Free Republic

It's there... trust me!

"In fact, he says, schizophrenia did not rise in prevalence until the latter half of the 18th century, when for the first time people in Paris and London started keeping cats as pets. The so-called cat craze began among “poets and left-wing avant-garde Greenwich Village types,” says Torrey, but the trend spread rapidly—and coinciding with that development, the incidence of schizophrenia soared. " *** “If I had to guess,” says Torrey, “I’d say 75 percent of cases of schizophrenia are associated with infectious agents, and Toxo would be involved in a significant subset of those.” *** "Closer inspection of Flegr’s...

Last night's Dorito's ad was apparently meant to be "funny". A dog seems to be responsible for a missing cat's disappearance and he bribes a guy with Doritos to keep silent. If we find this offensive, are we too sensitive? Is it wrong to request Doritos to kill this ad? They suggest the dog killed and buried the cat , or even worse. My best friend's cat was killed by a dog a few year's ago.

No Pet For You Want to adopt a dog or cat? Prepare for an inquisition at the animal rescue. eople who rescue animals can be reluctant to believe anyone deserves the furry creatures. Some rescue groups think potential owners shouldn’t have full-time jobs. Others reject families with children. Some rescuers think apartment dwelling is OK for humans but not for dogs, or object to a cat’s litter box being placed in a basement. Some say no to people who would let a dog run around the fenced backyard “unsupervised,” or allow a cat outside, ever. It used to be that...

A cat escape caused a four-hour delay for an Air Canada flight Thursday as airline staff in Halifax struggled to get the feline from its hiding place in cockpit wiring. (Jan. 27) [Associated Press]

Bringing old homes up to scratch is nothing out of the ordinary for property renovators Andrew and George Hartley, But this professional couple nearly jumped out their skin when greeted by their most recent form of preservation - as a mummified cat fell on them. The couple got a face full of the ancient feline as they removed ceilings from an 18th century property in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

It looks like a good way for this cat to become a tasty snack. But when the bold feline decided to take on an alligator in New Orleans, he came out remarkably intact. He chose to take on the reptile at an wildlife park just as it was trying to eat some chicken, and began raining blows on its snout. ... The cat may be the bravest or most stupid you've ever seen and a cynic may argue that the gator has been trained not to attack. But who's ever heard of a trained alligator?

An elderly woman in Argentina was left fighting for her life on Saturday after a cat thrown out of a fourth-floor apartment during a heated argument landed on her head, local media reported. The incident occurred in the Belgrano neighbourhood of Buenos Aires when, during the dispute, a man grabbed the family cat and threw it at his wife. She managed to dodge the feline, which then sailed through an open window plunging toward the ground and striking the woman, an 85-year-old neighbour. Police told Argentine media that the victim suffered a fractured skull and was rushed to hospital, where...

This mother gave new meaning to the term 'tongue lashing' when she collared her cubs for a bath. The young Siberian tigers seemed eager to squirm away as they were hauled in for a clean. But their mum was determined to get the job done and, at one point, even used her massive paws to pin one of her mischievous offspring down. ...

You'll need to be careful when playing with these black and white kittens - because they have an extra 18 toes (and claws) between them. Fred and Ned are known as polydactyl cats. While most felines have 18 toes, Fred has an extra 10 digits and Ned has eight. The four-month-old pair are currently being looked after by Cats Protection in Gosport, Hampshire. Branch volunteer Kate Stapleford said: 'These two kittens were in poor condition when they arrived but with veterinary attention and a lot of TLC from their fosterer, Fred and Ned are now thriving. ...

Poisoned cat-meat stew is suspected to have been used to kill a billionaire in southern China. Police have detained a local official in Guangdong province in connection with the sudden death of Long Liyuan on 23 December. The official, Huang Guang, is suspected of adding a toxic plant to the stew at a restaurant where they were eating. A police statement said the two were involved in a dispute after Mr Huang allegedly embezzled money from Mr Long. Mr Huang, an agriculture official in Bajia, took Mr Long, who ran a forestry company, to visit a piece of woodland on...

Kitty Twitty is a cat toy that lets your cat 'stay in touch' via automatic posts on Twitter. Thankfully, all the cat has to do is swat at a hovering Twitter bird on a guitar string above the gadget - the switch inside posts the news, updating a Twitter account. You'll need to be handy with a soldering iron to let your cat join the micro-blogging revolution, though - Kitty Twitty is a step-by-step DIY project on America's Make magazine. Its maker, Make's director of product development Marc de Vinck, says that the technique could also be used for 'connected'...

When Trouble comes around, he’s hard to miss. That’s because the Sacramento, California cat is 19 inches tall from paw to shoulder, making him the tallest cat in the world. ... Trouble is part house cat and part African serval cat, a recognised hybrid called a Savannah, but his height is still surprising, even for his breed. ...

