Charlie ShortTail has a scary encounter with “the Horrid Creature”.
I was out for a nice, relaxing evening stroll and then I saw it, the horrid creature.🙀
It was smelly, hairy and it had slobber drooling from it’s mouth.
I cringed, drew back and felt the fur on my back rise and bristle. My tiny (but very cute) tail bushed up in fear.
It was the man next door!
I ran quickly to hide under the bushes. Lando was nowhere to be seen. He’s supposed to be on guard.
The creature’s big feet thumped along the path to Mama’s house; the man rang the door bell. What could he want? I hoped I could sneak into the shadows and climb over the wall to safety. With a swift jump I was gone! I couldn’t risk him seeing me. What if he tried to touch me?
The creature spoke in a loud, deep voice but I couldn’t understand what the man was saying.
It got worse, the ‘Dad’ opened the door and let the horrid creature into Mama’s house.
The creatures clothes were tatty, dirty, smelly and oily. He had huge, scary boots. What could he possibly want?
I leapt quickly over the side roof, and ran along the hedges to the back garden to warn Lando.
This was a disaster. When would it be safe to go home?
Mama came into the garden and called us. “Charlie”, “Lando” she called; we crept out of da bushes.
“What is wrong?” She asked. We looked towards the house…. Mama knows we are scared of him.
Oh! Him, he has just bought some eggs for us … “come in you two”.
I let Mama carry me, and Lando walked close to Mama.
Always trust your instincts me an Lando think. We don’t trust him….What do you think?
Read about Charlie’s awful tar episode…
Tar on my cat paws
I came home today with tar on my paws. Mama panicked in case they were burnt too.
It was thick, black, sticky, stinky and matted into my fur. Mama held me and dipped my paws into vegetable oil right away as this is supposed to soften the tar.
She was able to get a big lump of it off, but holding me in one arm and trying to clean me wiv the other hand was proving too difficult, if not impossible.
Help from Nan.
So, Mama phoned the Nan (not on da banana fone). Mama wrapped me in a blanket and Nan soaked my paws in oil and used a Qtip to get in between my pads.
I was very good (mostly). After they cleaned what they could, the next stage was to cut off the fur that was really caked in the awful tar.
Nan was worried about which was fur and which was paw, so I shut my eyes and hoped for the best. It was okay she didn’t hurt me at all.
The final clean up
After all this they scrubbed my paws with washing up liquid and then rinsed with lots and lots of warm water.
Mama was much calmer at this point as she could see I had not burnt or hurt my paws.
I was a bit of a mess though! I had streaks of oil in my fur and loads of wet patches. I looked a bit pitiful Mama thought.
The reward
Because I was so good and let mama hold me in the blanket, and let the Nan clean me up without biting or scratching I got a big bowl of tuna.
What happens next?
I’m grounded because no-one knows where the tar was from. Mama says tar is really toxic for cats and we mustn’t be allowed to lick it.
If it hadn’t of come off Mama would have had to cover my paws with something. That would have been trouble so we are all glad it got sorted out.
Can cats and dogs predict earthquakes and other extreme weather events?
Many owners and some scientists believe that yes, animals do sense changes before an earthquake or extreme weather event.
Animals are more sensitive to electro-magnetic changes in the earth.
Animals may detect high-frequency sounds that are emitted prior to earthquakes and tsunamis.
Animals have been observed to flee before the extreme weather events occur.
According to The Daily Mail (article by Sarah Griffiths) March 2015 ‘animals can predict earthquakes’.
Griffiths states that:
- Animals CAN predict earthquakes: Scientists document behavioural changes with seismic activity.
- Scientists filmed the behaviour of animals in Peru before an earthquake and found that many fled to lower ground and holed up days before the event.
- Expert from Anglia Ruskin University said rodents are extra sensitive.
- Study suggests animals respond to disturbances in the ionosphere.
- Positive ions in the air lead to disagreeable side effects in animals.
Can cats and other animals predict earthquakes? The earliest reference of unusual animal behaviour before earthquakes.
There is anecdotal evidence of unusual or bizarre behaviour by animals before an earthquake that dates back to 373 BCE in Greece. (According to the US Geological Survey)
The Greeks observed that rats fled from the city of Helice days before the major earthquake struck.
Animal Planet documents theories about how cats and other animals might sense these impending seismic shifts, including the ability to detect the vibrations that occur before an earthquake, known as primary waves (P waves).
What do cats, dogs and other animals sense before earthquakes, tsunamis and extreme weather events?
Cats and other animals are more sensitive to earthquake-related electromagnetic field variations.
Dogs have extraordinary hearing and some scientists think that dogs flee from extreme weather events because they can hear the high-frequency sounds that are caused by earthquakes.
Dogs and other animals survived a Tsunami by fleeing before the event.
Why do pets show seemingly bizarre behaviour before earthquakes and extreme weather events?
These behaviours are driven by fear and are part of your pets’ natural survival instincts.
Cats and dogs may start exhibiting odd behaviours anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake hits. Scientists question as to whether this behaviour is due to the weather events or other circumstances.
