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.

• Read “Taking a walk with felines”.
• These ginger cats have a blog. (Thanks, Eric & Flynn!)</li>
• Check out Tom’s Little Cat Diaries blog.
• Buy the book, Under the Paw.
• Become a fan on Facebook.

Don’t forget! You can leave a comment on this post for an entry in The Cat’s Meow’s giveaway of a custom oil painting of your cat by Linden Alley.

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7 months and 150 miles later, Henry the Grump is back home thanks to a microchip.

According to his owner, Bridget Wells, the 14-year-old cat had been missing from his home in Swansea, Wales, since last September. He was found 150 miles away, in Coventry. He was turned in to a PDSA clinic by a young woman in Coventry who said she’d been feeding him on the street for a month. The PDSA scanned him successfully for a microchip, Wells was contacted, and a reunion was arranged.

Wells said she was “stunned” when the call came. She drove to Coventry that night and found the once elegant Henry was dreadlocked, matted and grey.

“He had a scar on his cheek and was very dazed,” she said. Back home, Henry is still finding his feet but his bright white color is returning.

Wells said that Henry seemed “a bit shell-shocked” after spending weeks, if not months, on the streets but was slowly returning to his “large, elegant, grumpy” self.

Wells had done everything imaginable to find Henry. “I put up posters, I walked the streets. Every week I phoned the PDSA, I phoned all the vets. They got to know my voice.

“I came to the conclusion that he must have been catnapped. He’s had collars but he gets rid of them very quickly. Maybe someone thought he was stray.

“He seems to be coming back to himself. He’s always been a bit grumpy so it’s great that he’s got his old grump back.

“Thank goodness he was chipped and they could reunite him with me and not have to make a decision about whether to re-home him, given the condition he was in and his age.”

A spokeswoman for the PDSA said, “Cases like this where a cat is found so many miles away from home are extremely rare and unusual.

“This case highlights the importance of micro-chipping your pet as many pets go missing every year and sadly some are never found.”

[LINK/PHOTO CREDIT: bbc.com.uk]

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TC, the black and white female cat that calls Helimed 61 air base in Caernarfon home, has been honored by being named the mascot of the crew. The cat instinctively leaves the building when an alarm sounds, and returns when the paramedics do.

BBC News reports:

Although the paramedics shift between air and road duties, the one constant team member since 2003 has been TC, who has come to recognise the emergency call that signals a crew is about to get airborne.

“It’s uncanny how she knows when to leave the building when a call comes in and she’s always here waiting when we get back,” said Mr Davies.

“As we’re coming back in sometimes we see her coming across the field ready to meet us.”

To read the rest of the story, please click on the link below.

Link: [News.BBC.co.uk]

• Cat-Walking in Wales
• Grumpy Cat Found 150 Miles from Home Thanks to Microchip