Tip: allow your cat 15 mins when coming indoors to lose their ‘wild mode’ to avoid scratches

Domestic cat wild mode is still running when they enter the home through the cat flap

In the inimitable words of Dr. Desmond Morris in his excellent book on cat behaviour CATWATCHING the cat caregiver should be aware of the fact that their cat leads a double life. “The cat leads a double life. In the home it is an overgrown kitten gazing up at its human owners. Out on …

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4 quotes from Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s founder, on domestic cats

It is useful to try and get inside the head of Ingrid Newkirk on the issue of domestic cats. Does she approve of them? The same question applies to dogs. Newkirk has one of the most persuasive voices in animal welfare worldwide. She is the co-founder of PETA with fellow animal rights activist Alex …

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Why are there so many more dog breeds than cat breeds?

Many dog breeds. Far more than the number of cat breeds

Theis is a discussion on why there are many more dog breeds than cat breeds. It is about the differences in dog and cat domestication and trainability. I’m presenting the information in bullet form. The grey wolf was domesticated perhaps up to about 20,000 years before the North African wildcat was domesticated. Therefore, the …

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Mars State of Pet Homelessness Index – measuring success and failure in pet domestication

Stray cat and dog fed the same food

Mars Petcare have created a useful and interesting index which pulls together information about homeless cats and dogs in 9 countries. They used more than 200 global and local sources. They researched attitudes towards cat and dog ownership. Germany comes out on top while India is bottom. The index provides a score as to …

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Test that your cat is fully domesticated when interacting with you

Human hand and cat

Introduction: this test requires that the cat’s owner has never used their hand as a toy for their cat. If that has happened, their cat will instinctively want to attack it. I am referring to a test to assess cat domestication in interactions with their owner. I accept that all domestic cats have a …

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Can European wildcats be domesticated?

European wildcat meows

The question is a sensible one because all of the world’s half a billion domestic and feral cats originate in a domesticated North African wildcat (Far Eastern wildcat or African-Asian wildcat). It happened about 10,000 years ago. Nowadays there are still wild cats roaming around Europe. These are European wildcats which Ire still found …

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