Caturday felid is moribund, but we continue today with three items and lagniappe.

First, a professor found a kitten at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, and I didn’t hear of it until a reader told me. First, the news headlines from NBC 5 (note the “cat distribution system”). Click headline to read:

Here is some text, but the two videos below also tell the same story. And they show the kitten:

A missed connection at O’Hare turned into an airport adoption when the ‘cat distribution system’ struck during a traveler’s smoke break.

Minnesota native Virgil Wiebe was at O’Hare Airport waiting out a long delay when he stepped outside to smoke a cigar, he told NBC Chicago. While at the little park outside Terminal 1, Wiebe said his new little furry orange friend came running up to him.

“He sort of appeared out of nowhere,” Wiebe said. “I already missed one flight, and I figured, well, I might be missing another one.”

Wiebe looked around for a mother, assuming it may have been born in the bushes, but couldn’t find one. So, he took the kitten and went up to ticketing counter.

“The TSA agent had no idea what to do, said they never seen a stray at the airport,” Wiebe said. “They tried to be helpful, said ‘you’re gonna need a kennel.'”

With his flight set to board, Wiebe used DoorDash to deliver a kennel and formula while United Airlines booked one more passenger on the flight home.

Wiebe said he was charged $150 for the cat ticket, “and that was it.”

It’s not clear how the three-week-old kitten — now named Macanudo O’Hare by Wiebe after the cigar he was smoking and the place they united, or Harry, for short — found its way to the middle of the world’s busiest airport. Nonetheless, he had a home with Wiebe from that moment forward.

“He’s just a joyful little thing, and it’s so coincidental how it all happened,” Wiebe said. “Who knows where Harry came from, but now he’s ours.”

Macanudo is a brand of cigar.  And here are two news videos:

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The Sphynx breed of cat, which is nearly completely hairless (they may have short hairs on their body) was developed around 1960. Hairlessness is caused by a recessive allele that makes the hairs fragile, so they fall out easily.  I don’t know anybody who has one, but I’ve encountered them at cat shows and even got to pet one (it was soft, feeling, as Wikipedia says, like chamois leather). They are known for their loving temperament. As Wikipedia says:

Sphynx are known for their extroverted behavior. They display a high level of energy, intelligence, curiosity and affection for their owners.  They are one of the more dog-like breeds of cats, frequently greeting their owners at the door, and are friendly when meeting strangers. Sphynx cats tend to be highly attached to their owners, often demanding large amounts of attention. This breed tends to cuddle for body warmth due to their lack of fur.  A study was conducted by the Journal of Veterinary Behavior in 2012, and while further research needs to be conducted, purebred Sphynx cats were rated by their owners as friendlier than purebred European cats.

Here’s a short video about a Sphynx cat named Gemini which freaks out its owner through incessant staring and “jump scaring”.  If any cat is a Halloween cat, it’s this one, not a black cat.

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Finally, we have a science paper published in PLOS One (first headline below) and a popularized account at ScienceAlert (second headline); click either headline to read for free. The upshot, happiness is associated with cat density across 93 countries, even when other factors correlated with cat density are removed:

The abstract of the paper above; bolding is mine.

National happiness is related not only to socioeconomic factors but also to biological and ecological factors. This ecological correlational study examined associations between national happiness, cat density, Toxoplasma gondii exposure, and socioeconomic indicators across 93 countries. We hypothesized that countries with higher socioeconomic indicators (e.g., GDP, health expenditure, income level) would exhibit higher happiness levels. In contrast, we predicted that higher T. gondii exposure, both acute (IgM) and chronic (IgG), would be negatively associated with national happiness. Data on happiness measures, cat density, GDP per capita, income classification, health expenditure, and T. gondii seroprevalence in pregnant women (as a proxy for broader population exposure) were obtained from publicly available sources. In line with our hypothesis, we found that national happiness was positively associated with cat density and some socioeconomic factors and negatively associated with IgM seroprevalence. In multivariate analyses, cats per 10,000 inhabitants and IgM seroprevalence remained the strongest independent predictors. Overall, these exploratory analyses suggest that biological and ecological factors are associated with socioeconomic variables in determining national well-being. Future studies of happiness at the national level should integrate both socioeconomic and biological perspectives and include longitudinal and interdisciplinary approaches to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and processes.

Toxoplasma gondii is a neural parasite that humans contract from cat feces. Infections are found in all warm-blooded animals but the only host in which the parasite can reproduce sexually appears to be felids.  Most infected people (10%-30% of people in these countries are infected) are asymptomatic, but some people develop flu-like symptom, muscle aches, and, if immunocompromised, could have seizures and even worse symptoms.

The authors theorized that toxoplasmosis incidence would be associated with poor countries because it’s spread by outdoor cats in areas with poor sanitation, rats, and so on. Because happiness is negatively correlated with such conditions, the authors theorized that toxoplasmosis incidence would be associated with lower happiness. In contrast, because having pets relieves loneliness, the authors also supposed that cat ownership in a country would be correlated with its inhabitants’ happiness.  Here’s a map from the paper showing the 93 countries that had data on toxoplasmosis (immunological data taken from pregnant women), cat ownership, economic conditions, and happiness:

Here’s a “heatmap” showing correlations between the measured variables,with positive correlations in purple, negative in red, and asterisks showing statistical significance. Note that these are not independent effects with cross-correlations removed. Cat density, for example, is highly correlated with both income and GDP (which of course are correlated with each o0ther), so the high correlation between cat density and happiness (0.623, highly significant), could result simply because people in high-income countries can afford to have cats, and are also happier because they make more money.

