Video: Henri, Le Chat Noir, visits the vet

A story that our Sushi can relate to these days. He refused to look at me when I took him to the hospital for his radio-iodine treatment. Sushi stayed at the hospital for two weeks (due to the radioactivity) and for the most part is now doing well. Our cat-girl, Nasdaq, mourned him for two weeks, but then was upset when suddenly he showed up again. For the first time in 14 years, she attacked and bullied Sushi, who is generally the bully of the house. Ahhh, cats.

Sushi the patient.

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iPad games for cats?

I'm not sure I would want to run the risk of either of my cats damaging my iPad, if I ever bought one. Poor little Buckwheat is trying to find something under the iPad when patting on the screen doesn't help. It's not exactly catching a mouse or a bird but it is some activity. According to this USA Today "article" (that closely resembles ad placement for Nestle-Purina) they've had over 500,000 downloads. If you have a cat, would you try this? (John did with his dog Sasha, with interesting results.) Read the rest of this post...

Video: Lion cubs say goodbye

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon playing with 2 month old lion cubs and a 9 month old cub while in Africa a few years back, and they were two of my favorite moments ever. Well, that and the time Jojo and I played with two cheetahs who purred like our house cats when they received a back scratch. If you click through to YouTube, this guy has a bunch of other incredible videos of him with lions of all sizes. Read the rest of this post...

How does one train a cat to do this?

Neither of our cats would tolerate wearing the mask/hat let alone put it on by themselves. We're impressed if the cats can eat and keep the food in their bowl instead of all over the floor. This cat is impressive. Read the rest of this post...

Simon's Cat in 'Santa Claws'

A helpful reminder that cat people may want to be cautious with the tree. As a kid, we once made the mistake of decorating the tree with the old-fashioned popped corn and cranberry garland. Sounded great until we ran out to see relatives and came home to discover the tree laying on its side, Christmas bulbs everywhere (and some broken) and our friendly dog running for the nearest hiding spot. That turned out to be the first and last year we tried the old "food on the tree" decorations. Read the rest of this post...

Cats suck

Literally. It's apparently how they drink. Someone did research on it. Sounds a bit of a waste, until you watch this, then it's actually kind of cool.

The cat curls the tip of its tongue underneath itself and then lightly touches the liquid with the tongue's surface. It then jerks its tongue up, snapping a column of water up along with it. The cat drinks the stream before gravity has a chance to pull it back down—a process it can perform four times a second.

(Hat tip, HuffPost Hill) Read the rest of this post...

The bionic cat

Now that is amazing.

A cat which lost both back paws after a traumatic accident involving a combine harvester has regained a spring in its step after being fitted with prosthetic limbs.

In a groundbreaking surgery carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a Surrey-based veterinary surgeon, the custom-made implants "peg" the ankle to Oscar's foot and mimic the way in which deer antler bone grows through skin.

The prosthetic legs, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (Itaps) were developed by a team from University College London, led by Professor Gordon Blunn.

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VIDEO: Why people don't walk cats

And this particular cat is no exception. We briefly tried something like this with similar results. I've seen it done successfully once or twice, but I think those cats were confused. Read the rest of this post...

Research proves that cats know how to manipulate us

In our household, Nasdaq began "talking" to us years ago to ask for a bit of attention, or sometimes an extra nibble or two. (Well OK, maybe more than just a nibble.) Sushi eventually caught on and has mastered the "crying for his life" production. When he goes at it, you could swear that his life will end in two seconds if he doesn't get whatever he wants at that very second. Anyone who has cats probably already knew that this was an effective method of manipulation. Once again, cats own us, but how can you resist such cute, fuzzy friends? Read the rest of this post...

まるです (I am Maru)

I just came across this video, it's excerpted briefly in the "Internet is made of cats" video that Chris posted this morning. This guy's cat is absolutely hysterical. Watch the entire thing, some of the best clips are at the end.

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Just what is the internet?

This clarifies everything. It also explains those hours each day when the cats appear to be sleeping, but are really busy. Very busy. I think Nasdaq's snoring noises are simply reactions from higher internet usage, such as when everyone logs on first thing in the morning. Read the rest of this post...

It's 10AM on a Wednesday. What's your cat doing?

I don't know about the cats in this study, but our cats most definitely are sleeping. A lot. Since I work at home with our furry friends I don't need a camera to see that Sushi tends to sleep until around 5PM in the afternoon and Nasdaq until around 2PM, when lunch is served. Then it's back to napping. The evening is when the "action" starts and they both wander around for an hour or two. When Sushi is awake, he does enjoy a bit of what we call "terrace TV" as he sits on the sofa and stares outside. Sometimes there's a bird buzzing about and other times, there's nothing as far as we can tell.

Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.

Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats' time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.

Six percent? Where do they find these cats? Certainly not here but it's true that Americans are known for their long work hours. Read the rest of this post...

Of course it's animal cruelty

The only surprise is that it's taken so long to come to this conclusion. California is on the right side, again. Cat friends of the world, unite.

Don’t have your cat declawed in San Francisco, or West Hollywood, or you could face fines up to $1,000 and six months in jail. This month, the city by the bay became the first major metro area in California to outlaw the veterinary procedure, and was soon joined by Santa Monica, Berkeley and Beverly Hills. Los Angeles is expected to enact the ban next week.

"It’s a form of animal cruelty," San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, a major supporter of the ban, tells PEOPLEPets.com. "It would be unconscionable to ignore that fact."

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Friday Cat Blogging

Chris and Joelle had a dinner party last Sunday night, and Sushi decided to saunter by, plop down right next to the table, upside down, and promptly fall asleep.

