Hello Friends Furry and Otherwise,
Oliver here. I was checking out today’s blog posts from our friends at 15andmeowing and saw there was a “Thankful Thursday” blog hop going on at Brian’s Home I just had to hop on over there and tell you what I’m thankful for….our fireplace. Here’s a little video to show you how much I love it.
Your Friend,
Hello Friends, Furry and Otherwise,
It’s that time of the week for me to meander through the web and bring you some of my favorite feline news. This week we have reformed cat burglars, Operation Git-Meow, a feline themed wedding, a subway riding cat and tiny house built for feral cats.
Your Friend,
The female human tells me that the Guantanamo Navy Base in Cuba is very controversial but this is one thing happening there that everyone can agree on. The base, best known as a wartime prison, has lots and lots and lots of felines. It is estimated that there about 500 feral kitties there. Troops, civilians and visitors are now working together with the SPCA International and, with the Navy’s permission are spaying and neutering the cats there and working to find forever homes for them. It’s called Operation Git-Meow and in this feline’s humble estimation, a very worthy cause!
Building Tiny Houses in Riga, Latvia for Feral Cats – Boredpanda.com
I
reported about the fantastic feral feline film done in Riga and now I’m happy to report that this city is looking out for their feral film stars in an ingenious way. Weather gets cold in that part of the world and the good people of Riga went to work to help their kitties keep warm in the cold. The female human watches some TV program that talks about tiny houses for humans and this is the same thing, feline style. All houses are built by local carpenters from donations made via the local non-profit Cat Care Community. What a wonderful idea and what wonderful humans for doing this. I think these digs look pretty snazzy, don’t you?
A Russian store employee captured the criminal behavior of this cat when she broke into Russia’s Vladivostok International Airport after hours and made a beeline for a popular seafood store, gobbling up $1000.00 worth of seafood. The video went viral and concerned cat folks from around the world responded, wanting to pay for her thievery, for a vet check up (after eating all that salty seafood) and there were offers of adoption as well. Even one of Russia’s most famous cat trainers offered to adopt her and make her a star in his show. After purrrusing her options, the feline decided to join the The Admirals, the professional Ice Hockey team in Vladivostok as their mascot.
When a German passenger noticed an orange Tabby sleeping peacefully on a seat in the subway car in Baden Wurtenberg, Germany he and other passengers were surprised to see the relaxed feline, snoozing away. . No one knew where he came from and they politely allowed him to sleep all the way to the subway’s destination in Kirchheim. The passenger took a photo of the sleeping commuter and posted on social media noting that this little guy’s owners might be looking for him. The cat was taken to an animal shelter and was reunited with his humans there. The new version of the feline hobo!
What’s better than a wedding? The wedding of two veterinarians who invite two kittens to the event. This couple invited two cute little tuxedo kittens to the wedding and the reception and as you can see on the website, included them in all the important wedding photos. They even included a number of feline touches in the wedding decor. The couple both volunteer at their local shelter, The Divine Feline and brought the little kittens to the wedding to promote awareness for shelter adoptions. Oh, and before you get your whiskers in a twist, the bride is wearing faux fur!
Hello Folks,
It’s Wednesday and time for me to share some of my favorite finds on the web.
Enjoy!
My coverage of working cats continues and as I’ve mentioned the British purrlitical cats, I thought my readers might enjoy this guide (warning, there is one dog and, of all things, a tarantula). This is a handy reference sheet for the “Who’s Who” of the Westminster animals.
The job market for felines is opening up. Today I found out about Ron, an orange Tabby who provides nursing services to cats and dog patients at the Northfield Veterinary Hospital in Denver. Ron assists the veterinary staff with felines and canines who are having non-sterile dental work and his nursing talents are becoming so well known that his services are being requested on a regular basis. Ron has recently retired and is now enjoying cuddling with the humans in his forever home.
