Walk Through The Web Wednesday 9/5

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Hi There Furiends,
Fall has arrived here in the Inland Northwest. Our summer was waaaaay too short, we had so much smoke we were stuck inside for most of the time.  Ah well, if the weather says nice I still may get some kayak training with The Female Human!

Here are my finds for the week, enjoy!
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Siamese cat with blue eyes

A Cats Only Grooming Salon – Pilot Online

cat being washed at cat salon

Prepare to have all your cat grooming stereotypes blown away! There is a feline only grooming salon in Yorktown, VA.  The owners of Purricious Styles  say that cats are not as adverse to water as you humans may think (and of course, I wholeheartedly agree). What I do take exception to is that they also state they have special equipment like muzzle cones for “snippy cats”. Muzzles, snippy cats?? Hmmm. If your feline in residence is looking for a new do and you live in the area, you might want to call Purricious Styles 
and see about getting kitty a lion or teddy bear clip. As for me, I’ll just leave my handsome fur the way it is.

Headed to the Vet? Calm Your Cat With a New Feline Radio Station- Mental Floss

Siamese cat listens to music

We felines are not so fond of being shoved in a box, dumped in the metal moving machine and being taken to the place with white coats. I don’t know about the rest of you but all the members of The Tribe of Five loudly sing the song of their people all the way. If we’re singing anyway yu might as well turn on the radio to Calm Pet Radio. It not only provides music but it calms us down as well.

Cat Calm Radio plays music by David Teie, a composer who writes music targeted at cats’ preferences. His songs feature sounds that will be familiar and soothing to cats, like beats similar to the sound of suckling milk, played at the frequencies cats use to communicate with each other. Researchers have found that cats respond better to his cat-specific tunes than to human music. We didn’t need researchers to tell us this. The Female Human purchased the first album from Davied Teje called Music for Cats and we like it very much.

The online cat music station was launched in honor of National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day on August 22. “We’re one of the only radio stations to play species-specific music, designed to have a calming effect on your cat in the car, especially on trips to the vet,” the website explains. You can listen online here.  We opined about this music on our website FelineOpines.com and you can even see videos of our first experiences with our favorite mewsic.

The Best Cosplaying Cats of All Time – Gamebyte

cosplay black and white cat

If any of you are wondering, “What the heck is cosplay and what does it have to do with cats?” , allow me to explain. Cosplay is a strange hobby that many humans don’t want to admit they are involved in.  The short definition (according to Wickipedia) is, ” a contraction of the words costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear self-made costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.” Okay, I’m fine with humans putting on silly costumes but when you take your feline and stuff him or her into a ridiculous costume and then take photos for all the world to see, well that’s another matter completely! 

I must admit that most of the cosplay cats in this article look pretty proud of themselves, but in case my Humans get any great ideas, thanks but no thanks, The Tribe of Five have taken a vote and it was a unanimous NO to cosplay and costumes of any sort.

This Collection Turns Your Existing Furniture Into a Cat Tree – Apartment Therapy

black cat on cat furniture

The Female Human is always griping about how scroungy our existing cat furniture looks, how expensive new cat trees are, blah, blah,blah. Well now some smart humans have come up with a way to turn existing furniture in cat furniture!

Often cat furniture is bulky, ugly and can’t fit into smaller spaces. Even though we felines love to sleep on your stuff (your bed, your computer keyboard, your face….) we still need a place of our own.  The folks at Catssup have come up with some purrfect feline furniture designs. Now you don’t have to buy a new piece of furniture, you transform your existing furniture into cat friendly furniture!  The people at Catssup say it’s space saving, easy to install and integrates easily into any human home.  This is what the designers of Catssup say about their furniture, “”Instinctively, cats are more comfortable with heights because it provides them with a secure vantage point to survey the world below. Unfortunately, many modern households are unable to provide vertical spaces due to limited interior space and the bulkiness of conventional cat trees.”. Well, I say tell your humans to get out their credit card and head over to Catssup right away!

These Cat Face Towels Will Make Washing Off Your Makeup WAY More Fun – Bustle

cat face towel with ginger cat face

If your female human spends every night washing off the stuff she put on her face in the morning, you may want to point her in the direction of these towels. Once again, our friends across the pond, who are always ahead of the game when it comes to felines, have created these fun face towels (or wash clothes as we call them in the good old U.S. of A.) These  Cat Face Towels from Firebox  are the cat’s meow for your bathroom.

kitty-coin-bank_29845Firebox is an online retailer based in London that offers all kinds of  unusual gifts, home decor, techie gadgets, food, and drink. There are quite a few fun things for cat lovers, Pusheen slippers, cat mugs and even a wonderful kitty coin bank where you can drop your savings to use to buy something special for your feline.

