Walk Through The Web Wednesday – 6/28

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Feline Opines

Happy Wednesday Furiends!
It’s a beautiful day in our neighborhood and we hope your neighborhood is beautiful too. After the several months of meowing about making the change from the place The Human called “the business” to moving all work to our home office we are finally settling into a routine. I thought it might interest you to take a tour to see where all the magic happens and all the work gets done. As you will note from the photos, we felines are an integral part of all the creative work that comes out of this space and here’s the photographic evidence of the stresses and heavy demands of our daily routines.

This is “creative central” and where you will find Oliver, Lily and myself hard at work.

Lily is hard at work “dreaming” up some new blog post ideas

Oliver is hard at work here and signaling that he does NOT want to be interrupted when he is thinking.

There are a number of feline work zones. This is my favorite work station

We do allow our Purrsonal Assistant some work space as well.

Sometimes a cat needs to stretch out and play with an ostrich feather affixed to the chair, just to clear his mind and let the ideas flow.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of our workplace and thank you all for being patient with us as we worked on getting our space (and ourselves) organized!

10 Surprising Benefits of having cats in your life

Human, allow me to remind you how lucky (and healthier) you are to have us living with you.

This feline takes exception to the heading that anyone would be surprised that living with cats would provide benefits. Still, we must acknowledge that the writer of the article is doing their best to break stereotypes. The article states (and I have reported in previous #WebWednesday postings) that science has proven that cats can lower stress levels, reduce anxiety and even help reduce the symptoms of depression. The Human can attest to this personally when she went through some very bad times a couple of years ago and she often says, “If it wasn’t for my cats I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed in the morning.”

And we felines can also positively affect your physical health as well. Research has reported that cat owners have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke as well as lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Now I am no medical feline but I do understand that humans (and cats) are prone to some things through heredity but the fact that we can positively affect our human’s health is a very good thing.

Scientists also say that living with a feline can boost human’s immune system. When your immune system is boosted it reduces risk of allergies and other immune-related issues. It’s been found that children, when introduced to cats at a young age, have their immune systems boosted.

When you humans have a cat to care for you have a sense of responsibility and purpose and this is especially important for older humans. And having a cat in your home can relieve loneliness and feelings of isolation.

The article claims that cats improve their human’s sleep quality but when we discussed this with The Human, her response was a resounding, “Oh heck no!” This may come from the fact that she has two 21 pound and one 8 pound pile of furry, purry, neediness in bed with her, on top of her, beside her and stretched out on her legs causing temporary paralysis.

The conclusion is this-having the love of a feline in your home has so many wonderful benefits so, if you don’t have a cat, go adopt one before June Adopt A Cat month is over. If you have a feline, consider bringing another cat into your home so you can enjoy the love and benefits of living with a fantastic feline.

Someone on TikTok Is Teaching People How to Speak Cat

This feline has now officially heard everything. Evidentily a TikTok user @alecanewman is teaching other humans how to communicate with their cats. Evidently many humans are interested in this as the videos have accumulated millions of views.

Included in his repertoire is a class that teaches humans how to say “come here” (Ma-AH) He explains this particular command training this way, “This one’s difficult because normally, when you call a dog, they come. When you call a cat, you leave a message.” MOL that’s funny!

Some people say it works and they post videos as proof. The Human hasn’t had a chance to try this on us so I will have to report the results later.

Thief caught stealing beloved store cat named MiMi at shop near Koreatown

OH NO HE DIDN’T!!! This is horrible! The store had a video camera that caught the purrpetrator taking off with MiMi. The incident happened just before 1 p.m. Saturday, June 24th at Harbin Deer Trading Co., an herbal medicine store on Western Avenue near 2nd Street in Los Angeles.

The owners, Andrew Xu and Kelly Kim, spoke with Eyewitness News and said their cat MiMi has lived in the store for about 10 years. MiMi is well known and loved by the store’s customers.

The owners said the thief was pretending to shop before snatching MiMi from a table.

They said they didn’t notice until a couple hours later when they filled MiMi’s bowl and he didn’t show up. They were busy helping customers at the time of the crime.

The suspect was seen carrying a backpack, wearing a striped purple shirt and a lavender tie with blue pants.

