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You are here: Home / Archives for Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging

Cat Blogging

Open Thread: A Fireworks Problem I Had Not Considered

by Anne Laurie|  July 4, 20251:22 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging

Fireworks suck! Here are some tips from cat behaviorist @mikeldelgado.bsky.social for keeping your cats safe and happy this 4th of July. www.instagram.com/p/C87GFSBpgyk/
1. Make sure your cats are inside. Even if they normally go out, the 4th is not a good day for them to roam. (con't)

[image or embed]

— Cats of Yore (@catsofyore.bsky.social) July 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM

2. Provide lots of hiding places like boxes, clamshell or cave style beds, cat tree cubbies, etc.
3. Consider making a quiet room, i.e. put their food, water, litter, bedding, toys, etc. in one closed room – especially if you’re having a party.
4. Implement buffer noises such as fans and soft music.

5. Engage them in play if they’re into it! It can be a good distraction and tire them out.
6. If your cat is hiding, it’s probably best to leave them alone or just speak to them in a soft voice. Don’t drag them out to “comfort” them – it may have the opposite effect.

7. It’s probably too late to get medications now if you don’t already have them, but if your cat experiences stress during fireworks don’t forget to inquire about it during their next visit so you can be prepared in the future! 💥

I would also add that you should not leave your cat alone in the home with screened windows open. I have heard way too many stories about terrified cats busting or clawing through screens and getting lost while experiencing fireworks distress. If you must leave them make sure they are secure!

(I had heard of terrified dogs doing this, but for some reason it never occured to me that cats might react that way.)

Open Thread: A Fireworks Problem I Had Not ConsideredPost + Comments (32)

You May Approach the Throne Respite Thread

by Rose Judson|  June 9, 202512:31 pm| 77 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Respite

Jesus God, I need a little break from everything in the news right now. Been in a doomscrolling loop.

In case you do, too, here is a respite thread, closely monitored by this cat The Child and I saw coming back from school this afternoon.

You May Approach the Throne Respite Thread

Talk about anything you want; try to avoid politics for an hour, lest Judge Ginger up there gives you a swat.

UPDATES: mali muso and family are about to adopt this Very Good Boy, and I thought you’d like to see the adoption center’s video for him. Meet Luke:

Also, commenter Joyce H mentions that the first book in her Regency Mage series, Mary Bennet and the Bingley Codex, is currently free to download and read on Kindle (device or via iOS app) until this coming Wednesday. If you love Jane Austen AND magic, this sounds like your ideal opportunity for escapism. This is the top UK review:

You May Approach the Throne Respite Thread 1

Support a fellow Jackal, stop thinking about The Horrors for a bit. Win-win.

You May Approach the Throne Respite ThreadPost + Comments (77)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Week in Miniature

by Anne Laurie|  June 7, 20254:51 am| 162 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads, Trumpery

The AP's New York office welcomed some special guests when animal experts brought in some kittens from LIC Feral Feeders to raise awareness about "kitten season." Here's what staffers had to say about the experience. pic.twitter.com/NHtOreQnJt

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 5, 2025

It’s graduation season, the height of cake decorating for Walmart, nation’s largest retailer.

AP's retail reporter Anne D'Innocenzio went behind the scenes and got trained to be a cake decorator at this Walmart store in North Bergen, New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/G4OUqF46ST

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 6, 2025

BREAKING: A federal judge has temporarily blocked a proclamation by President Donald Trump that banned incoming foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University. https://t.co/ukTPerYNik

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 6, 2025

BREAKING: The Trump administration must restore hundreds of millions of dollars in AmeriCorps grant funding and thousands of service workers in about two dozen states, a federal judge ruled. https://t.co/748Q6bm9oB

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 5, 2025

Broken:

DEAN: What's the tariff on bananas?

