When I visited Peru with a girlfriend many years ago, I traveled to Nazca, in the western desert, to see the famous Nazca lines, a series of large and mysterious geoglyphs that Wikipedia describes this way:

They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different-colored dirt exposed.  There are two major phases of the Nazca lines, Paracas phase, from 400 to 200 BC, and Nazca phase, from 200 BC to 500 AD. In the 21st century, several hundred new figures have been found with the use of drones, and archaeologists believe that there are more to be found.

Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 km (800 mi), and the group covers an area of about 50 km² (19 sq mi). The lines are typically 10 to 15 cm (4–6 in) deep. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown ferric oxide–coated pebbles to reveal a yellow-grey subsoil.The width of the lines varies considerably, but more than half are slightly more than 33 cm (13 in) wide. In some places they may be only 30 cm (12 in) wide, and in others reach 1.8 m (6 ft) wide.

We hired a small plane for a pittance—about 30 bucks‚—to fly us over the lines, the only way to see them.  They can be properly viewed only from above, which makes them all the more mysterious. There are many theories about their significance, including some who assert that they were made by those extraterrestrials who stubbornly refuse to make their presence known.  The location of the lines is shown on the map below from Wikipedia:

They are still finding these lines, which have been effaces by time and by humans roaming around. Now, as the Guardian reveals (click on screenshot to read), a huge cat-shaped Nazca line has been found.Click below to read:

An excerpt:

The dun sands of southern Peru, etched centuries ago with geoglyphs of a hummingbird, a monkey, an orca – and a figure some would dearly love to believe is an astronaut – have now revealed the form of an enormous cat lounging across a desert hillside.

The feline Nazca line, dated to between 200BC and 100BC, emerged during work to improve access to one of the hills that provides a natural vantage point from which many of the designs can be seen.

A Unesco world heritage site since 1994, the Nazca Lines, which are made up of hundreds of geometric and zoomorphic images, were created by removing rocks and earth to reveal the contrasting materials below. They lie 250 miles (400km) south of Lima and cover about 450 sq km (175 sq miles) of Peru’s arid coastal plain.

. . .“The figure was scarcely visible and was about to disappear because it’s situated on quite a steep slope that’s prone to the effects of natural erosion,” Peru’s culture ministry said in a statement this week.

“Over the past week, the geoglyph was cleaned and conserved, and shows a feline figure in profile, with its head facing the front.” It said the cat was 37 metres long, with well-defined lines that varied in width between 30cm and 40cm.

. . .“Over the past few years, the use of drones has allowed us to take images of hillsides.”

Isla said between 80 and 100 new figures had emerged over recent years in the Nazca and Palpa valleys, all of which predated the Nazca culture (AD200-700). “These are smaller in size, drawn on to hillsides, and clearly belong to an earlier tradition.”

The archaeologist said the cat had been put out during the late Paracas era, which ran from 500BC to AD200. “We know that from comparing iconographies,” said Isla. “Paracas textiles, for example, show birds, cats and people that are easily comparable to these geoglyphs.”

Enough palaver. Here is the cat:

From Facebook’s Cat Overlords site:

The geoglyph was restored to its original condition; it was presumably made between 200-100 BC.

Here’s a four-minute video also showing the feline.  I’m not sure what it is. It’s surely not a house cat, but, asking Grok, I got this:

[It] most likely represents the Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita, also known as the Andean mountain cat).

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Here’s another Guardian article (click to read) about Japan’s cat obsession, and how capitalists have parlayed it into a lot of yen. Click to read (and go to the article, where there are lots of photos).

An excerpt:

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From IHeartCats, we hear about an American cat named Effie whose favorite food is mashed potatoes—potatoes that must contain the right amount of butter. Click below to read:

An excerpt:

Some pets become gentler with age, while others grow wonderfully stubborn about the things they love most. Effie, an adorable senior tabby with soft gray and white fur, has reached a point in life where she refuses to settle for anything less than exactly what she wants at mealtime. Her favorite comfort food happens to be mashed potatoes, but there is one very important condition. The potatoes must contain the perfect amount of butter. If they do not meet her standards, Effie will loudly let her family know she is disappointed until her dinner is prepared properly.

The lovable moment was shared on TikTok by @kateisaac25, where viewers quickly fell in love with the gray-and-white senior cat and her very specific dinner standards. According to the caption, Effie will loudly complain if her spoonful of mashed potatoes is missing the right amount of butter.

It is hard not to smile at the sight of her happily digging into the creamy meal with complete satisfaction. Sitting comfortably at the table, Effie looks like a tiny grandmother enjoying her favorite comfort food after a long day.

Her owner explained that the butter ratio is extremely important to Effie. If there is not enough melted goodness mixed into the potatoes, the senior cat wastes no time voicing her disappointment. The little demands have become part of her daily routine, and honestly, everyone in the house seems happy to spoil her.

