Monthly Archives: June 2021

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 6/30

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Hi there furiends,

I sure hope it’s cooler in your neck of the woods than it is in ours. We are suffering through unusual record breaking heat here in the Inland Northwest. So unusual in fact, that most folks don’t have air conditioners. Just so you know what I’m talking about here’s Weather Kitty’s report for the moment (it’s supposed to hit 102 today!)

“Halp, I think I’m melting!” – Lily
“this is NOT fun!” – Oliver
“Sigh, when will winter be here?” – Alberto

Stay cool my furiends and make sure that your humans drop some ice cubes in your water bowl!

Rescue attempt leaves cat and owner stuck in tree

MOL!! Here’s a word for you cat parents crazy enough to climb up a tree to assist your stranded feline…DON’T!

A pet parent in Oklahoma found out the hard way that this is a bad idea when he found himself stuck up in the tree with his cat. The Tulsa Fire Department’s report noted:

“Around 3:45 pm, Captain Alan Hancock and his Engine 27 A Platoon crew responded to a rescue near S. 94th E. Avenue and E. 27th Street,” the Tulsa Fire Department wrote on Facebook. “Apparently a cat climbed high up into a tree. Its owner was so concerned for the feline that he climbed up to attempt a rescue. Unfortunately, they both found themselves in a dangerous predicament high above the ground, unable to get down safely.”

Both human and cat were rescued. You can watch the video here

How vets saved Babi the cat’s life with a few shots of vodka

In a little town in South Africa, Babi, a ginger cat underwent unusual emergency treatment.

The cat’s owner noticed Babi was acting funny and refused to eat. He was barely able to stand. They scooped him up and carried him, without a box, almost 2km across the valley from Mashaeng township to the veterinary clinic in Fouriesburg, South Africa.

The veterinary team suspected poisoning so a urine sample was taken. The urine was a strange lime yellow color and tested extremely high for increased glucose levels. Diabetes was ruled out. The next potential prognosis by the vets was kidney failure. They considered that it was a cold time of year and thought it could be potential antifreeze poisoning.

They were worried as the prognosis for antifreeze poisoning is very poor if not caught early. Because the cat had vomited while in their care, they thought that they had caught it early enough and decided to try and save Babi. They did some quick internet research on antifreeze poisoning and read that the urine would be fluorescent; they confirmed with a fluorescent lamp that the urine was neon and the diagnosis was confirmed.

 “Anti-freeze poisoning is treated with intravenous ethanol and that isn’t something that we have just lying around, so back to Google we went; what could we use in its place?” the vet said.

One of the vets raced to the local liquor store and bought the purest bottle of vodka she could find. They then dosed Babi with a drip after they figured out the dosage.

Even though they did dilute the vodka, poor Babi did get drunk. They repeated the treatment every six hours for a day and a half and then every eight hours for another day.

The propylene glycol in anti-freeze causes crystals to form in the kidneys which destroys the tubules in the kidneys. Ethanol, or in this case vodka, dissolves the crystals and allows them to pass in the urine.

By the fourth treatment, Babi was almost back to normal. He was eating and he looked like a million bucks. They kept him for a couple of days for observation and his family was thrilled to have him back in their arms again when he went home.

Bravo to these fantastic veterinarians but humans, please don’t treat your cats with alcohol!

This cat is no couch potato

I love to report about adventure cats and Salem is one of these felines with a heartwarming story.  Salem’s human, Shawn Crassweller, came across Salem about two years ago when he was on a walk. He heard a truck speed up and saw Salem in the middle of the road. He ran to the cat, scooped her up and took her to safety. The cat followed him for more than eight blocks to his house. He left the back gate open as well as the back door of the house. She walked back and forth between the gate and the door for a few minutes, finally settling on the door and yelling as if to say, “Let’s get inside!” Crassweller says Salem has been with him ever since that day.

Crasweller says Salem rescued him that day too. His ex had just left him as well as his godson and two roommates. Having Salem in his house forced him to get out of bed and care for her, keeping him from succumbing to depression.

