Latest / Paws Between Us - Pet Stories, Welfare and Building A Bond / Short Paws: Indoor Cats, Dog TV and Brazil’s Pet Custody Breakthrough

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Short Paws: Indoor Cats, Dog TV and Brazil’s Pet Custody Breakthrough · Paws Between Us - Pet Stories, Welfare and Building A Bond

• 0:00
  Welcome to Pause Between Us, your regular dose of positive pet news.
• 0:05
  Every other week we bring you a short, uplifting episode
• 0:08
  packed with the latest feel-good stories from the world of pets.
• 0:11
  So take a moment to tune out from all the negative news dominating our headlines
• 0:15
  and help us shine a light on the good, celebrating the joy pets bring to our lives
• 0:19
  and sharing the inspirational changes making their lives better too.
• 0:22
  So, settle in for a short pause and let's spread some positivity together.
• 0:27
  Yay! Hi, Nat.
• 0:28
  Yay! Hello, Sash. How are you?
• 0:30
  Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you.
• 0:32
  It's good to be talking about some positive news for a change
• 0:37
  because there's so much doom and gloom in the world right now.
• 0:39
  The news is just awful. I can't bear to watch it.
• 0:43
  Yeah, I know. It gets a bit much, doesn't it?
• 0:46
  And I think you have to, for your own sanity, tune out from some of it sometimes.
• 0:49
  So, hopefully this is good timing for a few people.
• 0:53
  Yes, yes. We can focus on some positive things happening for pets across the world.
• 0:59
  Yeah, it's not all bad, luckily.
• 1:00
  No, it's not all bad. But how are you?
• 1:03
  I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm a bit tired today.
• 1:04
  But I'm looking at the glorious sunshine outside.
• 1:07
  So, I'm itching to go out in the garden with the cats.
• 1:10
  I might take them out in a little while after we've recorded.
• 1:14
  Yes. Do they like being in the sunshine? Do they sit and sunbathe?
• 1:17
  Yeah, a little bit. They kind of don't know what to do with themselves. It's quite funny.
• 1:20
  Weaver likes the sun. Murray seems to stay in the shade.
• 1:23
  Okay.
• 1:24
  Yeah, they do go out. I've had lots of questions about taking them outside because they're ragdoll cats.
• 1:28
  People are intrigued by the fact I don't have them on harnesses.
• 1:32
  So, it's probably another conversation topic at some point.
• 1:35
  But I can talk more about that another time.
• 1:38
  Yeah. So, just quickly on that though, would you have,
• 1:41
  or do some people have their cats on harnesses in the gardens, their ragdoll cats?
• 1:46
  Yeah. So, if they've got an indoor cat, they'll harness them up and let them on a sort of a free-range harness.
• 1:52
  It's quite lengthy, but still have them sort of tethered in the garden.
• 1:55
  I think that's because most people's gardens aren't fully cat-proofed, if you want to put it that way.
• 2:00
  And some of the cats are quite good climbers and may leg it.
• 2:04
  I'm quite a relaxed owner in that respect.
• 2:08
  I've had cats all my life. So, I'm a little bit more like, well, a cat goes outside, of course a cat can wander.
• 2:13
  So, I've never been particularly nervous.
• 2:16
  In fact, this does play into a story I've read, which I was going to share today.
• 2:21
  It's funny we mention this actually. So, I could go into it.
• 2:24
  Yeah, go for that. Tell us about it.
• 2:25
  So, yeah, I found a survey. So, this actually was on the back of some of this,
• 2:29
  because I've been talking to people through social media about indoor cats being outside.
• 2:34
  And I found a survey, a study that was done by the Nottingham Trent University
• 2:39
  of over 5,000 cat owners across the world actually.
• 2:43
  And they were talking about like, why do you keep your indoor cat indoors?
• 2:48
  Or what are you concerned about? Why it shouldn't go outside?
• 2:52
  And so, mostly they were concerned about protecting cats from traffic, other people and wildlife.
• 2:58
  So, the research found that most of those that were likely to keep them in were younger pet owners,
• 3:03
  younger cat owners aged 26 to 35. So, probably first time, maybe first time owners.
• 3:08
  And those living in city centres and urban areas,
• 3:11
  which kind of makes sense for the sort of traffic concerns and stuff.
• 3:14
  When I had my cat Diaz, she was a Persian.
• 3:18
  And when I first got her, I just treated her like a normal outdoor cat in some respects.
• 3:23
  She kind of came and went and had a cat flap and she sort of came and went.
• 3:26
  But when I moved to a flat that was on a main road,
• 3:29
  she stayed in for those, I think it was a year or a year and a half I was there.
