Hello friends,
Alberto here. Although it’s Wednesday (the day I usually walk through the web) it’s cold and rainy outside so instead of walking through the web I’m crashing on the couch.
See you next week,
Alberto
Not Walkin’
4
Category Archives: Siamese cats
A Valentine’s Wish
With love from your friends, Tucker, Jasmine, Lily, Oliver and Alberto (The Tribe of Five)…
and the humans too!
The Felines Opine On 2016
Tucker Opines
Well, I must say, 2016 was fairly much like 2015. I retained my lofty position on the red chair in the living room, received treats regularly and even strolled (under human supervision) on the upstairs deck.
The “little guys” as we call them continued to be annoying and always up to some kitten shenanigans but they do recognize my authority as the Alpha of The Tribe of Five and now that they’re just over a year, they are settling down a bit.
And they are making themselves useful. Oliver has decided he likes my prescription food and this is quite convenient for me.. Each morning, when the female human comes out of the bedroom, Oliver races down the hallway and does a little dance by the food bowl. The female human obediently goes to the pantry in the laundry room, grabs the food and fills both of our bowls. Having Oliver around is never having to say, “I’m hungry”.
I’m looking forward to another relaxing year as Alpha as I take up my post on the red chair (or, as the humans refer to it, the “throne”), watch the household antics of Oliver and Alberto, receive my treats and have a perpetually full food bowl.
Jasmine Opines
Well, I am still living in the human’s bedroom but things have progressed. If you’re wondering why I live in the bedroom, you can read about it in Amelia’s story.
There have been some breakthroughs in 2016. The humans invite Lily into the bedroom frequently in the evenings and things are progressing enough that I will actually come out from under the bed when she’s there (although sometimes she forgets she’s supposed to show me deference and chases after me, resulting in a loud a hissy fit and a big “fluffy tail”).. The female human is also leaving the bedroom door open periodically (when she can watch Lily and make sure she doesn’t waltz in.) I am optimistic about the future.
There is much in my two-room environment to keep me interested, the automatic red dot thingy 
that twirls and spins and throws red dots down the hallway, huge windows and wide window ledges that look out to the woods around the house. I often have visitors come by. Some are felines, some are birds, some are squirrels and there is the occasional raccoon as well.
My brother Tucker comes and visits and sleeps overnight, as does Oliver and Alberto. Tucker sleeps in one of the cushy cat beds but Alberto and Oliver are a bit disruptive so they end up being escorted out of the room at some time in the wee hours.
The female human showed me that you don’t have to go out to do good work for pets. She and her sister founded a lost pet social media organization for our area and many pets have been reunited with their families thanks to all the good people who help.
All in all, it’s been a good year and much more interesting than last year. The female human told me that when I write my year end comments for 2017, she hopes I’ll be telling you how I roam around the house again.
Lily Opines
It’s been a good year. I’ve been in the human’s bedroom many times and I’m thinking Jasmine and I may be friends after all (as long as I don’t forget myself and chase her).
I have a nice routine with the female human. Each evening after she finishes making dinner, she goes downstairs and gets a pail full of cat food. She calls this “junk food” and won’t let us eat it on a regular basis, but she does give Alberto and I a few bits. If Tucker deigns to sashay down the stairs to join us, he gets a few pieces too. She then takes the pail and puts the food down on the patio for our masked friends. One of them comes with her little masked babies and I like to sit by the sliding glass doors and chat with them about woodland life versus indoor life. Seems to me I have the better deal.
The female human’s story “All My Children Wear Fur Coats” was published in February in the newest Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s soul book. This experience made her even more interested in writing about and for cats (it’s because of this that she is our purrrrsonal assistant and types for us in this blog). She was even on several radio shows talking about the fabulous Tribe of Five and is now working on something she refers to as a “cozy mystery” that has two cats as main characters (I hope one of them is me).
This month was a bit stressful. Some of the human’s relatives visited, and, although I am sure they are wonderful people, I did not want to be bothered so I spent the time downstairs, burrowed under the sofa cover. The Tribe of Five produced a manual for guests who visit homes with felines, you may want to ensure your humans read this.
It’s been a purrfectly wonderful year and I look forward to a purrfectly wonderful 2017 as well.
