Hello Furiends,
We’re back on schedule again ! We’ve been keeping her busy and will have some exciting news in the next few days.

Things in our neck of the woods are okay but this part of the year is our least favorite. Snow is still around but the air smells like spring and we want to put on our harnesses and go for a stroll! In the meantime, this is how we’ve kept ourselves busy.

First, I have decided that it might behoove me to attempt to provide my feline furiends with a little photo instructions about how I keep my lovely dark fur shiny and beautiful.

Once my coat is clean and shiny I can go inspect the Chewy box and make sure The Human ordered the right food and treats.

Oliver took over purr therapy for The Human and I must say he did a great job of calming her down.

And Lily? Well she sits by the living room window meowing at the snow, telling it to go away.

And that’s our story and now I invite you to enjoy these stories I found.

Scientists Are Inching Closer to Creating Truly Hypoallergenic Cats

This story is in the same category of the cloning story I shared a few weeks ago. Although I love the idea of humans not having to sneeze and get itchy eyes every time they’re in the presence of a feline, I’m not a big fan of gene editing that is being used by a team of researchers. They say they’ve found an effective way to block the most common source of cat allergies using the gene-editing technology CRISPR.

The culprit for feline allergies is a protein we produce called Fel d 1—which ends up in our saliva and tears and, by extension, the fur that we’re  constantly cleaning (as I showed in my weekly update). It’s believed that this protein causes over 90% of cat allergies.

Researchers at the Virginia-based biotech company InBio (previously called Indoor Biotechnologies) have been working on using CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing tech, to produce cats that make little to no Fel d 1. In their latest research, published Monday in The CRISPR Journal, they say they’ve collected evidence that this can be done effectively and safely.

Through their studies and data analyzation they believe that Fel d 1 is non-essential to cat biology and can be eliminated without any health risks.

This isn’t the first attempt to help sneezy humans with cat allergies. I reported over a year ago about Purina’s LiveClear line of food, treated with an egg based protein that inhibits the Fel d 1 in cat’s mouths.

This new genetic approach is very new and the jury is still out. What do you think?

Feline Thievery

I’ve reported on many thieving felines but most of them have roamed their neighborhood stealing items from other houses. This cat has a penchant for his human sister’s toys and waits for the cover of darkness to steal her toys.

Design inspiration can come from anywhere. Including your cat

You humans are quite creative and are inspired by the most interesting things. Now if I told you an interior designer used a feline to create an elegant yet homey house design would you believe me?

It’s true. Tropic a ginger cat from the Bahamas was the source of interior design inspiration when her humans Sara and Peter O’Keefe picked out colors for their Washington dining room with designer Barry Dixon.  They said that their feline, Tropic, reminded them and their two children of tropical sunsets and fun times from a 2017 vacation to Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. Now the terra-cotta, pumpkin and coral room does, too. Tropic is loved by her humans and they say she’s the coolest cat there is and a real people person. Sara says. “She spreads out all around the house. The kids adore her.”

So there you go, in decorating, inspiration is everything. Yes, you can just throw a bunch of furniture and matchy-matchy accessories together but if you build a room around a specific treasured item or feeling, you will create a place that really captures your personality. Many only question now is, when will The Human use us to inspire some decorating projects at our house.

What’s up with cats and circles?

We felines are hard to figure out, I get it. Some photos from the Philippines with cats sitting in social distancing circles had many humans scratching their heads. There was one cat per circle, sitting serenely.  

No one put them there. They chose the spots and hung out about 10 minutes before wandering off.  

There have been other online stories about cats in circles and there was a trend not too long ago for you humans to create circles and see if your cats would sit in them. And it worked, there are hundreds of photos online to prove it.

And with the photos came much speculation because you foolish humans have a need to understand us. There is no definite answer but here are a few suggestions as to why we exhibit this behavior. Some say the circles represent warmth and security (I’d rather sit by the fire). There is the theory that a square or a circle sitting is our attempt to claim new ground (we are territorial creatures). Is it curiosity? Is it for attention? Are we reverting to our wild selves and looking for places to hide from predators?

The answer is you humans don’t know and we felines aren’t going to tell you. I’d suggest you just enjoy the photos of cats in circles and the conversations and speculations they evoke.

Cat Goes Through the McDonald’s Drive-Thru Line and Instantly Becomes a Star

There is a  Ragdoll Cat, whose fast food trip made a McDonald’s employee’s day. This was captured in a clip shared by TikTok user @hoomancallsmelulu Her cat was cool and calm in the drive through.  

Now as much as I like this story, I’m a bit miffed because our very own Oliver shot a film called “Bring Me My Catpuccino”. In order to stop Oliver’s whining about this I have posted his video below (apologies to those of you who’ve already watched it but he pestered me until I put it in this week’s news segment).