diluLog

A pet is an animal that lives with a human guardian and it provides company and entertainment or protection, while the guardian should provide an adequate standard of living for it. [1] In some countries, the guardian is legally obliged to care for the adopted animal (e.g. [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). The relationship developed between the guardians and the pets during the period of cohabitation has similar qualities as the relationship developed between humans. [8]

This is a case study of the relatively short-term cohabitation of a cat (Lucita) and her guardians (friends).

This paper is structured as follows:
Initially, the subject of the study will be introduced. Then, the traits that characterize Lucita will be presented.

Lucita

Lucita (a.k.a. psypsynel) is a domestic cat (Felis catus) [9]. She was born in 2014 in Ilioupoli, but she moved in Pefki shortly after her birth. After 3.5 years, she was detached from her body, after having been diagnosed with lymphoma, which she fought bravely and stubbornly for about a month.

Distinguishing Characteristics

Some traits of Lucita that made her unique are being presented in this section. The traits per se might not be unique and they might be rather common in cats, but their combination created a unique, vibrant and adorable personality.

She laughs when watching birds

Reason [10]:

Sometimes when your indoor cat watches “prey,” like birds or a squirrel, through a window, or sometimes just sees them on television, he makes a chattering sound. The cat opens his mouth slightly, pulls his lips back, and then opens and closes his jaws very quickly. The noise that results is a cross between lip-smacking and teeth chattering. If he is really excited, he might add a vocal utterance that sounds almost like a cry.

She yawns like a human

Reason [11]:
- Cats yawn to intake more air. Yawning allows the intake of a larger amount of air in one inhalation. There may, however, be several reasons why cats do this, as you will find out below. If your cat is yawning excessively, a vet visit must be considered.
- Cats may yawn to stay alert. When an animal is tired and sleepy but, for some reason, must remain awake (like a cat waiting for a late meal to be served), they may yawn to stay alert. That is, when a cat starts fading away, they yawn to give their brain a “restart.” There are several explanations for this, such as the body and brain cooling down with the air intake, extra oxygen being received, and the cat paying attention to the yawning itself.
- Cats may yawn due to boredom. This is the same as for us. When we get bored, we yawn. Unlike humans, though, cats probably won’t use yawning in a sarcastic way to show someone that they are boring, but cats do yawn due to boredom. Scientists theorise that this is closely tied with the previous point, simply because boredom makes it harder to stay alert.
- Cats may yawn in order to communicate. A yawning cat may show a relaxed mood to other cats. However, cats use their body language as a whole, and yawning alone would not tell others anything unless paired with something else. For example, if you look at still pictures of a cat hissing and a cat yawning, the mouth in both cases would appear the same. But if you pay attention to the state of the ears and whiskers, you would notice that the cat who is yawning has their ears and whiskers positioned sideways or slightly forward, instead of backwards or downwards as in case of an angry cat. You can learn more about cats’ body language here.
- Cats may yawn because it’s contagious. There is scientific proof that if you see someone yawning, you may soon start doing it yourself; yawning is contagious. We can assure you that researching and writing this article made us yawn a lot. Did you yawn while reading it? There is also a study that shows that human yawns are contagious for dogs. While we did not find similar research done on cats, we cannot think of a reason why cats would be different.

She is sick (motion sickness - nausea) of cars (every time she gets into a car for a ride)

Reason [12]:

Motion sickness in cats is a common problem. Unlike many dogs that can be “trained” to comfortably ride in cars, cats prove much more challenging to overcome their anxiety. Most motion sickness cases in cats are caused primarily by the stress and anxiety associated with travel. Cats that travel only once or twice a year (typically when visiting the veterinarian) aren’t used to car rides and often associate the car ride with the stressful experience that follows. This reaction can result in motion sickness.

