homemade cat toy video

Just got a look at a really funny video on YouTube;
look under 'homemade cat toy'
I cannot recommend this to anyone as ingestion could cause
a potential impaction in your cat but I do think this is a really funny spot
Enjoy
PJR

where do cats come from?

nice research on cat ancestry in the new Smithsonian magazine
here's an article from BoingBoing blogsite extraordinaire!

Housecat history

Scientists now estimate that cats were first domesticated 12,000 years ago in the Near East. According to research published last month in the journal Science, every housecat is a descendant of a Middle Eastern wildcat with the name Felis sylvestris ("cat out of the woods.") In a new online article, Smithsonian outlines what we know about the secret history of domesticated cats. From Smithsonian:

When humans were predominantly hunters, dogs were of great use, and thus were domesticated long before cats. Cats, on the other hand, only became useful to people when we began to settle down, till the earth and—crucially—store surplus crops. With grain stores came mice, and when the first wild cats wandered into town, the stage was set for what the Science study authors call "one of the more successful 'biological experiments' ever undertaken." The cats were delighted by the abundance of prey in the storehouses; people were delighted by the pest control.

"We think what happened is that the cats sort of domesticated themselves," Carlos Driscoll, one of the study authors, told the Washington Post. The cats invited themselves in, and over time, as people favored cats with more docile traits, certain cats adapted to this new environment, producing the dozens of breeds of house cats known today. In the United States, cats are the most popular house pet, with 90 million domesticated cats slinking around 34 percent of U.S. homes.

Link

posted by David Pescovitz on July 26, 2007, 03:55 PM permalink | blogs' comments

note from Dr. R-anybody who has cats could have told you that they domesticated themselves;now they are trying to domesticate US! (with limited success in most cases)

my neighbor just this morning was complaining bitterly at her own lack of understanding of cat behavior. Communication between our two species is very challenging. Cats have limited facial expressions and vocabulary and WE have a poor sense of smell!

remodeling

well, the pain of remodeling 2121 west alabama has faded and now we are embarking on an upgrade for 2125. The old hardwood floors in the waiting area are going to be refinished!!!! Am waiting for a $$number from the floor guy. Hope to have everything ready to go before Easter.
Also will have the parking area resurfaced. Our 'decomposed' granite has decomposed into a mudpit! Am looking into other surfacing options but we don't want to hurt the big oak out back.
Our two boy kitties, Smooch and Karl(the cat formerly known as Charlotte) have gone east to live at a ranchette just outside of Baytown. They LOVE it! We are so happy as it looked like those boys would never find homes.
We do have a nice tortie kitten named 'Detroit' who has been harassing our Puff. If you know anyone looking for a kitten please keep us in mind. Detroit is about 5 months old with a terrific disposition.

here's our logo, but the wrong colors

Post Xmas return - spraying data

A fine holiday weekend here in H-town. Dasher and Dancer went off together to live with two nice little girls. Its a good match, I think and we hope all will go well for them. Poor Karl(the cat formerly known as Charlotte) came back from his test drive. The home he went to did not work out for him but we are hopeful another situation will come his way.
Karl is a fine fellow, with orange tabby siamese type markings. I think he has a picture posted on our website. It is easy to find homes for little kittens, especially at Xmas time but not so easy for the big boys.
I believe boy kitties make better pets than girl kitties but many people are frightened about the chance of spraying. That is really too bad because even girl kitties, if they are unhappy enough in their environment (crowding or other stressors) can and will spray as often as male kitties.

Spraying is NOT an abnormal behavior. Spraying is just socially unacceptable in the house. Outside both male and female cats spray to mark territory. The most offensive odor comes from an unneutered male cat. Although humans are less than enthused by this odor it drives intact female cats mad with desire! It will also make neutered cats of both sexes cuckoo and can be a trigger for inside cat spraying.
We have a handout on this on our website if you want to read more.
Still have a few 'Buckos' left for sale. It is a fantastic cat toy and every cat should have one. Money back guarantee if your cat is not happy with the toy. Come by and we can fix you up!
PJR
=^,,^= HAPPY NEW YEAR

WISHING FOR PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO ALL!

Dr. C's latest rant

hmm, just read Dr. C's latest blog entry where she expounded at length about proposed changes to 2125. hmm. Guess its time for that little chica to take a vacation. Also, I need a rest from her too fertile mind. She's a pistol. Ixnah on the shag carpet but I will consider the Star Bucks. I would love to build an observation deck up in the top of our old oak treee. Wouldn't that be fine on a cool evening?
Two kittens who lost their mittens are available for Xmas time. Dasher and Dancer;pictures should be posted on our website by tomorrow. They came to us rather unhealthy but are thriving on Puff's TLC along with Krista's fine cooking.
Hope nobody out there is stressing too much over holiday nonsense. Try to enjoy these holidays and watch out for those crazy drivers out there! Also, hang onto your purse in the mall. Pickpockets love crowds and distracted shoppers.
Be merry and bright!
PJR

Antibiotic use and misuse

Why in the world are veterinarians and human physicians so worried about antibiotic misuse?
Its because bacteria will develop resistance to known antibiotics when those antibiotics are ingested for too short a time.
See, bacteria are not killed all at once. Usually the weaker bacteria die first and if you just use the antibiotics for a few days rather than the prescribed course the stronger bacteria will live and reproduce stronger bacteria. That is how resistant bacteria form.
Some antibiotics don't even kill bacteria, they just keep the bacteria from reproducing more bacteria. If the antibiotics are not in your system long enough for the original bacteria to die off then the bacteria will go back to making more bacteria.
Even worse than that, some bacteria who hang around with resistant bacteria exchange DNA and become resistant to antibiotics before anybody even uses those particular antibiotics against the formerly susceptible bacteria.
Its a bad situation. If you talke to anybody over about sixty five years old they can tell you what life was like before antibiotics. Not pleasant. Life with resistant bacteria is not pleasant either.
The take home lesson is TAKE YOUR ANTIBIOTICS FOR THE PRESCRIBED TIME. We need some kind of slogan like 'don't mess with Texas' or 'only you can prevent forest fires'