Hello Furiends! Thank you for your patience as we post our news segment a day late! I hope you’re feeling springy in your neck of the woods. The Human is insistent that she can smell spring in the air. We think she’s nuts.
This is from Weather Kitty today. Note the temperature and the feline at the airport dressed to leave this chilly place and head to a warmer climate. I think this is all I need to refute The Human’s “spring” argument.
And while we hang out at home, waiting for warmer weather, I found an absolutely magical piece of brown wrapping paper and have been racing around the closet, bathroom and bedroom with it. Neither Lily nor Oliver have embraced the joy of the brown paper like I have.
To enjoy the paper you must be one with the paper.Come one guys, join me in this paper festival. Oh good grief, what is Alberto up to now?Brown paper? Meh. I’d rather take a nap.Don’t you DARE bring that loud, crinkly paper in here Alberto!
Sigh, some cats just don’t understand the joy of paper!
New York is home to many famous people but there are a number of New York cats who have a claim to fame too. Meet Spongecake, Mocha and Donut, a fantastic feline trio who have become social media stars. Watch their video and see how the conquer New York with their purrfectly wonderful purrsonalities.
I reported on a sofa sale with a cat inside quite a while ago. I thought this was a rare occurrence. I was wrong. It happened in Vancouver, B.C.
Matt Lumabi was moving into a new place and in the process, noticed his cat was missing. His cat, Marley had somehow gotten into a sofa that he’d sold and had quite an adventure.
The buyers took the sofa, blissfully unaware that they’d received a bonus with their purchase. The couch was then quickly resold, and Marley never made an appearance.
The second buyer did find Marley after three days.
While Marley was moving to new places in the sofa, Matt tore his new place apart looking for, searched the neighborhood, posted on social media and put up “missing cat” posters all over his neighborhood.
The first couch purchaser was notified that there was a cat in the couch and they called Matt. Matt and Marley were reunited after three days, she was checked out and had suffered no physical problems from her adventure. She is happy to be home and Matt says, she’s been more cuddly than ever.
Cat goes to work with his human for 10 years
Dude the museum cat goes to work every day with “Big Guy” at the Delaware Museum of Natural Science. He makes sure he does the rounds that his job as Snoopervisor requires. Dude is celebrating his 15th birthday on March 8th. You can go to the museum’s Instagram account and wish Dude a happy birthday. You can find him on the TikTok and Instagram accounts of the museum (@delmnh)
Avery Rogers was working at her family’s North Carolina food truck when she encountered an unusual hungry customer. Rogers told The Dodo that the cat kept coming closer and got close enough to accept a treat that was offered to her.
When her shift was over, Rogers went to where the cat was sitting and the cat marched toward her, making it clear she wanted a home and some love.
You can watch the cat walk up to Rogers and ask to be loved here.
That cat convinced Rogers that she should have a home. After a health check and a check for a microchip at the vets the deal was sealed. Rogers named the cat Blue, after the family food truck’s most popular hot dog, the Bluetick Hound.
Blue was estimated to be about a year old and she had no trouble fitting in with the cats already in the house. People have said that Rogers found Blue at the perfect time but Rogers says it was the other way around. Blue’s insistence to be adopted was days before one of Roger’s childhoodcats passed away within days of Blue’s arrival. Rogers said that Blue was a much needed source of comfort and that Blue showed up right when she was needed.
A CHONKY black-and-white cat called Gacek has been named the No. 1 tourist attraction in the northern city of Szczecin. He’s scored an average Google rating of 4.9 out of 5,moving past icons like the award-winning Philharmonic, the Castle of Pomeranian Dukes and the city’s underground WWII tunnels.
The six year old Gacek can often be found dozing in his little wooden home on Kaszubska street. He’s known as the King of Kaszubska’ and ‘the cat ambassador of Szczecin’, and he’s amassed in excess of 1,000 ‘Google user reviews’, with the overwhelming majority leaving him a ‘puurfect’ five star rating. Comments such as, “Best thing to happen on our holiday,” or “the Mayor of the city”, are representative of how his fans feel about him.
Two paws up for the city of Szczecin for having a purrfect #1 tourist attraction!
I hope all is good in your neck of the woods. It’s been C-O-L-D in our neck of the woods! Today the temperature climbed up to a balmy 15 degrees Fahrenheit!
Since it’s a new month, Oliver, Lily and I decided to celebrate some of the occasions that are celebrated in the month of February. Enjoy andn don’t forget to celebrate!
Date night has been made so much better for folks in San Diego. Whiskers and Wine may be the only full restaurant, bar and cat rescue in the country. For a $30.00 fee you can have the attendance of some meowvelous felines while you enjoy a delicious dinner and some cocktails like a Whisky Meower. Whiskers and Wine is a hit and, since it’s opening in August 2022, has helped 80 cats get adopted. And, if you visit them on Saturday or Sunday mornings, you can purrticipate in yoga with cats. .Be sure and watch the video of this great place!
The Human often gets frustrated with my brofur Oliver and I when we suddenly go after each oither. She can’t tell if we’re really fighting or play fighting. Evedintely sh e’s not the only human who wonders about this. A new study published in Scientific Reports has investigated play and fighting in cats.
The scientists used observation to see if they could figure out this conundrum. The study, led by Noema Gajdoš-Kmecová from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Slovakia and from the University of Lincoln, UK, analyzed 105 videos of interactions between 210 cats to find the answer.
