Mau Mew

A lot of people say they love the cats eharmony video.  What they are referring to is the video of a fictional young lady called Debbie crying over her love of cats. The video went viral and changed the life of the real-life person who performed this at 2 in the morning in her home.  Her name is Hartmann. This video explains what happened.  What she said in the video is also transformed into a funky sort of song which you can see a second video on this page.   She says that she fooled 27,000,000 people by which he means that most people who watched the video actually believed that her name was really Debbie and that she was both intelligent and crazy about cats and presented this very soft and endearing and for some people charming personality to the public. I'm sure there were a lot of young men who wanted to go out with her on a date as a result of this video. You will see that, as mentioned, the video changed her life as it lead to employment together with a certain amount of

I'm going to argue that within the beautiful, colourful and airy confines of Google offices worldwide, there are frequent conflicts with regard to the way the infamous Google algorithm is written.  The algorithm is a mathematical formula upon which computers work out which websites are the best and therefore which websites rank the best in a Google search. The great difficulty is working out what the best website is. You can't just rely upon page rank (PR) which itself relies upon quality inbound links to the website in question, because there are ways and means to get inbound links which do not reflect the fact that the website is good.  Just advertising your website extensively will create more hits and therefore more inbound links. Your site may be as good as the next site but if you are advertising your site more than the next one you'll get more inbound links so if Google ranks a heavily advertised website better than another website which is not promoting itself, it

If you are searching for a picture of a black cat with icy blue eyes you have one on this page. The big question is whether it is a genuine photograph or whether there has been some element of photo shopping, which I suspect. This cat is listed on page about the Ojos Azules cat , which is a blue-eyed cat that has a coat which is not normally associated with blue eyes. Coats which are normally associated with blue eyes are white or partially white because the piebald gene both removes pigmentation from the hair strands and from the iris of the eye.  It is highly unusual to see a black cat with this colour of blue eyes. Do you think this is a fake? I do but who cares? It's still a good photograph and a very handsome cat which fits the bill.

I will keep this very short because I only want to say one thing about the cat who has thin fur above the eyes. Quite a few people search for this, looking for answers. It is not possible to provide a complete answer unless you are a veterinarian and the cat is in your presence. However, in my estimation, people who search for information about why their cat has thin hair above the eyes are referring to something that is normal and unrelated to health. The coat immediately above the eyes is, in my experience, more sparse in terms of hair strand density, than any other part of the body except the tips of the ears. So if you are searching for information about what you perceive as a lack of sufficient hair above the eyes you're probably looking at something that is completely normal. That said you need to observe other behaviours and symptoms to confirm it. If, for example your cat is scratching or over-grooming above the eyes or around the face then you have to conclude that there

Mr White is all-white and deaf because of it. White cats can be deaf and they can blind too. The gene that creates all-white coat can affect the hearing and eyes. Mr White has odd-eye color too (but a faint difference judging by the photos). This is called:  heterochromia iridum . He is also a "Twisty Cat" or Squitten or there is another name: Kangaroo cat because he uses his hind legs, back and tail much more than normal due to deformed forelegs. He is described as a Kangaroo cat. The genetic defect is called "radial hypoplasia" I may have misguidedly rolled all three types of cat into one because apparently a different genetic mutation produces the Kangaroo cat to the Squitten but the end result is much the same: forelegs which are much less robust and useful forcing the cat to adapt by using other parts of the body to compensate. Mr White lives in Australia and is much loved by Sharon Abdallah. She is seeking some help to raise funds it seems to see if somet

The photo was taken by Finn Frode.  Finn is (was) a regular visitor to PoC. He has written some nice articles for the site one of which is on his catio . The cat is, "Caithlin" posing in the sunshine - a Somali - long haired Abyssinian. The image links to his Flickr photostream and more examples.

Am I the only one who has become resistant to looking at shocking photographs of animal abuse on Facebook?  When I visit the site searching for cats it takes me to a column of animal photographs of various kinds, some of which are cute and some are funny, but interspersed between the cute and funny is the horror of extremely cruel images of animal abuse from far-off countries. As I said, I am becoming or have become resistant to them which means I don't like to look at them. I don't think it does any good actually to constantly show them because there's not a lot we can do about it other than donate money to animal rescue centres in the places where the cruelty takes place and spread the word about the good work they do. Set against that, looking at these pictures, which I now avoid, a person becomes inured to the cruelty or the images remain in one's head which makes life worse.  That is something to avoid. I wonder whether Facebook should do something about this.  

