Hello Furiends,
Alberto here. I sure hope your summer is going better than ours! Our main staff and General Lackey ended up in the emergency room on July 4th with a newly diagnosed ulcer. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m as sympathetic as the next feline but I did have to ask myself, “How does this affect me?”

KD the (gasp) dog at our house waiting for the squirrel to come to the upstairs deck.

In addition, we have some human furiends staying at our house who have a …get ready for it…DOG! The Tribe has never seen a dog and worse, never heard a dog bark! I have demanded access to the bedroom at night. Oliver spends his time hiding under the table in the living room and Lily runs around with her big eyes even bigger.

This is Tucker at the vet. The meds made him pretty woozy.

Tucker could care less but that might be due to the fact that the medication he was on zonked him out so bad he couldn’t walk without stumbling. This resulted in an emergency visit to the vet on Sunday (fortunately our place with the white coats, Pend Oreille Veterinary Service is open 7 days a week (at least fortunately in this case but not so great that The Female Human can now drag us there any day of the week!). He was so out of it The Female Human didn’t even have to put him in the carrier. She just wrapped him in a beach towel.

The vets take care of the Tribe very well and even though it took the poor guy  a few days to recover he’s now on new meds and back to his sassy, treat-begging self.

Remember how I had to apologize on The Female Human’s behalf last Wednesday? Well, she’s still behind but working hard to catch up. We are giving her a bit of a break as long as she promises to respond to all our correspondence for us by the end of the week.

Okay, enough about us, let’s get to this week’s web wanderings!

11 Facts About Hemmingway’s Cats

I had to ask The Female Human, “Who is this Hemmingway person and what’s the deal about his cats?” She said the short version of the story is that Ernest Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship’s captain . Now many of the cats who live at his home (which is now a museum) are descendants of that original cat, named Snow White. Now all the cats at the museum are polydactyl.  Hemmingway  named all of his cats after famous people and the museum follows that tradition today.

There’s lots of interesting information about these felines. As I mentioned they are all 6-toed, they survived hurricane Irma, one of the cats was “jailed” and a federal complaint was filed against them. For more information on these facts and the other 7 facts, you’ll have to read the article.

Gatos and Beans, Alabama’s 1st cat café, opening August 1

I love reporting on cat cafes, especially when they have something unusual to offer. This cafe has amazing feline art like the mural in the photo above. Gatos and Beans will be a combo adoption center, cat therapy place for people who can’t have cats at home, and a café / bar for humans. ‘Sounds absolutely purrfect to me.

Gatos and Beans is a family affair: The Steward family,Kelli, Stephen and Stephen’s two sons are the owners. Kelli has worked at a local veterinary clinic for more than 20 years and was looking for a new animal related endeavor. In November 2018, they won second place in REV Birmingham‘s The Big Pitch Competition, and since then, they haven’t looked back.

Gatos and Beans will operate like most of the 99 or 100 other cat café’s in the country. You will buy a ticket for coffee and time with the fabulous felines. And if you want more, you’re always welcome to upgrade to get a fancy coffee drink, beer, wine, or a snack. If you live in the area you can get your pre-opening offer now, or keep checking their website to see when they open reservations.

Catcam videos reveal cats don’t sleep all day

Tucker is very serious about nap time.

This one is filed under my “Duh! Why did you humans spend time and money on studying this?”

Maren Huck, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Derby, in the United Kingdom, recruited 21 English felines and put cameras on them.  Of the 21, 16 tolerated the Oreo-sized cameras enough to count as participants in this project.

This human felt that  cats #1 activity is sleeping. This was not what her study proved.  Huck said,their top activity actually was “resting” – not sleeping, and the study showed that another preferred pastime was “exploring,” which Huck said amounts to “sniffing at plants or things.” There’s a whole lot more stuff in this article but I ask you humans, did you really need to spend the time and money for this?

Liam Gallagher assures brother Noel that his cat is safe amid feud

Liam Gallagher holds his kitten Sid, which he adopted from Wood Green, The Animals Charity. Picture: Wood Green, The Animals Charity

I don’t follow human music but evidently this Liam Gallagher (the former Oasis frontman) and his brother Noel had a spat and he took the argument a bit too far when Liam involved the cat, suggesting his brother doesn’t even think about kidnapping the cat. ‘And don’t try and kidnap the cat either, we’ve just employed Ross Kemp as his close protection officer,’ he said. Liam quickly apologised, saying: ‘My sincere apologies to my beautiful mum and my lovely niece Anais for getting caught up in all of this childish behaviour, I love you both dearly LG x.’

He has also found himself in the position of responding to concerns regarding the cat. ‘Did you kidnap Noel’s cat?’ a fan tweeted. ‘Wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole,’ the singer responded. Well that settles that then. Like his brother, Liam is a devoted cat fan, and last year he gave a home to two unwanted felines, who were being looked after at The Animals Charity in London.

People, people, if you can’t get along, PLEASE  leave the cat out of it!

Artist designs tattoo sleeves for hairless cats to keep them warm in winter

Feline fashion is a “thing”. I purrsonally know a fabulous feline fashionista, Coco the Couture Cat, but this is a new kind of feline fashion. Artist and animal fashion designer, Airie McCready, has tapped into a niche market with her inspired invention Tattcats. The sheer jumpers are made with a soft material that’s good for the cat’s skin, and are designed to look like a sleeve of tattoos to keep your hairless cat warm this winter. “These cats get cold because they don’t have any fur,” McCready said. So now my hairless feline friends can stay warm and comfy and look edgy too. Rock on my furiends, rock on!