The store’s owners are asking anyone who may have seen MiMi to contact authorities. We are sending purrayers that MiMi will be found soon and returned to his humans.

What is the “cat distribution system” and why is it trending on TikTok?

Alberto as a kitten – “Hey Human , I pick you!”

Needless to say the phrase “cat distribution system” caught my attention. Evidently TikTok is flooded with videos showing the “cat distribution system” in action, but what exactly does this mean?

TikTok has coined a term called “the Universal Cat Distribution System.” It refers to the uncanny ability we felines have for finding ourselves furever homes. We show up during people’s walks, we’ll wander into a house or position ourselves by a highway or road. This is the “Universal Cat Distribution System” which describes the phenomenon of people ending up with cats purely through circumstances.

One user commented a simple explanation to TikTok saying, “Cats pick people… people don’t pick cats.”

One note of caution for my readers, if you are chosen by through the cat distribution system, please make sure the cat is not lost, see if they have a microchip and take the feline to the vet to be sure they are healthy before you bring them in your home, especially if you have other cats in the house.

Have you experienced the Universal Cat Distribution System? Meow about it in the comments and tell us your story.

Working Cat Spotlight –Wayne and Saul from the RE Store in Bellingham, Washington

When you shop in The RE Store or Bellingham Wind Works you may hear the soft tinkle of a cat bell, or two cat bells. The bells belong to Wayne and Saul, brothers who found furever homes in the neighboring stores in Bellingham’s Fountain District.

In 2017 a customer gifted The RE Store with two kittens. Customers were invited to participate in naming the kittens. A change jar was placed on the counter and people left their name suggestions in the jar. The winning names were Wayne and Saul.

In 2020 when The Restore was forced to close for three months, the Wind Works offered to house the cats. Now the cats sleep in their own beds at Wind Works and spend time wandering between the two stores, even visiting other stores in the neighborhood.

Wayne and Saul are popular with customers and employees alike, sometimes stopping into the stores just to see the cats. Aaron Smith, a 12-year employee of The Re Store said, “They’re some good boys.”

Good job Wayne and Saul!

Walk Through The Web Wednesday – 6/21

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Feline Opines

Hello Furiends,
We’ve been having a cool summer (temperature, not type). The Human is frankly thankful because she chose to live in our neck of the woods precisely because it’s not known for extreme temperatures, although there have been summers with days in the high 90s. For instance, Weather Kitty’s report for today is what The Human considers a purrfect summer day.

As far as other happenings this past week, things have been mostly routine although Oliver has been quite unsettled because of his D-I-E-T. He finds it outrageous that The Human chooses menu options that contain NOTHING he is interested in eating and has decided begging isn’t even worth the effort.

This is an outrage, sprouted grain bread, spinach and an egg!
It wasn’t even worth jumping up here.

In a futile attempt to turn his attention from food to something else, Oliver decided he would “help” The Human put together some table decorations.

Those woody things look nice and crunchy.

When the reduced rations get to him, Oliver chooses a nap to forget about the terrible state of his life.

Lily, the little feline who has never had a weight problem, often encourages Ollie to relax and take some time to smell the roses.

We hope things have been doing well in your neck of the woods and Oliver hopes you get all the snacks, kibble and treats you deserve.

Florida woman leaves inheritance, Tampa estate to 7 Persian cats: Reports

I think a mansion would suit me quite well.

Now this is how you take care of your felines! A Florida woman who died in November decided to leave her estate to her seven Persian cats, along with an inheritance for each one. Nancy Sauer of Tampa, Florida left a stipulation in her will that her seven cats are to remain in her estate with each receiving an inheritance.

This isn’t that unusual, I reported on the inheritance Karl Lagerfeld left to his cat Choupette. The will left by Sauer indicates that the estate not be sold until the last cat passes away. Despite this stipulation in the will, a a Hillsborough County probate judge recently decided that the cats should be placed in new homes.

A friend of the deceased said that she was worried that the cats would not do well if they were separated.

Sherry Silk, the executive director of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has stated that the cats should not be alone in a house as large as the one they lived in. The cats have now been at the Human Society for the last month and Silk said, “I am going to personally make sure that we can keep as many together as we can and that they go to the perfect house.”

