Walk Through The Web Wednesday 11/13

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Hello Furiends,
It’s been an eventful week in our neck of the woods. It appears that my reporting on Quilty, the escapist cat (and purrhaps the reporting from various major news organizations) has created quite a stir. I recently learned that instead of being rewarded for his clever behavior, Quilty has been thrown in solitary confinement at the shelter where he lives.

Cats are protesting in the streets and the situation is getting tense.

Cats all over the country are uniting in their quest to see Quilty freed.

I contacted some esteemed feline friends to ask them their opinion about this miscarriage of justice (note, any resemblance to members of Feline Opines staff is purely coincidental).

Yo Dude, this solitary confinement stuff is bogus. Someone needs to get that guy out of the shelter!
I say there old chap, back in WWII that feline would have received a medal for his fabulous escape talents. Cheerio my little feline Houdini. .
So uh, like you know, I don’t really get into all that negativity stuff but I would say poor Quilty got a bad rap. ya’ know?
So I was hangin’ with some of my homies and they said, “Duuuuude, did you hear about that cat that got solitary for letting other cats into the lobby of the shelter?” And I was like, Woah, that’s messed up!”
What cat? What shelter? Were there treats involved? Why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on? Hello! Hello! Where is everybody?

Okay, perhaps some of these public figures made a little more sense than others. The point is, all my furiends and followers in Texas, PLEASE help get this little guy out of the shelter and into a furever home (one with locks on the doors preferably!)

Enough about Quilty, lets move on to this weeks feline finds in my web wanderings.

Hero cat saves baby

Gatubela, a hero cat and purrhaps a European relative of Lily,

All hail the hero cat Gatubela who saved a toddler from falling down the stairs. It was all caught on a security camera as the feline distracts a baby and keeps him from falling down a fight of a dozen steps. Gatubela sat on the sofa watching the baby until the little boy headed toward the stairs. The kitty ran to the rescue and latched onto the toddler. We say, “Way to go Gatubela!” and give this feline a paws up award. Oh, and by the way, we’re wondering if Gatubela is related to our very own Lily.

https://nypost.com/2019/11/07/hero-cat-leaps-into-action-to-save-baby-from-falling-down-stairs/

Japanese loungewear truly is the cat’s pajamas

Felissimo, Japan’s leading cat-themed lifestyle brand has created the purrrfect loungewear for humans to show their feline side. The outfit in the picture is the Siamese version but they also have a black cat  version (although why anyone would prefer the black cat over the Siamese is a mystery to me, especially as the cost is  4,500 yen (US$42). That makes it’ 200 yen more expensive than the Siamese version. I’ve been told that’s because the black cat outfit is mid-calf and the Siamese outfit is knee length If you’re worried that your feet might get chilly in this ensemble, have no fear, there are kitty themed socks to match.

Potato, this cat’s unique eyes have made him an internet celebrity

You humans do a lot of meowing about how being different is a good thing but some of you don’t really believe that when it comes to felines. Potato the cat, with his big green and black eyes bears quite a resemblance to Puss in Boots from the movie Shrek.  As soon as his human adopted him she began posting his photos on Instagram and the rest, as they say, is history.

Potato today, at five years old, is a bona fide internet celebrity. We love Potato’s looks, what do you say?

Join Purina’s Feastivity celebration this Christmas

2019 Ornament. This year’s ornament celebrates all the extra little ways we give—and give back. brighten your tree and gift one to a someone you care about. We hope it helps you fill the holidays with love.

Feastivities is how the good folks at Fancy Feast celebrate the holidays. Each year they offer a unique, crafted ornament to brighten your tree. They partner with Adopt-A-Pet.com so all the proceeds go to helping pets find their forever homes. Over the years, the Feastivity program has raised over $230,000.00 Meowza, that’s a merry furever home for lots of felines!

Forget those humans pretending to be cats, THIS is the movie you want to see!

 “The Cat Rescuers,” movie, introduces a handful of remarkable Brooklynites who have dedicated time, money, and an enormous amount of emotional fortitude to trapping, neutering, and returning — or adopting out — feral city cats. They devote their days and nights to rescuing abandoned or homeless kittens and cats.

The movie tells the story of each rescuer, you see how they trap and care for stray cats. They bring cats and kittens into their homes if they need to recouperate from medical issues.  

