Catymology

The latest newsletter from our friends at the Wildcat Sanctuary tells of the rescue of the beautiful Bengal Cat, Mystique:

TWS received an email from a concerned individual in Arizona who saw a posting on Craig's list for an F1 Bengal Cat being offered free to a good home. TWS contacted the owner immediately offering sanctuary for Mystique. Information we received revealed what a difficult life Mystique has endured. "Due to breaking my back in a car accident, I don't feel as if this is the proper place for her. When I got her she was housed in total darkness all the time in over 100 degree weather. I believe she has been passed around to many different breeders and has been neglected and abused and way over bred every where she has gone till I got her. She doesn't like brooms due to past abuse. She lost her ears to another Bengal cat as a kitten."

Mystique is a very calm girl. She hasn't hissed once since she arrived, but will hide if a caregiver gets too close. Mystique will get to live in cooler temperatures with an outdoor habitat and indoor heated building. After she is spayed, she will be introduced to the other F1 Bengals at the sanctuary.

Labels: wildcats

Even the most intrepid feline reporter sometimes needs a fact checker. Our latest guest cat got his human to send in this correction, and another fascinating story about the origin of the Maine Coon breed.

It's Machias or Chai, for short. If you look on your map you'll see Machias and Machias Port in northern Maine. Maybe you will also be interested in this legend passed down to us about Maine coons:

The Maine Coon--the legacy of Queen Marie Antoinette. Before France's Queen Marie Antoinette had here ill-fated run-in with the guillotine, she had acquired several long-haired Angora cats from Turkey. According to legend, her prized pets were to be sent ahead, to French Canada, along with other personal items, as she and King Louis XVI prepared to flee from the French Revolutionaries. Unfortunately, only her belongings escaped. As her cargo ship neared the American coast of Maine, its Captain--fearful of the consequences he would receive for transporting the Queen's valuables--dumped the royal cargo over the side and released the cats on the nearest shore. Unknowingly he had introduced an entire new breed of cat to America. Because of its racoon-like black-and-tan markings, the locals began calling the breed the Maine Coon. Over the years this popular domestic has lost most of its coon markings, yet still retains the name.

We apologize to Machias for getting the name wrong. But at least we get to publish another great picture of him!

Labels: guest cats

My latest guest cat, Morchai, a pedigreed Maine Coon, lives with amanuensis' friend Judith. He weighs in at about 20 pounds! Like me, he loves to lurk behind a potted plant and pretend he's in the jungle. He's quite playful and doesn't mind at all posing for photographs, especially if he can catch hold of the camera strap. Morchai, what big teeth you have!

Maine Coons originated in--where else?--the state of Maine, where they were highly prized as mousers, and needed their thick, silky fur to keep them warm in the winter. But this breed is also a popular show cat; a Maine Coon cat won the first cat show ever held in the U.S.A. There are a lot of myths about Maine Coons, including one that they arose from domestic cats who mated with raccoons, or possibly with bobcats. But that's just not true, as neither raccoons nor bobcats can mate with domestic cats. My suspicion is that humans just liked having these big, friendly cats hanging around their barns.

Morchai will join the Friday Ark this week, and this Sunday's Carnival of the Cats.

Labels: guest cats

Just a cat. Hiding in a juniper bush. The weather has been perfect for Aloysius' needs. And since Tuesday is his day to simply be a cat, he's joining Cats on Tuesday.

Labels: Cats on Tuesday

I just couldn't resist . . .

It's the lolcat meme! It's spreading like antz.

The Cat Blogosphere takes on this week's Carnival of the Cats, and there's Weekend Cat Blogging at PaulChen's Food Blog?!

Labels: fun and games, lolcats

Maybe you've seen the 1936 Three Stooges short, Ants in the Pantry? Where are Larry, Moe, and Curly when you really need them?


Yup, these annoying little buggers have, once again, invaded the kitchen. I think they're plotting to invade Netflix, once they activate their free trial subscription. Then, they plan to rent Empire of the Ants and The Ant Bully. Trying to educate us, they are. Luckily, I've still got a lot of Terro left. Take that!



I've decided to send them to the Friday Ark.

Labels: 3 annoying things

Amanuensis got an email from her friend Jan, who is as big an animal lover as she is. Jan said to look at a website called Pet-Abuse.com:

The website I am giving you is NOT for the faint of heart. It is set up much like 'America's Most Wanted' - this site ID's and follows animal abuse stories and encourages the public to write whatever court for tougher sentencing, as well as keeping track of perpetrators.

The human who started this site, Alison Gianotto, tells her own story. Some evil human kidnapped her cat Bert and set him on fire. Bert died despite three days in intensive care. The cat killer was never caught. Now Alison gets other humans to volunteer to help make it illegal to abuse animals. I think this is a fine idea, and I'm sending her lots of purrs.

P.S. to Jan: if you send me a picture of your dog, he can be a guest on Catymology. I don't discriminate on the basis of species.

Labels: animal rights

Tuesday is Aloysius' day to simply be a cat. Don't you think he's good at it? He's taking a much-needed break from supervising my gardening. We'll have some pictures of his new garden as soon as the planting is finished.


Lisaviolet invented this game: Tummy Tuesday! If your cat wants to play, be sure to tag your post "Tummy Tuesday."

