Cats have been domesticated for thousands of years and have played a crucial role in human societies throughout history. One of the lesser-known roles that cats have played in history is their participation in warfare. Cats have been used as working animals for centuries, and their skills as hunters and their ability to adapt to new environments made them valuable assets in wartime. In this article, we will explore the history of cats in warfare.
One of the earliest known instances of cats in warfare is in Ancient Egypt. Cats were held in high esteem in Ancient Egypt and were even worshiped as gods. They were trained to hunt rodents that could destroy crops, and they were also used to protect the Pharaoh's grain stores from rats and mice.
During warfare, cats were used as both mascots and combatants. They would accompany soldiers into battle and were believed to have a mystical power that could protect their human counterparts from harm. There are also accounts of cats being used to intimidate enemy soldiers, as they were seen as fierce and unpredictable animals.
During the Middle Ages, cats continued to play a role in warfare. They were used to control vermin on ships and in castles, and they were also used as guard animals. Cats were particularly useful in siege warfare, where they would be set loose in enemy strongholds to spread disease and disrupt supply lines.
In addition to their practical uses, cats were also a popular symbol in medieval heraldry. They were often featured on coats of arms and banners, representing a variety of qualities such as intelligence, independence, and ferocity.
Cats played a significant role in both World War I and World War II. During World War I, cats were used to control rats in the trenches. These rats would often carry disease, and their presence could cause a great deal of discomfort for soldiers. Cats were also used as mascots for various units, providing comfort and companionship to soldiers on the front lines.
In World War II, cats were used to control rodent populations on ships and in camps. They were also used as mascots and were often taken on bombing missions to boost morale. Cats were particularly valued for their ability to detect and alert their human companions to incoming bombs or enemy planes.
While cats are no longer used in modern warfare, their legacy lives on. They continue to play a vital role in society, as working animals, companions, and symbols of independence and resilience. Many military units and organizations still use cats as mascots, and there are numerous stories of cats accompanying soldiers on missions and providing comfort and companionship.
In conclusion, cats have a long and fascinating history in warfare. From their use in Ancient Egypt to their role in World War II, cats have been valued for their hunting skills, their ability to adapt to new environments, and their fierce independence. While they are no longer used in modern warfare, their legacy lives on, and they continue to be beloved companions and symbols of resilience and independence.
Cats are natural hunters, and their bodies are designed to eat a diet consisting of animal protein. However, sometimes they may crave plant matter. This is where cat grass comes into play. Cat grass is a type of grass that is grown specifically for cats to eat. It provides numerous benefits for your feline friend and is an essential addition to their diet. In this article, we will discuss why cat grass is important for cats.
Cats are known for having sensitive stomachs, and consuming cat grass can help with digestion. The fiber in cat grass acts as a natural laxative and helps move hairballs through the digestive system. This can prevent constipation and vomiting, which can be uncomfortable for your cat.
Cat grass contains essential vitamins and minerals that cats need for optimal health. It is rich in chlorophyll, which helps to oxygenate the blood and cleanse the liver. It also contains folic acid, which is essential for cell growth and development. Consuming cat grass can help ensure your cat is getting all the nutrients they need to thrive.
Cats are natural hunters and love to play. Consuming cat grass can encourage exercise as it can stimulate their natural hunting instincts. Chasing, playing with, and nibbling on cat grass can help keep your cat active and engaged, which is essential for their overall health and wellbeing.
Hairballs are a common problem for cats, especially long-haired breeds. Consuming cat grass can help reduce the frequency and severity of hairballs. The fiber in cat grass helps to move hair through the digestive system, preventing it from accumulating in the stomach and causing discomfort.
Cats can become stressed for various reasons, including changes in their environment, loud noises, or separation anxiety. Consuming cat grass can act as a stress reliever for your feline friend. The act of nibbling on the grass can be calming and soothing, helping to reduce anxiety and promote relaxation.
In conclusion, cat grass is an essential addition to your cat's diet. It provides numerous benefits, including aiding digestion, providing essential nutrients, encouraging exercise, reducing hairballs, and acting as a stress reliever. It is easy to grow and can be purchased from most pet stores. If you have a feline friend, consider adding cat grass to their diet today.
So, this is going to be kind of controversial. My name is Peter Roe. I am co-owner of this store. I am the loving parent of a German Sheppard named Poppy. She is my best friend in a lot of ways. As I type this alone in my room she is laying behind me keeping me company when no-one else feels the need to. I love her.
