Showing posts with label animal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animal. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Petfinder Post: Bull Mastiffs and Large Cats

Today some American busybodies are observing "No Pet Store Puppies Day," presumably by harassing pet stores that sell puppies. Pet stores I know neither have the space nor want the trouble, but there's actually a lot to be said for holding pet stores to standards for pet care and licensing them to sell kittens and puppies. The Humane Society, infested as it is with people who oppose the whole idea of anyone being so much better off than the poorest of the poor as to dare to own a home or have a pet, actually want cats and dogs to go extinct. They celebrate the loss of whole breeds of domestic animals. They need opposition and competition. 


This is Angus, a 6-month-old, 60-pound puppy from Hico, Texas. More about him below.

This week's spotlight, however, falls on a dog breed whose appeal is limited. 

A note on spelling: "Bull Mastiff" is two words, but on the Internet many people write "Bullmastiff" as one word to get around web filters that assume "bull" is always used in a rude way. When this web site means an insanely aggressive person, a stupid idea, or an outright lie, we say those things. When we say "bull" we mean the animal that mates with cows. 

Bull Mastiffs were bred to attack people--poachers on land the lord of the manor reserved for his own hunting ground. A show-quality Bull Mastiff weighs over 100 pounds. Since dogs tend to be stronger, pound for pound, than humans are this raises considerable question about who owns, leads, or carries whom. Vets might reasonably refuse to see them even if their owners could get them into a veterinary clinic. Big strong dogs are still dogs whose natural tendency is to love and protect the humans who feed them; Bull Mastiffs can be loyal, lovable pets. Still, most people can't take proper care of a Bull Mastiff and shouldn't try. 

The breed's name reflects its ancestry. It's a cross between Mastiffs, a family of super-size dog breeds, and Bulldogs, a family of flat-faced dogs bred for the ability (why beat around the bush about this?) to kill a bull. Fights between large aggressive animals were popular entertainment in bygone years. Bulls and bulldogs were thought to be well matched. Bulldogs come in all sizes, with Bull Mastiffs being the biggest and Bull Terriers being relatively small. They all have flat faces and a tendency, once they start fighting anything, to fight to the death. People who don't mind looking at these dogs (which I, personally, think are uglier than toads) say that when they're kindly treated they don't want to fight and are sweet, loyal, affectionate pets. 

There are not a lot of Bull Mastiffs in these United States. Nor should there be. However, Petfinder does have a category for this breed. Most of the animals in that category are crossbreeds, smaller than "full blood" Bull Mastiffs, and still abandoned at shelters because they were too big, strong, and energetic for their previous owners to handle. 

No cat breed presents the same problems Bull Mastiffs do, so should we go with Persian cats, which can have dysfunctionally flat faces, or Manx cats, which are always sturdily built (they have shoulders) and are often called ugly? Our Graybelle, a mix of Manx and Persian, shared the Bull Mastiff's most obvious and often undesirable feature; she was extra-large. She only looked as if she weighed more than 15 pounds when I lost her, but she was not quite a year old and had a lot more growing to do. The cat we believe she grew up to be did weigh about 25 pounds, and probably looked alarming to people who hadn't watched Graybelle grow up. 

Why do some cats just keep growing to twice the size we expect house cats to be? They're throwbacks to their wild ancestors. Before the species was domesticated, their ancestors normally weighed 25 to 30 pounds. Humans bred selectively for the smallest cats, the ones least likely to survive on their own and thus most likely to stay close to humans. The result is a strain of domestic cats whose normal adult weight range is 10 to 15 pounds, with many individuals even smaller. Once in a while, just as two black-haired humans occasionally produce a blond child, two domestic cats produce a kitten that grows to the size that is really natural for its species. Manx and Maine Coon cats, which are normally large anyway, are two breeds that are likely to produce these throwback kittens. Extra-large cats often keep growing for more than two years; it can take five years to reach a healthy adult weight of 30 pounds.

Extra-large house cats seem usually to think of themselves as just house cats who happen to be bigger than most other cats. As kittens they learned to hug someone's ankle when they wanted to be picked up and cuddled, and then one day person noticed that they were hugging person's chest or shoulders when they reached up, instead. They have the size of bobcats but not the survival instincts. Even after educating your neighbors about these cats, it's a good idea not to let them go out alone. People just don't understand. 

Because people don't understand, and because there aren't all that many extra-large cats anyway, an extra-large cat is not always available for adoption in any specific place. 


The photo was on the Meow a few years ago; Lens can't find the original image. 

Real wild cats (bobcats, lynxes, cheetahs) sometimes become pets too...and they have to be released into real wilderness, or kept in a large secure enclosure. People are still scared of them. They are still likely to pounce on chickens, rabbits, maybe young lambs, and they could still do a lot of damage if they played just a bit rough with humans. People do caress tigers...sometimes they wish they hadn't.

Now, the animals. Back to Angus, the adoptable Bull Mastiff crossbreed shown above.


Angus is being advertised for adoption on several Petfinder pages, but you'd be ahead to adopt him in Texas. He has serious vet bills there--get used to it. Even his rabies shots and worm treatments will probably cost more than rabies shots for a normal 30-to-50-pound dog. He's already been neutered. The basic fee is $400 and then they add $300 for transportation across the state line, whether to Arkansas or to Maine. He was found straying around Hico, Texas, with another pup, possibly dumped out and too young and dumb to realize it yet. The puppies were lured indoors, brought to the shelter, and vetted. Angus is already too big for many people even to try to lead, or lift, and he's still growing. He won't be quite as big as Clifford the Big Red Dog in the picture books of our childhood, but you may feel as if he is. He is just a baby who likes to bounce around and chew on things; he could knock you down and leave deep bleeding wounds in your hands, just learning how to use his strength for not hurting the people he loves. There is no way you could keep this dog at the same house with a small child. He will be a chore to load into a truck if you have to take him anywhere, a chore to train to walk at heel or anything else, a chore to feed, a chore for the vet to treat if he becomes ill. He will impress your friends and neighbors with his size, but considering the effect a 30-pound Aussie has on most people you want to scare away, Angus is probably overkill. But he's a sweet, lovable puppy who wants to please humans. You might want to give him a home just for that reason.