San Antonio Cat Extravaganza

Oh meowza, every city should have an event like this! The event, last weekend, celebrated local feline charities and rescues, there was an International Cat Competition, lots of seminars to learn more about fantastic felines, enjoy the antics of the Rock Cat Rescue’s Acro-Cats and buy a present for your cats at the shopping village.

Feline Water Fascination

Some of you less informed humans may think that cats hate water. This is not the case for all of us! There are cats that like to swim, ride on paddle boards, take to the sea in a boat or, as in my case, stick your head under the faucet (my regular morning routine) and enjoy the wetness.

The perks of adopting a wallflower

Lily was a bit shy when The Human first met her at the shelter.

This is a reminder that just because a kitty doesn’t run up to you to greet you when you’re looking for a new feline furiend at the shelter doesn’t mean this kitty isn’t loveable. Our very own Lily was quite shy (she still is in some circumstances with people she doesn’t know) is known as “Bug” or “The Bug” because she is such a love bug and she loves to curl up against the Human and go to sleep.

It does take time and patience to win over a timid cat but it’s worth it. Amanda Kowalski, vice president of behavior programs at San Diego Humane Society says, “The first time they start to interact with you, like giving you a nose touch or rubbing against you, is so gratifying and worth the wait.”

Sometimes it’s the environment like shelters or foster homes that make a cat shy. When looking at cats in a shelter or rescue, it’s important to remember that “what you see is not necessarily what you’re gonna get,” says Nancy Puro, volunteer and behavior programs manager at Cat Adoption Team, the largest cat shelter in the Pacific Northwest. She explains that the behavior a cat is displaying at a shelter or rescue may not reflect what their personality will be like once they settle into a home. Again, this was the case with our Lily.

There are many types of shy cats. Some weren’t fully socialized when they were kittens, some act fearful because they’re overwhelmed by their surroundings. Any of you humans who have given a shelter kitty a furever home can attest to the fact that their personalities change quite a bit once they are comfortable and safe in their new home (and that often takes a while to achieve).

This doesn’t mean that a very shy cat will eventually turn into a social, stranger loving feline. Many shy cats, even after they’re out of their shell, will continue to be reserved and often will find a place to be alone to reenergize.

Please don’t disregard bringing a shy cat into your home. The article, linked above, has links to information to help you bring a shy kitty out of their shell. Oliver and I and the Human are glad The Human decided to bring shy Lily to our house.

It’s always good to have a snuggle bug in the house.

HHOLOVE Launched the World’s First Companion Robot for Cats. A robot cat sitter…hmmm

HHOLOVE, a rising digital pet brand under HHO, has launched the world’s first cat smart companion robot—O Sitter on Kickstarter, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, on June 16 at 9am EST .

The system has integrated functions of AI Smart Life Recording, Interactive Companion, Reliable and Visible Feeding, O Sitter is considered a groundbreaking differentiated product. The company says that the product is purrfect novice cat owners, frequent travel owners, and those who have to keep track of their cats when they are at work.

The company says the O Sitter uses AI dynamic computing to automatically record the daily activities of your cats that can then viewed on an app.

It also has a high-speed silent gimbal camera, combined with a laser and rich expression interaction design that will follow active cats. There is a 360° horizontal + 110° vertical panoramic view which gives the cat owner a clearer “digital” view with its 4x digital zoom. O Sitter can detect the cat’s movement within 3 meters (about 118 inches), so that you can quickly target where they are.

And if all this tracking wasn’t enough, there’s a built in laser that can be manipulated by the app, either by the human directly or it can be preset.

The build-in laser can be manipulated by cat owners via APP to accompany their cats for remote play. It is also available to select a preset laser motion track.

And what good would a cat sitting robot be if there wasn’t a voice option for the human? There is real time voice interaction as well, of course.

What else could you want? How about a customized feeding plan? Owners can add their cats’ information on the app and choose a feeding plan.

What happens if there’s a power failure? The system will switch to battery-powered mode, and after the network is disconnected it will enter offline mode immediately, and the device will dispense food at regular intervals as scheduled.

O Sitter was made available on Kickstarter on June 16 with discounts of up to 50% off.

