Pretty Detox Posts

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

How Smart is Your Pet?

The answer could shed light on a deeper mystery.

by Ali Boyle

How smart is your pet? The book Test Your Cat: The Cat IQ Test claims to be able to tell you ‘how smart your cat really is’. He or she might be an ‘undiscovered genius’. Using the book, you score your cat on a variety of questions, perform a calculation, and this gives you the cat’s IQ. The first question is whether the cat eats on a regular schedule. The second is whether it eats a variety of foods. There are many other questions. Now, I have no idea how seriously this book is intended to be taken. But it strikes me that there is something very odd about the idea that eating on a regular schedule and enjoying a varied diet have anything to do with intelligence, as we usually understand that term.

Similarly, you sometimes hear people say that a particular breed of dog is highly intelligent. But quite often, what people mean by this is that individuals of that breed are very obedient and can be trained to perform many tasks. This interest in ‘trainability’ is reflected in the British television show Teach My Pet To Do That. In each episode, two different pets are compared on their ability to learn a trick, like answering the doorbell or wiping their feet on a mat. The pets might be dogs, cats, miniature horses, even chickens or pigs. If one pet takes to the trick much faster than the other, it can be tempting to say that the first is more intelligent.

Perhaps in a sense they are. The tricks are taught using operant conditioning – when the animal performs the desired behaviour, they get a reward which ‘positively reinforces’ the behaviour. To learn a trick in this way involves latching on to the contingency between act and consequence – ‘figuring out’ just what behaviour the reward is tied to. This might be a component of intelligence, but it can’t be all there is to it. After all, it’s not as though we think that a child must be especially intelligent when we successfully reinforce her good behaviour through the award of gold stars.

As well as this, there...

Read more: https://iai.tv/articles/how-smart-is-your-pet-auid-910

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

Rescuers Separate Two Feral Cats But Learn They Can’t Survive Without The Other

Feral cats Sad Boy and Lola have a relationship unlike any Courtney and Molly have ever seen. The two cats are part of a semi-feral cat colony in a Tucson, Arizona, neighborhood called the Poets Square Cats. The cats in the neighborhood are looked after by some rescuers, including Courtney and Molly, who are trap-neuter-return advocates.

Courtney noticed that Lola is very protective of Sad Boy and jumps in front of anyone who gets too close. For his part, Sad Boy watches over Lola when she eats. The rescuers didn’t realize at the time just how bonded the two cats are. So when the cats were separated, things didn’t go as the rescuers were expecting.

(VIDEO on the origin link, please)

When Lola moved into a foster she quickly began to deteriorate. And Sad Boy was a mess, he wasn’t grooming himself and looked very dirty. So Lola was quickly returned to Sad Boy and the transformation was incredible. Lola spent all night grooming Sad Boy and the next day he was clean.

The more Courtney and Molly watch the pair, the more they see just how in love the two cats are. They watch sunsets together, and the stars. They do everything together and Courtney says the cats have restored her faith in relationships and love.

Here: https://www.reshareworthy.com/two-feral-cats-cant-be-separated/

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

Can Cats Read Minds?

How to know if your pets know what you're thinking

by Ali Boyle

I sometimes play a game with my cat, Cleo. I stand around the corner from her, just out of sight. She starts to sneak towards me. When I poke my head around the corner to look at her, she freezes. When I pull back, she carries on sneaking. Eventually, she pounces on my ankles.

In my mind, we’re playing Statues – the children’s game in which the aim is to sneak up on someone without that person seeing you move. But Cleo can’t be thinking of it that way. So, what’s she thinking? Why does she freeze when my head pops around the corner?

Here’s an obvious answer. She’s trying to attack my ankles. She stops when I stick my head out because she knows I can see her, and knows that if I see her coming I’ll know she’s coming, and she’ll lose the element of surprise.

This obvious answer assumes that Cleo is a mindreader. Now, I don’t mean by this that she’s telepathic. Psychologists and philosophers use the term ‘mindreader’ to refer to someone with the ability to ascribe mental states to others. I’m a mindreader in this sense, and so are you – because we can make judgments about what others are thinking, feeling, seeing, and so on. Our answer assumes that Cleo is a mindreader because it involves her making a judgment about what I can see (her approaching), and about what I know (an attack is imminent).

But can Cleo really ‘read minds’? Does she even have a concept of seeing or knowing? To be clear, my question is not whether Cleo sees and knows things, but whether she knows that I see and know things – or that any animal does. When she hunts, does she consider whether her prey knows she’s there? When she faces off with the neighbour’s cat, does she realise that it sees her?

This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer – not just about Cleo, but about any non-human animal.

Why? Surely to answer it we’d just need a test. We’d need a situation in which a mindreader would make a particular judgment (that I can see, say) and would consequently behave in a certain way....

