Hi there and a very warm welcome to everyone, including the veritable flood of new subscribers who hurled themselves through the cat flap since the last issue of the Mewsletter. You are very welcome and the Daily Mewsers – Sam and Ollie – offer you the very best head butts and purrs and suggest you sit down and rest for a while.

Ollie_in_the_sun_feb_2012The weather has turned milder, even spring like, much to the surprise of the cats who’ve been almost comatose in the back bedroom these past couple of months. I caught a glimpse of Ollie sunbathing on the bench in the garden yesterday (Sunday 26th February) and it’s good to see that both he and Sam have a renewed spring in their step now that the weather is warming up. There are big fat buds on the clematis armandii (which smells divine when in flower) and all around the garden, things are waking up, shaking off their winter coats and getting excited about the prospect of spring and summer and the steady thrum as insects stop by to pay their visits.

I want to thank everyone who voted for The Daily Mews; I’m truly astonished that my website has made it to the final 5 selected for best website about cats. You can now make your final vote – you’re allowed 1 vote per day – so if you wanted to you could vote every day until the closing date, which is 21st of March.

And what a fantastic accolade to be nominated as best cat website in our 10th anniversary year! Woo Hoo – thank you everyone!

Click on this link to read about the other cat websites that have been nominated and perhaps while you’re there, cast a vote for us. I’m much indebted to all of you – and to be nominated – even if we don’t win – well, I’m ‘chuffed to bits’ as we Brits are apt to say in times of good news and good fortune! At the time of writing this, the Daily Mews is joint last (out of 5 websites) with only 5% of the votes; the winning website has 61% which will take a lot to catch up.

http://cats.about.com/b/2012/02/21/rca-vote-for-the-best-website-about-cats.htm

NEW WEBSITE TO RAISE OWNERS’ AWARENESS OF HIDDEN SIGNS

Would you know if your cat was in pain? Many cats as they age start slowing down and spend most of their days sleeping. And we, as pet owners, kind of expect this. But would you know if your cat was in pain?

Cats by their nature are private creatures, taught by evolution not to show obvious signs of pain to protect themselves from prey. Unlike dogs, they rarely cry out or limp, preferring instead to hide and shy away from contact.

A new website has been launched called: www.spotcatpain.co.uk so that pet owners can log on and see if their cat’s behaviour mirrors any of those mentioned on the website. Arthritis is a common complaint in older cats and owners don’t always realise that their cat is perhaps in a great deal of pain, thinking the cat is just ‘quiet’. There are medications available to treat arthritis and other illnesses connected with old age and therefore it’s essential that cats should have once or even twice yearly check ups, so that the symptoms can be spotted before it gets too late.

For more information, please go to the website, or for a leaflet write to:
Spot the Signs, PO Box 4030, BN11 1PX (England).

http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/Signs_of_old_age.htm

Some time back I received a link to something which I found totally and utterly unbelievably shocking. Cats and kittens in a laboratory in Virginia are being intubated by force so that experiments can be carried out on them. This is for a paediatrics programme and the breathing tubes are pushed down live cats’ throats to teach endotracheal intubation. This is repeated on the same animals several times, causing tracheal bruising, bleeding and severe trauma. Non animal methods of training exist but for some reason this barbaric method continues.

Please click on the link below and read about what is going and then, please ACT – write to dean Steven DeKosky M.D (which in my book doesn’t stand for Doctor of Medicine – it stands for Masochistic Devil) and demand that he refrains from this abominable practice.

https://secure2.convio.net/pcrm/site/Advocacy?s_oo=YnxIouBNEQYPbCGpdwD5vQ&id=463

BOOK QUIZ:

The answers to the last book quiz are as follows:

Animal Grief – How animals mourn by David Alderton
The Magical Journey of Swanky Pants – Diana Vickery
Maisie The Animal Minder by Eireann Littlefield

Well done to Mary Bradley (US) who was first off the block with three correct entries. Also worthy of a mention are Jared Kline (Belgium) and Mike Smith (Idaho, US)

So who wrote the following books? A modest prize will be given to the first correct entry.