He trained Salem to sit on his shoulder while he longboards around the city. Once he was able to walk around his house, bent over digging in cupboards, or open the fridge without her jumping off, he started going outside with her hanging out beside his head. Now Salem goes biking, longboarding and hiking with him. He does make sure Salem wears a harness on their outdoor excursions.

Crassweller and Salem are planning a camping trip to Waterton Lakes National Park. Salem will get her own tent, complete with a litter box, and will sit in a backpack while Crassweller hikes. 

Crassweller says that being an adventure kitty means having the right temperament and he’s thankful that his cat shares his passion for the outdoors and also loves to be hugged.

I’d say Salem found the purrfect human!

Cats that care lead the way among National Cat Awards finalists

Minty and his humans

The lineup for this year’s National Cat Protection Awards is dominated by felines who have helped people through difficult times.

This year’s event – sponsored by Purina – is comprised of four categories: Furr-ever Friends, Most Caring Cat, Outstanding Rescue Cat and Purina Better Together.

Among the hopefuls are Minty, from Holywell, Flintshire, who lost one of his legs after being hit by a car. He cares for his young human who has severe learning difficulties as well as other medical conditions. When things get difficult, Minty rubs his face on Connor’s hand to calm him. Minty also helped Connor to learn to climb the stairs. He spent hours jumping one step at a time, stopping to allow Connor to catch up. Connor’s mom said,  “It was incredible to witness him patiently encourage Connor to achieve something he found so difficult. She also said, “Connor can be very loud, and his medical conditions mean he’s very wobbly and clumsy. Many pets would understandably keep their distance, but not Minty – when Connor is at his most in need, Minty is there like a shot.”

And if you think Minty’s story is pawsome I encourage you to visit the article to learn about cats like Paddy, who makes daily trips to Co-op Funeralcare’s Mayfields Remembrance Park near his home to comfort mourners. Then there’s Bruno who came into his human’s lives after their five-day old daughter died. Caring for Bruno and his littermates who were found in a box helped them cope with their loss.

While learning to live with their grief, Caroline and Damon found a box of four abandoned kittens and took them in, deciding to keep Bruno after rehoming the other three.

Winners of each category will receive a trophy, a £100 ($138.00 USD) pet store voucher, a year’s subscription to Cats Protection’s magazine and three months of Purina cat food.

The winners will be announced on August 5, while a week later the National Cat of the Year will be decided by a celebrity panel.

Cat allegedly stolen by Uber Eats driver located, reunited with its owner


.Oh my whiskers, this is the third catnapping article I’ve reported on in the last month! At least this story lets us know the outcome. An 18-year old feline named Hog and her human, Patrick Lewis were reunited after she’d been cat napped.

Lewis despaired of every seeing her again and then the cat was discovered in someone’s back yard in Van Nuys when their dog kept barking at something in the yard. Upon discovering the cat, the homeowner said she was sure the feline belonged to someone. She searched social media and found a listing on Next Door about Hog. She contacted Lewis immediately.

Hog was stolen from Lewis’ front yard in Studio City and the culprit was a food delivery driver, caught on camera taking the cat. After the story was featured on the news, the Uber Eats driver contacted the family, telling them she thought the cat was a stray and that she gave it to a family at the animal shelter.

The female Uber Eats driver was reportedly delivering food to another home on Laurelwood Dr. when she took the cat who was sitting on the sidewalk. Hog’s collar, tags and all, were found on the sidewalk. 

 Lewis called the Uber Eats driver after Hog was located, and said that she started crying. He said there were no hard feelings, he’s just happy to have Hog back home.

In a written statement to FOX 11, an Uber Eats spokesperson said, “What the customer reported is unacceptable. We are working to get the cat returned, stand ready to help in the police investigation, and will take the appropriate action against the delivery person.”

So folks, I will repeat to you what The Human always says regarding random cats that you might encounter…think LOST not stray!

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 6/23

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siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Happy Wednesday Furiends!
I don’t know how things are in your neck of he woods but things are heating up in ours – literally,. It rarely gets really hot here so when it does heat up for that one to two week time period we really suffer.

Lily chose to ignore the uncomfortable temperatures and put on her fairy (or as she says faerie) garb to celebrate yesterday’s holiday.