• 3:33
  But then as soon as I got my own place and had a garden again,
• 3:36
  she went out when I was able to let her out.
• 3:38
  So, yeah, so I can understand why people wouldn't want them going out when there's traffic.
• 3:41
  I would be definitely wanting to keep my cat indoors.
• 3:44
  And so, this is kind of associated with pedigree pets and pedigree cats,
• 3:49
  as well as younger cats as well.
• 3:50
  But in total, the sort of stats around this, 85% of the major reasons for keeping cats indoors
• 3:56
  was around cat safety, which I was just touching on there.
• 3:58
  So, traffic being the top one.
• 4:00
  Others were concerned about the cats being stolen.
• 4:02
  Obviously, pedigrees, they think that that might happen.
• 4:05
  I'm not sure if that's truth.
• 4:06
  I know it happens with dogs, but I don't know the stats on cats.
• 4:09
  Protection from other animals.
• 4:11
  So, this is particularly in the US, I know.
• 4:13
  There's lots of coyotes in places and there's natural predators out there.
• 4:17
  But there's also things about like fighting between cats.
• 4:20
  There might be foxes in our areas and disease transmission.
• 4:23
  So, that's another one.
• 4:24
  Interestingly, in Australia and New Zealand,
• 4:27
  they mostly kept their cats indoors because they wanted to prevent it from hunting other animals.
• 4:32
  So, a lot of people think about the fact that cats can just randomly attack and kill birds because it's fun.
• 4:39
  It's not because they're necessarily going to eat them.
• 4:41
  They'll keep kill mice and other sort of small animals.
• 4:43
  That was particularly, apparently came out in Australia and New Zealand, which is interesting.
• 4:47
  And then the other thing was about them just running away.
• 4:49
  And again, I think I can see this.
• 4:51
  If you're a first-time pet owner in this day and age, these are all valid concerns.
• 4:57
  It's funny because I think again, with me having cats since I was very little,
• 5:01
  maybe you don't have the, I'm aware of these, but they don't,
• 5:05
  they're not at the forefront of my mind having a cat.
• 5:07
  If I had a normal moggy, I'd just be letting it out and wouldn't think twice.
• 5:10
  I only keep mine in because I don't know why actually.
• 5:14
  I've been conditioned to know that these are indoor cats and probably aren't as savvy.
• 5:18
  And we've just kept them in, I suppose, because we wanted them around us a bit more.
• 5:23
  We kind of did fall into that thing of like, we don't want them hunting birds and mice.
• 5:27
  We are worried about traffic.
• 5:29
  You know, you start to kind of take on these concerns.
• 5:31
  So yeah, we've done that, but do let them out in the garden when we're around.
• 5:35
  So we're sort of giving that metal ground at the moment.
• 5:37
  So just to say on this story, though, what's coming out of this for a lot of people
• 5:42
  is just to say that if you do have a cat and you are keeping it indoors,
• 5:46
  it's best to try and look about how to improve their wellbeing
• 5:49
  by looking at lots of enrichment things that you can do.
• 5:53
  So experts and other owners are talking more about looking at different spaces and heights
• 5:59
  you can create, hiding places, toys and puzzles that might be suitable,
• 6:04
  all to relieve sort of stress, boredom and a lot of inactivity.
• 6:08
  So people who are interested in this, you can search on any social media platform.
• 6:12
  You can look on Google for pet and cat enrichment ideas.
• 6:15
  There's thousands of things out there from like using toilet rolls to bags and like paper.
• 6:22
  There's so many things you can do without costing any money.
• 6:25
  So yeah, just to think about that if you're having this indoor cat
• 6:29
  and you want to sort of just make sure it's having the best life it can have,
• 6:33
  think about those enrichment ideas and go and search some things out.
• 6:36
  Yeah, interesting.
• 6:37
  Yeah, it's interesting.
• 6:39
  And I think some of the fears that you've described are very valid, aren't they?
• 6:42
  If you're worried about your cat going out and running across a busy road or there is wildlife.
• 6:49
  There's a lot of foxes where we live and they've been quite vocal recently.
• 6:54
  They make a real noise, really screeching.
• 6:56
  I don't know if that's like because it's mating season.
• 6:59
  But I did wonder the other day like how the cats are alongside the foxes in our neighbourhood
• 7:04
  because there's a lot of cats as well.
• 7:06
  So I don't know if they can rub alongside each other okay or whether cats are prey for foxes.
• 7:12
  I don't know. I think they must.
