July 6, 2015 • 27 mins
All those cat articles online... are they helpful, or are they spreading harmful falsehoods? Is it wrong to watch cat videos? And why are they giving a hero dog medal... to a cat? Listen to my roundup of cat news, and watch me bust some myths!
Questions or Comments? Email Pamela at pamela@petliferadio.com
More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Hero Cat & Mythbusting on Pet Life Radio
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Questions or Comments? Email Pamela at pamela@petliferadio.com
More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Hero Cat & Mythbusting on Pet Life Radio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-a-purrfect-world-pet-life-radio-original--6671061/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to In a Perfect World MythBusters Edition one. I'm
Pamela Merritt from the Way of Cats, and a lot
of what I do as an online cat guru is
correct misconceptions and bust myths about cats. Because as a
(00:30):
longtime animal lover who's had all kinds of pets, I've
never encountered more wrong information than I did when I
first started and joined cats as pets when I was
a young adult. I basically had to start with what
I saw around me and evaluate every single other piece
(00:55):
of information that came my way, unless it was from
a longtime cat person. Much like myself. The books The
Common Wisdom of the People, it was a wrong. One
of my favorite things is to explain what these misconceptions are,
what the truth is, and maybe how it got that way.
(01:18):
I believe the Internet has not only been a boon
to humanity, it has done wonders for cats. A recent
study from Indiana University Bloomington is that viewing cat videos
boost energy and positive emotions. Now you've probably heard the
jokes about whatever percentage of the Internet is cat videos,
(01:41):
but it's a pretty high percentage and that's one of
the reasons the Internet is so good for cats. Time
was you would have to actually have a cat and
have a close relationship with that cat to see the funny, affectionate,
and adorable things they do. Now anyone can. The recent
(02:04):
study by Assistant Professor Jessica Gail Myrick surveyed almost seven
thousand people about their viewing of cat videos and how
it affects their moods. It discovered nothing but positive effects
from viewing cat videos. We have all watched a cat
video online, but there's really little empirical work done on
(02:26):
why so many of this do this or what effects
it might have on us, said Myrik, who owns a
pug but no cats. As a media researcher and online
cat video viewer, I felt compelled to gather some data
about this pop culture phenomenon, and we do have some statistics.
There were more than two million cat videos posted on
(02:48):
YouTube in twenty fourteen, with almost twenty six billion views.
Cat videos had more views per video than any other
category of YouTube content. I find that amazing. Myrek wondered
if viewing cat videos online have the same kind of
positive impact as pet therapy and only thirty six participants
(03:13):
in the study described themselves as a cat person, while
about sixty percent said they liked both cats and dogs. Well,
for that matter, I'm a cat person, but I like
both cats and dogs. But the participants reported they were
more energetic and felt more positive after watching the cat
related videos than they had before they tuned in fewer
(03:37):
negative emotions. The pleasure they got from cat videos outweighed
any guilt they felt about procrastinating, and cat owners and
people with personality traits such as agreeableness and shyness were
more likely to watch cat videos. Twenty five percent were
ones they sought out. The rest were ones they happened upon,
(03:59):
which show just how many cat videos are out there
and they tended to know. So called celebrity cats such
as Nolacot and Henri and Lil Bub and Myrik donated
ten cents to Lil Bubb's foundation for each participant, raising
almost seven hundred dollars for needy animals. This was an
(04:21):
interesting sidelight to my own musings about cats being the
pet of the future. They fit into today's lifestyles, which
tend to be formed within the home, needing more flexible schedules.
And being able to not worry about the pet if
they have to work late or have other obligations. There's
(04:43):
also an increased interest in natural solutions out there, and
cats fit right into that too. Instead of using poisons,
we should have cats to take care of our vermin problem.
This is why they were worshiped in Egypt. They saved civilization.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
We owe them.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I also think cats are more suitable for children than
a lot of people think. I've always thought there wasn't
much thought put into that common practice of getting a
puppy and a baby at the same time. The two
of them need almost the same level of attention and training,
whereas getting a kitten. They already know how to use
(05:28):
the litter box, they already know where the food is,
and plucking them off the drapes is a lot lower
impact than trying to walk the puppy when the baby
needs attention or vice versa. It's also easier to have
cats in bunches. Three dogs is a pack. Three cats
(05:48):
are a civilization much more low key, and when properly constituted,
they actually take care of each other. As a longtime
cat advocate, I was thrilled to find out that the
cat Tara, who had saved her four year old human
from a rampaging dog, gets a Hero Dog award from SPCA.