Zipcode 10101: Klaus from New Windsor 


Story of a Bull Mastiff's life: He was adopted as a puppy, about three months old. Then he was sent to the shelter, about six months old, because he was getting too big for his humans to handle. He's behaved well, considering how many people don't--and shouldn't--want him. He can't help that he doesn't fit into the modern world. Adopt this fellow only if you have some experience handling dogs who are heavier and stronger than you are. 

Big Daddy Blackberry from Hoboken 


Sixteen sleek, healthy pounds, Big Daddy Blackberry is part Bombay and has that "fancy breed" look. He is FIV-positive so he'd do best as the only cat. He's friendly, but not recommended for children--for one thing, if you move away quickly, he may think you're playing tag and grab you. But if you can have only one cat and need to keep that cat indoors, he might be a great pet. He's accustomed to having people exclaim about what a great gorgeous beast he is. He doesn't mind.  

Zipcode 20202 Maggie Mae from Luray, or Culpeper, or Georgia, or Wherever 


This friendly old dog--over 7 years old, which is getting up there for an extra-large dog--needs a big yard and a strong handler, but she has good table and toilet manners and aims to please. She has had some problems with men in the past, possibly because she was driven away or dumped by one, and may behave better with women. She will almost certainly need to build a bond with the man of the house, anyway. She is one of those dogs who've been abandoned in the past and now want to stick to their human everywhere. She wants to lean her considerable weight (probably too much for the shelter's scale, because all they say is she weighs more than 101 pounds) on her human on the couch and sleep on the floor beside her human's bed. While able, she hardly seems to need to be kept in a crate or on a leash, although the law may require it; she wants to go where her human goes. She has travelled close to the length of the United States, looking for a permanent home.

Adele from Annapolis 


Her web page is incomplete. Anyway, she's large but not fat, has been a house pet before, and would like to be one again. 

Zipcode 30303: Athena from Rossville


Athena's web page is incomplete. They think she's half Bull Mastiff and half Border Collie. She's still under 60 pounds and may stay under 100 pounds. She might live longer than 10 years, too, and she's still young--they're not sure whether she's still growing. The adoption fee is reasonable, but the adopter needs to be prepared to live with a dog who's still bigger, stronger, bolder, AND more intelligent than the average dog. A foster care agreement might be the best way to find out whether you can cope with this dog. 

Luca from Acworth 


He's one of four siblings who were rescued together and are close. You need to have room for at least one of the others. There are two ways to adopt any of this cat family: by twos, or by four! This may explain why the cats have been fostered together from the age of 3 weeks to the age of 3 years. Luca is just the biggest brother. No special problems are indicated but the cats aren't good with small children.

When I selected "Bull Mastiff" on Petfinder the system automatically showed me Angus first, because he was on the page of a shelter in Tennessee. I thought it might be nice to end this post with an extra-large cat who's available for adoption on the Point of Virginia or of east Tennessee. There aren't any--listed as such. There aren't a lot of cats in shelters here, in any case, and none of them is even fat, much less oversized and healthy. However, this sixteen-pounder, who isn't listed as extra-large in the web form, has answered to the name "Gigantasaurus."


He may be some sort of cousin to my long, tall, broad-framed, muscular, absolutely never fat cat Serena, who gets called "that big fat cat" from time to time. Serena's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and great-great-great-great-granduncle were both mackerel tabbies, like him, and  were automatically called "Big Mac." Whether this cat is as nice as they were may never be known. Both "Big Macs" were abnormally kind and protective with their kittens; Gigantasaurus isn't going to sire any kittens. You may have heard, "Cats don't actually have shoulders." British cats do! Females can hide two or three pounds of kittenage before they start to look pregnant; males build bulky muscles and stalk around weighing more than a typical "American" cat does, all the time. If they learn to be cautious about plopping their weight right down on a soft, sensitive part of you as you sleep, they're not hard to live with. If you let them become obese and cranky, of course, all bets are off. An overweight pet is not a happy pet and is not likely to live with a very happy human.

The thing you'd find hard to remember, about Gigantasaurus or about Big Daddy Blackberry, is that they're not all that extra-large. They might be the biggest cats in their neighborhoods but they're not likely to be mistaken for bobcats or lynxes. This does make things easier.
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Monday, July 20, 2026

Butterfly of the Week: The Wenling Graphium

One of those pretty, ethereal white Swallowtail-type butterflies with fine black stripes on their wings was only recently declared to be a new species. Older Swallowtail species names always commemorated characters in literature. Graphium wenlingae was named only in 2019, and commemorates the town of Wenling. 


Photo from Hu, Cotton, et al. 

or

Native to Vietnam, it doesn't seem hard to find, but it's been hard to classify. It was part of the mess of species and subspecies that include Graphium tamerlanus, G. timur,  G. mandarinus and so on. In the few years since it's been accepted as a distinct species, very little has been published about that species. It does not have a Wikipedia page yet, and its INaturalist page shows only one museum specimen. 

