We have another Caturday Felid Trifecta today, but the next one will be in two weeks as i’ll be traveling. Be sure to keep sending me items that might fit in this kind of post. Thanks!
Here from the BBC (or click on headline below) is a story about Bella, the cat awarded a Guinness World Record for having the loudest known purr.
A 14-year-old cat has broken the Guinness World Record for the loudest purr – from the comfort of her favourite cushion.
Bella, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, achieved a purr measuring 54.6 decibels, equivalent to the volume of a boiling kettle.
Her feat was captured by an official adjudicator and an acoustic engineer who blocked out all external noise.
Of course you want to hear it, so here’s a video:
Nicole Spink, Bella’s owner, said she “couldn’t be more thrilled”.
“She has been our family’s companion for many years – we love her to bits and are so proud of her achievement,” Ms Spink said.
Dave Wilson, the official Guinness World Records adjudicator who oversaw Bella’s record-breaking attempt, said: “It’s always an exciting day when there is the potential for a new world record so we waited in anticipation to see whether Bella would be able to do it.”
The award!
Bella needed to purr louder than 50 decibels to achieve the record and Mr Wilson said “the results were immediately obvious”.
Ms Spink said: “We’ve always known Bella had a really loud purr – we even have to turn up the volume to hear the TV over her purring – and that’s always after mealtimes.
“So, when we saw that the record for the World’s Loudest Purr was up for grabs, we knew we had to put Bella forward, and we’re so pleased we did.”
She said the certificate would get a “really prominent place in the house”.
“We’re going to have to choose which child’s photos to take down first,” she said.
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From the Washington Post comes a story of an ill and depressed woman whose doctor, on the “after visit summary” slip, prescribed for her A CAT. Click below to read:
An excerpt:
So when he asked her what was wrong, Sipe, 67, opened up to him about her loneliness since her beloved cat died over the summer.
“I was really going through a bad time,” she said she told him during her appointment in September.
King mentioned that she should think about getting a new cat. When her checkup was over, he handed her a printed summary of the appointment, with instructions to get a high-dose flu shot in October and a coronavirus shot in November.
Then Sipe’s eyes lingered at the item at the top of the list: “Get a cat,” the doctor wrote.
See?
There’s more:
King, 63, has been a doctor long enough to know that “people sometimes don’t follow your instructions,” he said. In fact, patients don’t take medications as prescribed by their doctors about half the time, according to the American Medical Association.
King wrote down his advice so there would be no mistake about what he told Sipe during the appointment.
“Robin was down in the dumps, crying about the loss of her cat, and I felt that a new cat was the best remedy for her,” he said.
He’dseen the studies showing pets can improve a person’s mental health and help older adults cope with feelings of loneliness. He’d also seen the effects firsthand.
“I grew up on a dairy farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and we always had herds of cats and dogs,” King said.
“One winter, it snowed so bad the milk truck couldn’t get to the farm, and we had to run 600 gallons of milk down the drain,” he said. “The cats drank as much as they could hold, and they were very happy. Having them around was a wonderful experience.”
The good doctor (he looks to me like Alan Alda):
And the happy ending:
After leaving King’s office, Sipe stopped at a farm produce stand for some fresh corn and cantaloupe on her way to her home in Grottoes, Va. While she was browsing, she noticed a black and white kitten romping around.
“She was from a litter of five, and she was missing her front left paw,” Sipe said.
The workers at the stand told her the kitten lost her paw shortly after she was born when something fell off a wall in a shed and severed it.
The kitten’s missing paw didn’t seem to affect her ability to play and get around, Sipe said.
She was instantly smitten, and the words “get a cat” were echoing in her mind.
“I asked if I could take the kitty home and told them I could guarantee that she’d be safe and happy inside,” Sipe said. “They had four other kittens they’d need to find homes for, so they said okay. This sweet little kitten was mine.”
“I bought three ears of corn and a cantaloupe that came to $2.99, and they agreed that an extra penny should cover the cost of taking the kitty,” she added.
. . .When she got home, she said there was no question as to what she should name the frisky 7-week-old feline.
“I decided to name her Earlene after Dr. Earl King,” Sipe said. “He helps with more than just my breathing. He’s always taken the time to look after my entire well-being.”
. . . When her cat Datura suddenly died, Sipe said she cried for weeks.
“She was a solid black domestic shorthair that I’d rescued,” she said. “I’ve loved cats since I started chasing kittens when I was 5.”
She thought she’d probably get a new cat one day, but King’s prescription brought home the urgency of bringing back some fun to her life, said Sipe, a retired purchasing agent.
“I do believe this was meant to happen with all my heart,” she said, noting that Earlene likes to watch television with her and cuddles up next to her in bed.
“She’s a sweet and loving kitten, but she does have this habit of waking me up to play at 1 a.m.,” Sipe said.
The prescription cat and her staff:
***************
Finally, from a site named The Flying Black Cat (click on image below), we have a legend with very little information but lots of merchandise. What IS the legend?
Well, there’s a book that was released in April of last year (click below to go to the Amazon site):
Sadly, the only information I can get about it is the same words everywhere, including on the site:
In a quiet fishing village, far away from all the big cities, is a place where dreams begin.
A place that is like magic to those lucky people who need to slow down their busy lives to open their eyes and see the world that we were meant to live in.
Sometimes it takes a very special place, an extraordinary being, and a moment in time to help us find the magic in our lives.
Still, it looks like a good book for youngsters who love cats, or need to be taught to love cats. If you’ve read it, weigh in below.
h/t: Debra, Simon, Ken
Hats off to Dr. King.
When I first read of his prescription, I did so with an awful sinking feeling: I assumed he would have been the recipient of a complaint to his licensing body. I’m glad his patient took it the right way, but doctor-patient interactions are no longer normal human interactions. There is a third party in the room policing anything not objectively required for diagnosis and treatment. Patients are worse off for it and it certainly sucks the pleasure out of the work for the doctors.
Love this
It’s sad that there are so few comments on this post, as that’s how I judge interest in the topic. I really do have to contemplate whether there’s enough interest in Caturday posts to make them worth the trouble (it’s not easy to collect and write up the items, which I can do only with the help of readers).
Thank you for the Caturday posts. They are always a very welcome treat!
I rarely post comments because I usually have nothing to say and I don’t want to waste people’s time, including yours. Perhaps if your techie could find a way to add a feature like a like button, people like me could register our appreciation without wasting comment space.
Another reason that I rarely comment is that I use an RSS reader and read posts in chronological order. By the time I get to your posts, it is usually many hours after you’ve posted them. I have found that even when I think my comment will trigger a response from others (e.g. a relevant question), I only very rarely get responses. I suspect that the reason is that everyone has moved on to newer posts.
Also, as others have mentioned, I always click through from the RSS feed to your website to read every one of your posts, so your web statistics register my interest.
Please continue with the Caturday posts. I guarantee there are legions of quiet cat lovers who enjoy them with me!
βPer
Quiet cat lover here. I agree.
Ditto.
I’m late to this week’s trifecta. Congratulations to Bella! Huntingdon is quite near us and my son was working there this time last year. And what a great doctor – heartwarming stuff.
The story of Robin and Earlene is one of those moments of serendipity I’ve too experienced many times in my life when it involves animals, when they entered my life at just the right time. Very special. Warms my heart that they found each other!
As chrism’s comment above details, the interaction and treatment from the doctor is not something to which I can relate, however.
Another cat lover here.