What affects us affects cats
When domestic cats play with prey before killing the poor animal it can be distressing for the cat’s caregiver as often they are general animal lovers as well as cat lovers. There is, however, from the cat’s perspective, a perfectly logical reason for it – three reasons actually, which I have summarised in the …
The answer to the question in the title is in the infographic. It is that predation behaviour is, as expected, inherited but it needs to be polished up with some training from their mother and a kitten’s keen observational skills and ability to learn from watching. It is how they learn to open doors …
The news this morning is that trillions of cicadas are about to emerge in parts of the United States in numbers which have not been seen for at least decades and possibly centuries. This is thanks to the interesting and unusual life-cycle of the cicada. The ‘event’ is going to occur in the south-east …
The title is provocative. It’s meant to be as I want to provoke some questions. An article on the Catster website by Dr. Karyn got me thinking (thank you). She advocates keeping cats indoors full-time but she is aware that you need to make the environment inside the home suitable for a cat to …
This is an interesting study which I’ve relied on before in a discussion whether hungry cats hunt better. Common sense dictates that a cat that is not fed by their caregiver will, given the opportunity, hunt to sustain their life. But they will hunt just what they need and no more. And a cat …
I have changed my mind about bells on cat collars as a way to protect wildlife. It’s an imperfect method to protect birds and other wildlife from domestic cat predation but it’s better than nothing and it’s a very simple solution which might be more effective than many believe. The general culture across the …
It might seem rather strange to state that this article is about the reason why domestic cats and kittens play because it looks obvious: to have fun, to enjoy themselves. There must be an element of fun in play but the primary reason why kittens play, it is believed, is to develop and reinforce …
Does it surprise you that a 1986 study discovered that about 1 in 6 domestic cats play fetch instinctively without training? We tend to think of dogs playing fetch because dogs breeds were created to be working dogs and some fetch something as part of their work – game birds for instance. And dog …