After they purrused the videos, the research team then developed an ethogram – a list of specific behaviors and those were put into six groups:
Inactive: head and body motionless and in specific position, for example crouching
Wrestling: cats in physical contact with wrestling movements
Chasing: one cat runs in pursuit or another cat runs away
Other interactive activities: for example grooming, approaching, raised fur on back
Non-interactive: activity directed towards themselves or an inanimate object, for example drinking, self-licking
Vocalization: for example growl, hiss, meow
They went back and watched the videos again to identify which of their discovered behaviors were shown in the cats. Each interaction was then analyzed statistically to work out which behaviors appeared together in clusters.
They then separated the videos into three categories of interactions.
1-Playful: included 40% of cats from the videos and included wrestling and a lack of vocalizing.
2-Agonistic: agonistic behaviors (any social behaviors that include threatening, aggression, and submission). Cats in this group vocalized and had recurring bouts of inactivity; 32% of cats from the sample landed in this group.
3-Intermediate: this group included 28% of cats and was more closely associated with the playful group than the agonistic group. Cats in this group interacted for prolonged periods with pauses in between.
The scientists also had cat behaviorists review the videos and their conclusions. From their observations, the professionals provided some tips.
If your cats are wrestling, they’re probably playing. Normally, when there is friction between cats in a multi-cat household, they tend to avoid physical contact. Instead, they’ll use offensive or defensive maneuvers that don’t involve extended direct contact, such as slapping. This is true with our Lily. She’ll walk by Oliver or I and give us a big whacky paw for no reason, and then she strolls off.
If your cats are vocalizing, and chasing between periods of inactivity (such as crouching), they are most likely fighting. Vocalization is an especially important clue here to an aggressive rather than playful interaction. Chasing is OK if it’s mutual, but if one cat is chasing or one cat is running away, that’s not so positive.
The intermediate group is the tricky one. It contains elements of both playful and agonistic behaviors, though but more closely related to the playful than the agonistic group. This suggests play could become agonistic, depending on what happens during the interaction.
In particular, the authors observed frequent breaks within the interaction, which may allow cats to reassess their partner’s interest in playing and avoid escalation from play to aggression.
This study is the first to apply a scientific approach to cat behaviors anybody can identify, describing three types of interactions to help identify between play and fighting in cats.
It’s pretty easy for humans to figure out when cats are really fighting but this study helps in working out what’s happening when it doesn’t appear to be a real cat fight.
It’s also important to understand the relationship between cats. If they are buddies, share food and for the most part friendly with each other, you can let them have a little antagonistic play without worrying.
Everyone has that one coworker…
After watching this video, I can’t believe that anyone would complain about this wonderful employee!
This feline loves to learn about the history of my ancestors. This article is about how . Vikings prized cats for two reasons: their rodent-hunting abilities and their coats. In other words, when felines started slacking on the mousing, they faced transformation into a cape or a coat. (Note, this was NOT part of the history I enjoyed!)
As felines traveled on the conquering Viking ships as they pillaged and murdered their way through the British Isles, Iceland, Europe, Greenland and North America many found homes in these new places. (Perhaps if they knew they were in danger of becoming a coat, some of them jumped ship!)
It’s a bit hard to picture these violent people with pets but it’s true, they purrfered cats!
And how did the fabulous feline get to Scandinavia you ask? Recent examination of feline DNA from archaeological sites dating to 15,000 to 2,700 years ago suggests the ancestors of today’s cats expanded across the world during two distinct periods, separated by millennia. The first migration event saw them move from the Middle East into the Mediterranean. There, local farmers welcomed our ancestors, pleased to have effective rodent-control services in their fields and crop storehouses.
Still, even this cat knows that the Mediterranean is a long way off from Northern Europe, Archaeologists say that happened thousands of years later and began in Egypt. At this point, seafarers knew the value of felines in keeping from setting up shop on their ships. Some of these sailors were Vikings This was discovered in a Nordic site in Germany where scientists discovered cat DNA resembling that of ancient Egyptian felines.
That second wave of cat migration began around 1700 B.C. and picked up significant speed by the A.D. 400s. This conclusion was reached after reseearchers worked with animal bones from the Bronze age to the 1600’s.
Perhaps the most fascinating insight discovered by the researchers was the physiological transformation felines underwent over the centuries. Typically, when animals get domesticated, they shrink in size. For example, the average dog is about one-quarter smaller than its wolf ancestors.
When it comes to felines, however, DNA shows something altogether surprising. Instead of getting smaller, “domestication” caused cats to balloon. (I resemble that remark!) We know that the Egyptians treated us as gods and that the Vikings fed us very well! Thankfully that tradition continues today!
Happy 2023 Furiends! We decided to freshen up our logo, hope you like it. We’re not going to include much news about us as Oliver, Lily and I are working on our “2022” reflections which we’ll publish later in the week so, in the meantime, here is some of the best feline news I found on the web this week.
We are also working on our merch store and will have some fun news about that soon.
You know how much I love creative cat adoption ideas and this one is very creative.
Frontier Airlines will provide free flight vouchers to whoever adopts one of three kittens, who are recent arrivals at The Animal Foundation in Las Vegas.
