Happy Wednesday Furiends!
We’re humming along here in our neck of the woods. The Human is working on editing her first book in her cozy series and Ollie and I are looking forward to her getting that book out so we can be famous. I am looking forward to signing pawtographs.

We have a nice litter box at Feline Opines International Headquarters and Oliver decided he’d like to do a “jungly” photo shoot. He wants to know what you think.

Neither Lily nor I had the desire to pose for any pictures this week so I’ll move on along to this week’s feline internet news.

Would you trust a robot to look after your cat?    

Sanjana Gajbhive from Earth.com wrote an article about robots as cat sitters. Noted was a recent research project called Cat Royale which talked about building trust between cats and robots. Now this feline is no fan of machine, I mean the vacuum monster alone is enough to give a feline a nervous breakdown!

Cat Royale, an award-winning research project, resulted from collaboration between University of Nottingham scientists and Blast Theory artists. This project crafted a “multispecies world.” In it, three cats lived with a robotic arm. They coexisted for six hours each day across twelve days. Good grief humans, coexistence is not what we cat’s want, we need pets, headbutts and skritches.

The researchers of this project wanted to find out what influenced feline-robot trust.

Some findings have been that the environment and the role of the humans in that environment were all factors in the cat’s trust of the robot. Well DUH!

 “At first glance, the project is about designing a robot to enrich the lives of a family of cats by playing with them,” said Professor Steve Benford, who led the research. “Under the surface, however, it explores the question of what it takes to trust a robot to look after our loved ones and potentially ourselves.”

The robotic arm at the heart of Cat Royale engaged the feline participants through a variety of playful interactions, including dragging a toy mouse, dangling a feather “bird,” and dispensing treats. An integrated AI system observed the cats’ reactions, learning their preferences and tailoring play sessions accordingly. They designed an environment that was pleasing to the cats.

The researcher’s goal is to create a multi’species system but this cat would ask, what about the human/animal bond? Our Human spent quite a bit of time studying this and she too is a bit skeptical about this.  

At least the researcher’s did acknowledge the importance of human involvement in areas like breakdown recovery, animal welfare, and audience engagement. In other words, even in a world of advanced robots, the human touch remains essential. Well, there you go!

Their conclusion is that if you humans want robots to take care of your felines, you’d have to give your home a robot friendly makeover and that you humans have to understand that even the most advanced robot can’t replace the warmth and understanding of a human caregiver. I have three words for all the humans out there-HUMAN-CAT-SITTER.

In Germany, cats remain the most popular pet

A recent report from a German pet trade and industry association, revealed that Germans love their pets. Well, our Human is German and she can attest to that! In 2023, 34.3 million dogs, cats, small animals and pet birds lived in German households. There were also numerous animals in terrariums and ornamental fish in aquariums and garden ponds.

According to a market research survey from Skopos done for the  Pet Supplies Industry Association 45% of German households have pets.

Felines are still Germany’s number one pet: a total of 15.7 million of them lived in 25% of German households in 2023. In 42% of all cat-owning households there were two or more cats at home.

The head of the market research team said,” We are all the more pleased that the total number of pets kept in households in Germany has remained stable at a high level over the past few years.” I would say they should be pleased that the vast majority of German households are cat lovers!

Cat’s nonchalant reaction to Northern Lights leaves everyone laughing

Sophie Roberts, Lifestyle and Travel Editor for Mirror UK reported on the lack of enthusiasm one cat had regarding the Northern Lights as one man’s cat was photographed with the colorful sky as a background and looking completely unimpressed.

I don’t know what the sky was like in your neck of the woods but it was pretty amazing here. Still, not amazing enough for the Tribe to remove ourselves from the bed and do any sky gazing.

This is how one guy described his cat’s reaction on X: “My cat just experienced the aurora borealis – one of the world’s most radiant natural phenomena – and she doesn’t care.”

His post went viral getting got more than 1.7 million views.

Cat Owners Thought Their Roomba Was Broken, Until They Discovered the Truth

In a Newsweek article this week, a couple who thought they had a broken Roomba discovered their cats were the culprits.

Their cat Winnie became a media star when her human shared a video of her on TikTok.  The video shows clearly that the Roomba wasn’t broken, only “detained” by Winnie’s actions.

Some people think Winnie was playing with the Roomba. This feline believes that Winnie was protecting the other cats in the household by keeping the dreaded vacuum monster away from them. Go Winnie!

Homeowner Sends Neighbor a Note — and Asks Them to Not Let Cats Look Out the Window

Reddit users have weighed in on the letter, which asks the homeowner to “please keep your cats out of the window”. Oh my whiskers, the hubris!

A Reddit user shared a letter sent by a neighbor requesting the poster keep their cats “out of the window,” as the cats are causing the neighbor’s dog to bark.Seriously??!!

In a post shared to Reddit, the cat owner wrote, “I own my own home, and I have three cats (plus two new babies I found outside). Two of them love to sit in the window when it’s nice out. They do nothing but sleep. We keep the windows open as we don’t have AC yet.”

But evidently the cats’ habit of sunning in the window inflamed the neighbor who sent a letter reading: “Hey neighbor! Can you please keep your cats out of the window? They are causing my dog to sit in the window and bark all day long. I work from home, so this is very difficult. Thanks.”

What would say to a neighbor who asked your human to keep you out of the window?

There are so many human social media influencers. This feline influencer, Uno the Orange cat, is teaching cats how to live the Vida Loca. It should be a must watch for every feline.