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Cats with a fondness for gourmet meals are threatening fish supplies, an Australian scientist says. Deakin University scientist Dr Giovanni Turchini has discovered an estimated 2.48 million tonnes of forage fish - a limited biological resource - is consumed by the global cat food industry each year. "That such a large amount of fish is used for the pet food industry is real eye-opener," Dr Turchini said. "What is also interesting is that, in Australia, pet cats are eating an estimated 13.7 kilograms of fish a year which far exceeds the Australian average (human) per capita fish and seafood consumption...

http://www.sonnyradio.com/treadmillcats.html

A friend sent me a link to this site and I liked what I saw. The site is dedicated primarily to female shooters, but the articles are well written and worthy of anyone's time. Kathy Jackson deals primarily with new shooters and people new to the idea that they might one day have to use deadly force to protect themself or their family. Although I've been around this stuff for a long time, I read many of the articles and even found a couple of things I didn't know on some of the n00b pages. It's definitely worth your time....

It’s said that cats have nine lives — but do they also have a sixth sense of direction? Jeffersonville resident David James is beginning to think so. A little more than a week after giving a pregnant cat away to a man living on a Sellersburg farm, he found her in his backyard having just birthed three kittens. The farm is more than 10 miles away from James’ home. The cat’s name is Biscuit, and she, along with several other cats, were given away to live on the farm after James said he and his wife, Wanda, could no longer...

Asking for animal shelter donations instead of presents for his 11th birthday was “no biggie” for Mac Gandy, but it makes him a hero to the Florence Area Humane Society. Mac decided after a visit to the shelter in early July, a couple of weeks before his birthday, that he wanted to help the animals in need of a good home. “I felt bad for them,” he said after he and his mother, Michelle Gandy, delivered the food, cleaning supplies and other items he’d collected. “It always tugs at his heart,” his mother said. The Gandys aren’t sure exactly how...

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PHILADELPHIA -- There are fat cats and then there are fat cats. South Jersey, to be sure, has seen its fair share of the indictable variety, but never before has it seen the likes of the portly pussycat found waddling in Voorhees. Meet Princess Chunky -- all 44 pounds of her and just two pounds shy of the 1987 Guinness World Record for overweight cats. Camden County Animal Control Officer Jim McCleery got the call Friday. There was a stray cat prowling on a patio in the Ashley Run condominium development. "We picked him up and I knew from the...

I was completely flummoxed this morning when Henry started growling and snarling for a prolonged period. I was checking my email, so I wasn’t paying any attention to the world around me. Henry is not a snarler, but there he was: teeth bared, lips drawn back, ears flat, head low to the ground. Very impressive, except that he was backing up and away from…the three cats. I’ve never seen anything like it. Horus was confronting him directly—his tail was as big around as my forearm—and he was advancing! Tiger had the left flank, and Jetta the right. Henry finally hid...

VANCOUVER - Marley the cat dropped 14 storeys out of a window of a high-rise and lived to meow about it. It may have been nature that lured him out, and it was nature that cushioned his fall. Angela Bester had left a window slightly ajar for her one-year-old Scottish Fold domestic cross she named after a favourite singer, Bob Marley, while she took an overnight trip to Whistler. When she returned to her 14th storey condo, she froze. "I saw the window and I knew instantly what had happened and I looked at the (uneaten) food and the water....

McALLEN - Police and federal authorities are investigating the sale of six Bengal tiger cubs in a Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday afternoon. The animals appear to have been bound for Mexico and neither the buyer nor seller had the permits needed to legally transport the endangered species across national borders, a federal agent said. A group from Spring Hill Widlife Ranch in Bryan was selling the cubs - four white ones and two orange ones - in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart near Jackson Avenue and Expressway 83. Authorities believe the Spring Hill employees were selling the tigers to...

A mountain lion attacking a small animal was spotted by students living near Gerhart Hall on the Bethany University campus in Scotts Valley Monday night, the second such sighting in as many days... Students reported seeing the cougar on both Sunday and Monday nights... Students are also being advised to avoid jogging or walking alone during the early morning hours or at dusk to avoid coming into contact with a mountain lion.

