The Tribe of Five at Feline Opines is all dressed up for the Cat Writer’s Awards.
Hey there Furiends,
We wanted to take a moment to meow about the fact that we received two Certificates of Excellence from the Cat Writer’s Association. I guess all the hard work by our Purrsonal Assistant paid off. I just hope this doesn’t mean she’s going to ask for a raise!
Alberto will be reporting from the CWA conference in May.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
The Tribe of Five
Hello There Furiends,
“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain there would be no rainbow.” G.K. Chesterton
Finally, finally, it looks like spring is coming. Temperatures are warming up and The Female Human even opened the windows the other day for us to sit on the sill and sniff the great outdoors. The Tribe of Five is enjoying sun puddles and we captured Oliver the other day in a purrfect position to catch the colors from the Austrian crystal.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Alberto
Verizon employee Maurice German was recently suspended from his job after he rescued a cat named Princess Momma who had been stuck on a pole for over 12 hours. After the cat’s human called the fire department, animal rescue and the phone company but no one returned her calls. In desperation, the human approached Mr. German and he helped.
And what did his heroics get him? He was suspended for three weeks without pay for violating Verizon’s safety rules. Fortunately, there are lots of good-hearted humans out there who put together two Go Fund Me pages to help the man and his family while he goes without pay. One raised $3,395.00 and the other raised over $7,000.00..
Dear Verizon, I hiss in your direction.
When a cat’s gotta’ go, a cat’s gotta’ go! Tino, a British kitty needed to do his business when he discovered to his horror, that the door to his litter box was locked.
He weighed his options…..go on the floor, meow in dersperation for help? What’s a kitty to do?
Tino’s solution was to find the litter bag, knock it on it’s side and spill litter on the floor. He then attended to his business. Despite the fact that Tino’s human had a big mess to clean up, we give Tino a paws up award for ingenuity.
Tino is now an internet sensation and there are poems and odes to honor his feline problem solving skills. Note to humans…..make sure the door to the litter box is NEVER locked!
Under-Cats Photo Series Gives A Whole New Purrspective on Felines
Photo from Andrius Burba’s new series “Under-Cats”
Andrius Burba is famous for his unorthodox approach to animal photography. This time he’s presented an entirely new view of felines, from the bottom up. He’s added to his new portrait series Underlook with Under-Cats to show how we felines look from below.
He said, “The Underlook project started four years ago when I saw a ridiculous looking picture on the Internet. It was a cat sitting on a glass table that was photographed from underneath. I decided to level up the idea and photograph it professionaly to see those paws in hi-res and that is how the Underlook project was born.” If you humans think you know us felines, take a look at the pawsome photos on this site. Meow!
Tulsa Fire Department’s Station 23 rescued a cat named Snickers – not once but twice.
They didn’t have to crawl up a pole because the fleeing feline took a 130 mile ride from Mustang, OK to Tulsa in an engine compartment of someone’s car.
When Snickers was discovered missing and her humans tried to find her, the kept praying and their prayers were answered.
Tulsa firefighters were called to help get the feline out of the car. found Snickers when they got the unusual call to rescue the furry feline from the car. They kept her at the fire station the first night and then one of the firefighters took her home where she resided in the laundry room while they tied to figure out what to do with her.
Fortunately, a story about Snickers was aired on the sister TV station in her home town and someone recognized her and contacted her humans.
Just when Snickers was so close to being returned home she found her way into a compartment under a fire truck at the station and the firefighters had to rescue her again.
The story has a happy ending, Snickers was extricated from the firetruck and back into the arms of her humans, right before the firefighters were called out to fight a fire. You can watch the video story here.
Paws up to these firefighters for going above and beyond and for saying, “I know that if it was my cat I’d want someone to do everything they could,” said Emerson.
Snickers, I suggest you stay inside and away from any type of moving vehicle!
We felines put up with a lot from you humans and most often we put up with your shenanigans but even felines have a breaking point.
YouTuber Greg Molick uploaded a video of his unusual rendition of “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie. His cat Harvey is not a fan of his singing voice.
After 30 seconds, Harvey decides to jump up on the bed and show Greg exactly how he feels about his musical abilities. You go Harvey and IMHO that screeching is tantamount to animal abuse! Watch the video and decide for yourself.