An airline spokespurrson said “We’d love to donate two flight vouchers each to the people who adopt @Delta and @Spirit; and four vouchers to the person who adopts Frontier,” .
The vouchers have been delivered to the shelter, but won’t be distributed until the kittens are ready for adoption in about a month as the kittens are too young to be adopted yet.
One of the kitties was supposed to be called Southwest, the Animal Foundation said on Twitter — until the airline’s cancellation crisis last week.
Cat Loves to Hop in Shower with Mom
I love to get in the shower AFTER The Human is done. I also jump on the bathroom sink and scream until The Human turns the faucet on but I have never had the desire to get in the shower like this cat on The Dodo does. You can follow Peanut on TikTok: https://thedo.do/is038.
I reported about a lost cat who was found when his family’s door camera captured him on the porch. This cat however was not lost but was smart enough to figure out how to let his humans know when he wanted to come inside. He now scales the fence and activates the motion detector doorbell to make his needs known.
The first time it happened, his human, Amanda was surprised to receive a notification that someone was at her door and then discovered it was her cat Izzy , who is now adept at letting folks know when he wants in.
Izzy doesn’t just make the doorbell ring, he is quite talkative and likes to “speak” to his human’s through the voice activation feature on the doorbell. MOL!
Cats train themselves to use treadmill
If you ask The Human she’ll tell you that we could care less about her treadmill, especially when it’s on but these felines decided took it upon themselves to figure out they could get a little exercise. Nagi and Poki are getting adept on the treadmill, but Haku is a chill boy who does not care for speed. You can follow more of these feline’s antics on their YouTube channel.
Do you ever wonder what your felines are up to at home when you’re away at work? If the answer is yes, you’re not the only one and the antics of cats with devices like Apple‘s AirTag are becoming Tik Tok sensations.
Watching your cats movement patterns in the house isn’t only for fun. If they are ill, if they escape or become lost, the right device can prove to be very useful (unless your feline teaches themselves how to use the ring doorbell).
If you are interest in cat tracking devices, here are a few to check out.
1. AirTag
Cat collars with Apple’s AirTag device, which works with the company’s Find My app, has been a popular favorite among TikTokers. One example is user @quingable, who said: “I don’t really love the AirTag but here’s why I keep both on my cat’s collar,” in a viral video post, which had 86,000 views and 12,400 likes at the time of writing. The user added: “And by the way, none of this [the device plug] is sponsored.” This woman’s account documents her van life with two cats.
The TikToker explained: “The one really great thing about having an AirTag is that it pings off other people’s iPhone. That way, you are able to find your pet.”
According to Apple, there are “hundreds of millions” of iPhone, iPad and Mac devices around the world within the Find My network that can help you track down your pet through the AirTag.
2. Tractive
Tractive is also popular with cat owners. . In addition to your cat’s location, the device can also monitor your cat’s sleep patterns and wellbeing, and also “set up virtual fences to alert you if your kitty is too far away.”
Tractive offers quite a bit of information about your feline friend and has an unlimited range ability, operating in over 175 different countries.
The company says that no matter how far your cat goes, Tractive will be able to locate them on your device if you’re connected to a mobile network. In addition, it’s offered at an affordable price.
3. Samsung Galaxy SmartTag
For Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag could be a good option to attach on to a cat collar.
If your pet wanders out of range, even when offline, the Galaxy Find Network can use scanned data to find your cat privately, according to Samsung.
Tile Sticker
Comparable to the AirTag and SmartTag, the Tile tracking device was also praised in the aforementioned viral post by TikToker @quingable for being “really, really lightweight” (always an issue when hanging something from a cat’s collar) and because “it actually works when you’re not in service.”
Compatible with iPhones and Androids, the water-resistant Tile Sticker “has a bigger range, louder ring and longer lasting battery,” the company said.
It comes with an adhesive back, making it easy to attach to the tag of your cat’s collar, a 3-year non-replaceable battery and Bluetooth works up to a 250-feet range.
When outside of your range, pet owners can use the Tile app to view your pet’s most recent location on a map.
5. Cube
The Cube tracker’s key features are a rechargeable battery (which can last from around 10 to 60 days, depending on the model) and the ability to set up “virtual geo-fence zones” using its accompanying app to get real-time alerts when your cat wanders beyond these zones.
Pet owners can also track the “trips, stops, and speed of travel” of the device using the app’s location history feature, according to Cube.
Now if you’re thinking, “My cat is an indoor cat so tracking him really isn’t an issue” don’t be too complacent. Our very own Lily escaped through the front door and spent an extremely cold night outside. She’ll be sharing that story in her New Year’s reflection.
Happy Wednesday Furiends, We thought we’d change it up a bit with the logo. Oliver is quite happy to be featured during the holiday season. We like to keep track of unusual holidays and we found one for tomorrow (De. 8) that was lot’s of fun. December 8th is “Pretend to be a time traveler day”. We sent our Purrsonal Assistant to the web to find out about this holiday and here is what she learned.
Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day was created in 2007 by the Koala Wallop online community which appeared to be a group of folks who were interested in time travel. Unfortunately, the group no longer exists but there are still many folks who find time travel interesting. The Human is quite fond of movies and books that feature time travel. Here are some of the time travel movies The Human has enjoyed (she’s not a fan of sci-fi so these all travel to the past):
The Human told us that the best time travel books she’s ever read is from one of her favorite authors, Daphne du Maurier and is called The House on the Stand
We felines decided that we wanted to be photoshopped into our favorite time travel setting. We hope you enjoy our photos!
