Zardnaar
Deity
This. Self referral is fine wife does it.
Close friends ds maybe as well as long as bith are fine with it. I'm a crazy cat man after all.
Cats and Kittens
- Thread starter Azem.Ocram
- Start date
This. Self referral is fine wife does it.
Close friends ds maybe as well as long as bith are fine with it. I'm a crazy cat man after all.
Bonyduck Campersang
Odd lookin duck
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- Dec 11, 2022
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- 4,552
Our hostel cat is wandering the corridors trying to sneak her kitten into a room. Everyone's keeping their doors closed so she's just ramming into the doors with the kitten in her jaws, and hurting the kitten badly. I don't know what to do about it, but I can't bear the kitten's wailing
Doesn't the cat have her own private space to keep the kitten? If not, she's desperately trying to find one. If you can provide any out of the way space big enough for a cardboard box with a blanket in it, plus room for dishes for food and water, that's absolutely necessary.
I assume the kitten is less than a month old? She's not going to want to leave it alone very much, except for hunting (if she hunts; does someone feed her?). Mother cats are very protective of the kittens at that age.
How badly is the kitten hurt? You may need to put on a pair of gloves to take the kitten to examine it (leather gloves recommended in case the mother tries to bite or scratch). Is she feeding the kitten? I think she's trying to find a good, quiet place to do that where she can be private and protected.
I assume the kitten is less than a month old? She's not going to want to leave it alone very much, except for hunting (if she hunts; does someone feed her?). Mother cats are very protective of the kittens at that age.
How badly is the kitten hurt? You may need to put on a pair of gloves to take the kitten to examine it (leather gloves recommended in case the mother tries to bite or scratch). Is she feeding the kitten? I think she's trying to find a good, quiet place to do that where she can be private and protected.
Bonyduck Campersang
Odd lookin duck
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- Dec 11, 2022
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Yea, I know about cats and kittens 
, growing up we had around 20 cats roaming about home at one point.
But you also know that mother cats never stick with one place for their kittens, they keep moving about. So the hostelites did give the cat her own box (I don't know how large it was, I haven't seen it) but she hopped off and is now roaming about the hostel. She dropped two of her kittens right in front of my door, so I emptied a little toilet basket to put them in so some idiot wouldn't step on them, while she's carrying the third around with her.
, growing up we had around 20 cats roaming about home at one point.But you also know that mother cats never stick with one place for their kittens, they keep moving about. So the hostelites did give the cat her own box (I don't know how large it was, I haven't seen it) but she hopped off and is now roaming about the hostel. She dropped two of her kittens right in front of my door, so I emptied a little toilet basket to put them in so some idiot wouldn't step on them, while she's carrying the third around with her.
Is the basket big enough for all three? Or is she trying to find a new place if she didn't like the basket you picked? It would be a good idea to make sure that kitten isn't hurt.
Bonyduck Campersang
Odd lookin duck
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
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It's big enough for the three, but not enough for the mama to sit in as well.
I only put them in the basket because she dropped them in the middle of the corridor where they could get easily stepped on. She's been roaming around the hostel well before that.
The two kittens are fine. I don't know about the third, but I can't check because she's carrying it in her mouth.
I only put them in the basket because she dropped them in the middle of the corridor where they could get easily stepped on. She's been roaming around the hostel well before that.
The two kittens are fine. I don't know about the third, but I can't check because she's carrying it in her mouth.
‘Salty licorice’ cat pattern is the result of a genetic mutation, study reveals
The village of Petäjävesi in central Finland is home to farmland, lakes, an 18th century wood-log church and a group of unusually striking cats. With their white chests, these creatures look similar to other tuxedo cats, but they possess a distinctive bit of flair: ombré strands of fur that start dark at the root and fade to white.
Geneticist Hannes Lohi and his collaborators at the University of Helsinki wanted to know how these cats got their look, so they studied the animals’ DNA. The team’s report, published May 9 in the journal Animal Genetics, found that a novel gene mutation gives rise to the exceptional fur pattern, which they dubbed salmiak, or “salty licorice,” after a popular Finnish treat.
The project was a collaboration between the university, which houses a biobank of 5,000 blood samples from more than 40 feline breeds, a pet care company that makes genetic tests, and cat owners and breeders who offered their companions’ DNA for research.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/world/cat-life-expectancy-study-scli-intl-scn
In this case, people first observed the unusual white coloring among Petäjävesi’s cats in 2007. Lohi and his team collected samples from five of them and found that none exhibited the gene variations that typically give rise to white coloration.