I’m so excited to be doing my first movie review. It’s about a new movie made in Japan that will leave you “feline” fine after you watch it. The story is about a novelist who moves to the country when a fortune teller advises him to do so. . While living in an old house, the writer meets the neighborhood cat who befriends him and brings joy into his life. This friendship causes him to go on a quest to find out what makes cats happy and this sets him on the path of becoming a “cat collector”
The author and his happy cat tribe is a delightful depiction of the joy of a multi cat household (and as a happy member of The Tribe of Five I can tell you that a multi cat family is the best cat family there is!). Hmm,maybe the female human needs to find me an agent!
I made the humans watch the Kitten Bowl during the Super Bowl and now I’m ready to tune in to some Meow Madness. Make sure your humans tune in to the Hallmark Channel on April 3 ( which is the same day as the NCAA men’s basketball championship game).
Three Other Plants That Affect Felines Like Catnip – Daily Mail.com
The female human ordered some very fine catnip for us from Meowijuana (you can watch the video here). Imagine my surprise when I found out there are three other plants that we will enjoy as well, Silver Vine, Tatarian honeysuckle and Valerian Root. Boy oh boy, I can’t wait to try these. If they’re anything like the great catnip we just got, sign me up!
Happy Wednesday!
It’s time for me to take you to some of my favorite spots on the web. I found some great stories so please enjoy.
Your Friend,
A cat walked into a nursing home……and the rest is history. This beautiful feline, now known as Oreo, wandered into St. Augustine Health Ministries in Cleveland, Ohio one day and she worked her way into an important job.
This little black and white bundle of joy began her career hanging around the outside of the facility where she lived as a stray. Staff began feeding her and taking care of her and her next “promotion” came when she was invited inside. She now works there full time and brings happiness to staff and the residents. There’s no limit to what a career-minded cat can do!
The D.C. based, Humane Rescue Alliance is putting felines to work in local businesses. They provide businesses with resident felines, “hired” to patrol the property and keep rodents away. In return, feral cats get homes — and they earn their keep.
The shelter provides spayed/neutered, microchipped vaccinated felines to the business. One ear is clipped to indicate that the cats are “employed”. The business signs an agreement to feed, shelter and care for their new hire for it’s lifetime. It’s a win-win situation. So far, two bars, an apartment complex, a real estate office, a brewery, two homes, a hardware store and a church have expressed interest. More and more cities are getting cats jobs in business and I say an enthusiastic “meow” to that!
I’ve written about the feline employees in the British government before and Larry in purrticular. Larry is one of several Whitehall pets, which include dogs. Unfortunately, Larry has been caught in the act of non-mousing. Rumor has it that rather than catching rodents, Larry is taking cat naps and has recently been caught in the act by a photographer, leading some in government to speculate that Larry may lack the killer instinct important for politics. A photographer recently reported that Larry came face to face with a tiny mouse, which he allowed to escape after he played with it a while.
Note to Larry…when you have a cushy government job, don’t let them catch you napping!
I love stories about adventure cats as much as I do stories about cats with jobs. These two felines, Fish and Chips were adopted at different times, and are now the best of adventure-seeking friends. The female human wanted to adopt a kitten but the male human (thinking he was really a dog person) wasn’t so sure. Then he discovered one of my favorite websites, Adventure Cats and he was convinced. First Fish came home with them. After deciding that having felines in the family was a great idea, they then adopted Chips. The adventures of these two and their humans are captured in stunning photography you can view at the Adventure Cats website. Reading about the life of these brave kitties makes me think I need to wander a bit further than our front garden!
Speaking of adventure, one photographer , Andrew Marttila’s photography series captures the feline residents of Cat Island in a beautiful pictorial album at Creative Boom.
The female human is a great fan of the cartoons of Tom Fonder, the creator of The Adventures of Business Cat. She likes him so much that she uses a “Boss Cat” as a branding tool for her Coworking Facility. Tom Fonder has pondered important questions such as “What would it look like if a cat was the CEO of a major corporation?” He provides the answer in his wonderful cartoons and describes his Business Cat as a hard-hitting executive, not afraid to milk the corporation cash cow for his own purrrrposes. I hope you enjoy the cartoons as much as our female human does, although as a real-life Boss Cat (the female human is only a purrrrsonal assistant and typist) I do think Mr. Fonder is a bit harsh about feline management skills.
