There is a bit of a crisis in UK’s secondary schools over some students wishing to self-identify as cats or other animals. It happened in the United States a while ago and in Australia. There was a furore over it with claim and counterclaim. In the UK the school in question, Rye Collage, has denied …
How would you respond if your child wanted to identify as a cat? Read More »
There is an overlap between parents caring for their baby/infant and humans caring for their cats and dogs. The infographic below summarises some of these overlapping aspects of the relationship. There is a trend, too, in developed countries to adopt a pet over having a baby! Pope Francis, the current Pope, doesn’t like it and …
Human-companion animal partnerships substituting conventional relationships Read More »
I’d like to focus on one aspect of cat caregiving and a vital one. There is no doubt that a small percentage of cat owners are scratched by their cat not infrequently while other cat owners are hardly ever scratched. We don’t have percentages as there is no data on this. Socialised and healthy My …
Why do cats scratch some owners more than others? Read More »
Talkative domestic cats are good. They improve the human-to-cat relationship. Cat owners want their cat to initiate an interaction with them, don’t they? You don’t just want a decorative cat. When cats start the conversation, the interactions are better and they last longer. Please tell me if your cat is a chatterbox and if so …
Human character can be categorised in five ways which must overlap to varying extents. They are: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Neuroticism and Openness. I want to look at the penultimate character trait: neuroticism. It sounds very negative and critical but I think you’ll find that psychiatrists define neurotic people as those who have negative thoughts and …
Cat owners with negative feelings are more likely to report cat problems Read More »
There is an interesting discussion on cat food on social media. It’s about how much you store in your kitchen or to use an old-fashioned word, pantry. Does this picture reflect your attitude to cat food purchase and storage? The person concerned said that visitors to her home said that she spoiled her cats because …
You’re not a cat hoarder but a cat food hoarder! Read More »
There was a time when you could ask this question, “Why do some cats hate men?” Around 20 years ago that question would have been applicable and the suggested reason is this. There was a great preponderance of men in the veterinary profession. The argument is that because some domestic cats associated men with pain …
Compared to the past, more cats like men for this reason Read More »
I’m speaking about Gwendolyn Wallace Gooditis. She is an American real estate agent and politician. She is a Democrat and was elected to represent Virginia’s 10th House of Delegates district in the Virginia House of Delegates. I bet she is a good real estate agent because she looks so honest. It’s nice to have a …
The good human face of an anti-declaw politician Read More »
I want to try and get into the head of domestic cats and ask what sort of human personality type they prefer in a caregiver. There’s been quite a lot of discussion about the personality of a typical ‘cat person’. They are said to be “graceful, subtle, independent, intelligent, thoughtful and mysterious” in one study …
What sort of human personality does a domestic cat prefer? Read More »
I think that this scientific study is telling us what we probably already know but it has some value nonetheless. As I understand it, it is more or less saying that people suffering from neuroticism are going to be less good at taking care of a companion cat than somebody who is better balanced and …
Neurotic people are poorer cat caregivers than agreeable people Read More »
I think we are referring to domestic cats. And I also think that trying to answer the question is fruitless if we are honest. This is because, as I understand it, narcissism is part of a spectrum of so-called mental disorders and you will probably find it present with other personality traits. Therefore, it’s impossible …
