Cats
Cat coat color and personality: connected?
Cat racism kills - black cats don't get adopted.
A recent study tentatively concluded that purebred cats are friendlier than mixed-breed cats. It's a pity that study was so inept, though. It has been fairly well established decades ago that the single biggest predictor of a cat's friendliness toward humans is how much it was handled during its earliest weeks.
Clicker training your cat for fun
Next stop: Fun Town!
Yes, fun! Check out this video by a kid named Daniel King who has clicker trained his cats to run agility courses (mostly jumping). Look how much fun he is having, and his kitties are having, and they are all having together!
Dad's Cat Food
Kitties love this cat food variety.
Having cats can be a great thing; I have two of them so they really keep me busy inside the house. However, selecting the proper food for your cats can be harder than what you would think. You have a particular variety and brand, but then you turn around and there is a new brand of food coming out with more flavors for your cat.
Another happy ending
And another cat who had no business being a barn cat!
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a kitten I adopted that was dumped at the barn where I board my horses. At the time the momma cat hadn't been seen in a while, so we assumed she was dead or gone. Then I started hearing reports of her being seen, and set out to catch her.
Pine cat litter
Fresh scent and easily obtainable
Choosing the proper cat litter can be harder than you would imagine. This is when you should know more information about the pine cat litter and why you need to use this. Once you know more information about this cat litter, it is easy to see just why this is a great choice to make.
Cat snuggle party disrupted by police
"Come out with your paws up!"
Iceland can get pretty chilly this time of year. What's a stray neighborhood cat to do but throw a snuggle party in an unoccupied home? Unfortunately, the home's human neighbors noticed "several cats" moving in and out of the house via an open window. They contacted police for assistance, and when the officers arrived on the scene they found several cats (two or three; their report was unclear) which were "snuggling on a couch that had been left behind by the previous residents."
The snuggling cat party was broken up, the aforementioned snugglers were evicted, and police officers secured the property. One wonders, when will the next cat snuggle party spring up? And where?
This is not the first time police have been called out to deal with a cat problem. Although typically these calls involve cats being mistaken for a cougar or an escaped circus lion.
If the problem of cat snuggle parties becomes a serious problem in Iceland, perhaps police officers would do well to consider bringing the cats onto the force, in the same way that a criminal can become a valuable information resource. The Los Angeles Police Department has adopted several colonies of feral cats and put them to work in their stations and parking garages.
The TRUE life of a barn cat
The sole survivor of someone's "happily ever after" fantasy
A few weeks ago, people started saying they'd seen a kitten at the barn where I board my horses. I didn't think much of it until about a week later, when I found a kitten in bad shape in a horse's stall. It was mewing frantically as I rounded the corner, and when I spotted it, it was struggling to get up. The horse's hind foot was hardly an inch in front of the kitten's body.
I ran into the stall to rescue the kitten, but soon after I picked it up, it went into a nearly comatose state. It was barely breathing, its eyes were crossed and unresponsive, and the only sign that it was still alive was the feeble protest it sometimes made by opening and closing its mouth when I moved it around. It was pretty clear the poor thing had been stepped on -- and only just before I arrived on the scene, too, if the frantic cries that drew me were any indication.
Tuxedo Stan is running for mayor
This candiate is promoting a local spay/neuter program.
Right on the heels of learning about Stubbs, the Cat Mayor of Talkeetna, now comes this story from the chilly depths of Canada. Tuxedo Stan is a 3-year-old long haired tuxedo cat who is running for Mayor of Halifax on the Tuxedo Party platform. Tuxedo Stan, a former stray himself, is hoping to "raise awareness about the stray cat problem in Halifax."
Tuxedo Stan's campaign is advocating a city-sponsored spay, neuter, and adoption program. Unfortunately, the city of Halifax is facing a huge issue with stray cats numbering in the thousands living on the streets.
Municipal law actually bans animals from running for office, which means that Tuxedo Stan is a long shot candidate indeed. He is a true maverick, campaigning tirelessly in the hopes of catching the attention and imagination of Halifax residents. And once he has their attention, Tuxedo Stan hopes to convince them to spay or neuter their pets.
Beware of cats and open windows
Yes, cats can fall out of open windows.
Yes, cats enjoy open windows. They love to lay on a perch by a window. They love fresh air like we do. However, if your windows are up high, your cat can fall and get hurt if she is lying in front of an open window. Don’t take open windows lightly and don’t depend on her nine lives saving her. Each year, cats fall out of windows. They get hurt and they die.
Cats aren’t invincible. They can stumble and fall just as we can. Their claws can’t always save them, either. It is us humans who must take the steps to protect them. Here is how we can.
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