Confronting Lion Was Breathtaking Experience. “I was walking this trail I had made, hunting for mushrooms, when I came across a deer carcass which hadn't been there before,” said Ron Olson... “I kind of looked around and didn't see anything. When I turned around, just to my left, there stood a mountain lion.” The lion sighting was officially confirmed Friday by officials from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. It is the state's first confirmed sighting in four years. About 90 minutes after they set up the camera, four shots were taken of the mountain lion eating on the carcass....

The video shot in Jack Foerschler’s barn shows his flock of sheep lying quietly in the dark... The flock seems peaceful, until the animals are suddenly startled. A nanosecond later, a blur leaps into the screen and tackles one of the sheep. The ewe is able to escape momentarily, jumping up from the creature’s clutches, running to the viewer’s left. But the invader is faster. It bounds to its feet and extends a claw toward its fleeing prey. The viewer can see its massive claws, slender muscular body and distinctively long tail. The culprit that killed four ewes, a ram...

"Here is a cat that really loves boxing! He sits on the couch watching a boxing match and really gets into it!" The boxing kitty-cat

Prospect Park Zoo's new cats purr-fect at playing hide-and-seek BY JESSICA DURANDO DAILY NEWS WRITER Monday, April 28th 2008, 4:00 AM Rosier/NewsProspect Park Zoo’s Pallas cat makes appearance. Just like typical house cats, Alexandra and Nicholas would rather sleep than entertain humans. The 10-year-old Pallas cats have been on exhibit for about a month at Prospect Park Zoo, but they rarely make eye contact with people who stop to look at them. Zookeeper Hulya Israfil, 27, said the wild felines from Central Asia are still getting used to their surroundings. "We're letting them take their time and hopefully they'll...

Funny stuff :)

According to a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota, having a kitty in your life could make you less likely to die of a cardiovascular disease, but this same protective effect does not extend to those who share their lives only with dogs. A WebMD news report said, compared with cat owners, people who never had a pet cat were 40 percent more likely to die of a heart attack and 30 percent more likely to die of any cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart failure, and chronic heart disease. The study was based on data collected from nearly...

Suicidal pets get anti-depressants By staff writers February 25, 2008 02:19pm PETS at risk of self-harm are increasingly being prescribed anti-depressants because they cannot discuss problems in their lives with others, a leading veterinarian says. Zoo and wildlife medicine specialist with the UK’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Romain Pizzi, told the Telegraph that more pets were being prescribed Prozac. ***** “Firstly, we will change the environment of the animal and make sure it has more stimulation and toys,” Mr Pizzi told the newspaper. "When we have ruled out underlying medical problems, we try to break the cycle by using...

Cats' Family Tree Rooted In Fertile Crescent, Study ConfirmsCats, with their penchant for hunting mice, rats and other rodents, became useful companions as people domesticated, grew and stored wild grains and grasses. Eventually, cats also became pets but were never fully domesticated. Even today, most domestic cats remain self-sufficient, if necessary, and continue to be efficient hunters, even when provided with food. (Credit: Michele Hogan) ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2008) — The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East has long been identified as a "cradle of civilization" for humans. In a new genetic study, researchers at the University of California, Davis,...

Cat saves 8 people from house fire Published: Jan. 24, 2008 at 10:11 AM ALLENDALE, Mich., Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A cat named Oreo saved the lives of eight Allendale, Mich., people when their home caught fire Wednesday, officials said. The heroic kitty began to cry when flames started in the family's garage about 5 a.m., WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich., reported Thursday. Officials said smoke detectors in the home did not sound at the time of the fire, but luckily for the family, Oreo did. The cat's cries from the garage reportedly woke the family of eight and sent them...

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Some kitty math: How many lives did little tabby Gracie Mae use up when she crawled into her owner's suitcase, went through an airport X-ray machine, got loaded onto a plane, thrown onto a baggage belt and mistakenly picked up by a stranger far from home? "She's got to be at four or five now," Seth Levy said after his 10-month-old pet was returned Sunday night by a kind stranger who went home to Fort Worth, Texas, with the wrong bag and Gracie inside to boot. The last time Levy's wife, Kelly, saw Gracie was...