. . .Effie’s strong opinions at dinnertime show just how comfortable and loved she feels in her home.

Her soft fur, relaxed posture, and determined little meows tell the story of a cat who knows she is safe. She has likely spent years building trust with her family, and now she confidently expects her meals to be prepared exactly the way she likes them.

The video captures more than just a funny moment. It highlights the special bond people share with aging pets. Small routines like preparing a favorite snack or responding to a familiar meow become treasured parts of everyday life.

. . . Viewers online could not get enough of Effie’s adorable behavior. Many related to her love of buttery comfort food, while others joked that she had earned the right to be demanding after so many years.

And here’s the TikTok video mentioned above (also here).  Effie just gets a spoonful of mashed potatoes, but oy, is there butter!:

@kateisaac25

#onthisday

♬ original sound – Katelyn Claire Isaac

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Lagniappe: a new song by Kiffness:

h/t: Loretta

From People magazine (also at the UPI), we hear about a brave moggy whjo chased off a coyote.  Click on the screenshot to read:

An excerpt:

A Pico Rivera, California, resident captured some surprising footage: a cat fighting off a coyote in the middle of the day.

“I was in shock,” Debbie Beltran, the cat’s owner, told KTLA-TV, after viewing the video. “It took me a while to see—is that our cat or somebody else’s? And no, it’s our cat.”

Beltran said she was at work on May 1 when a neighbor sent security camera footage of her cat ferociously fighting a coyote outside. The video shows the cat standing its ground outside the family’s yard on Manzanar Avenue before it climbs a tree and escapes the coyote.

“Coyotes usually come out when the sun goes down,” Beltran said. “So to see this happen in broad daylight, that was shocking.”

Beltran said her cat, named Mama, has been with her family for about 5 years and is believed to be about 10 years old. She notes that Mama has always been a courageous cat who doesn’t back down from a fight.

“She’s always been feisty, this type of cat, and has got into fights before, so it doesn’t surprise me,” the pet parent told KABC.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a coyote has attacked one of Beltran’s pets. She said that last year, one of her cats died in a coyote attack. Now, she’s giving Mama some extra attention since her caught-on-camera battle.

The video is below (turn off the closed captions, as they interfere with seeing the scrap).  Mama is a brave cat: watch at her bristle, hump her back, and chase the d*g! However, cats should really be kept indoors because not all predators are so timorous.

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From IHeartCats, we here about a high-tech way Dubai has developed to feed street cats. Click headline below to read.

An excerpt with a video below:

As people stroll through Dubai’s carefully maintained parks and busy public spaces, a quieter sign of compassion is beginning to appear beside the city’s modern landscape. New feeding stations for stray animals are being introduced across several locations, giving homeless cats a cleaner and more dependable place to find food and water. For years, many residents relied on leaving bowls wherever they could stop to help, often hoping hungry street cats would discover them in time. Now, Dubai is taking a more organized approach that blends kindness, sanitation, and public care into one thoughtful effort designed to support both animals and the shared spaces around them.

Dubai has launched a pilot program featuring 12 feeding units placed in parks and other public areas. The project is designed to support stray animals while also improving cleanliness and organization in shared spaces. For years, many residents and volunteers have cared for street cats on their own, stopping to leave food and water wherever they could. While compassionate, those efforts often created scattered feeding spots that were difficult to maintain.

Now, the city is taking a more structured approach.

The stations aim to make feeding more consistent and sanitary while helping caretakers provide support in designated locations. It reflects a growing recognition that animal welfare is connected to a city’s overall health and appearance. Instead of treating stray-cat care as an informal act left entirely to volunteers, Dubai is weaving compassion into its public infrastructure.

For the cats wandering through busy streets and quiet parks, the change could mean something deeply important: reliability.

Street animals often survive day by day, never knowing when food or water will appear. Many endure extreme heat, exhaustion, and long stretches of uncertainty. Having fixed feeding stations creates a sense of stability for animals that spend their lives navigating harsh outdoor conditions. Even a simple sheltered feeding spot can offer relief and comfort.

Dubai’s decision also highlights how cities are beginning to rethink the relationship between urban development and animal care. Modern public spaces are usually designed around people first, but this initiative acknowledges that stray animals are part of the environment, too.

The feeding stations are intended to reduce mess and discourage random food waste while still allowing residents to help animals responsibly. By centralizing feeding efforts, the city can better manage sanitation concerns without removing the compassion that inspired people to feed the cats in the first place.

The idea transforms what was once a scattered, individual effort into something shared and supported at a civic level.

Not only that, but the station combines feeding with recycling: if you put a can or bottle into the station, cat food is dispensed into the station. See the video below.  Great idea!

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From The Animal Rescue Site we hear of an unholy interspecific friendship between a cat and a d*g species: “Wild fox befriends cat“, by Malorie Thompson.  Here’s an excerpt, with a video below:

Cats and foxes seem like two of the same, but it’s rare that we see them interact.