Oliver Opines on Boxes, Brothers and other stuff on Friendly Fill Ins #120

Hi There Folks,
It’s my turn to share my feline wisdom on this week’s fill ins. This is a blog hop hosted by our furiends 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs. You can hop on over to their sites and enter your blog post or, if you purrfer, just opine about your answers in the comment section of this post.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
black and white cat Oliver

Here are this week’s Fill In Questions:

1. The best teacher I ever had was _____________________.
2. The worst teacher I ever had was ____________________.
3. I recently learned how to _________.
4. I think everyone should know how to _________.

Here are my answers:

1. The best teacher I ever had was (and is) our Alpha Tucker. He shares his wisdom with me all the time. My favorite lesson was how he taught me to find every sliver of sun and revel in it!

2. The worst teacher I ever had was (and is) my brother Alberto who will make me sit with him for hours watching for bugs and birds. Even if we see them, we can’t catch them because they are outside! Sheesh!

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3. I recently learned how to  hide myself in a box so that if the female human came by from the right side, I can scare her silly.
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4. I think everyone should know how to chill, hide and relax like a cat!

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Walk Through The Web Wednesday 8/29

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Well hello there furiends,
Boy did Wednesday come quick this week. Our terrible smokey air is getting better and we even had rain this week! The temperatures are much cooler and fall is coming. Here’s hoping all the fires that surround us will be contained completely. We worry about the humans and the poor forest creatures that are burned out of their homes.

I hope you enjoy this week’s items.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Siamese cat with blue eyes

These Cats (and a dog and a chicken) make way more money than you – Fashion Spot

ChoupetteLAGERFILED

Choupette Lagerfeld

The Female Human is constantly whining about The Tribe of Five “earning our keep”. We remind her that we are internet sensations and she responds with “Show me the money.”  Now in our defense, Karl Lagerfeld’s is already famous and his cat, Choupette, earns the equivalent of 692 black Chanel 2.55 handbags annually — or a total of $3,808,000. With 114,000 followers on Instagram, Choupette rose to fame in 2012 when she started her modeling career in V magazine. Two years later, her book Choupette: The Private Life of a High Flying Fashion Cat was published. Not too shabby for a young cat. (I think it’s important to insert here that The Tribe of Five wrote a book too). So, my response to The Female Human is, “What have you done to become famous?”

Now the phenom, Grumpy Cat, became famous all on his own and his human remains in the background. Grumpy earns $12,693,333 a year. (That’s a lot of catnip!).  And do you remember Keyboard Cat? He has now crossed the rainbow bridge but he’s still bringing in $95,200,000 a year! If you want to know what other famous pets earn, go to Pets of the Net, an online calculator created by pet food brand Webbox, and find out  how much six of the most beloved and popular pets are earning. Meowza, The Tribe of Five really needs to step up our game!

 

 

Nathan the Beach Cat – Popsugar

black cat loves swimming in the ocean

What’s cooler than a sleek house panther? A house panther that likes to swim in the ocean! Nathan — or Nathan the Beach Cat was found in a box on the freeway in Australia and adopted by humans Rian and Mel and now she’s living the vida loca!

Nathan has to 318,000 Instagram followers and is capturing the attention of the internet because of her swimming skills. Nathan’s favorite pastimes are swimming our lounging on the beach with her humans.

cat on boogie board in the oceanThe Tribe of Five have a water loving feline friend called Purrseidon who is an ocean loving, boogie boarding feline. You can read Purrseidon’s story here. 

You can also read about Purrseidon’s first boogie board lesson in case your feline in residence is interested in this sport.
Sadly, due to the fires that have surrounded us all  summer and the very unhealthy air quality, my kayaking training has been postponed. I’m crossing my paws that we have a long, warm fall so that The Female Human and I can give it a try.

 

Purr-fectly adorable: 5 cute things we saw at Pop Cats in Austin – Austin360.com

cat art

You know I’m a sucker for feline themed events. This one called Pop Cats,  a vendor market, adoption fair and overall celebration of all things cats in Austin, Texas sounds like it was a purrfect event. There was cat art, the cat rapper Moshow, a caticorn, a cat cosplay and of course, cats, cats and more cats. I’m glad the humans had fun but the most important part of this event was the cats, those who were looking for furever homes and those who traveled to the event with their humans (this was a BYOC (bring your own cat) event).

