United Cats encourages questions from our readers. Please send your cat related questions to us and we will see what we can come up with. United Cats cannot answer questions of a medical nature. Ask your veterinarian, or see the links to veterinary sites on our links page. Most questions will be answered via email. Unanswered questions and interesting questions are listed below. Answers to these will be posted when I receive them, now is your chance to show off your amazing cat knowledge and be immortalized on United Cats!

I have also started a United Cats discussion group at yahoo.com, for those who wish to submit their cat query to a community of cat lovers. And for those who want to give advice about cats to their fellow cat lovers. There will also be cat stories, cat humor, cat information, and just about anything cat related that our members come up with. Simply click on:

Once there click the "join" button, the rest should be self explanatory. I hope to see you there. :)

1. Cats were once used to deliver mail in a European country. Apparently the experiment was a short lived failure. What country was it?
   After much research United Cats suspects this is folklore.

2. There is a book with a phrase that goes approximately like this. A mouse decided to hide from a cat by crawling into its ear. The mouse said, "Only the wisest of cats would think of looking for a mouse in its own ear." What book this is from? I understand that it has something to do with hunting.
   We're making progress here! This quote is widely attributed to Andrew Mercer. It is also attributed to designer Scott Love. I have yet to find out what book it is from, any literary geniuses out there know this one?

3. How many cats are there in the United States?
   Estimating cat populations has not had a lot of scientific study for some reason, but a recent estimate I saw was sixty five million. There are a like number of feral cats.

4. If a Lavender Point Siamese mates with a Russian Blue, will we get purple kittens?
   The results of early research at United Cats are not promising. We did get one calico in the litter, the significance of this is as yet undetermined.

5. What kind of cat has catkins?
   Pussy Willows!

6. What does a cat walking on the beach have to do with Christmas?
   Sandy claws.

7. I am looking for a cat story from my childhood. I would say somewhere in the 70's, but am not sure. I do not know the title or author of the book, but it was a cat story so I'm hoping you can help. The story is about a child who gets very ill and turns into a cat. He(she?) meets another cat and the other cat begins to teach the child, now cat, how to be a cat. One of the lines the cat uses is "when in doubt, lick yourself".
   Jenny/The Abandoned by Paul Gallico. A very nice book, published in 1950 under the name Jennie (Who was the stray who taught the little boy). Several reprints later, in 1977, it was retitled The Abandoned, but is still the same neat book. Latest publisher is Intl Polygonics Ltd, though I believe it has been printed by a few different publishers. A very similar book is The Silent Miaow, A Manual for Kittens,Strays, and Homeless Cats Translated from the Feline by Paul Gallico. Narrated from the point of view of a kitten orphaned at the age of six weeks, it is worded as a guide to other cats who did not recieve enough instruction as to how to find a human family, a mate, raise kittens of their own, and several other important things. (Answer courteously provided by Rolfa Dippel, many thanks!)

8. Are cats color blind?
   Short answer: No. Long answer: Sort of. Early research indicated that cats were color blind which is why you will see that in some references. Modern research has shown that cats can see in color, it is just difficult to motivate them to perform stupid pet tricks in the laboratory (or anywhere else.) However, a cat's eyes are far more geared towards seeing in the dark than ours. To a cat an overcast moonless night with no lights would appear as bright as a clear night with a full moon. Built in night vision goggles. Consequently cats have a very modest number of color sensing cells in their eyes, and the brightest colors appear very pale and washed out to them.

9. Should I let my cat drink milk?
   Cats cannot digest milk very well, thus drinking milk can give them an upset tummy and other signs of digestive distress (I will skip the details.) This is why it is often said that one shouldn't feed milk to a cat. However, milk is not poisonous or dangerous to your cat. If your cat enjoys milk, it is perfectly OK to give them SMALL amounts of milk, a teaspoon or less at a time. Unless of course your cat's vet has forbidden milk entirely for some reason, or your cat seems particularly prone to unpleasant side effects after drinking even a tiny amount of milk.

Answer one of these or submit one of your own stumpers by sending E-mail to unitedcats@angelfire.com

IMPORTANT: When submitting a cat query please provide detailed information about the cat and the problem. For example: the age/sex/breed of the cat(s), their living situation, and recent changes in the household. This will greatly increase the chances that I can provide useful advice. I do answer all emails I receive, if I do not respond to a query within a week do not be bashful about resubmitting it. I get horrific amounts of junk mail so it is not unsual for legitimate emails to be deleted in error.