They’re both sly and cunning, playful and adorable. Yet, they’re different species and they likely rarely cross paths in a meaningful way.

However, a wildlife photographer managed to capture a sweet exchange between the two animals and you have to see it to believe it.

Turkish wildlife photographer Ali ihsan Öztürk (@aliihsanozturk.65) shared a video of a cat and a fox hanging out on Instagram and it’s really something special.

He captioned the post (translated): “Fox and cat’s friendship. I couldn’t believe even while taking the picture. what a beautiful friendship.”

In the video, you can see the cat come up behind the fox and nuzzle the wild animal. Surprisingly, the fox didn’t seem to mind one bit and took it as an invitation for friendship!

The two animals continued to nuzzle each other in a playful way. It’s easy to see why Ali was so surprised to witness it!

Below is the Facebook post, which you can also see by clicking on the picture. Here’s the entire text:

In January 2026, a story began spreading online that many people could not stop thinking about: two stray animals who soon became known as the “street brothers.”

A fox and a cat had somehow learned to survive together outdoors. They shared warmth, protection, and the feeling of not being alone. Life on the street was hard, but they always stayed close to each other. The fox, a little bigger and stronger, often let the injured cat lie right by his side. On cold nights, it almost seemed as if he was quietly keeping watch so nothing would happen to his small companion.

When rescuers finally brought them to safety, the cat received the medical care it urgently needed. But at the shelter, something became obvious right away: whenever the two were separated, both became visibly stressed. Restlessness, searching, whining — as if the most important support in their lives had suddenly been taken away. Their closeness had long become more than a habit. It was their home.

So the team did everything they could to keep them together. Eventually, their story reached a kindhearted person who did not want a half-solution. He did not adopt only the cat — he took in the fox too, so the two would never be torn apart again.

Their journey is a reminder of what loyalty really means. And that friendship sometimes appears where no one expects it. Family does not always have to be the same species — sometimes it is simply the same bond holding two hearts together.

Fox-and-cat-friends videos are not rare: here are two more. All of these, oddly, feature cats that are mostly white.

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Lagniappe: From Reese: “Our Michael” from Archaeology & Art on Facebook, featuring an old photograph that was apparently for sale on eBay but that has been sold. Lovely cat!  Here’s the whole text and the dead link:

Oct, 1938: our Micheal [sic]

The love radiating from the phrase “our Michael” alone is enough to warm our hearts.

The photographer and story are unclear. The source of this vintage photo is an old eBay listing, but the link isn’t active:

http://www.ebay.com/…/Antique…/391002853535…

h/t: Michael, Reese

BuzzFeed has a story about NASA’s Artemis II mission and cats, all told through tweets. You can access the story by clicking on the headline below:

The story starts with this:

Before we get there, let’s talk socials. NASA’s been killing it. Their Instagram bio is appropriately, “In our Moon era.”

And so it starts, with NASA on X:

Someone tweeted this during the Artemis II mission around the Moon:

. . . and NASA responded!

The cat and its staff were elated!

Other cats responded:

And of course the Number Ten Cat weighed in:

And a cat asked the question on every cat’s mind:

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The Daily Fail has a story about the library cat at Oxford University.  Click the headline to read it. It is a fluffy Siberian Forest Cat

An excerpt:

Meet the ‘famous’ Oxford University library cat who’s been keeping students company during their studies.

Cat Isambard Kitten Brunel, also known as Issy, makes a bus commute to the library alongside his owner Jamie Fishwick-Ford, every day.

Jamie, who is a librarian at Lady Margaret Hall at one of the colleges at Oxford University, began bringing the feline, also known as Issy, to work six years ago.

And the fluffy Siberian forest cat, who spends his days lounging in Jamie’s office, has quickly become a hit with students, gaining a loyal following.

His 43-year-old owner explained that while the cat does not freely roam around the college or the library, he only leaves his office to be petted or for outdoor exercise.

‘He’s proved very popular with the students, and he definitely loves to be loved by them,’ she said. ‘There are some students who come to see him several times a week.

‘Lots of people bring friends and family to meet him, and he’s become a bit of an unofficial mascot. He even appears on some of our outreach team’s stickers.’

After Jamie got Issy in September 2019, he began bringing her to work immediately despite being told the college was ‘very dog-orientated’.

. . .’College had a policy allowing you to bring dogs to work, as long as they mostly stayed in your office and you got permission from anyone else whose office they visited.’

She added: ‘But I prefer cats! I decided to get a cat and bring them to work instead of a dog. I follow the same policy as the dogs’

The much-loved feline mostly travels on his owner’s shoulders and can often be spotted wearing a harness and lead.

‘He’s also used as an unofficial welfare animal, and he’s very empathetic,’ Jamie explained.

