, starting with taking a team approach. And because your cat lives with you, is fed by you and depends on you, its obvious that you're an important member of that team — but so is your cat's veterinarian. "Many veterinarians in general practice observe that their clients do not adhere to diet or exercise recommendations," Abood told me. "But I think this is directly related to the fact that often, veterinarians do not provide all the communication and follow-up monitoring that they should for these patients and owners."
That means that you might have to convince your veterinarian that you're serious about weight loss for your cat in order to get her enthusiastic support and participation. But even if your veterinarian starts out with nothing more useful than a recommendation to buy a bag of diet cat food, don't let it get you down. Be persistent. Tell her you want her professional expertise and monitoring so you can have the healthiest possible feline family member. Use your own enthusiasm to spark hers.
Once you have your veterinarian and her staff on the team, it's time to talk turkey. Or lamb, beef, chicken or fish. In other words, what are you going to feed your overweight cat? And how?
If you have only one cat, things are fairly simple. Ask your veterinarian to recommend a cat food or recipe that is formulated for what's known as "active weight loss." It doesn't mean a cat food that's lower in calories, "lite," or labeled for senior, indoor or inactive cats. Nor does it mean a diet lower in fat or carbohydrate or protein. It doesn't even mean feeding less of the same food you're giving your cat now, unless the weight gain is minor and recent.
Recipes and commercial foods created for active weight loss provide the full nutritional requirements of the cat while also providing reduced calories. By feeding less of a maintenance diet or using a food that's not specifically formulated for active weight loss, you run the risk of depriving your cat of nutrition she needs, and causing the very health problems you're trying to avoid.
There is also no "one size fits all" recipe or food that will take weight off every cat. Cats have lost weight on canned foods, dry foods and homemade diets formulated by veterinary nutritionists. You may need to try several different diets or recipes before finding one your cat likes and loses weight on. Work through this process with patience and don't get discouraged. Most cats can be switched to a new food fairly easily, but even the tough cases aren't impossible, no matter how hard your cat tries to convince you otherwise.
As Abood points out, people who own multiple cats, some of whom don't need to lose weight, face special challenges. Part of the problem is that many multiple-cat owners practice what's called "free-feeding," and leave food available to their cats at all times. Even those who feed only at meal times usually don't separate their cats. There's a reason why "herding cats" is a metaphor for an impossible task, and it can be hard to control who eats what.
This is when you have to demonstrate that something more than opposable thumbs sets us higher on the evolutionary scale than our pets. In other words, who is smarter, you or the cats?
The first step in handling weight loss in multiple-cat families is to switch from free-feeding to meal-feeding. This means putting your cats' food down at a certain number of times a day, then picking up the uneaten food or dirty bowls after the cats have had a chance to eat. If all your cats are healthy and in good weight, that's a minor change in routine. But if one or more need a special diet, you'll also have to separate those cats from the others and feed each cat by herself. You can use a room with the door closed or a cat carrier for this purpose. Many people feed their cat in the laundry room, for example.
If your schedule is unpredictable or you travel a lot, switching to individual feeding and meal-feeding can be more difficult. If your cat's health problems are serious, it may be necessary to arrange for boarding, a cat sitter or even hospitalization during times when you can't be there to supervise meals.
Most cats, however, won't need more than a little owner ingenuity. For instance, all the cats can be fed separately at mealtimes, and the skinny cats can be given an extra meal before bedtime. There are also automatic feeders that can be set to feed on any schedule, including multiple times a day, enabling you to feed your cats multiple small meals instead of leaving food available at all times.
Automated feeders, however, don't allow for easy separation of cats at mealtime. The solution? Something borrowed from agriculture. Sometimes ranchers want lambs, kids or colts to eat foods that aren't meant for sheep, goats or mares, so they construct what's known as a creep feeder. They make an opening in a fence or other barrier that a small animal can fit through, but not a larger one.
You can leave a bowl of kibble or an automated feeder in a room — even a closet — that's accessible only through a hole your skinny cats can fit through, but not the heavier cats. There are also cat doors that activate only when the pet is wearing a special magnetic tag, which can be placed on the collars only of the skinny cats.