Lily loves all things romantic and she believes the past is more romantic than the present or the future. She pretended to be a traveler in the 1920’s taking an elegant train ride to some lovely southern plantation.
I decided to imagine a trip to the future on some far off planet where I developed amazing powers like shooting lasers from my eyes.
Oliver decided to split the difference and go back in time to enjoy being in the Steampunk lifestyle with one paw in one century and another paw in the future.
We hope you enjoyed our celebration of Pretend to be a time traveler day”. Where would you go if you had a chance to be a time traveler?
Now here’s a fun event that happens in the Belgian town of Ypres. Thousands of people show up masquerading as cats. There are fancy floats that roll down the streets of the town as well as feline costumed humans. The parade stops at Cloth Hall which is the center of the city’s thriving textile industry. So what is this all about you ask? Kattenstoet, the Festival of Cats is what they’re celebrating. And why is there a festival of cats in this town? Granted, we felines are marvelous enough to have festivities that celebrate us for no specific reason but there is much history behind this party.
It all began in medieval times. In those days, we felines were scorned and regarded as bad creatures associated with the devil. Early writers of the day compared cats catching mice to the devil catching human souls. In the thirteenth century, Pope Gregory IX raised a call to action against the “demonic” cat and people believed this resulted in the extermination of felines across Europe. Historians believe that this action caused the spread of the bubonic plage ravaging the continent in the 14th century. This is because the plague was caused by infected fleas found on rodents. The mass killing of cats allowed the rats to thrive with no predators and that resulted in the plague spreading at a fast pace.
Legend has it that the celebration of Kattenstoet in this town was for bringing cats in the fall and winter to the Cloth Hall to prevent vermin from destroying the imported wool and valuable clothing that was stored. In the spring, when the clothes were sold and the colony of cats had rapidly reproducing cats, who had done their job well, were killed.
This terrible practice continued until 1817 and after that no more cats were harmed and only the church bells were rung.
In1955 the city saw its first full-scale parade, complete with intricate floats and thousands of costumed citizens. The people of Ypres dress up as cats, mice, witches and historical figures. Accompanied by lively music and dance, brass bands and horse-riders, the procession moves down the streets until it reaches Cloth Hall. A jester tosses plush cats from the top of the tower into the waiting arms of the crowd below. This is followed by a mock witch-burning, in which a giant puppet witch is set on fire.
Kattenstoet. has become a major tourist attraction in Belgium, drawing thousands of spectators from around the world, all eager to witness the famed Festival of Cats. As for this cat, I can’t get over the dark history of this celebration and I’m very happy felines in Europe are much safer now than in the middle ages.
From stray cats to online stars
There are a number of lucky felines who have moved from the streets of Hong Kong and now live their best lives working and living in the shops of Hong Kong. I love to read and report about working cats.
We felines are fascinated with your Christmas trees. So many things to swat, such a cozy space to hang out in. Our Angel Miss P. lived under the tree from the moment it was put up until it was taken down and she preferred to hang out there by herself.
Still, many of you humans get your whiskers in a twist when we “play” with your Christmas trees so here are some tips to prevent total tree destruction
There are some tricks to keep your Christmas ornaments safe. Hang the most valued (and fragile) ornaments toward the top of the tree. Hang cat attracting things like bells or wooden (sturdy) ornaments on the lowest branches. The bells help to also alert you if your feline in residence is messing with the tree..
If more drastic measures are required you can place pinecones sprayed with apple cider vinegar around the base of the tree. Most felines don’t like the smell. But if your feline can endure the smell to get to the tree, try a cat deterrent spray like ‘Four Paws Keep Off Outdoor and Indoor Spray’ ‘which is safe for cats and kittens.
Another option is to put some oranges under the tree as many of my feline friends do not like the smell at all.
If all of these options fail, you can hang the tree from the ceiling, put the tree in a play pen or, as The Human does, just forget the tree and decorate the house in a festive manner instead.
I’ve featured many thieving felines in my Wednesday news stories but this Wisconson kitty wins the prize as he showed up at home with a whole alligator head!
“He was very proud of himself,” owner Wendy Wiesehuegel told Fox News , At first Wieshuegel thought it was a bass or some other fish native to Wisconsin. She was shocked w hen she saw what her black cat, Burnt Toast, had brought home.
A conservation expert said a wildlife biologist would need to confirm its authenticity, but that he believed it was not a souvenir head but belonged to a real animal, which likely measured three feet long.
American alligators aren’t native to Wisconsin, Aspenson suspects that it could’ve been a pet that escaped or was released. However, the wildlife official wasn’t sure how it perished or came into Burnt Toast’s possession, and Burnt Toast isn’t talking.,
Coincidentally, Wiesehuegel remembered seeing what she thought was a gator a few days prior while on a lake with her brother-in-law.
“He just laughed it off like, ‘No, it’s not a gator,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it probably isn’t one,’ and we just kind of dismissed it, and then this showed up,”
While it’s rare to find this cold-blooded predator in such a frigid climate, Aspenson believes this won’t be the last time.
In July, Wisconsin police were flabbergasted after finding an alligator roaming a neighborhood in Kenosha. As it turned out, the reptile — named Chomper — was actually someone’s pet, and it was reunited with its caregiver after its little adventure.