This rescue group (and the movie) were born out of the passion a man and his wife had for cat rescue. There are an an estimated 500,000 street cats in New York City and that fact laubnched the idea of this movie to educate people about TNR. ,

Watch “The Cat Rescuers” trailer and be sure to learn more about Second Chance Animal Rescue ..  The Tribe of Five would love to see this movie shown all over the  country.

Lily Opines About Her Basepaws DNA Results

cat basepaws dna results

Hello There Furiends,
Before I get into the good stuff, I have to provide a thing you humans call a “disclosure” about my interaction with the Basepaws company. We were provides with a complimentary Basepaws kit in exchange for my opinion of the process and the product. All of the included images, the written content and the opinions are original and from Feline Opines. Although I’ve linked to the company these are not affiliate links and Feline Opines receives no commission or monetary gain from purchases. I just like to tell my furiends about new, cool stuff. 

Test Information

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This is me at the shelter the day I met The Female Human. – Lily

And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for…..my report!

Basepaws divides purebred felines in to three different breed groups:

  • Western (American Shorthair, Persian, Siberian, British Shorthair, Maine Coon, Russian Blue, Norwegian Forest Cat, Abyssinian, Exotic Shorthair, Turkish Angora and Ragdoll)
  • Eastern (Oriental Shorthair, Burmese, Birman & Siamese)
  • Hybrid (Cats that are the result of mating between a domestic cat and a wild cat. These breeds include the Bengal (Asian Leopard + domestic) and the Savannah breeds (Serval + domestic)

The fourth feline group is the Polycat group which describes mixed breed cats, 95% of all cats in the world are mixed breed felines. Before Basepaws DNA testing we knew nothing about them and now, as they add more purebred data and trait information they will be able to begin narrowing down the parts of the genome that are responsible for certain traits.

The Western, Eastern and Hybrid groups are based on the DNA of purebred cats in their database. As the company grows and adds more DNA they will be able to narrow down the specific genomic regions .  I was assigned to the  Western Breed Group. Now this does’t mean that I necessarily have “prebred” relatives. It means that the certain genomic regions are the ones that I am most similar to and they ranked me with three breeds by how similar I am to a specific breed and the rest of the database.

The “Sciency” Stuff

First of all neither the Female Human nor I are very scientific so I’m going to try and make this as simple as possible.  If you have an inquiring mind and enjoy science, you might want to check out this information (even though it’s from The National Human Genome Research Institute.

The Basepaws folks sequenced my DNA and it resulted in 8,626,137 DNA fragments that were sequenced and that represents 1,089,039,875 DNA bases that were sequenced (these numbers are a little big for this simple feline to understand). Using that data in addition to the latest cat genome (felis_catus_9.01 – felis catus is a fancy word for “domestic cat”). They analyzed genetic variants across 18 chromosomes to generate my report.

Phew, not that the “sciency” stuff is over let’s dig in to the really interesting stuff.

Let’s Talk About Me

I was assigned to the Western Breed Group and here are the three breeds I am most similar to:

Norwegian Forest Cat
Norwegian Forest Cat

Meowza! I’m like a breed that is believed to be 1-000-2,000 years old. My DNA ancestors originated in Norway (now I know why I like the winters here). Norwegian Forest Cats are generally healthy and strong but also more prone to Diabetes mellitus (a metabolic disorder where blood sugar levels remain high for long periods of time. This is something my veterinarian can watch out for on my yearly wellness visits. The purrsonality traits of this breed makes them friendly, social and independent. I’m friendly with people I know and just like this breed, I am friendly on my own terms. I’m not so social but I’m very independent! They have favorite humans (that is so true) and tend to be picky about whose lap they sit in (me again). The Norwegian Forest Cat in me is where I get my love of climbing and The Female Human has great climbing alternatives for me in high places to satisfy the Forest Cat DNA in me.

