Hello Furiends,
We just had a pawsome time over at Deziz World and Dezi and Raena had some very nice things to say about our book. Here’s a look at what we were up to. You should hop on over and join in the fun.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Hello My Furiends,
Meong, לילל, miyavlamak, mjau, Μιάου. Why am I meowing at you in Indonesian, Hebrew, Azerbaijani, Swedish and Greek? Well, because it’s International Cat Day today, of course! In honor of this impurrtant holiday I’ll be featuring stories from around the world that celebrate our feline holiday.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
If we’re going to highlight International cat related news items, we must highlight posh feline accommodations across the pond. If any of my feline furiends are planning to travel to the UK, posh digs are a must. Make sure your humans book you into one of the Longcroft Cat Hotels. Rooms are temperature controlled and sound proofed and, if you travel with a kitty buddy, there are double rooms. Order off the a la cat menu which offers plates of slow cooked chicken, salmon and king prawns on bone china, and be sure to book a staff member, trained by vets, to give you a “relaxing paw massages”. I say the humans in the US need to think about opening hotels like this!
If you’re traveling to Japan, you don’t want to miss the Lucky Cat Temple in Tokyo. The Gotokuji temple has long attracted spiritual visitors with its thousands of figurines of beckoning white cats, thought to bring good luck. Lately, another group of visitors have been visiting, : Instagrammers.
One visitor said, “I actually Googled ‘Instagram spots Tokyo’. This was named one of the most ‘Instagrammable spots.'” Don’t forget to put this on your itinerary if your travels take you to Tokyo and make sure your human snaps a shot of you sitting next to one of the statues with one paw up.
We felines were famous long before the internet was invented and were a part of the ancient human world. A DNA study went back thousands of years and found evidence of two major dispersals from the Middle East, in which people evidently took cats with them. Genetic signatures the felines had on those journeys are still seen in most modern-day breeds. Researchers analyzed DNA from 209 ancient cats as old as 9,000 years from Europe, Africa and Asia, including some ancient Egyptian cat mummies.
With our ancient and proud heritage, I think you humans should show us a little more respect!
For my final world-wide cat article, we’re hopping over to Mumbai, India. Many feline fashionistas think Karl Lagerfeld, who made his kitty Choupette into a style icon is the cat’s meow of feline fashion but there are other designers that can qualify. We cats have inspired kitten heels, catwalks and much more. Designer Aniket Satam, from Mumbai says, “Cat fashion is about unabashedly celebrating the love for this feline divinity. Embrace the diva-like quality that comes with the feline species. They have always been these mystical creatures who are so intriguing. Felines have this star-like quality that appeals to me the most,” And to that I say an enthusiastic “Meow!”
Hello Furiends!
Oliver here. I’ve decided to do this week’s fill ins. If you don’t know about the Friendly Fill Ins, it’s a blog hop hosted by our furiends at 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs. You hop on over to either of their sites and join in or, you are welcome to opine about your own fill ins on this blog post.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Why won’t the Humans take me to CatCon? I want to see Lil’ Bub,Pudge and my favorite artist, Moshow the Cat Rapper.
“Okay, let me give some serious thought to your question,.”
“Oh you’ve got to be kitten me. Human, you can’t be serious!”
l
“Hey, Mr. Deer! I see you down there!”
“I see you up there fly! I may be chubby but I can move like lightning. Do not underestimate me!”
Hello Furiends,
It’s time to meander down the Internet Highway and see what fabulous feline news is out there. I hope you enjoy this week’s stories.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
I have reported on CatCon, a truly fabulous feline festival and now those moggy-loving humans across the pond are giving CatCon a run for it’s money. The promo says that CatFest will bring stylish buzz-worthy cat products, inspiring talks, books & art, music, fancy dress (that’s what the folks across the pond call “costumes”) vegan street food, cat-themed cakes and cocktails..all while helping cats in need. Meowza! Those folks know how 
to throw a purrfectly fabulous pawty! While The Female Human was oohing and aahing over the cat related jewelry and clothing, The Male Human decided the “Howler” cat house that looks like an amp is the cat’s meow. And since my brother Oliver and I are quite mewsical and especially enjoy the days The Male Human changes his guitar strings, we think this would be a purrfect addition to our house!
