Monthly Archives: May 2019

Alberto Opines on Friday Fill Ins #159

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Hello There Furiends,
Alberto here. I’m doing the Friday Fill Ins this week (Oliver has had far too much blog exposure lately!  This is a blog hop which means you can hop on over to the hosts, 15andmeowing or Four-Legged Furballs and enter your blog post or, just opine about them in our comments section.

Enjoy!
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Here are this week’s questions:

1. I would love to be a personal assistant to ___________________________.

2. If I had a boat, I would name it ________________________.

3. I want to improve my _________.
4. Surprises are _________.

Here are my answers:

1. I would love to be a personal assistant to the manager of a box factory. I can’t think of any other product I could be more excited about.

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Good morning sir. May I shred some papers for you? Knock over your coffee? Alberto

2. If I had a boat, I would name it the SS Alberto. If The Female Human ever gets the lead out and takes me in the kayak, I will tell her she needs to rename it.
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Me, still waiting for the female human to take me kayaking, Who could resist how handsome I look in my live vest? Alberto

3. I want to improve my guest greeting skills. This is the little settee in the foyer and I love to hang out here and greet guests. The problem is, some that haven’t met me before have been a bit startled.
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Why hello there, Welcome to the house of Felines. Alberto

4. Surprises are great as long as you are the one doing the surprising.
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Why hello there, don’t I make a lovely dining room table decoration? Alberto

Walk Through the Web Wednesday 5/29

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siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Hello Furiends,
Wednesday came fast this week, I guess that Monday off got us all discombobulated. It’s been a busy day. Oliver went to the vet because The Female Human is concerned about his portly proportions. Ollie tried to tell me what a harrowing experience he had but when the video of his visit surfaced, I called “foul” on his description of the visit. You decide for yourself.

 

 

 

The good news is that Ollie’s blood work came back A-OK and The Female Human is relieved but the bad news is that Ollie is now on a diet. This should be interesting. This was his reaction when he was told he would be dieting.

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D-I-E-T is a four-letter word! Oliver

Poor Ollie. At least I hope he enjoys my web wanderings this week.
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Kitty Ends Up On The Wrong Side of The Law

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Oh how I love it when you humans are creative. If there ever was a prize for the BEST “found cat” post, this is it. Big Boy Bubbles even managed to land himself a number! I sure hope his family finds him but if not, he will be put up for adoption at the San Diego Humane Escondido campus. 

Company Gets It’s Whiskers in a Twist and Sues over the Name of a Cafe 

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Santa Cruz coffee shop Cat and Cloud Coffee says it received a cease and desist from Caterpillar Inc. — because they use the word “CAT” in their shop name and merchandise.

The large corporation has trademarked “CAT” and has taken legal action against the small business to stop them from using it. Owners of the small business say they first received the letter in August of 2018.

What hubris this company has…how can you trademark the word “cat”..are you kitten me??? And could someone please explain to me how there is any similarity between this café and Caterpillar???  Caterpillar machines, I hiss in your general direction.

Cats Gain the Upper Paw in Japan

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It’s official according to a nationwide survey on cats and dogs as pets that was conducted by the Japan Pet Food Association, cats rock in Japan! The total number of dogs in 2018 was 8,903,000 but the total number of cats was 9,649,000. There are lots of charts and figures for you humans that like that sort of stuff. As for me, all I care about is that cat’s rule in Japan!

Cats (and Dogs) in Tornado Affected Oklahoma Are Sent to Maryland and Virginia

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The Humane Society of the United States assisted in transporting cats and other animals from shelters in tornado affected Oklahoma areas and placed them with shelters and rescues in Virginia and Maryland.

This allows the shelters in impacted areas to have more room to take in displaced animals. By transporting adoptable animals out of shelters in these communities, the opportunity for them to find a furever home is increased. And, then shelter capacity is increased in order for displaced animals to stay safe until they’re reunited with their families.  Two paws up for the Humane Society of the United States and the shelters that are helping.

