Travelling pussycats

I don't get it how some humans can act so irresponsible when it comes to looking after their pets...We cats like routines and safe homes and territories. Things we don't like are usually loud and strange noises, other bossy cats and pets or even humans in our homes, visiting the vet, not having our dinner on time, not given enough attention especially when we demand it and travelling on what you humans call motor vehicles...especially when we have to be among strangers. It is very dangerous for a cat to leave his/her home and to find himself/herself in strange places with strange people...anything could happen: having an accident, being taken away by a stranger or even being harmed and of course getting lost. That woman in the BBC story should not have appeared on telly telling us proudly that her cat goes for walkies on the local bus on his own (that cat looked rather stressed than appearing to enjoy himself on that bus)/ If she was genuielly worried about the cat's safety she should have instead tried to stop him going away for two hours on a public bus by either trying to keep him indoors or by simply have told the bus driver not to let the cat on the bus. Simple. Cats should not be travelling on public transport on their own...meeow!


See at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8176971.stm

Messy humans!

When humans will learn that us pussykitties don't like mess and CHANGES! We like things the way they are...so don't try to change things...I like my boxes under the bed and I like them in the right order they were till now. But no, no humans will have to come and mess up things and mix boxes and not put them back the right way as they were before...Their excuse? They were looking for some type of bottle which has gone missing since moving and must be in some of the boxes that they were never opened and checked because of lack of room and need for them....pheww! Lame excuse meeeoww thinks. And of course the worst thing of all is that they won't let me help them with their search. Life it would have being much easier if they could simply let me go inside the boxes and allow me to search for meeeowself. No, No not allowed inside, they say, because I'll mess things....yeah right! Flash news humans, you have messed up things already. I could only have helped you to put things right for a little tuna treat!
But humans are stubborn and they think they know better...Whatever next? Relocating my litter trays? NOOOO! Out of the question meeeoww kitten thinks!

Us kittens after all...

It is generally believed, by humans mainly, that us cats are mostly lazy and that we usually the only thisns we do is just eat (in some cases quite a lot), sleep, a lot...lick ourselves, a lot and now & then visit the litter tray...yes, well we do but there is a good reason for it. You see it is is in our genes, we were born that way not to use unneccesarry energy if there is no reason to do so and besides what else do you expect from a cat to do? Perhaps to occasionally play with toys and strings and balls and things but we usually only do this to entertain you humans and to also stop you calling us lazy all the time...what else do you think other mammals do? Except from forced to go for occasional walks dogs follow more or less the same routine like us cats do. As for the myth that cats need to go outside to keep themselves stimulated...well it is really a... myth. Cats that go outside for hours upon hours do exactly the same things that indoors cats do...sleep a lot! The only difference is that cats that go outside tend to sleep in some sunny corner (if they can find one) in the neighbour's garden instead from the sofa or bed. But in most cases they would have preferred to stay indoors with their humans than be outside in the cold and wet weather or they go outside so they can stay away from the other cats that live under the same roof. You see it is an urban myth that us cats like being outside, we actually prefer to be inside keeping our humans company with food available to us, twenty four hours along with some nice toys and furry toy mices than being outside and actually having to catch real mice and birds or even frogs to entertain ourselve...we only do it because we have no toys to play with outside...Flies and small insects are another story...more fun and easier to catch inside or outside and very tasty too for small snacks!
Cats that go outside are getting bored too you know...I often see next door's cat playing hide and seek with herself in our garden and doing what you humans call 'mad dashes', running for no reason from one side of the garden to the other chasing herself because she is bored and she has no human or other cat to pester...
So I'm quite happy being indoors all the time as I get attention and food when I want it from humans and I can pester the other two cats when I feel like...So don't listen to what other humans tell you that us cats need to be outside...this kitty here says otherwise!