Here is a page showing museum specimens, with field marks, variations and so on:



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Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Petfinder Post: Learning About the Brussels Griffon

Next on the list of dog breeds the British Busybodies don't approve is the Brussels Griffon. I never heard of such a thing. The dogs have been bred in the United States, and Petfinder has a category for them, but they're not normally found in shelters. Searching four pages yielded one listing for one dog. 


Derry from Dalton, Georgia...see below.

So what is a Brussels Griffon? The griffin, griffon, gryphon, etc., was an imaginary animal used in heraldry. It symbolized different qualities of the human character in the form of an animal with features of lion, eagle, and sometimes other things. A Brussels Griffon is a smallish dog with a "mane" of long hair--not around the neck like a lion's mane, but on the face like a man with a full beard. A closely related breed, sometimes called a smooth-coated Brussels Griffon and sometimes given fancier names, has short hair on the body; the Brussels Griffon is somewhat shaggy all over.


Photo from the American Brussels Griffon Association. To my eyes, this show-quality specimen is not attractive, but that's probably due to the way his coat's been clipped. 

Show-quality Brussels Griffons are up to 10 inches high at the shoulder and weigh up to 10 pounds. These cat-sized dogs live as long as cats; people adopting one need to plan on a life expectancy up to 15 years.

Show-quality Brussels Griffons come in four colors: black, reddish brown, black and reddish brown, or black and tan. The dogs are sometimes born light tan or "blue" gray all over. In that case they are not show-quality and might, like the individual we'll meet below, be sent to shelters.

They usually get along well with other dogs and children. Because of their small size, you may need to supervise to make sure the other dogs and/or children don't hurt the "Griffs." They tend to bond with one human and want to stay close to that person, even to the point of showing separation anxiety.

Some health problems run in the bloodlines of this breed. Potential adopters need to check for eye, heart, and joint disorders. Individuals who survive long enough to be adopted are usually healthy but, because of their long facial hair, their eyes and ears need attention. 

The long hair doesn't shed a great deal. The short-haired variety do shed, twice a year.

Although small dogs can get most of their exercise indoors, they do need at least a half-hour of exercise each day. Many Griffons like to chase and fetch balls. They are typically clever enough to compete in dog athletic events.

The breed can be described as easy to train, or difficult, depending on your approach. According to the American Kennel Club, starting early and understanding the dog's psychology are important. 

"
Griffs have a high degree of intelligence and bond strongly with their owners, which makes them easy to train. As with many toy breeds, though, housebreaking may take some extra time and effort. Griffons have a very sensitive nature, and they don't respond well to harsh corrections or training methods. A Griffon wants to be with his family, often following his person from room to room, and undesirable behaviors can result if he is regularly left alone for long periods of time.
"

And of course, because of their small size, you need to walk with them on a short leash whenever they're out where they could possibly run out into traffic. 

It's good to see so few Brussels Griffons up for adoption. In honor of this small breed this week's photo contest will focus on other small dogs and small cats. 

About small cats not much needs to be said. Almost all domestic cats we see today have been bred down to the small end of their species range. Their ancestors weighed about 30 pounds; they typically weigh 10 pounds, with slim, light-boned breeds like the Siamese often even smaller. Some cats weigh less than 10 pounds because of ill health. If you like small, thin cats (as I do) it's worth checking, before you adopt one, to find out what medical conditions may have contributed to their small size and which of them need treatment. A real featherweight cat, especially if just rescued from an alley, probably has multiple long-term parasite infections, treatment for which may be the cat's only chance of survival. A small, slim cat with solid little bones and wiry muscles usually has a good chance of living ten or fifteen years.

Zipcode 10101: Adrian from Puerto Rico via NYC 


Sato is a Puerto Rican word for a street dog, but Adrian was actually rescued from a small house where he was crowded together with about thirty other dogs. One of those pathetic "animal hoarders" who wants to adopt all the homeless animals on Earth even after the situation in the hoarder's house starts to seem worse, to everyone but the hoarder, than living in an alley would be. Somewhat shy and unaccustomed to what North Americans consider normal pet dog life, this 20-pound young adult dog is ready to move to a safe place with adequate amounts of space and attention.

Gardenia from NYC 


Thought to be three years old and healthy at just six pounds, Gardenia is described as friendly and respectful with other cats, snuggly, gentle, and lovable. 

Zipcode 20202: Dart from Amarillo by way of DC 


A stray dog called Buttons was rescued along with a litter of five puppies. Here are the others, Patch, Lace, Velvet, and Stitch, who are also up for adoption:


The best guess is that Buttons was some sort of mini-poodle and Shih Tzu or other shaggy lapdog mix, and the puppies' father was something a bit larger, possibly an Australian Shepherd. None of the pups is expected to grow over 30 pounds, though they might pass 20 pounds. The organization has a list of places where animals can be adopted. They have a long, though not altogether unreasonable, list of requirements for adopters. They might be control freaks. It's not unreasonable to want to see some indication that a dog is going to have an adequate home; I'd go ahead and send them flatphone photos of the fenced yard and a nice doghouse, porch, or basement space where the dog's crate will be parked, but that's NOT the same thing as showing strangers through the human family's actual home, which is something they deserve to be shamed for suggesting. 

Pablo from DC 


Pablo seems to be a healthy two-year-old tomcat who, for reasons unknown, has a healthy weight of just six pounds. He doesn't have much of a story. He is in a foster family; you can learn more about him by e-mailing his foster humans. 

Zipcode 30303: Derry from Dalton 


...makes it clear that poor little Derry has fallen into the hands of a virulent Humane Society gaggle of control freaks. You have to beg for a chance to meet her. They decide, based on your application pleas, whether they think you can live with her. They're not giving out any information about her to anyone they don't approve of. There's a distinct possibility that the lack of a story about this dog indicates that the Humane Society are aware of her having been petnapped by some US version of the Busybodies of Britain.