Yoga With Cats Craze Spreading to Europe

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Human, why is this block on my yoga mat? Alberto

The yoga with cats craze has hit France. The Female Human never gets to do any yoga without the full attention of The Tribe of Five. Instructors say that having cats around enhances the feeling of wellbeing. If this is true, why is she always yelling at us to move? We felines are natural yoga masters, just watch us stretch. The Female Human needs to chill.

 

 

Can We Talk About Swag?

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“Can we talk about swag?” Alberto

When The Female Human goes to the Cat Writers Association Conference (#cwa25) she always comes home with stuff she refers to as swag. l asked her once, “What is this swag to which you refer?” And she said the original meaning of the term was “goods taken by a burglar”. Now I know The Female Human is honest and that she would not bring home stolen goods so I had to settle for the definition that says swag is stuff given to cat media professionals by generous sponsors.

And this year the sponsors were very generous. The Tribe of Five will be reporting on individual items but I wanted to give a shout out to @Cat Lady Box for putting something really cool in the bag for humans!

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First, let me say that Cat Lady Box is a pawsome company. You sign up for one or more months and they send you AND your feline goodies. The Female Human went crazy over the human stuff on the website, here are two of her favorites, the Cat Squad hoodie and the cat umbrella, pretty cool huh?

Lest you think that this is a human only box, think again. There are so many cool feline things. The Tribe of Five had a hard time picking just two from the many goodies on their website to feature in this post. These two were the winners. The Teddy Bear rug for felines is purrfect for chilly winter evenings and the furry bunny catnip toy brings out the beast in us.

So what did The Female Human get from the  Cat Lady Box folks? Take a look, she’s driving around town letting her feline flag fly (and in the wilds of North Idaho where dogs rule, that’s quite a statement!)

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Feline Fine in Idaho!

So “fangs a lot” to the good folks at Cat Lady Box for making The Female Human so happy.

Oliver Opines on Friday Fill Ins (on Saturday)

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Hello Furiends,

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“I’m not fat, I just have big bones.” – Oliver

I know, I know, I’m purrticipating in the Friday blog hop on Saturday…so sue me. It’s a long weekend and I’m having a hard time getting in gear. Although, with my girth getting in gear for anything is a struggle. The Female Human is so concerned about me she’s taking me to the vet next week to see why I’m gaining so much weight. Believe it or not, I’m not a snack eater, rarely partake of the wet food and am pretty much a “kibble only” kind of guy so my weight increase is a bit of a mystery. I told The Female Human I just have big bones.

Oh well, enough about me, let’s enjoy this week’s fill ins blog hop brought to you by the good folks at 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs.  You’re invited to join the blog hop or, opine about your answers in the comment section.

 

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Here are this week’s questions:

1. I ________________on Memorial Day.

2. I try to avoid _________________.
3. If I had a catchphrase, it would be _________.
4. _________ motivates me to work hard.

My Answers:

1. I do the same thing I do every day on Memorial Day -as little as possible.
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Me engaging in my favorite activity, which is no activity. – Oliver

2. I try to avoid exerting myself during playtime as much as possible. See how I handle my brother Alberto’s aggressive moves.

 

3. If I had a catchphrase, it would be “keep calm and purr on”.
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4.Absolutely nothing motivates me to work hard. Cats do not work, we play and we rest and that’s about it.
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Tucker and I working hard at not working. – Oliver

The Fabulous “Failure”

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The Female Human has always lived with multiple cats. Three seemed to be the magic number. This was the state of her happy home when she was asked to foster two kittens who just happened to be me and my brother Oliver.

She says she had some trepidation about fostering; she’d never taken care of tiny kittens. Every member of The Tribe of Five was adopted when we were weaned, spayed / neutered and ready to go to a new furever home.  Yet, despite her reservations, she knew there were two kittens that needed her so she said yes.

We Arrive

Siamese and black and white kitten, Alberto and Oliver from Feline Opines

The accommodations she provided were excellent. We took over the very large guest bathroom and with all our needs considered, a litter box, a play area, snuggly beds and lots of kitten approved toys.  Our arrival created quite a bit of interest among the established Tribe members and they were less than enthused when The Female Human disappeared into that room that was now off limits to them.

