Here is a nice little video rebuttal to anyone who uses the phrase "lower life forms", anyone who says animals can't think, or can't visualize another's perspective, or aren't altruistic, or any of that crap...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Healer Cat Gets Team Support
The San Jose, California, Mercury News recently had an article about a cat who has taken it upon himself to help other cats.
Christopher was found on the side of a road unable to stand because his pelvis was fractured. He was taken to the Nine Lives Foundation's Feline Well-Care Clinic, where he was tended to and recuperated. He now lives at the clinic. Now, he will go to the cage of a sick cat and sit until someone lets him in, whereupon he comforts the cat inside.
Even more remarkably, he asked to be let in with a couple of feral kittens that were unapproachable and within a couple of weeks he had them completely socialized.
The newspaper article uses the word "tame", but what he did was socialize the kittens, so that they knew how to act with humans. This is the very definition of society, the passing of learned behavior from one generation to the next.
Going beyond even this, Christopher helped save the life of a tiny black kitten that needed an immediate blood transfusion. The doctor could not even get enough blood from the kitten to determine the blood type.
But then Christopher started rubbing on the doctor and nuzzling the kitten in a way that made the doctor think to use Christopher's blood for the transfusion. As it turns out, both the kitten and Christopher have the same rare blood type. Christopher was the perfect donor, and the kitten recovered.
Dr. Thompson said that if she hadn't paid attention to Christopher, the kitten would have died.
And that's another remarkable thing about Christopher's story. Not only does he want to help the cats at the clinic, the people there are alert and aware enough to pay that much attention to him.
Christopher and the people of the clinic make a wonderful team. You can read the whole article about Christopher at the newspaper's site.
The Nine Lives Foundation Shelter is at 3016 Rolison Road, Redwood City, California.
The Feline Well-Care Clinic is at 1683 Broadway, Redwood City, California
Christopher was found on the side of a road unable to stand because his pelvis was fractured. He was taken to the Nine Lives Foundation's Feline Well-Care Clinic, where he was tended to and recuperated. He now lives at the clinic. Now, he will go to the cage of a sick cat and sit until someone lets him in, whereupon he comforts the cat inside.Even more remarkably, he asked to be let in with a couple of feral kittens that were unapproachable and within a couple of weeks he had them completely socialized.
The newspaper article uses the word "tame", but what he did was socialize the kittens, so that they knew how to act with humans. This is the very definition of society, the passing of learned behavior from one generation to the next.
Going beyond even this, Christopher helped save the life of a tiny black kitten that needed an immediate blood transfusion. The doctor could not even get enough blood from the kitten to determine the blood type.
But then Christopher started rubbing on the doctor and nuzzling the kitten in a way that made the doctor think to use Christopher's blood for the transfusion. As it turns out, both the kitten and Christopher have the same rare blood type. Christopher was the perfect donor, and the kitten recovered.
Dr. Thompson said that if she hadn't paid attention to Christopher, the kitten would have died.
And that's another remarkable thing about Christopher's story. Not only does he want to help the cats at the clinic, the people there are alert and aware enough to pay that much attention to him.
Christopher and the people of the clinic make a wonderful team. You can read the whole article about Christopher at the newspaper's site.
The Nine Lives Foundation Shelter is at 3016 Rolison Road, Redwood City, California.
The Feline Well-Care Clinic is at 1683 Broadway, Redwood City, California
Thursday, August 19, 2010
This is not the lion I'm looking for...
...because obviously this is a staged scene. But it's still pretty cool.
The lion story I'm looking for is, I believe, a true story. I wrote what I could remember about it here.
Anyway, in this scene, Fagan the lion is looking for his owner, when he happens to hear his favorite song...
The lion story I'm looking for is, I believe, a true story. I wrote what I could remember about it here.
Anyway, in this scene, Fagan the lion is looking for his owner, when he happens to hear his favorite song...
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Remembering Christian
In remembrance of Christian's birthday (August 12, 1969), Ace Bourke has posted a wonderful picture on his blog. He's even been kind enough to post a very high resolution version of it; you can get it if you go to his blog and click on the picture.
All I can say is, look at Christian's eyes. LOOK AT THOSE EYES! Ace says the picture makes him want to cry, and I can understand that. It makes me want to cry, too. You can see his love in his eyes. Christian always seemed so connected to the people around him; he always seemed to me to be so very able to get people to think differently about animals. And it seems to me he still is able to do that, even though he left us so long ago.
Thank you, Ace, for sharing this "new" picture with us.
All I can say is, look at Christian's eyes. LOOK AT THOSE EYES! Ace says the picture makes him want to cry, and I can understand that. It makes me want to cry, too. You can see his love in his eyes. Christian always seemed so connected to the people around him; he always seemed to me to be so very able to get people to think differently about animals. And it seems to me he still is able to do that, even though he left us so long ago.
Thank you, Ace, for sharing this "new" picture with us.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Simple Pleasures
While humans wrestle with the question of legalizing marijuana, cats just wrestle with catnip...
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