Oliver Opines
I would say that I probably had the most exciting year as I threw my hat in the ring as the Kitty Cat Party cat-i-date for purresident. My running mate, Olive, from Three Chatty Cats, and I even sent our human to a conference called Blogpaws with campaign buttons to spread the word about our platform.
Olive and I presented a complete platform only to find that the Today Show featured another feline who was running and never even mentioned my name so I had to take them to task, sheesh, what’s a cat got to do to get some press coverage?
Sadly, my running mate and I did not win but this does 
not mean that I have abandoned all my purrlitical aspirations. I have been reading about cats that are mayors, customs officials and even a Chief Mouser for the British Cabinet. Now that I have some experience, I’m thinking I might just be successful at this purrlitical thing.
No matter what I decide to do in 2017, it will be a great year and I look forward to opining all about it.
Alberto Opines
It was a great year. I was the official spokes-purrson for the Kitty Cat Pawty campaign and I quite enjoyed all the attention. Even though my brother Oliver didn’t win, he told me there would be a job for me if he ever entered the purrlitical arena again.
Things in the spring and summer were grand. The humans bought us a portable catio and we all enjoyed
bird and squirrel watching on the front porch and upstairs deck in complete safety. Ever since the female human took a class about the concept of “Fearless” cat raising, she’s made sure our home is as fear free as possible.
The next exciting thing I experienced was being able to 
stroll through the front garden with a harness and leash. I quite enjoy myself when the female human takes me out to explore.
I had fun with the male human showing him how to pluck the string things on his guitar, we made some lovely mewsic together
Fall was a bit dicey. First the humans tried to put some ridiculous thing on me that they called a “dinosaur costume”. I was having none of it and, as you can see by my expression, I conveyed my unhappiness quite clearly.
Then, the female human came out into the living room one night made up like a feline. I was completely gobsmacked (as my British moggie friends would say). At first I was freaked out. Was she going through some strange human to feline transformation? If she was transforming into a cat, who would take over all the things she does for us? (I don’t trust 
the male human to do this). Once I calmed down and figured out she was not cat-morphing I became a bit annoyed. Was she mocking us? It was a terrible “faux paws” and one, I am fairly certain, the female human will not repeat.
As I lounge by the fire, I am thinking what a happy cat I am and I think 2017 will be even better.
A final note from the #TribeOfFive
Thanks to all our friends out there in the blogosphere. We love the notes we receive from other felines (and other non-feline creatures…and even humans) and we look forward to entertaining and enlightening you all from our little corner of the world in 2017.
Purrs & Meows,
Tucker, Jasmine, Lily, Alberto & Oliver
Navi’s Tea Party
Hello All,
Jasmine here. I am so excited to tell you about my elegant friend Navi and her wonderful human, Crystal . Thanks to the wonder of the internet (and with the help of my purrsonal assistant) I was able to interview Navi and talk to her about her life and amazing tea party. Navi and I have much in common as I am a bit of a princess myself.
Without fur-ther ado, meet my friend Navi who reminded me that as a Siamese, she has lots to say.
Navi, you have an interesting name, how did you get it?
That’s a good question Jasmine. It took a week for my mommy to name me. She wanted to get to know my purrrsonality first but she was stumped. The first week in my new home I was quite the chatterbox, I followed her everywhere, blinking my baby blue eyes at her and begging for attention. Then inspiration came. Navi, from the Legend of Zelda game, is one of the most annoying video game characters of all time. In one of the episodes, there was a little blue-eyed fairy that would follow Link around and in order to get his attention, would yell, “Hey listen.” My big blue eyes and habit of following Mommy around everywhere chattering at her gave her the inspiration for my name. She declared that Navi was a purrrfect name for me.
That’s a great story Navi, my humans aren’t well versed in Video games which is why they named me after the lady that rescued me and my brother Tucker. So how did you come to live with your humans?
I moved in about three years ago when I was a 5-month old kitten. My human had a Siamese friend when she was little and she loved that feline. Sadly, not all of the Siamese she met later on were very healthy and she lost several Siamese fur kids at very young ages. This made my human very lonely and sad. She really missed having a Siamese friend in the house. That was when she decided to look into traditional Siamese felines and met a lady who loved Siamese cats as much as she does. This lady had my brother and sister who went to live with another human. My Mom had made her mind up that she wanted a big male Siamese but my brother was a little goofy looking (no offense bro) so she picked me instead.
Did you have a hard time getting used to your new home?
