One would have to have a complete medical background to go into the history, nature and causes of all bird diseases. However, our purpose here is to advise you, the pet owner, of certain signs of illness and home remedies that may be used in their event.
Cleanliness is, of course, the prime requisite of a healthy bird. A good mite spray when needed, frequent baths and fresh, clean seed are of the utmost importance. (more…)
Unless you intend to breed from, or show, your cat, there is little that a pedigree feline can offer that a mongrel moggie can’t match. Just like people, every cat is a unique character, whether their lineage is uncertain or you can trace it back for many generations. Probably the only significant difference between purebreds like our Somali, Melchior, and crosspeds like his companion, Caspar, is that you can predict with reasonable accuracy how any kittens that a pedigree cat may have will look, especially if the other parent is of the some breed. And although it is often said that because moggies, unlike many pedigrees, aren’t inbred, their mixed gene pool makes them more resistant to disease and generally tougher, this claim hasn’t been scientifically substantiated (and in any case, many moggies are born into close-knit family groups). (more…)
Although a cat’s maintenance costs are relatively low, there are certain unavoidable expenses that cat-ownership will incur over the years. These include providing your feline with the minimum of two meals a day of a nutritious proprietary cat food; buying cat litter for anindoor cat; settling an annual veterinary bill for vaccinations; and funding any additional veterinary treatment that a cat may need as a result of an accident or illness. Investigate these costs by paying a visit to your local pet shop or supermarket and veterinary surgery, noting down prices and asking for information. (more…)
Whether it be an immobile peanut, a living victim or any other object that the cat considers worthy of more detailed exploration, the feline has an armoury of sensitive touch receptors at its clawtips - and not only there. You may have seen a curious cat tentatively patting an object –perhaps a new toy mouse — with its paw. Although it may look comical, the cat isn’t playing, but is instead conducting a serious investigation. After all, it doesn‘t yet know that this alien object is a toy — it doesn‘t show signs of life, but that doesn‘t mean that it won’t jump up and bite the cat on the nose. With caution being the watchword, the cat therefore extends a forepaw, keeping its vulnerable nose well away from the potential danger, and delicately touches the toy mouse. (more…)
Its hearing is the first sense that alerts the cat to potential prey when it is out hunting and, due to its genetic inheritance, the sounds that are most likely to signal the proximity of rodents, its favourite meal, are the ones to which it is the most attuned. And because rodents utter high- pitched squeaks, the upper frequencies of the sound range are those that the cat’s ears are especially adept at detecting, exceeding both dogs and humans in their sensitivity. Indeed, when you think that our detection of acoustic vibrations rises to around 20,000 hertz, and a cat’s to 50,000, we must be deaf to a cacophony of interesting sounds. (more…)
A cat climbs like a monkey, walks as gracefully as a ballerina and balances with the effortless ease of a champion tightrope-walker. As we have seen, when a cat is hunting, its powerful back legs provide the momentum that launches it into a leap or pounce, while its front legs stretch out to grasp its prey. This pattern is repeated when a cat climbs a vertical object like a tree or fence, its hindquarters propelling it upwards — sometimes up to five times the cat’s height — and the hooked claws of its front paws sinking into the surface to act as grappling irons, thereby enabling the cat to get a firm enough hold to pull itself upwards with its strong front legs. (more…)
As we have seen, in the final stages of the hunt the cat uses its claws to pin down its prey and its teeth to administer the killing bite. In non-aggressive mode, the cat’s claws are retracted - or, more properly, sheathed - into the tips of its toe bones (the phalanges), both to prevent them from injuring itself or its friends and to preserve the sharpness of their points for, as every successful hunter or warrior knows, if you look after your weapons, when it comes to the crunch they’ll look after you. (more…)
Evolution having fine-tuned every fibre, nerve and cell of the feline body many millennia ago, the domestic cat of the twenty-first century closely resembles its wildcat ancestors in both build and mentality. Like every other species — Homo sapiens included — the cat’s ultimate raison d’être is the constant search for, and acquisition of, food, a mission for which nature has equipped it superbly. (more…)
Appearances can be deceptive: however innocent and harmless your cat may appear, its genetic software has programmed it to be a hunter of the kind who shows no mercy and takes no prisoners. Its ancestors may have found it convenient to trade their wild existence for the relative ease of a domesticated lifestyle, but make no mistake: your cat will revert to its roots in an instant if its hunting instinct is aroused or its home conditions no longer suit it. Even the most indolent of house cats remains essentially wild, with a body and mentality that evolution has honed to focus above all on the pursuit and capture of prey. (more…)