This photo is oriented upside down on Facebook! Perhaps it is better upside down. Perhaps it was deliberately twisted upside down (180%) to make it look better. Here it is upside down: I have also cleaned it up a bit. The color balance was off slightly.

There are two schools of thought about the efficacy of colloidal silver in the treatment of a variety of feline diseases but essentially focusing on viral and bacterial infections. What is interesting is this. Every webpage that recommends the use of colloidal silver as a health treatment for cats (including FIV) contains information from people which is anecdotal.  It is from people who have used colloidal silver either on themselves or a pet and sometimes a cat, or the information comes from a supplier of the product.  Amongst suppliers, the product's wondrous properties tend to be overhyped as an alternative to "expensive" veterinary care. On the other side of the coin there is one organisation which is against the use of colloidal silver. The organisation is the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It took me a little while to find this information and the relevant webpage whereas by contrast there are many pages of information from users or sellers which, in ge

DR. ALLAN SIMON, is Co-Director of Paw Project-New York and a member of the AVMA. He says this: "It will be obvious to all that the AVMA is on the wrong side of this declaw debate. This may harm the AVMA`s standing nationwide, which in turn may harm its members.... When the majority of cat owners realize that they have been mislead by their favorite veterinarian, they may change vets or look at veterinarians in a negative light. What will the AVMA do when 60 Minutes, Oprah, etc do a piece on the pain and other issues that cats may have for the rest of their lives after being declawed? What happens when the evidence is presented and the AVMA is asked to respond? Not a pretty picture!! What happens when veterinarians are attacked again by the news media, this time picturing them, and with good cause, as being cruel to cats...? I think that most people will not want to hear the AVMA`s canned response. Come on AVMA! Step up before the damage is done." Is this a hint of dissen

Here is a goldfish handbag photographed at the Brit Awards: Comment from one FB visitor: Cruel maybe next time someone could put her in a plastic bag and carry her around,see how she likes it!!! What has this got to do with cats? It is about attitude. If celebrities do this to animals it devalues animals and encourages people who admire celebrities to treat animals as accessories and inanimate objects. That mentality can then be carried forward to how we relate to the domestic cat, which translates to a lack of respect and lowering standards of cat caretaking. Goldfish handbags are bad. It has been manufactured by a person who has no scruples with regard to animal welfare. The person carrying it has the same lack of scruples and concern. They are more concerned about standing out and being noticed. As for goldfish, we are just learning that fish feel and remember more than we realised. One day fishing will be seen as cruel.

In a study carried out by the Swedish insurance company Folksam, it was found that 58% of the 2,000 people taking part in the study had a preference for dogs.  The figure is boosted by the fact that people in an older category, namely aged 56 to 79, preferred dogs even more.  63% of people in this category preferred dogs. In the 14 to 35 age category 50% of people preferred dogs so it becomes a 50/50 split in this younger age category. Even 55% of women preferred dogs while 60% of men preferred dogs . This would seem to go against the general trend in North America where there is certainly a preponderance of women who prefer cats . The president of the Swedish kennel club says that dog people tend to prefer being outdoors which indicates to me that the Swedish spend more time outdoors then North Americans but that is a rather rash thing to say and may well not be true. It is difficult to explain the Swedes' preference for dogs. I think the key factor is that more Swedish women

This must be a first. Thee young men stealing two kittens from an animal shelter. It seems despicable.  When you think that animal shelters often struggle to keep going and are dependent upon the adoption fees which are relatively modest it is the worst kind of petty crime to steal from an animal shelter.   They are non-profit. If someone steals from a big corporation it is equally bad in the eyes of the law but on a moral basis some people could argue that it might be justified because, after all, big corporations are sometimes rather immoral organisations anyway.  But from a shelter which is non-profit and doing some good work it seems extraordinary to me. The burglary took place at SAVE in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The trio of 19-year-old men attempted but failed to steal 2 kittens from the animal shelter. Fortunately, two of them were caught in the act while a third gave himself up which is rather strange. I am not sure what his motive was. I don't think it was out of hon

I am just flagging up the thought that it may be wise to redraw the existing distribution map of the mountain lion .  The classic map which sets out the areas where the mountain lion is found in North, Central and South America including Mexico may need to be redrawn and in this instance I am writing about the United States of America. The reason why I am suggesting this is because I am consistently receiving on my website reports of mountain lions in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana  (Louisiana is near the edge of the existing range but not in it). Of these four, the North Carolina sightings are more frequent and this state is the farthest east of the four. I do not believe that these are escaped pets but of course they might be.  Alternatively they may simply be genuine wild mountain lions which have migrated from the West to extend the distribution of this wild cat species in North America. The classic distribution in North America tells us that t