Feh. FEH. A glance at Derry's web page makes me want to breed dozens of Brussels Griffons and air-drop them over Georgia, although obviously that would not be an ethical course of action. You can, ethically, decide to adopt an alternative small dog, such as...

Alternate: Alfie from Atlanta 


This mini-poodle was found on the street, possibly dumped out because he had a skin infection. The infection cleared up with treatment, which included a short haircut. He has a smooth short silky coat now but he'll need frequent trims to stay that way. His hair will grow long, curly, and tangly if it's not clipped. Now this quiet, mellow, mature dog (they think he's about 13 years old, but mini-poodles can live up to 20 years) is ready to snuggle up on someone's couch and be a house pet again. The organization insists that he be adopted by someone in northern Georgia, only. The adoption fee is quite reasonable for a Poodle.

Ms. Tabby from Atlanta 


Not much information is available about Ms. Tabby except that she's a small healthy adult cat. 
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Monday, July 13, 2026

Butterfly of the Week: Purple Spotted Swallowtail

Graphium weiskei is the Purple Spotted Swallowtail because it has pale purple spots. A few sources give it the more fanciful name "Purple Mountain Emperor," and a few simply translate its Latin name as "Weiske's Graphium." Emil Weiske was a nineteenth century naturalist. Another butterfly (in the genus Delias), a bee, and a bird species were also named weiskei in honor of him. Weiskei is most "properly" pronounced like "vye-sky-ee."


Photo by Gancw1 for Inauralist, December, 2024.


Photo by John Lenagan for herpsandbirds.tumblr.com.


Photo by Gan CW on Tumblr. A little actual pigmentation underlies the purple spots, but they can shade to pink or blue or fade to white, depending partly on the light and partly on the individual's condition. 

Swallowtail butterflies named after real people or places tend to have been named later, so less information is available about them. Graphium weiskei was named only in 1900. It is common in a small habitat, the higher elevations of New Guinea; few people have actually seen it alive, though its unusual color has generated much interest in pictures and dead bodies. 

The underside of the wings, which is more often seen, doesn't look very distinctive, though it may have a faint purplish blush on the upper wing tips. It could be mistaken for Graphium kosii or Graphium gelon or other species. One of its other distinguishing features is that, even for a Swallowtail, it has a big head and stout, furry body.


Photo from Gailhampshire, originally on Flickr, donated to Wikipedia.

It has been found between 4000 and 8000 feet above sea level.

A less than faithful drawing appears on postage from Sao Tome e Principe:


The purple color can be conspicuous on a living butterfly:


Photo from papua-insects.nl. 

On some male individuals it can fade to periwinkle, or sky-blue like the blue spot on the butterfly shown above, or even white. On females, the black base color can fade to brown, and the purple spot can fade to pink. Even the pink spot makes this a very unusual butterfly.

Here is a slow-motion video of Graphium weiskei startled into flight:


Nothing seems to have been documented about this butterfly's food plants or life cycle. Someone in New Guinea can still become famous by learning about this species.
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Friday, July 10, 2026

Belated Petfinder Post: Just Some Cats and Dogs

If I could dash off a Long & Short Reviews post, I can dash off a Petfinder post. I'm not willing to squeeze in the time, this afternoon, to learn about the Brussels Gryffon or Bull Mastiff breeds. They will just have to wait. Here's potluck--the best of the first dozen pictures on each of the Petfinder pages I visit:

Zipcode 10101: Kenzie & Louie from NYC 


Born on 10.31.23, this tabby sister and brother aren't described as particularly good at recognizing words, but they generally seem to like hearing humans talk or sing. They could be adopted separately.

Rudolph from Puerto Rico 


Like so many humans from the island, this sato (street dog) came to New York City in search of a better life. He is about six months old, weighs about 35 pounds, and is described as very good at making his foster human feel loved.

Zipcode 20202: Katniss Everclear from South Carolina


Someone drives up the coast regularly so she can be delivered to DC or "the Northeast." If you're not near Route 1, you can still adopt this adorable, kitten-sized two-year-old cat but you'll need to come to South Carolina to meet her. Five pounds may always be her healthy weight. 

Alex from Cleveland, Texas, by way of DC 


Believed to be a Border Collie or more of that than anything else, this handsome dog probably won't be in search of a home for long. He is described as a young friendly dog who likes to cool off by swimming (could be part retriever?). Adopt Alex if you are, or are committed to becoming, an active person who enjoys walking or jogging a few brisk miles every morning with extra strolls around the neighborhood in between times. Border Collies are intelligent dogs who like to have "jobs." 

Zipcode 30303: Wisteria from Chattanooga 


She has siblings but they don't insist that you adopt a sibling with her. Wisteria is described as the smallest kitten in the litter, liking to play with her siblings and to be alone and think. 

Gage from Chattanooga 


He weighs about 60 pounds. He has probably reached his full size. He has a safe foster home; he's not in desperate need of adoption. That his foster family are willing to keep him until the perfect pawmanent home can be found says a lot about this hound's pawsonality. 

Bonus: Zipcode 37660: Shirley from Kingsport 


The alley cat family as rescued includes Shirley, her sister Laverne, and her kitten Squiggy. They're from Connecticut; any resemblance to the Patchnose Family is coincidental, but they could be another social cat family. Shirley is described as a shy cat, not completely feral but not eager to be a pet. If you can adopt the whole family together and wait patiently for the cats to become pets, that may help.