American Shorthair

American Shorthair breed

This part of my DNA is responsible for my stellar hunting skills. I don’t have the large head, powerful jaws and full cheeks like most American Shorthairs. American Shorthairs have a variety of coat colors. That’s definitely me! And their eyes are large and distinctive. Me again. The American Shorthair DNA in me may make me affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. There is also sometimes a problem with dermoid cysts, and some facial issues like cleft palate but thankfully, I don’t have any of these problems.  As far as purrsonality is concerned, the fact that they aren’t known as lap cats is me to a T. They appreciate a spot near their humans on the sofa and that is really me. I’m called “Lily Bug” because I always snuggle against humans when they sit on the sofa (my version of being a love bug). Another purrsonality trait that is all me is that I am fine on my own and can entertain myself. I do love to find a good sun puddle and hang there all day, another indication that I have much in common with the American Shorthair.

Siberian

Siberian Forest Cat

Also called The Siberian Forest Cat. I don’t have the plush long coat of these guys. This is the national animal of Russia, cool. I think this must be where I got my crazy coat because the coats for these cats range from tabby, solid, tortoiseshell and color point. To get one of these breed kittens will cost  you a lot of moola and that’s why they’re rare outside of Europe. I hope The Female Human appreciates me for the rare treasure I am. There are no documented known health conditions that plague this breed so that makes me feel good. It is interesting that Siberian Forest Cats are considered to be a hypoallergenic breed because they produce less FelD1 that is the allergen thought to be the culprit in causing allergic reactions in humans. I think I fit the personality description to a T, brave, independent, easygoing and affectionate.

And I’m Wild

My favorite part of the report is that it said the wild cat I was most similar to is the leopard. Pretty cool huh?

And Now The Contest & Winner

untitled design

Thanks to all of you who purrticipated in my Basepaws DNA contest. The #1 breed guess was Siamese with American Shorthair coming in second. There were many others, Tortiseshell, Birman, Burmese, Main Coon, Persian, Turkish Van, Calico, Tonkinese, Snowshoe and Exotic.

Unfortunately, no one got all three but don’t feel bad, The Female Human didn’t pick even one of the breeds. We put all the names in a basket and I batted them around for a while before I had The Female Human pick one out (with her eyes closed, of course) and the winner is…….messymimimeanderings! Please let us know the address to send the books and they’ll be on their way to you. You can use the form below to send the info.

 

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Well, I hope you enjoyed my report. If you have your humans do your DNA, let us know about your results.
Sig_Lily

 

 

 

 

Lily Opines on Fonts,Fall and Furry Critters on Friendly Fill Ins #125

Hello There Furiends,
Lily here. the weather is turning cooler and the colors are beautiful. I like to sit on the window sill in the warmth of the house and enjoy everything that’s happening out there. I hope you are enjoying fall (whatever fall looks like in your neck of the woods).

I am purrticipating in the Friendly Fill Ins blog hop. You can hop too, just go over to our friends 15andMeowing or Four-Legged Furballs. and join in the fun. If you purrfer, you can always opine about your answers in the comment section of this post.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
LilyLogo

Here are this week’s fill in questions:

1. My favorite font is___________________.
2. October is perfect for _________________.
3. Where I live, _________.

4. I feel very _________ this time of year.

Here are my answers:

1. My favorite font is ..well at first I had to ask our Purrsonal Assistant what a “font” is. After she explained to me that it’s different of styles for words. I had her search the web for feline fonts and found this one which I think is purrfect and yes, it is my favorite font!
katzcatz font
2. October is perfect for cuddling up to your favorite nap buddy, Tucker.
Siamese cats cuddling
3. Where I live, I am considered a diva and a bit of royalty.  This is me on my favorite throne, errr…chair
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4. I feel very sad that my summer upstairs deck outings are coming to an end this time of year.
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Lily Opines on Friendly Fill Ins 7/27

Hi There Furiends,
Lily here. It’s my turn to opine on the Friday Fill ins. The Female Human (also referred to img_4850as 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,
LilyLogo

This Week’s Fill Ins

1. I deserve a gold star for _________________ today.

2. Right now, I am loving _____________.

3. The best advice I’ve ever been given is _________.

4. If I had to choose a new first name, it would be _________.

My Answers:

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.

I'm eyeing the butter but I've decided to be a good cat.

