“The clever cat eats chees and breathes down rat holes with baited breath.” W.C. Fields.
Hi everyone, a very warm headbutt and bellyrub to all the new subscribers. You are all very welcome so pull up a pew, plonk the cat on your lap and enjoy the latest issue of the Mewsletter.
I have some non-cat news to impart although there is a tenuous cat link!
On Monday, 2nd May, Paisley Dewberry made her debut at 3.05am weighing in at a sweet 7lb 5oz. She is my grandson Matthew’s baby daughter which makes me a GREAT Grandmother again!! Now I feel 200 years old! My other little great grandson, Leo, will be 2 in August and he’s the son of my granddaughter, Demi.
Matthew used to distinguish me from his other grandmother by calling her Nannie Car and calling me Nannie Cats. So to Paisley, I’ll be ‘Great Nannie Cats’!!!
I missed the Invictus Games while I was away in Cornwall, so I watched it on catch up TV. Prior to the games, Gareth Malone, (a man with extraordinary talent for taking a group of disparate people and creating a beautiful choir), presented a two-part series of his meeting with Prince Harry, and the search for military personnel to form a choir. The result is this incredible song which moves me to tears every time I listen to it. I defy you not to be moved or have ‘watery eyes’ as you listen to it.
Flesh and blood: the choir for the Invictus Games
ON WITH THE MEWS:
Obesity in our pets is still on the increase, despite all the dire warnings that the Government and organisations like the PFMA have issued. Here’s the latest from them with findings from the last five years:
Casey is carrying a little bit too much weight and I bought a book ’50 games to play with your cat’ by Jackie Strachan with a foreword by Franny Syufy to see if I could get him to ‘move around’ a little bit more. He writes about our experiences in his column, which is further down this Mewsletter.
Franny edits the excellent ‘About.Com Cats’ column and you’ll find her on Facebook. In a recent issue, there was a very interesting piece about grieving.
Sadly, some members of the writing team for The Daily Mews (TDM) recently lost their feline companions and in each case, the remaining cat or cats grieved in different ways. Amy Shojai, who is a feline behaviour expert, has written an in-depth look at grief and what we can do to help our cats when they’ve lost a feline companion.
ARTICLES:
15 CATS AND MEOWING
Ellen Pilch has written an impassioned plea that ALL cats are microchipped and shares with TDM readers a cautionary – and very sad – tale.
The importance of mandatory scanning
What are your views on mandatory scanning and microchipping?
CAROL LAKE:
Whenever Carol goes on holiday, she always takes kibble with her in her pockets in case she has a chance encounter with a feline in need. Last month she was in Majorca, which is one of the Balearic Islands near mainland Spain – and she’s written a story about a very special cat that she’s named ‘Spartie’.
CATNIP CORNER:
I felt inspired to write a blog entry this month as it’s the 10th anniversary of the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia (on 6th June) and on the 12th June, it’s the 10th anniversary of Garfield leaving for his onward journey. Even now, ten years on, I still cry as I remember my last couple of days with him.
DEZI
It’s been a few months since Lexi went to Rainbow Bridge, a turbulent time for both Dezi and her Mommy, Audra. Dezi has been brave enough to be able to put paw to keyboard and shares with us her feelings over the tragic loss of her ‘sissy’ Lexi.
Have you noticed if your cats or dogs seemed to grieve when they’ve lost a human carer or a fellow litter mate. Even if they’re not related to each other or are different species, animals will still grieve – so if yours have, please write and let me know.
KITTEN CARE:
Having decided you’re going to get a new kitten, you need to make sure your kitten has the best start in life.
Making sure your kitten gets off to a healthy start in life
KITTY BITS
BOOK QUIZ:
Well done to Jared Kline in Belgium for being the first person to have all 6 authors correct in the last book quiz.
To see the answers, click here:
And now, for this month’s book quiz, please click below:
Please send your answers (there are six in total) to pauline@thedailymews.comby 20th June. Thank you.