Simon from Texas 


A DNA test suggests that this lovable shaggy puppy is mostly poodle with at least seventeen other breeds mixed in. He was abandoned at a public park and is currently in foster care in Texas, but listed for adoption in every other place his humans are willing to visit. They say he needs to be adopted by someone who has experience training puppies. He is completely ignorant but seems smart and willing to learn. He weighed 15 pounds when photographed but is expected to weigh twice that much as an adult. Small dogs can live as long as cats, so you should plan on his being part of your family for ten to fifteen years or even longer. 
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Monday, July 6, 2026

Butterfly of the Week: Wallace's Jay

Passing over Graphium ucalegonides, which still appears on many lists but has been reclassified as a subspecies of Graphium fulleri at most science sites, we come to Graphium wallacei, Wallace's Graphium, or Wallace's Kite, or Wallace's Jay. 


Photo from Facebook. 

It was named for Alfred Russel Wallace, an intrepid naturalist who explored obscure places like New Guinea and collected specimens he sent to other scientists to identify, classify, and name. Wallace sent one male butterfly back to England; it was deemed unique and classified as a "new" species, formerly unknown to Europeans, named in Wallace's honor. 

Some other species in other genera were also named after Wallace for the same reason. This web site documents each of "Wallace's" species:


Although it's sometimes found in Indonesia and the Moluccas as well as New Guinea, photos of this butterfly, alive, are rare. While living it seems to be blackish or brownish, with white spots, blobs of lighter color, and some distinctive yellow-green or yellow spots at the overlapping edges of its wings. Collected specimens fade quickly to deep brown with cream-colored spots. 


Painting by Hewitson, who declared the butterfly a new species and named it after Wallace in 1858.

Though uncommon even in its limited range, it is not believed to be threatened. 

Nothing seems to have been published about this species' life history. 

  
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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Petfinder Post: Brittany Spaniels and Mostly White Cats

Yes, this post has been delayed by glyphosate-related narcolepsy.

As we continue our study of the dog breeds the Bullies, Biddies, & Bossyboots of Britain want to render extinct, we come to something called the Bracco. What's that? It's an Italian breed of pointer--not common in the United States, but being marketed here online. Braccos are another dense, ripped breed who stand about two feet high at the shoulder and weigh 55 to 88 pounds. They are described as stubborn but trainable, affectionate, loyal, and loving to hunt. They're recommended to "hunting families." 

Right. Hunting is a survival skill and needs to be kept alive but this web site does not think of it as a sport. This web site will simply note that Petfinder has no listing for Braccos, or Bracchi. They may be in some shelters, but not enough to be listed on the web site. 

So, next on the list are Brittany Spaniels. I'm not familiar with that breed, either. Show-quality Brittanies stand up to 20" high at the shoulder and weigh up to 40 pounds. Males are a little bigger than females but the size difference is not necessarily as noticeable in this breed as in some. 

The part of France that's called Brittany proudly claims these dogs as epagneuls Bretons but, in the US and Canada, some argue that they're not Real Spaniels "because their primary instinct is not JUST flushing game." Some North American owners and breeders want to refer to the breed simply as Brittanies. Fashion-conscious people of a certain age, however, think of "Brittanies" as a term for their daughter Brittanie and her schoolmates Britnee, Britney, and Brittoni.

What's the problem the British Busybodies have with this breed? They have floppy ears but the problem, according to the Humane Society,"Let's save all domestic animals from the pain of being alive," types, is that too many people think they want a Brittany just for its looks. Like Australian Shepherds and Border Collies, which they resemble in some ways, these dogs need substantial amounts of interesting exercise to thrive. People who aren't willing to keep up with their Brittanies then dump these charming, photogenic dogs in shelters. 

Brittanies were bred to hunt. Their dream jobs probably involve running through the woods beside their humans and helping the humans bring home full bags of game birds. Since even those who still hunt no longer hunt for food every single day, people who want to adopt Brittanies need to have some other way these dogs can put their energy to good use. Getting the family couch potato off the couch is excellent if the couch potato is willing to let  the dog do it. Many Brittanies do well in dog athletic clubs. 

Brittanies' coat colors always include some white--usually white coats with brown or black patches above, sometimes mottled "roan." Like all of my current resident cat family, who are basically white cats with gray, black, or calico spots. This is due to the "dominant white" gene and not the "lethal white" gene, which causes hairs to fail to develop color and can cause other parts of the body to develop functionality. So this week's photo contest will be for cats who are mostly white with some black or orange spots above.

(Although Brittanies don't have the "lethal white" gene, they can have some other problem genes. 
Weaknesses of the heart, joints, eyes, and immune system run in some Brittany bloodlines, as does epilepsy. They are generally a healthy breed who live 12 to 15 years; they usually do well with children but plans have to be made for their care when the children go off on their own.)

Zipcode 10101: Maple from Texas by way of Port Chester 


Maple is a crossbreed with some retriever ancestry, so she's bigger than a purebred Brittany--over 60 pounds. She likes to please humans but someone in the family needs to be able to carry her. She is young, full of energy and enthusiasm, but only minimally trained. You'll need to complete her education to include things like walking on leash, sitting and staying. If you're not up for at least an hour of serious workout time every day, ask about a smaller or older dog. 

Pancake from NYC


Pancake and his brother Waffle were living with a feral cat colony but were brought inside at an early age and have become pretty much house pets. Pancake is white with gray tabby spots; Waffle is white with black spots. They have been neutered.

Zipcode 20202: Bella from Westminster 


Bella is part Beagle, so not oversize for a Brittany. She is ten years old. She has had a good deal of training and has shown one problem. She gets anxious and barks if she's left alone in the house. Her humans tried doping her rather than hiring a dog sitter. Pills didn't work. This dog just wants one of her humans to be in the house all the time. 

