In the world of cats there are two main categories of human

I'm simplifying things but it is true. In the cat world - the domestic cat world to be more accurate - you can divide humans into two groups or categories.

1. Those that don't see sentience in the domestic cat and have the potential for cruelty towards their cat; not blatant or obvious cruelty but sometimes insidious slow-motion cruelty.
2. Those that are sensitive or very sensitive to the fact that the domestic cat is a sentient being with the capacity to feel pain and to suffer. These people pick up the pieces left by the other group. To put it another way they rescue cats and the other group throw them away.

Here is a story told by a woman which illustrates the categorisation:

She says that a cat "tried to come into my house at the end of June of this year while we were in the middle of a heat wave in WA". So, this is the US and it must have been damnably hot. The pic below is of the tabby cat concerned before and after rescue.

Rescued cat adopted so respectfully and with kindness. Image: Kitten LaRue (Quora.com).

I have just written an article about whether feral cats come into homes. Well, this story answers the question. They do if they are strays and not true ferals. This tired, old cat had been dumped by their owner because - I guess - they were old and tired and also sick. 

The woman: "discovered the cat was very old, she has been declawed, so there was no way for her to catch any food for herself. The cat was horribly dehydrated, had 104 temperature, she was skin and bones and yet she was so sweet and loving!"

She took the cat to a vet immediately. She was x-rayed and found to have bad arthritis in her back. This may have come about due in part to being outside for a long time. She had survived despite being declawed.

The first category I mention above declaw cats while the second category do not. A profound difference in attitude.

The woman concluded her story with these words:

"Poor kitty could barely walk! So, this is quite a success story, I named her Ladybug and she is so much happier now! You can tell she feels like someone’s pet again. She loves to cuddle and gives back so much love, she didn’t deserve to be abandoned and left for dead."

You'll agree that far too many people throw away their cat companion when it is convenient to do so; when the cat becomes a bother or a nuisance. When they get ill because they are old. This is not treating cats as sentience creatures but as 'objects' to possess to decorate the home.

Public are outraged by Kurt Zouma's cat abuse. I'm pleased.

The public are outraged by Kurt Zouma's Bengal cat abuse. I'm very pleased. I am also surprised by the strength of the sentiment. And it isn't just the public; the news media have come down hard on him too. It is great. Anything which supports cat welfare is progress as far as I am concerned.

There has been an outpouring of anger against Kurt Zouma because of his obnoxious behaviour in drop-kicking one of his Bengal cats and also slapping the cat while the cat was being held by a child. And he slapped the cat hard. Arguably that is also child abuse. He is at least potentially psychologically damaging this child and he is certainly teaching his child that it is all right to behave like that was an animal. Shame on him.

RELATED: Premier League footballer videoed kicking and slapping a Bengal cat.

Kurt Zouma. Photo in public domain.

And to compound the bad behaviour, his brother videoed the whole thing and uploaded it to social media. And to make matters even worse his brother laughed while he videoed the abuse. It was terrible but what is delightful is the fact that the public have got behind cat welfare. They want to see Zouma punished. They don't want him to play in the forthcoming football matches. He has been fined two weeks wages which has told the world how much he earns because the fine is £250,000.

Ironically, his playing colleagues are complaining that they are underpaid because they have, for the first time, discovered what he earns. David Moyes the West Ham manager insists that he will play in the next match this weekend against Leicester. He was criticised by the public and others including Garry Lineker for playing him in the match against Watford which occurred 24 hours after the cat abuse incident. Garry Lineker accused West Ham of being tone deaf to the gravity of the event.

And this is what I really, really like about the story. People are concerned about cat welfare. I do not think that this would have happened like this 10 years ago. There is much more awareness about animal welfare nowadays than in the past. I believe that this may be a result of a concern for the planet in general because of global warming. People are concerned about the environment and what they do that might damage the environment.

It is quite a short step from this way of thinking to be concerned about animals. In part this is because the way we treat animals has an impact on the environment. I'm referring to livestock and meat eating.

