Hello Friends, Furry, Feathered and Otherwise,
I’m back after my holiday hiatus. The humans went away and we had a very nice cat sitter. I must say, at least on behalf of The Tribe of Five that staying at home and having a nice cat sitter come in twice a day is soooo much better than being hauled away to some place to stay in a cage. If you have a great cat sitter, tell us about them. Two paws up for all cat sitters!
Now, let’s get to the items I found on my weekly wanderings through the web.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Alberto
Twitter Account Pairs Cat Pics with Metal Lyrics and it’s Purrfect – I Can Haz
Cheeseburger?
No matter how floofy and sweet we felines look, if you look a little deeper, you’ll find many of us have an affinity with rock and roll and metal. The humans behind the Twitter Account, Black Metal Cats understands this very well. I admit I’m a little more rock and roll than I am metal. My theme song would be “Born to Be Wild” but every feline can enjoy a little darkness now and then.
The Cat Who Swims Like an Otter – I Heart Cats.com
Adventure cats are the cat’s meow and I am purrrticularily interested in cats who swim. As you may know, the female human and i are planning on being kayak buddies. Unfortunately, it took us a while to find just the right life jacket (don’t I look handsome?) and then the skies were so filled with smoke from the forest fires that surrounded us that the air quality was not good for humans or animals. So, onward and upward and looking forward to next summer. 
But in the meantime, I want to learn from other fearless felines that like the water. Sasha is just such a feline. Sasha likes to take a swim in her pool and acts like it’s no big deal. if you don’t believe me, check out this video of her swimming. As much as I admire Shasha’s pool adventures, it’s still good to be safe. We live near big lakes and rivers and those conditions can be dangerous so I always recommend a life jacket (like the fashionable one I’m sporting)
Man’s Adopted Cat is His Favorite Climbing Partner – Bored Panda
Now if you’re just catching your breath over the swimming feline Sasha, this one might just put you over the edge. Meet Millie and her human Craig Armstrong. Craig found a feline that shares his love of exploring, camping and climbing and the two have had some wonderful adventures. Craig says that “Ever since Millie climbed up onto my shoulder at the adoption center in Utah, I knew we’d make a good team.”
The female human was very pleased to see the precautions Craig takes with Millie but thankfully, she has not suggested that we add mountain climbing to our summer adventures! You can follow Craig and Millie’s adventures on their Instagram account.
Max the Banned Cat Meets with Macalester President – Star Tribune
Dear Humans, this is a cautionary tale for you, never, EVER underestimate the power of felines and social media. Max, the Orange Tabby first came to fame when he began sneaking into the library at Macalester College. Now what can be so bad about a cat with litter-ary aspirations? Evidently quite a bit according to the librarian , who 
banned him from the building and even went so far as to create a wanted poster for the door.
Max’s plight created a stir on campus. There were cartoons about Max, a student created a library card for Max and there were #FreeMax comments all over campus. When social media picked up the story more people joined the Max bandwagon and an international hue and cry was raised for Max the Library Cat.
Things reached the point where the college President arranged a meeting with Max. You can see the video on the page with the story. The sit down was not a great success, with the college President complaining that a cat is more famous than he is. The rest of the meeting was interesting. You must watch the video. Suffice to say, Max had the upper paw! Sheesh, what’s a cat have to do to keep a job?
KitTea Cat Cafe Offers Caturday Cartoons and bottomless Cereal Bar -KitTea Cat Cafe
If you follow me Wednesday wanderings you know I love to report on Cat Cafe’s, especially the ones opening up all over this nation. If you think a cat cafe is just a place to see or interact with cats you’ve got another think coming. Take the Kit Tea Cat Cafe for 
instance, they do lots of neat things there and, aside from their special events, they even make it easy for visitors to understand what the cat cafe experience is. Check out their easy to understand graphic for visitors.
You can book any regular visit online and even book the special events like the yoga nights, Happy Meowr, Mewvie Nights, The Caturday Morning Cartoons and more. Follow the Kit Tea Cat Cafe on Instagram.
This Caturday Morning event really intrigues me. Here is how they advertise it:
Have mew heard about our Caturday Morning Cartoons event? Come in your best jammies and curl up like a cat (with a cat) to watch an hour of nostalgic 90’s/80’s cartoons and commercial clips on our big screen – surrounded by 10+ sanctuary kitties. A cereal bar filled with sugary sweet cereals will also be available to make it the ultimate Caturday morning!
Includes:
Bottomless cereal bar (assortment of sugary childhood favorites)
A morning of streaming cartoons in our Cat Lounge
The female human said if we lived close to San Francisco she’d be there! Great job Kit Tea Cat Cafe! See you at the breakfast bowl.
