For cat lovers everywhere...

Island of Lucky Cats

And there's a video of a kitten who doesn't want to leave a nice warm bath, too. Honest. Not Photoshop edited. Who would have thought...?

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I believe

in a lot of things, but I also believe that your and my prayers for our cat, Melbourne, have been successful.

It was not without a very expensive journey to the vet's a few days stay in the vet's hospital, but he's home, he's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing, and acting as a peer nap support member for his pinkie (not all at the same time), so I'd say that the worst is over and he's on the mend, if not mended completely. So thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

I didn't mention in the last post that the big risk of an illness like this is that cats, once they stop eating and drinking, are notoriously difficult to get started doing so again. We've discussed this with the vet and have been told that once they stop it's almost like a switch is turned off, and they just don't want food or water again. So starting them consuming food and water again is a must. If they don't they quickly enter into kidney failure, then it's all over for them. They even have appetite stimulators that they use with them to try and get them back to normal behaviour. We've lost one cat to this issue, and have managed to coax another back to eating after having lost the...what? Desire? Ability? Skill? Memory? I don't know.

Anyway, it looks like Mel has had his switch turned on again. Thanks again!

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Please say a prayer,

if you're of that ilk, for one of our dear family cats, Melbourne.

Mel started showing signs of being unwell yesterday, and has continued, and gotten worse, since then. He's not eating or drinking and he makes little squeeking pain noises when he's picked up (if you know cats or dogs, you're familiar with the sounds they make when they have internal pain and they're picked up).

Mel has had a bit of a harder life for a home-kept cat. Before we became his staff he lived a bit rough as a tiny kitten, and then when he took us on he injured a rear leg somehow and has suffered on-going pain issues with it. It's been years with that now, and we've always wished we could do something about that for him.

Anyway, we're hoping and praying that it isn't his time to shuffle off into another one of his nine lives, so please say a prayer to the Creator of cats (and everything else around us including us) that the trouble will be easily cured...

(And say a quick prayer, too, for the dog who came into the vets while we were there who had had one of his rear paws run over by a car. It looked awful, but he was being far more stoic and dignified than I would be in the same situation. He was a beautiful dog, silently suffering from a really ugly looking injury...)

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Believe it or not

today is, apparently,

National Hug Your Cat Day!

Seeing as cats don't read greeting cards and really don't give a meow about presents (unless it's food) it seems that the health side surrounding it might be the most logical source of the celebration (and not business interests as is usual).

Hug your cat(s)! You know you want to!

(Besides your cat, hugging your dog is supposed to be just as good. Not to take anything away from cats, but there's probably even more 'pet' animals that could be included. Why don't they have as effective a lobby as cats (other than dogs - there are a lot of dog related holidays)? Just hug your pets, period. Other than porcupines, I guess. But you shouldn't be keeping them as pets anyway - they're wild animals. Still, hugging any pet will probably do just as much good.)

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Yesterday it was dogs...

10 Ways You Know Your Cat Rules You

As SWMBO said about this, there's a "certain amount of truth in this article".

She wouldn't be wrong...

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Wow!

I know it can be a problem, but don't you think that those DNA testing facilities can be put to better use?

Doggie DNA used in poop crackdown

Perhaps finding some other means of holding the people to the items in their 'Pet Addendum'? You'd think that observing and photographing them might be cheaper. I thought the whole reason the police struggle with the use of DNA testing is two-fold, the cost and the time it takes. I guess this is important enough to tie up the testing facilities time. After all, what's more important, catching a guilty dog poo-er or a serial killer? I mean really! What are those law enforcement agencies thinking?

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These are perfect!

The cats and I have never discussed these things, but I think that it can be inferred, simply from their behaviour...

How I See Things vs. How My Cat Sees Things

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I think this is good

Pets head to church for blessing

Everyone who has a pet (or who has had one) knows how loved the pets are, and how much they want their special family members to do well and live happy, and long, lives. If they blessed pets here, and I could bring ours, I would bring them. Mind you, Thomasz Goldwyn (Goldie) would have a heart attack in the car on the way there, so that wouldn't do much to prolong his life!

(Doesn't the turtle in the photo look happy? Just reaching up high with his head to get the holy water. Great photo...)

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Our animal family members

are most likely more devoted, generous, protecting and loving than a lot of our human family members.

Heartbroken Dog Refuses to Leave Owner’s Grave

We're the ones who attach the label 'heartbroken' to the dog, but what we do know is that he's so attached to his owner, so devoted to the one person who has shown him love and attention, that he won't leave the spot where the human part of his companion rests. It really is touching...

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This is BRILLIANT!

Cat Tardis WIN


 Some day I may be skilled enough to do something like this without losing a finger or two to the saw...

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An accurate depiction

of what your cat does with his/her business day...

Cheezburger Confidential – A Day in the Life of Business Cat

Business cat?

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17 things

Seventeen Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat

There's more than 17, or course. There's always more good things to know. These 17 are pretty cool though...

Really.

Even though you knew most of them already.

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We don't understand them as well as we think we do

but they do love us as much (or more) than we think they do, as well...

In Defence of Dogs by John Bradshaw

And, on top of that, we should all open our families to them. Personal opinion, of course, and rescue dogs and non-pedigree dogs are by far the best...

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A dog's life

I'll attest to the second item, particularly. I'm so familiar with it that the cats (who are far superior to dogs in the nap category) think that I'm just a big, funny shaped cat with no fur. And opposable thumbs...

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This is in the news again

in preparation for tomorrow's end of the world...

US atheists offer pet rescue after judgment day

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Not just for goldfish!

Obsolete?

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What's In a Name

Is pet a derogatory term? from CBC

The cats are silent on this one - or maybe they are sleeping

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A reader

of my blog (yes, there is one, in fact, there's three!) commented on my cartoon post about the differences between petting a dog and a cat. There is, it appears, a good website telling you how to pet a cat (and you can even buy the poster for immediate reference!). The website is

How to pet a kitty

(The name makes it obvious what the site is about, no?)

Read it, and consider yourself further educated. Thanks, Joel!

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This is so true!

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It's true!

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