Caturday felids : science-defying cat, cat riding tortoise, and cat helping autistic boy

June 20, 2015 • 9:00 am

I’m hoping that my co-moderators will continue on with Caturday Felids after this week, as I pride myself on never having missed a Caturday, even during my travels. Today

Richard Dawkins, who I guess by now knows of my ailurophilia, sent me this tw**t. Call a scientist! (Click to see the video.)

https://twitter.com/BabyAnimalPics/status/601845054932647936/photo/1

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Here’s a kitten riding a tortoise (does anybody know the species?). Note: you may want to turn the sound down to avoid the annoying music.

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Finally, from Love Meow, we have the touching story of Fraser Booth, an autistic boy, who was dramatically helped by his friendship with a gray cat, Billy.  I’m not sure how this works, and perhaps the story is anecdotal and not indicative of a possible therapy, but it is certainly striking. Can cats often be therapeutic for children with autism? From the article:

Billy a rescue stray has made a complete difference to an autistic child, Fraser Booth, and brought him out of his shell.

Before Billy, Fraser was born screaming and became overwhelmed by everyday activities. Every day life can be a challenge for Fraser. (Daily Mail)

When Fraser was a two-year-old, he met Billy at the cat protection shelter. Billy purred and laid his paws across Fraser, and they have been inseparable ever since. Slowly but surely Billy has transformed Fraser’s life.

When Fraser met Billy, a video:

Some photos:

“He always appears when Fraser is getting upset and offers his head close to Fraser’s to reassure him and recently, when Fraser was poorly, Billy sat on his lap all day.

They say animals can sense things, but Billy seems to know before anybody else if Fraser is going to get upset.”

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“The first time we took Fraser to see Billy, the cat went straight to him… Fraser sat down on the floor and Billy laid across him with his paws on his legs and just started purring. Fraser said ‘This is our cat, he can come live with us,’ and that was that.”

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Billy has taken away the stress away from Fraser and added a lot of happiness and calmness into Fraser’s life.

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h/t: Laurie

38 thoughts on “Caturday felids : science-defying cat, cat riding tortoise, and cat helping autistic boy”

  2. Note: you may want to turn the sound down to avoid the annoying music.

    That is NOT music.

  3. The tortoise is a Centrochelys sulcata, African Spurred Tortoise. They are pretty good lawnmowers once they reach that size. You can kinda see its shell is bumpy, giving the kitten some purchase. It’s an unfortunate and common issue for these and other pet torts called pyramiding. It can be disabiling if it gets too severe (this one in the video is ok) and seems to be caused by low humidity while young, too much protein, or wrong mineral levels in food. I love mine but actively dissuade anyone from owning them, they are a bit of a pain, eat like horses, and poop big ok huge piles of fermented vegetable matter that rival that if a Great Dane! They are, of course, also endangered in Africa.

        1. 1st reply lost to the ether…?

          In C. Sulcata’s case it is camouflage for sub-Saharan grasslands, but has, on several heart-stoping occasions , proven to be excellent camo for suburban backyards !

          1. Yes my tortoise, Esther, had many a time worried us as we looked everywhere for him. He even once got out and walked down the sidewalk to check out the construction then came home.

            Other times he’d simply gone to sleep but it was impossible to find him in really obvious places.

        2. Are tortoises jungle animals? The only wild examples I can think of are from fairly arid environments.

          2. He’s, my tortoise, Esther

            There’s a story there …
            Let me guess – sexing tortoise hatchlings isn’t easy?

          3. Let’s just say it was gross when Esther entered his adolescents and we learned he was a male.

          4. [Eyes drawn to spelling mistake]
            OK, We’ll blame auto-correct and just move right on.

          6. ROTFL!!!

            I have a lizard who was supposedly male. I (knowing nothing), wanted to think they’d made a mistake, so I called the lizard “Liz.”

            Then, I asked someone who knew these things to show me how lizards are sexed, and he is a male.

            So, now, “Liz” is short for “Elizondro.”

