Hello Furiends,
If you read my earlier post, you know about the debacle at FelineOpines this week and the shoddy job performance of our Purrsonal Assistant. We did hold a board meeting regarding the potential dismissal of The Human. I called the meeting to order however purrticipation was half-hearted to say the least.

Once the sun puddles faded and Oliver and Lily joined me in the office, we had a lively discussion about the repercussions about firing our Purrsonal Assistant. They both reminded me that The Human had duties beyond the blog such as morning wet food, keeping water bowls filled and litter boxes empty, kibble (even though the amount has been greatly decreased due to the dreaded D-I-E-T. ) They also mentioned the evening Cat TV sessions. After ruminating on this information, I made the decision that rather than a dismissal, a good rebuking would be in order. As this is my blog segment and, as a Siamese, my voice was the loudest, I would give the verbal chastisement. The Human was appropriately repentant and began working on my Wednesday feature immediately.

The life of blogging cats is not easy and the three of us were exhausted after this encounter. I believe this short video of Oliver immediately after we adjourned speaks for the three of us (literally speaks, you can hear Oliver snoring!)

So let’s go to the newsworthy feline stuff for this week and paws crossed that the Purrsonal Assistant took our scolding to heart and we’ll be on time next week!

Matilda Wins High Five Honors

This formerly shy, semi-feral feline outshined all the other national contestants in the third annual National  High Five Day contest. The contest was created by Jackson Galaxy, well-known as a cat behavior expert who hosts the Animal Planet show “My Cat From Hell” and Is part of a program from The Jackson Galaxy Project to help shelter cats become more adoptable.  In addition to bragging rights for Matilda and the Whis-purr Rescue Inc, the rescue was awarded a $5,000.00 grant as well as personal cat behavior training from Jackson Galaxy.

The cats have been learning to do “behaviors”—not to be confused with “tricks”—such as ringing bells, spinning around, playing a piano, “nose touches,” and sitting up, in addition to “high-fiving” with an outstretched paw.

Galaxy selected the top 25 high-five finalists for the public to vote on from April 8 to 14. Whis-purr Rescue staff and supporters pushed to get out the vote for their local girl.  Matilda’s clever bell-ringing high-five won 4,997 votes.  .

The initiative aims to save the lives of shelter and rescue cats by increasing their adoption opportunities.  Shelter staff and volunteers are taught how to implement Galaxy’s positive reinforcement training for cats and includes “a signature move—teaching them to high-five.”

This cat says “Paws Up” to Jackson Galaxy’s program and any program that helps shelter kitties find furever homes. Click here too see all the finalists.

Helping Jimmy

Jimmy the cat was found in Nashville, dragging his rear legs and tail. He was in rough shape with spasms, road rash that became infected and a swollen bladder.

Rachael Resk was called to the rescue as she has had much experience rehabbing injured cats.  She began to work with Jimmy, first gently manipulating his legs to see how much he could take. Soon he could stand for a few seconds at a time.

She tried walking him on the treadmill and he was successful, going at 0.5 mph, using a chute to help Jimmy learn to catch himself and continue walking. When he could walk 10 feet, she wanted  more for him.so she took him to Canine Physical Rehab for water therapy.

And Jimmy responded well to the water therapy and now can walk at home, go up the stairs and lift his tail partially.

Though Jimmy is making progress, his road to recovery isn’t done yet. He can walk but sometimes falls. He also doesn’t have full control of his bladder. Resk will also soon be seeing a neurosurgeon to see if Jimmy has nerve impingement. If he does, he may need surgery.

To help with the cost of his ongoing care, Resk started a GoFundMe. She’s been able to raise a little over $6,000 out of her $10,000 goal.

Even if Jimmy isn’t completely healed yet,  Resk is thrilled with his progress.

“It’s not just his limbs and his tail that have come alive. As he began to and seek more freedom here in the house or out with people, out with the other cats he himself came alive,” said Resk. “He’s filled with joy, he’ll purr, he’ll meow, he’ll play. It’s extremely heartwarming.”

Once Jimmy Is recovered fully, the goal is to get him a furever home. Anyone who is interested in adopting Jimmy can email Resk at rachaelresk@yahoo.com.

Woo Hoo Jimmy, you found the purrfect human to help you!

Feline fracas fills air at county office

Sometimes you humans really make me shake my head. A cat was seen at the Trumbull county commissioner’s office and was the cause of informal complaints and now, a union grievance.

The cat, Betty, belongs to Commissioner Niki Frenchko and was brought to work several times. Well, evidently Mrs. (Dawn) Gedeon got her whiskers in a twist about the feline worker and filed a grievance with her union stating that the cat caused a health and safety violation in the office, claiming allergies.

The cat’s human said Betty lightened the mood in the office and that no one had spoken to her to say the cat’s presence was a problem for them.

The humans are still hissing at each other and no solution has been  reached yet. This feline has two questions, is all this time spent filing grievances and arguing a good use of tax payer funds and, is the office dog friendly? If so, there is a good case for species discrimination!

The “If I fits, I sits” instinct: Cats will sit in a box even it’s an illusion

Okay, you humans know we felines love boxes and that they calm us. A  2014, study carried out at the University of Utrecht found that shelter cats provided with boxes to hide in recovered more quickly and adapted to their new environments more easily than their box-less counterparts.

Now, a citizen science project led by Gabriella Smith from Columbia University, New York, has found that this behavior is so ingrained in cats that they are even drawn to sit in square shapes created by optical illusions. 

The researchers asked cat owners to set up different shapes on their living room floors to see if the cats were compelled to sit in them. Some made squares out of tape on the floor, others set up an optical illusion known as the Kanizsa square – an arrangement of four Pac-Man-like shapes positioned to look as if they are forming the four corners of a square. They then had the owners record their cats’ behaviour over six days.

The trial is limited by the small sample they used but the findings leave no doubt that we felines can be susceptible to optical illusions.

But humans, if you’re not into optical illusions, just get us a box and we will use it as our calm space.

This Cat Makes a Living as a Very Successful Car Model

Yes, you read that right, car modeling, not cat modeling, And car modeling is extremely competitive. You have to be young and beautiful, intriguing to watch with a winning personality, and female, or course,

Mao Mao has all these traits and then some. This 2-year old British Shorthair from China is proof that felines with the right talents and determination can make a good living.

Now it helps if you have a good human agent. Mao Mao’s human, Zheng, although never thinking his cat could make a living as a car model still felt it was worth a try and set her on a car at a car show  

Mao Mao drew a crowd and the social media she garnered for the car manufacturer was what resulted in her official entry into car modeling.

And how much does car modeling pay a feline? She works three to four jobs a month (Zheng doesn’t want to tire her) and she makes up to $1,550 (10,000 yuan) for an appearance. Now I’m no math whiz but even with only three gigs a month, she’s bringing in $4650.00 per month. Meowza, that’s a whole lot of kibble and cat toys! She does have a designer for her modeling costumes so there is that overhead to consider.