Caturday felid trifecta: Puss gets octopus on the puss, cat nurses hedgehog, and cats getting massaged (plus lagniappe!)

February 28, 2015 • 8:06 am

We have another trifecta today, and I hope you people appreciate the great labor it takes for Professor Ceiling Cat to collect these and present them in an attractive and appealing manner.  Where’s my treat?

First, we have a cat who bit off more than it could chew, although one tentacle seems to have been nommed.

The Japanese Korean YouTube title is this: 고양이 낙지절도단!?  Translation, anyone? And if you can translate what the exercised octopus owner says, that would be a bonus!

*******

From Love Meow we learn that Sonya the Cat adopted four orphaned hedgehogs, and that’s all we know. Clearly the mother is pumped up on oxytocin from having her own kitten (only one?), or else she’d never allow that quartet of animated pincushions access to her teats!

Here are the YouTube notes, showing that Sonya is Russian (I think I can get “MAMA” in the first line, but help from readers appreciated for the rest):

На соседнем дачном участке умерла мама-ежиха.
Слепыши-детки остались сиротками. На выручку пришла наша кошка Сонька))))
теперь у нее котенок и четверо приемышей

And two photos:

92770025_large_uCJTJmVubaM

92770030_large_UQsF8ZVGbWg

*******

Finally, a cat masseuse.  One of our readers is married to a massage therapist, and, after watching this I’m trying to get her to expand the business into pet massage. I’m sure that in this crazy world there is at least one person who does that for a living, and the cats sure like it!

One of them might be this guy, described in the YouTube notes:

Levi the Cat Masseuse travels Southern Thailand giving stray cats the time of their life. You can be a Cat Masseuse Master too! Watch this short informative video featuring Salty The Reggae Cat! You never know when TCM will show up to give you a good time!

And, of course, there are compilations of cat massages on YouTube; here’s one, and I’d recommend watching it all so you can see Lint Roller Cat. My favorite is the insouciant cat at 3:39:

This shows clearly that cats are truly the masters of humans. We get very little out of this activity except the touch of fur and the sound of purr, but the cats get 95% of the benefit. Is this symbiosis or commensalism? And the cats don’t even have to ask for it—they simply give out cosmic vibes that it is their due.
*******
Our lagniappe today comprises pictures of cats from two of our readers. The first is our own Matthew Cobb, who tw**ted this photo of himself and Kitten Harry this morning. He says that looking for the hashtag will tell you what an “otak” is.
Screen Shot 2015-02-28 at 7.42.39 AM
And finally, reader “anonypuss” in Berlin (not the same “anonypuss” from Colorado who is Butter’s alter ego) sent a photo of one of her two cats, the ponderous and daunting Oskar. The owner claims that this cat wins the Hili lookalike contest:
Oskar

38 thoughts on “Caturday felid trifecta: Puss gets octopus on the puss, cat nurses hedgehog, and cats getting massaged (plus lagniappe!)”

  1. The title of the first one is in Korean, not Japanese, and they won’t even let us view it here in Japan. (It’s blocked.) Unfortunately, I can’t help with the Korean. The script is hangul, which I can’t read.

    2. The title of the firs video is “A Cat Thief Snatching Octopus,” though it isn’t octopus in Korean, but no distinction in English. The man said “He’s a spook. Whenever he has a chance, he eats and runs away. He’s like a thief.” This was aired on a popular TV show called “TV Animal Farms” in Korea.

  2. These videos are great!

    3:39 cat seems to be experiencing its first massage, and isn’t sure if he should be enjoying it or not.

    I like 3:15 cat – who is definitely enjoying it!

  3. The first massage of the cat massage video compilation sounds like the cat is speaking. 🙂 Don’t all cats speak French?

      1. It was kinda funny when poor kitty was trying to back away from his octopus-on-face issue though.

      1. To discipline my guinea pigs, I used to tug on the fur above their necks. It worked too. They got a tug if they bit – okay my one guinea pig got a tug because only one was feisty and would bite you.

        I read that mother guinea pigs discipline their babies this way.

        1. Scruffing is a good method for controlling all sort of mammals — but, even then, it shouldn’t be done in a painful manner.

