Happy Wednesday Furiends!
I hope the weather in your neck of the woods is better than ours. We’ve had high wind warnings and our electricity was out! Thankfully, our Human was forward thinking when she had our house built so we always have the gas fireplace in the living room to keep us warm. It’s a shame about her morning coffee but if she wants to use her Keurig, we told her she should get a generator! Everything is now back to normal and up to our finicky feline standards.

I wanted to clarify that when I refer to “our neck of the woods” I mean that literally and the woods offer great entertainment for The Tribe. The Human flung open the bedroom curtains and found this little guy stretched out on the pine needles sleeping!

Another interesting event was the new tea The Human bought. It’s a brand she’s used for years, Sleepy Time Tea. She drinks it because she has trouble sleeping, which she blames on us, more on that topic below. Anyhoo, she bought the “extra” version the other day which contains valerian. Did she not remember that valerian affects some of us like catnip?? I sure am enjoying my evening tea these days!

Before I share this week’s stories, I must tell you about the horrible allegations hw Human has made against us. She is claiming that Oliver and I keep her up at night due to our snoring. Snoring? Really? She went so far as to record us and claims that the sound quality isn’t great because we’re at the foot of the bed and she couldn’t get closer because she was afraid of waking us up. We will let you all decide if we snore or not.

Whoops, looks like this audio file won’t play. We’ll have our Purrsonal Assistant do some research but Oliver and I don’t see the need because we DON’T snore!

Finally, we will be featuring one of our interweb furiends tomorrow who has something he’d like to meow about on our first ever Cat Chat segment. Remember, if you’d like to meow at us just send us an email at FelineOpines@gmail.com with a good head shot so we can make sure we coordinate your mouth to match your words. Come back tomorrow and listen to what Marvelous (Marv) has to say!

Street cats in Portugal are being given old washing machines as shelters

Oh my whiskers, I love it when  you humans find creative ways to help homeless kitties! Stray cats in Valongo, an area of Portugal’s city Porto, are starting 2021 very well. The cat colonies who live in the city streets are getting new shelters, all made from old washing machines and dryers.

The machines are painted and decorated, lined with blankets and offer the street kitties protection and comfort.  Now the good humans of Valongo purrticipate in the TNR (trap, neuter, release) program and also work to find furever homes for kittens. There are care givers who come and feed the cat colony,

 They project they will need 50 machines and are looking for donations. You can contact them via email at GMVM@cm-valongo.pt.

New Research to Help Shelters Better Place Cats in Loving Homes

Our Human is always singing the praises of HABRI (The Human Animal Bond Research Institute) and the Winn Feline Foundation. The Winn Foundation’s Animal Studies Journal recently published confirmation of the effectiveness of the Feline Temperament Profile (FTP) in assessing the vehavioral responses of cats in different situations. They also found that even a shortened FTP assessment does  not cause a loss of reliability, This can provide a quick, practical tool for shelters and other rescue organizations to help cats find compatable homes and reduce the likelihood of cat relinquishment.

Dr. Gretchen Carlisle, Research Scientist at the University of Missouri said, “With this study, we conclude that the shorter FTP can be deployed to increase the possibility of successful adoptions by matching cats with adopting families’ expectations and improving shelter staff’s accuracy to easily and objectively assess behavior.”

Research suggests that cats have a better chance of staying in their furever homes if their purrsonalities are compatible with the humans who adopt them.

The discovery that the shortened test does not affect reliability makes this shorter version a much more valuable tool for shelter workers to use.

Meowza! The good folks who work in shelters could sure use a more streamlined form of this test to help their felines get adopted!

Woman begs people to stop blaming her for her fat cat’s massive size

This feline finds it very sad that some of you humans are so hissy and judgmental regarding other human’s cat posts. One area where I see much judgment is about cats that are heavier or CHONKY. As a matter of fact, a Facebook group was formed in 2019 called “This Cat is CHONKY” where people can post without the fear of judgment. The group has over 860,000 members and has grown like crazy since I first reported about it.

As members of that group, we’ve already met (and love Squishy) who is a 36 pound feline who is not an overeater but who has a syndrome caused by a tumor in his brain. The tumor secretes an excess of growth hormone which results in his girth. His loing human, Lauren Masterson has been treated horribly by some folks who blame her for his weight. She says, ‘They assume I’m either an idiot or a negligent person who is drastically overfeeding Squishy on purpose.”

Rest assured world that Lauren has worked with her vets, giving him tests, trying new things to help with his weight and making changes as prescribed by her vet.

Squishy is a loveable guy and Lauren loves him very much. Instead of judging Squishy’s human why not let her know that she’s doing a great thing by caring for him and paying the vet expenses to keep him healthy and happy!

Cat benefits from human’s new beading skills

If you’re a purrrticularly lucky feline like Anna, when your human takes up a new hobby, you benefit.  Anna’s human, Shelby Mitchell-Adams took up beading and her first project was a beaded floral vest for Anna.

Anna was adopted and given a furever home when she was found abandoned on the side of the road and now is loved and well dressed.

So my furiends, never give up. You too could go from the roadway to the runway!

New adoption van brings Cumberland County dogs, cats outside the shelter

Cumberland County Animal Services has a new mobile adoption van designed to help cats and dogs get out of the shelter and find homes.

These creative humans from the Cumberland County Animal Services in in North Carolina were gifted a custom van that can house up to 21 animals to off-site adoption events. And everything is organized so well that the humans who adopt can take their fur kid home on the same day!

The van can also help with evacuations, large animal cruelty and in partnering with other agencies to free up shelter space.

The shelter director hopes that with volunteers, adoption and resources like the mobile adoption center, more animals can be saved in the years to come. We hope so too!