What affects us affects cats
The Prince of Wales in the year 936 was Howel the Good – Hywel Dda – and he made himself famous in cat history by introducing special laws to protect domestic cats. It seems to me that he is the only leader to have valued kittens and cats in a very precise way which …
The term ‘ram-cat’ is an early name for a male cat. An alternative name at the time was ‘boar-cat’. Both these very old-fashioned terms were superseded by ‘tomcat’ in the 18th century. Today the word tomcat actually means an unneutered male cat; a street cat doing what tomcats do which is establish and defend …
Above: LaPerm Cat “Red” photograph copyright © Helmi Flick The article is in several parts with links to the next part at the end of each section. Quick Guide Origin This is the “curly haired beauty” of the world of cats. There are long and shorthaired varities. The longhaired cats have semi-long hair. The …
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland readers encounter a large, grinning cat lying on the hearth. Alice is told that the cat is grinning from ear to ear because they are from Cheshire but there’s no explanation as to why cats from that county in England (see map below) should be predisposed to smiling …
The sand cat was discovered in 1856 by Captain Victor Loche at Ngouca in the sand dunes of eastern Algeria near the Libyan border. He was on an 1856-1857 French expedition to the Algerian section of the Sahara. He was listing and describing the mammals and birds of the area for the book Catalogue …
The compact infographic below summarises how the humble and innocent cat became so unfairly associated with witchcraft. Once again, I rely on the best man or women on the matter of cat history and behavior: Dr Desmond Morris. Such clean writing and clarity of thought. He says that religious bigots, in this case Christians, …
It’s pretty well known that the great Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) hated cats. During his occupancy of the White House as the president of the USA (1953-1961) it is said that “he hated cats so much that he instructed his staff to shoot on sight any they spotted in the grounds”. The quote comes from …
First things first, there is a difference between cat-haters and ailurophobes. The latter have a fear of cats which might lead them to hate them but it might not. The former genuinely detest cats for whatever reason. The reason for being both may be the same e.g., a bad experience with a cat when …
