There is a gaping black hole in the Catster universe today as everyone’s best friend, Calvin, made his journey to the Rainbow Bridge this morning after a six-week fight with stomach cancer.
His arresting green eyes suggested an old soul of a cat, wise beyond our knowing and as loving, cuddly and affectionate a cat as you could ever hope to meet. He was the heart and soul of Catster, always there to help, to comfort, to make your day with his gentle good humor. We will long remember his pawmails which always closed with his signature “Knead On.”
His mom, Laura, was his second caretaker. His first was Laura’s aunt. She passed away, and the day after her funeral her husband loaded all of her cats in the car and took them to the pound. Hearing this, Laura went to the pound and “bought back” the four cats, one of whom was Calvin. Laura found homes for the other three and kept Calvin. She’s had him for the last seven years.
Calvin was 18, and leaves behind Samoa, Violet, Gleek, Sugar, and Newman. He joins Spunky, Autumn and Rocky at the Bridge. Please drop by his Catster page and leave a big hug for his family, especially his mom and pop, Laura and Ted.
One lucky orange tabby expended a few of his nine lives this week when he was trapped inside an SUVs engine compartment while the SUV traveled across town.
The driver, Wilfred Rodriguez, heard a strage rattling sound when he was driving in the Bronx. When he stopped, he got out to investigate, only to see a floofy tail and paw poking out from beneath the hood.
His first reaction was, “Oh my God! I killed a cat.” He was relieved when the paw moved.
The NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit responded and freed the oil-covered cat by removing the SUV’s battery and a few other vehicle parts.
Richard Gentles of New York City Animal Care & Control reported that the stray cat appeared to be in good physical shape However, the cat was suffering from fleas and severe fur-matting.
David Ziegler of the Center for Animal Care and Control told the New York Daily News, “He seems pretty calm, like he’s not in any pain,” Mr Ziegler said. “But he’s mean. He has been growling.”
Animal Care and Control said it would hold onto the cat for three days, although hope seemed dim that an owner would come forward to claim him.
George the Cat, a clever orange and white tabby in the U.K., has figured out that the best way to get all the tuna juice and Tempations he wants is through hypnosis, and thanks to his owner, he’s accredited as a hypnotherapist.
George’s owner, Chris Jackson, registered George with the British Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (BBNLP), the United Fellowship of Hypnotherapists (UFH) and the Professional Hypnotherapy Practitioner Association (PHPA). Each accepted a certificate from the non-existent Society of Certified Advanced Mind Therapists as proof of George’s credentials.
The UFH later admitted the mistake, which it said has since been corrected.
A PHPA spokesman said the organization makes great effort to ensure every applicant is a fully-qualified hypnotherapist.
The BBNLP said it exists only to provide benefits to its members, not to check or certify credentials.
Ashley wins a framed custom painting. Ashley, I’ll be in touch with you on how to claim your prize!
Ashley’s name was drawn at random from all elligible entries through random.org, which guarantees complete impartiality. Thanks to everyone who entered: we have another great prize coming soon!
Linden Alley was founded by German-American art-lover Peter Burchhardt with the goal of making top-quality custom paintings available at reasonable prices. A true multi-national, Peter grew up in Germany, studied and worked in the US, and has lived in Asia since 2006. He speaks and reads fluent Chinese. Living in different cities around China, he saw the stunning number of highly talented artists concentrated there. There are gifted and well-trained artists with few means to find customers for their work. Some of their work is bought up by agents who then resell for more than ten times the purchase value at galleries in Europe, the US, and wealthy parts of Asia. Others work for big companies creating artwork to furnish hotels and business chains. Peter noticed an opportunity to use the Internet to reduce layers of middlemen and put the best artists in more direct touch with their customers. Linden Alley now makes it possible for anyone to commission custom-made artwork from master portrait artists, no matter how far away they are.
Tom Cox, author of ‘Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man,’ recently wrote a piece in the Financial Times about walking with cats in Pembrokeshire, Wales. He visited Jackie Morris, a writer and children’s book illustrator, who regularly takes her ginger cats over hill and dale on walks of up to five miles.
Of course, in this wild rural landscape, there is no danger of speeding cars, just hillocks and heather and a path to the sea. Cox and Morris stroll with the orange tabbies Maurice, Kiffer, Martha, Elmo and Pixie following at a cat-like pace. These orange tabbies and the bucolic countryside are frequent subjects for Morris’ children’s book illustrations.
When they head back to Morris’ home, Cox carries Pixie across his shoulders like a scarf for more than a mile. Morris demonstrates how she has more or less trained Pixie and Elmo to jump atop standing stones or footpath signs just by tapping them. Cats run ahead, lag behind, or disappear altogether. That’s just the way cat-walking is.
Tom is no stranger to cat walking:
As surreal as it is to stroll along a coastal path with small felines at my heels, I am not a newcomer to cat-walking. In my teens, I would walk through miles of Forestry Commission land in north Nottinghamshire with my paragon of childhood cats, Monty. “It’s an activity that’s always felt very natural to me,” says Morris. “The first time was about 20 years ago, with my old cat Comfrey. I just walked up the hill behind my house near Bath one day, and he followed me. He would come to the shops with me.”
I’m no stranger to cat-walking, myself. My gregarious tabby, Tripper, follows us like a dog anytime we take Skeezix for a stroll or a walk. Unless we’re staying within the confines of our quiet neighborhood, this usually requires that we return home at some point and lock Tripper in the house. But if I, like Morris, lived in Pembrokeshire, I could see myself walking to the sea each morning with Trip shadowing me… a purrfect way to start a day.
A Florida family is mourning the loss of Buddy after Hernando County Animal Services mistakenly euthanized him.
Buddy’s owner, Maria Velez had taken Buddy to a friend’s house for her to cat sit while they were on vacation. When the friend, Debra Yarzab, was playing with Buddy, he bit her on the hand.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” said Yarzab.
Later, her hand swelled up, and she sought medical attention for the injury.
Because Buddy hadn’t received his rabies shot, he was put in quarantine at Hernando County Animal Services, which is routine in such cases.
It turned out that he was fine, but there was a mix up with another orange tabby cat, and Buddy was euthanized.
When the Velezes went to pick Buddy up, they were presented with a different cat–a very skinny orange tabby who was missing a tail. Maria Velez told them it was the wrong cat, at which point they discovered that the wrong cat had been euthanized.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Maria Velez said. “I was in shock. I’m like are you kidding me?”
Animal Services officials say they feel bad about the mixup, but admitted that similar incidents have occurred before. They said they are working on implementing new procedures to prevent future mix ups.
“I just want something to be done so it doesn’t ever happen again to someone else, to another animal,” Maria Velez said.
“I can never get him back,” said her son, Austin.
County Commissioner Rose Rocco said she is investigating the incident and is going to make sure new guidelines are put in place.
[LINK: BayNews9.com]
See related Cat's Meow entries:
George the Cat, a clever orange and white tabby in the U.K., has figured out that the best way to get all the tuna juice and Tempations he wants is through hypnosis, and thanks to his owner, he’s accredited as a hypnotherapist.
The
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