The truth is, other than a little bit of owner inconvenience, there's no downside to individual and meal feeding, and plenty of upside. In addition to helping your obese cat lose weight, these practices can help safeguard your cats' health by enabling you to easily monitor their food intake. Cats stop eating or eat less when they're sick or injured, and this can be a valuable first sign of a problem like kidney failure.
In addition, cats, especially those who are overweight, are at risk for a condition known as "hepatic lipidosis," or fatty liver disease, which is often fatal. Knowing that your cat has stopped eating — or is refusing to eat a new food — before too much time has passed can literally save her life.
Abood's fourth strategy for success is exercise. Cats are natural athletes and gifted climbers, but cats, especially those who are being kept indoors for their own safety, often become extremely sedentary once kittenhood is past. Abood says that many cat owners believe, "If we get a kitten, then maybe our older, heavier cat will get the exercise he/she needs," but she calls that idea a myth. Although sometimes two cats are more active than one, cats don't always play with each other. And it's possible, even likely, that the older cat will see the younger cat as an annoyance rather than a playmate.
Instead, it's up to you to make sure your overweight cat's activity level increases while she's losing weight. Sometimes all you need to do is put her food at the top of her cat tree and make her climb for it, to give the cat's metabolism a boost. Toys such as "cat dancers" and laser pointers are also easy ways to motivate most cats to play, pounce, stalk and jump. Even a few minutes while you're watching television in the evening can make all the difference for a sedentary cat — and the truth is, watching a cat play is better than anything on television.
There are plenty of great suggestions for exercise at the Web site of Ohio State University's Indoor Cat Initiative, as well as in my earlier article on enhancing your cat's life with activity.
After you've had your cat's body score determined by your veterinarian and found a weight loss diet and exercise program that works for you and your cat, the next step is monitoring — what Abood calls ongoing communication and follow-up among all team members. And yes, that means weighing your cat and reporting back to the vet at regular intervals.
People who own big dogs usually have no choice but to head for the vet's office to weigh their pets. But because cats are small, you can simply weigh yourself, then weigh yourself again while holding your cat and calculate the difference.
It's important to use a very sensitive digital scale for this, because feline weight loss should be measured in ounces, not pounds. Due to the risk of hepatic lipidosis, it's essential that your cat's weight loss be slow and steady. Do not exceed 2 percent of body weight per week in loss — which for a 15 pound cat is around an ounce or two. Be patient.
Even if you can weigh your cat at home, plan on returning to your veterinarian on a regular basis so her progress can be evaluated. Call in her weekly weight so it can be noted in her chart, and if she hits a plateau, ask your vet to help you re-calculate her caloric needs for her new weight. Ask your veterinarian about a weight loss graph, which can help you see the overall trend downward even when you're feeling progress is slow. Other tools might include keeping a food and exercise diary for your pet.
Losing weight is an active, not a passive process, for you as well as your cat. It's not as simple as changing your cat to "lite" food, but it's not as hard as many cat owners — and veterinarians — seem to believe it is. Once you've made a few small changes to what and how you feed your cat, and added even a few minutes of exercise each day, the benefits over time will be enormous, and your cat will be playing and purring for years or even decades to come.
Christie Keith is a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection and past director of the Pet Care Forum on America Online. She lives in San Francisco.
The Cats' Bill of Rights
"The Cats' Bill of Rights"
1. Humans shall make no law respecting an establishment of boundaries or
prohibiting the free exercise therein, or abridging the freedom of access,
or the right to peaceful assembly.
In other words: The cat is entitled to go outside anytime s/he wants.
2. A well-carried provisional chamber, being necessary to the fulfillment of
a feline's whims, shall not be infringed.
In other words: The cat is entitled to EAT anytime s/he wants.
3. The right of the feline to be secure in their domain, and effects,
against unreasonable discomposure, shall not be violated.
In other words: The cat is entitled to SLEEP anytime s/he wants.
4. Humans shall issue no warrants or decrees or edicts as prescribed to the
demarcation of possessions or property which are in direct conflict with
right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of feline affirmation.
In other words: The cat is entitled to sleep ANYWHERE s/he wants.
