Can rats be as big as cats?

We often read in the news media about rats being so big that they are as big as cats. Can this be true? Are people exaggerating? People tend to exaggerate when they are frightened of something. It happens all the time. Normally exaggerating the size of an animal occurs when people spot a mysterious …

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An idea on reducing litter tray odour in multi-cat households and saving money

Catio with outdoor toilet

One of the big problems in multi-cat homes is keeping down litter tray odours. Ideally you need one litter tray per cat plus one (Jackson Galaxy). Depending on the number of cats it can be quite a lot of work keeping the odours down. It might even be impossible, which is why my neighbours …

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Cat’s expressive eyes and mobile ears

Cat with 2 individual whiskers that curl up and touch both her eyes

The body language of a cat’s eyes and ears are worth a quick discussion and I am reliant on personal experience and that of the vet Dr Bruce Fogle in his book Complete Cat Care. Eyes As is typical of other animals, dilated pupils indicate excitement or enervation because the cat is fearful or …

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Can someone explain to me why my cat just sits and stares at me for a long time?

The full question from Reddit.com is: “Can someone explain to me why my cat will just sit and stare at me for minutes at a time? What does this mean in a cat’s world?” It accompanied the photograph below that they took from their bed. This is an extended version of the response that …

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The Persian Nose Job (cat!)

Flat-faced Persian versus standard cat muzzle

The Persian nose job is a ‘feline rhinoplasty’. Any wiser?! Yes, it is the enlarging of the nostrils to allow the flat-faced Persian to breath properly. It is ironic that the Persian cat breeders are working against health while some veterinary surgeons are correcting unnatural anatomical features surgically. It is breeders versus vets! Strange …

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Mountain lion versus wolf: who’d win?

A young male mountain lion (follow the red arrow) in northwest Wyoming just pushed off his kill by the wolf in the foreground

The question is perhaps a little fanciful because in reality the wolf is dominant over the mountain lion as they are a pack animal. It seems that the wolf drives away the puma as they are outnumbered by a pack of wolves. They scare pumas. Wolves are dominant to pumas in most encounters as …

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Why are cats digitigrade?

Cats are digitigrades as they walk on their toes as is beautifully illustrated in this picture of a Siamese cat

All cats are digitigrade; that is, they walk on their toes. You probably know this. Incidentally, they walk with a direct register gait which means that the paw prints made by the forelegs are occupied by the paw prints made by the hind legs as the cat walks forwards. The distal phalange (phalanx) of …

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Enormous F6 Savannah cat weighing 24 pounds

Dexter the 24.3-pound F6 Savannah cat

Sixth filial (F6) Savannah cats are meant to be similar to an ‘ordinary’ domestic cat. But I reckon hybrid vigour created a monster. The Savannah cat is a wild cat hybrid as you probably know. The F1 Savannah is half serval wild cat and half domestic cat. But at the sixth filial (6th generation …

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Note: Some older videos on this page were hosted on Vimeo. That account has now been retired, so a few video blocks may appear blank. Thanks for understanding — there’s still plenty of cat content to enjoy!