However as much as I love her she is getting old. She is about 10 years old exactly. Also being a pure bread, that is considered very old. However she is as full of life as when she was a pup.
She's getting gray around her muzzle and starting to sleep in more then she used to. Like a beautiful flower she will wilt eventually. Even if that is hopefully years and years away.
So enough with the gloom. This is about her teeth. So, about 3 months ago I was playing tug with her outside in the sun. Her lips were pushed up and showing her back teeth. I had never noticed this before but her back top teeth had thick layers of yellow tarter built up on them. My heart immediately dropped. I saw this as a real indication to how old she is getting.
But I am known to be hard headed, and immediately started thinking about how to fix this. So I did the obligatory googling, found that tarter build-up in dogs is very common, and was somewhat comforted by the pictures I saw of dogs with 10x worse build up then Poppy, but had made full recovery's.
So time to fight this nasty yellow crud that has decided my Poppy's teeth are a good home. So what were the options. Many articles I found said that you must take her to the vet to be put completely under and have her teeth scraped clean, this would cost $900 dollars at least and be very stressful for her. So that was bouncing around in my head for a few days. After a while I was seriously considering it.
Then my right brain kicked in and went. Pete, she's an old dog, and unlike you she dose not understand that all the pain and awkwardness is for the good of her health. You will have to pay a grand to have your friend poked and scraped just to make yourself feel better. When lets be real she dose not seem to care that much about the tarter.
So I thought about it some more. I then decided "hey I have an old dental scraper from a yard sale, I'll do it myself with no sedation" Well guess how that turned out, the scraper was at a yard sale for a reason, it was completely ineffective, tarter is like concrete.
Back to the drawing board. OK so It occurs to me that this problem happened, because like most pet parents, I have been neglecting my dogs teeth for almost a decade. So I decide to get some dog safe tooth paste and try to pick up the broken pieces of my care-giving practices. At the pet store I find a bottle that says that after 30 days of repeated brushing the tarter will be gone (if it is in thin layers, not caked on like poppy's) I'm thrilled, thinking even if it takes 3 months this will work and I will be able to save a grand and poppy from the torment of teeth surgery.
Brush brush brush! Ever night for 3 months now I have sat down with a tooth brush and scrubbed those nasty back teeth. At the beginning there was blood. "to be expected, she has not brushed in 10 years" I also discovered that part of her gums was loose and infected, After about 3 weeks this went away, so did the bleeding. However there was still a lot of buildup left. So I continued and do not plan on stopping. Once you get into the routine it is not hard. She expects it and has no idea why I do it, but its like a kid with math homework, she just impatiently goes along to be done with it.
Something else has happened as well that is very worth noting. She was in fact in pain before I started this. Everyone in the house has said that she is more energetic lately. More like her puppy self. It just goes to show how animals will hide pain and have no way of complaining until it becomes so bad it cripples them. I was foolish in thinking "oh well the vet pulls up her lips to look at her teeth so I am sure they would tell me if there was something wrong" I guess the truth is they make sure that nothing is going to fall out, not that she is pain free without infection.
The last thing I am going to talk about is actually buying dental scrapers. So I drink a lot of coffee, and smoke the occasional cigar. Anyone in my boat will know, your teeth get stained and yellow fast. Covid-19 has closed my dentist and left me with yellow teeth. Now they are reopening, however, appointments are far away for routine things like cleanings. Like how I have started cutting my own hair (do i really need to worry about how I look if I am wearing a mask all the time anyway) I decided to scrape my own teeth. I hated looking in the mirror and seeing Jack Sparrow teeth. It just made me feel dirty.
$40 and I had 2 professional USA made dental scrapers. Went in the bathroom as soon as they arrived, and what do you know they instantly made my Jack Sparrow teeth white as porcelain. Then it occurred to me, I can do this to Poppy!
This is the most important thing to take away from this long winding article. Poppy is a dog, she has absolutely no idea that people poking her and looking at her teeth care about her health. She just thinks "ouch, why do they stab me every 3 years" So the only reason she goes along with any medical treatment is because she trusts me. I feed her, walk her, listen to her when she wants something. Dogs are pack animals, they do not understand much except, this person generally helps me and dose not hurt me, or apologizes shortly after.
Vets on the other hand, she has no relation with the vet, she freaks out when she has to see them because all she knows them to do is stab her and stick thermometers up her rear. This is why if you take it upon yourself to do simple procedures like scrape your own dogs teeth, you will see better results with less effort and sedation.
