Little Tich
Little Tich's JournalWoman devastated after her kitten dies from touching lilies she had in a vase
Source: Metro UK, 29 Jan 2016
A woman has been left devastated after her four-month-old kitten died from brushing against lilies she had in a vase.
Elizabeth Mackie, 38, bought Mr Mistoffelees, known as Misto, to cheer herself up after her mother died from a stroke.
But she didn’t realise lilies were poisonous to cats, so when someone gave her a bunch of the popular flowers she left them on the window sill where the kitten liked to sit.
Now she is calling for the flowers to come with a warning sticker so other cat owners don’t suffer the same grief.
When she found her much-loved kitten covered in orange pollen, she shared a picture on social media for advice as it wouldn’t come off.
But she was horrified when people commented to warn her that it was deadly to cats.
Vets rushed the animal into surgery, but sadly it was too late and Misto died later that day.
Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/29/woman-devastated-after-her-kitten-dies-from-touching-lilies-she-had-in-a-vase-5651212/
DU, Aug 27, 2015: Beautiful kitteh put down because lily pollen was left on her fur after bee sting.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027112154
DU, Jan 13, 2015: Poisonous Plants and Flowers for Cats (and dogs too!)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/116120116
Were cats domesticated more than once?
Source: Science
The rise of cats may have been inevitable. That’s one intriguing interpretation of a new study, which finds that early Chinese farmers may have domesticated wild felines known as leopard cats more than 5000 years ago. If true, this would indicate that cats were domesticated more than once—in China, and 5000 years earlier in the Middle East. It would also suggest that the rise of farming was destined to give rise to the house cat.
“This is very important work that should have a great impact,” says Fiona Marshall, a zooarchaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis in Missouri. Cats, she notes, largely domesticated themselves, and if this happened twice it could indicate that a whole host of animals—from donkeys to sheep—may have become domesticated with less human involvement than previously thought. “This is the leading edge in a shift in thinking about domestication processes.”
Marshall was not involved in the new study, but a few years ago she helped analyze eight cat bones unearthed from Quanhucun, an early millet farming village in central China. The bones—including a pelvis and mandible—dated to about 5300 years ago, and had been dug from the site in 2001. All contained forms of carbon and nitrogen that indicated that the felines ate small animals, which in turn had eaten grain. This supported a longstanding hypothesis about how cats became domesticated: Wild cats slunk into ancient farming villages to hunt rats and mice, and humans kept them around to combat these crop-destroying rodents. Indeed, one of the Quanhucun cats, based on the wear of its teeth, appeared to be an older individual, perhaps suggesting that people had taken care of it.
But a big question remained. Were the Quanhucun cats related to Near Eastern wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica), the ancestors of today’s house cat and the first cats to be domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East? Or were they a different species of feline, perhaps one of the small local wildcats such as the Central Asian wildcat (Felis silvestris ornata) or the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)? If the former, the cats likely came to Chinese farming villages via ancient trade routes and were already domesticated. If the latter, Chinese villagers may have embarked on a completely separate domestication of the cat from a local species.
And that’s indeed what the new study suggests. Scientists led by Jean-Denis Vigne, the director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, performed additional analysis on the Quanhucun bones, as well as bones from two other ancient Chinese farming sites. They focused specifically on the mandibles, using a technique called geometric morphometrics, which employs a computer to take thousands of measurements of the size and shape of bones to determine what species they belong to. All of the bones unequivocally belonged to leopard cats, not a Near Eastern species, the team concludes this month in PLOS ONE.
A leopard cat in the wild.
Read more: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/were-cats-domesticated-more-once
Best Perks of Working at an Animal Hospital (10+ Kittens)
Source: LoveMeow
These may just be the best perks of working at an animal hospital.
Veterinarians meet all kinds of animals. Some of them are pocket sized! Often animal clinics and hospitals take in rescue kittens and cats found abandoned and hope to rehome them.