(06:12):
I guess because they don't have a Hero Cat award,
and you know, maybe they should. This was an amazing
story from last year where a young boy who was
playing in his own front yard was attacked by a
neighbor's dog who had gotten loose, and the cat flung
(06:33):
itself like a cannon ball and then drove it away
with a furious display of attempted aggression, and the dog
did leave and the boy was saved, even though he
did have a serious bite. Now, this would have been
simply a story the family would have told around summer's barbecues,
(06:56):
and probably to a great deal of skepticism, except it
was all caught on video. And that's the myth that
got busted here with photographic evidence that cats don't care,
that cats are not good pets for children, that cats
don't have protective instincts, and they're aloof and they're not social,
(07:19):
none of that is true. We just had these myths
stuck in our head and we never got them challenged.
This family could have told this story from coast to
coast and a whole lot of people would not have
believed them because your quotes. Everybody knows cats aren't like that,
but turns out yes they are. And anyone who doesn't
(07:43):
have a close relationship with a cat now has had
their mind expanded to wonder what it might be like.
I'm here to tell you it's awesome. We're gonna be
busting more myths in a short while, and in fact,
I have a whole category on my Wave of Cat
com backslash blog devoted to myth busting because there are
(08:04):
so many. Will be back shortly.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Don't run away, We'll be right back right after these messages.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Stay tuned, Mollie, here's your dinner. Zeus. That's not your food.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Don't let that happen to your precious cat. Elevates your
cat's eating experience with the cat tree tray. The cat
tree tray keeps your cat's food off the floor and
conveniently located on the cat tree. It's the perfect way
to eat. It's a beautiful, wrought iron tray that easily
attaches to your cat tree and keeps dogs and other
(08:41):
gritters out of your cat's dish. Of must for multi
pet households, there's a six inch tray for large bowls
and a four inch tray for smaller bulls. ERG just
your cat tree trade today. Go right now to cattreetray
dot com. That's cattreetray dot com at T E D
R A Y dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Let's talk pets on cetlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And we're back talking about busting cat myths. I've been
running across a myth online repeated in all kinds of
places that say cats don't naturally drink water. The theory
is outlined in an excerpt I found on Google books
(09:38):
The Cat Bible Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know
by Tracy Hotchner. This has some good stuff in it,
but in it the author expounds on the theory that
cats drive the moisture they need from their prey, and
it's really not a natural thing for cats to drink water. Now,
(10:00):
first of all, it's possible that we have indeed changed
this part of our cats. It's one of the reasons
I encourage people to feed canned food instead of dry
because can does have a high moisture content which would
mimic the cat's natural diet, and that's always a good
idea to feed any being in a way that works
(10:23):
with their enzymes and instincts and what their body expects
to get. Now, the author points out that dry food
is dehydrating, and that's true, and she also points out
that cats have an extraordinary sense of smell, which makes
them very fussy about their water sources, which is also true. However,
(10:44):
in my own home, I've always noticed that cats love
fresh water, they love running water, and the more we
fussed over giving them good water sources, the more they drank.
Running water confirms to them that this is free and
air rated and unlikely to have sat there getting yiky.
And so when we got a series of pet fountains,
(11:08):
myself and those I know who use them are pleasantly
surprised by just how much cats do drink when we
give them the right kind of water in the right
kind of setting, one that would trigger their instincts that
say this is a good water source, take advantage of it.
Anyone who's been followed into the kitchen or bathroom and
(11:30):
had the cat ask them to turn on the faucet
knows exactly what I mean. In fact, our cats are
so fussy that they watch and see if we use
the filtering picture on their fountain and on their special
bowl in the bedroom, because after all, that's what we
drink from and it has to be the best. And
(11:51):
they're right, and we do. With all of this put together,
this theory instantly did not fit with my own experience
with cats, and I even have scientific support from MIT.
Researcher Roman Stoker and his cat Cutacutta showed that cats
(12:12):
have an elaborate way of drinking. In a slow motion video,
we see how the cat's tongue touches the surface of
the water, pulls it up into a column using the
water tension inherent in water, and then bites off this
column of water to let it fall into their mouth
(12:35):
and relieve their thirst. And I'm like, you don't come
up with that overnight. This is an elaborate physical thing
that we couldn't do. In fact, I don't believe there's
any other animal on the planet who does it except cats.