Not really, at first I kept myself a bit aloof, you know, have to check out the resident humans and the place to make sure it fit my needs. I even refused to sit in the human’s lap at first but that’s all changed.
Are there any other fur kids in your house?
I’m the only kitty. Mom did try to bring another cat into the house once but he got very sick and she was worried that I would get sick too. Now she lavishes all her love and attention on me, well, except for the rats.
Rats? Like rodents?
Oh yes, the rats don’t have life spans as long as felines, but as long as I’ve lived here there have been pet rats as well. As a matter of fact, I have a new rat-brother named Moose. I get along with him okay but, between you and me, rats scare me. And I’m not so fond of them when they chase me. Moose is already proving to be a problem, grabbing my tail and messing with my fur. But, he’s a family member so I tolerate him.
Hmm, I have four feline siblings and I’m not so sure one rat might not be better.Maybe we should talk about a trade sometime. Navi, I want to talk about the beautiful photos of your tea party and your very stylish pearls. Do you wear them all the time?
Thank you; I do love my pearl necklace. Mommy made them just for me. I wear them once in a while but I have lots of collars to choose from. I prefer not to wear them too often as they mess up my lovely fur. Actually I think there is a new collar in my Christmas stocking, but don’t tell my Mom I know!
Mum’s the word Navi. Now, tell me how this elegant tea party came about.
This was was an elegant “girls” party and I don’t think Daddy would have been interested in attending had we invited him. I love doing things with Mommy, especially things that involve food.
I must ask what kind of tea were you drinking? The female human has never offered us tea.
Mommy had human hibiscus tea which I would turn my nose up at had she offered it to me. So, of course, she made me catnip tea!
There is tea from catnip? Meow!
Actually, humans can drink catnip tea to help them sleep but I like it too. I also enjoyed the fishy treats I received on the lovely china.
Do you and your female human do other things together besides having tea parties?
We do everything together, she even threw me a birthday party when I turned three and made me a shrimp and scallop birthday cake with a little candle in it!
We take road trips together, once all the way from Florida (where we live) to Michigan. We visited her grandparents and I met some new dog friends.
Hiss, I hate car trips, I always fight being put into the kitty tent and then I yowl all the way to our destination (which is usually that nasty place where the people with the white coats poke and prod me). A road trip doesn’t sound very fun at all.
Oh, the first time I got in the car I was scared too but as we took more long rides it got better. And on long trips, Daddy drives and Mommy and I sit in the back and because I’m so well behaved, I get to sit in her lap and not in the cat carrier.
Hmm, not sure if you’ve convinced me about car rides but I do love lap sitting!
Navi, you look so graceful and elegant in the photos from your tea party. Do you have any tips for our feline readers in case they are invited to a tea party?
Well Jasmine, there’s just no hope for some boy cats, their paws are just too big and clumsy. But for more elegant tea-attending felines, here are a few tips: remember that it helps when Mommy has a chair close to the edge of the tablewith so you can reach your cup easily. Then it’s important to keep your whiskers out of the cup and your fur clean. Oh, and don’t slurp, that’s tacky! Sometimes though the tea and treats are just so good, you want to jump on the table! I suggest you only do that if invited to do so.
Navi, how did these amazing photos of your tea party come about?
Mommy loves to take pictures, especially of me (who wouldn’t?). She got a new tea set and although she’s not one of those female humans who love to dress up, but she does love to do fun, silly things (especially with me). When her father joked that she could have a tea party with me she thought, of course, what a purrrfect idea! Since she doesn’t get to see her Dad too often she thought our tea party photos would make him smile. You should have seen her setting the camera up on the tripod thing and then rushing to her chair to appear as though she was leisurely sipping her tea. It was funny!
She posted some of the photos on Facebook and we were surprised at how folks liked them (and all the compliments I received).
Yes, that’s how our female human found out about you and she couldn’t wait to see if you would allow us to interview you. Thanks, by the way.
You’re very welcome Jasmine!
Navi, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers before we finish our interview?
First, I want to thank everyone who noticed these photos my mommy took and for interviewing me! I think every human should try to spend more time with their kitties and involve them more. Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting felines go through your human’s dishes or start drinking out of their cups to indicate you’d like a tea party too. That could end badly. Better to offer some extra purrs and head butts or just sit quietly in a chair across the table from them. I’m sure they’ll get the hint and do something special for you too. Try to be as well behaved as I am and your humans may just take you on adventures. I get to go lots of places with Mommy.