Hello Friends,
Alberto here with my Wednesday purrrrusal of all things feline on the world wide web. Without fur-ther ado, let’s get started.
We felines are an athletic lot and Daryl from Northeast Ohio proves my point! He’s quite adept at skateboarding and about as fearless a feline as you’d ever hope to meet.
Well folks, it’s the end of an era and cats prove that they are taking over the world. The famous Westminster Dog show actually featured felines this year? If you’re wondering why, allow me to enlighten you. Now before any of you canine fans get your tails in a twist, yes, for the first time in the events 140 year history felines were in attendance but they did not compete, they were part of a “meet the breeds” event. Still, not too shabby for us felines and who knows, today the Westminster Dog Show, tomorrow the Iditarod (snuggled safely inside the sleigh, of course.)
Those of you who follow my Wednesday posts know how much I love stories about working cats. This little guy. Martin, (officially Officer Martin D. Costanza) the handsome Tabby was found by some NYPD officers when he was a kitten. The officers convinced the powers that be that Officer Costanza would be a morale booster and that he is. Every morning, Officer Martin makes an appearance at roll call to “inspect everyone” and spread a little joy in the station house.
While we’re on the subject as felines as job morale boosters, check out this Japanese office that “employs” nine felines. In addition to the furry feline employees, this office celebrates every day as “bring your pet to work day”. And if you aren’t impressed enough with this feline friendly employer, get a load of this…if you don’t have your own feline, the company offers a 5,000 yen monthly bonus ($42.00), called a “cat bonus” for anyone who is willing to adopt a cat of their own! I think a few U.S. companies ought to adopt this excellent practice!
Just when you think you’ve read about all the pawlitical cats in the UK, there’s a new job announcement. These two felines, hired as mousers, have the run of Whitehall and they seem to be enjoying their job.
Evie and Ossie are the first to come from the Celia Hammond Animal Trust – Larry, Gladstone and Palmerston (all purrlitical cat’s I’ve featured in the past) came from the better-known Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
Evie is Ossie’s mother – a Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the cats would be looked after with donations from staff and were “settling in really well”. Concatulations to my moggie friends across the pond for their prestigious new careers.
Hello Friends,
It’s that time of the week when I purrruse the web and bring you my favorite feline facts and news. Enjoy!
Your Friend,
The course of true love can be a wild ride as two humans recently discovered. They meet through an online dating service and soon discovered that their felines were long-lost brothers. Come to find out, the humans had adopted these brothers from the same shelter four days apart. “”After realizing that we had long-lost cat brothers, we were amazed and felt like it was serendipity!” says Cavin. “It was love at first sight when we met and the cats just solidified that we truly belong together!”
The humans have friends who recently moved to Iceland. I kept thinking, “Iceland, what in the world is in Iceland?” Well, come to find out, those Iceland folks are pretty clever and have created a new reality show, which is, as the review says, is just about everything you could want in a reality show. The advertisement says, “Four kittens. One dollhouse. The drama between nine-week-old kittens Guðni, Stub, Bríet, and Ronja is palpable. Who will nab the top bunk bed? Is Guðni teasing his sisters again? How will the family deal when Stub has to have part of his tail amputated? (He’s fine.)” Humans, hand over the clicker, the cats now have their own favorite show!
A clever human figured out how to make felines even more adoptable by making some pretty funny adoption cards. The cards feature a photo of the cat, his/her name and provides a list of their likes — “sleeping in a sunbeam” — and dislikes — “the warlock’s curse that transformed her into a cat.” All of the cards are funny and clever and here’s hoping it will help more of my feline friends find furever homes.
You know how much I love working cat stories so you can imagine how excited I was to find this article that talks about how great felines are for search and rescue. “Experts say cats may hold even more potential than dogs when it comes to sniffing out missing persons, bombs drugs and diseases.” I have two feline friends, Dezi and Raena who are service cats. Never heard of service cats? Read about them here.
