Tag Archives: felines

Is There Finally Help For Feral Cats?

Are feral cats being given a new chance for quality life while remaining in the wild? According to an article written by Ashley Bachelor for the “Daily Times” they most certainly are! A Texas program called “Big Fix Project for Homeless Cats” employs a unique trap-neuter-return system that maintains the dignity and primal state of the feral cat. Founded in 2005, it has the help and support of Alley Cats Allies, a non-profit web site offering information on stray and feral cats and advocating trapping and neutering as a humane way to reduce the feral cat population. According to the … Continue reading →

The Cat in Modern Language

The cat we have all come to know and love has its place in literature, folklore, and language as well as that number one spot in our hearts. Have you ever wondered why so many English words have prefixes with “cat” in them? No, well okay. I have included a sort of glossary of terms below that are used just about every day, although I couldn’t say why. Look at them carefully and see if you don’t agree that even though I must surely be mad, some of these words COULD mean what I suggest. Don’t let your cat or … Continue reading →

The Tuxedo Cat: Dressed Up, But Where To Go?

According to some, the tuxedo cat’s markings of black and white symbolize harmony and peace of spirit. In the case of the two tuxedo felines that lived in my house over the years, I would say that sometimes that’s true and sometimes it’s not! (I had one male and one female and they were as different in personality and temperament as night is to day.) Still, the tuxedo cat is quite distinct from others of its ilk and its markings are as diverse as any that could ever be mixed from an artist’s fine palette. The derivation of the word … Continue reading →

The Tabby Cat: An Uncommonly Common Delight

Although the tabby cat may not be an unusual sight, it is indeed as special as the individual animal sporting the colors itself! The word has fascinating roots. It derives from the French, tabis, which in turn comes from the Latin attabi. Both words refer to the original meaning, which is even further away, hailing from the Attabiyah section of Baghdad where it refers to a type of striped silk. This was later used (no one knows exactly when) to describe the marking on a cat’s coat. Whatever the origins of the word, the tabby cat is often mistaken for … Continue reading →

The Calico Cat: A Patch of Joy

Have you ever wondered why some cats are calico and why they are almost always females? Well, wonder no more. Coat coloration in cats is a complex equation, but simply speaking, calico coloring and tortoise shell coloring are controlled by several genes. Both are a combination of color patterns resulting from genetic traits, and neither is specific to any particular breed of cat. A blend of colors creates the coloration; the result almost like the accidental slip of an artist’s palette of black, chocolate and cinnamon. The sizes of the patches differ greatly, ranging from a fine, speckled pattern to … Continue reading →

Is Your Cat Too Fat?

Most everyone recalls that old doctored photo of a man holding a cat the size of a German shepherd in his arms while smiling at the camera from the warmth of his living room. Although that photo was most certainly a fake, obesity in cats can be a real problem. This condition presents its own set of problems, but there are some solutions. One of the easiest and most logical steps (or at least a move in the right direction towards a solution) is to realize that the fat cat in your home got that way because it is consuming … Continue reading →

Reality Television For Cats: What’s Next?

According to a statement by Reuters dated June 16th of this year, there will be a reality show for ten homeless felines that will take soon take place in a New York City store window! The stars are all non-equity performers from shelters across the country that will be coming in for their close-ups to the camera that will be on them for twenty-four/ seven for a total of ten days. The resulting footage is expected to be a genuine phony reality show with “every cat a top dog” as the article, “This & That” of Anderson Independent Mail states. … Continue reading →

Hemingway’s Polydactyl Cats

Ernest Hemingway was first encouraged to visit Key West, Florida on the advice of fellow writer, John Dos Pasos whom he met in Paris during the mid 1920s. He and his wife, Pauline made their home there for several years, and here Hemingway developed his routine of writing very early in the morning when the temperatures were at their coolest. He worked mostly on a war story that he had started on their passage to Key West, and when it was published in 1929 it was entitled “A Farewell to Arms.” Ernest Hemingway was a man who not only knew … Continue reading →

Morris The Cat: One Finicky Feline

Surely there are fewer cats with more recognizable faces than the finicky orange tabby that represented Nine Live Cat foods in his own inimitable feline way for so many years. Morris was an unlikely and rather reluctant star, who got at least the second of his nine lives when he was discovered in a suburban Chicago animal shelter back in 1968. His days were certainly numbered there as an adult stray male named Luck, but there remained an air about him that was different; this lonely tabby had style, personality and panache. It was love at first sight for professional … Continue reading →

The Serengeti Cat: Grand Jungle Design

Karen Sausman of the Kingsmark cattery in California established this breed in 1994, and it has since been accepted into the Foundation registry of the International Cat Association (TICA). These cats are the result of a cross between Oriental Shorthair Cats and Bengal Cats, although they greatly resemble still another jungle cat, the Serval. The gene pool for the Bengal cat is very large and contains both wild and domestic genes from at least eight different varieties of felines, including: the Asian Leopard Cat, the British Shorthair, domestic shorthair, the Indian Mau, the Ocicat, the Egyptian Mau, the Abyssinian and … Continue reading →