I know, it’s another Wednesday feature on Thursday. The Female Human stayed home because some movers were coming to move furniture in our house. She’s moving the guest bedroom room downstairs and her craft room upstairs where the guest bedroom is now. She dragged stuff out of rooms, stacked everything up and waited..and waited…and waited and is still waiting for them to show up.
In the meantime, the Tribe is a bit freaked out that our little world has been turned topsy turvy. Not a good week for any of us. Sigh.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Now this is the type of purrlitical involvement a feline can get behind. Last November, Jim Vesock went to the city’s pet shelter to adopt a sister for his two black cats but was told that this was not possible. The city’s code allowed for up to four domestic pets in a household but a maximum of two cats and two dogs.
Now I am a more libertarian leaning feline and the thought that any government can tell any responsible human how many felines can be in there home makes me want to hiss. Thank goodness we don’t live in that city or the Tribe of Five would be The Tribe of Two!
The shelter told him the only way to change this law was to do it through the city council and so he went to meetings, lobbied council members and his efforts paid off and now humans can adopt up to four cats or four dogs. This will help shelter kitties and will, of course, bring more feline happiness into the lives of humans. Two paws up for Mr. Vesock!
The debate about “the nip” continues. This article argues that humans might not be considering animal ethics when they give us catnip. Now our Human has always monitored our behavior on the nip very closely. I can tell you that four of the five of us are model feline citizens when we’re under the influence and we quite enjoy it. One of The Tribe who shall remain anonymous (Tucker) is a mean nipper and his ingestion of the nip is watched carefully. All in all, The Tribe of Five votes for nip and we request that the writer of this article stop raining on our parade. What do you think?
This is an important reminder for all humans. We kitties like to check out new spaces and sheds, shops, garages and the like are tempting places for us to explore. This kitty named Wispa disappeared from her home and her human searched for her everywhere…almost. Twenty days after Wispa went missing she was found locked in someone’s garage.
Wispa lost as lot of weight and the vet said she wouldn’t have lasted for too many more days.
Thankfully Wispa is now recovered. We had a similar situation in our community where a feline was locked in someone’s shop for months. She was found after several months but is still dealing with health issues. So humans, PLEASE check these spaces on a regular basis!
Once again I have to give a hat tip to the folks across the pond and their feline loving ways. The CATS Protection , the UK’s largest cat charity is offering free guidance to landlords and rental agents to make sure that rental agreements. A study was conducted and it was discovered that less than half of private rented housing allows cats. Meowza, that’s 42% and that’s not good.
The charity launched a website that helps landlords and renters to be cat friendly. Kudos to the CATS Protection charity!! The folks in the good ole’ US of A could use this info as well.
“Tucker, what is that pawsome after shave you’re wearing?” -Lily
Now I don’t know about the rest of you felines, but I don’t think there is a cat smell. My fur might bear the faint fragrance of the Female Human’s perfume after she pets me and I may smell of fresh grass in the summer after a roll in the garden but cat scent? I think not.
But there are other folks who clearly think there is a cat smell and a Japanese company Yamamoto Perfumery is counting on the fact tact that the scent of cat forehead is one that you definitely want to smell like. They came to this conclusion after conducting extensive research in cat cafes throughout Japan. They sniffed the foreheads of felines and recorded the fragrance notes and this resulted in the creation of “Fluffy Forehead Fragrance Fabric Water,” a home fragrance that purportedly smells just like a cat. According to customers surveyed, a cat smells like “sunshine,” “a futon that’s been dried in the sun” and “sweet bread.”
Designed to be sprayed onto fabrics, the product retails for 1,293 yen (US$10.60) and is perfect for freshening up cushions and blankets. Felissimo suggests the best way to enjoy the fragrance is with their lineup of kitty head cushions, available in three different colours for 3,125 yen each, a bargain at just over $28.00 US.
Hello there furiends,
Yes, I know it’s not Wednesday but I was preempted by Lily’s DNA post. Evidently our purrsonal assistant could not handle more than one blog post a day. I am showing my magnanimous purrsonality and not meowing to Lily about the late post for my feature.
