Near Bangkok cats in diapers can go to the cinema with their owner

This is novel. It's probably impractical and perhaps a little extreme but a cinema near Bangkok has allowed cats and dog to watch their films with their owners provided they wear diapers (nappies)! Get that. I see the problem. If one cat peed onto a cinema seat because they were stressed it would be the end of the experiment.

A pet cat sits on the armrest of a seat inside a movie theater on the opening day of the pet-friendly i-Tail Pet Cinema at Major Cineplex, inside the Mega Bangna shopping mall, in Samut Prakan province, central Thailand on Saturday, June 10, 2023. AFP PHOTO.

Major Cineplex spokesman Narute Jiensnong made the order that cats and dogs had to wear diapers. I have a strong feeling that this is not going to work despite being kind and animal-friendly.

The reason why the cinema chain has opened their doors to pets is because pets are big in Thailand, second only to China in Asia and they want to encourage more customers through the doors. There are 8.3 million dogs and 3.7 million cats in 2021, in Thailand apparently.

Fair enough but I don't think cats and dogs are stopping cinemagoers from going to the cinema as films traditionally last 90 minutes. You're not going to be away from home and your cat or dog for more than 3 hours. That's okay.

Nice thought though. Ikea in Thailand are also allowing pets into their stores with their owners provided they are in strollers.

There must be a limit to the 'dogs allowed policy' for Cineplex as some species are enormous. Who's going to put a 60-kilogram dog in a nappy and hope that it stays on for the duration of a film?!

Source: The Manila Times.

18-year-old musician and cat lover killed on the frontline in Ukraine's war

NEWS AND SOME OPINION: This is a snapshot - a vignette - of the Ukrainian war started illegally by Putin and prosecuted by him with incredible cruelty to the point where in the eyes of 95% of the world's population many war crimes have been committed. 

I want to retell the story as told by Christina Lamb in The Sunday Times today. It is very sad. And so unnecessary. So wasteful of a good life with potential for so much more.

Iryna Krasnokutska and her son. Image: The Sunday Times.

Christina Lamb interviewed Iryna Krasnokutska about the death of her son. She is on tranquillisers and is receiving counselling as a way to cope. She is in despair because her son Maksym was a good man. He had talent and a good future ahead of him.

Iryna makes uniforms for Ukrainian soldiers. She is busy. On her phone is a photo of a handsome young son holding a tabby cat. It was his 18th birthday. Within six months of that photo being taken he was dead. At the time of his death, he was the youngest soldier to die on the front lines in the Ukraine war.

She said:

"These are our young generation we need for the future. My son had his whole life ahead of him. How can we be sending 18-year-old to the front lines?"

Iryna was immaculately dressed and made up nicely when she spoke to Christina Lamb. her son was known as Max. He loved jazz and cats. He also loved Formula One and called his cat Kimi after the Finish racing driver Kimi Raikkonen.

He wrote his own compositions and played the alto saxophone in the Poltava Orchestra. He signed up to fight soon after the invasion started. He told his mother that he had to do it to protect her.

"Mum if I don't protect you and Poltava, who will?"

He had never held a gun before but was well trained a long way from the frontline in western Ukraine but as it happens, the Russians sent cruise missiles to his training camp which killed dozens of soldiers. Fortunately, he survived. He felt that he was the lucky one.

After two months of training Max was transferred to another camp in the north-east of Ukraine. This was nearer the fighting. This camp was also struck by a Russian missile. He survived again.

He was then sent to the frontline in the Donetsk region in the east. He was stationed 500 m from the Russians. In late July he phoned his grandmother and told her that he had just come back from a mission during which all his fellow soldiers had been wounded or killed. He survived again and told her that he was the lucky one.

Sadly, two days later news came out of the area where he was fighting that someone had been killed. Instinctively Iryna knew that it was him. It was two more days before her instincts were confirmed. On August 5 he was buried in the newly created Alley of Heroes, a part of a cemetery in Poltava Zaturyne reserved for military deaths.