          And I’ve found that simply honestly verbally expressing my displeasure (or fear or whatever) is all that it takes to make a cat realize that you don’t like what it’s doing, and that’s all it takes for the cat to stop. No need for anger; disappointment or annoyance or fear for the cat’s safety or whatever does the trick.

          I think the only time I’ve ever yelled at Baihu, I spotted him on the kitchen countertop getting close to the hot stove.

          b&

          1. Oh yes, I only just tugged gently. It worked every time. You can’t tell guinea pigs off. They don’t recognize the difference in your voice in a very nuanced way and just think you are being mean to them.

            With my dog, I stand n front of her and place my hands on either side of her collar then gently pull it up. I don’t pull it in a way that chokes her just pull it upwards on her neck like you are taking it off. I barely have to pull it for her to know she is misbehaving. Mostly though it just takes a verbal command to get her to stop doing whatever bad thing she is doing. I caught her with her head in the bedroom garbage smelling for candy wrappers this morning. You should’ve seen how fast her face moved out of the garbage when I asked her what she wa doing. You can tell she was surprised she got caught.

          2. I think that’s one of the most obvious signs that non-human animals really do have minds not all that unlike ours: that they can get surprised and feel guilty all in an instant. That requires all sorts of mental (and moral) gyrations that far too many insist that only humans could possibly possess, generally because of ergot cheeses or something like that.

            b&

          3. Making as if to remove the collar? Isn’t that just like threatening a house-elf with clothes?

        2. If our precious Gus is misbehaving — shredding tax documents would be an example — I hiss at him. Just say “ssss”, and he gets the message. When stronger measures are required, like to chase away a neighbor cat challenging indoor Gus through the living room window, I crank it up: a gutteral “h” sound, while baring my teeth. It’s a lot more effective to speak to cats in their own language than in English!

          1. Once I caught a neighborhood cat stalking a chipmunk. I calmly opened the front door and said “and kitty!”. Kitty ran and ran. In the country kitties are very easy to frighten.

      2. I’ve found that tapping the cat on the nose with a single finger is a very effective method of rebuking them. It’s not painful or traumatizing to them (they won’t begin to fear you for it), but it immediately gets their attention and stops whatever they were doing.

        If you’ve got a cat with a biting problem, sticking your finger on the roof of their mouth whenever they try to bite you works well: cats hate the sensation and will learn pretty quickly to stop biting.

        1. I haven’t even needed that much.

          Cats bite because of fear, anger, or playfulness.

          If it’s one of the first two, much more important than trying to teach them that they shouldn’t bite is to remove the source of fear or anger. And, as with people, physical reactions run the danger of escalation all the way to panic — which does nobody any good.

          If it’s play…go along with it! If it hurts, say, “Ow!” in an hurt tone, but let the cat have the point — and quickly move for a non-threatening point of your own (such as a tap on the torso out of the cat’s line of sight).

          Human hands make for wonderful cat toys. And, you’ve always got them with you — and they’re even self-repairing!

          b&

          1. Mostly I used both as a way to train my kitten (who’s 16 this year) when his play was beginning to get too rough: he was allowed to bite as long as he didn’t put too much pressure with his fangs or he got the roof of his mouth tickled. Tapping his nose was a means of temporarily diverting his attention if he got too excited and rambunctious.

  8. Translation from Russian:
    “Near the neighbouring summer house, a mother hedgehog has died.
    Four blind baby hedgehogs were orphaned. Luckily, our cat Sonya came to save the day.
    Now she has a kitten of her own and four adopted ones.”

  9. One day we’re going to find out our planet was built by a master cat race to conduct social experiments on humans. When everyone has learned to worship cats appropriately, they will know we are ready to to be visited openly.

  11. If one were to become a pet masseuse, I suggest moving to Hollywood to maximize income.

    I tried massaging my cat Gus like that and he loved it. He also really liked the lint roller! The stuff I learn at WEIT just never ends. 🙂

  12. 1. I never realised hedgehogs had such big ears.

    2. I assume Mama Cat has to suppress the urge to lick them…

  13. Google translate:

    On a nearby dacha mother died – hedgehog .
    Mole rats , kids left an orphan . Came to the rescue of our cat Sonya ))))
    Now her kitten and four adoptees

Comments are closed.