As wonderful as this all sounds, The Human isn’t sure she wants one more intrusive device in our home. She can’t say anything with Alexa plugged in without seeing ads for the things she’s talked about. She gets so annoyed; she doesn’t leave Alexa plugged in. And don’t get her started on Facebook that even seems to know what she’s thinking about purchasing! My guess is, this will not be part of our household. What about yours?

Walk Through The Web Wednesday – 6/14

Posted on June 14, 2023 by Feline Opines

Happy Wednesday Furiends!
The main focus of The Tribe this week has been the draconian measures The Human has implemented due to Oliver and my wellness visit last week and the stern edict from the woman in the white coat at the stabby place that we MUST lose weight.

I will say that Oliver is taking this much worse than I am. On the whole I am a rather, “take life as it comes and don’t sweat the small suff” kind of feline. Oliver, on the other hand lives to eat and this food restriction is taking it’s toll on him.

Hello Furiends, This is me, suffering from starvation. I don’t know how much time I’ll have left.
Your Starving Furiend Oliver

In light of this drama in Oliver’s life and his journaling through the days of what he believes, will be his certain demise, we will be allowing Oliver some space on the blog to share his journal with us from time to time.

On a more positive note, Lily, who I might mention is receiving treats on the sly from The Human, wanted me to share her flag day celebration photo.

Well, that’s enough about us. I hope you enjoy this week’s news items!

Filter Claims To Show How Cats See the World—And the Results Are Intriguing

There is a new viral filter on video sharing site TikTok that’s helping humans see through the eyes of their cats. There are also some images showing how cat’s see in LiveScience.com created by Nickolay Lamm.

With over 35,000 videos on the platform, the filter was created by global pet sitting platform TrustedHousesitters and claims to show owners how we felines view the world.

Angela Laws, head of community at TrustedHousesitters, told Newsweek. “We created this tool to allow people to learn more about pet vision, as it’s very different from ours.”

You humans have trichromatic vision which means you can perceive a wide range of colors, but we felines have dichromatic vision with only two types of color receptors in our eyes, ( humans have three.)

Still, there is some hissing back and forth about exactly which colors cats can see. Some experts say we see only blue and gray tones, others believe we also see yellow like dogs.

In 2016, a paper published in the National Library of Medicine explained: “Despite extensive study, the basic nature of feline spectral sensitivity is still unresolved.” In other words, you humans still have no clue.

Experts do agree that cat’s color receptors are more sensitive to blue and green light, much like humans with red-green color blindness.

The cat vision filter has impressed pet owners like Nay on TikTok. She posted a video to the platform that now has 14.4 million views. In the video, she shines a laser pen and shows how the filter warps the light and says “I finally understand” She goes on to say she’d chase a laser light too if it looked the way a cat sees it.

What do you think my feline furiends, did the scientists get it right?

‘My cousin insists I change my cat’s name so she can use it for her baby daughter’

We’re all named after friends or relatives, get over it human!

Oh good grief, give me a break. After realizing that her cousin has used her “dream” baby name for their cat, a pregnant woman is insisting that the “selfish” pet owner changes the name.

The anonymous cat lover sought advice on Reddit and questioned whether they were being unreasonable for refusing to change the name.

They explained: “So I recently adopted a wonderful sweetie of a shelter cat named Millie. That’s the name that the shelter gave her, I thought it suited her and she responds to it, so I didn’t change it.”

The Reddit user went on: “The other week, my pregnant cousin ‘Carrie’ (who I’m moderately close to) posted a list of potential baby names on her social media and Millie was on the list.

“I commented to remind her of my cat’s name, and she DMed me to ask me to change Millie’s name because she and her fiancé really liked that name for their daughter.

“I refused because my cat had her name first, and Carrie called me selfish for valuing a ‘stupid cat’ over her daughter.

“I told her that my cat is not stupid and that I wouldn’t mind if her baby shared a name with my cat, but if it was an issue for her, she could choose a different name. She again called me selfish and said she had to go.

“I was feeling a bit conflicted, so I went to my sister (a mother herself so I hoped she’d offer some perspective) and she said that she understands where I was coming from, but that babies should come before pets.”