One of the most wonderful things of being a vet is being inundated with endless cute these animals naturally give. Kittens love to snug themselves in a tight, warm place like a pocket. It becomes the purrfect nap spot for them. With a kitten purring in your pocket, it can light up any vet or vet tech as work can be stressful at times.
“This is one of the pocket kittens at a couple days old. I raised those little guys from just wee little beans. They grow up so fast!” @Psychosholtis said.
Traveling in a pocket at the vet’s.
“I volunteer at my boyfriend’s vet clinic. This little boy likes to be carried around in my pocket when I clean the other cages,” Jennyflur said.
Ashton the rescue kitten found a warm pocket to snuggle in.
2-day-old kitten taking a nap in a pocket.
A little peekaboo kitten!
“If I fits, I sits!”
“Her name is Pamela!” Geniverger said.
Share the cute!
Read More: http://lovemeow.com/2016/01/perks-working-animal-hospital/
A guy in Istanbul is letting stray cats seek refuge in his mosque
Source: Metro UK
The winter can be a tough time for a stray cat, but Mustafa Efe has been making their lives a little easier and giving us all the feels in the process.
He’s the imam at the Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Mosque in Istanbul’s historic Üsküdar district and is known for his ‘good-humor and diligence’, The Daily Sabah reports.
But it’s his love of cats that’s got everyone getting all misty eyed.
Instead of chasing felines out of the mosque, he welcomes them in with open arms, calling them his ‘Friday friends’.
They’re also totally welcome seven days a week throughout the cold winter months.
One mother cat feels so at home, that she is raising her whole litter inside the mosque.
Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/18/a-guy-in-istanbul-is-letting-stray-cats-seek-refuge-in-his-mosque-5629491/
Lost Tabby Cat Found Swimming in Ocean of Catnip Toys at Store
Source: LoveMeow
A lost tabby kitty found himself in a pet supply store swimming in a sea of catnip toys. It was pure bliss!
According to YouTuber SensualCat, the cat sauntered into the store “by accident” and “had the time of his life rolling around in catnip toys.”
The mischievous feline zeroed in on where he wanted to go and headed straight there. Once he reached his treasure trove, he proceeded to flop down and frolic in the joy of nip.
Luckily, his human was informed about the kitty’s little antic and came to the store to pick him up. “So all’s well that ends well,” Sensual Cat says.
Read more: http://lovemeow.com/2016/01/lost-cat-swims-in-catnip-toys/
Researchers find why some cats look like Hitler
Source: Times of Israel, January 9, 2016
Faulty gene causes irregular distribution of pigment cells in fur, scientists establish; may help explain process of congenital defects in humans
The Internet is full of pictures of Kitlers – cats unfortunate enough to have a black and white pattern on their furs vaguely resembling the facial hair of the leader of Nazi Germany.
A new study suggests that the feline führers’ coat is determined by a faulty gene determining their pattern still in the womb of mother cat.
Called piebald, the pattern – typically a distribution of two colors on an animal’s coat of fur – occurs when pigment cells fail to follow genetic “instructions” at a very early stage of development.
According to a report on the study in the UK paper Independent, scientists hope that the study on how piebald animals develop can shed light on some congenital medical conditions affecting humans, like holes in the heart, also caused by problems relating to cell movements in the womb.
Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/researchers-may-now-know-why-some-cats-look-like-hitler/
More pics of "Kitlers" here: http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl
Cat Discovers His Own Ball Pit! He Just Keeps Jumpin’
Source: Lovemeow
While other cats love to play with tissue paper, Boomer likes to play with a ball pit! He keeps jumping into his pool full of colorful balls to create a big splash and even hides in it so no one can find him 
.
Boomer is a little Bengal filled with abundant energy. His human puts his energy to good use through a lot of activities and teaching him various tricks.
While Boomer’s sister Didga the cat isn’t a fan of the ball pit at all, Boomer’s learned to love it!
Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002
Catmantoo Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CATMANTOO-144239232413624/
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