Today we have another three items for you early-morning ailurophiles. First, a kitten apparently learns to drink by watching its mother. There’s one moment here where the mother drinks, as cats sometimes do, by dipping its paw into the water and licking the paw. You can see the kitten tentatively imitate that action.
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From Oddity Central, we hear of the greatest innovation in bureaucracy ever. Cats in the workplace! (I have to admit that I have had resident cat in my lab from time to time.) The Japanese do so love their cats: they may be the world’s greatest ailurophiles, though the Russians give them a run for their money.
In a cramped city like Tokyo, where owning a pet is a luxury and most apartments have strict no-pets policies, it’s hard for cat lovers to spend quality time with their favorite animals. In response, cat cafés have cropped up all over the city, where people get to sip delicious beverages while petting a purring kitty. But even that doesn’t come close to having a cat in your own home, because the time spent with the furry creatures is quite limited.
That’s why a Japanese company has come up with a great idea to get its employees to interact with pets more often – a cat-populated workplace! The offices of Ferray Corporation, an internet solutions business, is filled with nine lovable rescued cats that are allowed to roam freely all through the day. The cats are so adorable that employees of Ferray are reporting considerably lowered stress levels.
Of course,letting cats run free in a workplace can have unexpected consequences, and the Ferray office is no exception. The felines are regularly up to no good – they switch off computers, chew on LAN cables, scratch the walls, tear up papers, and mess up code by walking on keyboards. And when clients visit the premises, the purring felines have the bad habit of going through their bags or sleeping on meeting tables.
What a great place to work!
Not only does the company have nine cats, but every single day is Bring Your Pet to Work Day. Employees are encouraged to bring their own pets into the office. And if they don’t have a pet of their own, the company actually offers a 5,000 yen ($42) per month ‘cat bonus’ to anyone who is willing to adopt a cat.
More on this and other cat-loving companies. Note especially their enlightened hiring practice (my emphasis):
Interestingly, Ferray isn’t the only office in Tokyo with bizarre pet policies. Mars Japan Limited, a company that specializes in pet supplies, also encourages employees to bring their pets to work. It also gives benefits such as time off, condolence pay and covering funeral costs in case of the unfortunate death of a pet.
Ferray actually admits that the most important quality that they look for in job candidates is a love of cats! Of course, they ask for basic skills and experience too, but if you don’t love animals, you have little chance of getting hired.
Reader Sameer, who sent me this item, also added this:
The Japanese company mentioned in the story, Ferray Corporation also has a Twitter account where they post photos and videos of their feline colleagues.
Here are two pictures from that Twi**er account. Perhaps Japanese-speaking readers can give us translations:
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Finally, from J. Hawk Daily, we have a lovely video of a man having his morning fusses with a young rescue lion. I hope to do something like this in the next year, though perhaps with a younger specimen!
I like the cuddly lion.
The kitten seemed unsure if the water was a good thing and the guy’s voice freaked me out because it sounded like the guy in Silence of the Lambs who wears a woman suit.
“It rubs it in its skin or it gets the hose again”.
Maybe I’m just in a terrified mood. 🙂
The guy most certainly had an annoying voice.
Seems pretty clear that kittens learn much the same way humans do — by observing adults and imitating them, with the reward of positive feedback from the adults when they succeed.
…and I imagine it takes a fair amount of physical strength to catch a lion that jumps into your arms and hold it there…not to mention being inured to the gripping action….
b&
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
The first one in Japanese says, roughly: “Supposed to be hidden?! Cat who doesn’t want to go to this company”
The second one says: “Don’t you want to work with V and Ume? The ‘Cats hands on'[?] IT business is having a company info session for recent and halfway through graduates. Please tell this to serious cat-lovers. Changing jobs more than 3 times is not possible. For more details look at the blog.”
I checked with the native Japanese speaking person in the house, but not everything made sense (The cats hands on part, for example, nor why they would not allow people who have changed jobs often).
Sounds like a great policy in office work. I can certainly agree with the very small apartments and hotel rooms in the Tokyo area. In some you have to go out into the hall to change your mind. da da
Wonderful trifecta! Starts the day off just right. 🙂
Not such a great workplace for cat allergy sufferers!
Excellent trifecta!
I object to calling the Russians and Japanese the greatest ailurophiles though – it is fact that NZ has the greatest cat ownership per capita. We adore our moggies. 🙂
“the greatest cat ownership per capita”
You mean the fewest staff per cat.
Not sure that the decimated NZ wildlife -particularly the flightless birds – would share your enthusiasm for the imported furry assassins.
Yes, I know they were originally intended to deal with rats – another introduced pest – but it appears that the road to extinction is paved with good intentions.
I can’t vouch for Heather’s cat(s), but I assure you mine has zero impact on NZ wildlife, since she lives indoors in Seattle.
Japan isn’t the only country with cat cafes. There’s one in the UK, too: Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium in London.
http://ladydinahs.com/
They have several resident rescued cats, who interact with visitors during their afternoon tea. The cafe has a Twi**ter account, and so does each feline resident.
AND – *squees like a fangirl* – I will be having tea with Lady Dinah’s cats when I visit London next month.
*squees some more*
Jeannine aka pghwelshgirl