‘He’s always very friendly and calm, but he’s even more so when someone is upset or crying, he’s had several people come to him in tears after they’ve accidentally deleted their dissertations or so on.

‘I deliberately got a Siberian Forest Cat because they are hypoallergenic, so it wouldn’t set people’s allergies off as much, both in the library and on the commute.’

Jamie said Issy has become a local celebrity with people stopping her in the streets to ask if he is the famous library cat and to get a photo with him.

‘On the bus he expects to get attention from the other passengers – and will ‘miaow’ until he gets fussed by them,’ she added.

‘He also visits my local pub with me fairly frequently. They have a policy of allowing dogs, and I just apply that to him too.

‘Other colleges also sometimes ask for visits from the famous library cat, so we go to visit them and give their students a chance to meet him.’

Though I can’t put up the pictures, you can see Issy and Jamie in this 2-minute video:

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From I Heart Cats, we learn about a white cat named Boy who is a one-truck moggie: he dies flips. Click to read:

An excerpt:

Silence rarely lasts long in Boy’s home, and that is exactly how he likes it. Just when things seem calm, his loud, persistent cries fill the room, demanding immediate attention. It is not the kind of sound that signals trouble or fear. Instead, it carries a sense of urgency mixed with excitement, as if he has something important to share. Boy calls out to his mom with determination, refusing to be ignored, fully expecting her to turn and watch whatever amusing stunt he is about to perform next.

His trick:

Once he knows she is watching, the real show begins.

Boy has developed a routine that feels both chaotic and carefully planned. With a burst of energy, he launches himself into a dramatic front flip. But he does not stop there. His chosen landing spots are often the most unexpected places in the kitchen. Cabinets, appliances, and anything solid seem to be part of his performance space. He flips straight into them with a level of confidence that is both baffling and impressive.

To anyone else, it might look like an accident. But Boy makes it clear this is intentional. There is a rhythm to it. A build-up, a leap, a dramatic landing. And then, without fail, he turns to his mom as if waiting for approval.

Boy does not just want attention. He thrives on it. His loud cries before each stunt feel like an announcement, almost like he is saying, “Watch this.” His mom cannot help but laugh every single time. The way he throws himself into his flips, followed by that proud pause, turns each moment into something unforgettable.

There is something deeply endearing about the way he seeks connection. His antics are not just random bursts of energy. They are his way of bonding. Each flip, each dramatic crash into a kitchen appliance, is followed by that look. A silent request for applause.

You’ve waited long enough: here is Boy doing his trick, including the pre-trick screams:

What a narcissist!

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Lagniappe:  We have two bits today. First, the evolutionary achievement of house cats:

Extra lagniappe: PHILOMENA!!!!

A famous face from TV is fronting a fundraising campaign to help a small cat rescue in the south Wales valleys to open a new dedicated rescue centre.

Motherland and Philomena Cunk star Diane Morgan was so moved by the story of Moggies Cat Rescue in Aberdare, she stepped in to help and agreed to become their patron.

Now, the rescue, which was founded 12 years ago by friends Eileen Sewell and Doreen Miller, is hoping that with Diane’s help they can grow and raise funds for a new dedicated rescue centre.

A keen animal rights supporter, the actress came to hear about Moggies, which has rehomed more than 125 cats in the past 12 months, through a mutual friend.

She was keen to visit the rescue and on a recent visit to Aberdare met with staff and volunteers, as well the cats currently in Moggies care.

The comedy star, who has Welsh roots, said: “I’m extremely proud to be patron of Moggies. I’m a big animal rights supporter and when I saw what Doreen and Eileen are trying to achieve it really touched me.

“They’re working so hard to provide injured or unwanted cats with shelter and medical help. They rely solely on donations and their kindness is truly heartwarming.

“Growing up I had a cat called Merlin who was my whole world, so I have a real soft spot for cats.”

Now the charity with Diane’s help have launched the fundraiser with an ambitious target of £250,000 to build a new dedicated cat rescue centre in the valleys.

To find out more about the fundraiser and to donate click HERE

A video with Philomena:

h/t: Marion, Matthew, Jez

Yahoo! news, via People magazine, reports a happy ending (the only kind I like for animals).  You can see the story by clicking below, and I also found a video.

An excerpt:

A young lion got a sweet reunion with his family after being separated.

Kiros, the young male African lion, was illegally sold as a pet when he was a cub, according to a news release from The Wildcat Sanctuary.

Staff from the sanctuary in Minnesota had discovered Kiros was missing during a rescue mission to save lions from squalid roadside zoo in Quebec, Canada. Kiros’ parents, Kim and Carl, among nine lions rescued.

“From the moment we heard about the missing cub, we hoped we might one day find him,” said Tammy Thies, founder and executive director of The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone.

She continued, “To discover that Kiros not only survived but could come to the sanctuary where his parents now live is incredibly powerful. Stories like this remind us why rescue work matters.”