To home in on the genetic cause, the researchers sequenced the full genome of two of the cats and discovered a previously unknown mutation that affects a particular gene called KIT.
Researchers dubbed the cats' unusual coat coloring as salmiak, or “salty licorice,” after a popular Finnish candy.
Annakarin Veida/iStockphoto/Getty Images
The team called the gene variant w-sal, for salmiak — black licorice with a speckling of white salt. The researchers tested the salty colored cats and 178 normal-colored samples from the biobank for the new gene variant. Each of the five salmiak cats had two copies of the recessive gene. A few of the other cats had one copy (not resulting in the unique color), and the rest had none.
“One of the fascinating aspects of the study is that it uncovers a really sophisticated way in which this very important KIT gene is normally regulated,” said Greg Barsh, a professor of genetics at Stanford University, who was not involved in the research.
In addition to controlling hair color, the KIT gene encodes for proteins in red blood cells and the cells that become sperm and eggs. Sometimes gene variants that give cats (and dogs) white fur can also cause deafness, though that doesn’t seem to be the case with w-salmiak. It’s one of many ways in which gene mutations that affect hair color can cause issues in other parts of the body.
The larger goal of this and other biobank work, Lohi said, “is to understand the molecular and environmental causes of feline disorders.”
RELATED ARTICLECats have 276 different facial expressions, study finds
The University of Helsinki has several ongoing projects with Wisdom Panel, which makes pet DNA tests, to look at the genetics of different diseases. And since genes are often similar across mammal species, what Lohi and his team learn could help not just cats but also humans with related medical conditions. None of the study coauthors have a financial stake in Wisdom Panel, Lohi confirmed.
Now that salty licorice cats are officially a thing, could they become the next designer breed?
Wildcat kittens born outside captivity in Cairngorms a ‘major milestone’
The birth of wildcat kittens in the Cairngorms national park has been hailed as a “major milestone” in efforts to rescue the secretive mammals from extinction in the UK.
These are potentially the first wildcats to be born outside captivity in Scotland for more than five years after 19 wildcats, which had been bred at the Highland wildlife park, near Kingussie, were released last summer in sites across the Cairngorms in a pilot project by the Saving Wildcats partnership, led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
It was the first time a predatory mammal had been deliberately reintroduced in the UK after a landmark report in 2019 concluded the Scottish wildcat population was close to being functionally extinct. This was because of population decline caused by loss of native woodland and human persecution, and interbreeding with feral and domestic cats.
While the field team have said they cannot be 100% sure of the parentage of the kittens until they have taken DNA samples, Dr Keri Langridge, the Saving Wildcats field manager, said she was optimistic: “All of them look like wildcat kittens, and the two females overlapped very heavily with one of the released males during breeding season so it is a high probability.”
The birth of wildcat kittens in the Cairngorms national park has been hailed as a “major milestone” in efforts to rescue the secretive mammals from extinction in the UK.
These are potentially the first wildcats to be born outside captivity in Scotland for more than five years after 19 wildcats, which had been bred at the Highland wildlife park, near Kingussie, were released last summer in sites across the Cairngorms in a pilot project by the Saving Wildcats partnership, led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
It was the first time a predatory mammal had been deliberately reintroduced in the UK after a landmark report in 2019 concluded the Scottish wildcat population was close to being functionally extinct. This was because of population decline caused by loss of native woodland and human persecution, and interbreeding with feral and domestic cats.
While the field team have said they cannot be 100% sure of the parentage of the kittens until they have taken DNA samples, Dr Keri Langridge, the Saving Wildcats field manager, said she was optimistic: “All of them look like wildcat kittens, and the two females overlapped very heavily with one of the released males during breeding season so it is a high probability.”
The missing cemetery cats of Buenos Aires: What happened?
The Recoleta Cemetery includes a maze of Art Nouveau and neo-Gothic marble mausoleums, the tomb of lionised former first lady Eva Peron – and a show-stealing colony of cats. For decades, tourist cameras strayed from the wrought-iron doors and sculpted Madonnas that decorate the graveyard’s sumptuous mausoleums and instead trailed the cats as they sauntered and sunbathed. The stray cats were the subject of a 2016 documentary. They were even recently brought up on the media tour of the latest Mad Max film, Furiosa, thanks to a nostalgic comment from the Argentina-raised movie star Anya Taylor-Joy.