Why Do Cats Eat Grass? – Mother Nature Network

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The Tribe of Five loves our grass. Normally we eat wheat grass but we have been known to munch on the grass outside as well.  There are lots of reasons we eat grass.  Grass acts as a natural laxative, when we have tummy aches, eating grass often helps us get rid of whatever is bothering us (can you say “hair ball”?). Sometimes if we felines eat grass obsessively it can mean we are stressed.

If you humans want to provide grass to your felines in residence, pleases make sure it is good for us!

 

 

Adorable Rescue Kittens Get a Sweet Newborn Photo Shoot to Help Them Get Adopted – My Modern Met

Ginger kitten in baby picture

I am always a fan of creative ideas that shelters use to promote feline adoptions. Photographers have a very important role to play and the more creative the photos. the better chance the feline has of finding a furever home. We have a great photo lady at our shelter (Panhandle Animal Shelter) and she’s always coming up with new ideas.

A human named Brandy Suppi rescued a Momma cat who had just had kittens. She asked her friend, photographer Heather Scott of LaMon photography to do a newborn kitten shoot. Well, all you have to do is look at these pictures to know these humans came up with a fantastic idea! The photos and adoption information was posted on Facebook 
and it looks like these little guys will all be enjoying a furever home soon.  Does your local shelter have a “picture lady” or “picture guy”? Maybe they might want to try kitten baby photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tucker Opines On Grumpiness& Fears in This Week’s Friendly Fill Ins # 119

Hello Furiends,
Tucker here. I hope you’re enjoying your Friday. The Tribe of Five is getting ready for a relaxing Caturday but before that, I am sharing my fill in answers this week. This blog hop is hosted by 15 and Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs and you’re invited to join in. If you’d rather opine about your answers here, just note them in the comments. Have a great weekend and thanks to all of you who sent prayers and good wishes to my sister Jasmine. She is doing better and we’re grateful!
Purrs & Head Bonks,
TuckieSig

Here are this week’s Fill In Questions:

1. ______________________ brings out the best in me.
2. _______________________makes me grumpier than Grumpy Cat.
3. If money grew on trees, I would _________.

4. I have a fear of _________.

Here are my answers:

1.A fresh, new box brings out the best in me.
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2. Getting my breakfast or dinner late makes me grumpier than Grumpy Cat.

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3. If money grew on trees, I would have The Humans buy a furry throw for the sofa to enjoy my morning, mid-morning, afternoon, mid-afternoon and evening naps.
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4. I have a fear of the evil vacuum monster.
siamese cat on flowered sofa

Oh no, she’s taking out the vacuum monster!

 

Jasmine Opines On Take Your Cat To The Vet Day

Hi There Furiends,
Jasmine here. I am talking to you about this important day because I’ve been seeing quite of bit of the folks in white coats the last few weeks. Even though The Female Human takes us all to that place every year for wellness exams, sometimes things still happen. In my case I became very sick and was diagnosed with kidney disease. The Humans are giving me sub-cutaneous fluid every other day and antibiotics and I am beginning to feel better and am putting on a little weight.

You say, when you go to the vet for regular wellness visits they have information that makes it easier to diagnose you and to help you. Even though I’m a lady kitty a bit advanced in years, my vet, and yours, can help you to be your most healthy self. Please make at least a yearly wellness visit to your vet!
Purrs & Head Bonks,

Jasmine

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 8/22

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Hi There Furiends,
It’s Wednesday again and I’m bringing you the best of my web wanderings of the week.  I hope you enjoy this week’s finds.
Purrs & Head Bonks
Siamese cat with blue eyes

Office Envy, Inside Appneta and It’s Special Area for Cats and Dogs – BOSTINNO

APPNeta

Frankly, this feline is a bit weary of hearing offices tout the fact that they are “dog friendly”. What about feline friendly?! Why are humans with felines in residence discriminated against? When I saw this feature I was quite the happy kitty as this company, APPNeta located in Boston, MA has a corner dedicated to the four-legged kids of the employees complete with toys, food and a soft cushion. This all sounds great but this feline had a hard time finding any evidence that cats are welcome there (I found one photo of a little dog running around). There is no cat tree, no litter box and the toys look distinctly canine. I made our Purrsonal Assistant try to blow up the photos on the board to see if any cats were featured but she couldn’t get a clear enough look. So, although they say cats are welcome, I cannot guarantee that felines actually go to work there. If any of my readers are in the Boston area or know about this company, I’d love to know if cats are really welcome. Conclusion, it’s a great idea but is it really hosting cats?