The sanctuary then got a surprising call a few months later. There was a young lion, related to Kim and Carl, who was looking for home.

Staff checked photos and records to confirm it was Kiros.

Authorities had taken the lion cub and gave him to an accredited zoo, which cared for him for 18 months while a legal proceeding involving the roadside zoo in Quebec was resolved.

Staff at the accredited zoo lovingly named him Kiros, which means “lord.”

The Wildcat Sanctuary then traveled 2,280-miles roundtrip to bring Kiros back to his family in a crate, after obtaining the proper international permits. Kiros’ parents watched curiously as their son arrived at the sanctuary for their reunion.

Kiros now lives in a natural habitat with his parents at The Wildcat Sanctuary, which is hopeful that he will form a pride with the other lions, including another rescued cub named Mango, who was also saved from the roadside zoo.

Here’s a video of the rescued “cub”, who is now quite big:

All’s well that ends well.  I wonder if he will recognize his parents, or vice versa.

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Here’s another heartwarmer, even though it involves a d*g.  The headline tells the tale, which you can read by clicking below, but I’ll give an excerpt, and also a video. Click the headline to read:

The story:

A video showing the two tripods who were adopted.

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Finally, you probably know that musician Taylor Swift has three cats on whom she dotes. A brief description:

Taylor Swift is a proud cat lady with her three felines, Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button.

The Lover singer featured Benjamin on her TIME Person of the Year cover in 2023 and later used one of the photo shoot images to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

In her Instagram caption, Swift applauded some of Harris’ proposed policies and signed her message “Childless Cat Lady” in a nod to Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance who first used the phrase, saying the United States was run by “childless cat ladies who “force their misery on the rest of the country.”

Swift has never been shy about making her cats part of her personality, and fans love her all the more for it. All three cats have made multiple appearances on her social media pages and even in some of her music videos. In 2020, the superstar’s pets were also featured in her holiday card, wearing cute winter gear against a black-and-white background reminiscent of her 2020 album folklore.

The Grammy winner has also said that her beloved cats have had some influence over her career. In 2019, she told TIME, “I have cats. I’m obsessed with them. I love my cats so much that when a role came up in a movie called Cats, I just thought, like, I gotta do this.” In fact, Swift even attended a “cat school” on set to prepare for her role.

I could say more, but this 13-ininute video does the job. Swift really is a cat fanatic.

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Lagniappe. The Number Ten Cat celebrates David Attenborough’s centenary:

Happy 100th Birthday to Sir David Attenborough

Thank you for being a friend to all animals and for helping the world to cherish us x pic.twitter.com/dkhHOB3wHv

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) May 8, 2026

h/t Michael, Debra

We’re back with three Caturday items and a  bit of lagniappe.

First, Larry the Cat, the Chief Mouser of the Cabinet Office, has shirked his job, catching almost no nice after 15 years at 10 Downing Street.  But at least, at the ripe old age of 19, Larry has not only caught a mouse, but gobbled it up in front of the Prime Minister’s door. Click the headline to read the Times story:

Excerpt:

Once accused of shirking responsibility, Downing Street’s chief mouser has finally lived up to his title.

While Sir Keir Starmer reassured the British public that he would seek to mitigate the rising cost of living during a prime ministerial speech on Wednesday, Larry the cat was making a precision kill.

Larry killed the ill-fated rodent in the courtyard of the Foreign Office, dragged it across the street and ate it by No 10’s door.

The moment was captured by GB News’s political editor, Christopher Hope, who insisted: “This is not an April fool.” Video showed Larry toying with the mouse, pawing it, tossing it in the air and clasping it in his jaws.

. . .[Larry] was recruited in 2011 to deal with a rodent problem after a BBC camera tracked a rat outside No 10.

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home recommended Larry as “a cat who enjoys attention” but was also “a bit of a bruiser” with excellent mousing skills — skills that have finally seen the light of day.

According to the Independent, this grisly affair happened during a Keir Starmer press conference about the Iran war.

Here’s a video (WARNING: RODENT DEATH)

More from the Times:

Early in his tenure, he was given the nickname “Lazy Larry” for his penchant for napping. The Cabinet Office was forced to defend his mousing as being in the “tactical planning stage”.

Yet by June 2011, David Cameron, then prime minister, boasted that Larry had “got three mice — verifiable”.

Since the untimely death of his nemesis, Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat who resigned from his post in 2020, Larry has now outlasted one chief mouser, five prime ministers and is staring down his sixth.

You go, Larry! Show ’em that we old geezers have still got it!

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From VGraphs. Yes, populous countries have more cats, but it’s not in strict proportion to their human populations.  for example, China’s population of 1.4 billion is about four times that of the U.S., but the U.S. has 27% more cats.  You can do the math for the rest.

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From the WSJ: a computer whiz managed to infiltrate himself into a serious hacking group to plug the leaks—using a cat meme!