This is how cats drink, and if this was not
(13:00):
natural to them, I just can't believe it. There aren't
any precedents for across the board, every cat in the
world figuring out this elaborate thing that happened so fast.
We had to do a slow motion video to finally
figure it out, because for years people assume that cats
(13:20):
drank from bowls, which they do the same way dogs do,
a sort of backwards cupping of the tongue that sort
of splashes water into their mouth. But indeed, cats, as
we might expect, are a lot more sophisticated and elegant
about what they do, and the fact that they do
it means they're designed to drink water. Fuss over their
(13:43):
water sources, get a cat fountain if at all possible,
and remember that when our cat goes after our tasty beverage,
they're saying the same thing that any friend would if
they asked to have some of it themselves. They're thirsty,
they would like some clean fresh water in a form
(14:04):
that makes them trust. It's a good part of cat
care to make sure they do have that available to them.
Another care myth I run into is part of the
indoor outdoor dilemma. It's a fact that cats are outdoor creatures,
and it feels wrong to not let them go outdoors
(14:26):
in most environments. They are not designed to deal with
the outdoors we're going to be offering them. They were
originally a desert animal, and a lot of people don't
consider this, but they're used to arid climates. This is
what their ears, for instance, are expecting. In human climates,
(14:47):
a cat outdoors without constant ear care is going to
be devastated by ear mites, which thrive in human conditions.
This is a serious issue with feral cats in the
Pacific Northwest. I know there's been some terrible cases of
cats actually dying from the infections and invasions caused by
(15:08):
ear mites. We have to remember that, unless we do
live in the desert, whatever we let our cat out
into is not what they evolved to cope with. Much
less cars, which are a tremendous danger. Cats do not
see these incredibly fast moving things for what they truly
are if they stalk them. I'm sure cats would be
(15:31):
very good at avoiding all kinds of motor vehicles, but
they don't, and they aren't. I live in an area
that's pretty wild, so then if I let my cats out,
they would not only deal with the busy highway in
front of my home, they would deal with the predators
that live in back of it. We have to remember
that cats are kind of unique in being both an
(15:53):
apex predator and prey themselves if their environment has larger
animals in it. Other dangers of the cat outside that
are totally unnatural. One of the leading ways our cat
can go missing is getting into some place due to
their curiosity and then having that place blocked off, closed up,
(16:14):
and taken away. This was illustrated by a Texas cat
whose moved to Alaska was very uncomfortable. Two year old
Moosey wound up being folded into a futon mattress. Even
though the family spent three days searching for them before
they made the move, they didn't find them until the
(16:35):
mattress was unfolded in their new home, and there the
poor guy was. He's bouncing back because cats have nine lives.
But we can't rely on this and it puts them
through so much. Let's reflect on the fact that this
had a happy ending, but the cat and the family
(16:55):
went through an awful lot. This is always a danger
when we let cat out, that they're going to get
into a situation they can't handle. Remember, in nature, this
happens fairly frequently. Human beings have spent thousands of years
ordering their environment, so it doesn't happen to us. We
(17:17):
can and I think should extend this same courtesy to
our pets. We've been talking about the myth that cats
belong outdoors, and I'll pick up with an even more
harrowing tale when we return to discussing myths. Don't get
stuck somewhere. I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
We'll be right back right after these messes. Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
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(18:06):
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Speaker 3 (18:17):
Let's talk past Let's life radio Headline Radio, Petlight Radio dot.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Com, and I'm back talking about the many downsides of
letting our cat out of the home.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Now.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I know my fans in Great Britain have a tendency
to be much more open to outdoor cats than say,
the United States, it's a cultural thing. People in Britain
also have more of a tendency to have those walled
gardens you see in London homes. There's also the fact,
(18:57):
and this is huge, is that most of the time
your neighbors are going to be far more comfortable with
the idea of a cat roaming if they're used to
this idea, they're cat owners themselves and think that's all right.
Whereas in the US we've got people who can be
quite opinionated that they're bird feeders, or their garden or
(19:20):
even a cat sitting on their lawn furniture is an
unwarranted intrusion, and they think they can do whatever they
want to to keep our cats out of their yard.
I never underestimate the potential of some nasty person taking
grudges out on a cat, because it stretches back into history.