University Allows Dogs and Cats to Live in Dorm – nbc-2.com

cats in dorms

While we’re on the subject of humans finally thinking outside the box when it comes to felines, this is a great example. I cam across this article about Southeast Missouri State University allowing students to bring their feline (oh yeah, and canine) friends to college. They have a special dorm that is pet friendly for this one year pilot program. Pet owning students are already applying for the program. Now don’t despair human students if you don’t live in Missouri. I also found a list of the 25 most pet friendly colleges.  Two paws up to these forward thinking humans!

Yes, You Can Hold Your Cat Like A Baby – Lifehack

tabby cat in a snuggly

Now let me just say that this photo does not make me want to jump into one of those hangy things and truth be told, that feline isn’t looking over the moon about this idea.

Veterinarian Dr. Uri Burstyn has a series of videos on handling cats on YouTube under his secondary identity as the Helpful Vancouver Vet. And wouldn’t you know, one of the most frequent questions he gets is from humans asking if it’s okay to hold their felines like babies.  In other words, flipping the feline over on it’s back. The short answer is maybe, it depends on the cat and your relationship with said cat.

orange tabby in a slilng carrierI like how the writer of the article put it, “The reason you can’t just grab any cat baby-style is obviously because you’re turning the pointy ends towards your face, and a cat that doesn’t like this position or who is easily started will use your face as a ladder to escape. “.  And as if it isn’t enough for you humans to hold us like babies you also seem to want to insert in contraptions that are made to carry babies. As regards the photo on the top I say “No way!” The slingy-side thing might work. The Tribe of Five is still discussing the issue. What do you think my feline friends? Do you like to be held baby style?

 

The 8 Best Toys for Cats Home Alone – Bustle

siamese cat with cat tunnel

If your humans leave the house to go to the place they call “work” so that they can buy you fancy food, treats and toys then these items are for you. We all know that when that front door shuts, there is a long time before you get any cuddles, treats, or ear scratches. So what’s a cat to do? Well we don’t sleep all day so our humans would be smart to find us some toys that will make the time pass more quickly.

I liked the tunnel and the activity toys but there is one they didn’t mention that we have at our house and that’s the battery operated red dot machine.  Do you have a favorite toy that helps you pass the time until your humans return home?

I Went On A 4,000-Mile Road Trip With My Cat And This Is What Happened – Matador Network

orange tabby in backpack with window

This is a great story on so many levels. First and foremost, this cat is a formal feral who had a hard life until she was adopted. This is what the author says, “Last year, I took in a six-year-old feral cat with three teeth and mouth herpes. We named her FatFace, and she has become the center of my universe.” It’s a love story.

It’s also a realistic adventure story as the author chronicles Fat Face’s long journey from it’s shaky beginning to the end when Fat Face hung out on the center console and watched the world go by.

Finally, it’s a “how to” of you are contemplating a long car adventure with your humans. All in all a great story!

 

 

 

 

Oliver Celebrates Black Cat Appreciation Day

black cat appreciation day

Hi There Folks,
Since I am the only Tribe of Five member who could even come close to qualifying as a black cat (or almost black cat) I am posting about some amazing black cats of Instagram. The Tribe did have a black cat named Buster who went over the Rainbow Bridge and he was quite the gent. I sent our purrsonal assistant out to find some pawsome black cat photos at #blackcatsofinstagram.  So put your paws together and celebrate our inky feline furiends!
Purrs & Head Bonks,
black and white cat Oliver

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Lily is Thankful

Hello There Furiends,
Lily here. I am purrticipating in  Brian’s Thankful Thursday Blog Hop. I am very thankful that The Humans have reserved a special room just for me. It has a great view to the garden below and a nice fan over the bed for hot days. I often hang out there and just think about things. You know, the important stuff cats think of like how long ’till dinner, when will The Female Human break out the catnip again or when will the next empty box arrive?”
I don’t understand though, why they call my room the “Guest Room”. Why don’t they just call it “Lily’s Room” and if any of those so called guests show up, just tell them they will be staying in Lily’s room!
Siamese cat on bed

Lily Makes Friends

So I was just minding my own business downstairs and I looked out and WHOA, what did I see?

Siamese cat sees Tabby cat

Hey, I better get over there and see who this dude is, he’s certainly not part of our tribe.
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Hi there. My name is Lily. What’s your name. Oh, and I don’t think you want to be in the woods in our back yard, there are raccoons, skunks and even bears sometime. I see you have a collar on so I suggest you skedaddle back home my furiend. Nice to meet you though.