Pet owners’ may be certain themselves that their cat or dog was displaying very unusual behaviours not normally seen.
The National Geographic reports that “Sheldrake did his own study looking at animal reactions before major tremors, including the Northridge, California, quake in 1994, and the Greek and Turkish quakes in 1999.
In all cases, he said, there were reports of peculiar behaviour beforehand, including dogs howling in the night mysteriously, caged birds becoming restless, and cats behaving nervously, vocalising and hiding.”
Japan and the study of whether cats and fish can predict earthquakes
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries. The devastation has caused the loss of many lives and left enormous damage to property. Researchers in Japan have studied animals for a long time to try to discover what they hear or feel before the Earth shakes. They hope to use this knowledge to help predict earthquakes in the future.
Mitsuaki Ota, a professor of veterinary science at Azabu University states that “Electromagnetic waves are emitted before an earthquake happens. Animals have the ability to detect these electromagnetic waves,” Ota says. “Actually, the Thais showed that after last year’s Indian Ocean tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra that not a single animal was killed by the wave. The only answer I can offer for that is that the animals detected the earthquake and then fled to safety.”
Companion Animal psychology has an article discussing animals and the prediction of earthquakes in Japan. They document that “Japanese scientists Hiroyuki Yamauchi et al (2014) conducted an internet survey of pet owners. As well as obtaining demographic information about pets, they asked about any unusual behaviour exhibited in the minutes, hours and days prior to the earthquake. The checklist included things like howling and barking (for dogs), vocalizing (for cats), trembling, being restless, and escaping.
Of those who reported unusual behaviours in dogs, they were most commonly observed immediately prior to the earthquake, in the seconds and minutes before it hit (60% of cases). 16.7% said it happened from 1 to a few hours before. In cats with unusual behaviour, 44.6% showed it immediately prior and 30.4% in the few hours before the earthquake. Some owners reported changes 6 or more days before (6.3% of dogs and 2.9% of cats with unusual behaviour).”
The Japanese continue their studies in the hope that our pets may help us to predict future earthquakes, tsunamis and extreme weather events and in doing so, saves lives.
References
Yamauchi, H., Uchiyama, H., Ohtani, N., & Ohta, M. (4). Unusual animal behaviour preceding the 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan: A way to predict the approach of large earthquakes Animals, 131-145
Kirschvink, Joseph L. (2000). Earthquake Prediction by Animals: Evolution and Sensory Perception, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 90, pp. 312-323.
Quammen, D. (1985). Animals and earthquakes: This World, San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, p. 15-16.
Schaal, Rand B. (1988). An Evaluation of the Animal Behaviour Theory for Earthquake Prediction, California Geology, v41, n2.
Why do cats have legs and not arms?
Cats generally get around on all four limbs, that is they are quadripeds.
They walk on four limbs or legs. They may be able to walk on two legs, but not as a preference.
Cats have legs; front and hind legs.
Legs are weight bearing limbs for locomotion.
Cats are ‘digitigrades’ that is they walk on their toes (dogs do as well).
The word “arm” refers to a limb that has a hand on the end of it, not a foot. Therefore, again cats have legs not arms.
Do cats have knees?
Cats have knee and elbow joints but not wrists or ankles.
Cats have knees on their back legs and have elbows on their front legs.
Cats have patellas, or kneecaps, on their back legs but not on their front legs, this means two knees and two elbows per cat.
Cats use each leg as if it has both a knee and an elbow though.
Cats do have knees.
Why do cats have paws and not hands or feet?
A paw is defined as something that belongs to an animal not a human.
A paw is the foot of an animal; this can be a fore or hind-foot.
Paws are usually furry and roundish with claws.
Feet are mostly hairless, longish in shape and have nails.
Only people, primates and a minority of creatures have appendages that can be called “hands”.
Cats have paws.
Charlie ShortTails’s brother ‘Lando Enzo’
This is my very special brother ‘Lando Enzo’.
He is older than me and a clever cat. Lando is a tabby with spots that turn into stripes.
Lando loves to patrol the garden and no other cats are allowed into our patch.
He thinks he is special forces cat with ninja skills! He practises with his favourite toy smelly mouse.
Lando likes to stage watch from the window seat; this is also next to the radiator!
Lando is a very neat cat and is never seen with a muddy paw or face.
Charlie’s furriends and pawtraits
Introducing Mz. Chaos
Chaos is a little tortoiseshell cat. She is gentle and loving and likes nothing better than a big cuddle up with her small human brother.
Mz. Chaos has to have a special diet because she is allergic to many things and her Mama spent a lot of time researching and reading up on how to help with her problems.
She cannot eat foods with grains in, and she is also allergic to flea bites (flea allergy dermatitis), so she becomes itchy and scratches a lot.
When she is bad she can have loss of fur and many lumps.
She left her old home because she was unhappy and adopted her new Mama and brother.
She is now much loved and cared for and her allergies are under control.
Her only bad habits are sneaking inside beds and drooling!