Eliminating cross-correlations between some variables to reduce spurious effects, the authors still found that cat density was highly significantly associated with happiness (my bolding).

Due to high multicollinearity between GDP and income (VIFs = 7.61 and 7.41, respectively) these variables were excluded from the exploratory regression analysis. While residuals showed a non-normality distribution (Shapiro-Wilk p < 0.05), the model was robust to this deviation given the sample size (N = 93) and the maintenance of linearity and homoscedasticity. Health expenditure was retained as the primary socioeconomic indicator, as it represents a more direct proxy for national wealth (for example, because it relates to public health infrastructure). Therefore, only cat density, health expenditure, and T. gondii IgM and IgG seroprevalence were included as predictors (VIF < 1.71 in all cases). Our model accounted for 47.0% of the variance in national happiness (R² = 0.470, F_(4,88) = 19.500, p < 0.001) and showed that cat density positively (β = 0.520, p < 0.001) and IgM negatively (β = −0.240, p = 0.021) significantly contributed to the prediction of happiness scores. 

You can read the article below for a more popular account:

An excerpt from the above:

The findings suggest that biological and ecological factors can play a role in finding that much-desired feeling of happiness, factors which aren’t typically included in studies.

“This goes against the simple assumption that having more cats necessarily means greater parasite exposure and suggests that factors such as pets management, sanitation, and socioeconomic conditions may be important,” says biologist Javier I. Borráz-León, from the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz in Mexico.

The popular presentation doesn’t discuss the picking apart of factors to make them independent, but the lesson is clear:  CATS MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY!

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Lagniappe: First, an adventure cat:

An attempt to create seeing-eye cats:

A cat airline:

Finally, a loving moggy:

h/t: Marion, Peter, Robert, Michael, Merilee

We have the usual three items today plus a bit of lagniappe.

Reader Peter found the mother lode of cat videos: MelodyMeowsic, which is a bunch of AI videos featuring jazz-playing cats and, I think, AI-composed music. But it’s worth a look anyway, and since the videos are often an hour long, you can use them as background music (with an occasional glance at the moggies) or as music to fall asleep to.  Here’s their description:

Welcome to a world where modern jazz meets feline elegance. ✨

Melody Meowsic is an elegant modern jazz cat band bringing smooth, sophisticated sounds to every moment. Our music blends the warm tones of acoustic guitar, soulful saxophone, expressive piano, gentle soft drums, and deep upright bass into a beautifully relaxing experience. 🎹🎸🎷 🎶

From calm mornings and productive work sessions to cozy cafés, late nights, reading, studying, relaxing, or simply enjoying life — there’s always a place for our smooth jazz. 🎧

Premium sound. Cinematic visuals. Timeless melodies.
Every video is crafted with our highest commitment to audio and visual quality, creating an immersive lounge experience you can return to anytime.

You can go to the site by clicking on the link below. I’ll add two videos.

Yes, they’re not perfect (the music is sometimes out of synch with the cats’ playing, and the cats have human thumbs!), but imagine the work that went into videos like these.

Autumn jazz. Be sure to notice the cats in the audience:

Lakeside jazz:

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If you click on the link below, you’ll go to a Nice News article about a California couple with a wonderful dream, one that’s nearly fulfilled. They want to photograph every one of the forty species of wild felids on Earth,

An excerpt:

A married California couple has made it their mission to photograph all 40 wild cat species on Earth — and they only have one more to go. The stunning images serve to raise awareness about the animals, many of which are vulnerable or endangered.

So far, Sebastian Kennerknecht and Rachel Tobias have traveled to 33 countries across five continents and photographed 39 species in the Felidae family, often using camera traps in forests, deserts, and grasslands where the elusive cats roam.

The San Francisco-based duo has captured images of a cheetah in Tanzania, a tiger in India, and an ocelot in Panama. The only species they have yet to cross off the list is the northern oncilla, found in Central America. It’s a rarely seen animal, and one of smallest wild cats in the Americas.

Kennerknecht, 41, has been photographing cats since college: He studied ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to understand animals and became particularly interested in bobcats. Tobias, 37, grew up loving wildlife and was always drawn to the ocean and photography. The two met online, and they instantly connected over their love of nature. Fittingly, their first date was searching for bobcats.

This is a couple after my own heart.

In 2024, Kennerknecht realized he had photos of 30 of the world’s wild cats, so he and Tobias decided to go for the full 40. In addition to photography, the couple run cat expeditions together, taking out small groups to observe the felines in their natural habitat and learn how to photograph them.

They’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through their work. One photo of a Borneo Bay cat brought in $120,000 for conservation efforts, and they collected around $70,000 per year for five years to protect lion species in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. They are partnered with Panthera, the world’s leading wild cat conservation organization.

. . .Kennerknecht told Talk to the Press that the couple’s work is “99% frustration and 1% joy,” noting that they’ve seen elephants crush their expensive camera traps, insects get into them, and humidity fog up lenses, rendering images unusable.

“We set up a studio in the forest,” Tobias explained, adding: “In Malaysia, we set up six traps; we had to sleep in the jungle full of bugs and carry 60 pounds of gear.”

Despite the project’s challenges, the couple is dedicated to ethical photography. They don’t use any bait or lures to attract the cats towards the cameras, so they can observe their natural behavior. “It’s much more successful for telling a story about the species,” said Tobias. “Telling a story between the viewer and the animal is really powerful for conservation.”