Sneaker from DC 


Sneaker and four siblings have "mixed hair." They may be a little less fluffy when they grow up but they'll have extra soft, likely longish hair. Their web pages have been set up individually, but they'd like to  find a foster home together. They are available as foster kittens. If you're not sure which one you want to keep, you can register as a foster parent, take home all five, and get some help with their maintenance expenses while encouraging someone else to take some of them.

Zipcode 30303: Jimmy and Jimbo from Greenville 


Jimmy is black-and-tan and white. He is eleven years old. Jimbo, his son,is light brown and white. He is ten years old. They are considered geriatric dogs who don't need to be neutered. They have spent their whole lives together, most of those years with an elderly male human who died. Separating the dogs is not considered advisable. Take two, they're not very big. Apart from mourning they seem to be in good condition.

Smudge from Chattanooga 


Just another surplus kitten but she seems as if she might be a baby Queen Cat. She reportedly "gets along wonderfully with dogs." 
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Monday, June 29, 2026

Butterfly of the Week: Creamy Graphium

Graphium ucalegon is sometimes called either the Cream Lady or the Sepia Lady, depending on subspecies; it is sometimes called the Twin-Spotted Lady or Twin-Spotted Graphium; most sources that give it an English name call it the Creamy Graphium--and many sources don't mention it at all. Many scientists now think it is the same as Graphium auriger. It is one of the "White Lady" species that all look very much alike. 


Photo by Koenbetjes, who remains uncertain, at the time of writing, whether what person photographed was Graphium ucalegon or Graphium simoni. Some of the dead leaves clogging the puddle are Annonaceae. 

Ucalegon was a minor character in the Iliad. He was a respected citizen, a friend of the king of Troy. His house was destroyed by fire when the Greeks swarmed out of the Trojan Horse and started to burn the city of Troy. The fire alerted his neighbor, Aeneas, to the attack. The Renaissance fad for referring to Greco-Roman literature whenever possible caused some poets to write "his Ucalegon" when they meant "his neighbor, whose house was on fire." Occasions to use this name-as-word have been few and far between but the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson called it his favorite word, anyway. Thus "Ucalegon" came to be listed in some dictionaries as an English word, though it never became common enough to be written without its capital letter. The original Greek spelling might be more closely transliterated as Oukalegon, with an accent mark over the E.

More is known about this butterfly's name than about the butterfly itself. Its wingspan can be close to four inches. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, the Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, in forests. Adults usually fly just before the beginning of the rainy season, presumably to give caterpillars access to new leaves. Males gather at puddles and also seek the minerals they need in rotting fish. 


Photo from the African Butterfly Database.

Females spend most of their time in the forests, placing their eggs. These butterflies are not often seen and, when they are seen, are not easily identified. Though they are described as "particularly uncommon" in Uganda, and some local populations are known to be threatened by habitat loss, as a species they are neither believed to be threatened nor even considered all that uncommon. Specific habitats are known, and the same small numbers of individuals are observed at each habitat site when they are counted. 

Their foodplant is not known, but it is probably abundant in the "sand dune forest" along the Congo River in Angola where SzabolcsSafian photographed this puddle party:


Nevertheless, three subspecies of ucalegon are still recognized by those who recognize ucalegon as a separate species: Graphium ucalegon ucalegon, G.u. fonteinei, and G.u. schoutedeni. 


Photo by Sven Bontenbal. 
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Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Petfinder Post: Boxer Dogs and Manx Cats

Next on our list of dogs the Bossyboots of Britain are saying ought to go extinct are the long-loved Boxer breed. Let's admit, up front, that I personally would not want a Boxer. But some people do.

What's wrong with Boxers? Well, for one thing, they're large--one of the smaller breeds in the German Mastiff group, but still, show-quality Boxers weigh at least 55 pounds, often 75 pounds. Much of this size is muscle. Boxers are ripped. People who like these dogs admire their musculature. They like having a big tough macho-looking dog, and say the breed's flattish, wrinkle-jowled face is cute rather than ugly. But Boxers can be hard to manage if not well trained. Bred to hunt down bulls, boars, and bears, they can kill livestock or humans if they feel like it.

For large dogs they have a reasonably long life expectancy, 10-12 years on average. Large dogs are generally not efficient biological machines but Boxers can live as long as cats. However, the last years of a Boxer can be hard to watch. The flattened faces don't make it easy for the dogs to breathe. Add smog and chemical sprays and local warming to the mix and you get a dog who coughs and wheezes like an asthmatic human. Impaired ability to breathe can lead to heart disorders and arguably makes Boxers extra-vulnerable to cancer; they are the dog breed most likely to die from cancer. They are also prone to neurological diseases that feature paralysis and seizures. 

Unrelated to their faces, but related to their size, is the incidence of death from vehicle-related "trauma" in Boxers. Because they are big, strong, heavy, and also prone to bounce about in what their humans normally consider an adorable way, these dogs seem to be in danger any time they are near a motor vehicle. They chase cars and sometimes catch one. They bounce around the inside of a car during a crash, out of control, if they're not in the kind of secure crates that don't fit inside most cars; the dogs can be killed by being thrown around during a car crash, and are also heavy enough to endanger their humans. If you have a Boxer you should probably have a pickup truck in which its travel crate can be secured.

You may also need liability insurance. Boxers can be aggressive with other people's beloved pets, few of whom win in a confrontation. Even when their jumping up to put their paws on people's shoulders and drool on their faces is clearly meant to be friendly play, they can injure people. 