The cemetery looms so large in visitors’ itineraries because of its architectural extravagance and its connection to the country’s elite. Nestled inside one of Buenos Aires’s poshest neighbourhoods, it’s the burial place of past presidents and assorted national heroes – a who’s who of Argentinian history, the necropolis edition. For as long as most locals can remember, the cats topped off the site’s grandeur with a touch of whimsy.
In 2024, the thousands of visitors who stream through the peristyle at the entrance of the cemetery will struggle to spot the Recoleta felines. Their population went down from an estimated peak of more than 60 decades ago to just half a dozen today. That’s due to a recent and sometimes contentious adoption drive.
To cat welfare advocates, the new whiskers-less look of the Recoleta Cemetery is a sign of progress. No amount of fame and folklore, they say, makes up for the fact that stray cats have significantly shorter lifespans than those with indoor homes. But others lament that something was lost as more and more cats were moved away from the cemetery, taking some of the tourism hotspot’s mysticism with them.
Starting in the 1990s, a wealthy neighbourhood widow whose husband was interred in the cemetery took up the cats’ cause. She paid for daily feedings and regular flea treatments. Alongside cemetery management, the widow, Alicia Farias, resisted efforts to move the cats into adopted homes.
“There was a lot of tension. … They were afraid of losing the cats because they were part of the business. Tourists loved them,” said Alejandro Aranda Rickert, a local sculptor and painter who visited the cemetery every Sunday to sketch. Although Aranda Rickert enjoyed capturing the cemetery cats in drawings – his work was featured in a video about “cat-crazy artists” on a popular art history YouTube channel – he made increasingly vocal pleas that the cats be adopted.
Shortly before the pandemic, Farias died, and the cats’ wellbeing cratered. That brought momentum to those who’d been advocating for adoptions. With the help of other volunteers, Aranda Rickert created a social media campaign to connect cats with locals willing to care for them. Having gotten wind that the cats were being adopted, some cemetery visitors also took some home, bypassing Aranda Rickert and his group.
Carmen Marconi was one of the locals who adopted a cat – in her case, a then-11-year-old grey male, whom she named Senor.
Initially, she worried she hadn’t done right by him.
“When I first took him from the cemetery, I felt bad because I lived in a tiny apartment. I thought, ‘Poor cat. He was free and now he lives in a rectangle,’ you know? But the truth is, it ended up being good for him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lived as long.”
Shortly after bringing Senor home, Marconi took him to a veterinarian who found him to be severely dehydrated and diagnosed an ear disorder and toxoplasmosis, an infectious disease. After several rounds of treatment, his condition improved. He is now still alive at 17.
At the Recoleta Cemetery, Pisani relies on donations from tourists to pay for the remaining cats’ food and any medication they might need. Whenever new cats are abandoned at the cemetery, Pisani and others swiftly move to adopt them into a new home. The six Recoleta cats who are left, all of which have been fixed, will be the last of their kind.
“There’s going to come a moment where the Recoleta Cemetery will no longer have any cats,” he said. “That will be incredible.”
The Recoleta cats eat in front of the grave of General Miguel Estanislao Soler, a hero of the Argentinian War of Independence [Maria Amasanti/Al Jazeera]
The Recoleta Cemetery includes a maze of Art Nouveau and neo-Gothic marble mausoleums, the tomb of lionised former first lady Eva Peron – and a show-stealing colony of cats. For decades, tourist cameras strayed from the wrought-iron doors and sculpted Madonnas that decorate the graveyard’s sumptuous mausoleums and instead trailed the cats as they sauntered and sunbathed. The stray cats were the subject of a 2016 documentary. They were even recently brought up on the media tour of the latest Mad Max film, Furiosa, thanks to a nostalgic comment from the Argentina-raised movie star Anya Taylor-Joy.
The cemetery looms so large in visitors’ itineraries because of its architectural extravagance and its connection to the country’s elite. Nestled inside one of Buenos Aires’s poshest neighbourhoods, it’s the burial place of past presidents and assorted national heroes – a who’s who of Argentinian history, the necropolis edition. For as long as most locals can remember, the cats topped off the site’s grandeur with a touch of whimsy.
