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,
What Do Cats Dream About? – Mother Nature Network
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.
There’s A Really Weird Link Between Cats And Entrepreneurs – Science Alert
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).
Shelter Cats Saved For Adoption Are Flown From Van Nuys to Washington – Los Angeles Daily News
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!
Stop The Stupid Sterotype of the Crazy Cat Lady! – Girls And Their Cats
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!
Sweet Tart Is A Cat And The Mayor Of A Small Michigan Town – Jezebel
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!
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.
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, 
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