Spotted Cat Designs

We have two Bengal cats, Charger and Aurum. All of our cats have distinctive voices, yet we have noticed that our Bengals tend to “sing” more often and with a wider range of notes.

Bengals were bred in part from the Asian Leopard Cat (ALC). So I was amazed to find this
1.4 Mb QuickTime movie of an ALC sounding off. Here’s the link from The International Bengal Society:

http://www.bengalcat.com/aboutbengals/animatedalc.aspx

Funny thing is, neither of our Bengals respond much to hearing this recording, but our mixed breed cats do look up and around to see who is making that noise.

At about 5 A.M. Panther started softly crooning. It was pre-dawn, and the moon had set. Panther, like some of our other cats sings in the morning, and all of them are indoors only — unless we take them out on harness and leash. (see walking your cat) This particular time, I heard him sing about some of his favorite outdoor activities.

After the Moon
The sky slowly darkens
Grass smells fresh

Good to Roll in
Pleasant to eat
Fresh grass and warm soil
Glorious!

Last year our beloved first cat, Panther developed diabetes. So we learned about injecting insulin and glucose curves. Last fall, he vomited violently 3 times, and we rushed him to the pet emergency clinic on a Saturday night. We learned about pancreatitus (again) and giving subcutaneous fluids.

Panther has had several more episodes of pancreatitus. So we keep an I/V unit with a pouch of Ringers Lactate ready in the closet. We already had one cat chew through the tubing, so the closed closet is safest. When his fur looks bad and I tent his scruff which doesn’t go down quickly — with Steven’s help I give him subQ fluids from 50 to 150ccs at a time. Sometimes once a week, sometimes twice a day.

When Panther meows and makes me follow him, then jumps on the “insulin perch” I know to give him his 1/4 unit of Lantus/Glargine. But only after he eats!

We learned that Panther has a “sensitive” pancreas. That’s the organ that produces insulin and various digestive enzymes. So he eats prescription Hills Science Diet I/D and canned Purina Proplan salmon/fish or turkey and giblets. The canned food is amongst those recommended for diabetic cats.

During this time Panther has willfully downgraded himself socially from top male cat to the bottom of the social scale. So no more energy expended in boxing matches with Charger.

Panther is wise enough to direct us in what he needs and when. And we have become wise enough to listen. That is why he is still alive and experiencing a decent quality of life.

Last night our two year old cat, Nightstar — yes she is black all over — began to sing softly. At about 4 A.M. These words popped into my head, and luckily I was able to remember them:

Light increases slowly
Grows longer each day
My fur will be warmed

This reminds me of when Glory (our first Bengal — who died a bit over 2 years ago) used to sing on many mornings just before dawn.

I am glad we have another poetic cat. Yawn!

I just now read an article on the Salon website recounting the author’s experience in China, wherein he was offered meat from a dog he had befriended. Whether this was intentional or simply insensitive is not the point, but the timing is impeccable, since it was just yesterday that I posted my own article about the many abuses going on in China.

Since this is a cat lover’s blog, I do ask you to read my article, but feel free to skip the link there talking about China’s death camps for cats and dogs, since the contents were even too distressing for me to read in detail. And the reason for China’s killing dogs and cats is to simply “clean up the cities” before the Olympics, although they claim it’s to “prevent disease”. The Catholic Church tried killing cats in the Middle Ages, and the result was the disease called the Black Death. Unless you believe there are no rats anywhere in China…especially this year!

In any case, I would like you to take away three main points from all this:

• Cheap Chinese goods are no bargain when they support death.
• We should all try to cut down on our purchase of Chinese-made items.
• Boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics. Don’t even watch it on TV.

Tonight I was lying in bed on my side, which I often do to prevent Jennifur walking on my balls in the middle of the night, which she often does otherwise.

At some point I thought I felt Nightstar moving around on the bed. She stepped up and sat down on my hip in Sphinx pose. I was amazed because she never does that; she usually lies down right next to my pillow, under the covers with me, or at the other end of the bed entirely. I actually raised my head for a quick peek to make sure it was her, because Jennifur sometimes sleeps on top of me, but always on my stomach…but she was surely too dark to be Jennifur.

