Are cats loners? Are they aloof and don't care about human? We cat lovers know these are not true! "Feline Mythbuster - Introduction to cat behaviour" delivered by Alice Chau-Ginguene is going to answer all these questions and more! We are going to learn that cats not only have an intimate and important relationship with human for thousands of years of history, but also get a better understanding of their behaviour. For example: why is it so difficult to get them to drink water? We will learn how to establish a satisfying cat-human relationship at home and in the community. Alice will also talk a little about some of the latest scientific development in the cat world. There will be an Q&A session at the end and will have time to chat among cat lovers. Alice Chau-Ginguene is a cat behaviourist based in Dublin. She has worked with over thousand of cats in her career and have been featured in various media in Ireland. She is available for public lecture engagements on cat behaviour, starting your own business, Pet First Aid and related subjects.

1. Introduction to Cat Behaviour Alice Chau-Ginguené
Alice Chau-Ginguené
Cat Sitter & Behaviourist, Maow Care
Dublin, Ireland
Introduction to
Cat Behaviour

2. Introduction to Cat Behaviour Alice Chau-Ginguené
• Born in Hong Kong
• Live in Europe since 2003
• Travelled with my cat for over 10,000 km
• Cat behaviourist – The Centre of Applied Pet Ethology
• Cat Sitter – Member of Pet Sitters International
• Have been taking care of over 1000 cats in 7 years
• Featured in various media in Ireland
• Master of Science - Animal Behaviour and Welfare,
Queen’s University Belfast, starting 2017

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1. Cats are loners?
2. Cats won’t do anything for you?
3. Cats won’t love you?
4. Cats have no emotion?
5. Cats cannot be trained

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1. How the history of cats and physiology of
cats explain their behaviour
2. Latest science research in the world –
information straight from International Cat
Conference in UK last week!
3. Some famous cats around the world and
their contribution to human

5. Introduction to Cat Behaviour Alice Chau-Ginguené
1. Cats are loners?
• History of domestic cats
– Cats began their unique relationship with humans
10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent
– Agriculture : started a long term relationship with
human
– Middle Eastern wildcats, or felix silvestris lybica
– Over thousands of years, a new species of cat
eventually evolved that naturally made its home
around people: felis catus.
– Today, pet, stray, and feral cats belong to this species
that we call the domestic cat.

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– Keeping cats indoors all the time was not
possible—nor was it even a goal—until several
important 20th century innovations
• refrigeration, kitty litter, and the prevalence of spaying
and neutering.
– Even though these changes to our modern
lifestyle make keeping cats inside possible,
biologically, cats are the same as they were
thousands of years ago.

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2. Cats won’t do anything for you?
Yes and no, they will do things for you in
their own terms.

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• Cats have been part of war effort since
Crimean War
Crimean Tom

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• World War I

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• World War I

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• World War II

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• World War II

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• Train station master cat
• Photographer cat
• Library cat
• Soldier cat
• Sailor cat
• Government cat
• Police cat

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Train Station Master - Tama

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• Kishi Station, Kinokawa, Wakayama, Japan

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• In April 2006, the Wakayama Electric Railway
converted all stations on the Kishigawa Line
from manned to unmanned in an effort to cut
costs.
• Local business as train master
• Tama who lives in a local grocer became Train
Station Master

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Photographer - Cooper

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• Cooper is a 6 year old American Shorthair cat
living in Seattle.
• He uses a lightweight digital camera fastened
to his collar, which snaps a new photo every 2
minutes

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Librarian - Dewey

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• Dewey Readmore Books
• He was put in the book return one cold January night in
1988 at Spencer Public Library. .
• When the staff found him the next morning, they decided
to adopt him. After the library's board of trustees and the
city council approved. Dewey Readmore Books was
officially added to the staff. The staff cared for Dewey and
donated their pop cans to feed the kitty. Patrons and
friends from as far away as New York have donated money
for Dewey's food.
• Country Magazine, Cat Fancy Magazine
• Dewey even had his own job description. Check out Dewey
as a supervisor of our staff.