(19:42):
Cats started out pretty high in the estimation of the
ancient Egyptians, but by the Middle Ages they were tools
of Satan and treated accordingly. This is a kind of
pr problem cats have been fighting against for quite some time,
so I was quite surprised to find out that some
the cat vigilante as the Telegraph termed it was operating
(20:05):
in Bristol by kidnapping a cat, putting it in a
live cage, and posting pictures all over the neighborhood saying
they had trapped this cat on purpose because it was
threatening their cat. The kidnapper claimed the cat, called Murray,
was attacking other cats and invading gardens in Bristol and
(20:26):
they'd had enough, and so they had captured the cat
as a warning to the owner. The cat was returned
and is showing signs of distress from its ordeal. I
do not think this was the right thing to do
at all, but it shows how exercise some people can get,
especially when you consider this person let their cat out.
(20:49):
The whole point of this action was that their cat
had encountered Murray outside. So this is the risk we
always run letting cats out. It's not an ordered world
out there, and it's not something we can control. And
our cat has no idea all of this is going on.
They're just going to follow their instincts and they're going
(21:10):
to explore some sort of cat enclosure like I used
to have. It was a chain link room that let
the cats go outside safely or leash training the cat,
which is surprisingly easy to do with the right kind
of cat, or having a cat that's sufficiently timid that
they will accompany us to enclosed places where we can
(21:32):
safely enjoy the outdoors together and be together at all
times when we do this, so they can at least
have some supervision and we can keep them away from
difficult areas, because I understand that cats do like to
go outside, and you know, every teenager would like to
rampainte through Manhattan with a pocket full of cash and
(21:54):
a fake ID. We don't let them do that either.
In other news, a calico cat name Bella is now
the official cat of the Alamo. Her full name is
Miss Isabella Francisca Vera Mendi di Vallero, but you can
call her Bella. She welcomes visitors and keeps rodents in check.
(22:16):
I love working cats. Working dogs is a very old
and sturdy phrase, and we're all familiar with the wonderful
work they do guiding the blind, search and rescue therapy dogs.
But cats too can be working cats. And this returns
to what I was talking about earlier in the podcast,
(22:37):
where I was saying cats are designed to keep vermin
under control. Rats and mice and things like that. Our
own home is totally free of flies. They only last
maybe ten minutes once Mithy sees them. Why not let
cats have this very important job that is actually much
(22:58):
easier on the environment than trying to poison them. It
just doesn't make sense to me. Bella at the Alamo
is cared for and paid for by the staffers who
love having a cat on the premises. There are so
many cats languishing in shelters who could get a job.
Isn't that what everybody wants? And that's the idea behind
(23:22):
one of the hottest new trends that absolutely fills my
heart with hope and happiness. It's cat cafes. People can
go to the cafe, have a coffee, get on the internet,
and pet the cat. San Francisco just opened their very
first cat cafe, Kit t Kit Capital Tea, which I like.
(23:48):
It's very cute. This is so awesome where cats can
have human interaction, interaction with each other, be supported and loved,
and have that social environment so many of them are
totally capable of doing. For every shy cat, there's a
(24:08):
cat who will come up to you and hang out
even on short notice. And this is also a way
to let humans learn how to interact with cats, how
they like to be petted, and what kind of cat
they might like to have someday. And in the meantime,
if they're in a situation where they can't have their cat,
(24:28):
they can at least go out for a coffee and
a pet. Likewise, Washington, d c. Now has a cat cafe.
According to the headline, you can cuddle by the hour
and it's totally legal. This new trend is absolutely marvelous,
and I'm hoping with the popularity of coffee shops, everyone
(24:48):
will have at least one cat, because there's something so
wonderful about a comfy chair and a nice cup of
jobs and a kitty. Doesn't everybody want some of that?
And the myth this bus is that one that says
(25:08):
cats aren't friendly, but they are, they're social. That was
one of the things that blew my mind when I
started rescuing cats, which led to having multiple cats, which
led to me witnessing cats teaching each other, being affectionate
with each other, telling each other things. I once saw
(25:32):
a complicated bit of information being passed between two of
my older cats, which conveyed what room the thing was
in the fact that somebody had to come see that
room and brought the other cat to instant action to
run in and find out that, yes, the food bolts
were missing because somebody was going to get altered the
(25:54):
next day and they can't eat. But that's pretty complicated
for a cat to convey, isn't it. And that's what
puts down these naysayers who say things like, oh, dogs
are better because they're so happy to see you, or
dogs are better because they're social and cat people and
cats aren't. But that's not true. I mean, the worst
(26:18):
you could probably say is that cats and maybe even
cat appreciators are a little more subtle than you expect.