Seeking advice, they added: “She said that it would be really kind of me to change my cat’s name and that she knows how important a couple’s ‘dream name’ is. Now I’m feeling more confused than ever, so am I the a**hole?”

Since sharing the thread online, the Reddit user’s post has raked in over 2,500 comments to date – where people assured the pet owner that they weren’t being unreasonable.

I wouldn’t need thousands of people giving advice, I say to the pregnant lady, get over it! Oliver has the same name as one of The Human’s nephews as did our Angel Tucker. Lily is named after the little girl who used to live next door and I’m named after Alberto Contador, the cyclist. No one has complained to us!

Non-profit ‘Whiskers’ in Utah dedicated to giving high-risk cats a second chance

Siamese cat on fur throw — Our beloved Angel Jasmine.

I love stories about humans who go the extra mile for kitties with needs. Many cats in Utah’s shelters are considered to be “high-risk.” This could be seniors, medical cases, and special needs animals.

Whiskers is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving all cats a second chance; and helping our four-legged friends isn’t an easy job.

Jessica Vigos, runs the organization in her basement where she can house a dozen cats at any given time.

“This is Link, he has diabetes,” Vigos said. She opened another cage. “This is Sausage, he has kidney failure.”

Vigos has been working with various shelters and rescues for over a decade

“I’ve trapped, spayed, and nurtured over 3500 cats,” she said.

“Really my passion of why Whiskers was made was to help those cats that are pretty much the underdog and overlooked,” Vigos said.

Over the years Jessica has brought hundreds of cats into her home. It is very normal for a cat to be with Whiskers for six months. Some even stay for a year.

She and her team of almost 30 volunteers do whatever it takes to find these special cats a new home.

Volunteers like Kate Johnson gives her time to Whisker which means doing laundry or cleaning litter boxes and all agree that there is satisfaction in the work as they’ve helped Jessica’s workload a little easier.

The cost of medications, food, and litter can add up quick for these special needs kitties, running $4,000 to $6,000 a month and higher if there are emergencies. The Human knows this very well as she cared for our Angel Jasmine’s kidney disease for a number of years.

We give Jessica and Whiskers a two paws up for their wonderful work.

Want to help rescue cats? Buy these adorable charity cat keycaps

June is ‘Adopt a Shelter Cat Month’ and the company Drop has created computer key caps with kitties on them. You can buy them here.

The MT3 NoveltyCats keycaps come in a pack of four, fittingly cat-themed, based on the iconic black cat Jiji from Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service. There are only 550 sets in total and the proceeds from each purchase will be entirely donated to the ASPCA, guaranteeing that you can help fund rescue care and adoption for real-life shelter cats.

Now that’s an idea that makes me purr!

San Francisco Airport adds first cat to roster of therapy animals

I’ve covered stories of airport therapy cats and now, a once-stray cat rescued by a shelter and adopted by a loving family is helping humans at a California airport.

Duke Ellington Morris, a 14-year-old black-and-white cat, became the first feline to join the San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO) team of therapy animals known as the “Wag Brigade” at the end of May.

In 2010, Duke was rescued from the streets of San Francisco where he was found starving among other feral cats and brought to the San Francisco Animal Care and Control. There, a 5-year-old girl spotted the tuxedo cat and her family quickly took him home.

Duke Ellington Morris joined the California airport’s Wag Brigade as the first feline to join the San Francisco International Airport’s team of therapy animals.

It was Duke’s calm and warm demeanor that motivated his humans to get him certified as a therapy animal through the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ animal assisted therapy program.

Duke, who is named after the jazz great, has been working as an animal therapist for the past decade by visiting patients in hospitals all over the city to comfort them in trying times.

Now, he’ll also be helping airport visitors relieve travel-related stress as he joins SFO’s therapy animal crew which includes several dogs as well as a rabbit named Alex the Great and a pig named LiLou.

The non-human therapists walk around the airport’s terminals wearing “Pet Me” vests as a way to comfort anxious travelers. The program launched in 2013 and returned in 2021 after a 20-month hiatus due to the COVID pandemic. I don’t know about your humans but our human would love to pet a therapy cat at the airport (she’s a big scardey cat when it comes to flying).

