No, I haven’t given up on Caturday felids! For some reason WordPress had one of its occasional glitches and forgot to post this at 10:30. But here it is!
Here’s a half-hour video that you’ll want to watch, for it tells you what things to look for to determine if your cat loves you. There are five signs of love. (Fingers crossed.)
Now, does your cat love you?
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Click on the headline below to see a Newsweek article recounting a heartening story of the rescue of a pregnant feral cat.
The story:
A stray cat’s remarkable transformation from street survivor to beloved pet has captured the hearts of millions on TikTok.
The August 6 clip shared by Savannah (@_savansta_) captioned “the cat distribution system finally got to me,” has racked up 385,000 likes and 1.9 million views.
It documents the feline’s journey from hiding her newborn kittens in a spare tire to living her best life in a cozy home. The montage begins with the fluffy tabby giving birth on a couch in a Savannah’s garage, before retreating to the safety of a tire with her tiny litter of two.
Filming from a distance, Savannah explained the cat was initially wary and would hiss if approached. “I was scared she would try to scratch or bite me, but she was surprisingly chill,” she wrote.
Over time, the cat began greeting Savannah at her feet before meals, eventually seeking out affection and head rubs. “She just wanted to be loved,” read the text over one clip, as the cat snuggled in before checking on her kittens.
Savannah admitted she quickly fell in love with her new shadow. Despite her parents’ reluctance to keep the feline, she decided the stray was staying. After a vet visit, the cat and her kittens were welcomed indoors, trading a cold wheel for a soft bed.
Now, the trio are thriving and often go viral online.
At the bottom of this segment you can see the TikTok video, and right below is a screenshot Newsweek took from the video. However, the article adds this: “Newsweek reached out to @savansta for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.” WHAT???
A bit more.
One user commented, “Imagine how she felt that first night with her babies inside,” to which Savannah replied, “I haven’t got to imagine — she purred all night long.”
Viewers speculated about the cat’s past, with many suggesting she had once been a house pet.
“Someone dumped her. she’s not feral at all,” said one user and Savannah responded: “I think it’s probable that maybe she went into heat and ran away from home, whatever the case I’m glad she found me.”
Here’s the viral video (a long one for Tik Tok), and you can see more of the kitties here. Savannah had to fight to let her parents keep her, but as you see below, all ended well.
@_savansta_ the cat distribution system finally got to me 🥹🥰 edit: thank you guys for all the love! link to amazon wishlist for them in my bio💕
You can see the whole series of TikTok photos here.
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The reliable AP news site describes four lion cubs were born at a Czech zoo.
An excerpt:
Four Barbary lion cubs were born recently in a Czech zoo, a vital contribution for a small surviving population of the rare lion that is extinct in the wild. [JAC: This is not exactly accurate; see below.]
The three females and one male were seen playing in their outdoor enclosure at Dvůr Králové Safari Park on Wednesday, enjoying themselves under the watchful eyes of their parents, Khalila and Bart.
That will change soon. As part of an international endangered species program that coordinates efforts for their survival in captivity, the cubs will be sent to other participating parks, including the Beersheba zoo in Israel.
Chances are that might not be the end of the story for the animal.
Dvůr Králové Deputy Director Jaroslav Hyjánek said that while preliminary steps have been taken for a possible reintroduction of the Barbary lion into its natural habitat, it’s still a “far distant future.”
Fat chance that these cubs will ever see the wild. Zoos are for entertainment, not conservation!
More:
The majestic member of the Northern lion subspecies, the Barbary lion once roamed freely its native northern Africa, including the Atlas Mountains.
A symbol of strength, they were almost completely wiped out due to human activities. Many were killed by gladiators in Roman times, while overhunting and a loss of habitat contributed to their extinction later.
The last known photo of a wild lion was taken in 1925, while the last individual was killed in 1942.
It’s believed the last small populations went extinct in the wild in the middle of the 1960s.