An excerpt 9my bolding):

Sitting in his dorm room at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Benjamin Brundage was closing in on a mystery that had even seasoned internet investigators baffled. A cat meme helped him crack the case.

A growing network of hacked devices was launching the biggest cyberattacks ever seen on the internet. It had become the most powerful cyberweapon ever assembled, large enough to knock a state or even a small country offline. Investigators didn’t know exactly who had built it—or how.

Brundage had been following the attacks, too—and, in between classes, was conducting his own investigation. In September, the college senior started messaging online with an anonymous user who seemed to have insider knowledge.

As they chatted on Discord, a platform favored by videogamers, Brundage was eager to get more information, but he didn’t want to come off as too serious and shut down the conversation. So every now and then he’d send a funny GIF to lighten the mood. Brundage was fluent in the memes, jokes and technical jargon popular with young gamers and hackers who are extremely online.

“It was a bit of just asking over and over again and then like being a bit unserious,” said Brundage.

At one point, he asked for some technical details. He followed up with the cat meme: a six-second clip that showed a hand adjusting a necktie on a fluffy gray cat.

Brundage didn’t expect it to work, but he got the information. “It took me by surprise,” he said.

Eventually the leaker hinted there was a new vulnerability on the internet. Brundage, who is 22, would learn it threatened tens of millions of consumers and as much as a quarter of the world’s corporations. As he unraveled the mystery, he impressed veteran researchers with his findings—including federal law enforcement, which took action against the network two weeks ago.

Here’s the cat meme that Brundage used.  It’s a Trojan Kitty!

And the nefarious proxy network he took down:

Three times a year, several hundred of the techies who keep North America’s internet running gather to talk shop. Last June they met at a conference in Denver hosted by the North American Network Operators’ Group.

One major topic was a fast-growing and often legally dubious business known as residential proxy networks. Dozens of companies around the world run such networks, which are made up of consumer devices like phones, computers and video players.

These “res proxy” companies rent out access to internet connections on the devices to customers who want to look like they’re surfing the internet from a genuine home address.

That kind of access is useful for people who want privacy or for companies that want to masquerade as regular people to test out internet features for particular regions or scrape the web for data (say, a shopping price-comparison site). AI companies use the networks to get around blocks on automated traffic so they can gather large amounts of data to train their models.

Then there are the customers who want to hide their identity while engaging in ticket scalping, bank fraud, bomb threats, stalking, child exploitation, hacking or espionage.

Some device owners willingly sign up to be on these networks so they can make a few dollars a month, but most have no idea they’re connected to one.

. . .Brundage had identified 11 of the largest residential proxy companies, including Ipidea, that were vulnerable to the bug, and began drafting emails to them explaining how to fix the problem.

But first, he had to complete his finals.

The day after his last test, on Dec. 17, Brundage sent out the emails. Five days later, he got on a plane to fly to Mexico for Christmas vacation, where he was sick with the flu almost the entire time. Christmas came and went without a DDoS disaster.

On the 26th, Brundage got an email from Ipidea apologizing. His email had gone into a spam folder, but they were fixing the problem.

The Ipidea spokeswoman previously told the Journal the company “once adopted relatively aggressive market expansion strategies,” but later tightened up its business practices.

A week later, security blogger Brian Krebs published a story highlighting Brundage’s research on Kimwolf’s origin. Within hours, Renée Burton, the head of threat intelligence at networking company Infoblox, was texting Brundage. She was astonished to discover that a quarter of her corporate clients had been infected with the Kimwolf software.

The hackers hadn’t only unlocked a back door into millions of home networks—they had also created a way to break into thousands of corporations. A more sophisticated hacker could have stolen corporate secrets, installed ransomware or created a back door to return to the network, Brundage said.

All solved because of a tie-wearing kitty!

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Lagniappe: This is me on vacation (from Cats Doing Cat Stuff):

h/t: Pyers, Gregory

Larry the Cat recently turne 19 (and celebrated his 15th year at 10 Downing Street), but the Senior Cat is still going strong. For example, he recently caught his third mouse, though that was nominally his job as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.  All Brits love him now (save for the miscreants), and he’s still getting into trouble, as this recent YouTube video shows:

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Quite a few readers called my attention to this Canadian cat, named Louis Vuitton (!), who lives in a town that straddles the border with the U.S. Despite new restrictions on immigration, Louis, as the CBC article below shows, repeatedly enters the U.S. illegally and then slips back to Canada. Click on the headline to read:

An excerpt:

On Zero Avenue in South Surrey, B.C. lives a cat without a care in the world, and a supercilious name to match.

Louis Vuitton has become a local legend for doing with ease what most humans wouldn’t dare.

Each day, he leaps back and forth across a narrow ditch that sits smack dab on the Canada-U.S. border.

“He hasn’t always been such a rebel, but he is extremely friendly,” Deb Tate, Louis’ owner, told As It Happens host Nil Koksal.

