The rescue of a cat from the seventh floor of a wrecked building, a cat who had been there for two months (it must have had a source of water). This was a complicated affair, involving a drone, a fire truck with a crane, and a lot of nice people. But it all ends well (all the animal stories I show do!). “We don’t care if it’s an animal or a human being,” one rescuer said, “Every life matters to us.”
The YouTube notes:
Shafa, a cat in Borodyanka, was rescued from a severely war-damaged building.
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As the AP reports, Max the cat, a beloved felid at Vermont State, has now officially received a degree. Click to read, but the full story is below:
The tail:
A Vermont university has bestowed the honorary degree of “doctor of litter-ature” on Max the cat, a beloved member of its community, ahead of students’ graduation on Saturday.
Vermont State University’s Castleton campus is honoring the feline not for his mousing or napping, but for his friendliness.
“Max the Cat has been an affectionate member of the Castleton family for years,” the school said in a Facebook post.
The popular tabby lives in a house with his human family on the street that leads to the main entrance to campus.
“So he decided that he would go up on campus, and he just started hanging out with the college students, and they love him,” owner Ashley Dow said Thursday.
He’s been socializing on campus for about four years, and students get excited when they see him. They pick him up and take selfies with him, and he even likes to go on tours with prospective students that meet at a building across from the family’s house, she said.
“I don’t even know how he knows to go, but he does,” Dow said. “And then he’ll follow them on their tour.”
The students refer to Dow as Max’s mom, and graduates who return to town sometimes ask her how Max is doing.
Max won’t be participating in the graduation, though. His degree will be delivered to Dow later.
. . . and a local news report:
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From Bored Panda, fifty—count them, fifty—destructive moggies. I’ll give a few, but click below to see them all:
Sources are given at the bottom of the photos:
I’d still eat the tortillas. Wouldn’t you?
However, I’d just sacrifice that beef cheek:
And the classic object of destruction:
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Lagniappe: Orange kitties from the FB page Food Trend:
h/t: Ginger K., Greg, Wendy
I love the Orange cats. The trouble is, looking at them, and some of the others on that FB page, I can’t help wondering if they aren’t A.I.
The tortilla incident reminds me of my big old Firecat. He loved the smell of bread, and when I once left a bag of wheat rolls within his reach, and he got into the bag and took a little bite out of every single one. I tried to explain that it would have been polite to take just one and eat the whole thing, but I don’t think I got through to him.
Would you pay attention to such a lecture form your dog? Or for that matter, your vacuum cleaner?
That old saying about “cats have staff” adequately covers this report.
Saving that cat from the seventh floor of a destroyed building reminds us that there is still good in the world. The orange sculptures remind us that there is still humor!
The cat covered in catnip is hilarious!
This entire post is exactly what I needed at this moment in time.
I agree with Miriam–I sorely needed that post–every bit of it.
For those who don’t know, the Ukrainian cat’s “owner” saw footage of the rescue and retrieved the cat after an extended stay at the veterinary hospital. Like everyone else, she did not believe the cat had survived. Yes, there must have been a source of water or the cat could not have survived.
Two of the “bad” cats reminded me of several of my own. One named Jennifer attacked any type of soft paper–toilet paper and tissues were her favorites. She could destroy half a box of tissues in about 5 minutes and was known for grabbing the end of the roll and running with it–decorating everything in her path. And several of my cats loved/love bread, including one named Butterscotch (for his color). I don’t dare leave any type of bread out, or I will later find it on the kitchen floor, with the plastic wrapping ripped and mouthfuls of bread removed. And yes, I eat it anyway–after cutting away bits around the places where he attacked it.
I’m not totally surprised by the cat’s survival in the bombed-out building. The degree of destruction caused by the bomb would actually make it easier for the cat to survive (assuming it wasn’t injured by the initial blast).
First, in terms of water, the fact that the building was so destroyed means that rainwater was almost certainly able to percolate through the damaged roof and ceilings and collect in cavities accessible to the cat.
Second, in terms of food, the bomb blast created openings between the rooms and apartments in the building. By prowling around, the kitty was almost certainly able to locate and feast upon the human food and the bags of pet food that had been left behind by the building’s human inhabitants.
After 7 days, bomb-damaged rats – and other pets, let’s be frank – would be barely beyond the “ripe” stage and well into “gamey”.
We are talking about unsentimental carnivores. Furry hellions too, but they, like hoomins, are three meals from savagery.
I’m betting the cat could also have found birds to eat. They certainly wouldn’t have been expecting a cat up there either. And that cat certainly had to have the patience to survive on anything that presented itself.
That the cat came right up to the rescuers as if to say, “What took you so long?” was so… cat.
Wanted to comment how beautiful they are, but now you’ve said it, I see it too. Too bad that one can never be sure now that something particularly artful ist real.
The rescue of the cat in Ukraine, heartwarming. I teared up! Thank Jerry from me and Burmese cats, Siti and Obama.
The cat in the catnip is gorgeous!
I would eat the tortillas.
I’m such a sucker for cats that I went to Bored Panda and looked at all 50 of the destructive cats. I had a cat who was notorious for eating important papers. His favorite “snack” was grocery receipts (not so important). He’d actually dig into my purse when I returned from the store, fish them out and run off with them. The first time our leftover pizza turned up missing from the box, I blamed my dog. On another occasion, we we’re on the back porch, looked in the dining room window and caught all 3 cats on the table stealing pieces of pizza from the box. Little devils! And I’d blaned my poor dog.
‘Yes, We Love Cats Any Time!’ 🇯🇵🎨🐱
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/04/25/arts/openings-outside-tokyo/yes-love-cats-time/
https://twitter.com/japantimes/status/857157380848721920
https://twitter.com/itsuneko_sendai/status/1137670905251762176
https://twitter.com/sendai_shihaku/status/1129233090428121089
美術館「えき」KYOTO 🇯🇵📸🐱
https://twitter.com/GQJAPAN/status/1154579643925766147
https://twitter.com/koneko_photoex/status/1153112955795304449
https://twitter.com/lion007/status/1159793391879651329
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsuaki_Iwag%C5%8D
Here is Japan’s “Cat Art Exhibition”. 🇯🇵🖼🐱