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - The last time cat-owner Kelly Levy saw her tiger-striped feline was before she took her husband to the airport. The 24-year-old came back to her house late Friday to find the bottom step, where Gracie Mae would usually be waiting, empty. Levy tore the house apart looking for the 10-month-old tabby who had been spayed just days before. She and her dad took out bathroom tiles and part of a cabinet to check a crawl space and papered the neighborhood with "lost cat" signs. Then she got a phone call. "Hi, you're not going to...

What do you do when a haggard stray cat shows up on your doorstep one early December night, on the eve of a winter storm? It happened seven weeks ago at Knoepfler Chevrolet in downtown Sioux City. Bill Knoepfler left her a little food. And left her alone. A man whose profession is service can only go so far. But Jean Bowman, a General Motors service representative, couldn't bear to see the female kitty shiver. She picked her up and asked Knoepfler to provide shelter. "Not until a vet sees her," Knoepfler demanded. "I didn't know if the thing had...

After 14 years of living atop the Northeast's highest peak at the Mount Washington Observatory, Nin left his post as lap-warmer-in-chief yesterday to retire to the valley.

Across the city, delis and bodegas are a familiar and vital part of the streetscape, modest places where customers can pick up necessities, a container of milk, a can of soup, a loaf of bread. Amid the goods found in the stores, there is one thing that many owners and employees say they cannot do without: their cats. And it goes beyond cuddly companionship. These cats are workers, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, and they typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons. When a bodega cat is on the prowl, workers say, rats and mice...

"If you have any creature in the house with a head bigger than a walnut (including boyfriends), you need a Kitty Wig™."

Everybody knows that cats have nine lives. But one very special and much loved cat has been born with TWO faces - and very possibly, two brains. The owner of the tomcat called Lil'Bit - as in 'A little bit of love' - nearly dropped the kitten in shock when its extra features were revealed.

Pets and their owners are just like married couples and they get more alike over time, a psychologist has claimed. Prof Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, asked almost 2,500 people to complete online questionnaires about their characters and those of their pets. He found that many dog lovers, cat owners and even reptile keepers said they shared many of the same traits — such as happiness, intelligence, independence and sense of humour — as their pets. But he also discovered that the longer an animal had been with their owner, the more likely they were to have picked...

Why Fish Fanciers Have The Last Laugh Saturday October 27, 2007 Pets can provide a good indication of their owners' personalities, a new study has shown. People who have dogs tend to be cheerful, cat lovers are dependable and emotionally sensitive, and reptile owners independent. But no-one is happier than a keeper of tropical fish, according to the research. Fish owners stand out as the most contented of individuals, says psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman from Hertfordshire University, who led the study. Almost 60% are convinced their fishy friends have a personality and sense of humour. The research reveals that pets'...

Please review the new Viking Kitty. His name is Claymore Here's the swearing in ceremony. Thanks! GB

What a surprise for Dr. Jim Borge, when he heard all the commotion in his kitchen recently in his home on Silverado Trail near Monticello Road. When Jim walked into the kitchen, he found his dog fighting with a mountain lion. The mountain lion came in through the doggy door. Jim is an avid outdoorsman and knew how to scare the cat. He grabbed a broom and yelled at the cat as he beat it, and he ran back out through the doggy door. When Dr. Borge was out for a walk the next day, he was walking by his...

A new study has measured just low long cats can remember certain kinds of information—10 minutes. The research was designed primarily to compare cats' working memory of their recent movements with their visual memories, and found that cats remember better with their bodies than their eyes when they have encountered an object placed in their path by say, an annoying owner or experimenter. When a cat steps over a stray toy or shoe left on the floor on the way to its food dish, it has to coordinate the stepping action of its front legs with its hind legs. "Animals,...