Introductions

Hi there humans!
I'm Sheng Chi the cat and I'm taking over from my human on this blog business...as I help my human to give advice to other humans about their cats' behaviour I thought that I qualified for this job...to blog I mean! Of course I need to get used to this thing that you humans call keyboard and typing...tricky when you have paws and not hands with a lot of fur on them too!
The idea is to give a daily personal account on what us cats are up to every day and thinking so you humans can understand us better. This is not any form of anthropomorphising, simply seeing things our way...
I'll try to blog regularly but for more frequent updates you can catch me on twitter...
At the moment my main issue is the current litter used in our home...paper pellets...apparently they are environmentally frienldy, more absorbent, less smelly and not very messy...this is where I have an issue with.. I liked the previous litter used (wood pellets) because it was rather messy and used to got stuck in my paws and fur and carried all over the house...he, he! Not such fun anymore it seems! Oh well I must found another way to amuse myself...

Missing cat

Today I'm going to rant about some irresponsible cat carers who think that by getting a cat and by just leaving a bit food once or twice a day while themselves are never at home to look after the cat or to know where their cat is day or night is the right thing to do and themselves are good pet carers...WRONG!!
Cats need the same time and effort when it comes to looking after as dogs and children. Cats are a longlife responsibility and they require time and effort and to also given enough attention and to interact with so they don't get stressed and as result either start disappearing for days or start behaving in what some humans will call inappropriate ways.
Our next door not very well extremely thin female cat has disappeared again, second time this summer and her carers have left notes in all neighouring houses mail boxes telling us how much they worried about her since she has gone missing since Monday morning. If they were that good pet carers they would have known that the cat is only being missing since Monday night as she spent as usual all her day in our garden sleeping in the cardboard box who have left out for here as me and my partner felt so sorry for that little skinny cat who was always in our garden begging for food and attention and wanting to come indoors everytime the window or door was open. Even our own three cats they feel sorry for her and they didn't mind her coming indoors and occasionally stealing some of their food. A cat that spends so much time away from her own home and seems desperate for attention and to be welcomed to another house with already resident cats living there is not in my opinion a well looked after cat. 
I think is about time that pet rescue centres make sure that their pets go to homes where the humans would look after them properly for the rest of their lives and not just checking out if the house has a garden. NOT ALL CATS want to be left outside 24 hours day and night. Some are as happy living indoors with people that they really care for them and seem to prefer it that way...

When cats are not happy

Sometimes it becomes more than a dilemma when you need to make up your mind in such situations where the well being (physical and psychological) of a pet is being in question. What do you do when you know that the cat you are familiar with is not being treated right and the reason behind it is mainly the ignorance of the people that they are supposedly looking after her. Especially when you know these people and you also know that their ways are wrong and that they are behaving 'childish' out not only of ignorance but also of 'pettiness... Simply because their cat seems to prefer the neighbours' house than their own...Cats are individuals who are very intelligent and have also feelings and they know where and how to get what hey need either this is attention or food. When a cat who used to live in another environment among other cats and people and used to get attention more or less all the time finds herself in a new one where she is being left alone most of the time and when all of the sudden she finds herself having access to the outside world she will make the most of that chance. And when that cat finds another home where not only she can get food but also a lot of attention and play time it is to expected that she will choose to spend a lot of her time to that new found home...
And what her human carers should do in such a situation? Definitely not to threat the neighbours who feel sorry for the cat who doesn't want to go home because most of the time there is nobody there but instead thank the neighbours for being kind to their cat and keep on eyes on her (and even having actually saved the cat a couple of times at night time from a visiting fox) and try perhaps spending a bit more time with her or even listen to the free advice they are given about their relationship with that poor unhappy cat.
It is about time that people that want to have pets finally realise that pets are not possessions/fashion accessories and part of the furniture, that they are living beings and like humans they need as much care and attention and that in some cases they even require much more care than some humans are willing to give. Attitudes and even laws need to change to force people to take a more serious and responsible attitude towards their pets, if they can't be responsible and can't provide the right care for the pet then they shouldn't be allowed by the law to keep one....