Well, we stayed like that for awhile. Every five minutes or so, I felt the urge to shift around a little, but resisted because I was sure she’d get off if I did…she seemed a bit precarious up there. Finally I couldn’t help myself and rearranged a bit. Amazingly, she stayed on, even rearranging herself a bit. I eventually started falling asleep and that’s when the fun really began.

Suddenly my head began filling with thoughts. I actually saw a page begin to fill up with writing about cats — a whole collection of things I had been planning to write for ages. Cat love; cat promises; cat prayers! And, if you’ve been following this blog for more than 30 seconds or so, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been able to write anything for months. Well, here I am at 5:30 in the morning writing now, and I’m seeing words fill up on the page just like it did a little while ago in bed. But wait, there’s more.

I had shifted a few more times and Nightstar stayed right where she was. Suddenly I had a flash…this didn’t really seem like the Nightstar I knew. I remembered Yang was in the room and I know he can sleep through any amount of movement. Steathily I found the tail and raised it up and looked. Even in almost pitch dark, I could see it was definitely a black tail and not a white one!

And yet the fur didn’t feel like Nightstar somehow. So I started counting off cats in my head. Not Yang, not Jennifur. We just weighed Nightstar at 14 pounds and this cat seems awfully light…so it can’t be Agile either. The door was closed, and the only other cat in the room was Panther…but he hasn’t even slept on our bed since 2001, and never on either of us.

Just about then, she (or whoever) jumped off. I couldn’t stand the suspense, so I sat up, put on my glasses, and found my flashlight. I looked on the bed and there was Agile where I had seen him last…with Nightstar sleeping right beside him. Jenni was on her shelf, and since Yang was nowhere on the bed, that meant he was in a box in the closet.

Which left Panther, who was eating from a bowl on the floor after jumping off the bed.

No pun intended (this time, anyway), but this floored me. Clearly Panther — who I’ve never been able to “hear” in all the time he’s lived with us — had sent me all this information for a reason, even sitting on me to make sure I got the message. So 5:30 in the morning or not (and I’m definitely not a morning person), I figured if it was this important to Panther, it was important enough for me to get up and get back to writing.

So here I am again, folks. And all hail Panther.

As reported in The New York Times and numerous online news sites, a “bird lover” named James Stevenson is on trial for killing a cat that he claimed was preying on endangered birds. He now faces a $10,000 fine and up to two years in jail if convicted on animal cruelty charges in Texas.

The defendant doesn’t even dispute that he shot the cat with a rifle, and even boasts of shooting many other cats he found on his own property. However, this man runs a commercial bed-and-breakfast establishment targeted at bird enthusiasts, so it could easily be proved that he had a pecuniary interest in killing cats. Instead, his defense centers around the idea that the cat was feral and therefore killing her could not be prosecuted under the older state law.

While there’s a good chance the prosecution can prove that the cat, Big Mama, did effectively belong to someone (based on the fact that someone had fed, named her, and provided her with toys and a bed), the essential fact is that someone went out of their way to deliberately kill a cat. Big Mama died in pain, according to a police officer who was at the scene, though predictably the defense attorney attempted to discredit even this witness by saying “He’s not qualified to know what the cat was feeling.”

Perhaps bird lovers have no feelings for other animals, so they find it inconceivable that other humans could. But it doesn’t take much compassion to realize that animals have the right to live. And I bet James Stevenson didn’t name his birdies, either.

Not for the squeamish, this video was taken of a somewhat difficult birthing process. From the You Tube description:

“One of the common excuses for allowing a pet cat to give birth is “I want my children to experience the miracle of birth.” This woman has done exactly that, and videotaped the occasion for the world to see. In all fairness, she may be a foster to this cat, or it could have shown up at her door, as pregnant strays often do.

If you want your own children to witness the miracle of birth, please get your female cat spayed, and have your children watch this video instead. It would be best to preview it first, though. I found myself holding my breath for fear the last kitten wasn’t going to make it.“

Much of these two lists I adapted from several adoption center and humane society web sites.

The Low Cost Spay and Neuter web site allows you to search their database for places in the US, Canada and Europe that provide this important service.