Since then, Iryna's younger son has been taken to hospital where he remained for 45 days. Then her husband, a driver had a heart attack and had to go into hospital as well.

She couldn't grieve properly. She became angry. On her phone she keeps the photo of her smiling son playing his saxophone. She wants to remember him like that. And she doesn't want any more of Ukraine's youngest and best to be killed in battle.

Max had a tabby cat. No doubt he loved his cat. The cat now does not have Max as a human companion. Let's think of the cat as well who might be grieving as Max's mother is.

Does this cat enjoy his owner's 'toddler cuddle' or is he complaining?

You tell me. In the video below we see a woman "strongly cuddling" as I would describe it her cat and she kisses him on top of the head. She thinks that her cat did not enjoy it. It is possible that he did, however. Is the sound that he makes one of complaint or enjoyment? 

Complaining cat. She is handling him like a toddler. Image: Screenshot.

Or perhaps it is somewhere in between the two. I do think, however, that she is cuddling him too strongly. I don't think he enjoys being confined and 'compressed' slightly in this way. 

Most cats enjoy being kissed on the top of the head. If they don't, they get used to it and then they enjoy it!

My gut feeling is that this cat is complaining not because of the kiss but by the way that he is being held which is slightly too forceful for him. 

And the reason why she is cuddling him like this is because she loves him. But she is cuddling him as if she would cuddle a toddler; a human being. Entirely understandable. 

Not a particularly bad thing in many ways because it means that she is likely to be bestowing upon her cat human rights. However, under these circumstances the owner has to be careful because they can end up having misplaced expectations about their domestic cat companion. Cats are not humans. The wildcat is just below the surface.

And they can end up interacting with their cat in a way that humans enjoy but cats don't. The mantra is 'respect the cat'. And don't treat them as dogs or little humans except to give them equal rights to humans.

P.S. I think this cat has been handled like this before and has become used to it. He knows what is coming. He partly accepts it as a consequence but still complains.

Veteran big-game hunter is crushed by shot elephant. Karma in nature.

A lot of people are very pleased about the untimely death of a big game hunter when an elephant fell on top of him and crushed him to death. The back story is interesting. There was a group of individuals on a hunting safari in Africa. This happens a lot and far too often. They wandered into a breeding herd of elephants according to The Telegraph newspaper.

Three elephant cows charged the hunters. The man in the photograph below (who was killed), Theunis Botha, was leading the group. He tried to shoot the elephants. To try and stop him a fourth elephant cow charged at him from the side. This elephant lifted Botha with their trunk. One of the other trophy hunters then shot this elephant with Botha held up in their trunk. This caused the elephant to drop Botha. The elephant then collapsed from the gunshot and rolled on top of him, killing him.

Both the elephant and the trophy hunter were killed in this incident. It is an example of karma however. In fact, Botha runs a big-game safari business which he started in the early 1980s. He opened his first hunting ranch with his wife. At the time of his killing by this elephant, he owned private hunting ranches in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia. He was a passionate professional hunter giving his clients "a unique [and] exciting African safari experience".

Image: Twitter

Image: Twitter

Image: Twitter

Unlike him, elephants have the capacity to be compassionate. You don't have to go far to find research studies on the sentience of elephants and how they behave empathetically towards others and recognise and respond to another elephant's pain or discomfort. Often, they make heroic efforts to assist one another.

It is only humans who take pleasure in killing animals for no good reason and for the fun of it. This attitude is completely alien to other animals. I'm referring to the human as the human-animal in that sentence.

The reaction on the Internet is interesting. A large number of people would agree with what I'm saying here. One commentator said that "the failure to use the word 'murder' for nonhuman animals ignores their [elephants] cognitive and emotional lives and capacities. And that trophy hunting is voluntary and intentional and "there is no reason to engage in it. It is a form of 'thrill killing'."

"Hostility and the need for power and control are associated with poor attitudes towards animals, especially in men, according to research".

It is difficult for many people to understand how sport and trophy hunters can enjoy killing animals for fun. Many people are baffled and sickened by it. 