Then the ever-alert protector of the hearth sensed that something was amiss.

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Sunday castello cat

Cute little cat watching over visitors to a castle near Castello Grinzane that I can't remember. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Cat Blogging

This week, it's Nasdaq's turn. The big fat black cat. Nasdaq and I have had a rocky relationship during this particular visit to Paris. You see, Nasdaq, like me, has ashtma. And like me, Nasdaq has to take a variety of inhaled steroids every morning and night to help keep her asthma under control. So, before they left on vacation, Chris and Joelle showed me how they give Nasdaq her morning and evening medicine. It's a pornographic looking device called an AeroKat.



Hmmm, I thought, looking at the AeroKat. It looks an awful lot like the chamber I use for administering my asthma meds. Do Chris and Joelle honestly think I'm going to pin Nasdaq down and jam this thing down her throat twice a day? Apparently yes. Oh but it gets better. Take a look at the head of the AeroKat - you see, you put this contraption over the cat's muzzle so she has no choice but to breath the medicine.



Yeah right. Those of you who have cats will appreciate what happens next.

Being a dog guy, I was worried that Nasdaq might bite me, or scratch me. But I never quite anticipated what she actually did. I cornered her and gave her her two shots of medicine and she took it quite well, then ran like hell. Never to be seen again.

For two full weeks, Nasdaq ran and hid every morning, and every evening, just about the time I needed to find her to give her the medicine. If she accidentally ran into me in the hallway, she bolted. The cat literally hid from me for two full weeks. Now sure, a dog might have bitten your arm off doing this to her (well, actually your own dog would know better), but a dog would have faithfully put up with it every morning and night. A cat simply runs and hides. And if you've ever tried to catch a running cat, it's nothing like a dog. They're like jello. Or in Nasdaq's case, very fat, slow-moving jello, but jello nonetheless.

Nasdaq is finally, once again, starting to hang around me, hoping I've stopped the medicine torture. I called Chris and asked him what to do, because honestly if I started the treatment again she'd just get up and hide for another two weeks. he said to call it quits, so I did. Nasdaq is now once again sleeping peacefully upside down on top of my suitcase (photo above), and all is well in the world. I really knew that Nasdaq had forgiven me when she pulled the old "begging for dinner six hours before it was due" trick. She only does this one to Chris, so the fact that she was now pulling it on me meant that all had been forgiven. I took a little video of Nasdaq staking out the hallway to the kitchen - it's what she does when she's begging for an early meal. Enjoy.

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$0 down, 0% financing, no payments

Funny article the other day about the Michigan Humane Society and their new ad campaign for adopting cats. (Both of our cats come from family and in one shape or form go back to the cat of one of Joelle's cousins who was killed by a drunk driver a few decades ago.) When we come down to the coast for summer vacation we use "the walk" as a test to see how well or not that we're doing. Not including the steps inside the flat (an additional 13 from the street, if one is counting) we have the pleasure of walking 672 steps and roughly 1,000 feet to get to the beach sitting below the old village. In bad years we cave in and drive the car down but thanks to my bike riding, the steps this year are still noticeable but no wobbly knees, sore muscles or anything like that.

Every year we enjoy what we call "cat alley" which is along our path to and from the beach. We finally met the man who takes care of the cats this year and discovered that all of them - we've counted at least 7 - are from the local humane society. A few of the bunch (such as the cute little gray guy and the black and brown girl above) crave back scratches and it's tough prying yourself away from them as they meow and walk alongside. Sometimes one even pulls the trick that Sushi does which is to meow and walk right in front of you, almost tripping you. Each cat has his or her patch along the route so as you make your way along the path one stops and another pops up. We add our treats to their food bowl coming down and surprise, surprise, they love fish. Read the rest of this post...

The wonder that is Sushi

Chris and Joelle have two cats. Nasdaq is the big black one, Sushi the grey one. Nasdaq is a bit more, how shall we say... sluggish, than Sushi. Thus, it's somewhat easier to photograph Sushi in various poses. Nasdaq's poses tend to involve sleeping and rolling on her back. So this week, we'll take a stab at Sushi. Next week, I'll make an effort to do a Nasdaq exposé.



Sushi as king of the mountain. He apparently learned this trick a while back - climbing trees - yet only does it a few times a year. I was privy to one such time.



The intensely purposeful stare. Usually this look takes before right before Sushi pounces on Nasdaq.



Unknown. Sushi was cleaning himself when all of a sudden this happened. Nasdaq has a penchant for rolling over on her back to get attention, but this was something a tad different. It's possibly Sushi's homage to Michael Jackson, but no one knows for sure.



King of the forest Part Deux.



This scene is a tad more complicated than it looks. Yes, Sushi is cleaning himself. But he's also staking out my suitcase, conveniently located under the towel, to make it clear to Nasdaq that I am his, and not hers. Nasdaq did, in a moment of bravery (and stupidity) take a quick nap last night on my suitcase, without event. Previous visits have proven that such a move usually does not end well for Nasdaq. Read the rest of this post...

Sushi and Nasdaq own us - now there's proof

Was there really ever any question about this? Nasdaq started "talking" a few years ago and Sushi caught on and eventually he realized it was an easy way to get whatever he wanted.

If you've ever wondered who's in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It's your cat.

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings.

This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore.

"The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response," said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. "Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom."

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Paris sun bathers

Some Parisians aren't afraid to show it all when the sun comes out. The neighbors are certainly talking. Read the rest of this post...