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Cat social structure

As you may know from many of the other articles on this site, I live with 2 cats. One of them seems to be dominant over the other, with the other often taking their cues from the dominant one.  That got me thinking about cat hierarchy. What is the cat social structure and how is it established?  Catster.com says that most wild cats (except lions) are solitary predators. They find a large enough territory to supply enough prey to feed themselves and stick to it, except for mating or if they get in a dispute with another cat about where the boundaries of the territory are.  However, domestic cats have adapted to living in groups when there are enough resources...

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Patron saint of cats?

Last week was St. Patrick's day, but did you there is another Saint's day that falls on March 17th? St. Gertrude of Nivelles is also honored on March 17th, and I bring her up here because she is sometimes called the patron saint of cats! Acccording to U.S. Catholic, Gertrude of Nivelles was born in 626 and was the youngest of 4 children in the family. During that time, families would often look to increase their prestige by looking for stragetic marriages with noble families. Her father had arranged a match between her sister and the son of a powerful bishop, and he seemed to have the same idea for Gertrude. When Gertrude was 10 years old, her father hosted...

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Green cats?

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, and that got me thinking about green cats, so I went online to find out if there was ever a green cat.  Are green cats real?  The first thing I found was a green cat who mysteriously appeared in Bulgaria. I even found this video where you can see the green cat, along with a more traditionally colored orange friend!  According to UK's Daily mail, people originally thought that the cat was dyed green as part of a joke, but it was later discovered that she liked to sleep at a construction yard and was picking up the green coloring from paint there. She then disappeared for a few days, and people started worrying that...

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Can cats laugh?

Sometimes when I go to bed at night one of my cats will lay beside me with his tail toward my face, and then whack me in the face with his tail, usually in the mouth. I then purse my lips and blow to try to blow the fur off my lips, and I swear he does it on purpose because he thinks it's funny. But is it true? Can cats laugh? Let's see what the experts think! Do cats have a sense of humor?  A few weeks ago, I was looking into whether cats get embarrassed and learned that cats do experience emotions like fear and joy. Do they also have a sense of humor? Cats.com says when cats...

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Room 8 - the most famous cat in Los Angeles

This week I wanted to talk about a famous cat who was adopted by an entire school. Let's meet a cat named Room 8!  Accoring to the LA Times, in 1952 a grey and white tabby cat wandered into Elysian Heights Elementary school. Explore Historic California mentions that the cat walked around the desks, got some pets and that someone remarked that he was the skinniest cat they had ever seen. When recess came, the children gave the cat some milk and went out. When they returned, they found their lunches had been raided and the culprit fast asleep! Later, when lunchtime came, he followed along and got even more tasty treats from the children's lunches.  After that 1st day,...

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