Naming Your Cat

With all apologies to T.S. Eliot, the naming of cats is not all that delicate a matter.
But some thought should certainly be given to it. Giving the cat a foolish or ugly name on
the spur of the moment because it sounds funny is no way to start a relationship. It
encourages a careless and disrespectful attitude toward the cat not only in yourself, but in
other people as well. A bad name encourages a bad attitude toward the cat. Fortunately,
coming up with a good name can be fun and there are endless possibilities for ideas.
                    One very popular way for finding a good name is to look up the names of stars,
galaxies or constellations. You don't have to stick with just the major ones. Look up
some of the minor constellations and stars as well. You could find just the perfect name
in a constellation you had previously never heard of. You too may find you have a
Dorado or Indus on your hands. Another popular means of naming cats is using human
names. Matilda, Annie, Pete and Bobby are all quite popular. Some people name their
cats after movie stars or characters in a favorite film or book. I'm certain that at this very
moment, there are a large number of Frodos purring contentedly on their favorite
windowsill right now.

    Another good way to name a cat is by using something in their appearance to
name them. Many calico colored cats have been simply named Calico. Spotted cats of
any color frequently have the name of Patch. One cat was named Shadow because her
black and tan tiger stripes seemed to melt into the late afternoon shadows the first time
her new owner saw her. A gray kitten was quite suitably named Ash.

      Sometimes it is something the did that suggested their name. One kitten had a
habit of scaring himself silly. When he and his siblings first learned to climb trees, he
became over excited and rushed up higher than he was brave enough to climb down from.
The poor little gay clung to a branch crying at the top of his lungs while the adult cats
rushed around trying figure out a way to get him down. It only required a stool to retrieve
the little guy, but he was sure he was stuck halfway to the moon. Another time he
managed to get his head stuck between the slats on an old corn crib. He was safely
rescued after considerable effort. Due to this undeniable talent for scaring himself, he was
named Spook.
     
      Sometimes it is the cats' personality that suggests a name. A bold little explorer
who was the first kitten in his litter to explore the world outside their nest was named
Boone. A handsome brown kitten was so very fastidious in everything he did (one never
puts ones' paws in the food dish, that's dirty!) that he was eventually named Thomas.
     
      Naming a cat can be a pleasant and entertaining task. It's often the very first thing
a person does when he or she picks out a new companion. Take a little time to select just
the right name for your new friend. A good name will set your new relationship off on
just the right foot.

cat

Cat Behavior

Cats are known as solitary animals. They don't hunt communally or share the
spoils of a hunt. Sometimes cats with adjoining territories will get together for a pleasant
evening grooming session, but on the whole they are not the most social creatures with
others of their kind. This general wisdom does not always seem to hold up.
     My barn cats are a single family descended from a lone female who wandered
onto our place one day and decided to stay. She and her children and grandchildren police
the local rodent population. Their behavior doesn't always match the solitary hunter of
common wisdom.

    The original female, Patch, used to like to take her kittens for daytrips around the
area. I've watched her bring her little brood back from wherever they've been in the
evenings. One evening I watched her stop and sit down near the edge of a small, lightly
used road running next to our farm. Two of her kittens stopped next to her. As she turned
her head one way and then the other, carefully looking for traffic, the kittens mimicked
her actions. The only one who didn't was the little orange tiger who became distracted by
a butterfly. Patch retrieved her wandering kitten and brought the whole family home.
Walks are still a part of kitten lessons.

      I recently watched Patch, her daughter and three of their kittens taking a walk
around the boundaries of our farm. Patch and her daughter led the way. The two younger
kittens were in the middle. The oldest kitten, not quite a year old brought up the rear.
When one of the younger kittens stopped too long, he tried to move them along. If he
couldn't then one of the mother cats would come back and get the little guy moving. I've
wondered what this little jaunt was about. Possibly Patch was showing the newest
members of her family where their territorial boundaries were?

    Some of the most interesting behavior I've seen regards family member who were
injured. One of Patches' sons is a big burley black and white adult tom. A very handsome
and friendly boy, he unfortunately has a talent for trouble. One day he came limping
heavily into the yard wailing at the top of his lungs. His mother and sisters raced up to
him as fast as they could. While he continued to cry, Patch began washing his face and
ears while his sisters lay down over top of him. They stayed that way for some time while
I called the vet. I'm happy to report that he recovered just fine with only a hitch in his
giddyup to remember his adventure by.