Every one of my feline furiends must insist their humans read this article! The Tribe of Five can’t decide which we like the best. I am purrsonally fond of the human who hired an interior designer to create cat space for his felines. Lily loves the built in catio (we have a pop up tent thingy but it doesn’t hold a candle to this amazing space). Oliver thinks the birthday pawties are nice as does Tucker (anything that includes food is top on the list for those two). Jasmine thinks the tent and tablet is the least humans can do for their felines in residence! What’s your favorite?
Now I will be the first feline to give credit where credit is due but methinks making this cat a rescuer might be stretching the truth a tad. While it’s true that Rosie Bloom, a little budgie had been missing for 7 weeks, the fact that 7-month old feline Bear showed up with said budgie in his mouth could not be strictly described as a rescue. You see, our furiend Bear,, who lives about a mile away from the Budgie and her humans, is in the habit of delivering mice and other birds to his family. Fortunately, for all involved, the screaming budgie was removed from Bear’s mouth and eventually found her way home via a Facebook post. Hero or not, Bear did perpetrate the rescue of this feathered friend and everyone lived happily ever after. The end.
Finally after years of us felines getting a bad rap about our ability to coexist with canines, the truth comes out. A new study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior — one that uniquely looks at the relationship between cats and dogs sharing the same home — suggests we get along just fine. The researchers surveyed 748 households with canines and felines. These homes were located all over the world in places like the good old U.S of A, Europe, Australia and more. Over 80% of those folks said that the inter-species relationships were just fine. And how many said that there were relationship issues in their homes, only 3%. So folks if you’ve been wanting to adopt a dog to add to your feline household or a cat to add to your canine household, get to the shelter and do it now!
I’ve heard a lot about great programs where little humans go to libraries or shelters and read to dogs. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think this is a noble and pawsome thing to do (they do it at our local shelter too), but I’ve had my whiskers in a bit of a twist because I never heard or read anything about the benefits of little humans reading to shelter cats. Until now that is. This program doesn’t just improve social skills for the little humans but for the felines as well. It also helps to calm cats and help relieve the stress they feel because shelters can be stressful places. Does your shelter have a program to read to cats? Tell us about it! If you don’t and want to learn more, check out El Paso Animal Services Facebook page.
Hi There Furiends,
Lily here. It’s my turn to opine on the Friday Fill ins. The Female Human (also referred to 
as our “purrsonal assistant”) asked me to send her apologies in not transcribing our responses to your comments on our blog this week. Jasmine had to go to emergency in the place of the white coats Saturday night and only came home Wednesday. She’s been on a special diet, antibiotics and pain killers for a few days and is finally beginning to feel better but the Female Human has been playing “nurse”. This is Jasmine a few days ago, she’s looking much better now and beginning to act like her old diva self.
Things are getting back to normal and we’ll be having our assistant transcribing our responses soon! As always, you can hop on over to the hosts of this blog hop at 15andmeowing or Four-Legged Furballs. And of course, you are always welcome to opine about your fill in answers in the comment section of this post.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
1. I deserve a gold star for _________________ today.
1. I deserve a gold star for not licking the butter the Female Human left out on the counter today. I eyed it for quite a while but I restrained myself.
Lily
Hello Furiends,
It’s time to take a stroll along the information highway to see what new and unusual feline news items are out there. I hope you enjoy this week’s finds.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
As you humans know, we felines sleep a lot and I know I’ve heard my humans say, “I wonder what they dream about.” Well. did you know that we felines have REM (rapid eye movement) sleep just like you humans? In the 1960’s sleep researcher Michel Jouvet studied sleep in cats. A veterinary neurologist, Adriann Morrison has written a review of this research.