Oliver, on the other hand is still yammering about the D-I-E-T so we decided he should celebrate today’s holiday, “Let It Go Day”.

As for me, I wouldn’t mind a few new Cat TV channels. I am beginning to feel a great ennui as I am forced to watch the same old birds on my iPad. Oh the trials and travails of a first world cat . Life is rough. .

Well that’s it from our neck of he woods this week. We hope you and your humans are staying cool and comfortable!

Cat turns liquid to squeeze under door

Holly the feline has become an overnight TikTok sensation as she appears to turn into liquid to get under a door that looks far too narrow for her to squeeze through.

The video has so far been viewed more than 29.7 million times and surpassed 5.7 million likes. Meowza!

I don’t understand why you humans are making such a big deal about this. We felines are expert at getting into, over and under things that look impossible to you!

Take a look at Holly’s video and let me know what  you think. And by the way, you humans have been wondering about the feline ability to fit through small spaces for years.  Cats Maru and Hana were subjects in an experiment that their human conducted on this subject.

Is my cat happy or hurting? This app will help

“So human, tell me what kind of a mood I’m in.”
Oliver

We felines recognize that our health and happiness is of the utmost importance to you humans and this is why you will be thrilled with this new piece of news. There is a new app in development called  Tably that was released by Silverster.AI a joint venture between two Canadian companies. .Now you may be asking, “Alberto, how did this come about?” Well the developers discovered the Feline Grimace Scale (FGS) that was developed to assess acute pain in cats based on facial expressions. This made the Tably folks wonder, could we figure out a cat’s mood with the right app?

Now any of you humans that share a home with felines know that we give you lots of clues when we don’t feel good but the cues are subtle.  “

“Depending on the cats’ muzzle, eyes, ears, whiskers, or head position, you can determine whether or not a cat is in pain,” says Paulo Steagall, lead author of the FGS publication and associate professor of veterinary anaesthesia and pain management at the University of Montreal. The FGS was created by Steagall and his team to be used by veterinarians, other veterinary technicians, and cat owners.

Alta ML coupled the FGS  with machine learning to make it more accessible to the general public. The app picks up relevant points on our faces, maps them out based on the FGS, and shoots out a reading – happy or not – along with a percentage. The percentage isn’t correlated to the level of happiness, but rather the level of confidence the machine has.

The developers say that Tably, with a high quality and full face front image of the cat, will be 97% accurate.

The app company reports that most humans are using the app to check on their kitties after they’ve had surgery or to figure out if a cat exhibiting hiding or other behaviors is experiencing pain. The company says the app will help humans know when it’s time to take us to the stabby place but I don’t know, our Human always seems to know when we need to go there.

The company will soon be releasing an ios and android version for the app and their plans are to make it part of a veterinarian’s post-appointment follow-up process.    

Elderly cat spends birthday in animal shelter, celebrates by getting adopted

Oh my whiskers! If you can read this story without getting leaky eyes then this feline would have to question your humanity!  A cat arrived at a shelter in Cincinnati after his owner had to  go to assisted living and couldn’t take Sammy along.

When the staff at Kitty City learned it was Sammy’s 19th birthday, they threw him a birthday celebration — complete with party hats and bright decorations. Well, if Sammy’s birthday wish was for a new furever home, his wish was granted. This sweet guy will live his golden years with a new family full of love for him.

And by the way, there are a few other senior cats at the shelter if any of you Ohio folks are looking to make them happy too.

When it comes to heated divorce, pets aren’t people too

We are here for all your feline legal needs.

This may make you howl but according to human law, pets are considered property in a divorce. Still, there are ways of working out custody with special mediation and “petnups” that will keep your humans from getting into a cat fight in court.

Some of the more enlightened states in this area are Alaska, California and Illinois. There is a bill in New York state to give judges more leeway to consider the best interests of the pets as these other states have done.

The subject of fur kids comes up a lot when you humans divorce. Adam Citron, a New York lawyer who has handled dozens of divorces, said pets are “constantly an issue.” He’s among lawyer who’ve sometimes see the worst in people in divorce court and advocates for prenups covering pets. A “petnup” is especially helpful for animals acquired during the marriage.