Some people have been surprised. One person wondered if cat abuse is as bad as racism. I don't think that you can compare the two. But if a premiership footballer was prosecuted for racism or homophobia or was punished by the club for a racist remark, this person argued that he would be punished less than Kurt Zouma will be for abusing his cat. I get the point but this person is guessing how Zouma will be punished. We don't know. The RSPCA is investigating on behalf of the police and we expect them to make a statement about their intentions soon. They've seized his two cats. They may or may not return them depending on the outcome of their deliberations.

Here are the screenshots from the video of Zouma kicking and slapping his Bengal cat. Please click on the links.

• Kurt Zouma forcefully slaps his Bengal cat. Photo 1.
• Kurt Zouma drop-kicks his Bengal cat. Photo 2.
• Kurt Zouma drop-kicks his Bengal cat. Photo 3.

Zouma's brother - the guy who filmed the abuse - has been dropped by his football club which is in one of the lower divisions (Dagenham and Redbridge). A different approach. Moyes wants to play Zouma because he is a good footballer (left back) and Moyes is desperate to finish in the top four in the Premiership to enable West Ham to play in the European Championships next season. It is money over morals.

They should prosecute him under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 for animal abuse and cruelty. I expect that to happen. And if he's convicted, he will be punished but the punishment will not be severe. Although he could, technically receive a five-year prison sentence as a maximum, this is not going to happen. The abuse was not as bad as that. It was bad and callous and stupid and it betrayed an ignorant person but he will be fined if he is prosecuted and convicted.

There are much wider issues too, which come out of the story. A lady on LBC radio made the point that the UK is not a nation of animal lovers. This is the opposite to what people in other countries believe. Great Britain is portrayed as a place where animal welfare is prioritised. It isn't true. Of course, it is better than all the countries of Asia and South America and the Middle East but there is still lots of animal abuse in the UK. There are lots of idiots in the UK would like to harm animals. We could do a lot better.

Animal welfare is an emerging interest in Vietnam (please stop eating domestic cats)

A Vietnamese website (VN Express) says that animal welfare is an emerging interest among Vietnamese citizens. It's a good title and it made me smile. However, I immediately thought about cat meat which is still very much on the menu in Vietnam. So clearly, a concern about animal welfare is only emerging and is not yet established otherwise there would be no cat meat in Vietnam.

Animal welfare. Photo: Pixabay.

Apparently cat meat is technically illegal in Vietnam but you can buy it all over the country. It is referred to as "baby tiger". The business is inherently cruel and I'm told that over 1 million cats are killed annually to be eaten by Vietnamese citizens.

RELATED: How to stop the cat meat trade in Vietnam

Please stop eating domestic and stray cats. These are meant to be loved pets not livestock. And often they are killed in unregulated ways which is inherently cruel. The business does not square up with the headline on this page.

RELATED: Another gruesome report about Vietnam’s cat meat trade

Despite that, there are some positive signs that animal welfare is more of a concern to Vietnamese citizens. There was a story about a man setting fire to his cat. Obviously an utterly outrageous and desperately cruel incident. But it shocked and outraged Vietnamese citizens. They expressed disbelief that a person could be as cruel and as evil as this. The cat survived and has been treated.

The perpetrator of that desperate act of cruelty apologised on Facebook. He admitted that there was no excuse for it. Comment: obviously true. There was no need to even state that. I stress: it did not need stating because it is obvious. The online community refused to accept his apology. They continued to criticise him for his inhumane act. The cat has been named Dilo. The community rallied around to help fund his treatment.

And it even got to the point apparently where the store where this man worked was forced to shut down recently (for a while?) because of protests of some sort. Perhaps they were online protestations. The man lives in Hanoi by the way.

There was another interesting story about an overreaction by the authorities when they euthanised (I hope genuinely humanely) 15 dogs and cats belonging to a person who contracted Covid. I guess they were destroyed under a zero tolerance policy of some sort. The officials' actions drew condemnation from Vietnamese citizens and the international community. The measure was deemed to be too extreme because there are better alternatives.

The local authority later admitted that they had acted too hastily and promised to rectify the shortcomings in the future.

The petition was commenced online which urged the Vietnamese authorities to come up with veterinary guidelines to protect companion animals during Covid.

