A Michael Broad Blog
It annoys me that domestic cats are often unfairly described as aloof. The definition of the word “aloof” is: not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant. Conspicuously uninvolved. Do those words describe your cat companion? I can hear people shouting NO. ‘Aloof’ certainly does not describe my cat and the word has never described …
When you watch the domestic cat eating food you might think that they use their incisor teeth to grab food and then push it back to their premolars to masticate it into a form where it can be swallowed. But you would be mistaken. The domestic cat’s wild cat ancestor evolved dentition which is …
On the internet, people ask if sand cats can be tamed and therefore be a pet. I can see why because this small wild cat species is attractive and not dissimilar to a domestic cat in appearance. There are two points to cover. Firstly, sand cats should not be forced into being an exotic …
The unequivocal answer to the question in the title is NO. It’s interesting that the domestic cat has evolved through 10,000 years of domestication to become social but their wild cat ancestor isn’t and the same applies across all the small wild cat species. “As far as is known, the social system of all …
Before I dip into the pros and cons of adopting an old cat from a shelter, I would like to briefly mention a story on social media about a woman (Sarah W) who adopted an old cat who suffered from chronic kidney disease. She knew that he had no more than about 12 months …
Not infrequently we read about domestic cats being lost and found hundreds of miles from their home. How do they get there? There can be only one plausible reason: they have hitched a ride on a lorry or a van parked outside their home. It might be a removals van or lorry or perhaps …
It makes good sense that puma cubs have spots for camouflage protection as they are incredibly vulnerable. The spots disappear with age. This is an example of age-related differences in coat colour and patterning among the cat species. This change implies that nature has decided that the adult puma does not need camouflage protection …
Although the newspapers say that the anti-ageing drug rapamycin is being tested to extend the lives of dogs and possibly humans, I am going to state that if it works for dogs and humans it must work for cats. I must, therefore introduce cats into this article. It seems to be a kind of …
