Happy Wednesday Furiends,
I hope you are all keeping safe and warm. We are worried about our Texas furiends, many without the comfort of heat and fires. At least, in our neck of the woods we have the dreaded winter and are always prepared to stay safe and warm, even if (heaven forbid) our electricity goes away. I almost feel guilty posting this photo but it’s rare that I get the fireplace all to myself without Oliver’s portly presence.

As for Lily, she’s getting strange. Started to get close to me on the cat condo (a first) and then she took over my catnip infused bag (another first!)

At least Oliver is predictable!

Let’s get on with this week’s feline news. We have some of my favorite subjects, creative cat adoption ideas, a famous purrlitical cat, a lost cat found and more.

Ten Lives Club dressing up cats in hats to help get them adopted

This feline always loves it when humans at shelters find new and clever ways to find furever homes for our feline furiends. The Ten Lives Club lined up business sponsors for photos of cats in hats with the business logo of the sponsor on the picture.

The shelter is hoping this new way to showcase adoptable felines will help them clear the shelter.

Along with sponsors, The Ten Lives Club is looking for small hat donations or, if you’re creative you can make your own small hats to donate. Go to their Facebook page and scroll through the mini-hatted felines.

Larry the Downing Street cat’s 10 years at No.10 in pictures

Next week marks 10 years since Larry, the cat at Downing  Street began his purrlitical career. I’ve reported on Larry  in the past since he went to live at one of England’s most famous addresses from his humble beginnings as a homeless feline from Battersea rescue centre.

Larry, as the Prime Minister’s top feline has become quite a celebrity and has many photo ops with famous people.

He’s lived with three Prime Ministers during his tenure but he’s not spilling the beans on life with any of them which, I think, this is a wise purrlitical move.

There has been no cat door installed for Larry at 10 Downing Street so he’s forced to wait patiently for the on duty police officer to let him in…and out…an in…and out. Be sure and check out some of the photographic highlights of Larry’s last ten years.

With a little help, Honey is home after 12 weeks

Honey the cat went to visit Natalia Guerara’s relatives the week before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Honey slipped out the front door of the relative’s house.

Every day Honey’s humans searched the streets, trails and woods for the 6-year old cat. They joined lost pet groups, posted flyers and prayed. They did everything they could to get the word out about Honey.

Half a mile away from Honey’s last location, a woman noticed a new cat in her neighborhood. Laura  Bell is wise about cats and knew that the sudden appearance of this well taken care of feline meant that someone was missing her.

The cat hung around for a few weeks because one of the neighbors fed her. Bell did a survey of the neighborhood to make sure the cat didn’t belong to someone and then she borrowed a humane trap to catch the cat.

Once the cat had been secured in the trap, Bell took the frightened feline to the humane society.

Bell then posted the cat’s photo on the local Lost and Found pet’s page and people noticed the resemblance of this cat to Honey. Then began the comedy of errors.

Unfortunately, Guevara had changed her phone number so no one could contact her and she wasn’t checking Facebook as much as she had when Honey first went missing.

Finally, shelter manager Jenny Haynes recognized the cat as the missing Honey due to the distinctive black spots on her pink nose. Guevara went to the shelter months earlier to report Honey missing, so the shelter had information on her. A friend of Guevara saw the shelter’s note about Honey and called the shelter to provide them with the correct phone number.

The rest, as they say, is history and last week Honey was reunited with her humans.

The  moral to this story my furiends is this, NEVER GIVE UP! Oh, and make sure your phone number is correct!

Finding the perfect match

Kudos to humans who find creative ideas to find us felines homes! The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought 13 adoptable cats to Philadelphia Brewing Company for their Meowentine’s Day cat adoption event.

Potential adopters were taken to the brewery’s tasting room to meet the felines, have a drink and purchase decorated Valentine’s hearts to benefit the PSPCA.

Prior to the shutdown, Philadelphia Brewing Company hosted “Caturday” which was a monthly adoption event at the brewery. The Valentine’s  event was the first one that had been hosted in a year.

There were many humans who found their purrfect Valentine’s match that day. Paws up to the Philadelphia Brewing Company and the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for innovative thinking and a great partnership!

‘I am not a cat’: Find and use the infamous lawyer cat filter everyone’s talking about

I doubt there’s anyone on the planet who hasn’t heard about this and seen all the hilarious memes. Now I normally don’t report on news items that have gone viral, as I’m always striving to bring you fresh news but this has a new twist.

We heard all about the filter but did anyone tell us how to actually use the filter on our next zoom  meeting? Well here you go, turn your boring online session into a fabulous feline gathering. You’re welcome!

How to use the famous cat filter on your next Zoom video chat

1. Download the free Snap Camera app for Windows or Mac. (Just make sure you read the terms and conditions first.) It’ll ask for permission to use your camera and microphone.

2. Open the app, and you’ll find a variety of “lenses” or filters to search through. Whatever you click on will appear at the top of the app, where you can see it overlaid on your face.

3. Go to the Search Lenses bar, and type in “kitten” (or anything else you’d like to try).

4. Search through the different options, and choose the feline that speaks to you the most.

Choose from all kids of different kitten filters on Snap Camera.

5. To connect your new filter to Zoom, open the Zoom app. (You may have to restart it if it was already open while Snap Camera was downloading.)

6. In Zoom, go to Settings > Video > Camera, and from the drop-down menu, select Snap Camera. You should see your face with the filter you selected appearing in the preview.

7. Start or join a Zoom meeting. Your face will appear as a kitten, or whatever filter you selected.