Caturday felid trifecta: Cat fails; library cats; warning signs of catfights; and lagniappe

It’s that time again: time for CATS, which is the best time! Here is the most famous cat in Poland (for a while I used this cat as my Twitter photo):

From Linkiest, the ultimate clickbaity and time-wasting site, we do get a post of seven cat fails on YouTube. I’ll put up for, but go over to see the rest (click on screenshot):

First, a cat who barks like a dog.  The YouTube notes say this:

Salem is a black cat, who is barking like a dog, and when he get’s caught, starts to meow like a cat. Really eerie. This is an amazing phenomena, but it’s actually something a cat can do. According to veterinarians, cats do have the ability to bark like a dog. The cat’s larynx, trachea and diaphragm are similar to that of a dog. An over excited or emotionally effected cat, can produce the barking sound like a dog.

All I can say is that I’ve never heard such a thing:

This is the most miserable cat jump I’ve ever seen. That should be an easy leap, and the cat isn’t obese, either!

I found this one while perusing the site, though it’s not on the site. Scaredy cats!

It’s crazy hour in the litter box. The YouTube notes say this, “This is my psycho cat Blair. He seems to think his litter box is a sand box.”

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Reader Stephanie sent this 29-minute video, “Puss in Books,” about library cats. Every library, of course, should have a cat, as should all bookstores. Stephanie notes that the quality of the video isn’t great, but it’s still charming. There’s even a “Library Cat Society”!

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The Guardian has a piece summarizing a scientific article in Nature Scientific Reports analyzing which signs a cat would give if it were about to attack or fight. Click below to read.

The upshot:

Dr Noema Gajdoš‑Kmecová, first author of the research from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, in Košice, Slovakia – a cat owner herself – said understanding feline interactions could be difficult.

“Many owners are asking themselves the question, are these cats playing, fighting? Or what’s going on actually? We found out that there was actually very little scientific evidence to guide us in answering this question so we decided to go for it and study inter-cat interactions,” she said.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Gajdoš‑Kmecová, and colleagues, describe how they examined the behaviour of 105 pairs of interacting domestic cats recorded on videos collected from YouTube. They also advertised for cat owners.

The scientists classified behaviors as playful, agonistic, or intermediate, but the results won’t surprise cat owners:

“When cats are young and when they are wrestling and not vocalising they are most likely playing,” the team write. But when there are extended inactive pauses, vocalisations and chasing, the cats may be

Intermediate behaviour, the authors write, was associated with prolonged interactivity and included features associated with both playful interactions, such as lying belly up or pouncing, as well as aggressive behaviours, such as arching the back, and retreating.

However, Gajdoš‑Kmecová said even wrestling could occur in a positive and a negative context, so it was important to look at the overall pattern of behaviours and whether they were shown by both cats. For example, if claws and yowling were involved, a wrestle was unlikely to be a sign of play; and play was also unlikely if only one cat was attempting to engage in wrestling.

They forgot hissing!  And I don’t find this conclusion very helpful:

Gajdoš‑Kmecová added that the study showed feline interactions were not always a binary choice between playing and fighting, but that their behaviours could give helpful clues. “Maybe ask yourself are they playing, fighting, or is it something in between,” she said.

And they sell their results this way, also noting that friendly encounters can turn nasty and cats who usually play together can still have agonstic interactions. That won’t surprise anyone who owns more than one cat:

Therefore, our findings (by focusing on general overt behaviours, rather than subtleties which might require some skill to detect in real time) provide valuable practical evidence which can be used to help owners detect signs of intercat tension in its early stages. Earlier detection and presentation to a clinical behaviour professional can be expected to be more likely to result in successful management of the relationship and prevent major issues which might lead to the relinquishment and/or euthanasia of one or both cats.

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Lagniappe:  From KVIA7, in El Paso, Texas, a kitten stuck on a telephone pole for FIVE DAYS was rescued by civilians, but ran away afterwards.  It’s not clear whether someone actually adopted it, though.

Here’s a short news video and an update below, still not telling us of what became of this poor marooned moggy:

Update: West El Paso residents were able to successfully bring down the feline down that had been stranded atop a utility pole for 5 days.

Viewer Verona Ogden provided ABC-7 with video showing concerned residents pushing a basket up the pole and the cat jumping in.

The cat was safely brought down to the ground.

El Paso Electric tells ABC-7 their crews deemed any rescue attempt to dangerous and shutting power for the area was not viable.

Animal Services and El Paso Electric crews were at 5200 block of Carousel in West El Paso Saturday morning looking at ways to safely rescue a cat stuck on an electric pole.

h/t: Stephanie, Matthew, Bill