She performs a certain circular ritual before bed

Reason [13]:

The sleeping ritual often begins with the cat slowly marching around in a tight circle, often kneading as it moves. Kneading is frequently a precursor to sleep, says Kristen Hampshire, co-author of the Cat Lover’s Daily Companion: 365 Days of Insight and Guidance for Living a Joyful Life With Your Cat. She explains that it’s a sign of happiness and security going back to kittenhood, when kittens knead while nursing to communicate, in part, that they are present and OK.

Relevant references that could decipher the behaviours below could not be located, either because they are quite mundane and usual or because they are actually quite rare:

She has an etiquette when asking for food (she extends her paw and touches the one that has the food)

This might be a learned behaviour

She has a smooth soft meow
The evasive manoeuvres when we are chasing her are very elaborate and she enjoys skidding on the floor
Her love for medium rare beef steak is extraordinary
She has a very sensitive stomach and she is very protective with her belly
She has a weird way of showing her affection (she makes "nia nia nia nia" sounds) and uses trilling [14] as an acknowledgement of existence whenever the name psypsynel gets mentioned
She is very careful and gentle with machinery and cables

She might be doing that due to the fact that she is afraid of disturbing her surroundings.

She always waits for her friends behind the door
She always "tags" her friends (slaps her with her paw) when they pass from the sofa (she actually runs on the sofa from wherever she is in order to tag them, whenever she sees one of them coming near it)
She adores her little football and she always carries the ball on the sofa
She likes looking down, from the balcony, the people on the street
She loves playing Elmyra and the pet [15] with her friends
She loves stealing the hair bands of her female friends
She loves to hide behind curtains and playing the ghost and ambushing her friends

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet

[2] https://findavet.rcvs.org.uk/find-a-vet/your-responsibilities-as-an-animal-ownerkeeper/

[3] http://aldf.org/wp-content/uploads/compendium-map/2017/usa/COLORADO.pdf

[4] http://aldf.org/wp-content/uploads/compendium-map/2017/usa/WASHINGTON.pdf
[5] http://aldf.org/wp-content/uploads/compendium-map/2017/usa/OREGON.pdf

[6] https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168007a67d

[7] Iris Smolkovic, Mateja Fajfar & Vesna Mlinaric, "Attachment to Pets and Interpersonal Relationships", Journal of European Psychology Students, Vol. 3, 2012

[8] Ronald Paul Hill, Jeannie Gaines, R. Mark Wilson, "Consumer behavior, extended-self, and sacred consumption: An alternative perspective from our animal companions", Journal of Business Research, Volume 61, Issue 5, May 2008, Pages 553–562
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat
[10] https://www.petplace.com/article/cats/pet-behavior-training/why-do-cats-make-a-chattering-sound/
[11] https://www.pet-happy.com/why-is-your-cat-yawning-at-you-are-you-that-boring/
[12] https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/motion-sickness-in-cats
[13] http://www.thedailycat.com/behavior/understanding/cat_sleep_routines/index.html
[14] http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/what-is-cat-trilling
[15] http://tinytoons.wikia.com/wiki/Elmyra_Duff

20171218

Kent woman to season festive dinner with her mother's ashes

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/12/18/kent_woman_to_season_xmas_dinner_with_mothers_ashes/

Cool, an excerpt from Matthew 26:26:
Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take this and eat it, for this is my body."

(via theoldreader.com)

20171216

Researchers use sperm to deliver cancer drugs to tumors via Engadget

https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/15/sperm-deliver-cancer-drugs-tumors/

Cool

20171129

Serious macOS vulnerability exposes the root user

https://securityboulevard.com/2017/11/serious-macos-vulnerability-exposes-the-root-user/

(via theoldreader.com)

20171128

Give 1,000 monkeys typewriters, they'll write Shakespeare. Give them robot arms, and wait – they actually did that?

