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Showing posts from August, 2021

Greece forest fires: domestic animals left behind to be rescued

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COMMENT - OPINION: The reports that I'm reading about the devastating Greek forest fires is that owners are evacuating their homes without taking their cats and dogs. They've been ordered to evacuate (too late?). The big issue is how much time did they have to get out. If they had adequate time there is no reason why they shouldn't have taken their cats and dogs with them. But they appear to have regularly evacuated without them and relied upon volunteers to come in after to rescue the pets. The same applies to horses. Rescued cat. The image is deliberately dark to hide burns if they exist. Image: keeptalkinggreece.com. It seems extraordinary to me but I don't want to be overly critical, that they did not have adequate time to round up their pets and take them out of the disaster that was unfolding. If they genuinely were pushed for time due to inadequate notification or inadequate preparation then perhaps it could be accepted that they had to evacuate very quickly.

Scandal as shops accused of failing to publicise recall of food linked to cat deaths

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COMMENT: The Guardian newspaper reports that cat owners are showing evidence of chains including Sainsbury's still stocking food suspected of causing pet deaths. If you are a cat owner, I hope that you have heard of this crisis. If not please click on this link and read it carefully . It's important because there's quite a lot of cat food in the system which should have been removed from shelves it appears. It's a long list of different cat foods, all dry cat food, as I recall. Pets at Home and Sainsbury's are two chain store businesses which sell the food. To illustrate the page only. Photo: in the public domain (believed). But, as mentioned in the title, retailers have been accused of not doing enough to warn customers of the hazards of these pet foods which were manufactured from a single source. Although the investigation of a possible link between these foods and a disease called feline pancytopenia is ongoing, it is believed that cereal in these foods was cont

Cats caught in the food poisoning scandal given dog blood transfusions

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You might have read about the cat food poisoning scandal which it is believed has caused the death of many hundreds if not thousands of domestic cats in the UK. It's been on news media websites quite a lot recently. Pets at Home own cat food brand (AVA) is affected and other pet foods which you can check out by clicking on the links below. It is vital that people are fully aware of this in the UK.  Photograph: Images by Tang Ming Tung/Getty Images. This image is for illustrative purposes only. The Guardian newspaper reports that some pet food outlets are not warning their customers of the crisis. Perhaps they want to keep it quiet but all they are doing is jeopardising the lives of cats. If it is true this is highly irresponsible behaviour. It is said that several branches of Sainsbury's are still stocking these foods! I find that shocking.  However, the foods have been formally recalled but cats are still going ill. The foods were manufactured by one facility, Fold Hill Foods

Outdoorsy rescue cats are harder to find a home for than more sociable cats

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NEWS AND COMMENT - UK: The RSPCA in the UK has appealed for people who have suitable facilities to rehome outdoorsy cats to mark International Cat Date this week. The sort of place they're considering for these cats, who prefer to be outside because of their background are: riding stables, smallholdings and farms. There are other options too provided the environment allows the rehomed cat to live predominantly outside while being cared for to the same standard as an indoor cat which means providing food, water, shelter and veterinary care when needed. Experienced barn cats Butters and Grayson. Photo in public domain. Alice Potter, RSPCA's cat welfare expert, said that cats have a wide variety of personalities and they try and match the personality to the environment in which they place a cat. Their spectrum of rescue cats ranges from the inveterate lap cat through the inbetweener cats who are less likely to sit on a person's lap and who doesn't like to be picked up all

Black-footed cats are the deadliest

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Note : This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it. Montage: MikeB The video says that they are the smallest cat species. This is incorrect. That accolade goes to the rusty-spotted cat. But the black-footed cat has been declared the deadliest of all cat species in terms of animals killed in 24 hours, commitment, success rate etc. Black-footed cats are described as being "outstandingly active and successful hunters, making roughly 1 hunting attempt every 30 minutes, with a 60% success rate. One male was seen to catch 12 rodents in 3 1/2 hours." It said that in a typical night's hunting one cat would kill a mammal or a bird every 15 minutes on average. They kill between 10 and 14 small birds and rodents a night. This is a large amount of food for a cat to eat on a daily basis. It represents about 20% of the cat's body weight. Large cats s

This cat looks like Ari Shaffir

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Ari David Shaffir is a producer, writer, podcaster, actor and comedian. He was born February 12, 1974 (age 47). He cohosts the podcast Punch Drunk Sports and he is a regular guest on The Joe Rogan Experience pod cast . He was born in New York City to a Jewish family of Romanian Jewish descent. He performed as a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles County in 2013. He's been in films, stand-up specials and on television. In short, he's a celebrity to use modern lingo. He has a full Wikipedia bio if you want to read about him in some detail. This cat looks like Ari Shaffir. Montage: MikeB based on images in the public domain. He looks like this Oriental Shorthair cat! His long face is a close match to the face of this slender cat breed. The Oriental SH is part of the Siamese cat family of cats. They are deliberately bred to be super slender with long faces and big ears. If you like slender cats the OSH as they are referred to by the cat fancy is the breed for you. The modern Siamese