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To honor cats on the International Cat Day, DW encourages their human companions to protect the planet we all share. From carbon pawprint to waste to wildlife, it is in our hands to take up better practices. Your cat’s sweet purring and loving, contented looks won’t change the fact that it’s guilty for the planet’s suffering — just like we are. A recent study confirms that pets’ meat-based diet has a fatal impact on the climate, due mainly to high carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, our loyal friends are big resource consumers and waste creators. The situation is particularly worrisome...

A dog's keen sense of smell reunited a long-lost cat with his owner. Shelly Colette was out for a walk with her dog, a border collie Labrador mix named Cash, in New Brunswick, Canada. When Colette and Cash passed by a storm drain, Cash stopped and "refused to move," The Star reported. When Colette peered down the grate, she spotted a cat. It turns out his name was Ghost, and he had been missing for six weeks.

Sometime around the invention of agriculture, the cats came crawling. It was mice and rats, probably, that attracted the wild felines. The rats came because of stores of grain, made possible by human agriculture. And so cats and humans began their millennia-long coexistence. This relationship has been good for us of course—formerly because cats caught the disease-carrying pests stealing our food and presently because cleaning up their hairballs somehow gives purpose to our modern lives. But this relationship has been great for cats as species, too. From their native home in the Middle East, the first tamed cats followed humans...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis woman is calling her house cat a hero for protecting her family from a man trying to break into her home on the city’s southeast side. The woman told police she was watching television in her living room when she heard someone at her front door. It happened early Wednesday morning on Finley Avenue near Walker Avenue. Cynthia Kootz told 24-Hour News 8 she got Binky about six years ago. She described him as loyal — her best friend and protector. She said the man pushed open the screen window, and that’s when Binky came...

Then there’s Cat People of Melbourne, an Australian rescue group that recently decided to turn the adorable approach on its head. Instead of emphasizing the cuddly or intelligent nature of one slender black feline in its custody, director Gina Brett wrote an adoption profile that made him sound downright nasty. “Mr. Biggles (also known as Lord Bigglesworth) is an utter utter utter bastard,” Brett wrote. “Mr. Biggles is a despot and dictator, he will let you know he is not happy, which is often because things are often just not up to his high standards.” She went on: “Mr. Biggles...

The four-week-old has been named Sky by her rescuersA tiny kitten was snatched by a seagull from a Welsh holiday park and then dropped from the sky. The four-week-old has now been named Sky by the RSPCA Cymru officers who rescued her. The horror attack happened at the Golden Sands Holiday Camp, at Sandy Cove, Rhyl. She was spotted by members of the public after being attacked by gulls and then dropped from the sky by one of the birds. It is believed the kitten came from a colony of feral cats living close to the holiday park. Sky...

Police in Oregon issued a "verbal warning" to a cat reportedly seen armed with a gun-shaped stick. Newport Oregon Police Department shared a photo of a black and white cat perched in a tree with its paw draped over a stick that appeared to resemble an automatic rifle. Officers responded to the scene and were ultimately able to determine the cat did not pose any real threat. "Reports of an armed cat this morning were unfounded," police said. "The feline was contacted by our canine and was determined to be in possession of a non-lethal branch." The officers ended the...

LOS ANGELES (WCMH) — Pet food manufacturer Party Animal is recalling several lots of its Cocolicious dog food after a sample tested positive for penobarbital. According to the company, a retailer in Texas reported a customer had presented samples of Cocolicious Beef & Turkey and Chicken & Beef dog food to a testing lab. The samples came back positive for penobarbital, a drug used in euthanasia.

The horror!

More people are keeping an eye on the actions of United Airlines after a disturbing video of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly and violently removed from a plane went viral. Most recently, several people took to Twitter to post statistical information from the Department of Transportation that showed more pets died while being transported by United than any other major airline in 2016. The data, which surfaced on Monday, showed that United reported 9 pet deaths and 14 injuries for last year alone. Some of the pet deaths include a Yorkshire Terrier named Diamond, a Belgian Malinois named Bakry...

Taiwan has outlawed the consumption of dog and cat meat, as the island’s legislature on Tuesday passed a landmark amendment to its animal protection laws. The island’s official Central News Agency (CNA) said the revision showed the transition “from a society in which dog meat was regularly consumed” to where “many people treat pet cats and dogs as valued members of their families.” Previously, the Animal Protection Act only covered the slaughter and sale of dog and cat meat. Individuals who eat or trade dog or cat meat can now be fined between $1,640 to $8,200. The amendment also bans...

A pair of kittens 'trained' a human to bring them treats every time they ring a bell. In a twist on the famous Pavlov's Dog experiment, where a canine was conditioned to associate food with the sound of a bell, some Twitter users have suggested in jest that the cats were in fact training the human. The adorable footage shows the two cats pawing at a bell and then given a treat.

Cats and dogs are natural born enemies. And if these pictures are anything to go by, things are not going to change anytime soon. The hilarious photos capture dejected dogs looking for somewhere to sleep after being pushed out of their beds by crafty cats. Some of the pooches are seen appealing to their owners for help while others curl up on the ground, resigned to a night in the cold. A handful of the dogs were particularly resourceful, squeezing themselves on to the smaller cat cushions left empty by the four-legged thieves.

RUSH: I’ll tell you, I look battle-scarred here today. I had the most unpleasant experience at home today. You know, I have my little cat, my little Abyssinian named Allie. I got Allie a little while, about six months after my previous beloved cat passed away, Punkin. They have two completely different personalities. Whereas Punkin from one year of age was like an old lady, slow moving, totally affectionate, wherever I went the cat was there. This cat Allie is the most independent, like I thought all cats were, doesn’t give a rat’s rear end except when she wants to...

FULL TITLE: What a copycat! Enthusiastic kitty 'helps' workers cleaning the windows of its plush apartment by mimicking their every move Every time the window wipers clean his apartment building, this enthusiastic cat tries to help out from inside. Two-year-old Guinness is normally shy but springs to life every ten weeks when the cleaners get to work on his central London flat. Owner Rina Takei, 35, has filmed Guinness swaying side to side in sync with the entertaining workmen on their every visit since he was a kitten. VIDEO ON LINK

Bird-watching can be frustrating – especially if you’re a cat. An internet video showing a feline apparently mumbling to itself while looking for birds through a window has gone viral on Monday. As of Monday afternoon, it had generated over 1.4 million views on YouTube. One can only wonder what the cat is saying.

A new fly-on-the-wall reality TV show called Keeping Up With The Kattarshians featuring a gang of adorable kittens has become a surprise hit in Iceland. The cats, from a local animal rescue shelter, live together in an over-sized dollhouse, which has been rigged with hidden cameras. The programme was created in partnership with the Icelandic Cat Protection Society.

I was listening to some metal, and Deimos started grooming himself. Song is "Caught in a Mosh," by Anthrax.

Owning a cat won't make you mentally ill, study says Although you may hold suspicions about your neighbor who feeds the local stray cats, new research has found no link between owning a feline and exhibiting psychotic symptoms. The University College London findings cast doubt on previous research, which suggested that people who grew up with cats are at a higher risk of mental illness. “The message for cat owners is clear: there is no evidence that cats pose a risk to children’s mental health,” Dr. Francesca Solmi, the study’s lead author, said in a news release. “In our study,...