This marked the second such animal that’d been found in southeast Wisconsin that month. The first was a 24-inch allegedly escaped gator that was discovered swimming in a lake in Fond du Lac.
Well Hello There Furiends! It’s been a rather chilly and blustery week in our neck of the woods. We had a surprise wind and snow storm and The Human says it’s like Siberia out there. Another human she knows said that instead of bemoaning the weather, she was going to be grateful for the new trampoline and lawn furniture she found in her yard (I told you it was a bad wind storm!)
While The Human did her civic duty yesterday and worked the polls, The Tribe suffered. We had to get up at 4am for our breakfast and before bed treats didn’t happen until 11:00pm. We were on the brink of starvation and Oliver was a bit miffed that the breakfast service was lacking.
And we were bored….soooooo bored so Ollie and Lilly entertained themselves by doing some interior decorating.
But life has returned to normal and The Human was able to come home and finish this post and some other work while we enjoyed treats and the fire.
This week’s web features will be a little shorter than usual but, being the thoughtful felines we are, we gave The Human a break.
Although I am not a wandering feline, I did find this study interesting. Did you know that In August in the UK there were 264,933 missing cats listed across five of the most popular missing pet websites, with 55% of cat owners saying their cat has gone missing at least once, with 22% saying their cat has left home at least five times.
This is a good reason to keep your felines inside as research across the five biggest missing pet websites reveals that 184 cats go missing every minute – and 3 each second.
Survey data from cat owners across the country revealed the top circumstances where cats go missing. These include when owners move house (11%), go away on holiday (10%), have builders in the home to renovate (9%) or get another pet (9%).
With more than half (53%) of Brits confessing they’d feed a cat who appeared in their garden, it’s no surprise many cats explore their surroundings for food, attention and adventures. (This is why The Human is always meowing about “THINK LOST NOT STRAY!”)
The good news is, 41% of people who reported a cat missing had them turn up again of their own accord. Of these felines, 18% of owners found their missing cat near their home, 16% received a call from someone local who found their cat, another 16% reported their cat had been found trapped in a shed or outbuilding, and 13% said they found their cat at an old home.
To explore what cats get up to when they are away from home, Admiral Pet Insurance partnered with Tractive GPS pet tracker.
Research conducted by Admiral Pet Insurance reveals that over a quarter of a million cats are currently missing in the UK. The data gathered by the insurer originates from the National Pet Register, Pets Located, Pets Reunited, Animal Search and the Blue Cross, where collectively there are 264,933 cats listed as missing.
Over 60% of the cats listed as missing were male, with an additional 27,000 more male cats listed as missing than females. Of the 11,000 missing cats listed on the National Pet Register, over 7,000 were microchipped; however the remaining 4,628 were not.
In December 2021, the British government announced a new law that will require cat owners to get their cat microchipped to help reunite missing cats with their owners. Pritpal Powar, head of pet at Admiral Insurance comments: “It’s important to ensure your cat is microchipped as it’s a great way to help missing cats be reunited with their owners.
“Microchipping is a safe, simple procedure for animals and the microchip lasts a lifetime, but remember to update the information if you change address.” Note-all of our Tribe is microchipped.
Black cats are most commonly reported missing, with over 85,000 black cats currently at large, making up 33% of the total missing cat population. A quarter (25%) of all missing cats are white and 13% are brown.
In addition, 72% of the cats reported missing had monotone coats, for instance a fully black, white or brown cat, which could suggest cats with easily identifiable coat markers are reunited with their owners sooner, resulting in fewer listings for cats with mixed color coats, now that’s interesting.
On average, male cats spend 5 hours active per day, while female cats were only active for an average of 3 hours per day. In this time, they also travel further than the female cats in the experiment, who tended to explore the same areas but spend more time there.
Cat expert, Lucy Hoile comments: “Male cats are naturally more active and maintain a wider territory than females due to their innate drive to find mating opportunities. The more ground they cover, the more females they are likely to encounter.
Due to their increased activity levels, male cats were also found to burn on average 19% more calories than female cats. (Hmm, if that’s true why does Lily weigh only 8 pounds?)
A new research study about fearful cats was recently concluded. “We wanted to find out what factors are associated with the problematic behavior of cats, such as fearfulness, aggression towards humans and excessive grooming. We utilized a survey dataset previously collected in our research, which we have already used to investigate the construction of the feline personality,” says Doctoral Researcher Salla Mikkola from the University of Helsinki and the Folkhälsan Research Center
The survey included more than 120 statements used to score feline traits.
The fearfulness factor included statements on the cat’s reaction to strangers, sudden noises and changes taking place at home. Aggression towards humans included scratching or attempts to bite in conjunction with care, such as when being brushed. Excessive grooming included extensive and intensive grooming as well as self-mutilation by pulling hairs off with teeth, or by biting or licking.
“We investigated the link between these problematic behavioral and personality traits, and almost 30 behavioral, environmental and biological factors. For example, the socialization of cats with humans was associated with fearfulness. Cats who had come into contact with unfamiliar adults and children under 12 weeks of age only a few times or not at all were more fearful than cats who met strangers on a weekly or daily basis. Fearful cats also received, on average, higher scores for litterbox issues, aggression and excessive grooming,” Mikkola says.
