Bengal cats

Is the Bengal cat right for you? Watch this video by Janson Media to find out. At 3 minutes 14 seconds, it's a bit on the long side but well worth it.





Whether you choose a Bengal cat or not depends on your lifestyle and what you are looking for in cats. If you travel constantly or are away a lot, then probably the Bengal cat is not a good choice for you. The Bengal needs to be with people who are around quite a bit and can spend a lot of time playing with them.

Because Bengal cats are very active (but very, very smart and more fun than a barrel full of monkeys!), you need to cat proof your house. They are highly intelligent cats that are adaptable and travel well. they are very outgoing, social, and love people. Bengal cats live an average of 14 to 18 years.

Cat Training

Cat training done properly will help you get the right cat behavior out of your cat. (As opposed, say, to proper dog behavior.)

Cat training doesn't have to be difficult or mysterious. In the video I uploaded (Mean Kitty – Episode 1), Cory “Mr. Safety” Williams hires a witch doctor to train his cat not to bite.

Honestly, cat training doesn’t require witch doctors, psychics, or astrologers to be effective.

First of all, you have to understand that cats are not human. They don’t perceive the world as we do, and they don’t think like we do. We really have to stop the bad habit of anthropomorphizing.

To hear some people talk, you’d think that their cats were just little people in fur coats. If my late cat Saki could hear them, she’d be rolling her eyes.

But to get back to cat training, the sensory world of cats is very different from ours. They can hear things we can’t, smell scents we can’t detect, and their sense of touch extends beyond their body (think cat whiskers). Their vision isn’t as acute as that of humans, but they have wider peripheral vision, and they have far better night vision.

You don’t have to cram your head into your kitty’s skull to figure out the best means of cat training.

You just have to think in terms of reward and punishment. Sentient creatures all seek pleasure and run like hell from pain (boy, do I know that one!).

So what you do is get the cat to associate its behavior with either pain or pleasure. In the long haul, positive reinforcement works better than aversive conditioning, so it makes more sense to reward your cat for good behavior than to punish it for bad behavior.

If the cat’s doing something you don’t like, simply ignore her. For instance, if the cat’s jumping up and down on your face at 4 in the morning, do not – I repeat, do not – get up and feed it. Because once you do that, then you’re doomed for life. You’ll be forever bound to get up in the wee hours to succor the demanding, wee demon. You’ll just be a sucker, and you know it.

Ignore the cat. Pretend you don’t see her, hear her, feel her. Even if the cat ratchets up her assault, stay put. Lie low. You’ve seen the footage: In the case of a nuclear attack, duck and take cover. It’s the same principle.

From watching the video, I can see that Cory Williams has got it all wrong with Sparta, a.k.a., Mean Kitty. He’s giving the cat too much attention by writing lyrics and shooting videos for Sparta; all he’s doing is reinforcing the cat’s bad behavior.

Although I did say that you shouldn’t punish your cat, if your cat’s doing something highly objectionable like biting your hand or tearing up your Le Corbusier couch, then you need to take immediate action.

One thing that will immediately stop a cat is to clap your hands and shout “No!” Or else squirt her with a water pistol.

No that any of these techniques ever worked with my cat Saki. If I yelled “No,” she looked at me like she thought I’d lost my mind. As to the water pistol, I gave that away to a friend with a small child.

All I can say is that in a matter of mere months, Saki had me well trained to feed her on cue.

In conclusion then, when you know what you’re doing, cat training can be fun and easy.

Mean Kitty -- Episode 1

Here's Episode 1 of the Mean Kitty series. It's another amusing cat video by Cory Williams featuring Mean Kitty Sparta and a witch doctor he hires to cure the mean little kitty of his biting problem. It's such a funny video, my friend Pixie (guardian of the trio of felines I sometimes blog about) and I nearly died laughing.

If you haven't yet watched the mean kitty song video, it's uploaded on my previous post -- rather obviously titled "The Mean Kitty Song."

Cory Williams, also known as "Mr. Safety," is a viral film maker and TV show host, among other things.




If you like these videos, you might want to check out other videos by Cory on how he came to acquire the mean kitty in the first place and what the kitty's problem is. There's also episode 2 where he tries other tactics to stop Sparta from biting.

He (Cory, not Sparta) has lots of other videos that are great fun to watch, though they don't have anything to do with the mean little kitty Sparta or any other cats.

To see all other videos by Cory Williams, go to Mean Kitty

The Mean Kitty Song

The Mean Kitty Song

or Hey Little Sparta

by Cory "Mr. Safety" Williams of SMP Films

This is THE best cat video that I've seen! It's absolutely hilarious! Unlike so many cat videos that are full of visual clichés and bad music, this one is refreshingly original and has a great beat. The video received more than 2 million views within one week of being posted in YouTube.