Peering over the edge, this kitten looked too scared to clamber out of the loft. Gingerly Bella takes a step forward as she carefully tries to make her way down the steps with Kimba lurking behind her. As the six month old kitten climbs carefully over the edge, she glances up at the white cat who is watching her closely preparing to pounce. hen, just as she prepares to take her fifth step, Kimba reaches out playfully with a left paw and prods Bella's rear legs sharply. The terrified kitten - who was not injured - is sent tumbling down...

War is a terrible thing: Sometimes you have to take the life of your fellow man in the most brutal and extravagant ways...and you just don't have a good enough weapon to do it as hard as you want. That's when you start strapping every weapon you have to every other weapon you have, and hope that physics is in a good enough mood today to let you fire knives out of your machine gun. Like these guys:

"The couple also are developing a line of vegan pet foods — after discovering a void in the market for people looking to feed their dogs and cats vegan vittles," said the Chicago Sun-Times.

A pet cat named Dodger is living up to his name, by taking free bus trips from his home town. The ginger moggy, who was named after the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist, has taken to hopping on and off the public transport at the bus station near his home. The 15-year-old cat even sits on bemused passengers’ laps as the bus makes up to 10-mile round trips from Bridport to Charmouth in Dorset. ... A spokesman for bus firm First said they didn’t mind Dodger on their buses but didn’t actively encourage him. ... 'Given this cat is elderly...

Rags to riches tale of kitty who went from living on the streets to lap of luxury once down-on-his-luck stray cat has become the world’s richest kitty — thanks to a childless widow who left him $8.5 million in her will. Tommaso the black cat, who once scoured the streets of Rome for food, can now afford a gilded litter box with the inheritance. In a handwritten will penned shortly before her death last month, Maria Assunta, 94, ordered that the money from her real estate empire should keep the green-eyed feline she rescued in the lap of luxury. Animals...

In a reversal of fortunes, a once-unwanted cat has come to the rescue of an animal shelter in need of a new home. However, this orange-and-white tabby named Daniel is no typical cat. He has a near-record 26 toes, a phenomenon that is helping the Milwaukee Animal Rescue Center in Wisconsin raise money to relocate to a new building. ... 'I've always been a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and this is definitely the case,' said Amy Rowell, owner of Milwaukee Animal Rescue Center in Greendale. She found Daniel in October at animal control when she went...

The city Department of Health & Mental Hygiene has sunk its claws into another beloved New York institution — The Algonquin hotel’s lobby cat.... .... Prodded by Nanny Bloomberg, the DOH has been socking restaurants with steep fines for minor violations — and slapping dreaded “C” ratings on places where no one was known to get sick.

Larry the Downing Street cat may have been brought in to catch rats but it appears the ministerial moggy may have to face a disciplinary. The tabby, adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home earlier this year, was expected to go chasing after rodents who have been seen scuttling in and around Number 10. Ministerial aides say Larry spends most of his time asleep or with his new female friend instead. ... He has apparently caught just one mouse in the last few months. ... He's got a long way to go until he has the fierce reputation of Harry...

Most people might have a rough day once in a while, but it will never be as bad as the one suffered by this little mouse. He ended up becoming dish of the day for a playful cat, which showed off its ball skills by batting it into the air with such force it did a mid-air somersault. This once-in-a-life-time picture was captured by Californian pet owner Angelo DeSantis when he arrived at his home in Grass Valley, Nevada.

Most cat owners will know how much a cat likes to explore. But this brave feline probably took it a step too far and was stuck on top of a giant cactus for at least three days without food or water. ... the black and brown house cat managed to climb 20ft up. Some experts claimed it would be far too dangerous to try and attempt to rescue the cat and firefighters said it would eventually come down on its own. It seems they were right, because the moggy suddenly had a change of heart and decided to make its...

My computer being secured.

MYFOXNY.COM - The cat that gained international attention after being lost at JFK Airport and then being found two months later has died. Jack was on the brink of death when he was found in a customs room at JFK but it was hoped that he would survive after intensive treatment. He was supposed to be on a flight to California with his owner when he disappeared in late August. The veterinarian caring for Jack said more than two months on his own left the animal so severely malnourished and dehydrated. He developed dangerous skin and liver conditions while trying...

I am just at wits end to know what happened to our cat overnight. We have a big, black, short-haired, neutered male cat named Tommy. He was fine last night, but this morning I noticed that he had an approximately 1 inch by 5 inch strip of fur missing from his back starting from about 2 inches from his tail. Where the fur was is red and moist. The bald area looks like you had put a ruler or something down, drew it off and stripped away the fur- it's that even. He is staying off by himself underneath a...