And in another incident, somebody was killing pets in Thao Dien, Saigon’s expat hub. The residents of the government owned apartments demanded an investigation. It was found that the pets had been poisoned in a targeted manner.

An expert, Wayne Capriotti, on the country's pet industry and the founder of the magazine Me Thu Cung (Love Pets) confirmed that over the last five years companion animal ownership has increased dramatically. He puts it down to humanising pets. This is a good thing because it places companion animals at a much higher status; as family members which provides them with protection.

Dictatorships Russia and China bonded by animal cruelty and belligerence

China is certainly a dictatorship. Russia is, in my view, a dictatorship dressed up as a democracy. China has no genuine animal protection laws. There is mass animal cruelty. There is change afoot because there are people in China who want to see change and animals protected. But for such a large country to have no overarching animal protection law is a scandal and it surprises me that they are not made pariahs internationally.

 Dictatorships Russia and China bonded by animal cruelty. The circus lions of Russia where they are exploited and kept under deplorable conditions and trained cruelly. Image: see credit bottom left.

Russia lives in the past. My research indicates that in 2010 there were no federal laws in Russia to protect animals. In 2014, Russia for the first time adopted an overarching animal welfare act Federal Law Number 498 but it seems to be defective and I would argue poorly enforced. There is mass fur farming which is inherently cruel and what prompted this post was the desire by Russia to hang onto the past and continue to use animals in circuses.

Below is a list of countries which have passed bans on the use of wild animals in circuses according to Stop Circus Suffering.com. 

• Austria
• Bolivia 
• Bosnia and Herzegovina 
• Colombia 
• Costa Rica 
• Croatia Cyprus 
• El Salvador
• England 
• Estonia 
• Greece 
• Guatemala 
• Ireland 
• Israel 
• Luxembourg 
• Macedonia 
• Malta 
• Mexico 
• The Netherlands 
• Paraguay 
• Peru 
• Romania 
• Scotland 
• Serbia 
• Singapore 
• Slovakia 
• Slovenia

There is a growing movement in Russia to ban the exploitation of animals in circuses but they think their circuses are the best. There is a long tradition. The state-run company Rosgostsirk which, as I understand it, organises 38 static and five travelling services across the country received 1.3 billion rubles in state aid. The organisers of the circuses regard animal advocates as nutcases spreading myths. Their attitude is very similar to sport and trophy hunters who also like to entertain themselves with cruelty to animals.

My focus on circus animals in Russia was prompted by a story in the Mail Online in which the Saratov circus was opening after a Covid lockdown. They were very proud of their reopening but a vicious fight broke out between lions which scared the spectators. Some of them ran for the exit. The trainers gained control with sticks but the whole thing was unedifying and unpleasant. 

It highlighted the need for change. Lions and tigers in zoos are an outdated concept. The world has moved on. Russia refuses to move on which is why they are a pretty poor country with perhaps the biggest difference between the rich and the poor on the planet.

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.

The video above from the Mail Online shows the scuffle or fight that broke out between the lions. It is sad to see because these lions are kept in deplorable conditions, constantly caged up and moved from pillar to post. Everybody knows it is inherently cruel to do this to lions and tigers but the Russians don't seem to see it that way. 

They considered the reopening of the circus as a "splendid momentous event". One trainer Vladislav Goncharov admitted that many countries had banned live animal performances but he said that Russia will continue to have them because children come to the circus primarily to see animals and clowns. He said "We will support and popularise it."

Cruelty is pretty well essential if you're going to train circus animals. It is inherent in the process. It is so demeaning to see these magnificent lions treated like this. As one animal rights group spokesperson, Irina Novozhilova, said, "No circus conditions will be humane for one simple reason. Training goes hand-in-hand with cruelty. Circuses are always cruel beyond limits. And circuses with animals should be banned."

Russia and China need to wake up on animal rights and welfare. Their outdated attitude to animal welfare damages them internationally. It brands them as insensitive thugs. It is time for change in these dictatorships.