Prior studies have also shown that fearfulness can lead to aggressive behavior, such as hissing and biting, if the cat sees no other way out of a frightening situation. No direct causalities can be established on the basis of the data.
“There were less aggression and fearfulness in households with more than one cat, but we cannot say for certain why this is. It may be that the companionship of other cats is an important stimulus for cats, or alternatively, people don’t want to take a mate for their aggressive cat due to its nature. Research carried out through a different design is needed to explain causalities,” says Professor Hannes Lohi.
Professor Lohi’s group will conduct research on feline litterbox issues in the near future. I say it’s about time those sciency people studied us amazing felines!
Cat’s GPS Reveals His Deepest Secret
This cat’s mom hired an electronic “private detective” to find out what her feline has been up to. If you want to follow Bernie’s adventures you can check him out on Instagram
Mickey is a black and white cat that lived at Top Ten Produce until recently. Alas, the rules regarding cats in grocery stores are clear and after Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) received a complaint, the West Point Grey grocer had to bid the feline farewell. Luckily, Matthew MacDonald, the store’s manager, had space for Mickey at his home.
However, staff and their neighbors want Mickey to stay at the store, where he fills a variety of roles, from pest control to mascot to therapy cat. Mickey is a very multi-talented cat.
“I try not to watch people when they’re interacting with him because some of the interactions are so deep and people are really into him,” MacDonald told Vancouver Is Awesome. “He makes people feel special.”
Mickey arrived at Top Ten a couple of years ago, after a friend-of-a-friend found they couldn’t provide a good home for him. “We thought we had a better place for him, a better environment,” MacDonald says.
At first he was a bit of a scaredy-cat, but the store had lots of nooks for him to shelter in, and he became more comfortable with the human visitors. He also took on the job of mouser; when Top Ten faced a rodent issue a couple of years ago.
So far, no order has been given, but VCH has done an educational visit.
“The operation of food premises in B.C. is a regulated activity under the Public Health Act and an operator must not permit live animals to be on the premises. There are exceptions for service dogs and live fish in an aquarium,” a VCH spokesperson tells V.I.A.
They note the “use of live animals is also not a recognized component of an integrated pest management program for controlling pests in food premises.” Well as my feline granny used to say, “BALDERDASH!”
There has been a large wave of support for Mickey. So far, around 3,000 people have signed the online petition. When discussions with VCH continue, MacDonald says he’ll ask how to move forward.
However, he’s worried that while other shop animals fly under the radar, Mickey’s newfound fame may be to his detriment. “I’d like Mickey to stay here, but I’m scared. I feel this publicity means he cannot stay here.” And there you go; fame does have its problems.
Hello Furiends, It’s been a busy week here in our neck of the woods. Most of the time was devoted to The Human putting the finishing touches on her purresentation at the Cat Writers Association conference. She enjoyed some great seminars at the virtual conference. We liked it because she was at home with us on Friday and Saturday. We were very instrumental in helping her during the course of the conference as displayed in these photos. We have a nice view from the office window and since she was sitting at the big table, we were able to take over her pink office chair occasionally.
When we got bored we checked for squirrels
When The Human abandons the pink chair, it’s ours!
Alberto concentrating on the conference,
Alberto concentrates in a bed in the cat tree in the office
Oliver takes a break from learning to check out the woods.
Lily goes for a change of scene and hangs out in the living room.
Oliver returns to his focus on the programs.
After the conference, we went in the kitchen to see what the human was making from her Hello Fresh delivery. We were incensed to find out she was making a meatless dish and hastily made our way back to our sleeping stations on the cat tree in the office. It was a nice weekend and I’m sure The Human appreciated all the assistance we provided.
Where’s the meat and what’s up with the kale?
Today is “Evaluate Your Life” day and Lily, Oliver and I spent some time to honor the day. We suggest you do the same.
I hope you enjoy this week’s feline news.
A homeless cat is rescued and then finds an amazing furever home
We love The Dodo and find some of the most heartwarming videos there. This one gave The Human leaky eyes (she said only because it had such a happy ending). This kitty was abandoned when his humans moved away, was rescued and then adopted by a family that takes him on boat trips. This little movie is like a fantastic fairy tale. You can keep up with all of Richey, Kiley, Lori and Jason’s adventures on Facebook.
Meowza, there are a lot of video games featuring cats and here’s the latest on the list created by a man from Portland, Maine. The game features nine cats on a fictional island in Casco Bay.
The creator of the game, Eric Blumrick, calls this an adventure game about cats and their encounters in the small island town where they live. The cats wake up one morning and find that all the humans have disappeared. The game poses the question, “Are the humans worth bringing back?”
The cats need to discover what humanity is and what it is to be human and as they do, they discover the story of the island and its history.
“In the end, once they uncover all the stories of Peace Island, it will be up to the cats and the players to decide whether the humans are worth bringing back,”
Please note, this product is for you humans only and it’s pretty clever. The Burdick Chocolates menagerie, well known for its silk-tailed mice, now includes cats. The company created dark chocolate felines with a cherry ganache filling and a curved cashew tail. They’re almost two inches long, come six to a box and are being sold for a limited time online and at the L.A. Burdick shops in New York, Chicago, Washington and New England. The box of six chocolate kitties sells for $27.00
Hysterical compilation of news reporters’ cats making guest appearances
It’s clear from these videos that when TV reporters work from home, their felines like to get in the act too.