Jack the cat is moving on to the West Side of Manhattan from Queens as he continues to regain his strength for his return voyage to his owner in California. The cat, who was lost at John F. Kennedy International Airport for two months, was moved Thursday from the BluePearl Veterinary animal hospital in Forest Hills to its new state-of-the-arts facility at 410 West 55 St. where he will continue his recuperation. ...

A tabby cat who was at the side of superstitious young crews flying on experimental bomb tests above the Atlantic in the Second World War is to be honoured for bravery. Pyro was kept inside the flight jackets of crew members while flying at altitudes of 20,000ft and even flew on the legendary 'bouncing bomb' tests. ... But his owner noticed the cat was miserable when left alone so began carrying him in his flying jacket. He said Pyro earned his wings one winter's day in early 1943 when, at 20,000ft, ice covered the plane his father was flying in....

Now that Karen Pascoe is headed back home, Jack The Cat is Lost in AA Baggage Facebook page reports tonight that she spent the weekend visiting with her beloved ca, Jack. The visit was kept hush hush to avoid a media circus at the veterinary hospital ... “Jack is still critical at this time. He has shown some improvement, but the biggest issue is some life-threatening skin wounds that are present. He is severely muscle-wasted and has evidence of fatty liver syndrome, which lets us know his malnourishment was pretty chronic.” ... The good news from Saturday is that Jack...

We have a fenced in yard and I let my dog out. Minutes later I heard barking like crazy and my dog was acting weird. I went out with a flashlight and he had a cat on it's back and the cat had scratched my dog below both eyes and he was bleeding, so there was definitely some fighting going on. My husband took the dog in and cleaned up his wounds and I went to check on the cat. We've never seen this cat in the neighborhood before and it's a huge cat. At first it just hissed at...

Cat actually plays the shell game. Worth watching. Video was on one of the TV channels this morning. Video is at http://www.break.com/index/cat-learns-to-play-the-shell-game-2065317.

The illegal immigrant allowed to stay in Britain partly because he owned a cat was given a police caution for shoplifting, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Ranzo Avila, who was at the centre of a row among senior Tories, overstayed his student visa but was allowed to stay in Britain after an immigration judge ruled in his favour in 2008. He concluded that the Bolivian’s right to family life would be breached because he was in an established relationship — reinforced by the fact that the couple had bought a cat. Immigration court records showed that he first came to...

Black cats may be unlucky, but what about a glowing cat? Phosphorescent felines were created by Mayo Clinic researchers to help in the fight against AIDS in both cats and humans. The cats were genetically engineered to carry a protein that defends them from infection by the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), the cat version of HIV. The cats glow because of a jellyfish gene inserted along with the FIV-resistance gene. If the genetically modified mouser glowed an eerie green, the researchers knew it was also resistant to FIV. "One of the best things about this biomedical research is that it...

Police in Lebanon ,Ohio shoot lost cat-see story on Channel 12 website.

The markets are sharply higher as they get an oversold bounce ahead of the FOMC Policy Statement. In the last two weeks, the markets have dumped over 15%. Everything from major market leaders like Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to small cap runners like OXiGENE, Inc. (NASDAQ:OXGN) have been pounded but are now surging dramatically higher.

A tiny kitten survived a harrowing ordeal on the Verrazano Bridge after it was thrown from a moving car, landing near the edge of the bridge before being rescued by a passing animal control officer. The officer was transporting animals to a Staten Island facility on Saturday and saw the gray kitten thrown out of the window, Animal Care & Control of NYC said Wednesday. The officer quickly pulled the vehicle over to try and rescue the kitten, which was found near the edge of the bridge. Passing truck drivers stopped to help block traffic while the rescue occurred, animal...

Cat and green apples ambush

At first glance, the orange and white cat in one of the Oregon Humane Society's kennels looks like your average cat, nestled in fuzzy blankets and cleaning itself. A closer look, though, reveals singed, curled whiskers and black and red footpads, evidence that this cat, along with 13 others now at OHS, survived an apartment fire in Lebanon on Wednesday and need new homes. OHS staff were already scheduled to go pick up the cats on Thursday from the owner, who was overwhelmed by the number of cats -- about 20 -- that were living in the apartment. Unfortunately, that...

NEW YORK, - A New York woman says she had nearly given up hope her pet cat, Eddie, was still alive after the feline was carried off by a red-tailed hawk. But Eddie, who weighs in at a hefty 15 pounds, was found stunned and disheveled but still kicking in the back yard of an apartment building after the estimated 4-pound bird apparently couldn't hang on and dropped it. Eddie plummeted an estimated five stories but was no worse for wear, the New York Daily News said Saturday. "He checked out fine, other than some minor cuts, scrapes and bruises,"...