5. The feline shall be immune to all criminal accusations, indictments, and
complaints. The accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and impartial dismissal
of any and all charges provided said feline's compulsory right to obtain any or
all witnesses, including character witnesses, are obtained in his favor.
In other words: Cats can do anything they want as long as they're cute.
6. Neither serfdom, vassalage, or involuntary servitude will be tolerated,
except by said cats in proprietorship of their humans.
In other words: What I say goes. (And I can sleep on your face...)
7. No Canis familiaris shall, in time of peace or at any other time, be
quartered in any dwelling without the consent of the potentate, nor in time
of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by sovereign.
In other words: No dogs in the house without my permission.
8. The right of the feline to be protected against unreasonable search and
seizures shall not be breached or infringed upon at any time or any place.
In other words: Don't disturb me when I am sleeping in a drawer.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Cat's New Year's Resolutions
Cat's New Year's Resolutions
- My human will never let me eat her pet hamster, and I am at peace with that.
- I will not puff my entire body to twice its size for no reason after my human has finished watching a horror movie.
- I will not slurp fish food from the surface of the aquarium.
- I must not help myself to Q-tips, and I must certainly not proceed to stuff them down the sink's drain.
- I will not eat large numbers of assorted bugs, then come home and puke them up so the humans can see that I'm getting plenty of roughage.
The Cats of Ulthar by H.P. Lovecraft
The Cats of Ulthar by Dr. H.P. Lovecraft
As said, that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.
In Ulthar, before ever the burgesses forbade the killing of cats, there dwelt an old cotter and his wife who delighted to trap and slay the cats of their neighbors. Why they did this I know not; save that many hate the voice of the cat in the night, and take it ill that cats should run stealthily about yards and gardens at twilight. But whatever the reason, this old man and woman took pleasure in trapping and slaying every cat which came near to their hovel; and from some of the sounds heard after dark, many villagers fancied that the manner of slaying was exceedingly peculiar. But the villagers did not discuss such things with the old man and his wife; because of the habitual expression on the withered faces of the two, and because their cottage was so small and so darkly hidden under spreading oaks at the back of a neglected yard. In truth, much as the owners of cats hated these odd folk, they feared them more; and instead of berating them as brutal assassins, merely took care that no cherished pet or mouser should stray toward the remote hovel under the dark trees. When through some unavoidable oversight a cat was missed, and sounds heard after dark, the loser would lament impotently; or console himself by thanking Fate that it was not one of his children who had thus vanished. For the people of Ulthar were simple, and knew not whence it is all cats first came.
One day a caravan of strange wanderers from the South entered the narrow cobbled streets of Ulthar. Dark wanderers they were, and unlike the other roving folk who passed through the village twice every year. In the market-place they told fortunes for silver, and bought gay beads from the merchants. What was the land of these wanderers none could tell; but it was seen that they were given to strange prayers, and that they had painted on the sides of their wagons strange figures with human bodies and the heads of cats, hawks, rams and lions. And the leader of the caravan wore a headdress with two horns and a curious disk betwixt the horns.
There was in this singular caravan a little boy with no father or mother, but only a tiny black kitten to cherish. The plague had not been kind to him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a black kitten. So the boy whom the dark people called Menes smiled more often than he wept as he sat playing with his graceful kitten on the steps of an oddly painted wagon.
On the third morning of the wanderers’ stay in Ulthar, Menes could not find his kitten; and as he sobbed aloud in the market-place certain villagers told him of the old man and his wife, and of sounds heard in the night. And when he heard these things his sobbing gave place to meditation, and finally to prayer. He stretched out his arms toward the sun and prayed in a tongue no villager could understand; though indeed the villagers did not try very hard to understand, since their attention was mostly taken up by the sky and the odd shapes the clouds were assuming. It was very peculiar, but as the little boy uttered his petition there seemed to form overhead the shadowy, nebulous figures of exotic things; of hybrid creatures crowned with horn-flanked disks. Nature is full of such illusions to impress the imaginative.