I wish all my friends a furry Christmas. I can’t wait for Christmas and to open my stocking! There’s also something really big under the tree that I just know is for me! And of course, she’ll be taking more pictures to make more memories.
– Purrs & kisses – Navi
And Meows to you too Navi! Well folks, that’s it for our feature on Navi and her tea party. I’m hoping she’ll come back again sometime to share photos and stories about her next adventure.
Your friend, Jasmine
About Navi’s Human:
Crystal Howard is the photographer of these enchanting photos. She and Navi and the family live in Florida. Although the tea party photos depict her as quite elegant, she grew up in Michigan and spent most of her childhood on farms where she enjoyed running around the fields.
Crystal always loved animals (especially cats), nature, art and photography. When she was six, her grandmother gave her a Canon camera and that started her passion for photography.
Her first Siamese came to live with her when she was fifteen and she’s been in love with the breed ever since. She trained her first Siamese so well that the feline turned people who weren’t “cat people” into cat lovers.
Crystal’s relationship with her cats is one of deep love and affection cultivated by time spent with them. She says that Navi never ceases to amaze her and reminds her how smart and emotional animals can be.
Crystal says, “. I feel like all animals are amazing and have the ability to understand so much, sometimes we are just so busy we just don’t take time to notice or appreciate them. That is what I try to express through my photographs. When we get down to their level and interact or just observe we can see how incredible animals and nature really are. Cats especially are such a gift and I always say some of my most special cats have been my best friends and little lifesavers!”
It Isn’t Christmas Without Catmas Carols!
Hello All and Meowry Christmas,
Tucker here. As the Alpha in the house, it is my job to ensure that tradition is maintained during the holidays as regards the Tribe of Five.
The female human, many years ago, when she was dating the male human, purchased a book for the male human called “Catmas Carols”. It was her attempt to lure him into her feline loving world. It evidently worked because six months after they were married, they got a kitten (you can read the story in Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul, My Very Good, Very Bad Cat). The story is called “All My Children Wear Fur Coats”. The female human told me to tell you the book makes a good Christmas gift. I am disgusted that the female human would have me shilling for her this way but she does give us much love and care so I guess I owe her a plug for the book.
Anyway, to get back to the Catmas Carols, this little book has wonderful Christmas songs and the female human serenades us every Christmas with these wonderful feline carols. It is a long-standing tradition and one we love so, I thought I’d share a few of these wonderful songs with you. Catmas Carols was written by Laurie Loughlin and illustrated by Mary Ross and, if you are still looking for a gift for your feline friends, I’d highly recommend it.
I’ve featured the cover and two of the wonderful Catmas tunes. Sing along with your feline friends (and if the canines want to join in, please share the spirit of the holiday and allow them to sing along without swatting them.)
Your Friend,
Why Isn’t Alberto Walking Through The Web?
Hello Friends,
Alberto here. Many of you have noted that I’ve missed two weeks of Wednesdays walking through the web. I owe my fans an explanation and do apologize for this but there is a good reason. I am still recovering from my last stroll.
The female human thought it would be amusing to invite Oliver and I out with her the first morning the stuff the humans call “snow” arrived.
She opened the glass doors and stepped onto the upstairs deck. As she filled the bird/squirrel feeder she called to us to come out. Oliver jetted out, I walked out more gingerly. The older cats sat inside, by the open door watching us. (Note to self, take a cue from the big guys, they know what’s going on.)
Oliver, my goofy brother rolled in the freezing stuff and enjoyed himself for a while until a large bunch of the stuff fell off a tree branch right on his back.
I had no interest in exploring the entire deck with Oliver. I pussy-footed out a few steps and as soon as the snow stuff began to numb the pads of my paws, I froze.
Assessing the situation, I decided that 
returning to the warmth and comfort of the inside was an excellent idea and I did so posthaste.
Oliver, on the other hand scampered away from the human until the tree dumped that load of cold wet on him.
After we skedaddled inside (and suffered the mocking of the older cats) the human remarked upon our paw prints in the snowy stuff.
Both Oliver and I decided this winter thing was not so much fun and that we’d stick to watching the colder seasons from the wide ledges of our huge windows.
And this, my friends is why I haven’t done any walking lately, through the web or elsewhere.