The top 2 pictures above on this page express their thoughts. These ghastly people defend themselves by saying that they aid in the conservation of the animals that they are killing. That also has completely baffled me.

Killing animals to protect and preserve them seems to be turning the world upside down. And don't tell me they only kill old animals and therefore it is justified. They only kill animals for the fun of it. Let's be honest about it.

This site is about cats. This page in indirectly about cats: lions, tiger, and other cat species shot for the hell of it by these AHs. May they end in hell. May Botha never rest in peace in hell.

Botha kills a leopard. Image: Twitter.

Bad idea: DELIFUR Christmas costumes - Funny Pet Cowboy Outfit Clothing for Dog Cat

I feel that I need to address this recurring problem which is to put domestic cats into outfits so that they look like little humans. You can buy them on Amazon. The picture below shows you an example. The title describes it.

I don't want to be a killjoy because I understand that it can be fun to put domestic cats into mini-human outfits. However, I don't think that it is a good idea because, ultimately, it disrespects the domestic cat. And I think it probably undermines the human-to-cat relationship which should be one of human recognising the fact that they live with a domesticated wildcat at heart.

It's all very well to treat a domestic cat as a human in terms of animal rights. This elevates their rights to that of a human which helps to protect them and which helps to foster respect for them. But to treat them as little humans including babies leads humans down the path of interacting with their cat in a less than optimal way.

It can alter the caregiver's expectations. Treat a domestic cat as a little human and you want them to behave like little humans, perhaps like a toddler. So, you start cuddling your cat a little bit to aggressively because you love them. Your cat might not like it. They might bite you or scratch. They might wriggle free which might hurt your feelings.

If you expect your cat to be a cat and if you understand domestic cat behaviour which is always based upon their wildcat ancestor's behaviour then there is much less chance of being scratched. In fact, the possibility of being scratched can be eliminated almost entirely. There will be a better relationship. One of mutual respect.

Putting your cat in a cowboy outfit to amuse yourself would irritate PETA, the animal rights charity. And I'm with them on this. Their mantra is not to abuse or exploit. I think putting your cat in these clothes is a form of exploitation. Exploitation to amuse yourself. These clothes are all about human activity and enjoyment at the expense of the cat.

Some cats might not mind it too much but most cats will find it a little distressing at least and perhaps completely unacceptable at worst. Without wishing to preach, I think we should be doing things for our cat to make them happy rather than imposing things upon our cat to make us happy. One is giving and the other is taking.

Woman with double chin says she would rather starve to feed her cats

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a BBC story published eight hours ago. The headline is "Cost of living: pet owner would rather starve to feed cats".

Under the headline is a picture (see below) of the woman, Miari Workman, holding her two cats. She has a double chin and she's clearly carrying too much weight. Starving? Not eating enough? Nah!

Ms Workman has made a bold statement which has caught the attention of the news media but she's clearly not carrying through on that statement. She has no need to starve herself because she is finding a way not to and that, by the way, is to go down to a local pet food bank. Free cat food.

I wonder sometimes whether people use pet food banks who should be using them. Do people who operate pet food banks actually check with care the credentials of their customers? Do they check whether they really are out-of-pocket completely to the point where they have to starve themselves as Ms Workman indicates?

I don't think so. In fact, I'm certain that it never happens. She says that she is a single mom with kids and two cats and really struggles with money. This is what is likely to happen because if you've got children you've got to be around for them and therefore you can't go out to work. And therefore, you rely on welfare benefits. And human and pet food banks.

I think though that she has made a statement which is over the top. If she was really skinny and looking pale then I would believe her. But her words are empty.

She also says that the pet food bank "helped tremendously". And "Sometimes I'll feed my daughter and go without and make sure I've got food for the cats."

She goes without food but I think she could go without a little more food because she needs to eat less. That is quite obvious.

Although I can't believe this woman, I can believe, through personal experience that food prices in the UK have rocketed and I believe a lot of the time the rises are unjustified. I believe that the supermarkets are jumping on the bandwagon of inflation and adding an extra price rise in order to increase their profit margins. This is unscrupulous.