Lily

2. Right now, I am loving  the summer weather and sitting on the window ledge at the stairs watching the local wildlife come to our little waterfall to drink and take a bath.
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3. The best advice I’ve ever been given is when you’re an adopted kitty, find another feline in the Tribe that can be your cuddle buddy. Tucker is my cuddle buddy.
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4. If I had to choose a new first name, it would be Your Royal Highness, Your Majesty or Queen of the Universe, any of these would be acceptable .
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Lily Opines on Her Likes & Dislikes on Friendly Friday Fill Ins #114

Happy Friday Furiends!
I’m doing the fill ins this week. It’s great fun! Our furiends 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs are hosting this blog hop. In case you don’t know, a blog hop is when you hop on over to a hosting site and add the fill in answers from your blog. If you’re not feeling like hopping this week, we’d love to hear what your fill ins are and you can opine about them in our comments section.
Purrs & Head Bonks,

LilyLogo

Here are this week’s fill in questions:

1. I tried  __________________ and I liked it.
2. Am I the only one who ___________________?

3. _________ is my hero/heroine.
4. If I could eat only one food for the rest of my life, it would be _______

Here are my answers:

1. I tried wearing the  Female Human’s jewelry and I liked it.
cat with jewelry
2. Am I the only one who sleeps better with a cuddle buddy?
siamese cats cuddling together
3. Our local police/sheriff/fire department people  are my heroes and heroines. (And I like to help them)
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4. If I could eat only one food for the rest of my life, it would be stinky sardines in sauce. When The Male Human serves this delightful dish it’s a celebration! I eat so much I have to stretch out on the sofa to recover from my food stupor!
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#AtoZChallenge X

Hi There,
Tucker here. Today’s letter is “X” and that stands for “X-RAY” , as in X-ray eyes. Any of you humans who live with felines are furmaliar with that x-ray, mind controlling stare we employ to get you to do our bidding. Every feline needs to master the art of the stare as this is the first step in training your Humans.

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Tucker: this is my x-ray stare technique, looking cute and maximizing my crossed blue eyes to their best advantage. How could you refuse anything this sweet face asks??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lily: I use my unusual round eyes for my x-ray stare technique to capture The Human’s attention and then I just stare and stare. Pretty soon they cave to my will.  I am silently saying, “Oh please, give me just one treat.”

 

 

 

 

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Jasmine: My x-ray eyes technique, I will stare at The Humans with my baby blues until they do the right thing (and the right thing is whatever I want them to do.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oliver: I use the “You’ve got to be kidding me!” x-ray eye technique. After a while, the Humans will realize they are being judged and found lacking and they will cave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Alberto:
My x-ray eye technique is a bit on the snarky side. I have this certain look that I will maintain. Soon enough the Humans begin to feel they have done something I find egregious and then they will begin to attempt to find out what it is that I need.

#AtoZ Challenge Q

Hi There,
Jasmine here. Today’s letter is “Q” and that stands for ‘QUEENLY” and don’t Lily and I look the part? We are the only two girls in The Tribe of Five and we take our diva roles quite seriously. Now all we have to do is to get those males to treat us with the deference and respect we deserve! And a reminder, even rescue kitties like us can be royal!
Purrs & Head Bonks,
jazz_signature

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Friendly Friday Fill Ins #86

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Hello Friends,
Lily here. I’m doing the Fill Ins this week. We’d love for you to participate. You can enter your blog info at MCguffy’s Readers and do the fill ins on your blog or, you can add your fill ins in the comment section of this blog post.

Here are this week’s fill ins:

1. On New Year’s Eve, I __________________.

2. One goal I have for 2018 is ________________________.
3. In 2017, I accomplished                    .

4. I                 in 2017.

Here are my answers:

cat with New Years hat and glasses

1. On New Years Eve, I will put on my festive headgear and then beg for treats from the humans. They rarely go out on New Year’s Eve but they always have a very tasty dinner and The Tribe of Five benefits from the female human’s cooking skills.

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2. One Goal I have for 2018 is to continuing doing as little as possible. Doing as little as possible is the official full time career for every feline and I do not expect to retire any time soon.

cat in window

3. In 2017 I accomplished absolutely nothing (please refer to # 2). Felines are not purrticularily motivated to do things (except eat and sleep!)

2 siamese cats snuggled together
4.  plan to continue opining (along with my other four tribe mates) on all things feline because I believe the world needs more feline purrrspective. I wil of course, stick close to my cuddle buddy (and Alpha of the Tribe of Five, Tucker) in 2017!

Happy New Year, see you in 2018!
Purrs & Head Bonks,
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