The Truth About Cats And Dogs

According to a survey by scientists in Bristol, published in the Veterinary Record and reported in the Daily Torygraph, people with cats are more likely to have had a university education than those who keep a dog. Despite all the caveats about correlation not being equivalent to causation, the Torygraph speculates on the reasons for the differential - it's all to do with lifestyle. Dogs are more dependent on humans than cats, so cats are more suitable for people with busier lifestyles and long commutes than those who stay at home more - and it's these busy, busy people who are busy because they have the higher-paying gigs that an education gets you.

Yes, maybe. But a tank full of fish takes even less maintenance than a cat. Not to mention hamsters, snakes, axolotls and even tortoises (by the way, my friendly pet-shop owner told me today, as he sold me frozen mice for the snake, that he'd heard of a lady who'd paid £600 in vet bills to treat a tortoise with a collapsed lung) . And for a totally maintenance-free (and cost-free) pet, there's always pet rocks.

This research result set me thinking. What sort of controls did they have? Was the result boosted by the inclusion of those of the lower orders who keep fierce dogs as trophies, mastiffs with names such as 'Asbo' or 'Semtex'? How was the result correlated to residence, given (I suspect) that a preference for cats might be dictated by whether the owner lives in a flat rather than a house, or the availability of outside space? And what about people who keep both cats and dogs? I think I shall have to go look at the original research (which indeed promises answers to such questions) and report back. But I have to take the dog for a walk first.

Zookeeping as Work-Avoidance Behaviour

I've taken a few days off, ostensibly to finally FINALLY get the Spring issue of Mallorn, the Journal of the Tolkien Society (which I edit), off my desk and into production.
Mallorn comes out twice a year - Spring and Autumn - and the one I am working on is the fifth issue that's come out on my watch. Along with my doughty Production Editor, we've turned it into a magazine we can all be proud of, one that's produced to professional standards (and which has been picked - twice - by SFX as its Fanzine of the Month.)

The problem is that I'm now more than a month after the Spring issue copy deadline and I'm still editing copy - and less and less inclined to do so. It seems I'd rather do anything than sit down to do it. So, today, rather than edit Mallorn, I ...

- took Heidi the dog, Fred the cat, and Beelzebun Demon Bunny of DOOM to the vet. The dog and the rabbit for regular vaccinations, and the cat for a check-up following a long spell with an upper repiratory tract infection that makes him sound like an ill-used accordion;


- cleaned out Squirtemius Benson Wilberforce III, the axolotl, whose tank gets pretty scummed up with algae;

- took Heidi the dog for a long walk through the woods and down to the beach;

- cleaned out the three hutches inhabited by our ten guinea-pigs, and our two chicken coops inhabited by our ten chickens.
The main fish-tank didn't need cleaning - and the snake vivarium and the hamster cage are Mrs Crox's department.


Tonight, I've promised myself a Mallorn work-in. After all that healthful outdoorsy zookeeping, a comfy sit in front of the computer will be good for my elf health.