Mau Mew

There is a lot on the internet about the toxic chemicals that are flame retardants. The chemistry of flame retardants is complicated. I won't therefore go into that in detail. Proving that flame retardants cause health problems is difficult. You have big business bearing down on people, using their wealth to lobby government (and worse?) to ensure that they can continue putting dubious chemicals into household items for limited benefit. The insurance industry is probably in league with the big chemical manufacturers. This is probably a 'bent relationship' - a scam because insurance companies have a history of scamming . Insurers will insist that certain items have flame retardant before insuring. This certainly applies to furniture in apartments and houses that are let in the UK. Are they receiving a kick-back from the manufacturers? Probably, yes. To sum things up. We have nasty chemicals put in household items that retard burning which could be replaced with less toxi

Photo of Abyssinian cat copyright Helmi Flick Here is a timeline of cat breeds. The breeds are in alphabetical order and the place of origin is specified. You will see variations on dates and place on the internet and even on this site because the origins of cat breeds is not always clear. Also the word "origin" can be interpreted in different ways. On occasions you will also get some variation in the name of cat breeds. This is not necessarily a complete list but it is a good list. Please go to this page: Pictures of Cat Breeds and follow links for much more on these breeds. Abyssinian - Ethiopia - 1860s Alaskan Snow Cat (Snow Cat) - USA - 1990s American Bobtail - USA - 1960s American Curl - USA - 1981 American Lynx - USA - 1980s American Shorthair - USA - 1900 as "Domestic Shorthair" and then 1966 American Wirehair - USA - 1966 Australian - Australia - 1946 Australian Curl - Australia - 1996 Balinese - USA - 1940s Bengal - USA - 1963 Birman - Bu

Baby cat , a photo by fofurasfelinas on Flickr. A Giane Portal special baby cat photo. This photograph has almost 91,000 views, 460 comments and 1,045 favorites. That puts it in the very top rank of Flickr photos. It was taken in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The photo is protected by copyright. Please respect Giane's copyright . You can see the picture on Giane's photostream on Flickr by clicking on this link . Giane's Flickr username is fofurasfelinas . I guess you knew that. Giane started out photographing cats as an amateur. She likes cats and photographer so much and people liked her photographs so much that she turned professional. I think she says she cares for 15 cats. She photographs them all beautifully. This little baby cat is so vulnerable but looks serene and content.

The lions of Nairobi National Park have taken a fancy to the leafy suburbs and gardens of Langata which borders the park. See the map below.  The park is labelled "Mugumoini". Picture showing the close proximity of Nairobi NP to the suburbs. Photo by urbangarden Quite understandably they are causing anxiety amongst the local inhabitants. Pet dogs have been eaten. "It was just bones and a bit of skin". When will the first child be taken? Stephanie Dloniak has a "lion lockdown" at dusk to protect her family. The kids are comprehensively grounded from 5:30 pm onwards. You can see her point. She photographed a lion sliding under her garden fence. View Larger Map It is the classic clash between human and big cat. This normally occurs when humankind gradually encroaches upon big cat territory which brings the two into conflict . Invariably the cat losses the battle in the long run. The sad truth is that this sort of thing will get worse. It has to

I had not heard about this cat food until today. Perhaps I am out of touch. I can certainly see the usefulness of this cat food. Although I can also see its dangers. The product is Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Feline Calm (a mouthful of a title). It is dry cat food that contains a naturally occurring chemical that is a tranquilliser. The tranquillising ingredient is described as "casein milk proten hyrolysate and L-tryptophan (that is a shortened version). Lovely shelter cat. Mackerel tabby & white. Mendocino County Animal Care Services Picture above : Shelter cats can be very stressed . Do they feed them Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Feline Calm? On a forum it is said that the chemical that calms cats is Zylkène. On the Zylkène website it is described as "natural product derived from casein, the protein in milk". I therefore have decided that this dry cat food does contain Zylkène. Zylkène can also be given to dogs. You can buy it in pill form. You

Baby cats are the best! , a photo by fofurasfelinas on Flickr. The title is the photographer's: Giane Portal (AKA fofurasfelinas). She is a professional photographer specialising in cat photography. Giane knows best. Kittens are always adorable in photographs. This little guy is from the Doce Encanto Cattery. Giane lives and works in Brazil so the cattery is in Brazil. There is quite a lively cat fancy in Brazil and as I remember it, there is an expanding number of domestic cats in Brazil. I think, actually, it is one of the fastest growing domestic cat market places. Brazil is one of the top 15 "pet-keeping countries" (source: The Welfare of Cats). In fact at 2002 it was 5th in terms of numbers of pets at 67 million of which 12.5 million are cats. Pet ownership in Brazil has increased by 28% over the period 1998 to 2002 . This is because of changing attitudes, increased disposable income and increased urbanisation. The photograph: it's a great picture.

Friendly kiss , a photo by fofurasfelinas on Flickr. The friendly kiss. This is another lovely photograph by Giane Portal (AKA fofurasfelinas) showing two cats living in a sanctuary who have a close relationship. And what a sanctuary! These cats look as if they are well cared for. The tabby and white cat on the right is licking the all grey cat on the ear . The grey cat seems to have presented his right ear to the tabby cat for a spot of grooming. This is called "allogrooming" by scientists. We call it a friendly kiss, as has Giane Portal. Allogrooming happens more often between cats who are friendly ("preferred associates") than non-preferred associates (see The Sociable Domestic Cat ). Sometimes, as might be the case here, one cat invites another to groom her/him. The cat being grooming is "highly cooperative". I bet he is! I would be too. I'd love a bit of allogrooming from time to time. Cats in colonies and groups can be very so

A very regal cat , a photo by fofurasfelinas on Flickr. I'll try explain what I mean in the title! This handsome grey cat photographed by Giane Portal (AKA fofurasfelinas) has a regal bearing as Giane rightly says. He has a nice upper class profile. He has a slender, toned body and is well bred and raised! He has got to be regal. Yet as far as I am aware he is a random bred cat - a commoner...He is not a champion purebred cat with the name "Prince" in it. He is just an elegant, ordinary cat who has a regal bearing. Giane chose the background really well. There is a nice balance between the neutral grey coat and the colorful background. So...what can we learn from this? Every cat is a prince and princess. You just have to get to respect them all, know them well and love them tenderly. Here is a post about an unwanted cat who is a true princess: The RagaMuffin Cat and the Princess .