Binky is not a cat to be messed with, as one criminal learned, the hard way. When this human tried to break in to a house, Binky was having none of it and not only did he prevent the burglar from getting anything in the house, he made sure the guy felt his wrath, the police had to call the purrr-a medics to treat the criminal’s injuries. Meow!
Cat Visits Every National Park And Enjoys It! – Distractify
A Formerly Homeless Tuxedo Cat Gives Back in A Wonderful Way – The Best Cat Page
Well this feline learned something new, never knew that cats were a tradition at the NY Times! The article says that the tradition started when foreign correspondents began to adopt and/or bring cats into their homes for companionship. Times journalists from Baghdad to Dakar to Pakistan, have continued the tradition of rescuing local cats and bringing them into their homes. It wasn’t only the love of cats but the ability to do something in places where there was so much misery and war. One correspondent described it this way, “At that point, in Baghdad, there were bombs going off several times a day, sometimes killing dozens of people at time,” he explained. “The cats were a catharsis. You were able to take care of them. You knew you were making a difference.” Many of these felines return home with the journalists and their families and find themselves in much “cushier” accommodations than their wartime digs.
Social media fame and stardom does have it’s drawbacks for felines just like humans. Take the case of Pepito, a French kitten with 34,000 Twitter followers (
Where we live here in the Inland Northwest, many wineries, breweries, restaurants, etc. host “Yappy Hours” for the dogs and dog people in our community to benefit our local shelter. I have always wondered why there were no cat loving drinkers out there who would take on a bit of imbibing on behalf of felines and feline lovers. Well. leave it to Portland to be the first. This happy hour is called “I love Cats. And Drinking” and is advertised as a place where people can talk about cats without feeling judged. They will feature cat themed games, trivia, entertainment such as “Meowoke”, cat themed comedy and lots more. Evidently there has been a long running battle between Seattle and Portland as to which city is the most cat friendly. Well Portland, you’ve got my vote. Two Paws Up for a happy hour for feline lovers. (If we lived closer I would insist that my humans attend!)
As you may know, every member of The Tribe of Five is a rescue and we have a soft spot in our hearts for happy shelter kitty stories. This one is wonderful. Champas, a white cat spent 400 days at the 
Here’s another wonderful shelter story. I love it when shelters are creative in working to adopt out the kitties in their care. I have reported on cat cafes, cat hotels, cat yoga but now there are cat libraries! The 
The female human tells me that the Guantanamo Navy Base in Cuba is very controversial but this is one thing happening there that everyone can agree on. The base, best known as a wartime prison, has lots and lots and lots of felines. It is estimated that there about 500 feral kitties there. Troops, civilians and visitors are now working together with the 
reported about the fantastic feral feline film done in Riga and now I’m happy to report that this city is looking out for their feral film stars in an ingenious way. Weather gets cold in that part of the world and the good people of Riga went to work to help their kitties keep warm in the cold. The female human watches some TV program that talks about tiny houses for humans and this is the same thing, feline style. All houses are built by local carpenters from donations made via the local non-profit 
A Russian store employee captured the criminal behavior of this cat when she broke into Russia’s Vladivostok International Airport after hours and made a beeline for a popular seafood store, gobbling up $1000.00 worth of seafood. The video went viral and concerned cat folks from around the world responded, wanting to pay for her thievery, for a vet check up (after eating all that salty seafood) and there were offers of adoption as well. Even one of Russia’s most famous cat trainers offered to adopt her and make her a star in his show. After purrrusing her options, the feline decided to join the 
When a German passenger noticed an orange Tabby sleeping peacefully on a seat in the subway car in Baden Wurtenberg, Germany he and other passengers were surprised to see the relaxed feline, snoozing away. . No one knew where he came from and they politely allowed him to sleep all the way to the subway’s destination in Kirchheim. The passenger took a photo of the sleeping commuter and posted on social media noting that this little guy’s owners might be looking for him. The cat was taken to an animal shelter and was reunited with his humans there. The new version of the feline hobo!
What’s better than a wedding? The wedding of two veterinarians who invite two kittens to the event. This couple invited two cute little tuxedo kittens to the wedding and the reception and as you can see on the website, included them in all the important wedding photos. They even included a number of feline touches in the wedding decor. The couple both volunteer at their local shelter, 
The female human does consulting and a lot of business with the company GoDaddy.com. I can wholeheartedly recommend this company as they are doing roomba-cat Superbowl ads this year. The female human and I think the male human should buy her a roomba and I have volunteered to pilot it. Take a 
Furniture for cats is nothing new. I can tell you our humans spend a lot of cash on feline furnishings for our home. What is new about this item is that this chair is comfortable for cats and fun for humans as well. You know we like to slink into odd-shaped items and contort our lithe bodies into amazing forms. This chair allows us to do this and, since it’s a clear blubble, the humans get the full, entertaining effect of our antics. The female human was ready to order one for the Tribe of Five, but it’s on something called 
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