• 7:15
  I've never heard of finding a cat that's been attacked in that way
• 7:19
  because you'd think with a fox it'd probably go for it.
• 7:21
  I remember one time when I lived in a flat that had a cat flap.
• 7:25
  So my cat Diaz went in and out by herself.
• 7:28
  My boyfriend at the time apparently saw her facing off with a fox.
• 7:31
  So they were fine. There was no problem.
• 7:34
  And she came in and out and went about and did all those things.
• 7:37
  So I don't think that happens but I'm sure it's a possibility.
• 7:40
  I don't know enough.
• 7:42
  She's feisty.
• 7:43
  She was a feisty little girl.
• 7:44
  She was feisty.
• 7:45
  She's definitely streetwise.
• 7:47
  Good for her.
• 7:48
  Good for her.
• 7:49
  Yeah, it's cute.
• 7:50
  Yeah, interesting.
• 7:51
  I think the enrichment stuff, like you say, you can do things that don't cost a lot.
• 7:55
  Just have a bit of creativity and maybe we can share some other ideas
• 7:58
  through our social media channels on enrichment.
• 8:02
  Yeah, and hopefully we'll get a cat behaviourist on at some point
• 8:06
  who can give us a few more ideas around this and understand cat boredom,
• 8:11
  particularly for indoor cats, to see if it's a thing and how to combat it.
• 8:15
  Yeah.
• 8:16
  Well, interestingly, that leads on to the sort of thing I'd spotted in the news
• 8:21
  recently around TV for dogs.
• 8:25
  There is a cat TV.
• 8:26
  Is there?
• 8:27
  Yeah.
• 8:28
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:29
  When I saw the headline, I thought, what, there's an actual TV designed for a dog
• 8:33
  when it meant the content on the TV.
• 8:35
  But apparently there's a real boom in TV designed for dogs.
• 8:40
  For enrichment, but also for relaxation.
• 8:43
  And I love to sit on an evening and watch some TV with Betty by my side,
• 8:48
  but she falls fast asleep very quickly.
• 8:50
  Isn't that bothered?
• 8:51
  And actually the news was saying that scientists aren't convinced
• 8:56
  that dogs are actually watching this TV for dogs.
• 9:00
  Right.
• 9:01
  But yeah, definitely there's a kind of rise in dog friendly TV channels
• 9:05
  to help keep dogs calm or entertained when they're left alone.
• 9:08
  Various channels that I've not heard of, which I'm going to have to check out,
• 9:12
  including Siesta Dog TV, Four Paws TV, Puppy Dreamscape, and Dog TV.
• 9:19
  And there's also AI generated animation, soothing music,
• 9:22
  and colours that dogs see best.
• 9:24
  So apparently blue is the colour that dogs see best, which was news to me.
• 9:28
  So that's interesting.
• 9:30
  I don't know if there's a link between the colour and the reaction of the dog,
• 9:34
  i.e. is blue really soothing for a dog?
• 9:36
  I'm not sure.
• 9:37
  I just know Betty hates white fluffy dogs.
• 9:40
  Maybe I've talked about this before.
• 9:42
  What is it?
• 9:43
  Is it something about the fact that the dog's white and fluffy?
• 9:47
  I don't know what she's seeing that makes it feel so threatening.
• 9:51
  She really, really doesn't like them.
• 9:53
  She sees them on a lead, she'll really go for them.
• 9:56
  That's weird.
• 9:57
  It is weird, I digress.
• 9:59
  But yeah, I mean there's a growing awareness of separation anxiety in dogs,
• 10:03
  as I've talked about with Betty, and TV for dogs apparently helps with this.
• 10:08
  But the question is, do dogs actually watch it?
• 10:11
  So there have been some research studies to look into this.
• 10:14
  So there was a Queen's University Belfast study,
• 10:16
  found dogs only looked at screens for about 10% of available time,
• 10:20
  quickly losing interest, which is what I've seen with Betty.
• 10:23
  I've found a video on YouTube, which is like a dog video
• 10:27
  where he's got cats or squirrels or whatever running around on the screen.
• 10:31
  Betty sort of gets a little bit excited initially,
• 10:34
  barks at the TV and then is no longer bothered.
• 10:37
  Bored.
• 10:38
  Yeah, she gets bored.
• 10:39
  Maybe she realises it's not real, I don't know.
• 10:41
  But then a University of Glasgow researcher
• 10:44
  saw only short bursts of attention through the study,
• 10:47
  but this only involved two dogs, so can't really count that one.
• 10:51
  But there was a larger Auburn University study of 453 dogs,
• 10:58
  which suggested dogs can have a meaningful,
• 11:01
  object-filled experience when viewing screens.