One tip for states that haven’t taken the new approach to consider the best interests of the fur kids would be agreeing at the time a pet is acquired during a marriage whose name will appear alone on registration or adoption papers. That person should pay any costs out of a separate bank account. Such measures are especially helpful if one party is trying to weaponize a pet in exchange for other coveted property. (Boy you humans can really get vindictive!)

It’s best, if you humans insist on divorce to put fur kid custody at the top of divorce negotiations. The Animal Legal Defense Fund, says more laws empowering judges to consider the emotional needs of pets are needed.

A spolespurrson for the Animal :Legal Defense Fund said, “What we would like to see is to have animals considered in the most holistic way possible,” she said. “Who is the animal bonded to? Who can provide for the animal’s overall health and well-being going forward?” Now that lady has the right idea.

Here’s hoping all your humans will stay together and that you will never need the services of some legal beagle (or feline purrsonal attorney) to sort out the best interests of your cats when a split happens.

Family ‘absolutely shocked’ when cat they thought they cremated returns home

When Frankie the cat went missing on May 19, his family in Warrington, England was devastated.  Frankie was a beloved rescue who had been adopted by his family 14 years ago. His human, Rachel Fitzsimons, said he was  a “real hunter” who went out and brought “gifts” back to the family — but was never gone for long as he always came home to sleep with their 7-year-old son every night.

But on Wednesday evening of May 19th Frankie left at about 7pm and didn’t come home.  The family wasn’t too worried the first night because the weather had turned bad and they figured Frankie had taken shelter somewhere. The next day the family did become worried when Frankie didn’t return and they went all over the neighbourhood looking for Frankie. Their 7-year old son Remy cried every night.that Frankie did not return.

Then on Saturday, Fitzsimons said she spotted the body of a cat on the side of the motorway near their home — fearing the worst she got as close as she could to look at the cat..  Still they continued to search but they returned to the cat on the roadside. The cat had been badly injured so identification was difficult  but the fur and tail were strikingly similar to Frankie’s.  The family was convinced it was him.

The family was in mourning for Frankie. They collected Frankie’s remains from Highways England who had picked him up and they took Frankie’s body to their vet to have it cremated.  They lovingly placed his ashes in a box with his name on it and their son kept it in his bedroom.  They also kept Frankie’s bed and his toys.

Then just over three weeks from the day he went missing, the family heard a cat outside. Mr. Fiitzsimmons ran into the garden and then started shouting, “‘Come out! Come out quick! Come out!’ Mom and son ran outside and there was dad…holding Frankie!

Sure enough, Frankie had returned home — albeit a frailer, thin version of himself. The family, who was “absolutely shocked,” gave him food and had him checked at the vet who noted Frankie had an abscess in his mouth and might have suffered some head trauma but Frankie is recovering and eating more.

The family is so thankful to have him back and to have had him all those years before and now are even more thankful to have Frankie in their lives again, living his best life.

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 6/15

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Hello Furiends,
How are things in your neck of the woods? The Human has decided not to take anything seriously this week and has turned all our photos into cartoons. While I am a feline with a good sense of humor, I do think she’s carried things a bit too far. I will let you all decide if we need a cartoon intervention.

“Yes, it’s me Oliver with my best cartoon face judgy look.”
“You may be judgy Oliver but I am Queen Lily, ruler of all I survey.”
“I must conquer that demon brush and save the household.” -Oliver

As for me and what I think of this cartoon craziness? They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Well enough with this silliness, let’s get on with this week’s web wanderings.

Cats in love reunited soon after sep­a­ration

A human in North Carolina created a very nice catio for her cat Patches. It had everything a cat could want, sleeping areas, a beautiful view and even a water fountain.

A few years ago Patches’ catio was invaded, not by a bad guy but by a feline named Jack. They would hang out all day, go  for walks to the lake together and spend all their time developing their friendship.

This relationship was going so well but then Jack’s human, Jill Roberts, said they were moving to Maine. Patches’ human made a very hard decision and decided that these two felines shouldn’t be separated and so she gave him up so he could live with Jack’s family.

Jack, Patches and their human then moved to an AirBnb in the area for a few weeks as all was readied for their move to Maine. And then, one day tragedy happened.