Here are the lyrics to Mean Kitty:

I got this little kitty about 2 months back
he was the nicest little kitty, now a pain in my crack
This little kitty is a ninja, always stalking my feet
This little kitty is a warrior you know what I mean

he's an evil little kitty look what he did to my hand
tries to get in trouble in any way that he can
I could give this cat a toy, but he'd rather have the wrapper
and I will always give him water, but he still drinks from the crapper

You could lock him in a closet and he just won't care
kitty chews on my shoes and he licks my hair
always scratching on my favorite chair and jumping on the couch
playing in the window sills and tearing through the house

He's so full of energy and easily amused
kitty will attack anything that moves
Causing trouble, starting battles just so he could be a little part of
he's a meanest little kitty so we named him sparta

Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite

Where'd you go
are you stalking me?
are you under the couch, quite possibly
ears laid back so you don't get caught
ready to pounce my leg with everything that you got

I know you're probably watching me from across the room
concentrating contemplating on attacking me soon
You're not invisible kitty, I'm gonna find you first
Come out come out before I make things worse

I've seen where you hide and I know where you've been
Hey kitty why don't you give in
Even if you try to sneak up on me, I'm prepared
Cause I've got my safety gear on and I'm not scared

I think I hear a kitty cat under the bed
I know your making noises just to mess with my head
You can stalk me all you want, but I'm not your pray
cause you always seem to find me first, but not today

Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
Come on out, I'm gonna get you now

I've got 'em cornered
and now he's mine
He's not gonna get away this time
I'll snatch him up fast before he can blink and then...
Aw man! He's asleep in the sink

What is with this cat? I'm confused
He's got a bed, but it's never been used
In every waking moment, kitty's out for the fight
then [fart] next minute kitty's out like a light

How could I let this creature live inside of my home
I gotta keep an eye on him when I'm on the phone
I'm a little afraid to leave this cat all alone
this kitty may destroy everything that I own

Look at him now, I kinda feel bad
He's the best little cat that I've had
and the one big thing I forgot to mention, was that
He wasn't fighting, he just wanted attention

Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
little bitty kitty wanna bite bite bite
Hey little sparta what is with all the fight
showing love, that's all this kitty does

****

Yup, this is one mean kitty alright! Can't think of a better written mean kitty song.

Cute Cat Pictures -- When is a Cat a Ham?

Cute Cat Pictures

or, When is a Cat a Ham?

Check these out, are they cute cat pictures -- or not.

No, they're not cute cat pictures. They're just pictures of Sammy, who is, for a cat, a real ham.

He somehow manages to always insinuate himself into every photo shoot. All you have to do is point a camera -- and he's right there. You'd think he was mugging for cute cat pictures.

For instance, one day Sammy's guardian decided she'd shoot photos of a beautiful tree in front of her house.

As she walked out with her camera, she saw Sammy streak past her. He raced ahead of her, and with one leap, jumped up on the tree.

Before she could position her camera, Sammy climbed up the trunk the tree and was soon balancing himself on the branches of the tree.

It wasn't her intention to take cute cat pictures -- all she wanted was pictures of the tree! -- but she ended up with shot after shot of Sammy.

She failed to take a single picture of the tree alone.

The funny thing is, until his guardian showed up with her camera, Sammy had never taken the slightest interest in the tree.

And he hasn't since.

It seems that all he wanted was to have his pictures taken.

Do they confer any evolutionary advantages? Do wild cats go around looking for photo ops?

Cute cat pictures, indeed.

Cute Cat Pictures

Here are pictures of my friend Pixie's cute cats, Sammy and Dash. Even though she's a pretty cat, she just doesn't seem to be photogenic. A cute cat, yes. But sadly, Pixie wasn't able to take any cute cat pictures of her.



The cat pictures are:


Sammy doing a bunny impersonation




Dash, inside out



Dash, upside down


Dash as a kitten



To say that these are cute cat pictures is somewhat redundant because, basically, all cats take cute cat pictures. Except maybe poor Mittens.

Chinese Moon Festival

This year, the Chinese Moon Festival falls on September 25th.

So, do cats love moon cakes? Find the surprising answer to this admittedly enigmatic problem.

First, consider this question:

Do cats celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival?

The short answer is “no.”

The long answer, alas, is also “no.”

But some cats, like Sammy, enjoy putting their paws into the box of moon cakes. (See accompanying photo. Not recommended for santitary reasons.) Others, like my late cat Saki, loved to eat the sweet bean jam inside the moon cakes. (Not recommended for feline health reasons.)I once had a pure white Taiwanese cat who loved to eat bean-jam filled moon cakes and chew gum. But that's another story for another time, not the Chinese Moon Festival.

In case you don’t know, let me back track a bit and explain what the Chinese Moon Festival is.

Some people compare the festival to the American Thanksgiving. Chinese families gather together to give thanks for the bountiful harvest, at least in theory. Like Thanksgiving, the Chinese Moon Festival involves a big feast. Instead of pumpkin pie, you eat moon cakes. At least, that’s the theory.

Like the moon, the cakes are round in shape. Unlike the moon, the moon cakes are moist yet flaky and a bit greasy to the touch. Special designs for the Chinese Moon Festival are pressed on the top. I don’t remember what they are, as I’m generally eat them without looking. The moon cakes have different fillings, such as sweet, red bean jam (my favorite and the favorite of several cats I’ve had), lotus seed jam, coconut, nuts, or meat (my father’s favorite). You can also get the kind that has egg yolk in the center of the filling to represent the full moon of the Chinese Autumn Festival.

The roundness of these cakes symbolizes togetherness. As the saying goes, Yuè yuán (the moon is round), rén yuán (people are round). In other words, “When the moon is round, families reunite.” That is the true meaning of the Chinese Moon Festival, or so I am told.

Almost every Chinese I’ve met hates eating moon cakes. (I think I love them only because they are high in calories.) But they love the barbecues they have on the night of the Chinese Moon Festival.

Children love the moon festival because they can make—or buy—paper lanterns that they can carry on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar moon, when the moon is supposed to be at its brightest and roundest to go moon gazing on hilltops and mountains.

Have yourself a well-rounded Chinese Moon Festival!

Read more about The Chinese Moon Festival