There is also a cat named Henry who helps to find lost kitties. We felines have lots of jobs and I think, humans are only beginning to learn what we are capable of.
Hello World,
Oliver here urging all my feline and human friends to celebrate World Cat Day today. I asked my purrrsonal assistant to look up the origins of this fantastic feline holiday as I wanted to recognize the brilliant folks who started this tradition.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare introduced this holiday in 2002 and it was created to raise public awareness about the needs of cats (and believe me, we cats have many needs!)
But not all cats are as lucky as The Tribe of Five. We were all rescued and we know what it’s like not to have humans to care for you. I would live to see everyone celebrate World Cat Day by rescuing a feline who needs a home!
So paws up to the humans who’ve brought us into their homes and I say ….
Danke, Merci, Благодаря, Tak, Kiitos, Þakka þér fyrir, köszönöm, grazie, ..and all those other words that mean thanks and of course, the most important word of all……Meow!
Your Friend,
Hello All You Cats and Kittens (and humans too),
Alberto here with my weekly purrrusal of the web. I’ve got some working cats, a sporting cat, luxury for cats and a “must see” documentary for feline fans. Enjoy!
Members of the mobile SWAT team in Roxbury have constructed some fancy digs for their calico “unofficial” mascot SWAT.
This lucky feline received a one-story apartment with a spacious interior, a nice deck for outdoor dining (and perhaps entertaining) custom-made outdoor living facility . Now that’s a job with some good benefits, food and fancy lodging!
George, the tabby has decided that the retail life is for him. He’s created quite a sensation in the Wilko store (a budget store) in Bristol, England.
George has created quite a sensation and has garnered a fan club as well. Some fans created a Facebook page for him. When asked about his job description, the response was that he takes strolls in the aisles (probably greeting customers), catnapping on mats and relaxing on cushion displays. Sounds like a good job to me!
A concentrated effort was made to find out if George has a human, and he does. His human remarked that “he has a loving home with two other cats but I can’t keep him in and he keeps returning to the shops to say hello.”
Well, I guess if you’re a career minded kitty, you’ve just got to do what you need to do.
IndieWire refers to this feline film as “technically a sophisticated, artful documentary from Turkish film maker Ceyda Tourun.”. That’s a bunch of human language to say that this movie tells the story of Turkish felines and the humans who love them. Although stray cats are sort of a cultural thing in Turkey, their cats are loved and cared for by the people of Instanbul. The film opened in New York on Feb. 0 and will be in Los Angeles on Friday. You can watch a ” target=”_blank”>preview here.
Now I don’t understand all this “film speak” but I do know that any movie about felines is a good movie! Oh, and guess what “kedi” means in Turkish…cat, of course!
We felines, by nature, are athletic and supple. Why even Tucker, our 16-pound Alpha can leap onto a high stool and onto the kitchen counter in an elegant and acrobatic movement. But Jesper, the Norwegian athlete takes athleticism to an entirely new level. He even has his own Facebook page. And if you don’t believe that Jesper is the ultimate feline athlete, check out the video of him swimming.
His human says that Jesper likes hiking in the mountains and forests but he really loves fishing trips. She said some of her best memories are “When we are on fishing trips in the evening. It’s dark and we make food on the campfire, and he is sitting with us. He’s our best buddy in fur. It’s a special time for us.”
Well, Jesper, I commend you but I think I will contain my outdoor adventures to my regular strolls through our garden wearing my stylish harness and leash.
Last week I told you about a fancy feline hotel in Indonesia and this week I’ve discovered an entire chain of feline luxury hotels in England.
So here’s what you proper British Moggies can expect when you check in:
After reading this and looking at the a-cat-modations on the website, I have only one question, “Human, when are you sending me to a Longcroft hotel?”<style type=”text/css”> .wpb_animate_when_almost_visible { opacity: 1; }</style>
Hello Friends,
Alberto here. It’s time for me to share my favorite feline tidbits-enjoy!