The Secret Life of Your Cat
Bumble the Brave Kitten
Crafting with Cat Hair
Warduff and the corn cob caper
Fun and games for Cats

Send your answers to p.dewberry@ntlworld.com
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CAPTION COMPETITION:

I was very surprised that the lovely picture of Gorman and Dolly in last month’s Caption Competition only netted a couple of entries. Arlene Sphikas in the US gave the winning entry and both she and Mary (who won the Book Quiz) have elected not to receive a prize to save me the postage from here in the UK to the US – which is very kind and thoughtful of both of them.

Here’s the link to this month’s caption competition. Come on! Surely more of you can scratch your heads and think of something.

http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/caption_competition_25.htm

CAT CHAT:

Chris Pranger has written about another of the characters who share his life. You’ll enjoy this latest story about Bubba, the cat who hated everyone.

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Bubba_the_cat_who_hated_everyone.htm

Claire Hegarty B has written another entry in her cat blog which you may like to see here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/shooting_the_cats.htm

Mike Smith has written another instalment in his lovely account of living with Callie – the little feisty tortoiseshell that he rescued a few months ago. You can read it here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Leap_for_new_opportunities.htm

To sign up for Mike’s inspirational stories, click on the link after the story.

Operation Nip ‘n’ Snip cost Jared Kline over 1,000 Euros but he decided it was money well spent in order to save the number of feral barn cats living on his farm, many of which had been dumped there, escalating to unmanageable proportions. Read his amazing story here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Operation_nip_n_snip.htm 

Also on the subject of feral cats, Jenny Thacker in Cincinnati befriended a feral cat she believed to be an entire tom, calling him John. Taking him to be neutered she discovered that he was a she and John became Stella! On Valentine’s Day a miracle happened when she found Stella and her three kittens in her home – the day before a blizzard hit Cincinnati. Stella and her three kittens live happily with Jenny and have a wonderful life with her. Jenny’s story was in a recent Petwarmers and she kindly gave me permission to put it on my website.

Read Jenny’s story here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Stella's_Valentine_Gifts.htm 

LINKS:

The ‘NO NO NO’ Cat. A number of people sent me the link to the cat that says ‘no’ over and over again. I was quite distressed at seeing this cat because its ears were flat back on its head, its eyes were wide and it was salivating – all signs that it was terrified of something. Despite, in one video clip I watched, its owner crouched down to reassure it, it still carried on saying ‘no, no’. I was horrified to learn that in one respected newspaper it had been voted the best video clip.

Despite people telling me that it is ‘adorable’, ‘cute’, ‘sweet’ and a dozen other superlatives, my initial reaction was that this poor cat was being tormented by something unseen by the viewer in order to make it say ‘no’. I’m really pleased to see that it’s been pulled by You Tube now and I hope that on other places where it was available that they, too, will realise that this is a breach of standards and that this is, in fact, cruelty. When viewing these video clips showing cats doing out of the ordinary things, please ask yourself (before forwarding them to other people) is this normal cat behaviour or has it been forced or coerced into doing something purely for its owner to reap a financial reward of some kind by having it shown on You Tube or other such outlets. And then please add your comments of displeasure in the appropriate comments box. If more people stopped forwarding these awful videos and added their comments of disgust, hopefully these horrible videos would stop and cats would be left in peace to do what they do best: be themselves.

My friend Graham (UK) sent me the story of a couple who experienced very high water bills. As they were at work all day they couldn’t work out why their water bills were so high – until they watched their cat flush the toilet, not once, not twice, but dozens of times!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuPLtBkQ5Pg

Kathy (US) sent me this beautiful piece on how cats show love:

http://www.halopets.com/freekibble/donna-spector24.html 

She also sent me this link to an amazing story of a dog which rescued some kittens that had been dumped in a box in traffic:

http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2011/11/dog-rescues-kittens-dumped-in-traffic/

My friend Jackie (UK) sent me this link to Kevin Richardson, who used to be in the group, The Backstreet Boys, and his amazing friendship with a lioness and her little cubs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw9aMUL6tSQ

I saw this next clip of a cat that didn’t want to share his water bowl on a television programme and I Googled it and found it on this link:

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/video/watch/28053 

Leny in Holland sent me this shocking link to a poor cat called Trooper:

http://www.thewesternstar.com/News/Local/2012-02-14/article-2894535/Frozen-feline-Cat-trying-to-recover-from-broken-pelvis/1

