Today we have several cat videos and some memes, but nothing that takes intellectual acumen to appreciate. We won’t have a Caturday Felid next week as I’m going to California, and posting of everything will be light. So enjoy this one, and we’ll be back on the 27th of January.
***************
First, a 5½-minute video of cats getting what they hate most: wet. There’s nothing sadder than a sodden cat. Listen to the orange moggie howl in the second clip! In the third, I don’t know why the video makers don’t immediately rescue the cat. That’s cruel!
Tbe cats pawing at the door are presumably trying to get out of the rain. Once again, their staff just stands by and take a video. And there’s one cat who falls in the toilet!
The Siamese at 4:45 makes quite a racket.
But, in general, people who stand by and take a video of a distressed cat without helping it are reprehensible. Don’t be one of them!
*************
Now a 4+-minute video of cats getting what they like most (well, next to food): NIP! This is one more advantage of cats over d*gs, as there’s no such thing as d*gnip. You can’t get your d*g high!
You can clearly see the variety of their reactions: some wallow in the stuff; others largely ignore it. There’s a bit of information at the end.
petMD and Wikipedia both have useful articles on catnip, the former with information for cat staff and the latter general information about the plant and its effects.
From petMD:
Cats have an extra scent organ called the vomeronasal gland in the roof of their mouth. This special pathway allows scents that are collected in the nose and mouth to be carried to the brain.
Nepetalactone is the oil that’s found within the catnip plant’s leaves that can cause behavioral changes in cats. For a cat to be exposed to this substance, they have to smell the catnip.
Catnip mimics feline sex hormones, so cats enjoying this substance will often display behaviors similar to a female cat in heat (although both male and female cats can experience the effects).
These behaviors can include overt signs of affection, relaxation, and happiness. Other cats will display active behaviors, such as playfulness or sometimes even aggression.
For cats that have a positive experience with catnip, it can help reduce anxiety and even relieve pain.
Some veterinarians have recommended using catnip to help with separation anxiety if your cat will be home alone for an extended period of time.
About 60% of cats show a catnip reaction, and Wikipedia reports that the difference is not due to a single gene form, but appears to be polygenic, that is, it’s like many human maladies, in which you have to have a combination of different gene forms (and often a certain environment) to show a trait. As for other species, it says this:
Catnip contains the feline attractant nepetalactone. N. cataria (and some other species within the genus Nepeta) are known for their behavioral effects on the cat family, not only on domestic cats, but also other species. Several tests showed that leopards, cougars, servals, and lynxes often reacted strongly to catnip in a manner similar to domestic cats. Lions and tigers may react strongly as well, but they do not react consistently in the same fashion.
Here’s a controlled experiment showing that some big cats do react to catnip: about 72% of the big cats showed a positive reaction, but it differs greatly among species.
Here’s nepetalactone:
Finally, catnip is often grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, and I recommend it, as cats will come around, eat it, and act weird. And you can also make catnip tea from it, supposedly a relaxant for humans. I’ve had it, but it didn’t really relax me: I just rolled around on the ground for 15 minutes.
******************
Bored Panda (click in screenshot below) has a variety of cat memes—50 of them. I’ll show a few of my favorites below.
****************
Lagniappe: A cat fiddles with its staff’s elaborate model train set:
h/t: Ginger K.
The meme of Glenn and the macaroni reminds me of a cat we saw in Sicily a couple of months ago. Someone had put out a paper plate full of rigatoni noodles and the cat was happily chowing down on pasta (no sauce). Our cats would have never shown interest in a high-carb diet, but maybe Sicilian strays will eat whatever they find.
And technically they’re still sausages – chopped meat in intestines.
:o)
This reminded me of the St. Thomas Aquinas observation the other day about hot dogs…
Oh, ha ha, I like this bit:
“I’ve had it, but it didn’t really relax me: I just rolled around on the ground for 15 minutes.”
(add stoner-related humor here…what, nothing funny about anything anymore? Well, OK, never mind.)
I have tried catnip tea. It is supposed to be soothing to the stomach. I had no adverse reaction.
I appreciate the wildlife photos and the cats.
I’ve had it, but it didn’t really relax me: I just rolled around on the ground for 15 minutes.
LOL!
A great trifecta, thanks.
Love it, especially sausage cat!
Those poor kitties that ended up in the water: the weirdest part was the hysterical laughter at their misfortune.
Does anyone know why domestic cats are so desperately afraid of water?
I think cats can swim, but they seem to hate water. There is, however, a breed of cat that enjoys water. The Turkish van.
From around Lake Van, perchance?
(Far east of Turkey, well towards the Azeri/ Nagorno Karabakh border ; quite near the infamous “Mountains of Ararat”, where the sheep farmers fleece passing Ark-hunters.)
Yes, they swim in the lake. They are beautiful cats. Often pure white, and many have one amber eye and one blue eye. I saw a documentary years ago about how numbers are declining and a breeding program isn’t having much of success. I hope things have improved since then.
I read that they supposedly swam home from the ark. A shorter journey for them than the kangaroos who travelled all the way back to Australia without leaving a trace 😉
“with one mighty bound” …