Hurricane Ian cats rescued by Indiana women on vacation
Two Indiana women, Samantha Grimes and Holly Irwin were vacationing in Florida news reports about animals in need because of the hurricane. Both women who work in animal rescue and are board members and volunteers at SOAR Initiative Indianapolis knew they wanted to do something.
When they heard that shelter doors had been reopened, they loaded 35 cats into crates and put them in their Kia Sportage. They had to move all of their items into the storage compartment on top of the car to fit the cats in.
I would say these Indiana tourists went above and beyond and that animal rescue folks are never “off the clock”.
Happy Wednesday Furiends! I am happy to report that The Human is getting better each day and, as a result, our level of service has begun to return to normal. She’s even cooking again. Once a week she gets a box that has stuff for her to cook. She says it’s easy and is saving her money because she keeps meowing about the fact that she can’t walk our of the grocery store for less than $50.00. Well, she seems to feel this human food delivery system is a good deal and I must admit, there are some tasty smells coming out of the kitchen again.
The other night she made a pork dish and before she could do the clean up, Oliver hopped on the counter and took a nap on the bag that had the ingredients in it.
The Human said it was a tasty dish and Oliver said it smelled great (since Oliver is on a D-I-E-T he wasn’t offered anything.
We were inspired this week by the news story of the artist who makes felines look like royalty so we had our Purrsonal Assistant take a stab at making us royal too.
“You may approach me peasant”“Finally, a chair that is fitting for my station!”“What part of , ‘Yes I AM king of the castle’ do you not understand?”
Well, those are the shenanigans from our neck of the woods this week. We hope you enjoy this week’s feline news.
This one will have you crying tears of joy. Sad Mouth Sam lived clear across the country in Tucson, Arizona, when Kate Perillo spotted her photos online. The Siamese cat appeared to have larger-than-average lips and crossed eyes, giving her a very unique look. Perillo couldn’t get Sam’s face out of her head, so she took a chance and reached out about the cat and she changed both of their lives forever.
Perillo said that when she saw Sam’s photo she knew she had to adopt her. Sam had been living as part of a feral cat colony with Poet Square Cats, and she had eosinophilic granuloma complex — an allergy triggered by food or environment. It only took a steroid shot, antibiotics and a move indoor to completely heal Sam’s allergy.
Perillo and her mother had always had Siamese cats. The last of the cats passed in 2015 and Perillo’s mother passed in 2017 and she felt it was time to adopt a new kitty. She flew from Massachusetts to Arizona to meet Sam.
It was love a first sight and now that Sam is feeling better her personality is coming through. She loves to find sun puddles and bird watching and she’s a huge fan of playtime.
Sam is a talker and has no problem letting people know what she wants.
Sam and her human are a match made in heaven and Perillo says that having Sam in her home is a small way of keeping the memory of her mother alive.
Granted, these portraits are waaaay better than the ones our Purrsonal Assistant did but that’s because Galina Bugaevskaya (aka Cat Universe on Instagram) is a real artist.
Bugaevskaya has been creating her Cat Universe for over three years. Her goal is to place photo shopped images of cats in unexpected situations. She says, “I am inspired by their faces: funny, stern, curious—so different. I adore non-standard photos and funny facial expressions, and I also love harsh frowning cats.”
Her series, vintage oil paintings are photo shopped with the expressions of the cats in mind. She has created felines in pink gowns, the robes of royalty and many more regal ensembles. You can follow Bugaevskaya’s latest creations on Instagram.
Now this really gets my shiskers in a twist. Firing a teacher because her cat decided to make an appearance in the teacher’s livestream class!
An art teacher in China’s Guangzhou city won 40,000 yuan ($6,000; £5,000) in an unfair dismissal case over a cat’s appearance in her online class. The teacher, only referred to as Lou in the lawsuit was running an art class and her cat jumped into the camera’s view five times.
The education tech company that ran the virtual classes fired Lou, citing the feline’s sudden appearances on screen as a reason. (I hiss in the general direction of that tech company).
The company said Luo had taken part in “non-teaching” activities during class, and was also 10 minutes late to a previous class.
Luo appealed the decision in arbitration but the tech company refused to accept the order to compensate the teacher for her unfair dismissal and the court costs she’d incurred.
In a court ruling, Judge Liao Yajing from the Guangzhou Tianhe People’s Court said that if employers require their staff to work from home, they should not have the same expectations as if they were working in an office. Well duh, especially if there is a curious feline in your home.
I am happy to hear the teacher was awarded damages and we hope she-and her feline-will be teaching online classes again soon!
· “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” –Albert Schweitzer
There are many wonderful quotes about the fabulous beasts we felines are. This article lists 60 of them. Lily, Oliver and I have noted our favorites. You can read the rest of the quotes in the article. And apologies to any of our barkie furiends we may have offended with these quotes.
“To err is human, to purr is feline.” –Robert Byrne“If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.” –Mark Twain“Dogs eat. Cats dine.” –Ann Taylor
Meowza! Wednesday came so quick this week! We’re working the pads off our peets, putting the finishing touches on our special “#RememberMeThursday winning adoption stories in time to do a Thanksgiving theme (I mean, what is there better to be thankful for than a furever home?)