That night the wanderers left Ulthar, and were never seen again. And the householders were troubled when they noticed that in all the village there was not a cat to be found. From each hearth the familiar cat had vanished; cats large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white. Old Kranon, the burgomaster, swore that the dark folk had taken the cats away in revenge for the killing of Menes’ kitten; and cursed the caravan and the little boy. But Nith, the lean notary, declared that the old cotter and his wife were more likely persons to suspect; for their hatred of cats was notorious and increasingly bold. Still, no one durst complain to the sinister couple; even when little Atal, the innkeeper’s son, vowed that he had at twilight seen all the cats of Ulthar in that accursed yard under the trees, pacing very slowly and solemnly in a circle around the cottage, two abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts. The villagers did not know how much to believe from so small a boy; and though they feared that the evil pair had charmed the cats to their death, they preferred not to chide the old cotter till they met him outside his dark and repellent yard.
So Ulthar went to sleep in vain anger; and when the people awakened at dawn—behold! every cat was back at his accustomed hearth! Large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white, none was missing. Very sleek and fat did the cats appear, and sonorous with purring content. The citizens talked with one another of the affair, and marveled not a little. Old Kranon again insisted that it was the dark folk who had taken them, since cats did not return alive from the cottage of the ancient man and his wife. But all agreed on one thing: that the refusal of all the cats to eat their portions of meat or drink their saucers of milk was exceedingly curious. And for two whole days the sleek, lazy cats of Ulthar would touch no food, but only doze by the fire or in the sun.
It was fully a week before the villagers noticed that no lights were appearing at dusk in the windows of the cottage under the trees. Then the lean Nith remarked that no one had seen the old man or his wife since the night the cats were away. In another week the burgomaster decided to overcome his fears and call at the strangely silent dwelling as a matter of duty, though in so doing he was careful to take with him Shang the blacksmith and Thul the cutter of stone as witnesses. And when they had broken down the frail door they found only this: two cleanly picked human skeletons on the earthen floor, and a number of singular beetles crawling in the shadowy corners.
There was subsequently much talk among the burgesses of Ulthar. Zath, the coroner, disputed at length with Nith, the lean notary; and Kranon and Shang and Thul were overwhelmed with questions. Even little Atal, the innkeeper’s son, was closely questioned and given a sweetmeat as reward. They talked of the old cotter and his wife, of the caravan of dark wanderers, of small Menes and his black kitten, of the prayer of Menes and of the sky during that prayer, of the doings of the cats on the night the caravan left, and of what was later found in the cottage under the dark trees in the repellent yard.
And in the end the burgesses passed that remarkable law which is told of by traders in Hatheg and discussed by travelers in Nir; namely, that in Ulthar no man should or may kill a cat.
Meow, What Your Cat is Trying to Tell You
| Meow, What Your Cat is Trying to Tell You |
Ever want to know what your cat is trying to tell you? By listening to their meow and following the clues of body language it is easy to figure out what your cat is trying to tell you. The pitch, volume and amount of meowing offer the keys to unlocking the message you are being sent. Responding to your cats meows in a consistent way will help your cat know exactly how to tell you things. For starters here are the most common cat meows translated for us human care givers.
Translated : "Hello", "see me", and "hi"
Explanation: A short meow is a just your cat saying "Hi" and making sure you see her.
Repeated short meows
Translated: "Glad your here, I need you to do ..."
Explanation : An excited greeting that often accompanies wanting you to do something upon meeting. Normal it can indicate something like Hi, how about some fresh food, fresh water, clean box or other service you are expected to provide. My cat will come to me and give out a series of short meows whenever he want me to do something in another room. After a few short meows he expects me to follow him to were he wants something done. An example is when he kicks droppings outside the box, he will come to me and give a few short meows and when I get up run off to the box area so I clean up the mess.
Mid-pitch meow
Translated: "Please, I want ..."
Explanation: Mid pitched meows are more urgent request for you do do something. Often these meows associated with a plea for something or begging. My cat does this when he wants a door opened and cannot push it himself or at treat time when I should give him his daily vitamin treats.
Drawn-out mrrroooow
Translated: "I demand that you ..."
Explanation: the cats excited and wants something now. The food or water bowl is empty, the box is full or other life inconveniencing event is happening and you need "I as your cat demand action". Normally this one is something your cat considers an urgent mater that is effecting his happiness.
