What affects us affects cats
Before the first laws protecting animals against human abuse were enacted there was an enlightenment about the potential of animals to suffer. The English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, said, in response to Kant: “The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? The grammar is verbatim. It was written …
The question is a reference to the white blob of fur surrounded by black on the back of the ear flaps of tigers. It is so distinct that people think there has to be a reason for it. Nature through evolution has a reason for everything that it creates. So, what is the reason …
Are there any cats native to Australia? No, there are no cat species native to Australia. This is another reason why the authorities – state and federal governments – on the continent, in general, hate the feral cat which they believe decimates their native species, particularly their small mammals. The reason why feral cats …
The domestic cat, we have to admit, has an unexpressive face compared to that of humans. This allows us to project our thoughts onto our cat. The reason is because their ability to be social is only a few thousand years old. The domestic cat has evolved from a solitary animal to a social …
A tigon is a hybrid between a male tiger and a female lion. Are they fertile? I feel the need to quote Sarah Hartwell verbatim on this one from her website messybeast.com as she’s the expert. She writes, “Ligers and tigons are closely enough related that the offspring are partially fertile i.e. the female …
The time when the blotched or classic tabby pattern, as it is called, emerged among domestic cats is of interest to people in the cat world. The tabby coat is the most common in domestic, stray and feral cats. This is unsurprising because the wild cat ancestor of the domestic cat, the North African …
Dogs pant more than cats because their chosen method of temperature regulation and cooling is panting whereas for cats it is depositing saliva on their fur together with panting in extreme circumstances. The difference between cats and dogs with respect to losing heat and temperature regulation is that cats lick themselves, deposit their saliva …
Although there are ten imaginative hypotheses as to why Manx cats have no tails, there is one genuine and less colourful reason which is that the Manx gene cropped up spontaneously as a naturally occurring mutation on the Isle of Man centuries ago. This gene became established because of prolonged inbreeding amongst the tailless …