As we felines sleep about 15 hours per day I’d say it’s a good idea to study an activity we are so committed to! Have you ever looked at your feline in residence and wondered iof they were asleep or awake? Turns out that we can slide effortlessly into rest and sleep. And we cats can have nightmares but it’s recommended not to wake us up or you may suffer the consequences! There’s lots of good stuff about what happens when we felines sleep and how we sleep so check out this article.
Our Feline Human refers to herself as a “serial entrepreneur” and she’s had cats living with her all her life so I’m thinking this theory may make some sense. The article begins with this statement, “A protozoan parasite found in cats could be having a rather odd effect on the brains of humans it infects, which under the right circumstances just might turn them into the next Elon Musk.” Hah, if only. Our Female Human might be a serial entrepreneur but she certainly hasn’t brought home the kind of cash that Elon Musk has!
Still. the article is interesting. The article concludes with:
Nobody is suggesting you should go out and buy your kids a cat in the hope it will infect them with the skills to help them to take over Silicon Valley.
Nonetheless, the study does provide an interesting perspective on the ways epidemiology can have a small but powerful force on the psychology that builds culture.
And maybe, just maybe, shows why cats deserve their place of worship on the internet.
The findings are due to be published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (link down at time of writing).
130 shelter cats from the Los Angeles area wait to board their private flight to Seattle and new homes in mission of “Operation Homeward Bound.” The cats are being flown to the Seattle area where they will be adopted to their forever homes. Wings of Rescue and the Jackson Galaxy Project worked in conjunction to save the cats from the Los Angeles City Shelters. (Photo by David Crane, Daily News/SCNG)
I love how humans are so creative in helping save felines! The life of these shelter cats were saved when they were flown to Everett Washington and will escape euthanization because of over crowding and be placed in shelters who have room for them and are working to find them furever homes. This project, titled “Operation Homeward Bound” was created by the original Cat Daddy, Jackson Galaxy in partnership with the non-profits, Greatergood.org a
nd Wings of Rescue.
These humans have things figured out. LA and most shelters across the country are flooded with cats this time of year (one shelter in Downey took in 140 kittens in one day recently). So these smart and caring folks find shelters that need cats. Washington has a lot of space for cats and many residents are on waiting lists to adopt a feline when one becomes available (now The Tribe of Five says, you should always adopt in pairs. This is what our Humans do and it works great!).
Kudos to you humans and Feline Opines is bestowing the Paws Up award to all of you!
The photographer, BriAnne Wills and her rescue feline
You humans seen to love to perpetrate the myth that women with cats are on the margins of society, frumpy and without any iota of a social life. We felines don’t appreciate this and we are thrilled that BriAnne Wills, an attractive Brooklyn-based fashion photographer decided to photograph girls and their cats and break the stupid crazy cat lady stereotype. We felines appreciate this very much because we enjoy living with female humans who are savvy, hip and definitely NOT crazy!
After reading this article, my brofur Oliver is becoming more hopeful about making another run for Purresident. This mayoral feline from Omena, Michigan was inaugurated as it’s fourth mayor. The 9-year old Sweet Tart beat out 13 dogs, a goat, a peacock, a chicken and one other feline to win the position. Believe it or not more than 7,000 people voted in the election (and the town’s population is only 280!) Everyone was charged $1.00 per vote and the money collected was donated to the Omena Historical Society.
And that’s the beauty of technology. Through paypal and social media, a feline finds himsef elected mayor and the local historical society receives $7,000.00 in donations. Concatulations to mayor Sweet Tart!
Hello Furiends,
It’s Albert, walkin’ the web and looking to bring you unusual news and tidbits of the feline variety.
I hope you enjoy this week’s offerings.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
This is a pawsome article. When you humans have your little human kittens, it’s really nice if you let your feline in residence purrticipate in the announcement and these humans did just that.
Now including a pet in pregnancy announcements is not really new, but what is new is that the felines are getting their five minutes of fame now (usually the humans include the canines). I love this idea and, if any of you humans out there have done this or are planning on doing this, please let us know. We’d love to feature your pics!
Folks, I just want to tell you that this Mikel Delgado is one smart human! She received her Ph.D. at UC-Berkeley in psychology studying animal behavior and human-pet relationships. So I say, you humans should pay attention to what she says!