But there's absolutely nothing wrong with that in a perficked world,
which is what we're all striving towards. So check out
(26:39):
we have cats dot COM's blog in case you want
to see all the links I use to put together
this edition of MythBusters, and rest assured there's more to come.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Let's talk pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I do
You're listening to Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to In a Perfect World MythBusters Edition one. I'm
Pamela Merritt from the Way of Cats, and a lot
of what I do as an online cat guru is
correct misconceptions and bust myths about cats. Because as a
(00:30):
longtime animal lover who's had all kinds of pets, I've
never encountered more wrong information than I did when I
first started and joined cats as pets when I was
a young adult. I basically had to start with what
I saw around me and evaluate every single other piece
(00:55):
of information that came my way, unless it was from
a longtime cat person. Much like myself. The books The
Common Wisdom of the People, it was a wrong. One
of my favorite things is to explain what these misconceptions are,
what the truth is, and maybe how it got that way.
(01:18):
I believe the Internet has not only been a boon
to humanity, it has done wonders for cats. A recent
study from Indiana University Bloomington is that viewing cat videos
boost energy and positive emotions. Now you've probably heard the
jokes about whatever percentage of the Internet is cat videos,
(01:41):
but it's a pretty high percentage and that's one of
the reasons the Internet is so good for cats. Time
was you would have to actually have a cat and
have a close relationship with that cat to see the funny, affectionate,
and adorable things they do. Now anyone can. The recent
(02:04):
study by Assistant Professor Jessica Gail Myrick surveyed almost seven
thousand people about their viewing of cat videos and how
it affects their moods. It discovered nothing but positive effects
from viewing cat videos. We have all watched a cat
video online, but there's really little empirical work done on
(02:26):
why so many of this do this or what effects
it might have on us, said Myrik, who owns a
pug but no cats. As a media researcher and online
cat video viewer, I felt compelled to gather some data
about this pop culture phenomenon, and we do have some statistics.
There were more than two million cat videos posted on
(02:48):
YouTube in twenty fourteen, with almost twenty six billion views.
Cat videos had more views per video than any other
category of YouTube content. I find that amazing. Myrek wondered
if viewing cat videos online have the same kind of
positive impact as pet therapy and only thirty six participants
(03:13):
in the study described themselves as a cat person, while
about sixty percent said they liked both cats and dogs. Well,
for that matter, I'm a cat person, but I like
both cats and dogs. But the participants reported they were
more energetic and felt more positive after watching the cat
related videos than they had before they tuned in fewer
(03:37):
negative emotions. The pleasure they got from cat videos outweighed
any guilt they felt about procrastinating, and cat owners and
people with personality traits such as agreeableness and shyness were
more likely to watch cat videos. Twenty five percent were
ones they sought out. The rest were ones they happened upon,
(03:59):
which show just how many cat videos are out there
and they tended to know. So called celebrity cats such
as Nolacot and Henri and Lil Bub and Myrik donated
ten cents to Lil Bubb's foundation for each participant, raising
almost seven hundred dollars for needy animals. This was an
(04:21):
interesting sidelight to my own musings about cats being the
pet of the future. They fit into today's lifestyles, which
tend to be formed within the home, needing more flexible schedules.
And being able to not worry about the pet if
they have to work late or have other obligations. There's
(04:43):
also an increased interest in natural solutions out there, and
cats fit right into that too. Instead of using poisons,
we should have cats to take care of our vermin problem.
This is why they were worshiped in Egypt. They saved civilization.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
We owe them.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I also think cats are more suitable for children than
a lot of people think. I've always thought there wasn't
much thought put into that common practice of getting a
puppy and a baby at the same time. The two
of them need almost the same level of attention and training,
whereas getting a kitten. They already know how to use
(05:28):
the litter box, they already know where the food is,
and plucking them off the drapes is a lot lower
impact than trying to walk the puppy when the baby
needs attention or vice versa. It's also easier to have
cats in bunches. Three dogs is a pack. Three cats
(05:48):
are a civilization much more low key, and when properly constituted,
they actually take care of each other. As a longtime
cat advocate, I was thrilled to find out that the
cat Tara, who had saved her four year old human
from a rampaging dog, gets a Hero Dog award from SPCA.
