Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue encouraging through knowledge a natural balance

cat lover or not?

 

Cats are one of the only animals in the UK that kill for fun, they enjoy tormenting and pulling apart tiny creatures.................. OR .................do they?

 

Our rescues during the year invariably involve birds and small creatures such as squirrels and stoats caught by cats.. Every year we have tiny fox cubs caught by cats and removed from their earths obviously unconcerned for the stressed vixen.

 

Last year we were called to a house that had a cat who had stopped going out. . The lady called us because the cause of her felines confinement was·a grumpy fox at the bottom of the garden. Every time the cat went out the fox chased it back in. When we arrived the grouchy fox at the bottom of the garden immediately fled from us . We opened the door and watched the cat cautiously appear. The proud feline confident with human body guards headed straight for the bottom of the garden and the old and very unused shed. We followed to see what the curious cat was up to. On closer inspection of the shed we found three tiny fox cubs that were a few days old and about the size of a tiny kitten. They were just the right size for a cat to catch and play with. The clever fox knew the cat wanted them and had been protecting her cubs.

 

After we had disturbed the den by entering the shed the vixen moved the fox cubs the following night and peace was restored to the household.

 

We are always asked how we feel about cats . I have noticed over the years that people fall very clearly into two camps.

 

Those that love·'em and those that hate·‘em.

 

Well a look at their history and involvement in our lives both past and present may hold the key and the truth behind these compact, small··and very efficient feline hunters.

 

Cats have featured in our history for many thousands of years. A necessity in the past to protected our food from rats and mice·and now as one of the most popular companions· and pampered pets·on our planet .

In Cyprus in 1983 human remains were··was discovered dating to 7500 BC and next to this Neolithic grave was the tiny remains of an eight month old cat.·The tiny angel was facing and laid in the same direction as the human. Cats were not native to Cyprus at that time so it is assumed the young feline must have arrived by boat with its human companion and was surely a pet.

 

The Egyptian were the first on record to keep cats some 4,000 years ago, they used them to control pests and protect their grain.··The cats··were revered as hunters and worshiped as Gods.·In Egyptian times death was the harsh, but some would say a fair, sentence for harming a feline friend.

 

An inscription on the royal tombs says "Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; thou art indeed the Great Cat. "Cats were said to captured the glow of the setting sun in their eyes and kept it safe until morning. When the Persians attacked part of Egypt they tied cats to their shields - the Egyptians did not fight them.

 

After realizing the cats·attractive qualities the Egyptian took them to Europe where their popularity spread. Rats and Mice were problems in the growing cities developing and these clean and clever creatures were the perfect solution. Long haired cats arrived from Iran and Turkey and most of the world was taken with this affectionate hard worker.

Big·cats such as Lions and Tigers descended from early carnivores called miacids. From the miacids modern wild cat developed into three main types; the European wild cat, the African wild cat and the Asiatic desert cat. The domestic cat is thought to have evolved from the African wild cat because of its tabby markings.

 

To me the cat family is one of the most majestic and fascinating creatures on our planet.·I love lions and had the honour to spend a very short time working at a rescue in South Africa.

 

Whilst I sometimes curse the domestic cat·for the many patients they bring into the rescue I cant help but admire them.

 

I wonder if we look at their history and some of the customs and myths·around the world involving this versatile and adaptive creature we can·understand the strong affections they hold for so many people on our planet and maybe where we have expected a little too much change from their historical purpose.

 

As a child my father was adamant the our pet cat shouldn't be fed everyday and that he had to earn his keep. Neither my mother or I subscribed to that and whilst my rescues at an early age involved many of its chewed quarry we always fed our pampered feline.

 

Some feline facts

 

Ailurophobia, aelurophobia, felinophobia and gatophobia is·the fear of cats.

 

Cats purr at 26 cycles per second, the same as an idling diesel engine.

 

The reason cats respond to catnip is because catnip actually smells like the urine of a dominant female cat. When cats smell this·scent, they believe the dominant female is around so they roll around and become docile to impress her!

 

The cat uses it’s tail·to balance.

 

If a cat is wagging it’s tail it is decision making.

 

Cat Proverbs from around the world:

 

If a cat washes behind its ears, it will rain.

 

Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.

 

Dogs remember faces, cats remember places.

 

After cats eat they wash to remove the scent of food so as not to attract predators

 

Clowder is a group of cats

 

Cat can't taste sweet things.

 

Cat’s cannot·move their jaws sideways.

 

CATS AROUND THE WORLD

 

Dreaming of a white cat means good luck - American.

 

A cat sleeping with all four paws tucked under means cold weather ahead.

 

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.

 

A cat sneezing is a good omen for everyone who hears it – Italian.

 

To kill a cat brings 17 years of bad luck – Irish.

 

A strange black cat on your porch brings prosperity – Scottish.

 

When the pupil of a cat’s eye broadens, there will be rain – Welsh.

 

Happy owner, happy cat. Indifferent owner, reclusive cat – Chinese.

 

When the cat and mouse agree, the grocer is ruined – Iranian.

 

If stretching were wealth, the cat would be rich – African.

 

The cat was created when the lion sneezed – Arabian.

 

He that denies the cat skimmed milk must give the mouse cream – Russian.

 

The cat laps moon-beams in the bowl of water, thinking them to be milk – Hindu.

 

Books and cats and fair-haired little girls make the best furnishing for a room – French.

