Pictures of Cats website an update

Well, things aren't going too badly. The website is 1.5m on Alexa and climbing (of course...!). I am now building links with who ever I can to max out inbound links and adding content as fast as I can which is slowly as it has to be the best content. That's what it says on the box so I have to deliver.

One good way of getting some traffic is to talk about celebrities and if they had cats so much the better! So, amongst other things I am scouring the net for celebs who have cats and then I'll find a picture and voila we got something, man...

What happened to the Persian Cat's face?

Sometime over the period from the turn of the century and most particularly before and during the 1980s until today the face of the Persian cat changed from being a traditional look ("doll face" appearance) to the ultra or peeked face that we think of today as the classic Persian look. This extreme looking Persian cat competes all over the US in cat shows and is judged against the Cat Fanciers Association breed standards.

The breed standard says that the components of the face of the exotic persian cat should be vertical. This helps to give the cat a very well rounded head which fits the breed standard. But this desire to produce something different, extraordinary and therefore very saleable for the breeders has it seems backfired as less persian cats are being registered with the CFA.

The reason for this may in part be due to the increase in popularity of the Bengal, which the CFA do not register as it has too much wild blood. However, I feel that another reason is the gradual realization that the breeding of the Persian cat has gone a step too far and produced a cat that simply looks unnatural. Are breeders playing God here and ignoring good practice for the sake of commercial gain? I don't know. What do you think?

More importantly there are health issues associated with the flat face including tear flow problems in part due to poor drainage of tears and in some cases breathing and sinus problems.

What do you think. Which type of Persian cat do you prefer?

Fat Cats

You may have seen recent newspaper articles about cats getting too fat as owners are maybe buying the cat's love or perhaps simply reflecting there own eating habits. In other words as people get fatter so do their pets.

This can result in a the cat contracting diabetes. The symptoms: excessive thirst and going to the loo too much. Apparently as many as one in 230 cats surveyed in a University of Edinburgh anaysis had contracted diabetes an increase from a similar survey in Amercia in 1970s.

This is obviously serious stuff to be taken notice of. The thing is though that it is easier said that done trying to exercise enough self discipline to refuse him/her a little pleasure in her favorite food.

And I'll tell you this, cats are massively persuasive. The keep on going until you give in. As I always say, I learned persistence from my cat. And, yes, she is overweight. But she is happily overweight.

That raised another point. Maybe it is better to be overweight and happy (and suffer an increased chance of getting diabetes) rather than in perfect shape and miserable.

And another thing, some cats are naturally bigger boned and more lets say well rounded than other cats. What I mean is their natural shape is a little fat but vets don't seem to take into account natural variation they just treat all cats in the same way.