Here’s they are on the “pumapix” Instagram site, which documents their travels and pictures. The big cat conservation group Panthera is well worth supporting (I have done so).

Here’s a short video showing their travels and some photos and videos:

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There’s a new cat-related book that you might want to see, espcially if you have a literary bent: it’s called Great Writers and the Cats Who Owned Them by Susannah Fullerton (Amazon link here, where you can read a pretty long sample).

The Wall Street Journal has given it a positive review that you can see by clicking on the screenshot (if you have a subscription).

An excerpt:

Popular authors are often found lurking in the pages of newspapers—they publish excerpts of their books, write reviews and provide quotations. Sometimes they even place advertisements for their missing cats. When Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, lost track of a feline friend named Bambino in 1905, he wrote in to the New York American, urging readers to keep an eye out for “a distinguished looking cat” with “intensely black” and “velvety” fur. In the following days, hundreds of cats were delivered to Twain’s Manhattan residence by owners hoping to meet the novelist. The real Bambino, meanwhile, didn’t require chauffeuring; he eventually returned home of his own accord, unaware of the lengths to which humans had gone to retrieve him.

Bambino’s story is one of many amusing anecdotes recounted by Susannah Fullerton in “Great Writers and the Cats Who Owned Them,” a charming catalog of felines who have helped shape Western literature. Ms. Fullerton, a lecturer and literary historian, applies an impressive degree of scholarly precision to her subject matter, using the antics of cats such as Bambino to shed light on the private lives of authors ranging from Samuel Johnson and Robert Southey to Dorothy Sayers and Doris Lessing.

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Lagniappe: I saw this photo and caption on Facebook, but for the life of me I can’t find any other mention of these frustrated surveyors in Kansas. It may be “fake news”!

And reader Ginger K., who has contributed many items over the years for Caturday posts, has an announcement:

Today, Saturday, October 24, is my baby Stella’s birthday. She was born in a shelter, so her records contain her actual birth date.

I adopted Stella on July 4, 2023, from her original human mother. Mama had too many cats in her one-bedroom apartment. Not a hoarding situation, but Original Mama had eight cats and Stella was overwhelmed. Stella doesn’t like other cats. So she lives with me as my only cat.

Stella is a wonderful cat. She keeps me safe from bugs, is an attentive watch cat, and loves to sit in my lap.

I’ve attached a photo. Stella helps me make my bed, and she’s sitting on her favorite sheets.

Happy 13^th birthday, baby Stella!

Love,
New Mama

And a photo:

h/t: Barry, Peter N.

We have three items today. The first, from AnimalsAroundTheGlobe, describes 19 cat breeds that, so the author claims, bond so much with their staff that they can’t subequently find new staff. Click to read:

An excerpt:

Most people think cats are aloof, coolly indifferent little roommates who “don’t really care who feeds them.” That myth falls apart completely with the breeds on this list. These cats don’t just prefer a favorite human – they fuse to one person so deeply that separation can look and feel like real grief, not simple adjustment.

Some of these cats will refuse food from anyone else. Some will pace by the door for hours, waiting for a specific set of footsteps. And at least one breed on this list has rescue workers describing them as “confused ex-partners” instead of surrendered pets. Keep scrolling, because the higher this list climbs, the harder these bonds are to break – and the final entry might change how you think about “just a cat” for good.

Here are two, and I’ll list the rest:

The Chartreux gets marketed as a “smiling, easygoing” French cat, but long-time fanciers will quietly warn you: once a Chartreux bonds, they are emotionally all-in. These cats rarely meow, yet they communicate volumes through eye contact, body language, and sheer physical closeness. They’re the type to park themselves on your laptop, not to be annoying, but to stay physically connected to you at all times.

Tonkinese cats sit genetically between Siamese and Burmese, and emotionally, they often feel like both breeds turned up to eleven. They’re social, extroverted, and crave near-constant interaction, but they usually choose one person as their emotional anchor and orbit them obsessively. That person gets the warmest greetings, the loudest purrs, and the most insistent lap invasions.

Tonks don’t do well in quiet, lonely homes. They want noise, activity, and – critically – their chosen human within easy reach. When separated, many turn vocal or destructive, not out of spite but sheer frustration. Rehoming a deeply bonded Tonkinese can feel like uprooting a tree with your bare hands; some never trust quite as fully again.

The others include Russian Blue, Korat, Burmese, Siamese, Ragdoll, Birman, Scottish Fold, Singapura, Oriental Shorthair, Turkish Van, Sphynx, Devon Rex, Cornish Rex, Abyssynian,  Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest Cat, and American Burmese.  Now you know some of these can be rehomed, but yes, I’ve heard that some of these breeds are “clingy.” If you have relevant experience with any, weigh in below.  One more excerpt:

The Bottom Line:

When people say “cats are independent,” they’re usually talking about the wrong cats – or no cats at all. The breeds on this list don’t just tolerate human company; they build an entire emotional universe around one specific person and defend that connection with startling intensity.

That devotion is what makes them magical in the right home and genuinely difficult to rehome once the bond is set. “Someone else will adopt them” isn’t a neutral fallback with these cats – for some, losing their one person is a real psychological wound, not a minor inconvenience.

