Caturday felid trifecta: Caracals demonstrate how cats land on their feet; mother cat takes on ten babies; guard cat prevents robbery

Ceiling Cat help me; I’m so sleepless that I forgot my Caturday felid post. But reader Linda reminded me, and it’s better late than never. This week we have our usual three features, the first being a short video featuring caracals, who teach us the science behind the remarkable ability of cats to land on their feet.

This video is from the BBC:

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From I Heart Cats we have an article about a mother cat named Macy who took on a second litter, giving her ten kittens to tend. But cats have no more than eight nipples? How does it cope?

Photos and quotes from the article:

Macy and her ten kittens arrived in the care of the Humane League of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania after a kind soul trapped them and brought them in. The ten kittens belonged to Macy and another stray cat, but the other mom couldn’t be found. Still, it was better to take all the kittens and one mom rather than risk some of them being left behind for a mom who may or may not return. But Macy took on the extra babies without hesitation. As she’s a lovebug with a nurturing heart, it’s no surprise!

The solution to feeding?

Once settled with foster mom Wilma, all ten kittens proved to be healthy babies with eager appetites. And with so many mouths to feed, Wilma jumped in to help Macy with the milk bar by supplementing with formula. Their secret to keeping all those hungry kittens happy?

“Although there are times when all 10 are trying to nurse at the same time, there are usually 4-5 of them who are napping,” Wilma explained. “The trick is to make sure everyone is getting their share, either from her or from me.”

Together, Macy and Wilma became co-parenting queens because, as Wilma shared, “Everyone is gaining weight and doing great. They’re PERFECTION!”

Macy looks a bit hassled here:

Now all ten have been adopted.  Here’s a short video of Macy and her brood. But remember, two years ago Honey the Mallard had seventeen babies under her care! No cat can beat that!

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Finally, the Associated Press reports that Bandit, a huge 20-pound moggyess, prevented a robbery in Mississippi. click on the headline for the story:

Or read this:

A Mississippi man said his pet cat helped prevent a robbery at his home, and he credits the calico with possibly saving his life.

Bandit, a 20-pound (9.1-kilogram) cat, lives with her retired owner Fred Everitt in the Tupelo suburb of Belden. When at least two people tried to break into their shared home last week, the cat did everything she could to alert Everitt of the danger, he told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

“You hear of guard dogs,” said Everitt, 68. “This is a guard cat.”

The attempted robbery occurred sometime between 2:30 and 3 a.m. on July 25, Everitt said. He was first awoken by Bandit’s meows in the kitchen. Then, she raced into the bedroom, jumped onto the bed and began pulling the comforter off of him and clawing at his arms. Everitt knew something was wrong.

“She had never done that before,” Everitt said. “I went, ‘What in the world is wrong with you?’”

Everitt got up to investigate and saw two young men outside his back door. One had a handgun, and the other was using a crowbar to try and pry the door open, he said.

Everitt said by the time he retrieved a handgun and returned to the kitchen, the would-be intruders had already fled. Everitt told the newspaper that he did not call the police.

He said the situation could have been different without Bandit.

“It did not turn into a confrontational situation, thank goodness,” Everitt said. “But I think it’s only because of the cat.”

Everitt adopted Bandit from the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society four years ago.

What puzzles me is how the cat managed to prevent the robbery. Did the robbers actually see Everitt with a gun after Bandit woke him up? Why did the bandits flee? Regardless, here is the heroine:

h/t: Malcolm, Ginger K.