I promise I’ll be back to my usual tasks next week and, in the meantime, Oliver and I urge you to stay warm!
“Is winter gone yet?”
So, You’re Visiting Our Humans…
Tucker Opines
Tucker here. The home of the Tribe of Five has been the destination for a number of visitors this year. We normally live a fairly quiet life, doing what we want, when we want, pretty much where we want. The arrival of human visitors always puts a bit of a crimp in our lifestyle.
There are a number of pre-guest things that happen in our house that we felines find objectionable. There is the copious use of the vacuum monster, the aggressive mop and the fact that some spaces, normally available to us are suddenly restricted.
The female human is a bit obsessive about cleaning and boy does she ramp up when people are coming to stay at our house. There’s a lot of toothbrush around the moldings, edges of the shower, etc. Really, in all my thirteen years, I have never seen a visiting human bend down to inspect the moldings in our house. I think the female human needs to chill.
This flurry of activity is the first indication that guests will be arriving. And then comes phase two, the guests arrive!
Each member of the Tribe of Five have certain requests of any interlopers….errr…guests that come to our home.
First, please remember that there are specific areas we have designated as our own personal rest spots. For me, it’s on top of the down cushion on the big red chair. When sitting in my chair, please do not lean too hard against the cushion in order not to disturb me.
You may want to bring your own personal sticky, roller thing. Although the female human has many around the house…in a house of five felines cat hair is the gift that keeps on giving.
Please be respectful of our schedule. The male human prepares our wet food dinner at approximately 4:00pm each day. If you have plans for the humans, I ask that you honor our dinner schedule. What you do after that is of no consequence to us.
Alberto Opines
Alberto here. The humans have this wonderful room with a big, comfy bed, lots of soft quilts and a perfect view of the trees, waterfall and forest below. This is one of my favorite nap places. When you arrive, the humans will escort you to this room, and then tell you that it is perfectly fine for you to keep the door closed. Do not believe them. It is not perfectly fine; it is in fact, quite rude in my estimation.
How am I supposed to get a nap when you shut my only access to this wonderful place? You visiting humans bring interesting smells on your shoes and luggage and we felines need a chance to come in and do a thorough sniffing observation. How can we know where you’ve been and what animals you have petted when you deny us access to this room?
When you sleep, it is particularly nice for us to be able to come in and walk across your face and sit on your chest so please, when our humans say, “You’ll probably want to keep the bedroom door closed” accept this for the lie that it is.
Oliver Opines
Oliver here. When Alberto and I were first brought to our home as fosters, we were very tiny and the humans used the large guest bathroom as our nursery. This is why I have a purrrticular fondness for this room.
In addition, the female human has the room decorated in black and white and I feel that it shows off my own beautiful coloring to it’s best advantage (and, if I sit very still, it works as fairly good camouflage).
One of my favorite games is “sneak in the bathroom, hide in the shower and then jump out” when the guest humans are sitting on the white, throne thing. I derive great delight in this although I must confess, some of the guest humans let out little scream sounds and act like they’re upset. Really, have you seen me? I’m a cute little guy with a black heart over my eye, how scary can I be?
The humans will use the same line regarding the guest bathroom door as they do with the guest bedroom door, giving guest humans full purrrmission to lock us out. Do not believe their lies. And for those guest humans who do choose to keep the door closed. Alberto and I will position ourselves in front of it and wait for you to come out so we can rush in.
Lily Opines
Lily here. I am extremely shy and human guests send me into a state of absolute terror. If you want to start out on the right paw with me, I BEG you, do NOT ring the doorbell! A soft knock on the door freaks me out as it is, but the horrible door bell will send me down the stairs in a panic and you may never see me again during your stay.
Because I am a scaredy-cat and none too sociable, I will probably remain downstairs during the length of your stay. If you insist on coming downstairs into my territory, I ask you to be extremely careful before you sit on the sofa. That lump you see under the couch cover is probably me.
If you go into the female human’s office downstairs, please observe the rules. It is expected that I will accompany you but none of the other felines are allowed. This is a contract I have had with the human for quite a while. It works well for us and I expect you to honor it.
Some of us are referred to as “darters” and when the humans tell you to make sure we don’t get out, they are very serious. We live in a woodsy area and there are a number of woodland creatures who show up and stare into the downstairs sliders. The upstairs deck is not so safe either. Tucker has fallen off the balcony twice into the ravine and Oliver launched himself downstairs when he was just a kitten. If you want our company outside, the humans will show you where they keep the pop up tent catio that allows us to be outside and stay safe.