It's a cat's life...

I work as a pet psychologist and I do enjoy my work, not only because I love animals (cats in particular) but also because pets like humans are unique and each one comes with his/her own special cat/dognality. This means though that sometimes I’m faced with situations aren’t simply unusual or ‘strange’ but sometimes rather amusing or even ‘embarrassing’ (for the owners). Pets aren’t shy when it comes to exhibiting sexual behaviours so homosexuality or even cases of hermaphrodite cats aren’t unheard of in the animal kingdom - quite normal for cats in particular – but in some occasions things can get a bit more complicated and their humans finding difficult to ‘handle’!
So in one occasion I was asked for advice by a rather furious owner of a hermaphrodite cat, who although had been neutered (as a male cat) a few months earlier, he/she had just given birth to four kittens, something which didn’t pleased her owner, who wasn’t very happy with the vet who treated the cat in the first place and failed to mention that not all hermaphrodites are sterile after all...
But I have found that most often I’ve been asked for advice on another kinds of behaviour, more common ones, like for example the well known by many cat owners as object ‘humping’’ - when neutered males carry on behaving like intact males well after they have been ‘done’ and ‘hump’ objects (there seems to be a general preference for teddy bears), other pets or even the feet of their owners. Although this behaviour isn’t unusual for male cats who had the ‘operation’ done after they had reached ‘maturity’ to still behave like intact tomcats for perhaps a few more months after the operation, at least (or much longer in some other cases), it’s still a behaviour that can become ‘problematic ’ for some cat carers! I have came across cases where the cat not only continues the ‘humping’ but seems to overdoing it by either leaving the teddy bear with bald patches, or by using systemically their owner’s foot at nights when sleeping or even in some other cases insisting on humping the foot of their overnight visitors (and not all visitors in these occasions seem to be able to see the funny side of things, especially when that foot belongs to the mother-in-law who stays in the guest-room for example). As these behaviours are quite natural for the cat, unfortunately, quite often there isn’t much their human carers can do than of course try not to reinforce the behaviour intentionally or unintentionally or even in some cases to consider the possibility of either seeing a behaviourist or their vet.
In some cases cats start exhibit ‘strange’ behaviours either because they are ‘bored’ or simply because their life style lacks sufficient stimulation with results to start exhibiting obsessive, destructive behaviours like the case of the ‘sponge thief’. A female domesticated longhair cat who developed a ‘preference’ for sponges and who would try to find them anywhere (she even learnt to open cupboards to get them or observed the owner when she was hiding them and then she would retrieve them) and then would carry them to the room (usually the kitchen) where the owner would be and then she would shred them to pieces. Although it started quite harmless as the cute kitten with the strange but funny behaviour it soon became an obsessive, destructive behaviour and soon she started, when she couldn’t find any sponges at home, visiting next door’s kitchen and bathroom and stealing what she could find - the well known now as the ‘sponge thief’.
Such forms of cat obsession can manifest in many forms and if not stopped at an early stage they can really get out of control and even become dangerous for the pet as some cats will steal anything from sink plagues to shining things and either hide them or simply destroy them or even start chewing wool, eating plastic bags, wires or even small toys (in some occasions). The causes of such behaviour vary (from lack of fibre in their diet to attention seeking and boredom and stress) but often they will become a ‘problem’ when humans reinforce them by either paying attention to the cat or even by trying to punish them.
Although these incidents might seem amusing the fact is that they can often become the cause of a lot frustration and can strain the relationship between humans and their pets. In many occasions pets simply exhibit a natural behaviour in an unnatural environment (for them) and in others they are simply trying to communicate with us. So it is entirely up to us to try and understand them and at the same keeping always in mind that they aren’t like us, no matter how humanlike we are treating them, and they see and understand the world differently than we do!