Sometimes I wonder if the relationships between cats and dogs is somewhat analogous to the relationships between men and women. Granted, virtually all men and women have to coexist on a daily basis, so I imagine we (kind of) cooperate more, but at the same time…might there be some truth in that? It’s an amusing thought.
I always imagine men as dogs and women as cats. But how do you see it? Or do you think I’m crazy?
As it turns out, hiding in boxes reduces stress and anxiety in new cats in animal shelters.
Now it was a small study, but are we really surprised? If you were suddenly stuffed into a prison full of strangers, wouldn’t you rather have some kind of divider between you and the rest of the world to help control interaction with said strangers? Well, this study confirmed this for cats too. In the study, some new cats got boxes, some didn’t. Surprise, surprise, the “boxed” cats were less stressed out about their new surroundings.
I imagine play time was more fun too.
Pew pew!
What the study doesn’t explain is the cat trap concept.
It even works on big kitties.
I imagine there’s a reasonable explanation. So dear readers, why do you think cats like boxes so much?
Now, I can’t say that I’m terribly surprised that cats occasionally get stuck in engines. I mean, an engine (when it’s not running) must look like a playground to them, with all those nooks and crannies to explore. One of my old cats used to come home with grease stains on her head after roaming around outside. Of course, climbing into an engine can end very badly for kitties.
Here’s the long and the short of this incident:
“She came in and said she was getting a new battery next door and noticed her belt was off and asked if we could put the belt back on,” said Mary Moorman with Car Craft.
“They went in to take a look and saw there was a cat stuck in there – couldn’t move and couldn’t get out.”
She said the cat wasn’t moving, scared, meowing or anything.
“We had to jack up the car and take parts off from the bottom to get the cat out. We locked the cat away until the SPCA could come and take it to a vet to get it looked over.”
Moorman said the cat had a big kink in its tail and some hair was missing, but, other than that, it appeared to be OK.
This isn’t the first time an animal has been found under the hood of a vehicle, but usually they are not found alive.
It’s safe to say lucky is now down to eight lives.
For example, this water is afraid of this fancy new surface that scientists have developed (or is the surface afraid of the water?)
This cat is afraid of socks.
Me, I’m afraid of spiders. Cliche, I know, but they just have too many legs and they move all wrong… I like cool critters. I like seeing beauty in deadly predators. Wolves, bears, and big cats have incredible beauty and magnificence. Snakes are gorgeous in the own way. Even sharks have an impressive presence and an eerie grace in the water. But spiders? They’re just creepy. Ugly and creepy. I’m not a fan of any bugs, really, but spiders… *shudder* I will encourage spiders everywhere to gorge themselves on the other icky-crawlies of the bug world, but if they come within the same four walls that I currently occupy, or within a couple meters of me when outdoors, then it’s game on. Flyswatter time.
Note there are no pictures of spiders. I do not like spiders.
If I were to get serious about phobias and fears, I could admit much deeper things. But this is a blog. The internets.
I am also afraid of putting my hands inside an oven unprotected if the oven is on. Even if it has only just been turned on. I’m okay if I’ve got oven mitts on, but to reach in and grab something with pot-holders? No. Too much hand exposed. Tea towel? No. Stick something in a not-yet-warm oven without oven mitts? No. Oven mitts or it ain’t happening. It’s silly, sure. But no.
No.
What about you, dear readers? What are you afraid of? What do you say NO to?
Stephanie Beavers 