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/28/monkeys_robot_arm_control/

(via theoldreader.com)

20171124

Forget Sesame Street, scientists pretty much watched Big Bird evolve on Galápagos island

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/24/boffins_catch_big_bird_lineage_on_galapagos_islands/

(via theoldreader.com)

20171122

North Korean defector: What dramatic footage tells us

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42076543

20171108

Lockheed Martin contract will make sci-fi aerial laser fights a reality

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/pAfexCC-Wbo/

(via theoldreader.com)

20171106

Cyber Resilience- what I’ve found (Part 1)

https://securityboulevard.com/2017/11/cyber-resilience-what-ive-found-part-1/

(via theoldreader.com)

20171025

Drones are being used to protect elephants and rhinos from poachers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41672803
do they shoot the poachers too? :P that would be cool
(via theoldreader.com)

10/23/17 PHD comic: 'End Times'

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1980

(via theoldreader.com)

Daniel Stori’s ‘Death And The Programmer’

https://securityboulevard.com/2017/10/daniel-storis-death-and-the-programmer/

(via theoldreader.com)

20171017

First Detection of Gravitational Waves from Neutron-Star Crash Marks New Era of Astronomy

20171003

Prince Paul: 'I have my own micronation'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41479410

(via theoldreader.com)

20170918

South Park episode plays epic prank on Amazon Alexa owners

http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/uC3q0yFkXsc/

(via theoldreader.com)

Researchers estimate the human cost of emissions cheating

https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/18/study-diesel-emissions-preventable-deaths-nitrogen-oxide/

(via theoldreader.com)

09/15/17 PHD comic: 'Inner Gollum'

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1973

(via theoldreader.com)

20170905

More than half in UK are non-religious, suggests survey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41150792

(via theoldreader.com)

Voyager 1 at 40: Scientists 'amazed' 1970s space probe still works

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41147213

(via theoldreader.com)

Give a boffin a Xeon and a big GPU, get a new big prime number

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/05/new_colossal_prime_number/

(via theoldreader.com)

20170830

08/28/17 PHD comic: 'Ritual'

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1969

(via theoldreader.com)

20170828

Tanker's speedy Arctic crossing is bad news for the planet

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/28/tanker-crosses-arctic-route-without-icebreaker/

(via theoldreader.com)

20170824

ASUS smoking hashes with 19-GPU, 24,000-core motherboard

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/24/asus_19_gpu_motherboard/

(via theoldreader.com)

20170822

Total Eclipse of the Charts

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/euronews/en/home/~3/KBprHgYrtII/total-eclipse-of-the-charts

(via theoldreader.com)

20170821

True random numbers are here — what that means for data centers

https://www.networkworld.com/article/3211529/security/true-random-numbers-are-here-what-this-can-mean-for-all-of-us.html#tk.rss_security

(via theoldreader.com)

20170818

Self-driving truck that’s built to crash comes to Colorado

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/18/self-driving-truck-colorado-crash-safety/

very very cool!
(via theoldreader.com)

20170809

Your top five dreadful people the Google manifesto has pulled out of the woodwork

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/09/dreadful_people_the_google_manifesto_pulled_out_of_woodwork/

quote from the article:

"What is so infuriating about Damore's mindset – and what Google is trying so hard to unravel – is the immediate assumption that because the person going for the job happens to be a woman that they are somehow immediately less capable of doing it."

(via theoldreader.com)

20170802

Single Chinese women want to freeze their eggs and enjoy life

http://www.bbc.co.uk /news/world-asia-china-40183587

20170801

08/01/17 PHD comic: 'Nice try'

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1967

20170731

Scientists may have found a Neptune-sized alien moon

https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/30/scientists-find-signs-of-exomoon/

(via theoldreader.com)

20170725

NIST SP 800-171 Deadline at End of 2017 – Is Your Organization Ready?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tripwire-state-of-security/~3/32nug43x-Ls/

(via theoldreader.com)

20170721

Salvador Dali's body exhumed for DNA tests to settle a paternity claim

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/euronews/en/home/~3/vOUNBqJEVZo/salvador-dalis-body-exhumed-for-dna-tests-to-settle-a-paternity-claim

We could also keep his DNA to experiment on the effects of the social environment to the development of people. This will be accomplished by creating a number of clones, bringing the handful of Dalis up in a different manner and comparing the results to the actual Dali.

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