Sprout

Lightning Bolt!

2009-11-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

Usain Bolt adopts a baby cheetah, named Lightning Bolt!

Dogs have a big environmental foot-print!

2009-11-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

"we should put as much thought into choosing a pet as we do into buying a car. "If a lifestyle choice uses more than 1 per cent of your energy footprint, then it is worthwhile reflecting on that choice and seeing what you can do about it," he says. "Pets definitely deserve attention: by my estimates, the energy footprint of a cat is about 2 per cent of the average British person's energy footprint - and it's bigger for most dogs."

— from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.600-how-green-is-your-pet.html?page=1

2009-10-27T07:21:00.001-07:00

For the lazy cat who needs to scare some indfferent mice

2009-10-06T17:15:00.001-07:00

This mechanical cat can meow ten times a minute and the eyes light up each time. The device for scaring rats and mice is from Japan and is powered by a two-watt motor. From Life Magazine.

St Francis blesses us

2009-10-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

… and we need not even be Catholic.

I am glad that my litter-box is usually kept clean

2009-07-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

My new favorite online journal, Cat Sitter in the City, has some comments (and cat-on-the-street interviews!) on the touchy subject of keeping a clean litter-box. There can be no debate on this topic.

A social climber?

2009-07-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Cat can has ladders? How very very odd.

I want some new toys!

2009-07-22T06:09:00.001-07:00

But not pink.

Consider getting a dog

2009-07-07T08:31:00.001-07:00

Some make art

2009-07-04T07:40:00.003-07:00

My litter box never looks quite that organized, but I also am anxious about leaving hints to my identity where they might be found.

Kittens in Kolorado

2009-06-29T08:29:00.001-07:00

The LA Times has the story about Colorado's first litter of lynx kittens in over two years.

"Biologists found no kittens the past two years, possibly partly because of a drop in the number of snowshoe hares, the cats' main food source.

"This year, seven male and three female kittens were found in five dens."

No wheels for this cat!!!!

2009-06-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

ZURICH (Reuters) - A car traveling on a motorway in Switzerland lost all four wheels simultaneously, coming to an immediate halt in the middle of the highway, police said on Saturday.

The car had just stopped and the passengers had changed from winter to summer wheels themselves, a common task in Switzerland where there is plenty of snow in winter, but used the wrong nuts when mounting the new set.

"When they then drove back on to the motorway, all of the wheels disconnected," St Gallen cantonal police said in a statement. "Luckily, no one was injured and no other vehicle was damaged."

Two best friends

2009-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

These photographs of two stray cats in Williamsburg show the great love of friendship. They look MAD in the ultimate photograph:

Now I understand how browsers work!

2009-05-08T07:00:00.001-07:00

So so many cute cute kittens

2009-05-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

kittens, perhaps infinite. Perhaps infinite, I said!

My new favourite seat

2009-04-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

Only $9/hr?!?!?!!

2009-04-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

... Calico [is] one of Tokyo’s increasingly popular cat cafes, where customers seeking human and feline companionship pay to sip tea and stroke one of the 20-odd resident cats, representing 17 different breeds.
... cat cafes fill a void [: ... f]or those who live with long work hours, no-pet apartments and work-related travel, there are cat cafes.

My cat can eat a whole watermelon

2009-04-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

or so I hear.

Smooches!

2009-03-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

the rest of the slideshow, about the bizarre Lujan "petting" Zoo, disturbs me greatly.

Le chat, $12m

2009-03-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

The auction house expects to fetch more than $12 million (US) for this Giacometti sculpture of a cat, which has been in the hands of a private collector for the past two generations.

Le Chat will go on public display at Sotheby's in Moscow on April 1-2, in London on April 22-25 and in New York on May 1-5.

It will be offered at Sotheby's evening sale of impressionist and modern art in New York on May 5.

ALL ABOARD THE BUS TO CAT TOWN

2009-03-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

The cats of Cat Town appear in various online shenanigans: the School is On Fire, in which "THE SCHOOL IS ON FIRE AND EL GUAPO HAS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL THE KIDS IN THE AUDIENCE"; Thanksgiving; and the epic Animal Hat Gang in Alaska (Part Two; Part Three). Watch out for the Animal Hat Gang, for they are bad news.

A few words about playing with toys

2009-03-28T04:22:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of lovely toys, which provide elegant diversions and plenty of opportunity to scramble around the apartment. I would also like some toys that permit me the intellectual engagement as shown in this video.

Don't trip on the cat.

2009-03-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

... dogs — man’s best friend — are the real culprits, responsible for seven times as many injuries as cats, often while they’re being walked, the report found ...

I even keep my toys out of the way! I am a fastidious cat.

I am going to be in a punk-rock band!!

2009-03-20T13:34:00.001-07:00

Martin remains single, quipping that "you can only hide this many cats for so long." She shares her modest, two-story home in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood with 20 cats, four raccoons, three groundhogs, five chickens, two kinkajous, a Chinese bear cat, one African serval, two chinchillas, one hedgehog and an alligator named Arnold Schwarzen-gator who, in the winter, lives in her basement. (Yes, she's licensed.)

But the felines have become her focus and, after scores of performances, Martin has learned a thing or two about managing a cat act. The most important lesson: Cats simply won't perform if there are any dogs in the first three rows.

"The cats are really like diva actresses," Martin said. "They can't be pleased and they're always walking off in a huff."

On that recent night, the cats seemed to pull themselves together just before curtain. As circus music filled the darkened theater, the cats—one by one—tottered across the high wire. The show picked up its pace, and the cats ran an obstacle course, swung from a rope and competed in a bowling contest against a chicken (Tuna, a white-haired mix, won with a strike).

For the grand finale, the Rock Cats took to their instruments, drawing ooohs and ahhhs from the crowd. Amid the waves of applause stood Martin, resplendent in her velvet cat suit.

I am a big brother!!!

2009-03-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

My new sister, Laila Louise, came home today!!! She is pretty and smells good.