Covid-19 is stopping people smoking which benefits cats and dogs

Cigarette smokers are more vulnerable to Covid-19 than non-smokers. The fear of getting Covid-19 and becoming seriously ill is driving a significant percentage of smokers to stop the habit in the UK. The reduction in the number of smokers is considered to be phenomenal by the director of policy at Action on Smoking and Health, Hazel Cheeseman. More than 643k gave up in the 12 months to August compared to 307k in 2019.

Nearly one in four people trying to stop smoking achieved their objective. An app, the Zoe Covid symptom tracker, reveals from data collected from more than 2.4 million UK participants that cigarette smokers were twice as likely to end up in hospital with Covid-19 compared to non-smokers.

Cigarette smoke is dangerous to pets. Photo: Pixabay.

In addition to the fear of Covid-19 it is believed that the change in lifestyle due to lockdowns may have kickstarted a desire to stop smoking. The normal cues and triggers to smoke may have been removed from the lifestyle of smokers in which case they smoke less or stop entirely. 

Perhaps it is fair to say that quite a lot of people have re-evaluated their lifestyles anyway during the lockdown. This has given people the opportunity to slow and think. It is believed, too, that more people believe that there should be a greater commitment to the environment from the government. People started to enjoy cleaner air and a quieter environment. It is a shame that humans were unable to carry those benefits forward into the future.

Nonetheless, I think we can celebrate an improvement in the welfare of thousands of companion cats and dogs in the UK because they will be breathing cleaner air thanks to the belated desire of their owners to stop that ghastly habit. Cigarette smoke contains around 7,000 noxious substances, many of which poisonous to people and their pets.

Goldfish Handbag

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.

Cat Hoarders Don't Care About the Cats

If more proof were needed and I don't think it is, the Kansas City cat hoarder is a good example of how people who collect cats and fail to care for them really don't care about the health and welfare of their cats despite what they profess.

This is a lady who rented out to apartments in Kansas City but didn't live in them herself. About 70 cats lived in them but, of course, in complete squalor and utterly neglected by this woman.

She actually called the authorities herself in order to get help so she was able to think rationally and at that moment was belatedly concerned about her cats but now a month later with most of the cats gone but some of them still roaming around the area she has failed to clean up her flats which are apparently still in a state of high squalor and smelling to heaven because of the urine and faeces inside them and I suppose other mess and detritus.

Not only does this woman not really care about her cats' welfare she appears to be disregarding the views of her neighbours who obviously want a decent place to live in but are forced to confront the ammonia smell seeping out of the flats and some remaining cats who look unhealthy which is disturbing to any decent person.

The city's authorities say they're still trying to trap some of the cats inside the apartment, which I find unbelievable.  This is a month later after all.  They say they have run out of traps to catch the cats.  I find that somewhat unbelievable as well.

The residents in the area are having to step in and do some cat catching themselves but this is skilled work and apparently only one cat has been trapped.  The authorities say it is the responsibility of the apartment owner to clean the inside of the apartments.

However, I would have thought that health and safety regulations would give the local authorities the power to step in and clean up themselves and apparently they have hinted that they might do this.

The point is this, though, the cat hoarder has shown antisocial tendencies, a disregard for others on top of a blindness about the consequences of her activities, namely, damaging the health of cats that she purportedly wishes to help.

Cat Food with Tranquilliser

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 can buy it in the internet in the UK and probably elsewhere.

How do you know if your cat is stressed and might benefit from being fed Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Feline Calm?

Well on the Zylkène website, they ask some questions in the form of a quiz which helps you to decide.

Examples of questions are:

• Is your cat going into a boarding cattery soon? We know that can be stressful for our cat (and us).
• Does your cat over-groom?
• Are you about to introduce another cat into the household? This can cause a change to the dynamics in the house and the existing cats might become stressed. Sociable domestic cat.
• Is your cat hiding more than what might be considered normal? Cats need places to hide as it is natural behavior.
• Have you moved home recently?
• Does your cat soil the home?
• Is your cat a full-time indoor cat? This is an interesting point to make. Obviously the manufacturers of this product believe that a full-time indoor environment can be stressful to some cats.
• Does your cat like to perch on high platforms more often?
• Are your cat's pupils dilated often?

The upside to this product is obvious. There are numerous circumstances under which our cat can become stressed. For the short term, feeding this food will probably help provided the cat likes the food.