(06:12):
I guess because they don't have a Hero Cat award,
and you know, maybe they should. This was an amazing
story from last year where a young boy who was
playing in his own front yard was attacked by a
neighbor's dog who had gotten loose, and the cat flung
(06:33):
itself like a cannon ball and then drove it away
with a furious display of attempted aggression, and the dog
did leave and the boy was saved, even though he
did have a serious bite. Now, this would have been
simply a story the family would have told around summer's barbecues,
(06:56):
and probably to a great deal of skepticism, except it
was all caught on video. And that's the myth that
got busted here with photographic evidence that cats don't care,
that cats are not good pets for children, that cats
don't have protective instincts, and they're aloof and they're not social,
(07:19):
none of that is true. We just had these myths
stuck in our head and we never got them challenged.
This family could have told this story from coast to
coast and a whole lot of people would not have
believed them because your quotes. Everybody knows cats aren't like that,
but turns out yes they are. And anyone who doesn't
(07:43):
have a close relationship with a cat now has had
their mind expanded to wonder what it might be like.
I'm here to tell you it's awesome. We're gonna be
busting more myths in a short while, and in fact,
I have a whole category on my Wave of Cat
com backslash blog devoted to myth busting because there are
(08:04):
so many. Will be back shortly.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Don't run away, We'll be right back right after these messages.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Stay tuned, Mollie, here's your dinner. Zeus. That's not your food.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Don't let that happen to your precious cat. Elevates your
cat's eating experience with the cat tree tray. The cat
tree tray keeps your cat's food off the floor and
conveniently located on the cat tree. It's the perfect way
to eat. It's a beautiful, wrought iron tray that easily
attaches to your cat tree and keeps dogs and other
(08:41):
gritters out of your cat's dish. Of must for multi
pet households, there's a six inch tray for large bowls
and a four inch tray for smaller bulls. ERG just
your cat tree trade today. Go right now to cattreetray
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Speaker 3 (09:11):
Let's talk pets on cetlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And we're back talking about busting cat myths. I've been
running across a myth online repeated in all kinds of
places that say cats don't naturally drink water. The theory
is outlined in an excerpt I found on Google books
(09:38):
The Cat Bible Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know
by Tracy Hotchner. This has some good stuff in it,
but in it the author expounds on the theory that
cats drive the moisture they need from their prey, and
it's really not a natural thing for cats to drink water. Now,
(10:00):
first of all, it's possible that we have indeed changed
this part of our cats. It's one of the reasons
I encourage people to feed canned food instead of dry
because can does have a high moisture content which would
mimic the cat's natural diet, and that's always a good
idea to feed any being in a way that works
(10:23):
with their enzymes and instincts and what their body expects
to get. Now, the author points out that dry food
is dehydrating, and that's true, and she also points out
that cats have an extraordinary sense of smell, which makes
them very fussy about their water sources, which is also true. However,
(10:44):
in my own home, I've always noticed that cats love
fresh water, they love running water, and the more we
fussed over giving them good water sources, the more they drank.
Running water confirms to them that this is free and
air rated and unlikely to have sat there getting yiky.
And so when we got a series of pet fountains,
(11:08):
myself and those I know who use them are pleasantly
surprised by just how much cats do drink when we
give them the right kind of water in the right
kind of setting, one that would trigger their instincts that
say this is a good water source, take advantage of it.
Anyone who's been followed into the kitchen or bathroom and
(11:30):
had the cat ask them to turn on the faucet
knows exactly what I mean. In fact, our cats are
so fussy that they watch and see if we use
the filtering picture on their fountain and on their special
bowl in the bedroom, because after all, that's what we
drink from and it has to be the best. And
(11:51):
they're right, and we do. With all of this put together,
this theory instantly did not fit with my own experience
with cats, and I even have scientific support from MIT.
Researcher Roman Stoker and his cat Cutacutta showed that cats
(12:12):
have an elaborate way of drinking. In a slow motion video,
we see how the cat's tongue touches the surface of
the water, pulls it up into a column using the
water tension inherent in water, and then bites off this
column of water to let it fall into their mouth
(12:35):
and relieve their thirst. And I'm like, you don't come
up with that overnight. This is an elaborate physical thing
that we couldn't do. In fact, I don't believe there's
any other animal on the planet who does it except cats.
This is how cats drink, and if this was not
(13:00):
natural to them, I just can't believe it. There aren't
any precedents for across the board, every cat in the
world figuring out this elaborate thing that happened so fast.