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

Ernest Hemingway

If you change jobs often, move constantly, or treat pets as temporary houseguests, several of these breeds simply aren’t a fair match for your life. But if you’re ready for a ride-or-die relationship with fur, claws, and occasionally inconvenient devotion, these one-person cats offer a level of loyalty most dog owners insist doesn’t exist outside their own species. Which breed on this list do you think is the most impossible to rehome – and would you sign up for that kind of love anyway?

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This NYT article is really a 4-minute podcast segment about how cat food companies (and yes, there’s some about d*g food) tweak their products to deal with finicky cats whose preferences change over time.

And here’s a recent NYT article how animal food companies use captive moggies (and d*ggies) to decide what the market wants. Click to read if you subscribe:

An excerpt:

Imagine dozens of cats napping or milling around a space that looks a lot like a pet day care center.

Every day at 4 p.m., dinner is served. The cats step into cubbyholes, each with two trays of kibble atop scales. The cats choose which food they like better, and the scales measure how much they consume. Nutritionists at a Royal Canin pet center in southern France are watching: Which kibble do the animals prefer? How enthusiastically do they chow down? A team uses the data to adjust recipes and devise new ones.

Pet food makers like Royal Canin, owned by the global consumer conglomerate Mars, are pouring money into research to understand the palates of cats and dogs — and to cater to people who see their pets as family members. Even as the war in Iran has spurred inflation and wage growth has not kept up, the pet food market has kept growing.

And as pandemic pets, adopted in droves in 2020, enter middle age, pet food makers are zeroing in on foods aimed at aiding aching joints, strengthening tired muscles and protecting cognitive function.

“Aging is one of the biggest opportunities,” said Cécile Coutens, president of Royal Canin. The company’s senior cat food line includes extra-soft mousse for cats ages 11 and up and easy-to-eat kibble for cats 15 and up. Many companies sell supplements for cats with dementia and to support healthy brain aging.

. . . More than $17 billion was spent on cat food in the United States over the last year, up 14 percent from the same period two years ago, according to NielsenIQ, a consumer research firm. (Dog food sales were roughly even.) In contrast to previous generations, when parents took in pets at the request of their children, people today often have pets before they have children, if they have children, Ms. Coutens said.

Companies are investing in premium pet food lines that cater to wealthier people, as the K-shaped economy — shorthand for the widening gap between the rich and poor — persists.

While in some ways cats are lower maintenance than dogs, cats tend to require some human ingenuity when it comes to food.

Here’s an independent cat person discussing the Royal Canin cat food brand, which offer over 100 different type of cat foods (!), including foods for specific breeds, lifestyles, age, and so on. The review isn’t that glowing, criticizing the dry food for encouraging urinary problems. (It’s important to get your cat to drink.). She also says that for wet food, less expensive food may have a similarly balanced diet. A cat expert I talked to says that Royal Canin Food is okay, and so is Science Diet, and you may want to get your cat a mixture of wet and dry food, along with some NO SALT chicken broth to help them hydrate.  The Expert also said that you should take your cat to the vet once a year for a checkup, and get a blood panel to detect any problems (senior cats, over 6 or 7 years old, require additional blood tests).  Yes, it costs more, but cats are members of the family!

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Finally, a reader informed me that Pasadena, California has an annual Cat Convention that’s described in the article below (click to read for free):

At the Pasadena Convention Center on Saturday, a woman with bright green hair and enormous furry ears posed beside a man wearing matching ears and a mechanical-looking face mask. Nearby, a mannequin modeled a burgundy velvet robe embroidered with the words “Cat Lady.” Somewhere else, someone was in a booth for a video explaining how to pet a cat.

Welcome to CatCon 2026, where the cats are celebrities, the humans are devoted fans and nobody thinks twice about wearing whiskers in public.

Saturday’s festivities were sold out, according to floor manager Andru Cantu, who surveyed the bustling convention halls with satisfaction.

“We stopped selling tickets because we were sold out for Saturday,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of really good vendors giving away a lot of really cool treats and samples.”

And what a selection.

There were cat-themed stickers, plush toys, handmade blankets, elaborate costumes and enough feline merchandise to furnish a reasonably eccentric household. The Temptations booth featured a giant yellow “Cat Bodega,” while another vendor offered something called Rad Cat, complete with a retro beach-van illustration.

At “How to Pet Your Cat,” suggesting that even the most experienced cat owners might have something left to learn.

Presiding over the festivities was Stephen Ray Morris, CatCon’s emcee, a veteran convention moderator and former host of a cat-themed podcast called “The Pur Cast.”

For Morris, CatCon offers something beyond shopping and celebrity sightings. It provides a gathering place for people whose pets have no time for such silliness.

“Dog people [have] the dog park, whereas cat people have CatCon,” he explained.

Cantu suggested that the appeal goes even deeper.

“I think it helps the people who feel a little bit less included to feel included with fellow cat people,” he said.

Indeed, among the colorful costumes, elaborate displays and tables overflowing with feline paraphernalia, the convention seemed less like a trade show than an enormous gathering of people who understood one another perfectly.

After all, loving a creature that routinely ignores you requires a certain shared understanding.

And at CatCon, there was plenty of that to go around. Meow.

A half-hour video documenting CatCon, which appears to be one of the biggest cat shows/conventions in the U.S.:

Here’s a news video documenting one feature of this year’s convention: hunky beefcake Aussie firefighters who love cats:

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Lagniappe: Two items today.  First, cats who make weird meows, including one who grunts like a pig and another who sounds like a typewriter:

And The Kiffness returns with a new song, “Hey Luga Luga”:

h/t: Robert, Divy

Thanks to readers, we’ve scraped up enough cat-related articles to have another Caturday felid post.  But it’s precarious! We have contributions but not enough ailurophiles.