Patches and Jack were playing together and they fell out of the screened-in window. Patches was confused and ran away, leaving Jack alone.

Jack slept on Patches’ bed for days, mourning the loss of his buddy. Thank goodness Patches former human and Jack’s human did not give up looking for Patches. They hired a company with k-9s who locate lost cats and also put signs around a nearby campus where Patches had last been seen.  

A campus police officer found Patches on his patrol and coaxed her out from under a house where she was hiding. Now this is all wonderful but, Jack and his human had already moved to Maine.         

Paws Up award by FelineOpines.net for humans who do amazing things for cats

But don’t worry dear readers. Jack and Patches were reunite on Zoom and will soon be reunited in purrson. Patches former human will drop her off at Jack’s house and they will be together again.

Oh how I love a love story with a happy ending! And what about Patches’ former human? I say she deserves a Paws Up award!     

Man slept in couple’s bed, stole cats during their vacation

All I have to say is, “What is wrong with you humans??!!” Last week I reported about a cat-napper and now this week I find another story. This one is really wild. A Pennsylvania man is accused of breaking into a couple’s apartment, sleeping in their bed and stealing their two cats.

Austin Shaffer, 21, is charged with two felony counts of burglary and criminal trespassing, along with multiple theft misdemeanors.

According to the Portage Borough Police Department, the couple called authorities after they returned from vacation on May 26 and discovered that someone had broken into their apartment, WJAC reported. The front door was tampered with, blankets from the bedroom were on the floor and the two cats were missing.

Multiple witnesses told police that they heard and saw Shaffer break into the apartment and, when he was questioned by police, Shaffer said he went into the apartment to avoid bad weather as he was homeless. Then he told the police that he thought the cats were abandoned. Yeah, right.

Now the biggest question we have is, were the cats found and are they home again? We had our Purrsonal Assistant purruse the web in every nook and cranny and could not find out any information about the cat-napped kitties. We sure hope they are home and okay. If any of my readers know, meow about it and let us know.

England’s Accidental Cat Pub

The Bag of Nails pub is not your run of the mill drinking establishment. You may see cats sleeping in the window and you definitely will see a big sign that says no dogs are allowed due to pub kittens in training.

Once inside you will meet the resident felines walking across the bar or sitting on a bench. This pub is located by the Floating Harour in Bristol, England. The owner, Luke Daniels is always very specific that this is a pub with cats, not a cat pub (I guess so as not to be confused with cat cafes but hey, we love cat cafes too).

The 15 cats of the pub, mostly of the Tabby purrsuasion, were all born in the pub and are all descendants of Malcolm, a British short-haired silver tabby and a black female named Beresford. Malcolm is nine years old. Daniels adopted him the week he took over the pub in 2011 and says that at one stage, there were 24 cats and things got a bit crazy. He had to adopt a number of them out to bring the tribe number to 15, all spayed and neutered to avoid another feline population explosion.

Daniels is somewhat mollified that the pub is more famous for the cats than the beer. Someone said that this pub is purrfect for those who like whiskers and whiskey (that would be a great name for another cat pub!)

COVID made it very hard for the pub as it had barely any income but plenty of bills. In April he had to resort to crowd funding to keep himself and his felines going. He was shocked at how the public rallied, raising more than 20,000 GBP (a little over $28,167.00 USD)  in only a few days. He was able to pay the rent for the first time in a year, feed the cats and pay their vet bills.

Now the Bag of Nails is open again and felines are ready for visitors. We know our human would high tail it over to Bristol if she travels back to England.

A CAT ELEVATOR, FOR THE DISCERNING LAZY FELINE IN YOUR LIFE

Oh my whiskers! When Oliver saw this he immediately ordered The Human to order one. The problem is that we don’t go outside unattended so it would be a waste of money at our house.

Still, we felines are used to food delivery, kitty bathroom clean up, drinks served whenever we need them so why shouldn’t we have an elevator?

This smart elevator senses an infrared device and then locks the door when the feline is in the elevator. I’m guessing that the cat wears something on it’s collar to identify it to the elevator. If not, I can only imagine what would be appearing at the top of that elevator. In our neck of the woods it would probably be a trash panda or a skunk!