• 11:04
  But I think this is based on owner feedback
• 11:07
  rather than observing the dogs watching the TV.
• 11:10
  Yeah.
• 11:11
  So, yeah, I mean, interesting.
• 11:13
  I just, I never forget this.
• 11:15
  I think it was when Trump was being inaugurated
• 11:20
  and there was sort of Trump stood like where every was stood.
• 11:25
  I can't remember.
• 11:26
  Is it in front of the White House where they have the big sort of...
• 11:29
  I don't know.
• 11:30
  Whatever, he was stood, he was quite, he was on the TV
• 11:33
  and he had this red tie on and he was talking
• 11:37
  and Betty went absolutely berserk.
• 11:41
  No.
• 11:42
  I've still got the video, yeah.
• 11:43
  No.
• 11:44
  I have to share it.
• 11:45
  Yeah, she went berserk.
• 11:46
  She was growling and barking and I don't know what it was.
• 11:50
  That's funny.
• 11:51
  But she really didn't like Donald Trump.
• 11:53
  You said on that matter.
• 11:56
  Yeah.
• 11:57
  But it just reminded me about there's something on the screen
• 12:00
  involving him whether it was his tie, his voice.
• 12:03
  Well, they do say animals can sense deeper meanings in people.
• 12:10
  Yeah, they can suss people out quite easily.
• 12:13
  So, that's all I should say on that one.
• 12:16
  Well, funny enough though, cats do like, there is,
• 12:19
  Cats TV has been around for a while.
• 12:21
  Maybe this is the first one where cats are ahead of the dogs in this game
• 12:24
  and mine have watched a lot of cat TV sometimes
• 12:27
  when I'm just sort of thinking, oh, this will be fun, see what happens.
• 12:30
  I think maybe the same.
• 12:31
  They pay attention for a little while, like really,
• 12:33
  like a cawing at the telly or they'll press their paws onto the screen.
• 12:37
  But I don't think it lasts very long.
• 12:39
  They'll probably realise again that it's not real.
• 12:41
  Yeah.
• 12:42
  Well, it'll be interesting if in 20 years' time
• 12:44
  the news headlines are about dogs and cats having too much screen time.
• 12:48
  We need to limit it to 30 minutes a day.
• 12:51
  Oh my God, can you imagine?
• 12:52
  Dogs and cats shouldn't be looking at the screen
• 12:54
  unless they're like age three or over.
• 12:56
  You know, it'd be interesting to see if animals end up consuming,
• 13:01
  pets end up consuming TV like children do.
• 13:05
  Well, it's funny because Murray was like watching the Winter Olympics this year.
• 13:09
  He was right sat in front of the telly.
• 13:11
  He also liked, we had the marathon on last year as well
• 13:14
  and he was watching that.
• 13:16
  He likes sports, my cat.
• 13:18
  Something where there's like a lot of movement on the screen maybe.
• 13:21
  Maybe.
• 13:22
  Contrast maybe.
• 13:23
  Yeah, Murray wants to compete.
• 13:25
  Maybe he wants to compete.
• 13:27
  He needs to be an athlete.
• 13:28
  He needs to shift that fat bum of his.
• 13:33
  Murray, get moving.
• 13:35
  We need to get moving, yeah.
• 13:39
  And then just another quick one,
• 13:41
  which is a really positive advancement for pets
• 13:45
  and also for pet owners,
• 13:47
  that there's a new custody law in Brazil.
• 13:50
  Judges in Brazil have introduced a new law
• 13:53
  allowing them to grant shared custody of pets when couples separate.
• 13:57
  So courts in Brazil can now formally decide joint custody
• 14:00
  of pets when couples are separated.
• 14:04
  So courts in Brazil can now formally decide joint custody arrangements for pets
• 14:09
  if a separating couple can't agree on their own
• 14:11
  and they can also order an equal split of the pets' maintenance costs
• 14:16
  between both parties.
• 14:18
  And there's a lot of pets in Brazil, apparently 160 million.
• 14:21
  The disputes over who keeps the animal when people separate
• 14:25
  have become increasingly common.
• 14:27
  And the sort of qualification for this is that the pet must have lived
• 14:30
  most of its life with the couple who are separating
• 14:33
  and no shared custody will be granted if one partner has a criminal record
• 14:37
  or any history or risk of domestic violence
• 14:40
  because we know, don't we, that pets can get caught up in those situations.
• 14:48
  Gosh, that's really progressive.