Surely you all know by now that cats rule the internet. We pop up in some of the most unusual places and, in this case felines are featured in a season recat of the Sci Fi Series, The Verge. Disclaimer, if you start watching season 2, you will not see Julie Meow or some of the other characters depicted in this re-cat.
Ok, I admit it, I am a HUGE fan of Summer the Somali cat (also known as Sparkle Cat). I’m not usually a fan boy but I mean, look at her, she’s GORGEOUS! The female human even got to meet her at BlogPaws last May. I am in the process of launching a campaign for the female human to take me to BlogPaws this May but she says it’s much to far from our far north home. Anyway, as much as I hate when the humans dress me up, Summer is one of those fantastic felines who like dress up and who look purrrrrfectly beautiful. Meows and waves to Summer (and this fan boy would love a purrrsonalized photo from his favorite star)
I have some good feline buddies on the World Wide Web. Two that I correspond with frequently are Dezi and Raena from Deziz World. Now we’ve discussed many things but one thing my friends never told me was that they are service cats. There are many cats with jobs but Dezi and Raena work 24/7. My friends are very talented and they feature great information about service cats, how to find them, train them, etc. Stroll on over there and when you do, tell them “Hi” from their buddy Alberto!
Career Cats Hold Jobs – The Virginia Gazette
If you are a regular reader of my weekly mewsings, you know I love featuring articles about cats with jobs. It’s not just that I want the world to know how smart and capable we are, I love the humans who have figured out that cats who are not as fortunate as The Tribe of Five and others can still find safety, a home, regular meals and important work. There are some wonderful humans at the Heritage Humane Society who founded the Career Cat Program. You can read about Spike who was hired at Jamestown Feed and Seed and about this great feline employment program. I sure wish the female human would look into starting a feline employment agency where we live!
Hello Friends, Furry and Otherwise,
It’s that time again where I wander along the Internet Highway and choose the feline themed items that have captured my fancy. With one notable and heartwarming exception, this week is an homage to working felines. As a working feline myself, I am always fascinated by other cats who have jobs.
So, sit back and enjoy this weeks picks.
Your Friend,
I’m including this one for all you hopeless romantics. This guy just hit it out of the park and I had a little chat with the male human and told him he could have really upped his game with the female human had he proposed to her this way! And for those of you who are concerned, yes, the lady did go home with a ring…..and a kitten!
Cat the policeman.
As I mentioned, I am always interested in career cats and this is the first police cat I’ve ever heard of. This is a “rags to riches” story that will make the most grumpy feline smile.
Seems Rusik was a stray who was adopted by the customs guards at a checkpoint near the Caspian Sea. One of the most expensive and sought after items in Russia is caviar and, as it turns out, Rusik proved to be quite adept at smelling it-on smugglers. His talents far outshone the police canines and he became top cat at customs.
Sadly, his great talent led to his demise but while he was with us, he was a cat of extraordinary ability. Покойся с миром (rest in peace) my Russian friend.
Those of you who follow my Wednesday web wanderings know I’ve written about a brewery cat before and it seems as though these brewery jobs are becoming a “thing”. Hoodie works the night shift and lest you think she restricts her job description to mouser only, she is quite talented. She often photobombs the brewery Instagram account and the brewery’s Facebook page. Hoodie has a pretty purrrrfect life, chasing mice, napping on the desk or comfy sofa in the office and sometimes sneaking into the tasting room where snacks can be found. Cheers Hoodie!
Well, there are jobs and then there are JOBS, like important government jobs and this former stray has quite the cushy career. This stately feline has a name that matches his impurrrtant duties, Palmerston. The name comes from Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston, a foreign secretary who also served as Prime Minister almost 200 years ago.
When I told my brother, Oliver about Palmerston, Oliver was quite interested. After his recent failed cat-i-dacy for Purresident, he felt that perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope for some sort of purrlitical career. You can wander over to FelineOpines.com and read about Oliver’s campaign and the Kitty Cat Party.
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