(07-09) 15:05 PDT Victoria, Texas (AP) -- By all accounts, Tahoe is a typical kitten: cute, sleepy and hungry. But his eating habits are far from typical, as the stray's been nursing from a 3-year-old dog named Lillie. Ever since the kitten was found under the hood of Eunice Collins' running Chevrolet Tahoe a few weeks ago, he's been feeding from the unusually cooperative longhaired dachshund. Tahoe feeds in the morning, at night and after naps, purring and pawing at the dog's belly. "That's not going to happen very often," said veterinarian John Beck, who added that the "kitten got...

Scientists believe cats 'sort of domesticated themselves' THE WASHINGTON POST June 29, 2007 WASHINGTON – Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around. The sad truth is, it may not be a final decision. But don't take this feline diffidence personally. It runs in the family. And it goes back a long way – about 12,000 years, actually. Those are among the inescapable conclusions of a genetic study of the origins of the domestic cat, being published today in the journal Science. The findings, drawn from the analysis of nearly a thousand...

A portion of a park in Ventura was closed for a week after several mountain lion sightings. A mountain lion was spotted in the hills next to faculty condominiums on Pepperdine University campus last week, feasting on a freshly killed deer. "A resident contacted us when he saw the mountain lion," Monica Loeffler, spokeswoman for the property management office at Pepperdine, said. "It was right near the Drescher condos below Via de la Casa and above the play structure on Mariposa." there have been a couple of high-profile cases in California in recent years. A cyclist was killed by a...

PASCO COUNTY Vietnam vet kills rabid bobcat in fight for survival BY CAMILLE C. SPENCER St. Petersburg Times WESLEY CHAPEL -- Dale Rippy, 62, a quick-thinking Vietnam veteran, choked to death a growling bobcat that lunged at him from his back porch. Pasco County officials praised Rippy for his quick thinking. ''If he let the cat go, we would have had more victims,'' said Denise Hilton, animal services manager for Pasco County Animal Control. Recuperating from puncture wounds Tuesday, Rippy told about his confrontation with the 25-pound bobcat. ''If that cat had attacked a child, it would've been really bad,''...

This creature had been part of my life for almost 17 years. He wasn't exactly a normal cat. He was built like a medium sized dog. When he was healthy he weighed over 20 pounds. Today he weighed just over 10 pounds and was skin and bone. He had been sick on and off for about a year. Antibiotics helped but he never completely recovered. This morning he really looked bad. We called the vet and took him in. I already expected the worst. The vet said his temp was 92 F (normal is about 101). I expected him to...

A mother cat in China has adopted a mouse, letting it join her family of newborns. The cat was brought into a children's clothing store to catch mice, reports Yanzhao City News. Ten days ago, the cat gave birth to five kittens. "She stays in the box all day long, taking care of her babies, but three days ago, my colleague found a small mouse playing with the kittens," said a spokesperson for the store in Shijiazhuang city. "The cat was protecting the mouse, and would become alert if anyone came too close." The store staff threw the mouse out...

Mystery cat takes regular bus to the shops Last updated at 17:08pm on 9th April 2007 Bus drivers have nicknamed a white cat Macavity after it has started using the No 331 several mornings a week. The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto the busy Walsall to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings - he then jumps off at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and chip shop. The cat was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S Elliot's poem. He gets on the bus in front of a row of...

NEW CASTLE, Ind. - A cat helped spare a family from death by carbon monoxide poisoning by jumping on the bed and meowing wildly as fumes filled the home, the owners said. Eric and Cathy Keesling said their 14-year-old cat, Winnie, played a crucial role in saving their lives March 24 after a gasoline-powered water pump in their basement caused the odorless but deadly gas to build up. About 1 a.m., the domestic shorthair began nudging Cathy’s ear and meowing loudly. “It was a crazy meow, almost like she was screaming,” said Cathy, who hesitated to get up until Winnie’s...

WASILLA -- A pair of accountants are heading toward a September trial in a dispute over Carl, a 6-year-old orange tabby cat. "Since the initial hearing, not a whole lot has happened," said Eric Conard, attorney for Staci Fieser, the accountant who currently has custody of Carl. But attorneys are swapping information and evidence. Things are proceeding as civil cases normally do, Conard said. He has no reason to believe he won't be in trial Sept. 10 in Palmer Superior Court. Though her lawsuit asks for $100,000 in damages for having been deprived of Carl's company, Catherine Fosselman said she...