There are a lot of great tips like letting us felines make the first move (we hate being rushed), pay attention to how we felines greet each other, we often approach another cat in a nose to nose way. You can simulate this by bending down and offer a finger tip toward the cat’s nose…and let us decide how we’re going to respond. And for goodness sake people, if you get a negative response, BACK AWAY and don’t force it! Chances are we’ll come around soon. And I beg you, please share this with your friends who are clueless about cats!
This human gets our Paws up award. When she saw the massive population of stray and abandoned animals, she used her math training to devise a systematic approach to do something about it.
Sara DeMonbrun said, “I’ve been an animal lover all my life and I couldn’t bear to see these little cute little animals running around without a home.” She started an organization called S.O.C.K.S (Save Our Cats and Kittens). She recruited three people at the beginning to help her. Through Sara’s efforts as well as her husband and volunteers the number of animals being euthanized in Fort Walton Beach, FL has been reduced drastically. Today, Sara is dealing with Parkinson’s Disease but she’s still focused on her mission to save as many cats as she can. To keep Sara’s legacy going, S.O.C.K.S. has begun Sara’s Angel Tree where people can sponsor a leaf in tribute to or in memory of their own favorite feline. Watch the video of this wonderful place.
Oh my whiskers, I sure wish I didn’t hate travel so much or I’d head right on over to Pasadena, CA on August 4 & 5! There will be all sorts of celebrities there, even Moshow the Cat Rapper! You humans can arrange for a meet and greet with him. Lil Bub will there along with other pawsome feline celebrities. There will also be some fantastic classes that help humans understand how to care for their felines and some wild and wacky ones too like, Engineering for Cats: What Cat Care and Airplane Design Have in Common. Aerospace engineer, cat-enthusiast and author Mac Delaney conducts this workshop that takes you through how to improve your cat’s life with some of his amazing DIY projects. Humans, get yourselves to CatCon!!!
I’ve always been a believer that cats are the best salespurrsons and now it appears KFC has seen the light as well. Can cats sell chicken? Well KFC is testing this as they built a giant automated “Colonel-esque3” cat tower and featured it in a livestream event on Facebook. This event took place yesterday 7/17 from 2 to 6pm Eastern Time on the Super Deluxe Facebook page. I certainly hope these kitties received the regular Screen Actor’s Guild payment!
Hello Furiends,
Alberto here. I am feeling the need to opine about this thing you humans call the “Tour de France” because it’s kind of a big deal around our house, especially with the Male Human. He gets up , feeds the Tribe and manages to get to the place he calls “work” to watch the Tour by 5:00am. Now this early schedule is of no consequence to me as I’ve had my breakfast and morning head scratch and I know there will be more petting after my early morning nap when the Female Human finally appears from the bedroom.
You may be asking, “Why is the Male Human so crazy about this ‘Tour de France’ thingy”? I think it’s because he likes to hop on his metal machine with the two skinny wheels and torture himself frequently, like those Tour humans. I find this kind of exertion baffling and so does the Female Human. She has her own metal machine with not so skinny wheels and a basket in the front. She has floated the idea of putting one of us in the basket but her lack of coordination and tepid attitude toward her own machine has me less than enthusiastic about the prospect, especially since she has been known to run into parked cars and mailboxes.
But I digress. I have some interest in the Tour de France because I am named after a famous Tour de France rider (now retired) named Alberto Contador. I am sure you can see the resemblance., he’s a lean mean biking machine and I am a lean, mean feline machine! I must say however, I am a bit dismayed by my namesake’s comment upon his retirement, he said, “I’ll gain weight and you’ll make jokes about it.” I want to say “Alberto, don’t let yourself go! Have you seen my brother Oliver?! ” I’m happy to report he’s kept his lean physique so far. If you want to learn more about Alberto (the human) you can watch this video on Youtube, The Best of Alberto Contador. If you want to know more about Alberto, the feline, just subscribe to our blog.