Walk Through The Web Wednesday – 6/7

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Feline Opines

Happy Wednesday Furiends!
Alberto is taking a break so I am handling the feature this week. It’s been eventful. All three of us had our wellness exams (blood work and all the bells and whistles). The Human was put on notice regarding my weight and Alberto’s weight. Lily on the other hand could stand to gain a few ounces. I’m looking forward to seeing how The Human is going to handle that!

In an attempt to prove that my pulchritude does not affect my mobility I headed up to the top of the cat tree, which is usually Lily’s territory.

Whoa, look at me, I actually made it to the top.

Hey Human, get the full effect so people can apurreciate the fact that I got up here.

I think I’ll just hang out here under the desk and monitor the

In honor of Adopt a Cat Month, we’ve found some wonderful stories about adoption (most from The DoDo). Enjoy

Sister cats who gave birth at the same time take turns nursing and babysitting the kittens

Oh my whiskers, the Dodo finds the BEST cat stories. This is a video story about Xena and Ripley two extremely bonded sister cats who had kittens at the same time and shared the kitten caring duties equally. Spoiler alert – all the kittens were adopted and the two sister moms were adopted together. Happy endings make me purr!

Stray Cat paws at window until lady finally adopts him

Once again the DoDo presents us with a wonderful video to celebrate cat adoption month. Sometimes a feline has to be his own marketing representative if he wants a forever home and clearly, this guy is a marketing genius!

Cat uses neighbor’s ring doorbell to get attention

The Human loves our doorbell camera, says it makes her feel safer but when a neighbor cat trips it, she sometimes gets annoyed. She should thank her lucky stars that we don’t have a neighbor like George! George is the feline self-proclaimed hospitality chairman of his neighborhood and aside from his 5:00am concerts, he also roams the neighborhood, making friends and spreading love.

You can keep up with George on Instagram: https://thedo.do/carikoba. Once again, a lovely feline story from the Dodo

Nationwide Insurance’s “Wacky Pet Names” national contest

Voting is now open for Nationwide’s 2023 “Wacky Pet Names” contest and will end on Friday. It includes names of dogs, cats and exotic pets. Winners from each category will be announced next week.

Among the finalists is a Minnesota feline called Prison Mike, named after Michael Scott’s prison character in the hit comedy show “The Office.”

The cat’s owner, Marina, says her cat “was born as a crazy boy” and “one who maybe needs a cage” so the name is fitting.

Some other notable finalists include a cat in Oregon named Moira Rose McMurderpants Queen of Hearts and Green Bean Catserole and Sir Woodrow Agustdus Scuttlebooty the Third, Esquire both from South Carolina. Nationwide is an insurance company that also offers human and pet insurance.

Walk Through The Web Wednesday (on Thursday) – 6/1

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Feline Opines

Dear Furiends,
Evidently we are repeating what seems to have become a habit here at FelineOpines central and that is getting our Wednesday feature out on Thursdays. We have extended quite a bit of grace to our Purrsonal Assistant but this slacking has to stop. Here are the lame excuses she used for running behind.

“It took me an entire day to get both Alberto and Oliver to their wellness appointments at the vet.

Oh pulleeze! Taking to cats to the vet’s office isn’t that big a deal. Granted, Oliver and I each weigh 21.5 pounds so she has to take us in separately (which means two different trips to the vet) but still. Maybe she needs to work out a little more if she can’t handle 21.5 pounds on each side. And why is she making such a big deal about it? We’re the ones who suffer. And what about Lily you ask? Well Lily is no fool, after trip number two, Lily took off and went into deep hiding. The Human searched for over an hour and finally had to call the vet and reschedule. Note to self, be like Lily!

Come one more step near me and the claws are coming out!

“It was my birthday and I thought I deserved a little time off.”

Seriously? We felines are constantly working, posing for photos, dealing with delayed feeding times and, now that she’s working from home, nap interruptions. But in her defense, she does love us a lot and we have a pretty cushy set up here so, we granted her a little time off but reminded her, next week’s feature better be back on schedule! Check out this amazing cake she received.

So Human, we wish you a happy birthday and we’re always grateful for the gift of a furever home you gave us!

Well, it’s time to get to the news at hand. June is Adopt a Cat Month and we’ve included two news items that celebrate cat adoption. Oliver has a little PSA he’d like to share with you.