LUTNICK: Generally 10%

DEAN: Walmart has already increased the cost of bananas by 8%

LUTNICK: If you build in America, there is no tariff

DEAN: We cannot build bananas in America pic.twitter.com/joZgWLND71

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 5, 2025



Musk-Trump Feud Goes Nuclear as Musk Lobs Epstein Accusations, Trump Threatens SpaceX: A Closer Look

Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Week in MiniaturePost + Comments (162)

Blessed Increase!

by Tom Levenson|  May 10, 20259:19 pm| 130 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

He’s here!Blessed Increase! 3

 

He hasn’t told us his papal name yet. (Leo has some obvious resonance, but current events–plus the fact that it’s my brother’s name–suggest that we might want to avoid that one.)

He’s a sweetie. He’s kinda just walked in and taken over.  He is relentless–and a pretty good cat-footie player. (The metal cap from a champagne bottle held him fascinated for quite a while.) And then he just goes boneless and ends up like this:

Blessed Increase! 2

He and Champ haven’t met yet. I think Champ figures something is going on, as she usually joins me when I cook dinner, and she’s remained firmly upstairs for the last few hours. But that negotiation is for another day.

But the name!?  I’ve usually found that cats tell you who they are, but it can take a day or so.  My spouse is partial to Felis or Felix–which isn’t too far off, but doesn’t seem right.  Sherlock crossed my mind, as Increase is definitely observant, but, again, it doesn’t quite slip on him like a glove.  We’ll see. (Suggestions gratefully received and almost certainly ignored.

Here’s one more.

Blessed Increase! 1

He’s hard to photograph in action–that boy moves fast. But he already is taking charge, which I need and love.

Open thread, y’all.

Blessed Increase!Post + Comments (130)

Thanks…and, uh…News

by Tom Levenson|  May 10, 20253:18 pm| 81 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

Two quick things:

First:

Thanks to everyone who was so kind in your responses to my farewell to Tikka. It meant a great deal to read the outpouring of love for that magnificent cranky old beast, and I was very moved by the stories of the losses of beloved companions.  I know we’re not supposed to say this out loud, but y’all are good people.

Second:

Tikka left a hole in our household. Champ feels it.  She’s been very needy, somewhat confused, and constantly next to one human or another–mostly me, as I keep a bed for her next to my computer. She’s here as I type this:

Thanks...and, uh...News

The humans do too. Even though I was Tikka’s person, my wife and kid both feel the same absence I do.  I had been planning to let that just be the way things are for a while, but we all knew another cat was in our future.  That thought made its way to the same folks who connected us with Champ–letting us know one day in the first pandemic summer that there was a kitten who needed a rescue and if we said yes she would arrive tomorrow. And she did:

Thanks...and, uh...News 1

Well…they’ve done it again and my son has just let me know that the vague intention of a cat we expected to meet in late summer or fall will arrive in a few hours.  Seems another little one needed a home and we’re it.

It will be interesting to see how and how fast Champ adjusts. Tikka was surprisingly mellow when she arrived. Here’s hoping for a repeat.

Thanks...and, uh...News 4

I’m a bit stunned and am really not ready…but that’s how this works. Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

I’ll provide an update when blessed increase arrives.

And again: thanks y’all. It was a comfort to write that farewell post, and more so to receive the Jackaltariat reaction.

Treat this as an open thread.

 

Thanks…and, uh…NewsPost + Comments (81)

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone

by Tom Levenson|  May 2, 20255:25 pm| 181 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging

Dear everyone,

I’m deeply sad. Yesterday morning we had to say our last goodbye to Tikka.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 34

Tikka was a great cat. Gorgeous, best nose in felinedom, and utterly uncompromising. He was basically a one-person cat: I was his human. He tolerated my wife and son. He came to love, and near the end, draw great comfort from Champ.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 41

And that was it. My sister and sister-in-law, both cat people to their bones, convinced there isn’t a Felis catus they couldn’t charm, bear the scars of their presumption.

He was my dear companion for seventeen years. He slept in his corner (and I mean it was HIS corner) at the end of the bed for almost all that time. (He would flip corners from time to time. Didn’t matter. Wherever he was, that was his.)

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 18

It was only in the last month or so that he’d spend most of the night in a previously scorned cat bed on the floor.