 

It is better to feed one cat than many mice - Norwegian.

 

When·Noah built his Ark he asked the Lions·for help·controlling the·rats and mIce . To which the·lion sneezed and out popped two domestic cats who went straight to work and solved the problem.

 

In Christian folklore the Virgin Mary·blessed a cat that killed a venomous snake sent by the Devil to bite the Christ child in his crib. In a related version from Christian folklore, the infant Jesus was laying in the manger shivering from cold. Alerted by his cries, a mother tabby cat lay next to the child to warm him up. In gratitude, Mary stroked the cats forehead, marking it with an 'M' and to this day, the caring mother cat's descendants all carry the mark of Mary.

 

Early Christian’s believed that if two cats were fighting by a grave they were really the Devil and an Angel fighting for their soul

 

Pope Gregory 1X denounced black cats as Satanic in his 1233 Bull ‘Vox in Rama’ . Thousands of cats were burned alive. This lead to the outbreak··of the Great Plagues in England and Europe.

 

In Japan cats turn into super spirits when they die.·The body of the cat is the temporary resting place of the soul according to Buddhists.·Manekineko or the beckoning cat ·stood on the step·and called a Lord over. A lightening bolt then struck the place where the lord had been standing so Manekineko save the Lords life.·Manekineko was considered an incarnation of the Goddess of Mercy. The raised paw of·Manekineko beckons in happiness and harmony. Beckoning cats are often sold as money boxes and in a house they are supposed to beckon in good friends.

 

The Prophet Mohammed was being called to prayer but his beloved tabby cat was sleeping on the sleeve of his robe so rather than awake the cat, the Prophet simply tore his sleeve and went off to prayer.·He said that a woman who starved a cat to death was sentenced to Hell.··To Muslims pigs and dogs are unclean, but the fastidious cat is tolerated.

 

In Burma when a Siamese kings dies, his·soul will·pass on to·Siamese cats, so he can be present at the coronation of the next in line.

 

The Scandinavian goddess Freyja rode in a chariot drawn by cats whilst farmers left out offerings for her cats to ensure a health crop.

 

In Chinese legends·cats were put in charge of the world and had the power of speech. The cats then delegated this job to humans so that felines could laze about.

 

Many sailors believed that if a cat falls overboard it would cause··a storm and··sink the ship.

 

The Russian Karellian cat is a longhaired bobtailed cat. Karellians are believed to be enchanted princesses

In England, black cats are considered lucky and white cats unlucky. In America it is the other way round. In Russia, blue cats are lucky, in Japan it's tortoiseshell-and-white··and··in Canada··tri-coloured.

 

In England if a black cat crosses your path its good luck··but in America if it crossed your path from the left it brought ill luck, however if it crossed from the right it brought good fortune.

 

If you pour water on a cat in Indonesia it will summon rain.

 

Famous Ailurophiles

 

Abraham Lincoln's cat, Tabby was the first of several White House Presidential·cats.

Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging cat door for the convenience of his many cats.

Writer Edward Lear was devoted to his cat, Foss, whom he laid to rest in his Italian Garden.

Florence Nightingale was devoted to Bismark, a large Persian cat.

The Prophet Mohammed·loved all·cats .

French artists Renior and Monet loved cats and put them in several of their paintings.

Sir Winston Churchill always refused to start dinner until his orange tabby, Jock, was present at the table. Jock also attended wartime cabinet meetings.

St. Gregory the Great had no worldly goods except a cat, whom he liked to hold in his arms and stoke while he was meditating.

 

Edgar Allan Poe loved and owned cats.

Pope Leo XII was well known for his affection for Micette, a cat who was born in the Vatican.

Raymond Chandler had long conversations with with his Black Persian, Taki, and called her his secretary because she sat on his manuscripts as he tried to revise them.

Charles Dickens' beloved feline was well known for snuffing out Dickens' candle as a means to get his attention

 

The French poet Charles Baudelaire loved cats so much he tossed his girlfriend out of the house because her dogs irritated his cats.

 

Christy Brown was the great Irish poet who was paralyzed by cerebral·palsy. He·wrote an emotional poem called "In Memory Of Melba our Cat

 

Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar Award for playing Christy Brown in the famous movie "My Left Foot."

I am a siamese owner and·she really is my friend.·She is now seventeen years old and our communication is just about perfect. She talks to me and takes great interest in new additions demonstrating her approval loudly.·All of my three children had two baby alarms when born one standard intercom and Tinkerbell my siamese. She would always come and find me and call me and direct me to their room if they were crying. I·have never really been too sure if she came to get me because she was concerned for their safety and·understood their pain or because she felt they were noisy and disturbing her rest.

 

Looking at the colourful history of our feline friends and the way they have arrived as firm favourites in our hearts, I can see where maybe mother nature hasn't quiet caught up with their new pampered roles. As protectors of our food and hunters of rats and mice they must be top of the eco friendly and efficiency list. If we didn't feed them population plagues probably would not exist.·We have removed their hunger for food but maybe not their desire to work and please us.

 

Whether you are an Ailurophile or Ailurophobe you must surely forgive these delightful creatures for·their innate ability to hunt and cherish the perfection they have achieved in this role.

 

I have not changed my mind and all their colourful history make me adore them more for their loyalty to us even when history shows we have been less than loyal to them .

I can say without hesitation I am an Ailurophile

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