Rare vintage photos of celebrities with cats

I always love hearing about famous people who love cats and like finding photos of famous people with cats. Here is a blast from the past with some old Hollywood icons and felines. I especially like the photo above because everything thinks of Judy Garland with a dog!

Walk Through the Web Wednesday 6/9

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siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Hello there Furiends,
How are things in your neck of the woods this week? Things around here have been pretty quiet but we did get some needed rain. The Human was doing the happy dance as it’s been really dry and we have lots of forests around us. Here’s a little taste of the rain out our front window.

WhileThe Human was dancing around with glee, I was busy snoopervising The Human’s bathroom.

“Hmmmm, I wonder what fur these brushes were made of.” -Alberto

Meanwhile, Oliver and I celebrated “Hug Your Cat Day” on June 4th. Although The Human gave us lots of hugs that day (and does so every day), Ollie and I wanted to get an early start.

The Human spent Sunday afternoon at her sister’s house and spotted this big bald eagle. I think I’m glad we don’t see those big guys in our back yard!

I hope you all had a good week and that you enjoy my web wanderings for this week.

Topiary Cat! Homeowner crafts six foot feline from his hedge

Well, after finding this news bit I have to say our Human is slacking off in the garden department!  However, not every feline’s humans are so inattentive to glorifying their felines with their greenery. A wonderful human from England is paying tribute to his cat with a HUGE topiary in his front yard. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE! The topiary is 2 meters (about 6 ½ feet) . The large cat doesn’t only delight human passers by, it captures the interest of many of the dogs in the neighborhood as well.  The owner of the house purrfers to remain anonymous but whoever you are…two paws up!

Basepaws wants kitties to live forever!

cat basepaws dna results

My regular readers may remember that Lily, Oliver and I have all had our DNA tests done by Basepaws. Lily meowed about her report in a blog post

Our Human especially likes the feature that helps her follow our health and what health issues we may have to deal with when we get older. Basepaws says, “We want cats to live forever and you may be able to help!” They are recruiting cats aged 17+ to pawticipate in their newest study. Their goal….to increase cats’ healthspans by identifying genetic markers for developing therapeutics to treat age related diseases I cats. Our Angel Lily had kidney disease the last few years of her life and our Angel Tucker developed cancer at the end of his life. Both were 17 when they crossed The Rainbow Bridge. Lily, Oliver and I are too young to do the survey so if any of you felines are super senior kitties 17+, please consider taking this survey!

CatCafe Lounge in LA lets you cuddle adoptable cats in a giant outdoor catio

.  

Now this is a first, humans in a catio, outside mingling with the kitties! The CatCafe Lounge in LA is home to over 30 cats and offers an outside catio experience for humans.

Visitors can lounge below the large blue cat trees and watch the antics of felines above their heads or cuddle with the kitties hanging around the lower area. The cats enjoy their cat jungle gym that offers them all the space they need to pounce, play, climb and just lounge in a sunny spot.

The “cat highway” is a favorite feature with humans and felines alike. The cats can scale leafy climbing walls and ramps and feel the wind in their fur.

The café is a partner of the Stray Cat Alliance  whose work is focused on finding furever homes for cats who would have otherwise been euthanized. The café works on socializing cats with their resident feline behaviorist, making the cats chances of being adopted even better.   

Admission is considered a donation to Cat Cafe Lounge, with 100% of the funds given back to the cause.  A visit to the catio and the cafe’s indoor cat lounge costs $35.00 for a one hour visit and 100% of those monies are used for the café and cat adoptions.  You can learn more about this magical place at their official website.

‘Star Trek Cats’ goes where no feline has gone before

The book, Star Trek Cats takes the original Star Trek characters and transforms them into fabulous felines. Jenny Parks, who specializes in drawing cats as pop culture characters, illustrates Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the rest of the crew into some of the tv shows most famous scenes. And frankly, I think the feline space explorers are far superior to the human ones!  

The book is not filled with stories but with beautifully illustrated pages from the show.

Star Trek Cats is available in hardcover with a retail price of $14.95 but is available on Amazon for $8.40. The digital format costs $7.98.

