Hello Furiends!
We hope you and your humans had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. It was nice that The Human had a little bit of extra time to spend with us and we loved it.

Now that the weather is getting wintery The Human has rolled out one of our favorite heating devices. It doesn’t get too hot so it’s a nice spot to sit and enjoy the warmth it provides. The problem is that there really is only room for one cat and this sometimes causes discord as you can see below.

Needless to say, Oliver and I worked out a heater seating deal.

Now it’s time to see what news we found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy the stories.

There are heroes and then there are HEROES

Our human family has connections with the military and we always apurreciate the service of our soldiers. This Air Force veteran is continuing his public service by helping Asheville, NC communities and surrounding areas catch cats that got a little too curious.

Retired Air Force colonel Spencer Cocanour offers free help through Asheville Tree-Top Cat Rescue, rescuing cats from trees. His career went from working special operations and personal recovery with planes and pilots to personal recovery of cats.

His service to local felines started with a conversation with his wife when she noticed his climbing kit in the garage. When she asked what it was, he responded that he might have to rescue a cat some day and that was the start of it all.

As of the time of his interview with NBC24 he had rescued 140-150 cats.

Cat rescuing is almost as dangerous as his military duties, especially when he has to climb a dead tree. He tries to avoid them and says he’ll try to climb a live tree next to it and either swing over to the dead tree or tie off on another so he doesn’t end tumbling down.

Cocanour says most cats will come down on their own by day two but that’s not always the case.“Dehydration is my biggest concern when it comes to a cat in a tree,” he said. “So if you go more than four days, they start having a lot of kidney issues.”

Colonel Cocanour, we felines salute you and thank you for your service to treed kitties. If you’re a brave soul that would like to help Cocanour on his mission or you just need your cat rescued, you can contact him through Facebook on the Asheville Tree-Top Cat Rescue page.

“As long as I’m still able to climb the trees, I’m still doing it,” he said. “Keeps me entertained.”

Not all scents make sense for cats

The holidays are especially scenty and we felines don’t always like them all. Some of the smells you humans like are not apurreciated by felines.

Our sense of smell is strong. What you humans can smell from 10 feet away, we cats can smell 140 feet away — that’s half the length of a football field.  

Smells that we do not like are some spices, strong seasonings, citrus and even some fruits. We also object to the smell of overripe bananas and essential oils, like tea tree, peppermint, cinnamon, pine and wintergreen. Please keep these smells away from our litter boxes.

Also some essential oils in diffusers are toxic to cats and cause terrible health issues. So please, think of your feline and try to keep our home a little less scenty.

A $70,000 backyard amenity – for your feline

Well, Christmas is coming and what feline wouldn’t a mansion-like catio?

According to Business Insider there are only about 50 builders in the world who specialize in indoor-outdoor enclosures. Alan Breslauer, owner of Southern California-based Custom Catios, is one of them.

Breslauer started in the business when his two bickering kittens couldn’t share space in his Los Angeles high-rise apartment. He found an article about catios, installed one in his home, brought peace to his feline household and launched a business.

Breslauer lives with three cats, Santos Six Toes, Herbie the Love Bug, and Trey  and is now the go-to guy on the West Coast for custom cat enclosures. His business is booming and you can see his work at @CatioGuy on Instagram, where he has 158,000 followers. Since launching in 2017, Breslauer’s company has built about 400 enclosures, with most clients paying between $5,000 and $15,000, but some doling out as much as $70,000 or more, he said.

And if any of you humans think this is a pricey gift for your felines, Breslauer says, “It’s like keeping a sports car in the garage. Cats have all this amazing equipment, and we don’t let them use it.”

What kind of things can a feline expect from a $15,000.00 plus catio from Breslauer? He says, “When we put everything in there, like climbing poles, hiding boxes, cat ladders, cat steps, spiral staircases, floating steps, loft ladders, we call that ‘Cat Disneyland.  We’re custom and we really do anything that’s different or unique — we jump at that opportunity. We want to do fun things.”