Fewer than 200 Barbary lions are currently estimated to live in captivity
. . .Hyjánek said that after initial talks with Moroccan authorities, who have not rejected the idea of their reintroduction, a conference of experts has been planned to take place in Morocco late this year or early 2026 to decide whether it would make sense to go ahead with such a plan in one of the national parks in the Atlas Mountains.
Any reintroduction would face numerous bureaucratic and other obstacles. Since the lion has not been present in the environment for such a long time, the plans would have to ensure their protection, a sufficient prey population and cooperation and approval from local communities.
However, these are not even a local subspecies, but part of a larger subspecies found widely in Africa and even in India. As Wikipedia notes:
The Barbary lion was a population of the lion subspecies Panthera leo leo. It was also called North African lion, Atlas lion, and Egyptian lion. It lived in the mountains and deserts of the Maghreb of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt. It was eradicated following the spread of firearms and bounties for shooting lions. A comprehensive review of hunting and sighting records revealed that small groups of lions may have survived in Algeria until the early 1960s, and in Morocco until the mid-1960s. Today, it is locally extinct in this region. Fossils of the Barbary lion dating to between 100,000 and 110,000 years were found in the cave of Bizmoune near Essaouira.
Until 2017, the Barbary lion was considered a distinct lion subspecies. Results of morphological and genetic analyses of lion samples from North Africa showed that the Barbary lion does not differ significantly from the Asiatic lion and falls into the same subclade. This North African/Asian subclade is closely related to lions from West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, and therefore grouped into the northern lion subspecies Panthera leo leo.
Thus they don’t have to reintroduce these animals; they can just put any African lion in Morocco and say it’s a Barbary lion. Because it would be.
Here’s a video of the four adorable cubs from Czechoslovakia. This is probably their first public viewing, as you can hear the camera shutters click away:
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Lagniappe:
First, a weird-looking cat found by Peter on reddit. Click to see the video. It is adorable, though, and clearly polydactylous:
PRONUNCIATION:[JAC: Click on the microphone to hear the word pronounced.No jokes about Trump!] (puhs-o-MAY-nee-ak)MEANING:noun: One having an excessive enthusiasm for cats.
ETYMOLOGY:From puss (cat), of uncertain origin + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze). Earliest documented use: 1890.USAGE:“Even his master, who is the reverse of a pussomaniac, may never have appreciated him according to his merits. No wonder that a cat of that stamp should be slightly misanthropic and suspicious.”
The Saturday Review; Jul 19, 1890.
h/t: Al, Ginger K.
Only comment. This is why Caturday Felids is dying. . .
I suspect that all your cat-loving readers (I’m not going to use the term ‘pussomaniac’) are sitting here in your virtual livingroom giving you the slow blink.
βPer
I love the story about the stray mom brought in from the cold with her brood.
The Barbary Lion case reminds me of our beloved Puget Sound Orcas. The local “resident” population is fascinating, and it may be the best studied population of Orcas in the world. Even though we read daily about how dangerously imperiled our beloved Orcas are, it’s this particular population that’s at risk, mostly because of the dearth of salmon in Puget Sound, their favorite food. While I am definitely rooting for our resident Orcas, there are 50,000 Orcas worldwide—a thriving cosmopolitan species.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the woman who rescued the momma cat and kittens! All the posts today are much needed after a very stressful week.
I’ve not finished watching the video about things a cat does to show he/she loves you, but I wonder to what extent that applies to multiple cat households where cats have not only their human(s) to relate to, but also other cats.
The Barbary lion cubs are adorable!
Hey–not fair. I was looking for Caturday this morning, but it wasn’t there. I wasn’t able to check again until now. Other people may not have time to check until much later, like two of my friends who wouldn’t miss it (but don’t comment).
I wonder if the possibly feral cat was induced to be more friendly thru oxytocin in her system, following birth.
I had to check this post late today, but loved the stories.
