26 facts about invasive species (focusing on the UK)
My thanks to The Times report of September 5, 2023.
science
The distribution of Fel D1, the cat allergen (antigen) on and in a cat’s hair and skin
A lot has been written and published on the Internet about the allergen produced by the cat, Fel D1, which causes an allergic reaction in between 10% and 20% of people. Technically, an allergen is an antigen. Historically, people generally believed that the Fel D1 allergen is in a domestic cat’s saliva. But it …
Too many people are sceptical about the safety and efficacy of routine dog vaccines
It looks as if the rumour mill and conspiracy theories on social media which bombarded people during and after Covid-19 concerning vaccinations against the disease has affected people’s views of pet vaccinations. The experts say that the Covid-19 “infodemic” has undermined trust in vaccinations. This came about because there were hundreds of millions of …
The reason why humans and their pets might never have existed
There is an interesting article in The Times today, Friday, September 1, 2023 which I would like to discuss briefly. The title is “Early humans were on brink of extinction”. Remarkably the research that Kaya Burgess reports on found that the population of Homo sapiens’ ancestors dwindled to less than 1300 adults about 900,000 …
Pawly Door with prey detection is a smart cat flap which will arrive shortly
A UK/German business, Pawly, is looking for Kickstarter funding to develop what looks like a very interesting cat flap (‘cat door’ in the US). A cat flap which will meet the requirements of millions of indoor/outdoor cat owners. Not all cats allowed outside unsupervised are keen predators but many are. My cat is in …
Be a better cat caregiver by being healthier in consuming olive oil and going vegetarian for 6 months
I am currently going through a phase where I am writing about the health of the cat caregiver. It is looking at cat caregiving from the perspective of the cat. It’s important, in my view, that cat owners are as healthy as possible to enable them to discharge their responsibilities when looking after their …
Torturing dogs to death to improve the taste of their ‘meat’ is scientifically INCORRECT
There is a tweet on Twitter today which reminds me that in the huge dog meat market in Asia, mainly China, they believe that if they torture the dogs to death by beating them and in other horrible ways, they improve the taste of the “meat” that the dogs produce because of the adrenaline …
Possible cat contraceptive injection for the not-too-distant future
Today, The New York Times reports on cat contraception. This, as I see it, is the Holy Grail for many people concerned about the procreation of stray and feral cats. TNR programs are effective in a limited way because they are conducted in a limited way. The task is too big to control the …
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