On the downside there may be a temptation by car caretakers to use Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Feline Calm as a standard food to keep their cat permanently chilled out. This might be an opt out from taking up the responsibilities associated with cat caretaking.

An alternative is to buy the pills but then you have to give your cat a pill. They say it is easy to give, however.

Cat Stress And Welfare

The degree of stress suffered by a cat can be a measure of the welfare of that cat. As it is cat caretakers who create the environment that dictates a cat's level of stress or relaxation, the amount of stress in a cat could also be a measure of our cat caretaking skills.

Just moved! Photo debcha (Flickr)

However,  cat stress is an individual thing and dependent on cat personality. There are bold, dominant cats and shy subordinate cats. The former is less likely to be stressed. There are a wide range of potential stressors in the domestic cat environment such as lack of socialisation and confinement in an area that is too small for the cat to express innate drives.

Stressed cats will tend to hide (see picture). We see this when we move home. A house move puts our cat into a strange environment. We get stressed too.

Purring is not a an accurate measure of stress or relaxation as it occurs under a wide range of circumstances.

A cat that is very vigilant and who sleeps poorly as a consequence could be said to be under stress probably due to cats being forced together and/or one cat being a dominant aggressor. Overgrooming and cystitis are two examples of behavior and health that can be caused by stress.

A cat's behavior and posture signals his or her level of stress at any given time. Below is a picture that shows the two extremes and below that is a "composite behavioral scale for quantifying stress". My thanks to the book The Welfare of Cats for this.

Here is a summarized description of behavior, posture and appearance of the cat set against a score (1-10). This test was devised with caged cats so there is reference to a cage.

1. Completely relaxed, cat laid out on back sometimes, pupils normal, ears pricked forward, possibly purring. You might see the slow blink that a visitor described. Tail extended and held upwards with whiskers forward or normal. Chin may be resting on a surface.
2. More aware than at level 1 but relaxed with ears forward and normal (midway position between forward and back), purring, meowing possibly, slow blink and whiskers forward or normal.
3. Belly may be exposed. Ears forward or pricked. Legs may be stretched out and paws turned in.
4. Cat may sit away from the direction of the front of the cage. Whiskers and ears normal or forward.
5. Eyes slightly dilated. Cat may meow and look around. Head moves around. Body a little tense.
6. Eyes dilated. Ears flattened slightly and back or forward on cat's head. Posture is tense. Plaintive meows. Actively exploring and trying to escape cage.
7. Posture is stiff. Cat focuses on observing person. Plaintive meows. Ears back. Pupils dilated and cat may try to escape.
8. Pupils dilated or very dilated. Prowling or motionless. Yowl. Ears flattened a bit and back on head. Body crouched. Tail close to body.
9. Pupils very dilated. Body crouched and close to ground. Breathing fast. Shaking perhaps. Cat at rear of cage. Quiet or very vocal. Hiss perhaps. Whiskers back.
10. Full-on defence. Hair, body and head flattened. Pupils very dilated. Warning hiss or and spit. Back in cage. Sits on all fours. Rage. Fast breathing.

Associated: Cat personality questionnaire (PDF file will download)

Cat Watches 22 Badgers

One cat in the back garden ("yard" in America) in close proximity to 22 badgers at night. The cat is curious. The badgers ignore the cat. You'll have to look at the picture for a short while before you see the cat! One badger appears to be looking at the cat.

One cat and 22 badgers cohabiting nicely. Photo at John McNab (Flickr)

I have found that my cat is ignored by foxes. He is big, though, and in one encounter he got the upper hand. I've seen him close to foxes at night. Recently a fox started to scream at him and he got scared and ran in.  But domestic cats seem to be ignored by wildlife. This is the UK, though.

In the USA there are larger wildlife species and some are predators such as the coyote. The coyote kills domestic cats in the USA and it is one reason why people keep their cats in all the time. I'd prefer it if they used secure cat enclosures to protect their cats as F-T indoor life for a cat is not natural enough as it curtails natural behavior and drives. That can lead to stress related illnesses that are hard to diagnose.

See the original picture on Flickr.