MERIDEN, Conn. -- Who says cats and dogs don't get along? Workers at the Meriden Humane Society are marveling at a short-haired mother cat who has willingly adopted a six-day-old Rottweiler puppy that was rejected by its mother. The tiny pup, named Charlie by Humane Society volunteers, nurses alongside a jumble of black and gray kittens recently born to Satin, who was surrendered to the shelter by an owner unable to care for her.

After some internet research I just started my kitty on a methyl b12 due to a possible pancreatic inefficiency. He has an abdominal mass and I haven't wanted to do anything too invasive due to his age. The methyl version gets absorbed better so it seems. I may have to try pancreatic enzymes. Anybody familiar with this? My kitty went through a bout of what appeared to be pancreatitis and I've nursed him over that, but he still doesn't have much of an appetite so I am spoon feeding him. He does not seem to be gaining one ounce even...

The recent spate of unseasonably warm temperatures have led to what seems to be an extended breeding cycle for some feral cats -- meaning a bump in the local kitten population and full cages at several local shelters and rescue groups. So many new kittens have come into the Long Island Humane and Dog Protective Association, a private, no-kill animal shelter in Freeport, that the shelter has had to turn away callers wanting to bring in kittens for adoption. "We have just been inundated with calls" about kittens, said Maria Cross, one of the shelter's workers. "Usually, by November, December,...

BOISE, Idaho - No black cat will cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it. Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d'Alene is prohibiting black cat adoptions from now to Nov. 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks - or worse, sacrificed in some satanic ritual. The risk may be remote, said the shelter's executive director, Phil Morgan. "It's kind of an urban legend. But in the humane industry it's pretty typical that shelters don't do adoptions of black cats or white bunnies because...

From the day they brought her home, the D'Avellas' black-and-white mutt loathed ringing phones. At the first trill, Jay Dee would bolt from the room and howl until someone picked up. But within a few weeks, the D'Avellas began missing calls: When the phone rang, their friends later told them, someone would pick up and then the line would go dead. One evening, Aida D'Avella solved the mystery. Sitting in the family room of her Newark, N.J., home, Ms. D'Avella got up as the phone rang, but the dog beat her to it. Jay Dee ran straight to the ringing...

With his vicious fangs on display and weight firmly on his back legs, this tabby looks set to pounce on its unsuspecting prey. But it is not mice, birds or any other small animals he is after. It is not even the other pet cats he has already savaged in his neighbourhood. They were deemed too 'small' a target to terrify, so he decided to turn his attention to a much larger prey - humans. The pet cat, who has been named Grumpy because of his exploits, started entering all the cat flaps on one street in the search for...

Animal Rescue Volunteers Present: Wag n' Walk Walk to Benefit Homeless & Abused Animals Saturday, September 30, 2006 Arroyo Simi Equestrian Center 3495 Chickory Leaf Place, Simi Valley (Located off Sequoia Ave, Just South of Royal Road) 8:00 am Check-In & Breakfast/ 9:00am Opening Ceremony & Walk begins Walk with your dog, your friends, family or by yourself! Fabulous PRIZES to be awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place top fundraisers! Festivities Include: 3 mile walk starting in the beautiful equestrian center, taking you through the surronding areas, *Breakfast * fun opening ceremony * incentive prizes * silent auction*...

Beatrice Khadige Tyre - Street cats have taken over the Lebanese port city of Tyre from which thousands of its human inhabitants have fled in fear of Israel's looming ground offensive. Mountains of rubbish, uncleared for more than a week, have become a haven for hundreds of hungry felines who dodge dogs and the occasional trash fire to get their claws on the contents of the black bags. The smell of the rubbish heaps hangs over the city like the odour of the plague. The silence is broken only by the sharp cries of the cats. Thousands have fled Earlier...

The caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home want a federal judge to intervene in their dispute with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property. More than 50 descendants of a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway lived for more than 10 years. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum disputes the USDA's claim that it is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami. "What...