Low pitch MRRRooooowww
Translated: "I am not happy about ..."
Explanation: This is your cat complaining, he is not happy about something. normally this comes after you have not acted on important issues for your cat even after several request and demand have been sent.
High-pitch RRRROWW!
Translated: "That hurts"
Explanation: I am in pain, get off my tail, my paw is caught in something else of serious nature.
In your cats communication its important to remember that he has a different perspective on the world than you do. Your cat will see communicating with you by meowing as the way of getting you into action. Meows are often combined with body language that explains the item if you observe closely so listen and pay attention because you cat is talking for a reason.
Is What They Say About White Cats True?
| Is What They Say About White Cats True? |  |  |  |
And what do they say about white cats? That they’re more susceptible to skin cancer. And yes, it’s true!
You probably didn’t realize it, but your cat’s skin is the biggest organ in his body. And his skin is the most common place for cancer to develop, especially if he’s white.
According to Dr. Ruthanne Chun, assistant professor and oncology researcher at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, cats and dogs develop skin cancer, just like people do. She says that too much sun is the culprit, especially among white cats and dogs.
“Just like fair-skinned people are more likely to have problems with skin cancer, white dogs and cats are more prone to skin cancers, especially on the areas of their body that are thinly haired, such as the belly on dogs, and the ear tips and around the eyes on cats,” Chun said.
But not all skin cancers are caused by exposure to the sun. Chun added that viruses, hormones, genetics, vaccines and burns are also associated with skin cancer. Those risk factors are not limited to white cats.
“In cats, fibrosarcoma can be caused by vaccination against rabies or the feline leukemia virus,” Chun said.
Symptoms Of Feline Skin Cancer
Skin cancer is relatively easy to notice, compared to other cancers, because the signs are easily visible.
- Tumors or lumps under the skin.
- Blemishes, scaly areas or change in color. Squamous cell cancer is characterized by redness of the area and a crusty skin.
- Abnormal behaviors like scratching or chewing the affected area.
- Color changes and irregular areas in your cat’s eyelids, lips and the inside of her mouth.
Grooming with a fine comb, along with lots of good petting, helps to find any abnormalities right away.
How Can You Prevent Skin Cancer In Your Cat?
Dr. Chun mentioned several ways cat owners can prevent skin cancer. “White cats and cats with white on their face should not be allowed outdoors during sunny days” Chun said.
If it’s not possible to keep your white kitty out of the sun, you can use SPF 50 sunscreen on her nose, and the inside and outside of her ears. Try to avoid letting her out at mid-day, when the sun is strongest.
Preventing skin cancers associated with vaccination in cats is approached a bit differently because vaccination against rabies is unavoidable, Chun said.
“The vaccine should be given in the right rear leg to ensure that if a tumor does arise it can be easily removed surgically,” Chun said. “Studies have clearly shown that if all the vaccines are given over the neck or back or between the shoulder blades, a tumor is more likely to develop and it is more likely to be fatal to the animal because it is harder to remove.”
Many vets are now recommending that the rabies vaccine be given every three years, instead of yearly, to reduce the risk of vaccine associated sarcoma. Check the laws in your state, as some states still require yearly rabies vaccinations.
How Is Skin Cancer In Cats Treated?
If your cat is diagnosed with skin cancer, surgical removal of the tumor is the most common treatment. Radiation therapy, cryotherapy (freezing the tumor), and chemotherapy are treatments also used by many vets.
Holistic treatments provide your cat with what her body needs to heal from within. Even if the cancer can’t be cured, holistic options do offer a better quality of life for your pet. If you choose to go this route, try to find a holistic veterinarian by contacting the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.
Diet and nutrition is very important. Digestive enzymes
You’ll also want to work on strengthening your cat’s immune system. Pet Alive C-Caps, which contain astragalus, milk thistle and other tonic herbs, can help with this.
Homeopathy can be very helpful in treating cancer. You’ll need to work with a vet who is trained in using homeopathic remedies. You can find one through the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy.
Acupuncture can help with pain relief, as well as stimulating your cat’s immune system. For a list of practitioners in your area, visit the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, or the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.
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