Along with so many smaller, less problematic dogs who are loved for their high energy and eagerness to do jobs, Boxers need lots of exercise; a big yard with a big solid fence, of course, but also a good bit of exercise with their humans. They're often described as "hyperactive." They want something to do and, if not adequately entertained by humans, are likely to find something--"killing" their humans' shoes, or killing the neighbors' chickens. They drool copiously, too. Their short coats shed all year and the shed hairs stick to everything.

But if you have, not necessarily through any fault of your own, produced extrovert offspring who whir around the house making messes...Boxers don't mix well with children too young to outweigh the dogs, and they are still stronger than humans who weigh twice as much as the dogs do, but they can be soulmates to restless, annoying, extrovert teenagers. There is that. Also, if you are troubled with frequent visits from bears, buffalo, javelinas, etc., there's a lot to be said for a dog who will attack these animals for you. 

Otherwise? Even a yappy Chihuahua can raise the alarm if your home is intruded. A medium-sized dog can injure or kill an intruder if he attacks anyone. To me, Boxers seem like more dog than I'd ever be likely to need. 

But does that mean they should go extinct? I'm not sure about that. I think the idea that no Boxers should ever exist, given that their life expectancy is not in fact all that short for their size, is coming less from concern about the dogs' well-being than from a desire to make law-abiding people less able to defend themselves. Such a desire is well documented among the enemies of the US and UK, and they are a less desirable, less endearing, species than Boxers.

Boxers are a breed that is easy to find in shelters. If people give up Australian Shepherds, German Shepherds, Retrievers, and Collies because these good-sized, active dogs are too much for their lazy humans to keep up with, you know people are going to fail with Boxers. Perhaps the surprising thing is that so many of the Boxers have not done anything antisocial and can be offered for adoption. 

Boxers are normally born with tails--long, strong tails loaded with dense bones and solid muscles, which whack when they wag their tails against their humans' legs. Traditionally the tails are at least shortened in the US, and completely cut off in other countries, so the dogs' handlers don't have to worry about being whacked with the dogs' tails. Healthy Boxers are cheerful creatures, wag their tails often, and can lose the hair and damage the skin on their tails by whacking the tails against things.

A cat breed that goes with Boxers might, therefore, be Manx. We've not featured adoptable Manx cats recently. These cats are afflicted with a dominant gene that causes them to be born with stumps of tails or no tails and extra-long hind legs. Other genes give Manx cats a broad, muscular build and a thick  short coat, which are likely to make people refer to them as "big fat cats" when they're not fat, and a tendency to revert to their full ancesral size; most Manx cats' healthy weight is in the "normal" 10-15 pound range for house pets, but some grow to 30 pounds of solid bone and lean muscle.

The Manx gene is lethal. The viable cats are born with amusing spinal deformities. Many Manx kittens are not viable. Breeders say that kittens who get two "strong" copies of the lethal gene are not born at all but simply reabsorbed into the mothers' bodies, so the cat never looks pregnant, although she was. Be that as it may (I don't recommend allowing Manx cats to breed), many Manx kittens are born with just "strong" enough copies of the lethal gene to inherit "Manx Syndrome," in which vital organs fail to develop as kittens mature. They may die shortly after birth, or during the second week when their eyes open and they try to scamper about like viable kittens, or during the second month when they are weaned...like our wretched Zakitty, so named because his last days resembled those of a poster boy for malnutrition whose middle name was Zakaria. Zakitty seemed to be growing big and strong on his mother's milk. Then his mother naturally started to produce less milk as Zakitty started to need more food. Nature intended him to start eating solid food but poor Zakitty was unable to digest any solid food, and starved to death despite being offered both kibble and human-grade meat.

However, Manx cats who get only one copy of the lethal gene can be healthy cats and lead normal lives. Apart from looking amusing they are known for a tendency to be especially devoted pets, often friendly to everyone in a calm and gracious way even while they make it clear that one specific person is their human and nobody else can come close to that person in their estimation. 

My resident cat Serena is, at most, one-eighth Manx. She has s normal British body shape, a "big fat cat" beside the American Shorthair and Siamese crossbreeds in the neighborhood, though she's never carried any surplus weight. Knowing that her grandmother had suffered through the loss of several kittens with short tails or none, I was planning to have Serena spayed when she surprised me by giving birth before it seemed possible that she could be pregnant. She had constructed a well insulated little den on the porch and, in a year when we weren't targets for drive-by glyphosate spraying, she gave birth to four attractive, healthy kittens, all with slim body shapes and long tails.

I've not done a conversation-with-an-animal post lately. I owe you readers one, just to tease the people who quibble about them. I write these things in a state of complete sobriety, with just a bit of Irish whimsy, based on what animals' behavior really does nonverbally tell me. 

So, although in literal fact Serena is on the porch eating kibble, a Cat Interview with Serena:

Serena: "I'm sure you're sorry now that you sent two of those kittens away at such an unreasonably early age."

PK: "The person who adopted them was very old and had cancer. She did not have many days to wait to enjoy the company of kittens."

Serena: "That's as may be. I had many days remaining when I was entitled to enjoy the company of my kittens. And now Swimmer's dead and Silver's the only one of my beautiful babies who's still here."

PK: "I'm told Stache is still living with the cancer patient's daughter."

Serena: "But they're a long way from here and we don't know them well."

PK: "Anyway, your kittens showed no indication that any of them had the Manx gene, and they were so extraordinarily well behaved..."

Serena: "Of course! They were my babies weren't they?"

PK: "They were. And they had been so gently and intelligently brought up that they lined up for medicine when they were sick, and lined up to go indoors to bed at sundown. Nobody had ever seen or heard of such a thing. So...you've not been spayed."