He just loves people, says Tate, and he doesn’t care what side of the border they’re on.

“He will walk up, greet people, get his pats and belly rubs and then continue on when he’s done.”

On one side of the ditch is a row of charming homes, including his own, on Canadian soil. On the other are the green fields of Peace Arch Historical State Park in the United States.

There aren’t any fences, just a street in between and a shallow divide. According to Tate, there are plenty of cameras and hawk-eyed border guards patrolling nearby, ready to pounce on illegal crossers.

But none of that seems to concern Louis, who trapezes across whenever he wants, with the air of someone who knows the rules, and chooses to ignore them.

Louis, who turns six on Canada Day,has been lapping up all the attention from locals since he caught the eye of Instagram user @pnwdaily360, who posted a now viral video about “the border-hopping kitty.”

There’s a cat that doesn’t really give a f–k about borders,” says the user in the video. “And he comes over and hunts in the ditch. There he is. What’s up buddy?”

The video has since garnered over 220,000 likes and three million views on Instagram.

Tate says Louis even has a habit of smuggling things across the border, dropping it ever so thoughtfully on her doorstep.

“He’s been known to bring home a treat or two from his adventures,” said Tate. “We’ve received everything from snakes and mice and squirrels, much to my chagrin.”

As for his name, Tate says it wasn’t given to him because he has a penchant for luxury goods at duty-free prices.

“He’s a rescue kitty, and we decided that coming from humble beginnings, he deserved a designer name,” said Tate. “We just named him Louis and … he has just grown in to fill the personality, and more.”

Click the video below to see a two-minute video of Louis in action.  I wonder if ICE will go after him. After all, he not only enters the U.S. illegally, but commits crimes (murder!) in our country, bringing mice, snakes, and even squirrels back to Canada.

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Finally, from 1000 Libraries Magazine we hear about a cat who got an honorary doctorate from a university in Vermont, so he is now known as “Dr. Max Dow.”  Click the screenshot below to get the details:

An excerpt:

That’s Dr. Max Dow, to you. Max Dow, a once feral kitten, has been granted an honorary PhD from Vermont State University Castleton. After making a name for himself around campus for the last five years, Max has become a staple on the grounds and a famously friendly mascot for the school. He is beloved by students and faculty alike — so much so, the university bestowed an honorary doctorate of ‘litter-ature’ to him at this year’s commencement ceremonies.

Much like many other great scholars, Max’s life started with humble beginnings. He was living on the streets of a neighboring city in Vermont as a feral kitten before being adopted by his loving family and owner, Ashley Dow. Dow and her family live in a neighborhood shared with Vermont State University Castleton, and about a year after moving into their new home, Max began to explore the campus for the first time.

In an interview with USA Today, Ashley Dow shares the first memories of Max making his way to campus. She and her family were worried when he hadn’t returned home. They went searching for Max and quickly found that he was exploring the university and was familiarizing himself with curious students and staff.

Max is well taken care of by students, much to the relief of his owner. Students have been responsible for looking out for Max’s well-being and regularly check in with his owners about his health and safety. Many residents on campus have Dow’s number and will send her update texts when Max is seen or is being cared for by a student or faculty member. After a run with some not-so-friendly stray cats in the neighborhood, Max was injured.

In response, Dow asked the school’s faculty and students to be vigilant about returning Max home by 5:00 PM so his family could keep an eye on him during the night. She shared that everyone has complied with her request on numerous occasions and goes out of their way to make sure he is looked out for when he’s around campus.

. . . Max has benefited from the many perks of being a ‘student’ on campus. According to Vermont State University, Max can be seen hitching rides across school grounds in students’ backpacks and has even been the artistic muse and subject of many photography major projects.

. . . After five years of dedication to Vermont State University and its students, the school decided it was time for Max to earn his degree. During the Spring 2024 commencement, Max was celebrated and met with applause when he earned his doctorate in “Litter-ature” alongside over 1,000 other students.

. . . Vermont State University shared their feelings about Max in one quote saying, “We are incredibly proud of Max and deeply grateful for the role he plays within the culture of our University and for his part in elevating VTSU’s reputation for academic excellence and outstanding commitment to animal welfare.”

Here’s Max’x doctoral diploma from the site:

. . . and a short video about Max—I mean Doctor Max.

I hope he’s chipped.

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Lagniappe: From Stacy, a post from the FB Group the National Carousel Association:

Extra lagniappe from Cats Doing Cat Stuff. Safe treats for your moggy:

We have our usual three items plus lagniappe today.  Read on:

First, click below to see a recent Guardian story about how a mean local council tried to ban this British woman from feeding feral cats, and how the neighbors (and a charity) stepped up to help her.

An excerpt:

“Two ladies from York have just been in,” said Collette Boler at the till of her small cafe in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley. Her voice began to choke up.

