We air both sides of a domestic disagreement – and ask you to deliver a verdict
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Lakshmi spends her entire salary on the cats, then says she can’t afford to go on holiday with me
Continue reading...The cats and dogs that helped us through the pandemic are increasingly being dumped in the street or handed over to charities – and shelters are dealing with the fallout
On a cold, steely grey day in a farmyard in Essex I meet Spike. Thick-set, broad-chested, narrow-eyed, he has a look that says “don’t mess with me”, and he has tiny, pointed ears that have been cut to make him look more intimidating.
Spike is an XL bully; bully stands for American bulldog, XL means bred to be bigger. They are fashionable among a certain type of dog owner, says Ira Moss, founder of the rehoming charity All Dogs Matter. We’re at its kennels near Waltham Abbey in Essex. XL bullies – along with cuter, “more designery”, says Moss, French bulldogs, dachshunds, cockapoos and cavapoos – “were the top five lockdown dogs”. And they are being abandoned like never before. Sadly, it’s not just dogs. Animal charities and vets have reported everything from cats to cockerels being left. And they are braced for Christmas to be even busier.
Continue reading...Number of products in UK containing MSC-certified sustainable seafood has grown by 57% in last five years
Eco-friendly pet food is on the rise as dog and cat owners become more aware of the impact of their beloved pet’s diet.
New figures released exclusively to the Guardian show that the number of pet food products containing Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified sustainable seafood has grown by 57% in the UK during the last five years, from 49 to 77. In the last year alone consumers bought more than 7m tins, pouches and packs of MSC-certified pet food.
Continue reading...Composer says one good thing that came out of the big screen version of his stage musical was ‘my little Havanese puppy’
Andrew Lloyd Webber has admitted he hated the 2019 film adaptation of his smash-hit musical Cats so much he bought a dog.
The composer has never shied away from expressing his distaste with Tom Hooper’s star-studded and much-maligned big screen version of the stage musical.
Continue reading...The pet-mad population reacted with fury after the animals were put down due to biosecurity concerns
A decision by Taiwan authorities to euthanise 154 cats found in an attempted smuggling operation has sparked outcry and calls to change laws and increase penalties.
Coast guards intercepted a fishing vessel from China on Thursday about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Kaohsiung, on Taiwan’s southern tip. After Covid screening, officials boarded the fishing boat the following day and discovered 62 cages containing the cats, including Russian Blue, Ragdoll, Persian American Shorthair, and British Shorthair breeds.
Continue reading...As cases of blood condition pancytopenia persist, investigators suggest food fungi could be to blame
Cats are still dying in significant numbers from a mystery illness that investigators believe may be linked to widely sold cat food brands, prompting concern that not enough is being done to warn owners about a nationwide product recall.
Vets around the UK are understood to have been swamped by cases of pancytopenia, a condition in which the number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets decreases rapidly, causing serious illness.
Continue reading...In Britain, most pet cats are free to roam, but where do they go and what do they get up to? We fitted six cats with GPS trackers and found out
As I prepared to write this piece, my three-year-old cat, Larry, had been missing for 24 hours. I had checked under the bins, posted in a community Facebook group and Googled variations of “Lost cat how long normal before come home?” all day.
Larry was a house cat when we took him in, but my boyfriend and I had recently moved to a house with a garden so had started letting him out. Just like that, our adorable, loving, docile cat turned into the neighbourhood bruiser. He stopped snuggling with us in the morning, instead impatiently pawing at the door even before we had put down his breakfast.
Continue reading...During the pandemic, every pet became an emotional support animal – and many people decided they wanted to commemorate them indelibly and incredibly
Alice was a double rex rat we adopted from the local RSPCA. She was such a special girl and we had a great bond, so she was the natural choice for my first tattoo. Sadly, Alice died earlier this year, so I’m getting a second tattoo in tribute in a couple of weeks, on the spot where she loved to sit.
Sarah, student, Greater Manchester
Dogs can carry bacteria and parasites, while cats smuggle in gory ‘presents’. So is it best to lock them out of the bedroom?
Vomiting on the bed. Snoring. The shedding of hair. The stealing of sheets. The passing of wind. Night-time face-licking. A higher-than-average chance of catching sarcoptic mange …
If I could sit my dog down and quietly explain the risks associated with him sharing the bed with us, this is the list I would read to him. But I know he wouldn’t listen. Oz, our young lurcher, would only warmly reimagine that scene he recently saw. When, on my birthday, the family let him come upstairs and on to the bed to wake me up. When he saw, for the first time, Upstairs Land. And then widdled with joy.
Continue reading...Researchers in Glasgow find two cases where cats were infected by owners with coronavirus symptoms
Two cases of human-to-cat transmission of Covid-19 have been identified by researchers. Scientists from the University of Glasgow found the cases of Sars-CoV-2 transmission as part of a screening programme of the feline population in the UK.