We had to do a slow motion video to finally
figure it out, because for years people assume that cats
(13:20):
drank from bowls, which they do the same way dogs do,
a sort of backwards cupping of the tongue that sort
of splashes water into their mouth. But indeed, cats, as
we might expect, are a lot more sophisticated and elegant
about what they do, and the fact that they do
it means they're designed to drink water. Fuss over their
(13:43):
water sources, get a cat fountain if at all possible,
and remember that when our cat goes after our tasty beverage,
they're saying the same thing that any friend would if
they asked to have some of it themselves. They're thirsty,
they would like some clean fresh water in a form
(14:04):
that makes them trust. It's a good part of cat
care to make sure they do have that available to them.
Another care myth I run into is part of the
indoor outdoor dilemma. It's a fact that cats are outdoor creatures,
and it feels wrong to not let them go outdoors
(14:26):
in most environments. They are not designed to deal with
the outdoors we're going to be offering them. They were
originally a desert animal, and a lot of people don't
consider this, but they're used to arid climates. This is
what their ears, for instance, are expecting. In human climates,
(14:47):
a cat outdoors without constant ear care is going to
be devastated by ear mites, which thrive in human conditions.
This is a serious issue with feral cats in the
Pacific Northwest. I know there's been some terrible cases of
cats actually dying from the infections and invasions caused by
(15:08):
ear mites. We have to remember that, unless we do
live in the desert, whatever we let our cat out
into is not what they evolved to cope with. Much
less cars, which are a tremendous danger. Cats do not
see these incredibly fast moving things for what they truly
are if they stalk them. I'm sure cats would be
(15:31):
very good at avoiding all kinds of motor vehicles, but
they don't, and they aren't. I live in an area
that's pretty wild, so then if I let my cats out,
they would not only deal with the busy highway in
front of my home, they would deal with the predators
that live in back of it. We have to remember
that cats are kind of unique in being both an
(15:53):
apex predator and prey themselves if their environment has larger
animals in it. Other dangers of the cat outside that
are totally unnatural. One of the leading ways our cat
can go missing is getting into some place due to
their curiosity and then having that place blocked off, closed up,
(16:14):
and taken away. This was illustrated by a Texas cat
whose moved to Alaska was very uncomfortable. Two year old
Moosey wound up being folded into a futon mattress. Even
though the family spent three days searching for them before
they made the move, they didn't find them until the
(16:35):
mattress was unfolded in their new home, and there the
poor guy was. He's bouncing back because cats have nine lives.
But we can't rely on this and it puts them
through so much. Let's reflect on the fact that this
had a happy ending, but the cat and the family
(16:55):
went through an awful lot. This is always a danger
when we let cat out, that they're going to get
into a situation they can't handle. Remember, in nature, this
happens fairly frequently. Human beings have spent thousands of years
ordering their environment, so it doesn't happen to us. We
(17:17):
can and I think should extend this same courtesy to
our pets. We've been talking about the myth that cats
belong outdoors, and I'll pick up with an even more
harrowing tale when we return to discussing myths. Don't get
stuck somewhere. I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
We'll be right back right after these messes. Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
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(18:06):
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Speaker 3 (18:17):
Let's talk past Let's life radio Headline Radio, Petlight Radio dot.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Com, and I'm back talking about the many downsides of
letting our cat out of the home.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Now.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I know my fans in Great Britain have a tendency
to be much more open to outdoor cats than say,
the United States, it's a cultural thing. People in Britain
also have more of a tendency to have those walled
gardens you see in London homes. There's also the fact,
(18:57):
and this is huge, is that most of the time
your neighbors are going to be far more comfortable with
the idea of a cat roaming if they're used to
this idea, they're cat owners themselves and think that's all right.
Whereas in the US we've got people who can be
quite opinionated that they're bird feeders, or their garden or
(19:20):
even a cat sitting on their lawn furniture is an
unwarranted intrusion, and they think they can do whatever they
want to to keep our cats out of their yard.
I never underestimate the potential of some nasty person taking
grudges out on a cat, because it stretches back into history.
(19:42):
Cats started out pretty high in the estimation of the
ancient Egyptians, but by the Middle Ages they were tools
of Satan and treated accordingly. This is a kind of
pr problem cats have been fighting against for quite some time,
so I was quite surprised to find out that some
the cat vigilante as the Telegraph termed it was operating
(20:05):
in Bristol by kidnapping a cat, putting it in a
live cage, and posting pictures all over the neighborhood saying
they had trapped this cat on purpose because it was
threatening their cat. The kidnapper claimed the cat, called Murray,
was attacking other cats and invading gardens in Bristol and
(20:26):
they'd had enough, and so they had captured the cat
as a warning to the owner. The cat was returned
and is showing signs of distress from its ordeal. I
do not think this was the right thing to do
at all, but it shows how exercise some people can get,
especially when you consider this person let their cat out.