“They came in with a box of chocolates and a card, a box of cat food, a bag of cat biscuits and just said ‘carry on doing what you’re doing, you’re absolutely fabulous’. And a man’s just given me a tenner for cat food. It’s been incredible.”

The grandmother of seven has become an unlikely icon for cat lovers everywhere after finding herself banned from feeding a colony of feral felines she has looked after for 20 years.

She had been visiting them twice a day, including Christmas Day, even spending her own money on vet bills and having some neutered, which she admitted cost “a fortune”.

But two weeks ago Boler – affectionately known as the “crazy cat lady” – was subject to what some of her supporters see as a heavy-handed and overzealous ban, after a neighbouring business complained to the council over cat faeces on its premises.

Now if Boler continues to feed the cats, she will be issued with a community protection notice – a type of antisocial behaviour order – which could result in a fine of up to £2,500.

But she has been overwhelmed with support after others stepped in to help, including neighbours, strangers and a national cat charity.

. . .The Cat Action Trust 1977 has stepped in by writing to Barnsley council to urge it to repeal Boler’s ban.

“Feeders like Collette actually play a really important role,” said Alice Ostapjuk-Wise, a volunteer for the national charity which advocates for the “invisible issue” of cats that have never had contact with humans. “[Feeders] can alert us when a new cat arrives that might not be neutered.” The charity carries out neutering to control their numbers.

The Cat Action Trust 1977 has collected food for the Barnsley cats, which are frightened of humans and mostly stay out of sight, though the council has not made clear whether it too will face consequences for feeding them.

Ostapjuk-Wise said: “We just want to do what we can because some councils actually choose to exterminate feral cat colonies, and that’s the last thing we want.

“The path they seem to be taking so far appears to be very inhumane, basically starving the cats. That’s not going to solve the problem.”

. . .Barnsley council did not respond to a request for comment but previously told local media it recognised Boler’s “good intentions” but the community protection warning was “an early step to prevent the situation from getting worse”.

“We always aim to protect public health and safety, and we encourage anyone concerned about stray animals to work with recognised animal welfare organisations, so support can be provided safely.”

Boler said she had “never expected” so much attention. “I just wish they’d let me feed my cats,” she said. “That’s all I want. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

The Barnsley council sucks. Just because they don’t like feral cat feces, they’re starving the cats to death. There is a change.org petition with nearly 4,000 signatures that you can sign, and I just signed it. Please join me; it costs you nothing and may help save the Barnsley cats from the meanies.

And here’s a FB video with an interview of Boler, who seems very nice.

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This is a wonderful 14-minute video of the cats of Istanbul and how the locals care for them. I love that city–not just for the fact that it harbors “strays” who are effectively pets, but also because it’s beautiful and has lots of attractions.

This is really what it’s like to be in Istanbul. If you want a good commercial movie about Istanbul’s cats, do watch the movie “Kedi” (the Turkis words for cats), made in 2016.  It has a 98% critics’ rating rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a rating that only the very best movies get.

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The World’s Best Cat Litter site answers a recurring question among cat owners:

There are a variety of answers. Some condensed answers:

It’s in their nature

Kneading is an instinctual trait that begins in kittenhood. When kittens are feeding from their mother, they push on her mammary glands with their paws to help stimulate milk flow. For the mother, this releases oxytocin, also known as the bonding hormone.

You might notice your cat dribbling a little when they are kneading. This is natural too! Some cats go into “milking mode” even though they are older and fully weaned. They just get in the zone and subconsciously expect the milk that would have come from their mother.

They’re claiming their territory

Did you know that cats have scent glands in their paw pads? Scent glands are a way for cats (and other animals) to mark their territory, a trait that is especially important in the wild.

Cats tend to make biscuits on their favorite human, other pets in the home, and their favorite blankets. As a cat kneads, they release their scent to mark something as theirs. So if your cat has a habit of kneading on your stomach, congratulations! You are officially their property.

They’re making their bed

In the wild, felines knead tall grass to create a comfortable space for sleeping.

At home, your cat might like to make biscuits on your blankets, clothes, or even your body. This just means they are trying to get cozy and snuggly for a long cat nap.

They love you!

Kneading is typically a behavior that happens when a cat feels happy and secure, but they aren’t necessarily expecting milk from the process.

They’re going into heat

Female, unspayed cats are known to knead their paws before “estrus,” or going into heat. The act of kneading is a sign to male cats that the feline wants and is able to mate.

There’s further information about whether you should prevent them from kneading (no!), and advice to trim their nails so they don’t do damage when they make biscuits.

Or you can watch this explanatory video:

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Lagniappe: An appropriate tweet showing a street sign in Istanbul asking people to be attentive for road cats:

Street Cat Sign in Istanbul pic.twitter.com/ecxZeMny17

— DaVinci (@BiancoDavinci) March 18, 2026

. . . and an educational FB meme from Debra:

h/t: Matthew, Ginger K.