Cat returned after ‘catnapper’ swipes feline from Aurora front porch

You humans talk a lot about porch pirates when it comes to people thieving things from your porches (things like your latest Amazon deliveries). Well, ,evidently there are porch pirates who steal cats too, at least in Aurora, Colorado.

Vickie Madrid says she realized something was wrong when her cat named Buttercup didn’t show up for dinner. (Trust me, if any of us didn’t show up for dinner it would be cause for alarm for our Human too!)

Buttercup had shown up at the Madrid house years ago and he became part of the family. Madrid decided to review her Ring doorbell videos to see if she could see him. The video revealed that a man walked onto her porch, bent down and grabbed the cat from underneath a bench, turning and running down the street with the cat. Buttercup’s human was sick to her stomach at what she saw. The same catnapper was also caught on neighborhood camera footage stealing milk from a cooler and packages from another porch. The robber drove a teal or green SUV, something like a Chevy Equinox.

Madrid said that Buttercup found her and her family once and she hoped he’d find them again.

Madrid says she has no idea why someone would want to flee with her feline, but now he’s gone. All she can do is hope and pray that her beloved Buttercup will somehow return.

“He found us once and I just pray he can find us again. That’s what I hope,” she said.

If you read the information on the image above,you know that that after Keegan Harsha, a reporter from local TV channel KDVR shared the story, Buttercup was mysteriously returned home. I love happy endings!

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 6/2

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siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Happy Sunny Wednesday Furiends!
At least it’s sunny in our neck of the woods. The Human hasn’t done much interesting and we felines have just been relaxing and sunning on the upstairs deck any time we are allowed out (supervised, of course).

Oh how we love the upstairs deck!

The Human also did a little work in the front yard and the front porch. Can you see the cats hanging on our front door?

And now Oliver is trying to hog the iPad to watch his favorite channel of Cat TV!

That’s just about it for anything newsworthy at our house, things have been pretty quiet but sometimes, quiet is good!

‘Catsy’: Artist wins over Wokingham with kitty creations

If any of my readers are aficionados of the street artist Banksy, I guarantee you’ll love the artist Catsy who has been stenciling cats all around a Berkshire market town. The art appeared about a year ago and now can be found all over the area.

The cats, created with a cardboard stencil, a spray can and some stick on eyes have appeared along the street where children walk to school and a fence outside a nursing home. When the nursing home fence blew down, the old cat was cut out of the old fence and nailed to the new one.


Why did Catsy decide cats were the best way to make his mark on the town he has lived in all his life? “Cats are a simple image artistically that stands out, it’s just something nice that is easily identifiable and inoffensive.” He said, “My mission was for people to see them and smile, and it’s working out way better than I was expecting.”

Old Idaho Penitentiary continues to celebrate Dennis the Cat’s birthday after 69 years

The Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise was the territorial prison and built in 1872. In 1952 one of the prison’s most well-known residents arrived – Dennis the Cat.

In the 1950s, the prison was in use and expanding, adding building number four and the maximum security building. All construction was done by the inmates.

In 1952, as the story goes, an inmate came into the prison through gate two, carrying a box with a cat inside. The inmate passed it off to another inmate to hide the cat from guards, feeding it scraps. That cat was soon named Dennis the Cat. No one has ever figured out who the prisoner was that brought the cat in.


For 16 years, Dennis the Cat was the official/unofficial pet of the prison.

“I mean they had been keeping him secret, they had been keeping him hidden, they’d been sneaking him snacks, they’d been sneaking him food,” Jacey Brian, the education specialist at the historical site, explained.

It wasn’t long until the warden found out about the cat, but allowed the prisoners to keep Dennis as long as there was no trouble over the cat.  

Dennis quickly won everyone over, prisoners and guards alike. “The guards would open gates for Dennis, letting him come and go as he pleased.

There were other cats before Dennis but Dennis had a special place in everyone’s heart because his role was more of a pet rather than a mouser. He lived quite well in the barbershop with his own bed on the counter.

Legend says that Dennis lived at the old state pen from May 30, 1952, to May 30, 1968. When he passed, he was given a full-service funeral in the prison’s cemetery.  Dennis the Cat has the only marked grave at the old pen. The prison newspaper reported that there wasn’t a dry eye in the yard that day. 