We also have a product review to finish that we think your humans will like. Having said all that, the report from our neck of the woods will feature Lily as she finally realized that we have an interloper and she decided to do something about it. Sheesh, Oliver and I have been telling her about the squirrel for ages and she only took notice this week!
“Hey squirrel, didn’t The Human tell you not to climb up the siding to get to the bird feeder (emphasis on the word BIRD).”
“Listen buddy, don’t sit there and mock me. All it takes is a little movement of those sliding glass doors and you’re history. Hmmmmm, gotta’ tell The Human to get out there and clean up those leaves.”
“The hubris of that squirrel!”
“One of these days squirrel, one of these days!”
Lily has not been allowed to “extend the paw of friendship” to the squirrel and it’s adaily source of frustration for her. Oh well, on to the news.
A recent study posted on ScienceAlert.com illustrates the bond we felines have with you humans. When you humans walk away from us, we track you down mentally map your position in space. We even use the sound of the your voice for the tracking process.
This behavior of ours is part of our social- spatial cognition.
Researchers from the Kyoto University ran tested many cats. They put them in rooms that the felines were familiar with. They placed a speaker in the room and another outside the room. A recording of the owner’s voice was played on each speaker. Hearing the human’s voice in different locations seemed to confuse the cats. A researcher noted in the research paper on ScienceAlert.com: Results showed that cats were surprised when their owner appeared to be ‘teleported’ to a new, unexpected location. They also added that the results suggest that cats hold a mental representation of the unseen owner and map their owner’s location from the owner’s voice, showing evidence of socio-spatial cognition.
Faith in humanity restored! Robert, a feline that has been the spokespurrson for a campaign to save Walsall Road allotments in 2019 needed his own campaign when the vet found two ulcers in his eyes.
He had an operation – a corneal graft – and is now recovering in Kate Millington’s spare room – one of the plot holders at the allotments where he usually lives. His close human friend Betty Farruggia who takes most of the pictures for his Twitter feed said the support Robert has received has been ‘incredible’.
“He has had messages from all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Japan and the EU. I really hate to ask for money but people started to send it by Paypal before I even set up the appeal.
“I never imagined a cat, even a special cat like Robert, would have this effect on people who have never met him.”
Robert touched many hearts and will stay at Kate’s until he has finished all his medication and is fully recovered.
The target of £10,000 for his treatment has now been met but supporters continue to send him get well wishes and financial help. Any extra money will go to the vet fund for the other felines who live at the allotments.
One donor from Baltimore, USA said, “Very much enjoy following the activities of all of you at the allotments. I hope you are back home and feeling yourself again soon. Best wishes from my two here in Baltimore, MD…we’ve taken a bit from the treat jar to help.”
The Human is a great fan of Basepaws and she’s all of our DNA done. She was thrilled to hear that Basepaws has just updated the product with over 80 new genetic health and trait markers. In total, the Basepaws test will now screen for over 120 markers!
Our reports have so much information and now, with the new markers DNA reports will include:
Over 70 known feline genetic health markers, including new markers for feline ophthalmological conditions and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common form of heart disease in cats;
Genetic markers for blood type. Knowledge of a cat’s blood type can be helpful to the cat breeding process as well as support life-saving medical decisions, such as when a cat needs an emergency blood transfusion;
Over 50 fun and exciting genetic trait markers. With this update, pet parents will learn about some of the genes and mutations that are responsible for their cat’s unique physical appearance;
An analysis of a cat’s DNA sample against the 21 different pedigreed breeds in the Basepaws reference panel, which is part of the world’s largest cat DNA database, to help cat parents better understand their cat’s breed composition;
Results from the first ever Basepaws Cat Dental Health Test that identify a cat’s risk for periodontal disease, tooth resorption, and bad breath. Results include specific at-home dental health care recommendations for pet parents and tips for improving their cat’s nutrition and overall health.
If your humans have already paid for your DNA test kit like ours did, you don’t have to start over again, Existing customers can purchase an upgraded report version for a small fee (the upgrade is free for existing Basepaws Whole Genome Test customers). In time, the company will also release upgrades for additional markers that are discovered through its internal research program.
Now that’s something to meow about!.
Cat Teaches His Little Brothers To Be Obsessed With The Window Washers | The Dodo Cat Crazy
Anyone who says we felines are selfish never met this cat who loves to share the fun.
When it became clear that Hank was definitely stuck in a very tall tree, Smaantha Miller,a spokesperson for the Humane Rescue Alliance in D.C. said, “Having found no other option, we had to get creative.”
The HRA decided after a few days that they would be unable to get Hank down safely. And so Hank remained 50 feet above ground for five days and four nights. Meowza!
Hank was stuck up there in the sun with no water and no food. Poor guy! “
The major cause of the problem with the rescue was the stability of the tree and it’s location. As a last desperate attempt to get Hank out of the tree, the rescuers offered him what they called, “Hank’s Party Pack” which was a collection of treats and clothing with his human’s scent. The items were taken up in a basket and, when Hank climbed in the basket, they brought him down.
HRA field services staff; neighbors who offered ladders and changed dog-walking patterns; and staff members from Casey Trees, a nonprofit environmental group that’s focused on caring for trees in the D.C. area, all assisted in getting the cat down. HRA acknowledged that Hank’s successful rescue was made possible by all who helped.
Now let’s hope Hank stays away from the trees in his neighborhood!
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