Each 8 August is celebrated as International Cat Day, to raise awareness for cats and learn about ways to help and protect them.

International Cat Day is overseen by International Cat Care, a not-for-profit British organization that has been striving to improve the health and welfare of domestic cats worldwide since 1958.

The Thammasat University Library collection includes books about all aspects of cat life and care.

The cat, also called the domestic cat or house cat, is a small feline carnivorous mammal of the subspecies Felis silvestris catus. It has been living in close association with humans for between 3,500 and 8,000 years.

Among the campaigns promoted by International Cat Care is a Position Statement on the Importance of Microchipping:

The accurate and permanent identification of pet cats is both important and desirable, and has been regarded as an essential component of cats’ welfare. Having this information is vital in reuniting cats with their owners should a cat ever stray, escape or get lost. While collars with tags can be used to identify cats and carry contact information, these are not ideal as they can sometimes cause serious and life-threatening injury and/or can be broken or separated from the cat.

Microchips for cats

International Cat Care is in agreement with both the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in affirming that microchipping of dogs and cats is safe and very rarely associated with any significant problems.

A permanent microchip conforming to the internationally recognised ISO Full Duplex standard (conforming to ISO 11784 and 11785) is the best option for the identification of cats. These are available from a wide range of manufacturers/suppliers and the standards ensure the microchip can be widely identified throughout the world by using a suitable ISO-compatible scanner.

The microchip itself is a tiny implant, typically about the size of a grain of rice, inserted under the skin and is usually implanted in a very similar way to administering a vaccine. The microchip is then linked to a central database (eg, the National PetLog Database) that holds all the details of the pet and the owner. Should the cat become lost or separated from its owner, a microchip scanner can be used to identify the cat and the owner. Both veterinary clinics and rescue shelters routinely use microchip scanners to identify pets and cats that have become separated from their owners.

Importantly, in addition to being able to identify lost cats, the use of microchips also allows the results of tests (eg, genetic tests for certain diseases) to be stored alongside a cat’s unique microchip number. For such purposes, samples (eg, cheek swabs or blood samples) should be collected and submitted to a testing laboratory by a veterinary surgeon, who checks and certifies the microchip number at the same time.

Safety concerns with microchips

While the procedure should cause little or no discomfort, it is important that only a veterinary surgeon or other properly trained individual administers the microchip as incorrect placement of a microchip can have severe consequences. Significant complications from the appropriate implantation of microchips in cats appear to be exceptionally rare. Data reviewed by the WSAVA suggest microchips are a safe and effective means of identifying pets. They also state that, of the many millions of animals that have been microchipped, only a tiny proportion have had any type of problem reported (and usually simply related to movement or loss of the chip)…

Use of cat collars

Because of the risk of collars becoming separated from the cat, collars should only be used as a secondary means of identifying cats. Where used, only safety collars, with an inbuilt feature that enables them to break under strain (‘snap-open’ collars) should be worn, as these minimise the risk of severe or life-threatening injuries.

Here are some thoughts about cats by authors whose books are mostly represented on the shelves of the TU Library:

• Nothing divided people more deeply than how they felt about cats.

Kingsley Amis, Difficulties with Girls (London: Hutchinson, 1988)

• The cat is, above all things, a dramatist; its life is lived in an endless romance though the drama is played out on quite another stage than our own, and we only enter into it as subordinate characters, as stage managers, or rather stage carpenters.

Margaret Benson, The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories (London: William Heinemann, 1901)

• Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.

Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985).

• How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven.

Robert A. Heinlein, To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987).

• Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many different ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.

Joseph Wood Krutch, The Twelve Seasons (1949), “February”.

• The cat is a wild animal that inhabits the homes of humans.

Konrad Lorenz, Man Meets Dog

• Yes, it is strange that anyone should dislike cats. But cats themselves are the worst offenders in this respect. They very seldom seem to like one another.

C.S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady

• When I play with my cat, who knows whether she isn’t amusing herself with me more than I am amusing myself with her?

Michel de Montaigne, Essays (1580), Book II, Ch. 12.

• For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.

For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.

For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.

For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.

Christopher Smart (1722-1771), “For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry” from “Jubilate Agno” (1758-1763).

• I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.

Hippolyte Taine, epigraph for his book, Life and Philosophical Opinions of a Cat (1858)

• When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction.

Mark Twain, “An Incident”

• If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.

Mark Twain

• A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime.

Mark Twain, Notebook, 1895

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)