Labels: Tummy Tuesday

Bonnie Underfoot and Victor Tabbycat tagged me for the 7 things meme. Here are the rules. Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Cats who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven cats to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and ask them to read your blog!

1. I came to live with my current humans when I was four years old. I’m planning to live here forever because there is a beautiful garden for me to prowl in.

2. I love to be brushed, so I know that the human I lived with before that must have taken care of me. Cats have to be brushed from the time they are kittens so they will grow up liking it. Brushing feels like having my mother lick me with her raspy tongue.

3. I’m not a lap cat. I prefer to sit beside my humans on the couch and to sleep between them in bed.

4. My favorite toy is a feathered cat teaser.

5. I would eat rubber bands if I could get at them.

6. If I disappear, it’s likely that I’m sleeping under the end of the comforter at the bottom of the bed.

7. When my humans are pleased with me, they call me Sweetie or Sweetie Pot. When I misbehave, they call me by my full name, Aloysius Pangur Ban. (Aloysius is pronounced Al-oh-wish-us, by the way. A lot of humans have trouble with that; they look up the pronunciation on the internet, and then they find Catymology!)

I tag the following cats:

AnnaZu at Bastante Already
K T Cat at The Scratching Post
Cato at Creatures of the Earth
Rocky at Artsy Catsy
Zeus at The Zeus Excuse
BJ, KC, Max, Sasha, Sebastian, & Stripe at Chat Katze
Gattina’s Cats

Labels: fun and games

I like to relax on my wicker stool and let my fluffy tail trail down. It was thoughtful of my humans to cover the seat with carpet that perfectly matches my fur. Of course, the carpet itself has become rather furry.

From this seat I can look out and see humans, their dogs, squirrels, and the occasional raccoon. I call it my throne with a view.

Speaking of views, check out the Friday Ark tomorrow, and Sunday's Carnival of the Cats. Oh, and in case you're into *not* catblogging, Random Yak has the goodies. But there's still some tasty catblogging going on over at What Did You Eat.

Labels: fun and games

Aloysius is out enjoying his new grass. I think he's eating it. Perhaps he thinks he's a sheep? Since it's Tuesday, he gets to be whatever kind of animal he wants, while I indulge in a brief rant. Three annoyances:

1. Some person or persons continually drop little plastic bags full of doggy do into my garbage cart. It's good that they pick up after their dogs, but the bags of doggy do stick to the bottom of the cart and stink.

2. I live in a (fairly) a well-organized midwestern city which has rules about the dumping of garbage. City Ordinance 225.10 states in part: "No person shall leave, throw, or deposit, or use or permit any other person to leave, place, throw, or deposit, any substances or materials of any kind at a city solid waste collection point…for city disposal when the substances or materials were generated at a location other than the residence."

I have actually thought about calling my city councilmember's office to see what she can do to stop people from dropping little plastic bags full of doggy do in my garbage cart. Maybe I should get a life?

3. I've also wondered about the fact that many shops persist in putting a single item (a box of mints, a bottle of ibuprofin) into a plastic bag. If there were no plastic bags, people would not be putting their doggy do into them in the first place. But perhaps then they wouldn't pick up after their dogs.

Labels: 3 annoying things

What fun! My humans had three guys come and make my garden all beautiful, with new sod for me to prowl around on. They dug up a lot of weeds that were in the flower bed, too. Now you can see the tulips much better. I think they should plant a lot more tulips; they provide such a nice background for my pear-shaped pose. I think they should plant some catnip, too.

Every garden looks better with a cat in it!

Weekend Cat Blogging's at A Byootaful Life and the Carnival of the Cats is at When Cats Attack.

Labels: Carnival of the Cats, spring

I just found out that Public Radio is running an American Idol-type contest to find the next great public radio host--the Public Radio Talent Quest. This sounds too good to be true, but it's real. The come-on reads:

Do you have what it takes to be public radio's next great host? Do you have that most elusive of qualities - hostiness?

Hostiness was a new concept to me, but it's obvious that cats make the best hosts. Among the requirements: entrants must never have hosted a national radio show. (I guess that leaves out Don Imus.) But nowhere does it say that you have to be human to enter. I think I've got the hostiness thing down. Among my hostiest posts:

• I have hosted many guest cats, and one or two guest dogs.
• I even host birds.
• I've hosted three Carnivals of the Cats, most recently last week.

Now, here are a few more examples of my hostiness:



This is Denali, a young horse who lives with amanuensis' relatives in Ohio. Denali is very friendly. A few weeks ago, she scraped her leg and has to take a break from training her human to ride her. I'm purring for Denali to get better soon.



This handsome ginger cat also lives in Ohio. She's trying to butter up my human.




And this is Jago, also from Ohio. Her humans rescued her after they found her running wild in the woods. They are very good humans! (That's my male human in the baseball cap, scritching Jago.)

Enjoy more hostiness on the Friday Ark at Modulator, and in Sunday 's Carnival of the Cats at When Cats Attack. I sure hope those "seven meowers of death" are feeling hosty.

Update, 5/4/07: I began getting referrals to this post from the Talent Quest website. They've got a widget that shows who's talking about the contest. Cool!

Labels: dogs, guest cats, horse