Apparently a lot of people use the “pspsps” thing to get their cats’ attention, and Mental Floss has a new story proposing some theories about why people use it and why cats respond.
The first and most obvious is that felines hear higher frequencies than humans, and they’re especially tuned into those frequencies because their usual prey — including rodents and birds — not only make noises in the higher ranges, they make noise us humans can’t hear, but felid ears are primed to pick up.
Mental Floss’s Ellen Gutoskey also points out that it could be “a truncation of ‘Here, pussy, pussy, pussy’—popularized in part by ‘Pussy, Pussy, Pussy,’ a 1930s song by the Light Crust Doughboys. In fact, the tempo is fast enough that it almost sounds like they’re singing ‘Pspsps.”
I think she could be onto something there unless the “pspsps” sound is universal, but truthfully I have no clue whether people in other countries, or outside the English-speaking world, use it to call their cats. I don’t and never really needed to. Bud comes when called a good 85 percent of the time, and if he doesn’t I usually assume it’s for good reason, like he’s having a nice nap or he has no current use for his servant.
Miles the cat
The Guardian’s Hannah James Parkinson writes about adopting Miles, the shelter’s most skittish cat who had been passed over time and again until she came along.
Earning Miles’ trust wasn’t easy, but Parkinson did it with time, patience and love, and eventually Miles became her little buddy and even came out of his shell enough to make friends with another neighborhood cat.
Unfortunately Miles got hurt, infected and died while he was outside overnight. Parkinson doesn’t say if the little guy got hit by a car, but the description of his initial injury is consistent with it.
The indoor vs outdoor thing is a thorny issue. I saw it as a more black-and-white problem until hearing from several readers who live in places like farmland or very quiet neighborhoods where the chance of a cat getting hit is small.
I don’t begrudge anyone making what they think is the best choice for their cat(s), except maybe for Australians and New Zealanders. Seriously, guys, bring those cats in before sadistic “hunters” get them in their crosshairs or they nibble on the poisoned meat that both governments like to use to “manage” the cat population. Neither country seems overly concerned with pet cats getting caught up in their zealous extirpation campaigns, and when birders are this riled up it’s best not to take chances anyway. If your cat isn’t spending time outdoors, it can’t be blamed for killing local wildlife.
I love dogs, but…
The Daily Mail has a horrific story about a pair of unleashed rottweilers that followed a woman into her home as she was carrying groceries and mauled her two pet cats to death in front of her traumatized children.
The attack happened around noon on Aug. 30 in a small town in the UK’s Western Midlands. The dogs came bounding in and snatched one of the cats off the kitchen counter, then mauled the other. The ginger tabby died immediately, either from shock or his severe injuries, while the other lived long enough to make it to the vet, who said the little tuxedo couldn’t be saved.
The woman told the newspaper her kids are having nightmares about the attack, while the police response was underwhelming to say the least, especially because the cats weren’t the only animals attacked by the roaming rottweilers.
“We were called to Raglan Way, Chelmsley Wood (on August 30) to reports of two dogs attacking another dog. The injured dog was taken to the vets to be treated,” a police spokesman told the paper. “The owners of the two dogs were spoken to and were taken back home to be secured by the owners. We have asked neighbourhood officers to speak to the dog’s owners regarding securing the animal, and will consider any further steps that need to be taken to ensure public safety.”
The owners of the dogs “were spoken to.” Wow. Let no one say the West Midlands Police don’t have a sense of scale. Perhaps if it happens again they’ll send a stern letter.
I hope the resulting media stories, and the beginning of the attack caught on a home security camera, lead to enough pressure that the police take the incident seriously and the owners of the dogs have to face consequences. There’s nothing prohibitive about talking to them. The only way irresponsible people are going to leash their dogs, especially dogs capable of this kind of thing, is if the consequences for not doing so are sufficiently prohibitive to make them think twice.
Finally, here’s a video of a cute baby kookaburra to balance out all that horribleness:
Pain In The Bud 
So Buddy responds 85%of the time?! Tux wants to know what his MO (meow objective) is! Purrhaps a covert operation aimed at turkey distribution?
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Pretty much everything he does involves the pursuit of turkey in some form. It’s his life’s passion.
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May the evil these dogs do
(And their owners too)
Come back to them anew
Two times two, times two, times two.
As I will it, so make it true.
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Not too long ago a pitbull attacked a child in my area.That dog was put down.
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I’ve used pspsps to try to get the cats to look my way for pictures. Works sometimes, but not always. That was a really weak response by the police to the dog attack, shame on them! Two dogs attached a person (bitten but will be ok) in the general neighborhood the other day, not too terribly close, but we’re extra wary now about the door, and for our ferals. Loved the kookaburra!
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Right? That’s an outrageously cute bird. You gotta love how nature designs babies of all species to trigger protective instincts in adults. I saw a documentary about a young female leopard who killed a baboon, then became deeply conflicted when she realized there was a baby clinging to the baboons fur. She ended up taking care of the baby, even abandoning her kill to hyenas so she could take the baby to safety, but unfortunately a baby that young couldn’t survive without regular milk and protection from the cold. Still, it was incredible to see the motherly instincts fight and win against the predatorial instincts.
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Wow that’s truly astonishing about the leopard!
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To Leah. In Japan a pos allowed two of his dogs to kill cats from a feral colony. Many were brutally killed. Woman feeding colony for over 20 years is heartbroken. In this case i would get a gun.
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I think that “getting a gun” is probably not used outside of the United States.
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Yikes Gilda that is horrible! Very sad, I understand that Japan is a country where cats are usually highly regarded. Our two ferals usually stay in our mostly secluded yard. They can’t be coaxed into the house. As long as we’re awake our sentinel indoor cats alert us to anything near the house. Loose dogs do enter at times, and we run them off. Hopefully either here or elsewhere, a sturdy screened-in porch for ferals is in our future. I think the dogs who bit the man were owned dogs running loose. Animal control hasn’t found them yet. At least they are looking. City officials need to respond if dogs attack ferals, of course; but if they don’t care about the ferals, they should be advised that loose dogs may also attack humans.
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Cats are a big deal in Japan.
This blog more or less started when I visited Japan back in 2019 and documented the trip with photos and text. There are cat cafes everywhere in Tokyo, cat artwork in public spaces, maneki neko in every shop, cat shrines, and women pushing their cats in baby strollers.
In a mall in Odaiba there was a pet accessories shop and I couldn’t believe the stuff they had there, and how expensive it was.
I’m sure the perpetrator of the attack is in deep trouble.
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Bella doesn’t respond unless treats are involved! – yes the story of the Dog killing cats is horrific, there has also been a human killed in the UK by a large dog. The issue is definitely the owners. In the UK the police are basically powerless unless a human is involved, then normally the Dog is destroyed unfortunately the “owner” of the dog is not destroyed which I think would be a suitable deterrent for large breed dog owners. However capital punishment was done away with here in the UK a long time ago. Being more sensible a substantial fine (i.e. 5000 GBP or more) in these cases could help the police with more affirmative action
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You can follow Robin Seplut on YouTube. He is a Russian who feeds stray cats and shelters some.
His followers call him “the PSPSPS guy” because that’s the sound he uses when he’s calling the cats outside.
It’s your proof that it’s used outside of the US.
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