Some clients try to push the envelope as much as they can. A Las Vegas client asked Breslauer to build a catio from their house down a 120-foot run in the backyard, with an enclosed walkway behind the pool and against the grotto so the owners could enjoy their cat’s company while in the hot tub.

Breslauer doesn’t often work with homebuilders to add catios directly into the blueprints, but he said there’s value in them once your home hits the markets.

So my furiends, looks like we should all be campaigning for the ultimate Christmas gift!

Town to expand program that ‘deputizes’ feral cats to control rat population

I love working cat stories and the creative ways humans figure out how to get felines “hired”. Police in Niles, Illinois – a suburb of Chicago – began a pilot program in August to “deputize” five feral cats to control the rat population,  and it’s worked so well that the department says it is looking to extend the program.

The “deputies” have been working for about three years under the care of a local resident.

Niles Police Sergeant Dan Borkowski told Pioneer Press through email that the department reviewed complaint data from the Development Department and resident feedback, and decided to continue and expand the feral cat program. Borkowski said the department had yet to determine where the cats will be placed because it’s contingent on cat availability and host families to take care of the cats.

Borkowski also said they would keep the cats in a more defined territory. The village’s animal control officer gave Sarwat Hakim, the resident who has been watching over the feral cats, three makeshift, tarped shelters for the felines.

A Pioneer Press analysis of rat complaints revealed that, two months before the pilot programme began, there were only two rat complaints within 1,500ft (0.45km) of the cats’ homes. After the pilot programme began, there were no more complaints within the area.

Hakim said the cats usually stay in the neighborhood or head off into the forest preserves, where they hunt for rats.

Hakim said before the cats were in the area, she used to see a lot of rats and rat traps. She hasn’t seen a rat trap in the neighborhood for about a year.

Two paws up for the Police in Niles and for the good people that look after the “deputies”.

Vancouver Island family  reunited with cat nearly 7 months after he went missing

And here we have another one of my favorite stories and a message of hope from a family just north of our neck of the woods.

Mucky the cat went missing on May 1^st. Christi Wright with Finding Felines said that the owner suspected Mucky was in the back of his dad’s truck, possibly snoozing, and jumped out when the vehicle stopped. .

Mucky managed to toughed it out and survived on his own for six months before he began searching for food and shelter in warmer places as the weather turned chilly.

He would return over and over again to one woman’s house. He availed himself of the use of her and the food she left out for her own cats. He could come and go at his pleasure. Mucky also visited another woman a few roads over and both women began to worry if the cat might be lost.

On November 15th, both women messaged Finding Felines to express their concern.

Shortly after on November 18th, one of the women was able to capture him inside her house after he used the cat door and she took him into Finding Felines to be scanned for a microchip.

They found him to be a friendly, intact male with no ID. Everyone at Finding Felines could tell that he had been loved, so Wright offered to take him home to keep him confined and safe while they attempted to find his owner. 

Wright contacted Foster Kritters Feral Cat Rescue Society, and a lady working there offered to help by having Mucky neutered right away. 

The next morning, Mucky’s owner contacted Finding Felines after seeing a post about him on their Facebook page!

She came in to see if it was indeed Mucky, and to everyone’s excitement, it was! She immediately recognized Mucky’s belly markings and thin tail—there was no mistaking her boy!

Wright explained the arrangement Foster Kritters had made for Mucky to be neutered, and his owner agreed it was best and had been her intention before he went missing. 

She happily offered to cover all the costs associated with the appointment, so on November 21st, Mucky was neutered, and Wright was able to finally bring him home to his family for good. 

According to Wright and Mucky’s family, he’s settling back in at home well and enjoying all the extra love and cuddles!

“It was such a wonderful story, and I’m glad it’s being shared to give others who are still missing their beloved pets hope,” Wright said.

Remember what we always say at Feline Opines, “Think lost not stray!”