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Showing posts from July, 2009

Analysis of the Big Cat Video UK

It has been claimed to be "one of the best pieces of footage of a big cat in the UK". This is my brief analysis of the big cat video UK. First it has to said that this is simply not a big cat. If it is a wild cat it would be classed as one of the small wild cats (see Wild Cat Species ). It is about 2 feet long (excluding the tail) and looks like it weighs about 20+ pounds. This is gauged by comparison with the tracks (apparently 4 feet 8.5 inches wide in Britain). This cat walks like a small cat or domestic cat meaning lightly and without that slightly arrogant and slower paced walk of the bigger cats. Its shape is neither cobby (stocky) nor slender. The smaller big cats like the puma and leopard are quite slender with long limbs. This cat cannot be either. It cannot be a lynx because there is no ruff. This cat has been described as "fearsome" and a "panther" by the tabloid press. Well it is not fearsome it seems to me. And it is not a panther as this is

When a Stray Cat Comes to You

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What to do when a stray cat comes up to your home? Or there is a cat wandering around in your area and you feel that it is stray. A lot of people take what only can be described as hostile action, against the cat, for example, kill it by poison or kick it etc. (see cat poison ). In fact there is a post on this blog made a day or two ago in which the person said she loved cats but puts down poison to deal with stray cats! See Stray Cats . I have lost the credit for this photo. I think it could be MAR please advise - sorry But the question is what is the thing that we should do? The proper thing throwing out all other considerations? If the cat is tame it is probably a stray cat as opposed to a feral cat. And in that case it probably lives with someone - but who? And if you can't find out, then what? One way to find out is to ask around the neighbours. This might seem troublesome to many people who don't care about cats or animals generally. Fair enough but it is the right acti

Cat-Photo-Technique Flickr Group

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Here is a photo stream from the cat-photo-technique Flickr group that I started to encourage good cat photography. Of course Helmi Flick the best cat photographer very generously allows me to use her photographs on the main site: Pictures of Cats but inspired by her fine photographs and knowing that there are a lot of cat photos on the internet, I thought it would be nice to see if we could find the best amateur cat photoraphers. Professional photographers can submit to the group to, of course. In fact it would be great if some professionals did submit their work to the group as it would intruct and train the amateurs. That said there are some fantastic amateurs who could teach the professionals a thing or two (fofurasfelinas and Dani Rozeboom come to mind immediately). Anyway, these are the pages to visit: cat-photo-technique at Pictures of Cats (PoC) website cat-photo-technique at Flickr PoC home page for an example of a group member's work (as at 29th July 2009

Our Relationship with Cats

There are many millions of people who tenderly love and care for the domestic cats with which they live. There are many millions who are concerned about the wildcats. But there are not enough. Today I was shocked by a submission to the main website ( www.pictures-of-cats.org ) by a person who said she (or he, not sure) loved cats but poisoned them because her neighbours were irresponsible in letting them stray. And these stray cats upset her by defecating and urinating around her home. She also said that they bring fleas and "other insects". What she was doing or what she said she was doing was quite possibly a felony in her state of New York. The person was arrogant and ignorant enough to state her views and actions on the internet on a site that gets a lot of hits. Beware doing such things as it can backfire. It does show us the level of "out of reality" lives some people live. The person's arguments were totally lacking in sound thought. And upon this ignora