Read more: https://iai.tv/articles/can-cats-read-minds-auid-1145

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

‘Land Of Stray Dogs’ Is Heavenly Refuge For Hundreds Of Stray Dogs

There’s a refuge in Costa Rica called one of the best places on the planet for a stray dog to live. Territorio de Zaguates (or “Land of Stray Dogs”), is a no-kill refuge that cares for hundreds of homeless dogs, who can run free on the sprawling property in the hills outside of San Jose.

Photo credit: Territorio de Zaguates

The dogs are given food, water and shelter where they can sleep at night. It’s also where volunteers bathe and care for them.

These naughty dogs think they can get a head-start on dinner when the food truck arrives!

Each dog is given a name and available for adoption. The mutts are also given their own “unique breed” status.

“Our mission is to find a home for all dogs that are in our care,” Territorio de Zaguates writes on Facebook. “We are a temporary home for hundreds of dogs looking for a second chance, and we are also the permanent home of many others who may never find their own family.”

Volunteers regularly take the dogs out on hikes on the large property for exercise. Look at all those happy faces!

There are water troughs all along the hiking routes so that they stay hydrated.

The dogs’ caretakers have all kinds of fun with the dogs. In the video below, they slide down a hill on cardboard and the delighted dogs give chase!

The public are welcome to schedule a hike with the dogs to hang out with them and help volunteers.

Of course, you can also adopt a dog!

What looks like fantastic place, and one I would love to visit! Share this awesome dog shelter with your family and friends!

MORE PHOTOS: https://www.reshareworthy.com/land-of-stray-dogs-costa-rica/

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

VIDEO: Cats take over Japanese island

There is a tiny fishing village off Japan's west coast, where humans are outnumbered by a burgeoning population of felines. The locals call it Cat Island. Seth Doane reports on the scenic spot where scores of cats are proving to be a potent tourist draw.

Edited October 5, 2022 by msfntor

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

Fox Village in Japan: The Fluffiest Place on Earth! (Miyagi Zao, Shiroishi)

To see about a hundred of adorable free-roaming foxes up close was AMAZING! Japan's Miyagi Zao Fox Village might just be the fluffiest place on Earth!

**msfntor** · October 5, 2022

Fred Schultz @FredSchultz35

Stay calm and just blend…

(Spot t(he imposter)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1513139949062737920

Edited October 15, 2022 by msfntor

**mina7601** · October 6, 2022

On 10/4/2022 at 8:24 AM, msfntor said:

@mina7601 thank you!

You're welcome!

**msfntor** · October 6, 2022

17 hours ago, mina7601 said:

You're welcome!

:hello:

**msfntor** · October 6, 2022

Deer slab: our favorite places to observe (and hear) this autumn spectacle

9/24/2022

Here is a parenthesis that smells like autumn, dead leaves and wet humus. With a bonus, a sylvan symphony where the king of the forests leads the dance. The deer slab period has begun. Hurry, don't miss his concerts! From Chantilly to Sologne, from Chambord to...

It only lasts a few weeks and has nature lovers racing from mid-September to celebrate that wild autumn symphony that is the slab.

This is the period when the great stags launch their hoarse bellows which can be heard from very far away.

These calls from the forest have several purposes and reflect the behavior of the males (dominant or pretenders) towards the does and their rivals.

From dusk to dawn or even during the day, the slab will allow the dominant males to control and mate with the females of their herd, gathered at the beginning of autumn as if by magic, while summer saw these animals go their separate ways.

The females and their fawns in small groups and the males more solitary.

While defending their herd from the inclinations of other deer who have reached maturity and are very impatient, the dominant males assert their superiority.

Adrenaline in their veins, panting nervously and sometimes with their tongues hanging out, they seem exhausted from always having to resist or impose on suitors.

They can then go from the phase of intimidation to direct combat where the woods will collide in the silence of the clearings... This is the moment when everyone is pitted against each other in epic struggles.

These are generally harmless, even if they are grueling for the kings of our forests.

This period is the most sought after to hear or observe these splendid animals.

Reserved only for initiates a few years ago, the deer slab now attracts a lot of people.

Countless formulas have emerged, from simple evening outings to stays with conferences, exhibitions, walks, even bivouacs and observations in the forests.

All under the sign of this noble animal.

Enough to meet a real need to immerse yourself in nature and enjoy these great moments of autumn forest life. ...

More: https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-09-24-deer-slab--our-favorite-places-to-observe-(and-hear)-this-autumn-spectacle.rJHrvW2bj.html

**msfntor** · October 6, 2022

Fox @hourlyFox then... foxes!

https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1577871297090134022

https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1577946824740114432

https://twitter.com/hourlyFox/status/1578429967200813056

Edited October 7, 2022 by msfntor

**mina7601** · October 7, 2022

On 10/4/2022 at 8:40 AM, msfntor said:

On 9/27/2022 at 2:36 AM, XPerceniol said:

when all hope is lost, that is the end.

You're young, then ALL hope is here, Mina!

Yes.

On 10/4/2022 at 8:40 AM, msfntor said:

Look here:

“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” —J.R.R. Tolkien.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” —Albert Einstein.

“Hope is the last thing ever lost.” —Italian proverb.