My cat loves me.
Didn’t comment but always check it out. May as well trade in my mobile if your blog stops.
I’m retired, and a night owl. If I comment before afternoon (Pacific time!), it’s because I couldn’t get to sleep the night before.
Is that darling polydactyl a mosaic?
Yes, of sorts. I think a chromosome might have been inactivated in part of the body.
I’m also retired and a night owl. On top of that, I read WEIT via its RSS feed, and I have my RSS reader set to present content in chronological order, so it’s usually mid-late afternoon before I get to WEIT content. By then, I’ve found, I get few (if any) responses to my comments, even when I ask questions, leading me to wonder why I should put the effort into writing a comment that will probably not even be read, as most readers seem to have already moved on from the WEIT post.
βPer
A few years ago my neighbor asked me to take care of her outdoor cat while she was away. I never had much interest in cats but took my chore seriously. I looked up cats online and one article said an owner should give their cat a half hour of attention daily. Most people don’t give their children that much time. Well this cat usually just got a mini check every morning when her owner fed her. I started spending my morning coffee with her and then again came out to pet her at 4 pm, on her terms, I didn’t stop until she left my patio. As the kids say today, she was seen. Long story put short but I know what a long slow blink is. At first I said “You’re flirting with me,” then came to realize just how special it was. I used to call her my covid buddy. She died in 2021 at 15, right before I had my second vaccination.
I like the half orange face and half black face kitten. My orange cat is 17 and sleeping more and started to stumble once in a while; so I now give him glucosamine and condroitin for cats. I hope he’s not on the last of his nine lives. I’ve had a longer relationship with him than I had with my ex-wife.
Happy Caturday! 🐈🐈🐈
“Thus they don’t have to reintroduce these animals; they can just put any African lion in Morocco and say it’s a Barbary lion. Because it would be.”
I don’t know anything about lions, but if these were plants, I would think that there still might be small local adaptive variation within a subspecies, especially over the immense geographic distances involve here, and with a potential partial bottleneck for migration between Asia and Africa. The variation might not rise to the level of counting as different subspecies, but it could still be important to their survival.
Perhaps. But lions eat the same stuff everywhere, and these aren’t even a subspecies. It is my GUESS that if they put a bunch of, say, South African lions in Morocco, and made sure there was plenty of game and the right kind of ecosystem to sleep and hunt in, they’d do fine. At any rate, I have big doubts whether these zoo lions will ever see the wild.
Jerry
For the record… I don’t mind dogs. I like cats. But I don’t feel the need to comment (generally) on cat videos.
I, too, have a blog (website). I write for myself. It would be nice if people looked at it, or even better, commented on my thoughts. But if they don’t, that is fine too.
You are welcome to put your blog website here, or, better yet, link it to your name. The fact is that I don’t write just for myself (I do for some stuff), and if I have evidence that what I write is being largely ignored, I’m not motivated to write it. I think most writers would agree. The only way I know whether a site is read is whether there are comments (I suppose there are ways of checking, but I don’t know them.)
I’ve always wondered if this was the case. BTW, I’m assuming you meant ‘post’ instead of ‘site’.
You do realize that you provide the entire content (text and picture links) of each post in your RSS feed, and (I assume) in your subscription emails, right? Nobody needs to actually come to your site to actually read your content if they’re subscribers to either your email list or RSS feed. You have absolutely no idea how many people actually read your content! Given that you have at least 30K people receiving the content, I think it’s unreasonable to assume that nobody’s reading your posts!
BTW, in case you were monitoring ‘hit counts’ on each post (the number of times that the post’s web page is fetched by viewers), I have for years now clicked through from my RSS reader to the actual post on your site to read each and every post. I doubt that most readers do that, though, unless they decide to comment.
Regarding commenting, I see no reason to comment if I don’t have something relevant to say. Simply coming to make a “+1” comment to signal I’ve read your post seems counterproductive. If everyone did this, it would render the comments an annoying mess.