       Another of Patches sons, a brown and white tom just under a year old, got into a
fight with his eldest brother. During the fight his foot was injured and began to swell. I
found him limping along on three legs the following morning. I brought him onto our
porch where I could keep a close eye on him and he could recover without further
injuring his foot. While he was recuperating, various members of the family perched
outside the porch windows, keeping him company.

    These are just a few examples I've seen among my cats. Maybe they are unusual.
I've certainly never seen cats act this way before. Or maybe, just maybe, cats aren't such
social isolates as everyone's always thought!

A Short History Of Cats

  
It's been less that 10,000 years since cats swaggered into our lives. Hardly an eye blink in
the grand sweep of life on this planet. Why were cats so late to join our team? The simple
answer is they didn't need us to survive. Cats were surviving just fine on their own. Then,
people invented agriculture. Agriculture resulted in large scale storage of grains which
attracted the usual and well know group of freeloaders, mice and rats. Grain attracted
rodents. Rodents attracted cats who consider them tasty meals. The result was that cats
set up housekeeping close to human settlements. Eventually, cats being cats, moved right
on in.

    Who were these first cats? The first clue lies in where agriculture was first
practiced. Agriculture first took root (no pun intended) in the Middle East in a great
sweep from modern day Turkey to Egypt. Within this area ranges the African wild cat,
Felis libyca. African wild cats are slightly larger that our modern house cats and are
yellow in color with muted stripes. These cats have a docile, almost laid back nature.
Interestingly, these cats still tend to live and hunt near human dwellings today. Locals
still like to catch and rear young wild cats as pets. When mature, wild cats raised by
humans tend to behave very much like our familiar housecats. A very good case can (and
has) been advanced designating Felis libyca as the principal founding population for
domestic cats. At least two other varieties of wild cat are speculated to have contributed
to the genetic make up of domestic cats. One is Felis silvestris, The European wildcat
who appears to have contributed darker markings and a peppery spirit to the African wild
cat base. Also, from Asia, comes the Pallas or Steppe cat (Felis manul) that appears to
have contributed long-haired coats to the mix.

    The early period of domestication of cats is vague with only patches of evidence.
However, by 6,000 B.C. statues found in Anatolia (modern Turkey) show women playing
with domestic cats. Cats had clearly become common and affectionate pets by that time.
The earliest written records about cats appear by approximately 4,000 B.C. in Egypt
where they were frequently kept to hunt mice and rats from stored grains. It was a good
time to be a cat in ancient Egypt. Domestic cats were thought to be the embodiment of
the goddess Bast (or Bastet). There was a necropolis at her principal temple at Bubastis
that contained mummified cats.

    Romans spread the domestic cat northward into central Europe and westward to
Britain during the expansion of their empire. Cats were quickly adopted and admired as
great hunters.  And they continued to move north and east in Europe.  The Vikings used
cats as both rodent hunters and pets. The Viking goddess of love and war, Freyja, was
associated with cats. Huge winged cats drew her chariot. It also became the custom to
give new brides a kitten in her name.

    The Middle Ages it were a very bad time to be a cat. Cats were said to be witches
familiars, in league with the devil. Because of this superstition, cats were routinely killed
during festivals. Sometimes they were even burned alive or thrown off tall buildings. The
Europeans paid heavily for their cruelty to cats. The deaths of so many cats allowed the
rodent population to rise out of control, bringing in the Black Death which killed so much
of the European population. Eventually, the cats' cleanly ways and hunting prowess
redeemed them in the eyes of the people of Europe. By the 1600s, people in France began
putting little holes near the bottom of their doors to allow their cats to enter and leave as
they please.

    In Asia cats continued to be familiar hunters and cherished pets. Cats were often
subjects for drawing and painting in China. In Japan, cats in the form of Maneki Neko,
usually portrayed as a sitting cat with one paw raised and bent, are considered good
fortune. They are often found in businesses to draw in money.

    The history of cats is a fascinating one, worthy of much more in depth study. It
fosters an appreciation for the personalities and talents of our pets.
   

It seems strange that there was ever a time when cats were not a part of our lives.

Shipleyscarf

I'm a bit unsure about my new scarf. It's very noisy, never stops eating, and I think I found a parasite attached to it earlier.