Serena: "And if people would stop spraying poison into the air I would have had many kittens by now. I've had several who showed no sign of any Manx genes, but showed the Seralini Effect, which is what you humans call the way I don't seem to react to the poison in the air the way you do, but then when my kittens come along they...well, for one thing, they get one whiff of what you call 'Roundup' and die."

PK: "Usually, but not always, one breath of that evil wind seemed to blow their lives out like little candles. And you've been lucky--being cats. A human who kills another human's pet cat can spend a year in prison. A human who kills a wild creature, even a doe out of deer hunting season, usually only has to pay a fine, which our Bad Neighbor could afford. Before your time, Serena, when the Bad Neighbor was in the process of making that nicer neighbor feel so troubled and want to stay in the city so much, we could hardly go up or down the road without finding a dead body in the road. The Bad Neighbor was a great shooter in those days, and killed all kinds of wild animals."

Serena: "Why don't you just kill him and be done with it?!"

PK: "Humans do better when we appeal to the law and get everyone to agree when a human has gone bad and needs killing. In times before we did that, people would take sides and kill each other until two whole families were gone. Now some people like to say that a human who has gone bad is sick and needs to be cared for. Others say that that's a weak-minded, foolish, wasteful way of thinking...but our Bad Neighbor deserves to suffer and, if he has to spend his last days being 'cared for' and 'helped' by a lot of White Men from Town, he will." 

Serena: "What exactly do you mean by 'White Men from Town'?"

PK: "I mean what Stephen King meant by the characters he called that in some of his movies. A White Man from Town feels some attraction to a more natural way of life, may care about some people who live more naturally as friends, probably does mean well, and wants to live at least the way White people in the country live. But he just doesn't have what it takes. He might try farming, or hunting, or prospecting for a few weeks and then go back to town."

Serena: "Can humans be white? By 'a White man' do you mean somebody like the Elder Neighbors, who have white hair on their heads? How can humans be described by color words when you change your coat colors every day?"

PK: "It makes very little literal sense but some human families are called White, while others are Black or Red or Brown. The humans you know best are White. The humans in one of those houses where Silver spent a few cold nights, last year, with Wild Rose and Wild Thyme, are Black."

Serena: "It makes no literal sense at all. But if it helps to remove the Bad Neighbor from the neighborhood it's all good. I would like to have other kittens I could enjoy and be proud of, like Silver."

PK "You had Crayola and Pastel..."

Serena: "They had inferior qualities from their father's side, and didn't live long."

PK: "Pastel was poisoned."

Serena: "She was weak and succumbed easily."

PK: "She gave us Drudge, and also Dilbert, Dora, and Diego, while she was alive."

Serena: "Drudge is a fine fellow, isn't he? Of course, I was the one who reared him. I'm not proud of what I did, that year, after so many of our friends died...having kittens with a Manx tomcat. I've always avoided Manx tomcats--but I was lonely, and he was lonely, and we had no choice. So I had the two kittens who died right away, and poor little Zakitty who lived long enough to want to be your pet."

PK: "All cats who look Manx should be spayed or neutered as early as possible so that they don't have unfortunate babies like Zakitty." 

Serena: "While you were looking up information about Boxer dogs I gav e birth to some more kittens. Did you notice?"

PK: "They came out so quietly I was surprised to see that they were breathing."

Serena: "Well, you've been very grumpy about playing games lately, and you'd been sick yesterday morning. I didn't want to make you feel worse. I told them to be quiet as they could be. Which, of course, they did, because I am SERENITY, the one and only cat like me there ever was, and my kittens do as I tell them."

PK: "You are indeed amazing. Given the amount of glyphosate and other vile stuff in the air over the weekend, I'm surprised the kittens came out able to draw breath, but if they can keep it up for a few weeks and bring some new life into the office I'll be pleased."

Now, on to the adoptable dogs and cats: no tails, but lots of love for the right person:

Zipcode 10101: Mia from NYC 


Does she look puppyish to you? She's an adult dog, though. Thought to be a mix of Boxer, Black Mouth Cur, and other things, Mia weighs only 35 pounds and has a slightly more normal face shape, so she may be healthier for longer than some purebred Boxers. She has the high energy and goofy sense of humor/fun/play that are typical of Boxers, they say, but she's not aggressive; she does well with other dogs and cats. 

Wallace from Tuscaloosa by way of Connecticut


Listed as an out-of-town pet on several Petfinder pages, Wallace is one of four homeless sibling kittens who can be adopted with or without his sister Rose. (The other two kittens can only be adopted together.) They are thought to have some Russian Blue ancestry as well as Manx. Some have complete but short tails, some have none: the typical Manx litter.

Zipcode 20202: Dolly from DC 


Boxer and Mountain Cur, and perhaps other things, Dolly should look like a serious dog to evildoers, but they say she loves to play and snuggle with her own humans. Her healthy adult weight is about 45 pounds.

Rumpy from Silver Spring


They're sure that Stumpy and Longy, which are traditional Manx names for the three types of Manx kittens, are male. About Rumpy's gender there's still some confusion. If you don't already live with a kitten you need to take at least two of the three. Manx kittens are similar to other kittens: eat, bounce, snuggle, nap, repeat, and if one of them decides it's your kitten you'll know.

Zipcode 30303: Liko from Chattanooga by way of Atlanta 


Her original humans tried to kill her. Her first adopters brought her back to the shelter. No real reason, either time. Liko is about two years old, in the 26 to 60 pounds range, nice with other animals but on the clingy side and happiest with a human of her very own. She completed basic training easily. Her foster family say she's a very good dog.

Red (and Khloe, Kix, and Max) from Buford


Take two, they're small. Just some more surplus kittens who were born because somebody was too lazy to have that operation done. 
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