The cats, of different breeds, were living in separate households and displayed mild to severe respiratory signs. Researchers believe both pets were infected by their owners, who had Covid-19 symptoms before the cats became unwell.
Continue reading...The realities of ownership are dawning as the UK’s lockdown eases and the dogs left at home need to be looked after
Pet cameras and activity trackers are flying off the shelves. Demand for anti-chew sprays, automatic feeders and water fountains for pets has rocketed, and dog walkers and sitters are being inundated with inquiries.
As lockdown restrictions ease, dog owners are snapping up products and services that will enable them to monitor and care for their pets while they are out at work.
Continue reading...‘Your English is poor,’ I tell him. ‘Your accent is atrocious’
My phone says it’s 7.50am, but the sky outside looks more like 4.15. Rain is striking the window in handfuls, like flung gravel. It has been raining all night, and it promises to rain all day, possibly for the rest of the month. I dress by the light of a reading lamp and close the bedroom door behind me.
“Hello?” says the cat from somewhere in the darkness below.
Continue reading...Over the last few years, the internet has thrilled to pictures of chubby pets. But now experts are calling for a new era of cat shaming and determined dieting
Name: Fat cats.
Age: Probably no older than 10, given their propensity to die young.
Appearance: Fat.
South Australian eight-year-old has lived in four homes already, but RSPCA says it’s about knowing how to handle him
Returned to the RSPCA by four different families in the past seven years, “demonic” Chester may be the least-loved cat in Australia, but workers at the shelter are still determined to find him a home for Christmas.
The grumpy eight-year-old moggie was described by his last owner as “anti-social” and “a real Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. On his surrender form, the former owner wrote that while Chester was “great with chickens” and “tolerates the dogs”, he also “attacks our old cat and the neighbours”. She told the RSPCA that she had visitors who would not enter the house unless the cat was locked away.
Continue reading...We all know someone who looks like their dog, but what about our feline friends? Photographer Gerrard Gethings set out to match moggies with their lookalikes – with uncanny results. By Kathryn Bromwich
If you’ve spent much time on the internet over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen some cats on there. Cats chasing their own tails. Cats attempting ill-judged jumps from one piece of furniture to another. Or, in the case of Gerrard Gethings, a cat who looked exactly like the actor David Schwimmer. “There’s something about the shape of Schwimmer’s face that’s quite interesting,” says the London-based photographer, “and the cat had exactly the same face. That pushed me over the edge, into thinking there was something in it.”
Continue reading...Huge clan is believed to have originated from a pair of cats taken in three years ago
Animal charities in southern Spain were urgently seeking homes for 110 cats on Saturday after they and their owner were evicted from a flat in the Valencia region.
Spama Safor, an animal shelter in the south-eastern seaside town of Gandia, had initially thought there were only 96 cats in the flat. But by Saturday evening, the charity said it had removed a total of 110 cats and urgently needed help to shelter them “at least until they are vaccinated or sterilised”.
Continue reading...James Bowen, who met Bob during his battle with drug addiction, says pet ‘saved his life’
The pet that inspired the book series and film A Street Cat Named Bob has died aged 14.
James Bowen met Bob in 2007 during his battle with drug addiction when he found the cat abandoned and injured and decided to look after him.
Continue reading...Turkish Angora roams tattoo parlours, office towers and churches, posing for social media snapshots along the way
A feline that roams New Zealand’s capital city and is welcomed into tattoo parlours, hairdressers and office towers has become a social media star, with 30,000 followers who track his every movement online.
Mittens first came to attention in 2018 after repeatedly wandering inner-city dwellings, including the university, the post office, and a Catholic church. Mittens was also reportedly taken to the police station by concerned locals.
Continue reading...Officials says move reflects bond between pets and people – ‘the consensus of all human civilisation’ – rather than coronavirus fears
Shenzhen is set to become the first city in mainland China to ban the eating of dogs and cats, if a draft regulation released by the municipal government in a wider push to restrict the consumption of wild animals is approved.
On Monday, China’s National People’s Congress issued an order to ban all consumption of wild animal meat and further restrict the wildlife trade nationwide. The measures are expected to be enshrined in the country’s wildlife protection law later this year.
Continue reading...British actors including Judi Dench and James Corden among worst actor nominees
The widely panned movie musical Cats and four of its stars have been nominated for Razzie awards, an annual ritual that lampoons the worst of cinema.
James Corden, Judi Dench, Rebel Wilson and Francesca Hayward received Razzie acting nominations for their Cats roles, in which they wore digitally created fur. Oscar winner Dench was singled out for “looking suspiciously similar to the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz”, organisers said in a statement announcing the nominees.
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