First, a rare cat article from the NYT praising “cat men”. Now you don’t need two X-chromosomes to be stereotyped. Click below to read, or find the article archived here.

An excerpt:

Before [joseph] Clayson drove trucks, he spent six years in the military, which he described as “not really a career that draws cat lovers.” He rarely sees other truck drivers with cats, but when he does, he said, it signals an understanding.

“When I see another dude with a cat in his truck and I walk up to say hi, I feel like they’re on the same wavelength as me,” he said. “They’re not worried about looking ultramasculine.”

Cats haven’t changed: They’ve always been independent, mercurial, complex and selective with affection. But as cat ownership in the United States surges, many men’s perceptions of what it means to own a cat — and culture’s perceptions of the men who own them — are shifting.

In the United States, the ranks of cat people have continued to grow. According to the American Pet Products Association, 2024 was a record year, with cat ownership surging 23 percent. And an APPA report published Monday found that men account for 43 percent of U.S. cat owners, with a particular bump in Gen Z male cat ownership.

Amid this growth, a slew of recent ad campaigns celebrate the idea of the “cat dad” as not simply a man who owns a cat, but a softer, more emotionally literate version of a man.

People magazine teamed up with Temptations treats to name the actor Dave Franco the magazine’s first “Sexiest Cat Dad” last fall. In February, Christina Najjar, an author and lifestyle influencer known as Tinx, began a partnership with the cat food brand Jinx built around the idea that being a cat person is now a dating green flag. For Father’s Day 2025, the cat food brand Smalls ran a campaign that framed cat dads as role models, with the slogan “cat dads > other men.”

Here’s a video from Temptations cat treats showing how they rejiggered their advertising to appeal to “cad dads”:

. . .Smalls got the inspiration for its cat dad campaign from the N.B.A. star Jordan Poole’s reveal of the “Secret Society of N.B.A. Cat Dads,” where the famous cat lover confessed he was persuading fellow players, including Steph Curry and Myles Turner, to get cats.

The professional athlete cat dad flies in the face of men-with-cats stereotypes. A 2020 study from Colorado State University found that men holding cats were viewed as less masculine; more neurotic, agreeable and open; and therefore, less datable by women. (The study did not cover how cats affected gay men’s perceptions of potential partners.)

. . .In her 2022 documentary “Cat Daddies,” which features nine cat dads and their furry companions, Mye Hoang follows a firefighter, a police officer and an immigrant living on the streets of New York City, among others. She became interested in the topic after seeing more men with cats on Instagram. “Seeing men being vulnerable with a little creature is just something I hadn’t thought about,” she said. Her new documentary, “25 Cats From Qatar,” which is about a cat rescue in the country, is screening now.

Hoang said she had seen an uptick in single men in the cat community in recent years, and was even considering moving to Portland, Ore., or Minneapolis, which reportedly have higher concentrations of single cat dads. “If you’re willing to put up with a cat, you’re probably willing to put up with me,” she said. “You are probably a good partner.”

And, for your delectation, here’s the full 1.5-hour documentary “Cad Daddies”:

And here’s the trailer for Hoang’s “25 Cats from Qatar”:

Finally, an adorable Cat Daddy:

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We just finished the Fat Bear Contest with Backpack taking gold. Now it’s time for the Chonky Cat Contest, run by Jonathan Edward Durham on Facebook. Vote for the chonkiest cat and notice that “It’s not just about size. It’s about vibe. . . ”

There are nineteen potential winners and I’ll show a selection below. You vote in the comments on a particular chonkster you love.

Here are six, but go over and see ’em all:

Now of course it’s not healthy for a cat to be a chonk, so I’m not encouraging the production of fat cats!

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Fox News 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth reports on the birth of twin Sumatran Tiger cubs at the Fort Worth Zoo. Click on the headline below to read, and watch the video at bottom:

The short article:

The cub sisters were born in July to first-time mom, Ndari, and dad, Rakan.

They’re now 12 weeks old and weigh about 20 pounds. That’s about the same as a large pumpkin.

The smaller of the two cubs is named Barani, which means “brave.” Her sister’s name is Malu, which means “reserved.”

Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, with fewer than 650 left in the wild.

Fort Worth Zoo’s Samatran tigers live in the newly renovated Predators of Asia and Africa habitat, which opened in 2023.

The cubs’ birth marks the first time Samatran tiger cubs have ever been born at the Fort Worth Zoo.

. . . The zoo said the cubs will make their public debut in the coming weeks.

Now the Sumatran tiger is not a species of tiger, as there is only one, Panthera tigris. Rather, as Wikipedia notes, it’s a subspecies of the tiger, a population called Panthera tigris sondaica that lives on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.  There were population on Bali and Java, but they went extinct in the last century, and now there are nine named subspecies.

Here are the adorable cubs:

Lagniappe:

I don’t know who Colin the cat is, nor can I find any information about him on the Internet. But someone is interested in where he wanders:

pic.twitter.com/veXZ6AEj1a

— jane bellamy (@Stan2415loveu) September 26, 2026

Here’s a hyper-excited man talking about the Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi  (1798-1861), described by Wikipedia as

. . . . one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting.^[2] He was a member of the Utagawa school.^[3]

The range of Kuniyoshi’s subjects included many genres: landscapes, women, Kabuki actors, cats, and mythical animals. He is known for depictions of the battles of legendary samurai heroes.^[4] His artwork incorporated aspects of Western representation in landscape painting and caricature.^[2] He was an excellent teacher and had numerous pupils who continued his branch of the Utagawa school. His most important student was Yoshitoshi.