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Soldier – Private First Class Hammer

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• Private First Class Hammer is the mascot of the Hammer
Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry
Division.
• During their deployment in Iraq in 2004, an Iraqi born tiger
striped cat was born into the tent where Staff Sergeant Rick
Bousfield and his men stayed.
• When the unit was under attack by mortar fire, Pfc.
Hammer would jump and run to the bunkers like the rest of
the company.
• The nearest soldier scooped him inside his body armour to
wait out the attack. The cat has become part of the team
and the men started calling him Private Hammer.

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• He eventually got promoted to Private First Class after he
successfully caught 5 mice!
• When Stg. Bousfield learned that the unit was leaving Iraq for
home, the whole unit agree that Pfc. Hammer had to leave with the
rest of them. Being a 19 year Army veteran, Sgt. Bousfield would
not leave a member of his team behind.
• After a painstaking process of emailing and calling different parties,
finally Alley Cat Allies, Military Mascots and Pet Unlimited launched
a ‘Saving Private Hammer’
• He was on CNN, he meowed on radio talk shows around the world,
he was in cat magazines and gave paw prints at cat shows.
• He seems to be enjoying his new life as American citizen very much
and has become the ‘top cat’ in Sgt. Bousfield’s house.

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Able Seacat – Simon, D.M.

38. Introduction to Cat Behaviour Alice Chau-Ginguené
• Simon served on HMS Amethyst during the famous Yangtze incident
in 1949.
• He was wounded by shrapnel in the bombardment of the ship
which killed 25 of Amethyst’screw.
• Being trapped on the Yangtze river by the Communists, life on
board became hot, humid and boring, running out of supplies,
boilers had to be shut down to conserve fuel, so there were times
when there would be no ventilation and no refrigeration. Rodents
multiplied during the time Simon was injured, especially under the
condition the ship was in, food supplier was totally at stake.
• Without being completely recovered, Simon was back on his pest
control officer duty. Simon caught at least one mouse per day.

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• Awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal award
for gallantry, often referred to as the 'Animals'
Victoria Cross'.

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• His own proper obituary in
Time magazine.
• He was buried in the
PDSA’s animal cemetery at
Ilford.
• A specially made casket
was made and was draped
with the Union flag.
• The funeral was carried
out with full naval honours
with hundreds of soldiers
attended.

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White House Cat - Socks

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Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, 10
Downing Street
– Humphrey

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Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, 10
Downing Street
– Larry

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Police – PC Tizer

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• A new mouser was recruited at a leading rail
station in London, England's capital city, to
combat a population of rodents there.
• British Transport Police took on Tizer to work
at King's Cross station since September 2007.
• He was described as an essential member of
the team, and was saving a lot of money
previously spent on rodent control — which
wasn't working anyway.

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• He wore a high-visibility collar, attended
morning briefing, shared an office with a
senior officer.

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3. Cats won’t love you?
You already know the answer. They do but they
express their love differently.
– Slow blink
– Rubbing
– Sitting with you
– Enjoying your company

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4. Cats have no emotion?
Not true. They do have emotion but
express differently due to being prey in the
nature.

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5. Cats cannot be trained?
Not true, but need different ‘training’
method. Eg. The sound of the tin opener


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How can we establish a harmonic relationship with
our cats?
1. Understand and respect the physiology and
behaviour of domestic cats
2. Make sure to create a living environment to
their feed
– Feeding
– Water
– Shelter
– Activity need
– Hiding space

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3. Access to outdoor?
4. Community cats?

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Latest science in the cat world
1. Feliway Friends

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2. Pain detection tool for cats – facial
recognition

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Understanding Cat Pain Project
http://ucpproject.co.uk

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Pet First Responder Course – provisional date: first week of December
• You are backing your car on the driveway, you hear you hit something. You
come out and discover you hit a dog/cat. What to do?
• Or what if you have elderly dogs/cats, do you know what to do if they have
a heart attack?
• Do you know what to do if your dog/cat suffers from heart stoke or
frostbite?
• How about choking? They love to chew on random items lying around.
What to do?

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Pet First Responder
Course
- Provisional date: first
week of December
- Please sign up to get
notification
Questions?
Alice Chau-Ginguené
www.maowcare.com
alice@maowcare.com

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Questions?
Alice Chau-Ginguené
www.maowcare.com
alice@maowcare.com