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The Huffington Post loves cats and I love to peruse their site in search of interesting cat news stories for you. Here’s a rundown on some stories they’re running right now.
Read about the veterinarian in Dublin who’s advertising for professional cat cuddlers. What a fun job that would be. But he only wants people with “cattitude.”
How would you like to work or volunteer 
at a kitten nursery? In San Diego, the Humane Society has opened one—in fact it’s open 24-hours part of the year—and they hire 20 staff members to feed and love on the kittens and around 200 volunteers.
In Japan, there’s a company that pays employees to adopt cats—yes, they actually pay the equivalent of $45/month. And they even allow—maybe encourage—employees to bring their cats to work. At present, there are about 9 cats wandering and lounging around with the staff every day.
One of the inspirations for cats used in the stories.
There’s the story of the little black cat who was nowhere to be found after a house fire. Two months later, the family dog—a good friend of the cat—drew the family’s attention to a sound in the floorboards of the damaged home and there they found their beloved cat—malnourished, but alive.
In Charlotte, NC, a family gave their cat quite a party when she turned 15. They made it a Quinceanera. Dressed in a designer dress and wearing a crown, Luna was the star of probably the biggest party ever thrown for a cat.
Read these stories and more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/cats
I’m sure that I smile more often throughout the day when there’s a cat around. I love having the company of one or more cats. Just last night, we were laughing out loud at Sophie’s and Lily’s antics as they played hide-and-seek, leap frog, and chase.
People ask me all the time how I come up with ideas for my now 23 Klepto Cat Mysteries. And where do the ideas for this blog come from—I mean I’ve been blogging here since 2009 and I post 5 days a week. Friday night, I participated in a book launch for The Ojai Valley; An Illustrated History, a book I wrote and published in 1983, revised in 1999, and which has been revised again by the Ojai Valley Museum. I told the audience that I’m the author of 65 books and counting. And several people asked me, “What do you write about?” “How do you come up with so many ideas?”
developing such a wide-range of ideas and ways of sharing those ideas has helped me to become more aware of what’s going on around me. It’s made me a better researcher. It has helped me to take something mundane, perhaps, and create one, two or maybe even dozens of articles or even an interesting storyline on the topic. But maybe it’s something I come by naturally. I’m not sure. And I’m still not exactly sure how to respond to people who ask me, “How do you come up with so many storylines for so many books?” It’s something most people can’t even fathom.
Here’s proof again, that cats prefer us to food. They actually did a study using 50 cats from homes as well as shelters. They put the cats in a room away from people, food, toys–everything. When they brought the cats out, the researchers offered all of their favorite things to the cats and guess what most of them were most interested in. People—interacting with people. Here’s the link. 
I came across this story in the New York Times about foreign bureau-cats—cats that foreign news correspondents take in for companionship while on assignment for months or years in Iraq, Kabul, Baghdad, Cairo and other places around the world. It’s a heartwarming piece with lovely photos. You’ll want to read it—read it to your cat, too.
Lily is a giving cat. I’ve talked before about how she brings me her toys. She has a whole collection of tiny stuffed animals—opossum, owl, eagle, bears, hedgehog, moose, cat, turtle, bunnies and so forth. We keep them in a now over-flowing basket in the living room—separate from the grandchildren’s toy box. (However, Lily often pilfers stuffed toys and small dolls from the children’s toy box.) But the toys don’t stay in the baskets as Lily likes to decorate the house with them. She doesn’t play with them, she simply chooses a toy and carries it to a spot where she drops it and either lays down with it for a while or walks over it and leaves it there.
She brings them with a “brrrrrt,” as if to say, “Here I come with a gift.” What’s really cute is when she brings me my slippers. Yes, she actually does that.
What I haven’t figured out is why she does this. Is this a result of her latent hunting instincts? If she were an outside kitty, would she be bringing me birds and lizards?
As most of you know, I enjoy photography—not enough to build a darkroom or spend hundreds of thousands on camera equipment. But I do enjoy taking pictures and my pictures are mostly of animals. Today, I’d like to share some of what I consider photo bloopers.
picture or something because I can tell you, there is only one Lily—not two as appear in this interesting shot.
through a flowering bush. As I pressed the button, however,I heard Smokey leap out of the bush. I said, “Darn. Missed the shot.” Then I looked at the screen on the small digital camera and gasped. This is the result of Smokey’s maneuver. He didn’t catch that bee, however, only this award-winning shot.
Sunday is Hug Your Cat Day. Now that’s a no-brainer. If your household is like mine, your cats get hugged regularly, whether they want a hug or not, right?
watch.
