Hello Furiends!
It’s been a rather uneventful week in our neck of the woods. It is getting warmer and it only snowed once so The Human’s level of crankiness is very low (thank goodess) As a matter of fact, she’s been quite happy and when she got home the other day she got quite teary eyed when she saw the scene depicted in the photographs below. As my regular readers know, Lily has mourned the loss of her CHONKY protector Tucker. Oliver and I have always been close and felt no need to bring another feline into our circle.

Well, Lily has slowly weaseled herself into our circle and there are now less whacky paws and more snuggles and purrs. As long as The Human doesn’t make a big deal out of it, Oliver and I will allow it to happen. I mean, we are her big brothers after all.

So that’s the latest from our neck of the woods. What’s new in yours? Meow about it in the comments.

Stray Cats Saved a Restaurant During the Pandemic

There has been so much bad news for business during the pandemic (The Human was forced to close her business and we really feared that the days of our special wet food and cat treats were over!) But the news wasn’t all bad and in this story, kitties save the day!

Naoki Teraoka’s is miniature-railway-themed restaurant that was doing well until the pandemic struck. Things got so bad the restauranteur was actually thinking of closing his doors—until an unlikely hero in the form of a stray kitten turned things around.

Despite the dire financial circumstances at Teraoka, the owner didn’t have the heart to turn away the sickly kitten he’d noticed hanging around the restaurant. He and his family decided to adopt the baby cat they named Simba.

Soon after they’d taken Simba in, another cat appeared at their window that turned out to be Simba’s mom. With a lack of customers and surplus food that would go bad if not eaten, Teraoka started feeding the kitten and mom. Then, during a particularly rainy spell, Momma Cat showed up with three kittens in tow. Teraoka decided to adopt them in as well.

The family thought they were saving the cats, little did they know the felines would save them.

The cats loved to hang out in the restaurant’s perfectly scaled model train dioramas. The sight of those cats looking huge in comparison to the trains resembled those famous classic Japanese horror films, monsters roaming the countryside, destroying everything they come across.

Teraoka began taking photos of the cats playing in their tiny locomotive world and posting the results to Instagram. The photos were a hit and that inspired Teraoka with an idea to turn the restaurant into a cat sanctuary where people could interact with the cats while they dines. Business boomed and soon a second floor cat shelter and kitty hotel were added.  

Teraoka tries to populate his establishment with felines that are most at risk. To date, he’s traveled as far as 200 miles to make a rescue, has been responsible for finding homes for more than 60 strays, and has taken dozens more off the streets. Now that is a delightful “tail” of humans taking lemons and making lemonade with the help of felines. You can see more photos on their Instagram page.

Cats become the art critics at new Seattle exhibit

Now your cat can enjoy art with you as you both explore the 12 creative cat towers in the exhibit at this museum. You’ll see  Andrea Chen’s Bodega-inspired structure, featuring plush soda cans and foam shelves; the ultra-modern Casual Surveying Co.’s walnut bookcase-cum-cat hammock; and the extravagant homage to indie rock queen Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, with disco ball and pink yarn .For cats with an appreciation of art history, there’s the surrealist (a colorful, nine-level Dante’s Disco Inferno assemblage by Design Nerds and the conceptual (a 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired MEOWolith column made from stacked, laser-cut cardboard by local architecture-design studio SHED).

All this work is part of a new exhibit at the Museum of Museums, titled ‘CAT TOWER!’ Visitors are allowed to bring their own cats to play on the interactive exhibits.

Believe it or not, one of the artists that built a cat tower for the exhibition confessed they “don’t even like cats,” Pardon me but that should be an immediate disqualification!

There are so many creative cat trees like “The Most Important Zoom Call of Your Life,” a clever art piece by local artist and filmmaker Clyde Petersen, consisting of a laptop on a tall table next to a glass of water and a half-finished puzzle.

Now, you too can share art with your feline. Just strap your cat into their kitty stroller and wheel them to the Museum of Museums in Seattle.

Roger Williams Park Zoo asks for cardboard boxes for big cats

The “if it fits I sits”  idea works on cats of all sizes and heritage and this is proven as Roger Williams Park Zoo has requested cardboard boxes for their big cats.  This again proves that we felines have as much in common with our wild cousins as we do with our house kitty cousins.  

Kids and kittens: Middle school students learn veterinary science by caring for cats

This is brilliant! Students in teacher Lu Boren’s veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School have been tasked with a great responsibility: Keeping four kittens safe and healthy as they grow enough to become eligible for adoption.

People who are willing to foster are hard to find and this program takes care of that problem and helps the little humans learn about animal welfare and care.  “

There’s much more than feeding, the students help their science teacher give the kittens vaccinations and dewormers that will help protect them from potentially life-threatening diseases. The class also learns about feline behavior.

When the kittens are ready, they are adopted out and some of them end up as family members in the student’s homes.

Paws up to the humans who came up with this fantastic idea!

CAT HAS VERY OWN CUSTOM FISH TANK WITH INSIDE VIEWING BOX

Jasper is one lucky feline. His human, Melissa ordered a special fish tank just for him from Aquatics & Exotics in Cincinnati, Ohio. The unique fish tank has an open space below the tank. It’s big enough to hold a cat bed so Jasper can snooze among the fishes. When he wants to watch fish, no problem because the aquarium has a 360-degree viewing square. It lets Jasper stick his head up “inside” the tank so he can admire the fish without endangering him or the fish.

The whole thing is even cooler than it sounds. And you can see why thanks to Jasper’s very own TikTok and Instagram pages which feature videos of him admiring the many fish he shares a home with.And if you’re worried about Jasper stressing  out the fish, no problem. They hardly notice him. Meowza, The Human needs to step up her game and get us one of those fish tanks!