He kept me company through four-and-a quarter books (he was here through the start of the one to come). He had a raucus purr which he’d unleash pretty much whenever I petted him. That’s how I knew the end was close, actually. Over the last few weeks it would take longer for the rumble to get going react and sometimes he just would slump into a doze.  He wasn’t a hugely talkative cat.  He’d save his meow — closer to a yowl– for 4 a.m. and his disdain for the indolent servant who had not laid out a middle-of-the-night snack.

And he had that stare. Turned on you, it confirmed that you had been judged and found wanting.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 32

We got him as a rescue when he was about 4 months old. He’d had a tough life up to then, the vet said, which helps explain his extreme wariness around almost everyone.  He really could terrorize the presumptuous.  He was a gentleman: he’d give fair and very audible warning before he’d swipe. But if you persisted in demanding that he allow himself to be stroked, well…it was not quite the arm-off-at-the-elbow but he left no doubt on your poor judgment.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 20

That changed over time, though his reputation never did. He grew more mellow and approachable (not really cuddly for anyone but me) as he moved through his teens. But what I love about him still is that he was always sure of his own self and autonomy. He let me love him, but I never had any doubt that it was his choice, one for which I will always be grateful.

He’d been declining for a few months, but over the last week went downhill quickly. I took him to the vet–actually Angell Memorial, the big veterinary hospital in town–on Wednesday and they confirmed it. Too many different things were going wrong, with treatments indicated that contradicted what some other problem required. There was nothing more to be done.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 36

I was able to take him home for one more night. I pulled out a mattress and slept (mostly not-sleeping TBH) on the floor. He spent much of the night in his usual position–curled up against my left leg. When we got up around 7:30, he was able to tolerate my pets and then began to purr; we stayed like that for quite a while.  Then I went to get dressed and he mustered the strength to climb down the stairs to find one of his favorite sun patches, the one on the welcome mat by the front door.  I curled up with him again and once again he started to purr. Not the idling diesel engine sound of his youth; this was more of a wheeze-and-rattle. But it was there.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 46

After another while–maybe half an hour–the hospice vet arrived.  She was sweet and very compassionate and talked us through what was going to happen. In time, she injected Tikka with the first dose. I was holding him, and started to cry. It went fast–he was so tired and so ready. In a couple of minutes the second medication went in and in no more than a minute or so he was gone.

I miss him terribly. I’m tearing up a little as I type this. He–up to and on his last day–curl in his bed just behind my writing desk. I’d spend every day with him, stopping for a visit every time something in the book needed a few paces to work out. We’d hang and chat and then I’d get back to the keyboard.  I’ve been looking over there all day today.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 12

I know his powerful gaze and occasional goofiness gladdened people here. I was privileged to spend almost two decades under his withering scrutiny.

Tikka was a great cat.

PS: Champ is perplexed and deeply needy. She may kill me yet–she keeps undercutting my ankles as I walk around the house. She’s never known a home without another cat, having come to us straight from her birth litter.  And yes: we will get another cat, and probably soon. But not just yet.

Goodbye, friend.

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is Gone 8

 

Sad News. The Lord of All He Surveys is GonePost + Comments (181)

Feline Delinquents Open Thread

by Rose Judson|  May 2, 20252:46 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

Looks like we need an open thread. Here’s some lighter fare for you: I have a couple of strays who’ve been visiting regularly since around Christmas time. Crusty Oliver is a white cat with grey bits, obviously an unfixed male who often turns up looking fresh from a fight. Nervous Chuck is a big brown tabby with something strange going on with his back hips (note, however, that I haven’t confirmed Chuck is male – could be a lady).

Yesterday I mopped the floor in the kitchen/diner, which opens on the patio. I propped open the back door to help the floor dry faster, left the room to put the mop away, and when I came back, a catnip fish that had been lying on the mat was now outside, being mauled by Nervous Chuck.

Feline Delinquents Open Thread

Crusty is down with the ‘nip as well.

Feline Delinquents Open Thread 1

I guess it’s nice that they’re sharing. (And yes, I’ll be weeding and re-filling the spaces in the patio slabs soon.)

Open thread.

Feline Delinquents Open ThreadPost + Comments (32)

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