It’s always easy to look at the world with rose colored glasses when you have a furever home!

Stray Cat’s Transformation Stuns Internet After Finding Forever Home

You humans can make such a difference in a cat’s life and Tom-Tom’s story is proof. Once the “neighborhood feral cat” in Portsmouth, Virginia, until Katie Cats Sims noticed him outside her house in March 2022. Sims spent four months earning his trust and eventually lured him inside.

“He looked like he was in pain and his little damaged ears just tugged at my heartstrings,” Sims told Newsweek.

“The way Tom-Tom looked at me, I just knew that he was asking for my help.”

Now, a year later, Tom-Tom is settled into his new home with Sims and her three other felines—Envy, Bru, and Mila.

To celebrate the anniversary of his “gotcha day,” Sims shared Tom-Tom’s tale to TikTok, including a clip of the first time she spotted him. Looking sickly and disheveled, the feral feline melted hearts with the video receiving almost 230,000 views.

And how did she earn Tom-Tom’s trust to come to this happy ending. When she started approaching him, he would run and hide under her car. She talked to him from a distance. Time started to run out because she had to move and she wanted to take Tom-Tom with her so she had to speed up her plan.

She began to leave food out for him and every time Tom-Tom came to eat, she inched the food closer. She then contacted a local rescue center, who provided her with a humane trap. Tom-Tom refused to go inside, even when tempted by treats. So, she purchased some chicken nuggets from Chick-Fila-A and tried to lure Tom-Tom into her kitchen instead.

She left her back door open, put the nuggets on a plate beside in the middle of the floor and she hid behind the door. It took Tom-Tom ten minutes to come in and nibble on the chicken. Sims shut the back door,and Tom-Tom panicked, trying to climb out the kitchen window and then ran and hid in one of the bedroom closets. Sims began talking to him like she did outside to calm him down.

The next day he was taken to the vet, neutered and tested for any diseases. He received antibiotics for his infected ears but sadly diagnosed with liver disease, a heart murmur, high blood pressure, a broken tail, and diabetes. Sims was up to the challenge and over time, despite his hissing at her he finally came to trust her.

Just when Tom-Tom was acclimating to his new home he suffered a seizure and spent five days fighting for his life in an animal hospital.

“It was recommended that I consider his quality of life and not let him continue to suffer,” Sims said. “To all of our surprise, he made a full recovery. He’s quite the fighter.” He had the seizure in October and by Christmas was playing with toys, exploring the house, and bonding with her other cats.

“I’m incredibly proud of his progress,” Sims said. “Since January, he has not gone into the safe place at all and meows very loudly when I leave the room.”

Tom-Tom now living his best life with his fam ily. Photo courtesy of Newsweek

Two paws up for this wonderful lady who was willing to take on all the risks to give Tom-Tom his life back and a loving home!

He Adopted The ‘Feisty’ Cat No One Wanted, 9 Months Later They’re Living Happily Ever After

And if you loved Tom-Tom’s story, you’ll love Nibble’s story and the photos at Cheezburger with these two pals. This man was warned at the shelter that the cat was “feisty” (whatever that means) and no one wanted to adopt him. Well this man adopted him and they are now living their best lives. Be sure and visit the site for more photos and the comments from people who love this story.

The Mystery of the Great Plant Murder

The Human loves to read, write and watch murder mysteries. Needless to say this title caught her eye. One of this man’s cats “murdered” his plant — and you’ll never guess which one. Watch the video below to see if you can figure out who the perpetrator is.

A Twin Cities cat has quite the story to tell after surviving a road trip.

No matter what kind of a loving forever home a cat has, sometimes they get a bit curious and that takes them far from that home. This happened to a cat named Noah who was found n a semi-truck traveling from Brooklyn Park at an Amazon facility in Eagan.

When Noah was discovered by the station manager, it was clear he wasn’t a stray as he was purring and seemed very happy to be found.

The good folks at the warehouse were able to use Noah’s microchip to find his owner in Columbia Heights. Noah was reunited with his owner; who had no idea how he got into the truck.

So my furiends, please remember these two things, make sure your humans have you microchipped and for heaven’s sake stay out of trucks!

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Monthly Archives: June 2023