If you are going to sit on a stool at the counter, you may not want to leave any meat items you are eating unattended. This goes for glasses of water as well. We probably won’t drink it but there’s a good chance it will end up on the floor.
Finally, when the female human does her nightly feeding of the mama raccoon, house rules state that I am to have a little of the cat food she gives them. It’s our little ritual.
That about covers it but remember, you may go your entire stay without ever meeting me.
Jasmine Opines
I am the “invisible” feline, Tucker’s 13-year old sister who was bullied severely and now lives in the human’s bedroom . The female human wrote about this. I am happy to say, things are progressing. Since the kittens Alberto and Oliver came to live with us, they visit me regularly. Lily comes in for a while every evening and the female human takes me for regular visits to the rest of the house. She says that one of her happiest days will be when the bedroom door is open and I roam the house again.
My tips are simple, please don’t ask to meet me, it might freak me out. Please don’t keep my humans up too late as bedtime is “me” time with my humans.
I am the least affected by company but I do know how much the humans enjoy those who come to visit so I say, come and visit, enjoy the view from the guest room and be sure and bring light colors and clothes that cat hair won’t cling to. And for heaven’s sake, leave your canines at home!
P.S. Don’t forget to check your luggage before you leave, Alberto is fast, sneaky and loves to hide in suitcases.
Walk Through the Web Wednesday 11/16
Hello World,
Alberto here. I’ve been purrrusing the internet looking for new and unusual feline themed stories and have some great ones for you this week. As next week is what the humans refer to as a “holiday” my purrsonal assistant may not be available to post my regular Wednesday feature. We will post an original photo and send Howl-iday wishes though.
In the meantime, enjoy this week’s features.
Your Friend,
Feature Shoot – Pounce by Seth Casteel
The human photographer Seth Casteel, is known for his books, Underwater Dogs and Underwater Puppies and has now turned his attention to shelter kittens. He captures some special shelter kittens with names like , Chicken, FruityPebble, Fuzzbucket, Doodlebug, and Jennifer, in mid-flight pounce. This wonderful human is highlighting the fact that there are between 30 and 40 million stray cats in the US. An estimated 1.4 million are euthanized in shelters, unable to find safe and loving homes. This book illustrates the joy of kittens and the fact that there are many cats and kittens who need forever homes in shelters all across the country. Every one of us in #TheTribeOfFive were adopted and we are all for anything that helps other felines find forever homes too.
Evening Standard – 10 adorable photographs of London’s most famous pub cats
As my regular readers know, this working feline loves stories about other working cats. This is a pictorial tribute to felines that work in “Boozers” as the English refer to the establishments also known as pubs. I think working in a pub would be quite interesting and I wonder, do they get tips like the human bartenders do?
Mental Floss – 11 Brilliant Gifts for the Cat In Your Life
The #TribeOfFive is pretty spoiled and we have lots of great toys and feline themed items. As a matter of fact, number 8 on the list is something we already have (and have reviewed), Music for Cats (we recommend it highly). There were many on this list that I found appealing but I finally decided the KitNipBox was my favorite. It works on so many levels, we felines get a gift a month and a portion of the monthly cost is donated to animal welfare organizations. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
What Do You Give The Cat Owner Who Has Everything? Katzenworld
‘Lest you think I’m completely selfish, I am also interested in what gifts are best for feline-loving humans. Our friends at Katzenworld and their guest poster, Mike James (who describes himself as a tech-obsessed, cat-loving content writer working with Best VPN) provide some excellent choices for your favorite humans this Christmas. I purrrused the list and can’t decide what I like best, the remote cat toys or the Meowlingual, cat translator. While it would be pawsome to have red dots and other kitty delights moving around the house while the humans are at work, it would be very handy for my humans to have a Meowlingual translator too. Just think, I could sit on the computer keyboard and dictate my Walk Through the Web Wednesday posts to my purrsonal assistant!
7 Sounds That Cats Make And What They Mean
While I’m on the subject of translating “cat-speak” if you don’t have a Meowlingual cat translator, you can still learn how to understand a bit of feline talk. You will be able to discern the difference between the trill, the bip, the yowl, the chatter and other feline expressions after reading this post by Care2. At our house, every one of #TheTribeOfFinve has some Siamese heritage and that means some are quite “yakky”. Sometimes it’s almost like a feline symphony at our place!