The Female Human took to fostering quite well.  She learned where to find the best organic goat’s milk to feed us, what kitten food was best when we were ready to eat solid and what things enriched the environment of two curious little felines.

We Weasel Ourselves Into Her Heart

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We could tell immediately that The Female Human was a softie. She fell in love with us in a nanosecond. She was so besotted that she even brought in a mini iPad for us with kitty games.  We made sure to crawl all over her and purr as loud as little kittens can purr whenever she came to visit us and, when we began to have supervised visits in the rest of the house we were on our best behavior.

The Rest, As They Say, Is History

I think she knew long before she admitted it to anyone else, that Oliver  and I were there to stay, We sometimes heard her mumble under her breath, “Five cats, FIVE CATS?? I am officially part of the crazy cat lady society. What will everyone think?” Thank goodness her heart overrode her head and she gave in, officially adding us to the now Tribe of Five.

I remember the first time she fed us all at once and she looked at the five furry bodies enjoy their evening soft food. She put her hands to her face and exclaimed, “That’s a lot of cats!”

Fabulous Foster Failure

We’ve been in our home for almost three years now and The Female Human has fully embraced the fact that she shares her home with five felines. Where she used to whisper “Five” under her breath when people asked her how many cats she had, she now throws her shoulders back and states proudly and loudly, “FIVE!”.

Our Female Human is very competitive and obsessive about completing tasks successfully. There is only one “failure” she has proudly embraced and that is being a foster failure. She seems to think she has the foster thing down now and might be able to foster again but we’ve advised her that if she isn’t prepared for a Tribe of Seven, she might want to wait a bit.

I hope you humans will consider fostering, whether you fail or not. There are so many resources to help you figure it all out, through your local shelter and even a free online course at Maddie’s University from Maddie’s Fund. Maddie’s University offers a module, Foster Caregiver Training – Kittens and Puppies that gives you clear and complete guidelines for things like bottle feeding, fostering and socializing unsocial kittens, transitioning to solid food and much more. And if you decide you want to champion fostering for your local shelter, Maddie’s Online University has a course to teach you how to create and grow successful cat foster programs.

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Oliver and I say two paws up for humans who foster and we encourage you to try it. What’s the worst that could happen?  You might just add a few new loving members to your tribe and become a member of FFF (Fabulous Foster Failures). If you’re a FFF, please feel free to use this badge and let your fabulous foster failure experience be known to the world.

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Walk Through The Web Wednesday 5/22

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siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Hello Furiends.
I have completed my feline journalistic duties for the Cat Writer’s Association’s 25th conference. It was very cool, lots of famous social media felines were there and
The Female Human brought home a nice swag bag we’ll be reporting on soon.

But it’s time for me to get to the best of feline news on the web. I hope you enjoy this week’s web wanderings.
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Delta volunteer flies cat from Atlanta shelter to Seattle cat cafe to find new home

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Oh how I love it when humans step up and do something outstanding, and this is definitely outstanding. First of all, did you know that Delta has an Animal Rescue Transport?

And Delta has volunteers that help make animal transport happen. One of these volunteers took a sweet little feline named Molly from Atlanta to a cat café in Seattle where she could be adopted. Molly tested positive for the feline leukemia virus which created a challenge to her adoption at the shelter. Cats with FIV are adoptable and their disease can be managed. So, the folks in Atlanta sent an application for Molly to be accepted to the Neko Cat Café in Seattle as they specialize in getting cats with FIV adopted. And the Neko Cat Café is one fantastic place where you can sip your favorite beverage, have a light nibble and a snuggle with felines. Could there be any better place?

But I digress, little Molly was accepted and a Delta volunteer flew with her to Seattle and delivered her to the cafe. Now Molly is famous and she has her own page on the Neko Cat Café’s website. So get the word out to your Seattle furiends and tell them to get Molly adopted!

Study using activity monitors to track cats’ activity levels

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An interesting opportunity for all my indoor feline friends in England. Researchers from the University of Bristol Vet School want to hear from indoor cat owners for a new study looking at cats’ mobility levels using cat activity monitors.