You can see several of Kuniyoshi’s cat paintings at the Wikipedia site. Here’s one in which he’s used cats to form the Japanese symbol for “catfish”:

The Japanese script for “catfish” in regular writing (kanji):

Here’s Jen, the Good News Girl, desribing Kiki the Scottish cat, who goes to school with her servant every day and hangs around until the servant goes home.

h/t: Stash Krod, Keith, Michael, Mark

We have three items this week, though Caturday Felids is moribud because of lack of interest. If comments are not in the two figures here, I’m giving up, and for real.

First, we have a short report from Canada of two “adventure cats”, Fitz and Vlad.  These are now becoming so common that I think that many cats can, with proper training, can become Adventure Cats.

The adventures of these cats are documented on the Facebook site Fitzcapades, which has 631,000 followers. Here’s a photo of the two cats kayaking taken from the site. And don’t tell me they don’t enjoy it!

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I’ve written many times about how medieval artists were unable to paint or draw cats, although they did pretty good with humans. Frequently they’d put human faces on cats, but they’d always screw them up completely. Cheezburger has a hilarious collection of bizarre medieval cat paintings here, and I’ll post five for your amusement:

Now, for only $40, you can buy 24 figurines of bizarre medieval cats. It would make a perfect present to give an ailurophire, art lover, or connoisseur of the bizzare. If you give it to someone on December 1, they’ll have a weird cat every day until Christmas Eve. Go to the link above or see the Facebook post below (click on it). I’m not sure if the figures are based on real drawings of medieval cats, but who cares?

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And here’s a treat if you like cat-themed entertainment: a whole two hours of a documentary on cats narrated by British actress and presenter Joanna Lumley. There are two parts to this “Catwoman” series, and I’ve watched bits of both. It’s very good and full of information and entertainment. Distributed by ITV studios, it was first made in 2009 but of course is still current, as cats haven’t changed. I’ve put the two parts, each 45 minutes long, in order below:

Part 1 (Lumley goes to Chicago at 2:45 to see our Cat Circus):

Part 2:

Have a look and you might well be drawn in.

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Lagniappe:

The bent tails of Nagasaki’s street cats. Many cats in that Japanese town have bent tails or bobtails, and they’re considered lucky.

And look at the size of this lynx!  (Do not try this at home.)

h/t: Marion, Ginger K.

This is an educational and fun 53-minute episode on cats from NOVA, described by the series this way:

Worshipped as a goddess, condemned as satanic, and spun into a stunning array of breeds, cats have long fascinated humans. But did we ever really domesticate them? And what can science tell us about our most mysterious companions? (Premiered February 19, 2020)

Here are the various sections of the video; the links will take you to a given section. But it’s easier to watch the whole thing! It’s all about domestic cats, neglecting the other 40 living species of felid.

Chapters 00:00
Introduction 03:16
Why Are People Obsessed with Cats? 09:28
Why Aren’t Cats Expressive? 12:46
Can Cats Understand Our Emotions? 14:28
Domestic Cat Relative 18:13
Earliest Encounter Between Human and Cat 21:51
Cat Abilities 25:30
How Do Cats Differ from Their Wild Ancestors 28:30
Importance of Cats in Egypt 34:54
How Domestic Cats Spread Around the World 42:10
The Difference of Feral Cats 46:18
Can Cats Be Trained Like Dogs? 49:04
Breeding of Hybrid Cats 51:12
Conclusion  53 minutes

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For now I’m on a cat-grooming video kick, and here we have a very loud cat named Harley who doesn’t want to be groomed. One alert YouTube commenter noted that the cat meowed 101 times in this 5½-minute video.  Sadly, he has to wear the Cone of Shame. However, the commentary is quite good.

Another commenter said this:

We just casually gloss over how this was without a doubt the single most well behaved cat she ever groomed. No swatting, no hissing, no running away, he stayed put IN THE BATH TUB. He can be as loud as he wants. That cat is any pet groomer’s dream.

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The Algonquin Hotel in New York City was famous for its daily “Round Table,” in which luminaries, wits, critics, and writers would forgather for lunch. The talk was copious and sharp; here’s the Wikipedia description:

The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of “The Vicious Circle”, as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.

Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.

In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.

The members (there’s a long list on the site) included Dorothy Parker (the most famous wit), George Kaufman, Harold Ross, Alexander Woollcott, Robert Benchley, Heywood Broun, and, from time to time, Tallulah Bankhead, Noël Coward, Edna Ferber, and Harpo Marx (yes, he spoke),

That legendary circle is now gone, but the hotel has harbored an uninterrupted series of cats, as described in the article below (click to read).