In 2024, the thousands of visitors who stream through the peristyle at the entrance of the cemetery will struggle to spot the Recoleta felines. Their population went down from an estimated peak of more than 60 decades ago to just half a dozen today. That’s due to a recent and sometimes contentious adoption drive.
To cat welfare advocates, the new whiskers-less look of the Recoleta Cemetery is a sign of progress. No amount of fame and folklore, they say, makes up for the fact that stray cats have significantly shorter lifespans than those with indoor homes. But others lament that something was lost as more and more cats were moved away from the cemetery, taking some of the tourism hotspot’s mysticism with them.
Starting in the 1990s, a wealthy neighbourhood widow whose husband was interred in the cemetery took up the cats’ cause. She paid for daily feedings and regular flea treatments. Alongside cemetery management, the widow, Alicia Farias, resisted efforts to move the cats into adopted homes.
“There was a lot of tension. … They were afraid of losing the cats because they were part of the business. Tourists loved them,” said Alejandro Aranda Rickert, a local sculptor and painter who visited the cemetery every Sunday to sketch. Although Aranda Rickert enjoyed capturing the cemetery cats in drawings – his work was featured in a video about “cat-crazy artists” on a popular art history YouTube channel – he made increasingly vocal pleas that the cats be adopted.
Shortly before the pandemic, Farias died, and the cats’ wellbeing cratered. That brought momentum to those who’d been advocating for adoptions. With the help of other volunteers, Aranda Rickert created a social media campaign to connect cats with locals willing to care for them. Having gotten wind that the cats were being adopted, some cemetery visitors also took some home, bypassing Aranda Rickert and his group.
Carmen Marconi was one of the locals who adopted a cat – in her case, a then-11-year-old grey male, whom she named Senor.
Initially, she worried she hadn’t done right by him.
“When I first took him from the cemetery, I felt bad because I lived in a tiny apartment. I thought, ‘Poor cat. He was free and now he lives in a rectangle,’ you know? But the truth is, it ended up being good for him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lived as long.”
Shortly after bringing Senor home, Marconi took him to a veterinarian who found him to be severely dehydrated and diagnosed an ear disorder and toxoplasmosis, an infectious disease. After several rounds of treatment, his condition improved. He is now still alive at 17.
At the Recoleta Cemetery, Pisani relies on donations from tourists to pay for the remaining cats’ food and any medication they might need. Whenever new cats are abandoned at the cemetery, Pisani and others swiftly move to adopt them into a new home. The six Recoleta cats who are left, all of which have been fixed, will be the last of their kind.
“There’s going to come a moment where the Recoleta Cemetery will no longer have any cats,” he said. “That will be incredible.”
The Recoleta cats eat in front of the grave of General Miguel Estanislao Soler, a hero of the Argentinian War of Independence [Maria Amasanti/Al Jazeera]
Today is the 17th anniversary of Maddy's adoption. 
Narz
keeping it real
RIP Damsel 2005-2024
Also she's my profile picture.
Survived by her brother Scruff, hopefully he'll survive til I can see him again (they live with my mother 5,000 miles away).
Also she's my profile picture.
Survived by her brother Scruff, hopefully he'll survive til I can see him again (they live with my mother 5,000 miles away).
thetrooper
Misanthrope
- Joined
- May 24, 2004
- Messages
- 9,023
Zardnaar
Deity
Kia haha Narz. Rough losing the little furballs.
Narz
keeping it real
Thanks all.
Yeah. And her brother still kicking, I would've guessed he'd go first as he was much fatter (he's still a bit chubby) and more anxious.
Cats can have so many medical and psychological issues, just like humans. Some of my pets, over the years, had things going on that I'd never guessed they could. My hat is off to any cat who makes it to 19.
Maddy was 17 years, 2 months, 4 days, and in a couple of hours it will be a week since she died. Someone from the crematorium brought her ashes back to me last night.
Maddy was 17 years, 2 months, 4 days, and in a couple of hours it will be a week since she died. Someone from the crematorium brought her ashes back to me last night.
tjs282
Stone \ Cold / Fish
thetrooper
Misanthrope
- Joined
- May 24, 2004
- Messages
- 9,023
Sorry for you as well @Valka D'Ur
Maddy was my favorite cat (among cats I’ve never met).
Our lady cat also got to 17 years.
Maddy was my favorite cat (among cats I’ve never met).
Our lady cat also got to 17 years.