Risk Factors for a Broken Human-Cat Bond This is a cross-post from the main site (to spread the word).  It's actually an important subject because it goes to the heart of what is troubling people in the world of domestic cats, namely, unwanted and abandoned cats who are relinquished to local shelters because of a breakdown in the relationship between the owner and cat. There are what experts describe as “risk factors", which if present in a home occupied by a domestic cat and a person indicates that the relationship between the person and the cat may fail leading to the abandonment of the cat to a local shelter. In round terms and generalising somewhat, these risk factors center around the attitude of the person before adopting a cat and during the early part of the adoption process i.e. during the first 6 months of the relationship. Before a person adopts a cat they really should be aware of what looking after a cat entails and in addition they should be aware of

This is an instructive story from the Paw Project-Utah.  The story concerns a cute and beautiful long-haired tabby cat whose name is Jules. Jules is a declawed cat (front declawed). He was treated by Paw Project-Utah to remove two bone fragments left behind after the declaw operation. It is not uncommon for this rather crude and I say botched operation (by design) to leave bone shards in the paw which can become infected and develop abscesses. Sadly, Jules is also FIV positive, which compromises his immune system.  If you combine a bacterial infection in the paws with a weakened immune system you can see where it might lead: a potentially very serious health situation which could be fatal under certain circumstances. Paw Project-Utah were able to raise money quite easily for the operation; in fact, within 72 hours which indicates a wonderful base of supporters against declawing . Jules's story indicates to us that there are many possible complications and side-effects, som

Maui, Hawaii, is as I understand it, the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands and we are told in a news article that the rather nasty feline disease (and one of the worst feline viruses ) called panleukopenia or panleuk for short has been confirmed to be present in a cat from a populated, central area of the island. The director of the local Humane Society's veterinary service, Miyasaki-Kim, said that the identification of feline panleukopenia in such a highly populated area means that they are unable to stop the spread of this virus.  He says that the disease will have a big impact upon their shelter on the island.  What he's saying is that there's going to be a lot of feline euthanasia, I suspect, on the shelter. In all eight cases have been identified.  It is rather sad and ironic that this news follows on from an earlier report that the authorities on adjacent island, Kauai,  had decided to instigate a mass trap-neuter-release program on feral cats because they we

Nestlé, which sells Purina and Friskies cat food products is fighting with Mars, which makes Whiskas cat food products.  They are doing this fighting in the New Zealand High Court. Firstly, it is rather ironic that pet food manufacturers are fighting over the quality of their products because it is far more commonplace for consumers to be criticising petfood manufacturers about the quality of their products particularly dry cat food , over which the current argument is taking place. Whiskas dry cat food is stated by Mars to have the highest protein levels of all the dry cat food that is sold in New Zealand.  Nestlé states that the claim is misleading because this cat food product has only above average levels of protein which is in fact stated in small print on the packaging. That is their claim and allegation. Mars stands by their promotion. Both of these multinational companies miss the point altogether namely that the dry cat food products which they manufacture are far too high

Tilting Windows Are A Danger To Cats  - a cross post to spread the word . I'll be honest and say that I'm not completely sure how tilting windows hurt and kill cats but they do. I'll have a guess at how it happens.  A cat uses the window as a means to go outside and come back inside.  On returning the cat jumps onto the window and it swings upwards and the cat ends up near the edge of the window where she becomes trapped between the tilting window and the window frame. The reason why a cat might jump onto the window itself rather than the windowsill is because a tilting window can be in a horizontal position and provide a flat surface.  A cat will not realise that this flat surface is not solid.  Instead it is like a seesaw.  When the cat jumps onto the flat surface the window rapidly swings upwards at one end and somehow the cat finds herself at the edge of the window at which point the window PVC edge of the window slams down onto her as she is trapped against the win

This is a strange but arresting tabby cat photo. Either it is the lighting or it is photo-editing but this impressive tabby cat looks like he is embossed onto the background. It is probably a bit of both. It might be ring lighting. This is a flash light that encircles the camera lens and which provides this sort of lighting. However, you normally see the ring light in the eyes. The cat looks flat. Two dimensional. Click here to see the original . Photo by nebojsa mladjenovic.