Leny also sent me this link to Cooper, a cat that wears a cat cam once a week and as a result of his journeys, he’s become quite a world wide celebrity:

http://www.photographercat.com 

Jared in Belgium sent me this link to Champis, a rabbit that herds sheep:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeuL5IGimCQ&sns=em 

Clara in the US sent me this story which I then looked up to find the link. An elk saves a tiny marmot from drowning in his water tank:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009820/Elk-safety-Zoo-keepers-stunned-moose-rescues-drowning-marmot-watery-death.html 

Jena in Texas sent me this link to a tiny kitten that freaks out over a remote controlled mouse:

http://mousebreath.com/2011/07/05/cute-kitten-freaks-remote-controlled-mouse-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MousebreathALifestyleE-zineForCatKittensAndTheirCatLovers+%28mousebreath%21+A+lifestyle+e-zine+for+cats%2C+kittens+and+cat+lovers%29

Jena also sent me the link to two little cats engaged in synchronised kneading:

http://www.yourdailycute.com/2011/12/new-olympic-sport-synchronized-cat.html

The little ginger one of the two cats is almost identical to my little Ollie.

Mike Smith in Idaho sent me this gorgeous link of a little kitty massaging his little pug friend to sleep:

http://www.godvine.com/Caring-Kitty-Massages-a-Pug-to-Sleep-Awwww-1191.html

Mike’s own little tortoiseshell kitty, called Callie, features in a short You Tube video which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgVc2PBrPJM

Mike also sent me this truly amazing video of a cat signing for its food:

http://dailypicksandflicks.com/2012/02/24/cat-asking-for-food-with-sign-language-video/

My thanks to everyone who send me links each month.

MEWSERS’ MEWSINGS:

Dumpty continues her diary entries for the Purina Challenge. You can read the next four instalments here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Dumpty's_diaries_part_27.htm

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Dumpty's_diaries_part_28.htm 

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Dumpty's_diaries_part_29.htm

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Dumpty's_Diaries_part_30.htm 

Despite becoming increasingly frail, Jimmy has been reflecting on Mothers in readiness for our Mother’s Day on March 18th. As is usual with our favourite Feline Correspondent, he stirs up the mix a bit and gets you thinking.

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/Only_a_mother_could_love_you.htm

Stormy has had a good time discovering new flavours in Ham’s kitchen during February. She realised that she didn’t much like langoustines but she did love scallops! Read her latest diary entry here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/February_2012.htm

NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM:

It’s hard to know what is the best course of action to take when you have a dog and a cat that live together in harmony and then one of them gets sick and dies. Sandy Ash had such a problem. Her German shepherd dog, Gypsy, was missing her feline playmate, T. S. Eliot so much that Sandy went to a rescue shelter to see if she could find a cat that would help Gypsy get over her loss. Emmie Kitty came and for the next 13 years made their lives happier once more. Sadly, at the beginning of February, Emmie went to Rainbow Bridge but she wasn’t alone as Gypsy was there to meet her beloved friend. This story originally appeared in a recent Petwarmers and I asked Sandy if she’d like me to put her tribute to Emmie in the Napping on a Sunbeam section.

http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/Emmie_Kitty_Shelter_Kitty.htm 

When a little scrap was found by his two daughters back in 1993, little did Mike Rice realise that he would become such an integral part of his life. Looking after him for his son, for just ‘a few months’ which became almost 16 or so years, Mike’s heart was ripped out him when Jethro died in his arms. Read his beautiful tribute to Jethro, A Good Cat here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/Jethro_Boy_Rice_A_Good_Cat.htm
 
Will Perry who lives in Canada wrote about his two dogs, Holly and Toby some years back now and I was happy to put their story in the CAT CHAT section. I was greatly saddened recently when Will wrote to tell me that Toby had unfortunately got cancer and that his beautiful spirit lingers on in the home he shared with his sister, Holly, but his earthly body is now at peace.

Here’s his moving tribute to Toby:

http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/Toby_Perry.htm 

You may like to read Will’s story about Holly and Toby here:

http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Holly_Toby.htm 

And that just about wraps it up for this month. I do hope you enjoy this Mewsletter and you know I like to hear your feedback, good, bad or indifferent – please send it my way.

Thank you again, to everyone who has been voting for me. I really appreciate it and it’s good to know that the Daily Mews has such a loyal following.

Take care, and until next time,

Love from Pauline, Sam and Ollie xxxx

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