Sixty-nine years after he was born, the Old Idaho Penitentiary continues to celebrate Dennis’s birthday on May 30. This year there was even a Dennis the Cat Day, on May 30 with special presentations on the prison’s feline inmate every half hour, food trucks and a prison paws scavenger hunt.  Those attending were asked to “pay” with unopened pet food that were donated to the Idaho Humane Society and Simply Cats.

Kittens and champagne make the purr-fect pairing at Cat Palace in Pacific Beach

The Champagne Palace in Pacific Beach, California. This café rolls out the red carpet (literally) for it’s adoptees and features roses, string lights and paintings on the pink walls. There’s even a disco ball and a classical violinist to greet you at the door.

The place may look fancy but it’s mission is serious and that mission is to give felines furever homes. With a $20.00 donation, guests are invited into this regal space to spend an hour cuddliong and playing with the adoptable cats in residence (who are referred to as “princes” and “princesses” and to sip a glass of bubbly.

General manager and cat lover Tara Boornazian said she was inspired to start the animal rescue after visiting The Cat Lounge in La Jolla and The Cat Cafe in downtown. She wanted to bring the concept to Pacific Beach, swapping the coffee for something more bubbly.After months of planning during the pandemic, Cat Palace finally opened its doors in April. Since then, the nonprofit’s “princes and princesses” have been successful in finding furever homes, even from tourists who come and visit and fall in love with a purrrticular prince or princess.

If you can’t visit in person, you can check out adoptable cats online.

Fur-miliar faces: Cats take up residency in Sioux Falls greenhouses

Jazmine, the resident cat at Landscape Garden Centers, sits where she fits. Photo courtesy of Landscape Garden Centers.

I’ve reported on cats working in all kinds of places, bodegas, breweries, libraries and the list goes on. Now there’s a new job market for felines – working in garden centers. At least three plant nurseries in the Sioux Falls area — Landscape Garden Centers, Cliff Avenue Greenhouse & Garden Center and Oakridge Nursery & Landscaping in Brandon — have cats that hide among flower pots and trail gardeners through the aisles of annuals and seedlings.

The cats do have work to do as “as long-tailed security guards” who prevent, mice, bunnies and gophers from taking up residence in the warm-walled buildings. But they also add friendship and fun to the workers and visitors to the centers.

Jazmine, featured in the photo above clawed her way through the plastic closed-off lean-to at Landscape Garden Centers.

She kept herself hidden under the soft drink machine for a while but the brutal cold and lack of food caused her ears to be frostbitten and her stomach to growl. “Then one day in the winter, she was just standing by the door looking in, like ‘I really need some help,'” Jessica Meendering, a retail manager for the greenhouse said. The staff took Jazmine in, and the next day someone brought cat food. She spent the remaining winter months regaining her strength at an employee’s house across from the greenhouse, but she often visited the greenhouse as the spring rolled around.

Then one day, she decided to stay. Now, plant shoppers can often find her sprawled out near the houseplants, following customers through the saplings or taking a few bites out of the catmint before a midday nap. “She knows we saved her,” Meendering said. “She’s a survivor.”

Taking care of Jazmine has been a community effort since the beginning, Meendering said. Customers sometimes bring her food, employees take turns checking her food bowl, and there’s even a “Jazmine fund” at the front of the store for donations toward her veterinarian bills. Any donations left over at the end of the year? Jazmine donates to help other local rescue cats in need.

There are some other heartwarming stories about the garden center cats in Sioux Falls in the article.

Feline fine: Coventry woman wins baking competition with cat-inspired creation

Jay Urquhart-Pettifer landed first place in Cats Protection’s Pawsome Baking Challenge with a cake made to look just like balls of wool and little felines based on cats she has owned through the years.

The competition was judged by Great British Bake Off finalist Kim-Joy, who praised Jay’s cake, saying it would “bring a smile to anyone’s face”.

Jay said: “I’m so glad Kim-Joy liked my ball of wool showstopper and it’s given me extra confidence in my baking.

This feline says this is a purrrrfect tribute to the cats in Jay’s life and to help local kitties in her area. For information about this competition, click here.