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) -- Caterpillar Inc. avoided paying more than $2 billion in federal income taxes from 2000 to 2009 by accounting fraudulently for billions in dollars of profits, according to a lawsuit filed by a manager of the heavy equipment maker. Daniel Schlicksup, who was a global tax strategy manager for the company from 2005 to 2008, alleges that the company wrongly attributed at least $5.6 billion in profits from sales through an Illinois-based warehouse to its unit in Switzerland in order to lessen its tax burden and increase earnings. A spokesman for Caterpillar, which reported $2.7 billion in...

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – A 21-year-old woman in Boulder has been arrested after allegedly blowing heroin smoke in the face of a cat, killing the animal.

An amateur photographer has told how he managed to get this amazing picture of a cat balancing on a 17th floor balcony railing. Ivo Berg, 22, a marketing engineer from Berlin, was visiting a friend who lived with his two pet cats in a high rise in Santiago, Chile. He said: "As soon as I got to my friend's apartment I fell in love with the view but I was also very worried about the suicidal behaviour of his two cats. "They would chase each other through the apartment, fighting and playing. But they would also jump on to the...

In the 20-second video, our black feline friend can be seen from behind, sticking its head out of a window and making said barking noises (some have suggested the mimic is to scare off an actual canine, but we're not sure). When it realises its owner is behind it, camera in hand, however, the cat immediately switches to making more, err, cat-like noises.

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. -- According to police, a central Indiana man said he was helping his wife commit suicide, but is facing not only a murder charge but also a charge of cruelty to animals after police found the woman and her pet cat strangled in a Kentucky hotel. Over the weekend, Lonnie Daughtery was found in bed with his wife. Police said they both had multiple injuries but his wife had been strangled. Elizabethtown police said the couple was supposed to check out of the Holiday Inn Express on Saturday, but when they didn't, that's when police discovered the crime...

A local business is currently being raided for what the Department of Defense tells WSAZ.com is a multi-million dollar billing fraud investigation. COAL GROVE, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Two local business are currently being raided for what the investigators on the scene tell WSAZ.com is a multi-million dollar billing fraud investigation. 40 local, state and federal agencies are involved in a raid at Dr. Peter Tsai's Medical Office and the Watkins-Tsai Imaging Center in Coal Grove. Click here to find out more! The two businesses are located just off US 52 at the Coal Grove exit on Marion Pike. Investigators tell...

Long after questions were first raised about the overuse of powerful CT scans, hundreds of hospitals across the country needlessly exposed patients to radiation by scanning their chests twice on the same day, according to federal records and interviews with researchers. Performing two scans in succession is rarely necessary, radiologists say, yet some hospitals were doing that more than 80 percent of the time for their Medicare chest patients, according to Medicare outpatient claims from 2008, the most recent year available. The rate is typically less than 1 percent, or in some cases zero, at major university teaching hospitals. Next...

MYFOXNY.COM - A nine year old cat survived a 14-story plunge from an Upper West Side apartment building. The Lang family moved to a building on West 64th St. and West End Ave. about a month ago with their pet Copper. Angela Lang says their apartment's windows don't open far and they never thought she could get through them. Copper proved them wrong and got out onto the ledge; but fell. They thought she was on top of a parking garage next to the building but there was no access to the roof. Nine hours later, the building supervisor used...

It’s the capper to a near purrfect spring after winning his long-sought majority: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a new pet cat. The Harpers announced the arrival of the newest, furry member of their family Saturday on the prime minister’s Facebook page — and offered the public the chance to name the grey tabby. “Happy to have a new Harper at 24,” a statement on the site said. “He’s a grey tabby and needs a name, vote for your favourite.”

Strange as it sounds, the question has been thrown around in previous years and even studied by scientists. A recent write-up on the website Improbable Research revisits whether cats with darker coats wreak more havoc on their owners' immune systems. Pet dander, skin flakes, saliva and urine can aggravate owners' allergies and asthma, but for cats in particular, a specific protein called "Fel d 1" is a common culprit. It's secreted by cats' salivary and sebaceous (or oil) glands, so when a cat grooms itself, it spreads the allergen to the outermost surface of the fur, increasing human exposure to...

A cat burglar who stole 600 items has been outed as an actual cat, after a night-vision camera was used to capture footage of the feline. Residents in San Francisco had initially wondered what was happening when clothes, teddy-bears and other small items started disappearing. But it soon became apparent the crook was a kleptomaniac kitty called Dusty who kept returning home with other peoples belongings. After setting up night-vision camera they recorded footage of him going out under the cover of night and dragging back his loot. Over the past three years the cat is said to have stole...