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 8/15 Alberto Opines on

siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Happy Wednesday My Furiends,
I don’t know what Wednesday means to you but at our house it means the humans in the big noisy truck come by our driveway, grab the green and the blue things The Humans keep in the garage and dump the contents into the truck. The Tribe of Five have pondered this weekly ritual and can only surmise it is some sort of human kitty litter cleaning exercise.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy these little gems I found in my weekly purrusal of the web.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Siamese cat with blue eyes

Local Musician Takes Care of Stray Cats – News Channel 5 Nashville

Nashville musician feeds stray black cat

I am a great mewsic fan which is why this news story resonated with me. A songwriter in Nashville, Chris Gantry, leaves his house at 3a.m. to feed stray cats in his old neighborhood. He wants to bring attention to the growing stray cat population and raise awareness for these feral felines. He even wrote a song about it. He is a staunch supporter for  TNR (trapping, neutering, and releasing stray cats) that have been on the streets their entire lives. He works with Metro Animal Care and Control with his TNR efforts.

He knows all his feral furiends but is especially close to a black cat called Midnight, who is the only feral not afraid to show herself to him in the day light.  He calls her the Queen of Belmont.  He calls Midnight a fierce, beautiful young black cat.

Before Gantry could trap her and get her spayed, she had one litter of kittens and  Gantry took them to get neutered and adopted. He says of Midnight, “This cat is wild. She would never let anybody touch her accept me. Unfortunately, that’s the tough part.”

Two paws up for Chris Gantry and his work for feral cats!

California community cat garden helps feral cats get adopted – abc7 eyewitness News

cat garden gets feral cats adopted

Whenever you humans come up with a creative idea to help homeless kitties, I say “Bravo”. There is a lady in Milpitas, California doing just that.  Instead of euthanizing feral felines, they’re gently coaxed to trust humans and to become loving house or yard pets.

Lorrie Sprain works in administration at the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. But she focuses a lot of her attention in a garden just a few feet away. It’s called the Marilyn & Fred Anderson Community Cat Garden, a fenced in area which feral cats call home.

This lady is a real life cat whisperer who talks lovingly and softly to the new kitties who arrive at the garden, gradually winning their trust and calming them down. She says, “”You have to have patience, and you can get them to come out and eventually you can pet them.”  The process can take a month but the rewards are great. This program has adopted out 260 felines.

Many feral cats taken to shelters are given a death sentence and this program gives them the second chance they deserve.
The community cat garden has been so successful, the Humane Society of Silicon Valley has gotten additional funding to expand it from a current capacity of about 12 to 24.

Bravo, purrs, head bonks and two paws up for this innovative program!

Pick A Cat Name Your Cat Will Answer To – Lifehacker

black and white cat under sofa

This is Oliver ignoring The Female Human

Dr. Uri Burstyn has created a YouTube video that gives you humans some insight into naming us felines.  The doctor explains that we felines have ears that are fine tuned to hear high pitched noises. He uses his cat Lancelot as an example. Lancelot doesn’t really respond to his name but if he hears “Lan-CEY!” he does pay attention.

Now this makes me wonder if this is why The Humans have nicknames for all of us. Maybe they instinctively figured out that we respond to some names and not others. For instance, Tucker is often referred to as “Tuck-EEE” and Jasmine is “Jaz-EEE”. Lily is often called Lily Bug or Bug but based on this doctor’s premise, The Humans should just call her “Lil-EEE”. Oliver is “Oll-EEE” bat sadly, I am referred to as “Alberto or Al”. Purrhaps it’s time The Humans gave me a new nickname!

New TV Show Looking for Crazy Cats – ChronicleLive.UK

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Once again our friends across the pond have something new and exciting for felines (and actually their humans as well). A new TV show is asking folks to send in information about their crazy cats. The call out from Athena Films, reads “We are on the lookout for crazy moggies for new series on when cats attack!

As hard as you many find it to believe, some of us do exhibit behavior that makes life with us a little difficult. You know, stuff like having to wear gloves and body armor to clip nails or needing an extra hour to get your furry family member into a carrier for that visit to the place with white coats. I certainly hope they will be offering advice and help to both the humans and the felines!

Aberdeen University’s favourite feline voted one of Europe’s cutest cats – The Press and Journal

white cat Buttons from Aberdeen college

Aberdeen University’s favourite feline, Buttons, has been voted one of Europe’s cutest cats in an international ranking of campus animals. Buttons is a white tomcat and is a celebrity on campus, known to spend most of his time near the philosophy department.

Study.Eu, which offers information on English-taught study programmes in Europe, chose the puss based on his “political ambitions”. Earlier this year Buttons was nominated by students to become the university’s new rector, a position once held by Sir Winston Churchill.

His supporters claimed that since the cat was “apolitical” and “fluffy,” he would have been the “ideal candidate”. Sadly, Buttons did not win the seat but remained in good spirits after the loss.