Changing Your Purrspective
Hello World,
Alberto here. I have been observing the humans lately and the female human appears to be in a state other humans refer to as “stressed out”. As a feline, I am unfamiliar with this. It is not in the feline nature, particularly the nature of a spoiled indoor feline living in a fear-free environment to have this “stressed out” condition.
Still, I care deeply for the feline human and pondered how I might go about assisting her. One morning it occurred to me. She needs a change of purrspective!
As the female human is on the “shortish” side (she requires a stool to reach the highest parts of the cabinets) and definitely not as coordinated or flexible as this feline , I decided to help her by finding her a new purrspective.
This was no easy feat. had to balance myself on a stack of antique suitcases in the corner of the dining room. From there I had to jump up to the top of the buffet and make my way through the slalom course of numerous crystal and silver candlesticks . From the buffet I leaped to the top of the kitchen cabinets and from there, I was at the highest point of the house.
I made myself comfortable on top of the big, white cat food keeper and was delighted to find that if I kicked my foot in just the right way, I could actually open the door of the cat food keeper. This was a bonus.
As I settled in to contemplate my lofty purrspective endeavoring to find some insight for the female human I heard a gasp and then “Alberto!”
Evidently the female human did not appreciate my efforts to assist her. She dragged her little stool over, stood on it and dragged me from my spot.
That’s the thanks a feline gets for trying to help the humans with a problem. I am sorely disappointed that she did not appreciate my efforts. Next time I will 
show the same lack of concern as my brother Oliver, who is always more interested in his own state of being than that of anyone else.
Good-bye for now, your Friend,
Mewsical
Hello World,
Alberto here (but you can call me Al, all my friends do). Today I wanted to write about the 
strange fixation the male human has for this thing he calls a gee-tar. The male human has a very nice mewsic room downstairs (which, by the way none of the Tribe are invited to visit) but he often brings the gee-tar upstairs and strums it while he sits on the sofa.
I find this behavior a bit rude. The firm, unwritten rules of our household state that “when a human sits on any piece of furniture, said human will make their lap available to any feline who may be so inclined to sit on said lap.”
I am not a cat who easily takes no for an answer so I figured I’d hop on top of the human and get a closer look at this gee-tar thingy that he found more interesting than me. At first glance, I was not impressed.
Evidently the female human is not impressed with the gee-tar because she often complains about the male human “twanging” on the thing when she’s attempting to watch the moving images in the big flat box in the living room.
But I digress. So there I was, checking out this thing when I heard some noises coming from it. Hmm, the male human runs his fingers along the string things and noises come 
out. The male human uses a bright-colored teardrop shaped cat toy he refers to as a “pick”. What a shame that humans don’t have the sharp teeth and claws we felines possess, they would never need to bother with the “pick.”
The male human did not pick up on my polite hint that I needed his attention so I decided to focus some more attention on his gee-tar.
As I came in closer, I noticed that the string things moved when he plucked at them. Could this be some wonderful new cat toy? Is it possible that the human brought this thing upstairs for my amusement and edification? Hmm, maybe I was a bit to fast to jump to judgment.
I thought, In light of this new information I must show the human my appreciation. I leaned in closer preparing to help him coax a noise from the string things on his gee-tar. This could be quite a bonding moment, I thought. If I get this right I can help him compose a tune that he could play to accompany Tucker when he stands outside the bedroom of the humans and sings the song of his people in the wee hours of the morning. (That’s just how I am, a cat that cares about everyone in his tribe, human and feline.)
I leaned in, lifted my lips back and got one of those string things in my mouth. Just as I was getting ready to pull it, I found myself unceremoniously dumped off the humans lap and onto the floor. Can you believe it? The human does not honor the code of the house and make room for me on his lap and then, when I am attempting to assist him, he dumps me on the floor.
It took me a few moments to recover from the indignity but I am a jovial fellow and prefer not to let conflict into my life. After giving myself a good wash, I hopped into the chair where the female human was sitting. She understands the rules of the house quite well and petted me and told me what a handsom guy I am. Finally, after receiving enough affirmations to renew my self-confidence, I twitched my tail, jumped off her lap and sashayed off to the dining room window to check for birds and squirrels.
Your friend,
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