From Wikipedia:

The Algonquin Hotel has kept a cat in its lobby since the late 1920s. The practice was formerly thought to have originated in the 1930s, but a book by Frank Case indicates that he had cared for a cat named Billy until the feline’s death in the 1920s.  According to administrative assistant Alice de Almeida (the hotel’s “chief cat officer”), the current practice started when the hotel took in a stray male cat that was originally named Rusty. When a guest was sick, Rusty frequently went to that guest’s room and stayed there until they had recovered. Rusty was renamed Hamlet at the suggestion of John Barrymore, who at the time was performing on Broadway in the play Hamlet.  Since then, all the male cats have been named Hamlet, while all the female cats have been named Matilda. It is not clear why female cats are named Matilda, but all the Hamlets are named after the original cat. The hotel has had eight Hamlets and three Matildas in its history. The Algonquin acquired its current cat, Hamlet VIII, in 2017. {JAC: See below.]

The hotel’s lobby contains two feline tree houses. The cat’s collar interacts with an electric geo-fence, which prevents the cat from leaving the lobby, because the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene does not permit animals in dining areas.  The cat has received several gifts from visitors, including four oil paintings. Many people have visited the Algonquin specifically to see the hotel’s cat. One of the male cats was featured in the illustrated book Algonquin Cat;  when that cat died in 1982, his obituary appeared in Variety magazine.  Another cat, a female Ragdoll, was named 2006 cat of the year at the Westchester Cat Show.

Every August, the hotel holds a fundraiser with a feline fashion show featuring the hotel’s cat. The fashion shows started in the 1930s and have raised money for such initiatives as the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. In addition, the hotel hosts birthday parties for its cat; these events have also served as fundraisers, such as in 2010, when Matilda III’s fifteenth birthday raised money for North Shore Animal League America.^[227] The Wall Street Journal wrote that the cat’s birthday party “is the kind of party where you would find […] $20 Purrtinis for sale, made of Grey Goose vodka, lychee juice, coconut, white creme de cacao and lemon juice and advertisements for Reiki treatments for cats. It is also a party where you would see a cat dressed as a fruit basket…”

Here’s the lineup over the past 40 years

You should stay there when you visit NYC (if you can afford it). If not, at least go visit and see Hamlet VIII

The Algonquin cats have an Instagram post here, and you can read more about the cats (and the Round Table) here (scroll down).  Below is a FB post by Jen (“The Good News Girl”) about the latest Hamlet and his personal assistant (click on the arrow):

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Lagniappe:

Here’s a store in Istanbul with a hat-wearing cat that attracts business (cats are a GREAT way to pull in customers; see below).

I was taken by the several cats frequenting this Istanbul rug shop near the Hagia Sophia.  In fact, over the next three days, I stopped by every day to pet the cats and bargain, and came away with several beautiful rugs. The owner admitted that the cats pulled in customers, and I was one of them!

From FB: cute cats sleeping (click on the arrow):

And the story of a cat who was summoned by mistake to serve on a jury.  Click on the icon to see more.

We’re back with another Caturday post with three—count them, three—items of substance, and two of lagniappe. The first one is from The Independent; the “love hormone: turns out to be oxytocin, which has this complex structure (it’s a neuropeptide, with the amino acid residues labeled):

Click the headline to read how the “love hormone” soothes us when we interact with cats:

An excerpt (indented):

Cats may have a reputation for independence, but emerging research suggests we share a unique connection with them – fuelled by brain chemistry.

The main chemical involved is oxytocin, often called the love hormone. It’s the same neurochemical that surges when a mother cradles her baby or when friends hug, fostering trust and affection. And now studies are showing oxytocin is important for cat-human bonding too.

Oxytocin plays a central role in social bonding, trust and stress regulation in many animals, including humans. One 2005 experiment showed that oxytocin made human volunteers significantly more willing to trust others in financial games.

Oxytocin also has calming effects in humans and animals, as it suppresses the stress hormone cortisol and activates the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system) to help the body relax.

Scientists have long known that friendly interactions trigger oxytocin release in both dogs and their owners, creating a mutual feedback loop of bonding. Until recently, though, not much was known about its effect in cats.

Cats are more subtle in showing affection. Yet their owners often report the same warm feelings of companionship and stress relief that dog owners do – and studies are increasingly backing these reports up. Researchers in Japan, for example, reported in 2021 that brief petting sessions with their cats boosted oxytocin levels in many owners.

In that study, women interacted with their cats for a few minutes while scientists measured the owners’ hormone levels. The results suggested that friendly contact (stroking the cat, talking in a gentle tone) was linked to elevated oxytocin in the humans’ saliva, compared with a quiet resting period without their cat.

Many people find petting a purring cat is soothing, and research indicates it’s not just because of the soft fur. The act of petting and even the sound of purring can trigger oxytocin release in our brains. One 2002 study found this oxytocin rush from gentle cat contact helps lower cortisol (our stress hormone), which in turn can reduce blood pressure and even pain.

Research is pinpointing specific moments that cause the release of this hormone in our cross-species friendship. Gentle physical contact seems to be a prime trigger for cats.

A February 2025 study found that when owners engaged in relaxed petting, cuddling or cradling of their cats, the owners’ oxytocin tended to rise, and so did the cats’ – if the interaction was not forced on the animal.

The researchers monitored oxytocin in cats during 15 minutes of play and cuddling at home with their owner. Securely attached cats who initiated contact such as lap-sitting or nudging showed an oxytocin surge. The more time they spent close to their humans, the greater the boost.

. . . Are cats just less loving than d*gs?

It’s true that studies generally find stronger oxytocin responses in dog–human interactions. In one widely discussed 2016 experiment, scientists measured oxytocin in pets and owners before and after ten minutes of play. Dogs showed an average 57% spike in oxytocin levels after playtime, whereas cats showed about a 12% increase.