They’re studying the effect of joint disease in cats activity levels by measuring movements of felines with and without mobility problems. There are criteria for the feline study purrticipants, they must be happy to be met and petted by strangers and wear a breakaway collar. The scientists are hoping to identify the earliest signs of joint disease which would make life so much better for felines with joint problems.

Cats taking part in the study should be:

  • over six years of age;
  • be kept indoors or have outdoors access within a closed run and/or on a lead;
  • shouldn’t be on any pain medication, and
  • live within one to two hours’ drive from Bristol, England.

So if you live across the pond, get  your moggies in this study!

Dogs and cats take flight toward promising future

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In this story nearly 200 shelter pets from Louisiana and Mississippi are settling into their new digs on the East Coast after being flown from Lafayette.

Wings of Rescue made this flight possible in conjunction with GreaterGood.org and the ASPCA.

These flights allow dogs and cats to go from overcrowded shelters where they are less likely to be adopted to shelters with room and better opportunities for them to find furever homes.

This program helps shelter pets all around the country and our local shelter does this as well. What a good idea humans, send us where we have a better chance of being adopted!

Denver cat ends up in Kansas

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Ah, another “happy ending cat traveler story”. (Good grief some of these felines like to roam the country). A “stray” cat was taken to a shelter in Topeka, KS and when they scanned her for a  microchip, Loki’s family was located…..in Denver!

How did this happen you ask? No one knows but Loki is hitching a ride with a family friend of one of the shelter employees. So humans, PLEASE make sure your feline’s microchip info is up to date so that if, heaven forbid, your feline goes missing, you can be reunited too!

According to Research, Being a Cat Lady is Actually Good For You

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This is our very own crazy cat lady (aka The Female Human). – Alberto FelineOpines.net

Oh puleeeze…these researchers aren’t telling us felines anything new! But I guess you humans have to hear  from Psychological Medicine, what we’ve always known, and that is that felines are beneficial to your health.  As a matter of fact, there’s even more research proving that cats are actually beneficial to specific parts of human health.

A study posted in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Nuerology states that: “a decreased risk for death due to MI and all cardiovascular diseases (including stroke) was observed among persons with cats. Acquisition of cats as domestic pets may represent a novel strategy for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in high-risk individuals.”

So there you have it, from the experts, that owning  cats can benefit your health.  Felines are great stress reducers and our purrs have  healing powers.  So the next time someone tries to name call your female human as a crazy cat lady, just smile, meow and remember, it’s not crazy to be healthier.

Not Walkin’-Chillin’

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Hello There Furiends,

We sent our Purrsonal Assistant to the Cat Writers Conference #cwa25 and as I write this she’s somewhere between Idaho and St. Louis, MO. Since we are without staff at the moment (regular blogging staff, of course arrangements were made for our meals to be prepared, liter boxes to be cleaned and snacks to be served on schedule), I will not be doing my regular Wednesday post today. But, stay tuned, I’ll have all sorts of things to report about the conference . In the meantime, I’m doing what cats do best, relaxing!

Oliver Reminisces on Friendly Fill Ins #156

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Hi There Furiends,
I’m doing the fill-ins this week and I can’t wait to meow about my answers. This is a blog hop which means you can join via the link at the host’s sites at 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Fur Balls and hop around to other sites, read their answers and of course, opine about your thoughts on their answers. Sig_Oliver

 

 

 

Here are this week’s fill ins.

1. ______________ was a very good year.
2. There is nothing quite like _______________.
3. If I had a talk show, I would want to interview _________.
4. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for _________.

My Answers:

1. 2015  was a very good year. That’s the year The Female Human became a foster failure and my brother Alberto and I found our furever home.  Weren’t we cute?

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2. There is nothing quite like watching the local woodland wildlife with my brother.

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3. If I had a talk show, I would want to interview Jackson Galaxy.  The Female Human is always meowing about him and how much he knows about felines. I’d like to talk to him and see if he could figure out all the crazy idiosyncrasies of The Tribe of Five.
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4. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my fellow members of The Tribe of Five…well, except maybe giving up my favorite spot on the sofa.
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