Sometimes it’s important to just be the bigger feline.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Larry the prodigal feline
This comes under the heading, “never give up when your feline goes missing”. Larry, the feline, was allowed outside for a stroll but never came back. Larry’s human resigned herself to the fact that he was gone forever, that is until he was taken to a nearby animal shelter and they called saying they had Larry. Larry was found in pretty good health but he was missing part of his paw.
Lily Downie was nine when her mother got her a kitten to help console her after the death of her father in 2010. Unfortunately, when the family moved Poppy decided to take up residence with another family in the neighborhood.
Poppy’s family tried to do everything right. They took Poppy to the vet after he was found as a stray and had the vet scan the cat for a microchip. The details were out of date and the owner could not be located so Poppy stayed in her new home. Her new family spent hundreds of dollars on vet bills, spent another $1,000.00 for teeth cleaning and had her microchipped with her new information to make sure she would be returned home if she was lost.
Then the former owner was notified that someone thought her cat was with another family. And then they caught Poppy and took her away from her family and gave her to her previous owner.
The previous owner used the story to promote herself into 15 minutes of fame and Poppy’s second family saw the article and are now fighting to get Poppy back.
This feline always says “think lost not stray” but there is some responsibility on the previous owner’s part to find their lost kitty. How hard did they look? Why didn’t they change the microchip when they moved? Methinks this story is not as cut and dried as one may believe. Note to Poppy’s original human, take less selfies and take better care of your cat. (Sorry, I know I’m a bit hissy but this story put me over the edge) Also, the article referred to the cat as “him” and “her”, humans, can’t you figure this out??
When I asked The Female Human what this “Game of Thrones” thing was she gave me a blank stare. She also admitted she had never watched this TV series. Well evidently there are humans that are far more enlightened than mine and they are rushing to spend £216.53 ($286.98) for this piece of feline furniture.
You can find the iron cat bed on Etsy The designer says the bed is suitable for cats and small dogs but really, are dogs cool enough for this bed? What do you think?
Allow me a moment to meow about this. I was excited to see who these twelve wonderful feline actors were, only to discover that 7 of the twelve are cartoon of fake cats. Seriously IndieWire humans? I could easily come up with five real felines for this title. I found many at the Cinema Cats site like the Kitten in Trainspotting, Floyd the cat in Ghost, The movie Day for Night and the kitten actor, Orangey in the movie Rhubarb, the fabulous dinner table feline in She’s Having a Baby, Fred, the one-eyed feline in Gifted, and this list wouldn’t be complete without Bob from A Street Cat Named Bob. There are lots more great, REAL actor cats. Check them out at Cinema Cats.
Oh my whiskers do I love stories about working cats and this story about Koukla and Pontiki, who started their new job at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church about two months ago, is a winner!
It’s a nice gig, 24/7, with food and housing are included. Also some nice perks like a human coming in and saying “Who’s a good girl?” while scratching them behind the ears.
Koukla and Pontiki came to the church through the working cat program. I’ve reported on this program in numerous communities. While breweries seem to be the first to begin “hiring” felines, more humans are thinking outside the box and hiring felines for their workplaces and now churches are being enlightened as well.
St. John the Baptist is the first church to adopt a cat through the program. John Koutsulis, a parish council member, says the church learned about the program after the Rev. Seraphim Ramos noted that cats often are kept in Greek monasteries to control rodents.
“We own just shy of 10 acres of land and we thought, ‘Why not have some cats out there?’ ” Koutsulis says.
Enter Koukla, a gray tabby (the name is a term of endearment equivalent to “doll”or “cutie”) and a Siamese named Pontiki (“mouse,” used in the sense of, say, “little scamp”).
They spent their first weeks at the church living in an outdoor — but fairly fancy — enclosure while adjusting to the reality that they now had a home. The felines adapted quickly and now have the run of the property.
I’ve heard of church mice but never church cats! Be sure and watch the video.
Hello There Furiends, Lily here.
My Basepaws kit arrived and I inspected it with great interest. What a small package for something that can tell so much about a kitty!
The Female Human read me the instructions. First she had to register my kit on the basepaws website. She got to tell them a little about me and even uploaded a photo. Easy Peasy.