      2. Wow, how wonderful to have had a tortoise for 40 years!

        If you’re talking about the even markings on the top of the carapace, it’s mostly a matter of the full scute–growth plate–showing in the middle, while around it the layers of previous scutes, sort of like tree rings, create a different pattern.

        But yes, they are very cryptic. I once thought one of my Russians had burrowed out and we called tracking dogs!

  4. Loved the video of Billy and Fraser. I’ve worked with people with developmental disabilities for the last decade and it almost got the waterworks flowing. I do feel like I should mention that people the community prefer to be refered to as “a boy with autism” rather than an “autistic boy”. It may sound trivial but they wish to put emphasis on the person first, to show that that might have a disability but they are not Just a disability with a person attached. It’s called “People First”. Not trying to nitpick, just wanted to let you know.
    Also have hear a news story about another child who bonded not with a cat, but a tortoise like the one in the cat riding video. Anecdotal proof of innate biophilia I suppose.

    1. Many years ago (maybe even before she went national),I saw Oprah ask her audience who considered herself something-American and who American-something, like, for example, Italian-American vs. an American-Italian.

      The majority of responses proved grammar skills, I’m afraid. Those who said they were American-something, because they were Americans, first and foremost, didn’t realize their verbage carried the opposite of the meaning they intended. The first of the two words is the adjective, a mere descriptor for the noun, which is the second, and foundational, of the two words.

      An “autistic boy” literally means a boy who just happens to also be autistic. It already puts the human/boy first.

      On the other hand, “a boy with autism” appears to separate the two, “boy” and “autism” a bit further. Unfortunately, minds often stick on the last thing they hear, not the first, so its intended effectiveness might backfire.

      1. I can’t argue the logic behind such preferences, I can only report them. There is, for obvious reasons, a great sensitivity surrounding language choice within the community. Acceptance and fair treatment of persons with physical or developmental disabilities is well behind that of racial or gender issues, but apparently doesn’t “trend” well on Twitter.

      1. I’m pretty sure I remember Jerry featured this fantastic cat at the time. Very cool that she got an award for protecting one of her humans.

        1. It gets better! According to the local newspaper, this adds to the anecdotes of cats helping children with autism. [ http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/katt-blev-arets-hundhjalte/ ]

          If you try Google Translate on the article and it messes up the swedish, the text claims roughly that Jeremy, the boy, has autism, and has a special relationship with Tara. [The proof or consequence is that] Tara is often near, and come rushing when Jeremy falls off his bike and/or start crying.

          [And, perhaps it isn’t very noticeable in the previous article, but it is clearer from the photo that the award – which Tara avidly enjoys – reads Dog Cat. As it should!]

  7. Cats make good service animals. Mine prove it for me. Unfortunately, society doens’t accept them as well as it accepts d*gs as service animals.

    Cat service animals come by their skills and talents naturally, so they have no paperwork to prove their status.

    More humans claim cat allergies than dog allergies.

    As for wearing a leash, traveling (i.e., by car) and entering public spaces (i.e., grocery store), some will be find with that, and those will be the most portable service animals.

    2. Well apparently you can no longer have anything other than dogs or small ponies as service animals in Wisconsin, since McDonalds recently had an issue with a kangaroo service animal.

      1. Hmmmmm.

        😀

        My daughter’s college dormitory accepted one student’s therapy guinea pig. 🙂

      2. Sounds like time for me to get an 800lb service gorilla.
        Attendant : “You can’t bring that in here!”
        Me : ” ‘S service animal”
        Attendant : “What service does he provide for you?”
        [Gorilla picks up Attendant, inspects soles of Attendant’s feet. Puts Attendant back on the ground, more or less upright.]
        Attendant : “OK. Next!”

    2. The connection here is too grindingly slow to attempt youtubing, but didn’t an adult(-ish) cat climbing into a similar glass globe get advertised here a few months ago. (Or was it something I found on the Tooobz and sent to PCC? Can’t remember.)

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