This is of course because d*gs have been bred to be worshipful sycophants, while cats retain a measure of independence. At any rate, words to remember:

So, next time your cat blinks slowly from across the sofa or climbs on to your lap for a purr-filled cuddle, know that something invisible is happening too: oxytocin is rising in both your brains, deepening the trust and soothing the stress of daily life. Cats, in their own way, have tapped into the ancient biology of love.

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Meet Cleopatra, who, in this 7-minute video, gets groomed for the first time. She’s “severely compacted” rather than matted, with tons of shedded undercoat remaining in her fur. There is a ton of fur. She even gets her nails cut and has a bath, but, with her hoodie and cone, she remains relatively calm. As the groomer says, “[Cleopatra] was an absolute pleasure to work with.”

I don’t know if amost groomers are this kind and thorough, and of course she knows she’s on camera, but if I had a fur-clogged moggy I’d take her to this person.

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This article, from MetLife Pet Insurance (click screenshot to read) is full of useful information. Which states are “dog states” versus “cat states”? Which cities have the most of the best pets versus d*gs?

Here’s the method behind the survey, and realize that the same is not all that large. Also, determining the “leaning” of cities and states is done by using Internet searches, which is dubious. But let’s assume for the time being that the results are fairly accurate:

This survey, conducted by Fractl on behalf of MetLife on July 7, 2026, gathered responses from 1,005 U.S. adults to settle America’s dog-versus-cat divide and uncover how pet preference aligns with personality, lifestyle, and relationships. Respondents had an average age of 42; 50% identified as men, 49% as women, 1% as nonbinary, and under 1% declined to specify their gender. Generationally, 35% were baby boomers or Gen X, 47% were millennials, and 18% were Gen Z. Of those surveyed, 84% were pet owners: 39% owned a dog only, 24% owned a cat only, and 21% lived in multi-species households with both a dog and a cat, while 16% had no pets at the time of the survey.

In addition to the survey, Fractl analyzed Google search volume data from June 2025 to May 2026 to determine each state’s and major city’s dominant pet preference. The research reviewed 84 dog- and cat-related search terms, organized into 40 matched dog-versus-cat pairs (such as “puppy adoption” vs. “kitten adoption” and “dog park near me” vs. “cat cafe near me”), across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 55 major metropolitan areas.

Because dog-related terms out-search cat-related terms nationwide, researchers measured each location’s relative lean, meaning its share of paired dog searches compared with the national average, rather than raw volume, so that a “Dog State” or “Cat State” leans relative to the rest of the country rather than in absolute terms. Researchers weighted all 40 pairs equally and excluded four unpaired terms (“dog leash,” “dog walker,” “cat litter,” and “litter box”) that had no cross-species counterpart, to keep the index balanced.

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The main results:

Mississippi, Wyoming, and South Carolina are America’s most dog-obsessed states, led by Mississippi, where dog-related searches run 120% above cat searches.

• Washington, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts are America’s most cat-obsessed states, anchoring a cat belt across the Pacific Northwest and New England.
• America splits 27 dog-leaning states to 23 cat-leaning states, plus Washington, D.C., a near-even national divide.
• El Paso, TX, is the most dog-obsessed metro in the country, and Philadelphia, PA, is the most cat-obsessed, with big cities leaning far more feline than the states around them.
• Americans call themselves dog people over cat people by nearly 2 to 1 (47% vs. 28%).
• Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. pet owners (31%) would choose their pet over their partner in a serious conflict.
• Over 1 in 2 U.S. adults (57%) say a partner’s pet preference could be a dealbreaker, and 18% say a partner must share their preference, no exceptions.

The last result surprised me the most!  Here’s the geographic split, which leads me to believe, to my satisfaction, that, compared to Republicans, Democrats are more likely to own cats than dogs: Somebody should do the correlation between percentage of Democrats versus percentage of cats (and ditto for Republicans). From the site:

Mississippi is the most dog-obsessed state in the country, where dog-related searches run 120% above cat searches. A dog belt runs through the Deep South and Mountain West, while a cat belt stretches across New England and the Pacific Northwest. Each state’s lean index below shows how far its dog-versus-cat search mix runs above or below the national average, with positive scores leaning dog and negative scores leaning cat.

The East and West coasts have a relatively higher ownership of cats than do the middle-of-America states and the South.

And for cities:

El Paso is the most dog-obsessed metro in the country, with dog-related searches 135% above cat searches. The strongest dog metros cluster across the Sun Belt and South, mirroring the dog belt at the state level.

Philadelphia is the most cat-obsessed metro, and the cat list is dominated by coastal and tech hubs. Cities also polarize more than states. The most cat-obsessed metro leans nearly twice as feline as the most cat-obsessed state, so the divide sharpens in urban America.

And some psychology and behavior. I’m surprised that people post more on their dogs than their cats, but not that cat people tend to be more introvert-ish and judgmental about their partner’s pet preferences.

Make what you will of these data, and post it below.

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Lagnaiappe:

Click below to learn how the police removed a bunch of ice to reach a cat (now named Cadence) trapped behind an ice machine (the news story is also on Chicago’s WGN news site):

More:

I can’t guarantee that this is real video, but I hope so:

Owners couldn’t figure out why the cat wasn’t sleeping in its bed.. then they saw this..🐈🐾😊 pic.twitter.com/D6a0a2ynkI

— Posts Of Cats (@PostsOfCats) January 27, 2025

h/t: Nicole, Erik