Although I will respect the Male Human’s obsession with this Tour de France thingy I still don’t get it. From this feline’s point of view it’s far too much work for too little reward. I will say though that it’s pretty cool being named after a famous cyclist and much better than being named after say, the soccer player “Fat Ronaldo”!
Hello Folks,
Oliver here. I’m doing the fill ins this week, I hope you enjoy them! You can join the blog hop by visiting our friends 15 And Meowing or Four-Legged Furballs. If you just want to opine on our blog, you can always leave your fill ins in the comments of this post.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
3. I think _________ is my best quality.
Me as a kitten
Me today
3. I think my luxurious fur coat and the heart over my eye are my best quality.
Hi Furiends,
I’b back from my brief hiatus from Independence Day and cracking the whip over my purrsonal assistant. I hope you enjoy this week’s offerings from the world-wide web.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
You all know how much I love stories about adventure cats (I aspire to be one myself) and I loved this story. Salty, a Turkish Van cat lives with his humans and a Springer Spaniel on their boat. He’s been living there since he was a kitten ever since his humans sold their home and purchased a 43-foot, twin masted yacht.
Since he was a kitten, Salty has lived aboard a boat with his owners, Bernadette and Andy. Originally from Devon, United Kingdom, the two sold their house in 2011 and purchased a 43-foot, twin-masted yacht. At the moment they are based in Scotland’s Western Isles but have moved along the UK when the wind and their desire takes them. You can follow Salty’s adventures on Instagram and on his blog.
Now before you get excited, this is a star search for my furry friends across the Pond in Ireland. But if you’re an Irish moggie you’ve got a chance to be the King or Queen of cats and the face of Mackle’s Cat Club Brand.
The lucky feline will have their photo on thousands of popular brand packs and cans which will be sold in Ireland in 2019. A company spokespurrson said, ““In total, Ireland has more than 830,000 pet cats lounging about in homes so we are on a quest to find the cat that will be the face of the Cat Club brand in 2019.” We are confident that across Ireland there are so many people who own cats that could be the face of the brand, so this competition is, we hope, going to help us find the ‘purrfect’ one!”
Just click on the link in the heading of this article and you can find out how to enter.
All I can say is Chicago humans know how to have a feline celebration! If you’re in the area make sure your humans attend. This is a 2-day celebration on July 21 & 22. There will be lots of feline loving humans, educational and fun activities. Steve Dale from Steve Dale’s Pet World will give the Saturday keynote titled “How Cats are the Rodney Dangerfield of Pets.” On Sunday, Becky Robinson, President and Founder of Alley Cat Allies, will present “How to #LoveCatsMore.” In addition, renowned veterinarians will be speaking on topics of interest to all cat owners, such as: the growing problem of cat obesity, how to deal with the loss of a pet, and debunking “kitty revenge” behavior.
Meow MeetUp also has fun activities and events to keep everyone entertained. Here are just a few:
Calling all Chicago Cats, get your humans off the couch and to the Meow Meet Up!
Once again, our furiends across the Pond are honoring felines. The Brighton cat-bus has two spaces for just the right moggie photo. The cat-bus was designed to celebrate the life of the beloved and famous feline, Fiveways Wilf.
Sadly, fiveways Wilf crossed the Rainbow Bridge last October but his legend lives on with the cat-bus. So Brighton moggies. get your humans to get the camera out and make you famous.
You may have heard stories about all the wild and wacky things Google Street View captures but this is the best. Street View captured several felines in Rome. The site captured is a cat sanctuary at the Largo di Torre Argentina in Rome, so it’s no surprise that there would be cats there. However, the photo, which was taken by Roundel Arts Photography in April of 2017, is an up-close shot inside the sanctuary. And it’s clearly not what you’d typically expect from Google Maps. Sadly, the photo has already been updated to ta less entertaining, cat-less view.
Now I wonder if Google Street View could help folks who have lost their kitties. My Female Human and her sister operate a social media site that helps locate and get the world out about lost pets in our area. Wouldn’t it be pawsome if Google Street View could help locate lost pets? Google, I hop[e you’re listening!
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