CAPTION COMPETITION:
Well done to Helen Gale, in Torquay, UK for her winning caption. There were some very good ones this time and it was hard to choose. In the end, because of topicality, Helen came out on top! To see all the entries and Helen’s winning one, head on over to:
For this month’s competition, please click on the link below. As always, up to 5 entries can be submitted – clean ones, no smutty suggestions as I do have minors that read the Mewsletter and visit the website. Send them by 20th June to pauline@thedailymews.comThank you.
CASEY’S COUSINS:
I’ve been meaning to create this section for some time now as wherever we go away, whether it’s in the UK for a few days, or abroad for two weeks, we always encounter cats. If you go on holiday and meet cats that are usually unknown to you, send me a couple of good, clear pictures, with their names and ages (if known) and where they are. I’ll add them to the section and we’ll see how many ‘cousins’ around the world, Casey has.
We start off with Duchess, who was the house cat at the lovely guest house that Lawrence and I stayed in last month, near St Austell, Cornwall.
Each evening Lawrence and I would drive off down the road a couple of miles to a beautiful B&B and inn called ‘The Waterwheel Inn.’ The second time we were there we met Bailey in the carpark. He was so strikingly similar to Garfield, that I had to do a double take. Like most ginger cats, he was very friendly and allowed me to pet him, and take his picture.
LINKS:
This topiary cat is an internet sensation!
My thanks to Robert Blau in the US for this link to an amazing story of a little paralysed kitten called Mac. Doctors made him a special wheelchair so that he could get around.
Kitten rolls off to a new start with a special wheelchair
Robert also sent me this incredible link of a cat that swallowed a wishbone from a chicken – a timely warning to be careful where you throw your leftovers.
Cat gets a lucky break after swallowing a wishbone
MEWSERS’ CORNER
DUMPTY’S DINNER DATES
I should have included Dumpty’s introduction to last month’s new column about her dinner guests. So here it is:
Introduction: Fine dining at Tom Cat Towers
Like stealth operatives on a covert mission, brothers Derek and Mr Kipling make their way through the fence at the top of their garden into Dumpty’s garden at Tom Cat Towers.
Sometimes, a ‘paying guest’ isn’t very well-mannered and has to be returned to his own home pronto to avoid the house residents from being beaten up.
MEWSERS’ MEWSINGS:
BILBO’S BUZZ:
Bilbo’s found a new way to work off his pent up frustrations – yoga.
CASEY’S CHATS:
Casey’s been up to some tricks recently as you’ll read in his latest column.
DUMPTY’S DIARIES:
You may remember Dumpty and her diaries. Dumpty is a Royal Himalayan Lynx and she’s very pretty with ideas way above her station. In her penultimate diary entry, she’s very excited as Maid has received an invitation to Buckingham Palace. Could this be the invite that Dumpty has been waiting all her life for?
The call to The Palace has come …
How did it all work out for Dumpty? Is she now ensconced at Buckingham Palace where she feels she so rightly belongs? Read the final entry of her very acerbically funny diaries now.
FLOOT, THE BLUE EYED CAT:
In Greece, Easter is celebrated on 29th April, and Floot has written about the traditional fish soup that people eat (and sometimes give to cats as a treat!) and her 7th birthday.
Floot’s birthday and Easter celebrations
INDY, THE WEIGHT-LOSS CAT:
Indy’s been very down in the dumps since his brofur Bob went to Rainbow Bridge. He asks some very valid questions in his latest piece:
How to go on when you can’t go on
PAULINE’S MEWSINGS:
Some of you may remember a piece I wrote for a competition the BBC ran some years ago. I didn’t win but in the writing, I found it to be a cathartic exercise.
And that just about wraps it up for now. I’m sorry this Mewsletter is a week or so overdue but hopefully, I’ll be back on track for the end of June for the next website update and next issue of the Mewsletter.
Till then, keep well – and safe.
Love
Pauline – Editor in Chief
Casey – Assistant to the Editor in Chief and Chief Prankster
Gibbs – Gofer to the Assistant to the Editor in Chief and Box Lover Extraordinaire
xxx
Dogs Come when Called
"Dogs come when called. Cats take a message and get back to you."
"Of course, every cat is really the most beautiful woman in the room."
Edward Verrall Luca (essayist)