Happy Wednesday Furiends!
The main focus of The Tribe this week has been the draconian measures The Human has implemented due to Oliver and my wellness visit last week and the stern edict from the woman in the white coat at the stabby place that we MUST lose weight.

I will say that Oliver is taking this much worse than I am. On the whole I am a rather, “take life as it comes and don’t sweat the small suff” kind of feline. Oliver, on the other hand lives to eat and this food restriction is taking it’s toll on him.

In light of this drama in Oliver’s life and his journaling through the days of what he believes, will be his certain demise, we will be allowing Oliver some space on the blog to share his journal with us from time to time.

On a more positive note, Lily, who I might mention is receiving treats on the sly from The Human, wanted me to share her flag day celebration photo.

Well, that’s enough about us. I hope you enjoy this week’s news items!

Filter Claims To Show How Cats See the World—And the Results Are Intriguing

There is a new viral filter on video sharing site TikTok that’s helping humans see through the eyes of their cats. There are also some images showing how cat’s see in LiveScience.com created by Nickolay Lamm.

With over 35,000 videos on the platform, the filter was created by global pet sitting platform TrustedHousesitters and claims to show owners how we felines view the world.

Angela Laws, head of community at TrustedHousesitters, told Newsweek. “We created this tool to allow people to learn more about pet vision, as it’s very different from ours.”

You humans have trichromatic vision which means you can perceive a wide range of colors, but we felines have dichromatic vision with only two types of color receptors in our eyes, ( humans have three.)

Still, there is some hissing back and forth about exactly which colors cats can see. Some experts say we see only blue and gray tones, others believe we also see yellow like dogs.

In 2016, a paper published in the National Library of Medicine explained: “Despite extensive study, the basic nature of feline spectral sensitivity is still unresolved.” In other words, you humans still have no clue.

Experts do agree that cat’s color receptors are more sensitive to blue and green light, much like humans with red-green color blindness.

The cat vision filter has impressed pet owners like Nay on TikTok. She posted a video to the platform that now has 14.4 million views. In the video, she shines a laser pen and shows how the filter warps the light and says “I finally understand” She goes on to say she’d chase a laser light too if it looked the way a cat sees it.

What do you think my feline furiends, did the scientists get it right?

‘My cousin insists I change my cat’s name so she can use it for her baby daughter’

Oh good grief, give me a break. After realizing that her cousin has used her “dream” baby name for their cat, a pregnant woman is insisting that the “selfish” pet owner changes the name.

The anonymous cat lover sought advice on Reddit and questioned whether they were being unreasonable for refusing to change the name.

They explained: “So I recently adopted a wonderful sweetie of a shelter cat named Millie. That’s the name that the shelter gave her, I thought it suited her and she responds to it, so I didn’t change it.”

The Reddit user went on: “The other week, my pregnant cousin ‘Carrie’ (who I’m moderately close to) posted a list of potential baby names on her social media and Millie was on the list.

“I commented to remind her of my cat’s name, and she DMed me to ask me to change Millie’s name because she and her fiancé really liked that name for their daughter.

“I refused because my cat had her name first, and Carrie called me selfish for valuing a ‘stupid cat’ over her daughter.

“I told her that my cat is not stupid and that I wouldn’t mind if her baby shared a name with my cat, but if it was an issue for her, she could choose a different name. She again called me selfish and said she had to go.

“I was feeling a bit conflicted, so I went to my sister (a mother herself so I hoped she’d offer some perspective) and she said that she understands where I was coming from, but that babies should come before pets.”

Seeking advice, they added: “She said that it would be really kind of me to change my cat’s name and that she knows how important a couple’s ‘dream name’ is. Now I’m feeling more confused than ever, so am I the a**hole?”

Since sharing the thread online, the Reddit user’s post has raked in over 2,500 comments to date – where people assured the pet owner that they weren’t being unreasonable.

I wouldn’t need thousands of people giving advice, I say to the pregnant lady, get over it! Oliver has the same name as one of The Human’s nephews as did our Angel Tucker. Lily is named after the little girl who used to live next door and I’m named after Alberto Contador, the cyclist. No one has complained to us!

Non-profit ‘Whiskers’ in Utah dedicated to giving high-risk cats a second chance

I love stories about humans who go the extra mile for kitties with needs. Many cats in Utah’s shelters are considered to be “high-risk.” This could be seniors, medical cases, and special needs animals.

Whiskers is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving all cats a second chance; and helping our four-legged friends isn’t an easy job.

Jessica Vigos, runs the organization in her basement where she can house a dozen cats at any given time.

“This is Link, he has diabetes,” Vigos said. She opened another cage. “This is Sausage, he has kidney failure.”

Vigos has been working with various shelters and rescues for over a decade

“I’ve trapped, spayed, and nurtured over 3500 cats,” she said.

 “Really my passion of why Whiskers was made was to help those cats that are pretty much the underdog and overlooked,” Vigos said.

Over the years Jessica has brought hundreds of cats into her home. It is very normal for a cat to be with Whiskers for six months. Some even stay for a year.

She and her team of almost 30 volunteers do whatever it takes to find these special cats a new home.

Volunteers like Kate Johnson gives her time to Whisker which means  doing laundry or cleaning litter boxes and all agree that there is satisfaction in the work as they’ve helped Jessica’s workload a little easier.  

The cost of medications, food, and litter can add up quick for these special needs kitties, running $4,000 to $6,000 a month and higher if there are emergencies.  The Human knows this very well as she cared for our Angel Jasmine’s kidney disease for a number of years.

We give Jessica and Whiskers a two paws up for their wonderful work.

Want to help rescue cats? Buy these adorable charity cat keycaps

June is ‘Adopt a Shelter Cat Month’ and the company Drop has created computer key caps with kitties on them. You can buy them here.

The MT3 NoveltyCats keycaps come in a pack of four, fittingly cat-themed, based on the iconic black cat Jiji from Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service. There are only 550 sets in total and the proceeds from each purchase will be entirely donated to the ASPCA, guaranteeing that you can help fund rescue care and adoption for real-life shelter cats.

Now that’s an idea that makes me purr!

San Francisco Airport adds first cat to roster of therapy animals

I’ve covered stories of airport therapy cats and now, a once-stray cat rescued by a shelter and adopted by a loving family is helping humans at a California airport.

Duke Ellington Morris, a 14-year-old black-and-white cat, became the first feline to join the San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO) team of therapy animals known as the “Wag Brigade” at the end of May.

In 2010, Duke was rescued from the streets of San Francisco where he was found starving among other feral cats and brought to the San Francisco Animal Care and Control. There, a 5-year-old girl spotted the tuxedo cat and her family quickly took him home.

Duke Ellington Morris joined the California airport’s Wag Brigade as the first feline to join the San Francisco International Airport’s team of therapy animals.

It was Duke’s calm and warm demeanor that motivated his humans to get him certified as a therapy animal through the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ animal assisted therapy program.

 Duke, who is named after the jazz great, has been working as an animal therapist for the past decade by visiting patients in hospitals all over the city to comfort them in trying times.

Now, he’ll also be helping airport visitors relieve travel-related stress as he joins SFO’s therapy animal crew which includes several dogs as well as a rabbit named Alex the Great and a pig named LiLou.  

The non-human therapists walk around the airport’s terminals wearing “Pet Me” vests as a way to comfort anxious travelers. The program launched in 2013 and returned in 2021 after a 20-month hiatus due to the COVID pandemic. I don’t know about your humans but our human would love to pet a therapy cat at the airport (she’s a big scardey cat when it comes to flying).