I believe you do have a way to get a reasonable indication of how many people have at least opened your posts, though. If your post has a unique image in it (as most do), check the statistics on the number of times that image has been viewed. It’s not a perfect measure, but it’s way better than going by the comment count!
Please, PCC(e), I implore you, please find a better way to gauge how many people are reading your posts. I find it very disturbing (and very stressful) when you threaten to stop making e.g. the Caturday posts solely on the basis of comment counts. I’m certain that I’m not the only one.
A 13-year reader of every one of your posts.
βPer
As of a month ago, I had 5 cats and one dog (a pit bull) in my household. I have never previously had a dog but in November 2022, while taking a walk along a road beside a creek, about a quarter mile from my house, I encountered the dog and it came up to me, behaving very friendly, and I cautiously patted her head, and then kept on walking, a circular route of about 4 miles. Then I got home, showered and went out to spend time with friends and got home late in the evening — and the dog, Sasha, was in my yard. She hadn’t followed me but had tracked her way to my house, and she wouldn’t leave. Upon taking her to the vet, I found that she was 4 years old and had a chip and the vet’s office had contacted her owner and then called me to tell me the owner would pick up Sasha. A half hour later, the vet’s office called me back to tell me that the prior owner had called them back to tell them she couldn’t take Sasha back after all. Upshot, I wound adopting Sasha myself. Shortly afterwards, a neighbor told me he’d seen Sasha before, kept in a cage barely big enough for her and having to sleep on her own waste. I didn’t bother asking where it was or if he knew the prior owner but the fact that Sasha has not gone back on her own even when she’s gotten out of my yard, pretty much tells me she doesn’t want to go back.
About a year later, while walking Sasha and passing some vegetation, in an industrial area by the St. Johns River, no houses anywhere nearby, a kitten, maybe about 5 months old, jumped out from the bushes and playfully bounced around Sasha and me and then they touched noses. The kitten proceeded to follow Sasha and I back home. I named her Emily, after the Sid Barrett era Pink Floyd song, “See Emily Play”. Even before I got Sasha, I already had Miles (since 2013); Smokey (since 2015); Sparky (since 2018); and Pepper (since 2021).
Meanwhile, during my regular walks, I regularly pass by a park where since about 7 years ago, I regularly saw a long-furred black cat who’d come up to me for affection and would follow me for a few blocks. Eventually, I started bringing dry food for him, and in short order several other cats in the area joined the dinner party, and a few weeks ago, one of them, a Manx, actually followed me for a little over a mile back to my house and now hangs out on my front porch. Once again, the fact that she hasn’t gone back to wherever she used to stay before is a strong indicator she doesn’t want to go back. But on my little street, Minx, as i now call her, will often follow me like a puppy.
There’s a lot of need out there. So glad that you’ve rescued these furry creatures in need. They give at least as much as they get.
Thank you for caring for all these animals. They know a good hoomin when they see one. Word gets around.
Night Owl here. I just watched the video, and no surprise, my cats all loved me. The last one we lost a few months ago. As to sleeping with me, sometimes I will see advice where someone says to allow animals in your bed is unhealthy and get a bed for them on the floor. Never!
That split-in-two markings cat is amazing looking.
West Coast at night here. Sparkle is stretched out at my feet in bed, purring. A calico/tortoishell, She’s one of those asymmetrically colored cats “made of left overs”. in response to the video — she recommends the refrain from ‘3’6 of a Mile in 10 Seconds”: “…do I love you baby, yes I do…”. I do like all the cat postings.
The Reddit kitten is gorgeous!! As are the lion cubs.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250824.html
Click on the first link in the last sentence of the explanation of this picture of the Crab Nebula.
Have never missed reading a Caturday entry, even before it was officially named, I believe. Continued uplifting cat posts were the reason I started reading all the posts on this site.
Cats are mandatory for the start of a good morning.