Hello Furiends!
Meowza, what a week! The Human has had so much to do this week that the attention we demand (and deserve) has been lacking. In her defense, she’s been very busy and comes home and crashes. And when The Human has a tough week, we felines have a tough week too, although we try to sympathize with her purrdicament, each in our own way.

My regular readers will remember that our human nephew just signed with the professional soccer team, The Charleston Battery. Today I received my team bandana. I bet that team doesn’t have any fans as handsome as me!

Now it’s time to get to my latest web wanderings of the feline variety.

Purrfect rescue: Thai navy scrambles to save cats from sinking ship

Heroic Thai navy sailors braved choppy seas to rescue four felines that had been abandoned on a sinking ship that caught fire.

After the human crew was rescued and taken to safety the sailors returned to the capsized boat to check for an oil spill and much to their surprise found four furry crew members huddled toget6her on a bean of the boat.

One of the sailors donned a life vest and swam over to the terrified kitties. Each cat was placed on his shoulder while his crew pulled him and his feline rescues in to his boat.

All four felines are being cared for by their rescuers at their command post on the island of Koh Lipe.

I’ve heard of navy seals but this is the first time I’ve heard of navy felines. Paws up to these pawsome sailors!

Angry Cat Attacks Pilot Forcing Boeing 737 Diversion

A Tarco Aviation flight was forced to return to its origin after a furry stowaway made himself known in the cockpit.  The feline, thought to have accessed the cockpit during a cleaning woke up after takeoff, became frightened and attacked the captain, causing the plane to return to Khartoum.

The crew tried to capture the freaked out feline but couldn’t get close to him.

It’s believed the cat was a stray. Unfortunately, there was no mention of what happened to this poor kitty. I would like to think that he was adopted by a cat loving airline employee and that his traveling days are over.

Missing cat finds way home weeks after getting lost in New York

People, people, people how many times do you have to be told to secure your cat in its carrier?

John and Carol Forestieri will be more careful from now on, that’s for sure. They took 10-year old Buddy to the veterinarian for a minor surgery Feb. 8, when the cat escaped from the cage in the back of the car, “The door was slightly open and he just pushed through and — gone,” John Forestieri said.

Both humans ran after the cat but he went into the woods and disappeared. Then a few days ago John heard scratching at the back door. Buddy was home!

“At first I thought I was dreaming ‘cause I had been dreaming about him. I knew it was him without even seeing him, it was the same scratch and he did give a cry,” Forestieri said.

Buddy’s veterinarian said cats have an innate compass-like instinct that helps them determine their location. It is a miracle that Buddy made it home through snow storms and freezing weather.

Everyone celebrated Buddy’s return home, even the veterinarian. He was a bit thinner and has been receiving canned cat food the last few days.

“I still don’t quite believe it ‘cause I didn’t expect it, and I get choked up every time I see him,” John Forestieri said.

Ah, how I love a happy ending!

Local cat-sitting company braved winter storm to check on clients’ cats

Evelyn Shields and Vanessa Roy, co-owners of Austin Cat Sitters, both woke up Monday morning shocked like the rest of Texas when they saw inches of snow on the ground.  They also woke up to no power and it was cold and dark.

Shields received many messages from her managers at Austin Cat Sitters that things were going sideways. Visits weren’t happening as most of the cat sitting team couldn’t get out. Many of the cat’s humans were unable to get home so many cat sitting schedules were extended.

Shields and her partner took over all the visits and began circling the city in a four wheel drive Jeep. Her Prius would not start because of the cold. 

They visited more than 30 cats from Monday through Wednesday. They visited Pumpkin and Spice in an apartment complex with no power. Luckily, they brought a flashlight to find the felines in the dark. This allowed them to also send photos back to their owner to confirm the purring pair’s well-being.

Ace had more pressing needs. Shields noticed that there was blood in the urine in his litter box. She called Ace’s human and while she was on the phone it was clear Ace needed to see a doctor. The next issue was, were there any emergency vets open?  She and her partner got Ace to one of the two emergency vets that were open that night and then took him home with his medication. She kept Ace’s human updated on his condition and he has completely recovered.

One of her feline clients, Villy’s apartment was so cold his water bowl froze over.          

As the week progressed the other staff members were able to get out and check on their assigned felines.

The clients of Austin Cat Sitters were grateful and expressed their appreciation. Shields said, “It’s a lot of cat love for us. We are cat people and then just knowing that they’re getting what they need is what really makes us feel the best.”

Meowza, these ladies deserve a Paws Up award!

Hero Cat Adopted During the Pandemic Saves Family By Detecting Potentially Dangerous Gas Leak

This Oregon feline is a hero! Sandi Martin was in her living room spending time with her cat Lily. Lily kept walking over to the fireplace and began sniffing around the fireplace valve.

Martin was curious and joined Lily, sniffing at the same spot. She smelled gas. After her husband confirmed rhe gas smell, they called the gas company who arrived within 20 minutes. The gas company confirmed that they had a dangerous gas leak. He went outside, cut off the pipe to the gas, capped it off and shut it down.

Lily’s humans said she may have saved their lives. This wasn’t the only time Lily saved them. Martin said that she found herself in a dark place during the ongoing COVID-19 shut down because she wasn’t able to spend time with her family. She decided she would adopt a cat from Cat Adoption Team and that’s where she found Lily. Lily helped pull Martin out of her funk and helped her deal with the stress of the lockdown.

Way to go Lily!