• 14:49
  I'm kind of, you know, the few things we've been reading recently,
• 14:52
  everything seems to be moving in quite a positive way
• 14:55
  in terms of the laws around pets and kind of their rights a bit more.
• 14:59
  I mean, obviously, it's not everywhere,
• 15:01
  but the little things we're picking up seem to be really progressive.
• 15:04
  Yeah, definitely.
• 15:05
  It's really good to hear because in the UK,
• 15:07
  dogs are legally seen as inanimate objects akin to cars,
• 15:11
  houses or other personal items, meaning custody cases come down
• 15:15
  to determining who the sole owner is.
• 15:18
  But I don't know if you're a couple how you would really be able
• 15:21
  to prove who the owner is.
• 15:23
  I mean, is it whose name is on the record of the vets or the microchip details?
• 15:29
  You know, it may just be that there is one person in the couple
• 15:33
  who tends to take the pet to the vet more often
• 15:35
  and therefore their name as default is on those records.
• 15:39
  Yeah, I have been fortunate enough never to get kind of caught up
• 15:43
  in something like this where there has been a big question mark
• 15:46
  over who gets to keep the pet.
• 15:49
  It must be quite, you know, it's a very difficult time anyway.
• 15:53
  And yeah, we don't want the pets to sort of bear the brunt of some of this.
• 15:58
  Well done, Brazil, is what I would say.
• 16:00
  Keep it up.
• 16:01
  So really good to see that.
• 16:03
  Yeah, because it must be really difficult.
• 16:05
  And you would hope that the couple can make some arrangements
• 16:08
  between themselves.
• 16:09
  But obviously, those things don't always happen so smoothly.
• 16:12
  So if there can be like an opinion, external opinion,
• 16:16
  without making that decision for helping people to decide
• 16:19
  what they want to do, I suppose that's a good thing.
• 16:21
  But yeah, tough.
• 16:22
  I wouldn't want to be in that position.
• 16:24
  No, me neither.
• 16:25
  So yeah, so that's some of the news that we've spotted this week.
• 16:28
  Thanks, Ash.
• 16:29
  Yeah, no, thanks, Nat.
• 16:30
  Always good to hear.
• 16:31
  Yeah, that's good.
• 16:32
  Well, next week, we're hoping we're going to be talking chickens.
• 16:35
  All things chickens.
• 16:36
  So what makes them a lovely pet?
• 16:38
  And we're going to learn more about their personalities
• 16:40
  because apparently they have lots of personality,
• 16:42
  which is gorgeous.
• 16:44
  And maybe sharing a little few tips with a special guest
• 16:46
  about how you can take care of them.
• 16:48
  I read this morning as well that the University of Winchester
• 16:51
  said that chickens make up the third largest pets in the UK
• 16:56
  after cats and dogs.
• 16:57
  Can you believe that?
• 16:58
  Oh, wow.
• 16:59
  So not rabbits?
• 17:00
  No, I did not know that.
• 17:01
  There's apparently millions of owners with chickens these days.
• 17:05
  So it's becoming quite – I suppose it's maybe because people want
• 17:08
  to be a bit more kind of eco-friendly and, you know,
• 17:12
  get good welfare eggs potentially.
• 17:15
  My mother-in-law has her own chickens for those reasons
• 17:19
  and loves them to bits.
• 17:21
  And so, yeah, it'd be lovely to hear someone talk about their chickens
• 17:25
  and kind of what they get from their lovely little relationship with them.
• 17:28
  Yeah, no, definitely.
• 17:29
  Wow, I didn't realise that the chicken ownership was so huge.
• 17:34
  No, mad.
• 17:35
  I also love a good, organic, free-range egg.
• 17:40
  Yeah.
• 17:41
  We get a lot from our mother-in-law now, which kind of reassures me.
• 17:45
  Oh, that's amazing.
• 17:46
  Yeah, no, that sounds good.
• 17:47
  It's very nice.
• 17:48
  Yeah.
• 17:49
  Well, I shall come round to yours sometime and have an egg.
• 17:52
  Yeah.
• 17:53
  Any time.
• 17:54
  A boiled egg.
• 17:55
  Any time, Sash.
• 17:56
  So thank you.
• 17:57
  Thanks for listening, everybody.
• 17:58
  Hope you've enjoyed our little session and tune in for the next one.
• 18:01
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• 18:04
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• 18:08
  if you want to.
• 18:09
  Yeah, great.
• 18:10
  Yeah, do give us a follow and, yeah, join our community on socials.
• 18:15
  So, yeah, thank you.
• 18:16
  Thank you.
• 18:17
  See you soon.
• 18:18
  Take care.
• 18:19
  Bye.