Ten important reasons you ought not to breed your cat (or dog)

1. This is not a good way to teach your children about life. If you want them to see live births, try fish such as guppies, mollies or platys. Cat births usually occur at night and in secluded places and the mother will be hostile to intruders (this means YOU!) If you still want them to see mammalian birth, the video above, or others sponsored by National Geographic or Animal Planet should suffice.
2. Females in estrus (heat) are noisy, irritable and her cries and pheromone scent will attract males from all over to your home, where they will give chorus and may even fight. We got Glory shortly after she had been neutered. Upon arrival in our home, she began to sing her songs and soon after we had the local feral toms crooning noisily outside our home at all hours. When we bought her great granddaughter (a newly retired queen), Aurum, she went into heat before we could get her spayed and the tension around here from all our neutered males was amazing and annoying, too. One neutered male cat even started spraying urine which he had never done before!
3. Pregnancy is much like that for humans: balanced diet, vitamins, mood swings, potential dangers, expenses and all.
4. Not all females make good mothers. Ask any cat shelter volunteer.
5. You will be bottle feeding every two hours 24/7, and massaging their stomachs and wiping their rear ends to make them urinate and defaecate after every feeding for weeks if the mom rejects them — just like a human baby, they will be totally helpless and dependent on you.
6. You will be potty training them, too.
7. Unneutered males are more likely to spray urine around your home.
8. Cats (and dogs) are more likely to develop a host of medical conditions if they are not spayed or neutered– see #3 and #4 below.
9. Keeping a cat intact will not make him or her more kitten-like. So you don’t need kittens to have playful cats. I have seen incredibly playful 14 year old cats!
10. You may not be able to find good homes for the kittens or puppies — that is why so many get dropped off in boxes at shelters and pet stores, or abandoned in empty lots, or chained to a post in the rain, or thrown in bag and tossed off a walkway bridge, or a hundred other worse stories I could tell you.

Six excellent reasons why you should spay or neuter your cat (or dog)

1. It’s a lot cheaper than pregnancy and the 4 months of care after birth — there are many low cost clinics offered by shelters, vets and adoption groups We paid only $60 for Agile to be neutered, and this also included 3 nights at the shelter, his first vaccinations, rabies shot and deworming.
2. Spaying or neutering will teach your children that each life is precious — a very important lesson in this day and age.
3. Spaying before a female’s first heat (estrus) will prevent uterine or ovarian cancer and greatly reduce the possibility of breast cancer. She doesn’t need an estrus cycle to become full grown either!
4. Neutered males will not develop testicular cancer and the chances of prostate disease is decreased.
5. Fat cats happen because of too much food and not enough exercise, not from being neutered or spayed.
6. Spaying or neutering will make your cat (or dog) less likely to run away or get into fights with other cats that require trips to your vet for stitches and antibiotics.

Since my last post about going somewhere with your cat, I’ve found another good information site. PetTravel.com has US and International travel information by plane, train, car, and ship. Every factor that you have to research before taking a pet traveling is touched on at this site, including quarantine rules, immigration rules and forms, pet carriers, and health issues. They also have a store from which you can buy not only carriers, but EU-required microchips, pet immigration forms and other necessities.

Some random useful information:

Perdue Veterinary School lists plants that are toxic to animals, and especially pets. Click on each link for the plant photo, description, symptoms, first aid and more.

See my basic article called How NOT to Poison Your Cat for some general ideas on cat proofing — hint: it is a a lot like toddler-proofing your home — and for the same reasons!

One of our cats was chewing on an electrical cord. Not good. It turns out her gums were bothering her. Nipped in the bud so to speak. More intensive at home dental care was begun.

With the holidays coming:

Keep wrapping paper, ribbon, scissors and tape away from cats. Clean up any bits leftover from wrapping gifts. Your cat may try to eat some of it!

No traditional holiday plants are safe for cats!!!
If you can reach the plant, so can your cat.

If you use a wood or pellet stove as many of our neighbors do, protect your cats from getting burned paws or singed fur.

Some Possibilities:

• Keep your cats out of the room the stove is in
• Don’t use your the stove
• Clicker train your cats to avoid the area
• Buy tall fireplace safe un-tippable three wall barriers to keep your cats at least 2 feet from the stove

None of these is actually foolproof, except not using the stove. Jennifur was taught to avoid the wood stove. Two winters ago, after one of her more exuberant mad dashes around the family room, we smelled singed fur. Haven’t used our wood stove since.