This is the perfect example. Poppy lets me hold up her gums and carefully scrape at her teeth to remove the tarted, this must hurt a little. However she lets me do it. She trusts me for whatever I am doing to not be anything bad for her.
So without any sedative and about 2 minuets a night, or like 20 if I am feeling good enough to scrape them, I have been able to remove 80% or the tarted on her teeth myself with 2 x $10 bottles of natural tea tree toothpaste, 1 tooth brush the dentist gave me for free, and 2 x $20 scrapers I ordered off the internet. All without sedation or much awkwardness to my best friend Poppy.
That is the company that I try to run, just love your pets and they will love you beyond what they can understand, they will let you help them and be loyal and happy furry friends for many years to come.
Disclaimer: I did not do this because I am cheap. I did this to accomplish a goal with minimal impact on Poppy's mental health. I actually got a quote from the vet for a teeth cleaning it was $900+ and involved 13 different invasive procedures, then at the bottom said "adverse reactions or results can occur" or something like that. As well it is a fact every time any animal including us is put completely under anesthesia, there is a chance we never wake up, that is the nature of the drugs they use.
Disclaimer #2: I AM NOT A VET. Just a holistic pet parent who questions the current medical establishment.
Life is just to much sometimes, Yesterday May 18, 2020 our beloved "Fluffy" (real name Edward) the Himalayan cat died at the young age of only four. He had a urethra blockage that trashed his kidneys and we had to put him to rest.
That is an awful way to loose an animal, having to tell the Vet to put them to sleep for the last time. Its so administrative in a time when you are just gushing emotions. I really resent that. But "it is what it is" unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to help the poor guy other then give him a peaceful death.
I loved him, he gave me joy every time I saw him in the house, he was just so beautiful and proper looking. Fluffy, as i usually called him was also an epic hunter, there were no mice, voles or snakes that dared cross paths with Fluff, he kept our house in the woods very tightly secured.
He was so young this was really a shock to our entire family. Only four years old, he had only been fully grown for like two. Unlike our other cats he was always thin, not unhealthy, thin just trim a naturally beautiful animal.
Fluff did not particularly care to be petted all the time like our other cats but he did occasionally and on a consistent routine with myself. He would in the morning come and play with my boot laces. Then at night when my father and I let the dogs out before bed he would always jump up on the table and want to be petted. I will miss always seeing him at those times.
Yesterday when the news came over the phone that he was not going to be able to recover from surgery my mother burst into tears and even though i was not around for the phone call seeing her told me what was about to happen instantly. I know that animal surgery is always risky and he had been sick for 3 days strait at this point.
Still in my mind up until this point i thought he was going to be OK, again he was so young that i couldn't imagine that he would pass. I did not cry until we went into the vet office to say goodbye, at that point i started crying and did not stop for 3 hours.
That was very hard and unfortunately i am sure other pet parents can relate. The doctor offered to make some silly paw print impression, i couldn't talk but i was just thinking, great, another piece of tat, what i would really like is to be able to have fluffy back with us, happy and hunting. Then after a half hour or so, i left the room, my mother stayed with him for the final moments, I do not know how you can bare that, i just wanted to stroke his ears and cry for hours.
Personally i hate death, every-time it happens to something i care about it comes with the same feelings. Helplessness and longing for more time with the animal or person that will no longer be there, ever again. That freaks me out, like 3 days ago i was petting him and listing to people complain about how he was tearing up their rug. Or watching him guard the front door because he heard something on the outside. But now, somehow, he will never do any of those things ever again, he is simply gone, that always gets me.
He was one of The Rude Kitty's model cats, all three of our cats are, he was just the most elegant in my opinion, so perfect looking. He is in our toy and grooming logos. Also he was in other images all over the place for being so good looking.
I will miss him, every time i come across him on the site i will remember him as the little fluff ball he was, always there lurking in the house or hunting something imperceptible to us humans. He will be very missed.
It is hard to loose a pet, there is nothing you can do to make it less hard other then remember them for who they were. I am just going to end this by saying Goodbye fluffy! I will miss having you around and hope you are peacefully up in the clouds hunting and grooming yourself. I hope you liked your time with us and enjoyed every time our paths crossed as much as i did. There is nothing more to be worried about your in a better more stable place now.
If anyone reading this has lost a pet, i truly am sorry, but there is nothing we can do, if everything goes as planned we will all loose many pets, that is just the sour fact about pets, they do not live very long compared to us.
Happy hunting cloud mice fluff! Ill see you on the other side one day, but for now its just a bit more lonely down here without you.