Then came phase two. She read the instructions about how she was going to gather this DNA stuff that they need. When she told me it had to do with two sheets of sticky strips placed along my back and then a gentle pull… suffice to say I was not on board .
Human, this is what I have to say about your sticky strips. Step away from the fur!
A lively conversation ensued wherein The Human promised that she would be gentle and the procedure would be a snap. We meowed back and forth about it for a while until I finally relented.
She approached me with the sticky stuff in hand in fear and trepidation. I am the feline in the Tribe that turns into the Tasmanian Devil if anyone has the hubris to attempt to trim my claws. I allow no efforts to get me in a harness and don’t even mention picking me up for a cuddle. I thought , “This could get ugly quickly”.
Imagine my surprise when she laid the first strip on my back, gently stroked it and then, even more gently removed it!
The second strip was applied just as easily. To say we were both relieved would be an understatement and the first aid kit was returned to the pantry unused by The Female Human.
The strips were put together as per the instructions, slid into the little stamped envelope and sent off to Basepaws. Now we wait!
Human, that wasn’t bad at all!
I can’t wait to find out more about myself because I am a very interesting feline.
Before I say goodbye I’ve been advised I must include something humans refer to as a “Disclosure”. You humans have to complicate everything!
We were provides with a complimentary Basepaws kit in exchange for my opinion of the process and the product. All of the included images, the written content and the opinions are original and from Feline Opines. Although I’ve linked to the company these are not affiliate links and Feline Opines receives no commission or monetary gain from purchases. We just like to report to our readers about new, cool stuff.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Hey Furiends,
It’s me, Alberto, strolling through the world wide web looking to bring you the newest and best feline news. I hope you enjoy this week’s discoveries.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
The KattenKabinet in Amsterdam is a museum filled with cat-inspired artwork ranging from paintings and posters to statues and sculptures and – you guessed it – real cats! And if that’s not enough, there is a gift shop with cat themed items. Meow, this is a great place!
William Meijer, a wealthy Dutchman who wanted to preserve the memory of his cat Tom founded the museum in 1990 and it is a favorite of Amsterdam’s visitors.
When you visit, you can say hello to the five museum cats who wander from room to room. Museum loving cat aficionados, get yourself to Amsterdam.
There is a company in Japan called “My Family” that can sculpt a realistic mask of your feline. The photo is of Rui, a Bengal cat from Kyoto and his human wearing his Rui mask. The artist works from photos and sculpts the mask, And you can have one of these for the incredible price of 300,000 yen (that’s $2,680.00 US). Frankly, I am not so thrilled about The Female Human mocking me with a mask of my face.
I hate to read stories about felines gone wrong but if you’re going to be a klepto cat you might as well make it pay.
Theo became known for thieving Christmas decorations and toys in Ipswich, England. His human spent much time going hither and yon returning his ill-gotten goods.
When they moved to a new house, Theo decided to up his game, arriving home with money the neighbor had left out for the milkman. And then Theo was more creative, pilfering a plastic bag with cash.
My furiends if you aspire to being a pilfering pussycat, steal cash and leave the Christmas ornaments on the tree!
Stormy the cat has been booted from The Fitz Creek General store in Homer, Alaska after working there for 6 years. Officials notified the store owners that the cat’s presence violates food safety standards. Stormy has worked hard the past 6 years, lounging on one of the wooden chairs or soliciting head scratches from the customers.
Some kill joy complained about Stormy but most of the store’s customers say he is part of the store’s and the rural community’s culture. Now lest you worry about Stormy’s future, he’s been offered a loving home by a relative of the store’s owner. I wonder if there is unemployment compensation for felines.
It appears The Tribe of Five owes Starbucks a a-paw-logy after our snarky video, Bring Me My Catpuccino where Oliver became incensed when our local Starbucks didn’t offer him a catpuccino despite all the pupaccinos they dispense. But now Starbucks in China are flying their feline colors with this pawsome cup and other feline merchandise! These cat paw glasses are extremely popular, and have been selling out quickly since their release on February 28 (though they can be ordered for 199 yuan [US$29.67] each). And if you can’t get your glass, check out the other feline items Starbucks China offers. Meow!
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