(20:49):
The whole point of this action was that their cat
had encountered Murray outside. So this is the risk we
always run letting cats out. It's not an ordered world
out there, and it's not something we can control. And
our cat has no idea all of this is going on.
They're just going to follow their instincts and they're going
(21:10):
to explore some sort of cat enclosure like I used
to have. It was a chain link room that let
the cats go outside safely or leash training the cat,
which is surprisingly easy to do with the right kind
of cat, or having a cat that's sufficiently timid that
they will accompany us to enclosed places where we can
(21:32):
safely enjoy the outdoors together and be together at all
times when we do this, so they can at least
have some supervision and we can keep them away from
difficult areas, because I understand that cats do like to
go outside, and you know, every teenager would like to
rampainte through Manhattan with a pocket full of cash and
(21:54):
a fake ID. We don't let them do that either.
In other news, a calico cat name Bella is now
the official cat of the Alamo. Her full name is
Miss Isabella Francisca Vera Mendi di Vallero, but you can
call her Bella. She welcomes visitors and keeps rodents in check.
(22:16):
I love working cats. Working dogs is a very old
and sturdy phrase, and we're all familiar with the wonderful
work they do guiding the blind, search and rescue therapy dogs.
But cats too can be working cats. And this returns
to what I was talking about earlier in the podcast,
(22:37):
where I was saying cats are designed to keep vermin
under control. Rats and mice and things like that. Our
own home is totally free of flies. They only last
maybe ten minutes once Mithy sees them. Why not let
cats have this very important job that is actually much
(22:58):
easier on the environment than trying to poison them. It
just doesn't make sense to me. Bella at the Alamo
is cared for and paid for by the staffers who
love having a cat on the premises. There are so
many cats languishing in shelters who could get a job.
Isn't that what everybody wants? And that's the idea behind
(23:22):
one of the hottest new trends that absolutely fills my
heart with hope and happiness. It's cat cafes. People can
go to the cafe, have a coffee, get on the internet,
and pet the cat. San Francisco just opened their very
first cat cafe, Kit t Kit Capital Tea, which I like.
(23:48):
It's very cute. This is so awesome where cats can
have human interaction, interaction with each other, be supported and loved,
and have that social environment so many of them are
totally capable of doing. For every shy cat, there's a
(24:08):
cat who will come up to you and hang out
even on short notice. And this is also a way
to let humans learn how to interact with cats, how
they like to be petted, and what kind of cat
they might like to have someday. And in the meantime,
if they're in a situation where they can't have their cat,
(24:28):
they can at least go out for a coffee and
a pet. Likewise, Washington, d c. Now has a cat cafe.
According to the headline, you can cuddle by the hour
and it's totally legal. This new trend is absolutely marvelous,
and I'm hoping with the popularity of coffee shops, everyone
(24:48):
will have at least one cat, because there's something so
wonderful about a comfy chair and a nice cup of
jobs and a kitty. Doesn't everybody want some of that?
And the myth this bus is that one that says
(25:08):
cats aren't friendly, but they are, they're social. That was
one of the things that blew my mind when I
started rescuing cats, which led to having multiple cats, which
led to me witnessing cats teaching each other, being affectionate
with each other, telling each other things. I once saw
(25:32):
a complicated bit of information being passed between two of
my older cats, which conveyed what room the thing was
in the fact that somebody had to come see that
room and brought the other cat to instant action to
run in and find out that, yes, the food bolts
were missing because somebody was going to get altered the
(25:54):
next day and they can't eat. But that's pretty complicated
for a cat to convey, isn't it. And that's what
puts down these naysayers who say things like, oh, dogs
are better because they're so happy to see you, or
dogs are better because they're social and cat people and
cats aren't. But that's not true. I mean, the worst
(26:18):
you could probably say is that cats and maybe even
cat appreciators are a little more subtle than you expect.
But there's absolutely nothing wrong with that in a perficked world,
which is what we're all striving towards. So check out
(26:39):
we have cats dot COM's blog in case you want
to see all the links I use to put together
this edition of MythBusters, and rest assured there's more to come.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Let's talk pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I do
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