Pet food has risen by 12.6% over the past 12 months and human food has risen by 18.2% over the same period.

The one good thing that Ms Workman states is that when you adopt a cat you don't just get rid of them because you're struggling to pay your expenses. You find a way to keep looking after them. Too many people find it too easy to abandon their cat companions as a time convenient to them. 

And sometimes people use events such as the cost-of-living crisis in the UK to get rid of their cat. It's a way of justifying it.

An animal welfare assistant at Blue Cross, who runs the pet food bank, Gemma Greg, 25, said that since January she had noticed that more people were using their charity. And she also said that many families were looking to have their pets rehomed for financial reasons.

I'm back to my original point. The last thing you should do is to get rid of your cat. You can find other ways to save money. You can stop paying subscriptions for mobile phones. You can stop or reduce your outgoings in many areas. You can save enough money by restricting your outgoings to allow you to afford cat food. I just don't see inflation as a good excuse.

Why do feral cats not meow? Can a feral cat meow?

I will answer the second question first. Feral cats have the physical ability and anatomy to meow just like domestic and stray cats. The point is that they don't normally meow because the meow vocalisation is a learned one between domestic cat and human caregiver. It is normally a demand for food or attention.

The answer is not quite as clean as that because the meow sound is very variable. People should not think that every meow made by every cat is exactly the same. There is a great spectrum of meow sounds. 

The word 'meow' is an onomatopoeia meaning that it reflects the sound. But as the meow sound varies a lot it does not reflect the meow sound sometimes!

The meow sound has been learned by the domestic cat to make a demand on their human caregiver. Image: MikeB

As to the first part of the title, as mentioned, this is a learned vocalisation by domestic cats over about 10,000 years of domestication. It is a sound developed between cat and human. 

As feral cats nearly always or almost exclusively 'talk' to other feral cats there is no need for them to meow.

The feral cat might hiss and growl at a human but they won't normally meow at them. 

But if you have the patience to socialise a feral cat which might take many months even as long as 18 months if they are an adult feral cat who's lived their entire life in the urban jungle, they will eventually learn to meow at their human caregiver.

It is a learned process and a demand normally. However, it's meaning will vary as the sound's tone and tenor varies.

It may merge into other sounds like a growl. The Siamese cat has a honk to make demands rather than the classic meow. As I said the meow sound varies 😎.

Here's a video of a very strange meow sound but it is certainly a demand. A call for attention.

American Curl turns up in a homeowner's backyard as a stray

This is unusual. Perhaps very unusual. A user on the Reddit.com website has posted a video which you can see below of a domestic cat that they thought had a strange appearance. 

They said that the cat was very big with strange ears. I immediately, identified the cat as an American Curl which is a fairly rare purebred cat and certainly very rare if he or she behaves as a stray cat which appears to be the case in this instance. 

They're not normally large cat but standard-sized domestic cats with one exception to their regular appearance namely the ears that curl back due to a genetic mutation.

Here is an example of an American Curl show cat photographed by Helmi Flick years ago.

Photo: copyright Helmi Flick.

Note: the video below may eventually stop working. Sorry but I can't control its existence. CLICK ON THE EXPAND ICON BOTTOM-RIGHT TO SEE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.

What kind of cat is this? Stray cat moved into my back yard. Has huge paws/weird ears.
by u/ReindeerNo1893 in cats

This breed is meant to be very standard in appearance and they can be tabby cats or any other coat type. I suspect that a neighbour of this person owns this cat. 

And the cat has wandered into a neighbour's property as domestic cats do. It is also slightly unusual for a person to allow their fairly rare purebred cat to wander around outside without supervision.

American Curl turns up in a homeowner's backyard as a stray. Screenshot.

An alternative assessment would be that this is a non-purebred cat which happens by chance to carry the genetic mutation which cause the ears to curl back. 

This gives them the appearance of a purebred American Curl. You won't be able to tell the difference because, as mentioned, the American Curl is a very regular looking cat. There are no other outstanding features other than the ears.