Great Pet Net

Scott Adam, creator of Dilbert, describes why his cat Sarah is a Great Cat.

I have an office cat, Sarah. She’s a scrawny little tuxedo cat, about 18-years old. Sarah hates it when I try to work. I mean she really, really hates it. As soon as I enter the office she starts screaming at me. It’s not a polite meow. It’s more like a baby banshee being attacked by a porcupine. The noise penetrates my entire body. I’m almost certain it causes internal bleeding. This screaming lasts from the time I come to work until I leave.

Sometimes she punctuates the shrieking by puking on my carpet, destroying any documents she can reach with her arthritic leaping ability, and grunting out WMD in the cat box. Only one thing can stop this cycle. I must lift her up and pet her in just the way she likes. Any deviation from the recommended petting pattern means bloodshed.

You might wonder why I haven’t thrown her through a double-paned window in all these years. That’s because I haven’t told you about the licking.

Click here for the rest of the story…

I’ve posted some touching stories about events at the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary over the years. This piece profiles the founders, Alayne Marker and Steve Smith, and provides some insight into their lives and their hearts. Click here and take a few minutes to get to know a little bit about their world.

Slide show courtesy of AARP Bulletin Today.
Photo of Ellie May the blind and deaf cocker spaniel courtesy of Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary.

Christian was separated from his parents at an early age and put up for sale in a London department store. Christian’s parents were zoo lions, the father came from the Rotterdam zoo and the mother from Jerusalem, and they lived at the Ilfracombe zoo. When they had cubs, the zoo sold them, and two cubs went to the department store.

Two men, Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, found him there and immediately fell in love with him and determined to buy him. They scraped together the money and brought the little lion home when he was only a few weeks old.

Tony and John dedicated themselves to giving Christian the best life they could, and the bond that developed between them is a joy to behold. Christian was a remarkable lion, obviously very intelligent and loving, and gentle to everyone, both human and animal.
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Gracie May took a trip she didn’t mean to take. Seth Levy unknowingly packed her up along with his clothes while preparing for a trip from his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to Dallas, Texas. Gracie survived being dumped onto a baggage conveyor belt, tossed into the belly of the plane and traveled through airport security undetected. Then came another unexpected twist. An unwitting passenger, Robert Carter, mistook Seth’s bag for his own. When Carter got home and opened the bag he got a hissing, growling suprise. Carter admitted he “screamed like a girl” when Gracie sprang from his suitcase. (Who wouldn’t??) Gracie dove under the bed. (Who wouldn’t??)

While Carter was getting the shock of his life, Kelly Levy was frantically searching for her missing cat. Gracie May was missing from her usual post at the bottom of the stairs when Kelly returned from dropping Seth off at the airport. Having been spayed only a few days prior, Kelly was really worried. After being unable to find her for several hours she papered the neighborhood with “Missing Cat” flyers.

After lots of coaxing, Robert was able to convince Gracie May to come out from her hiding place. He had considered keeping her until he noticed she wore a collar bearing the Levy’s phone number. Then, it was Kelly’s turn to get a big suprise. “Hi, you’re not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband’s luggage. And when I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out,” said Robert to a shocked and relieved Kelly.

Kelly immediately sent a text-message to her husband who was in a seminar at the time. “The cat is in Dallas.” A stunned Seth made contact with Robert and arranged to pick up Gracie May at the airport on his way home a day or two later. Gracie May flew home in a pet carrier this time.

I’ll bet Seth will be checking his bags for feline stowaways when he travels from now on. Of course, Gracie May may have no interest in future air travel, either!

Photo courtesy of msnbc.com

Chinese grandmother Lv, 70, of Changchun city swears her cat Mimi speaks to her in Chinese. She says he calls her Laolao (grandmother), wakes from a nap and calls ‘ren ne?’ (where is everyone?) and interrupts her majhong sessions with ‘gan sha ne?’ (what are you doing?).” Neighbor Mrs. Wang agrees that Mimi’s pronunciation is very clear. Read the whole story here.

Photo and story from ananova.com

Joshua, a tender-hearted ten year old, just wouldn’t take his mother’s ‘no’ for an answer when he found a sick, dirty kitten covered with mud. Mother Wendy turned down her son’s request to keep the kitten because they already had two dogs. She thought it just wouldn’t work. But, Joshua had could not turn away this little one. He put the kitten in a cage outside with food and water then gently cleaned her up up and tended to the wound on her neck. The next day he brought her inside. Much to his mother’s suprise, the kitten didn’t mind the dogs and the dogs didn’t mind the kitten. Now ‘Monkey’ has become one of the pack and has begun to take on some canine habits. She plays chase with the dogs, sleeps with them and greets Joshua at the door every afternoon when he comes home from school. Read the whole story in the latest ASPCA newsletter. Kudos to Joshua who dared to listen to his heart.

A story in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution describes how feral cats are helping police stations stay free of rodents.

The Working Cats program of Voice for the Animals, a Los Angeles-based animal advocacy and rescue group, has placed feral cats in a handful of police stations with rodent problems, just as the group placed cats in the rat-plagued downtown flower district several years ago — to great effect.

Six feral cats recently were installed as ratters in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast Division, and another group will be housed at the Central Division early this year.

Their reputation as furtive and successful exterminators grew after feral cats were introduced to the parking lot of the Wilshire Division nearly six years ago. Rats had been burrowing into the equipment bags that bicycle officers stored in outside cages; inside the facility, mice sometimes scurried across people’s desks.

“Once we got the cats, problem solved,” said Cmdr. Kirk Albanese, a captain at the Wilshire station at the time. “I was almost an immediate believer.”

After Albanese moved to the Foothill Division in the northern San Fernando Valley, he introduced feral cats to the building’s mice-infested basement in 2004.

“I think it’s a very humane way to deal with a very stubborn problem,” said Albanese, now assistant to the director in the office of operations at downtown’s Parker Center, which has its own rat problem.

From True Stories of Hero Pets | Pet Life | Reader’s Digest

Cashew, my 14-year-old yellow Lab, is blind and deaf. Her best friend is Libby, 7, her seeing-eye cat. Libby steers Cashew away from obstacles and leads her to her food. Every night she sleeps next to her. The only time they’re apart is when we take Cashew out for a walk. Without this cat, we know Cashew would be lost and very, very lonely indeed. It’s amazing but true: This is one animal who knows what needs to be done and does it day in and day out for her friend.
– Submitted to Reader’s Digest by Terry B., Middleburg, Pennsylvania

David St. Lawrence describes some unusual behavior by two pairs of cats that didn’t know each other until recently. The social behavior of cats can be very interesting.

Gretchen and I were trimming our female cat’s claws. This is not major surgery, nor is it painful, but Buffy is well-skilled at playing the victim card. After the first few seconds, she gave out an outraged squall that sounded like the sound track of a horror movie. I was holding Buffy and splaying her paws while Gretchen was doing the actual clipping. I might add here that Gretchen was only clipping the very extremities of the claws, where they were curling back on themselves from lack of wear.

Continue reading at this link: Our cats are exhibiting “tribal” behaviour

Popeye, a blind cat rescued from Lebannon, is a wonderful example of determination and spunk. He can only see shapes and shadows with his right eye and he is completely blind in his left. Yet, he hasn’t given up his playful side. Popeye found a way to master this toy and actually snag the ball. He is a great example for all of us. Limitations? What limitations?! Read Popeye’s entire story here.

Popeye lives at the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary along with many other amazing animals with special needs. The folks at Rolling Dog sure have big hearts.