There’s little doubt that the richest cat in the world was Choupette, the pampered and beloved blue-cream Birman cat owned by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.  She was reported to have earned $3 million in one year alone, and, as the Atlantic article below notes, she had all her needs met—and more, until Lagerfeld died in 2019. First, here’s the pair from an Instagram post (click on screenshot to go to it). I don’t think she’s broke: read the Atlantic piece.

Click below to see the archived article; excerpts are indented:

More than seven years later, here is what is known for certain about the details of Lagerfeld’s will and estate: nothing. (Under French law, such matters are not made public.) But plenty has been rumored. Various figures close to Lagerfeld have been suggested as beneficiaries, including several male models and fashion executives, his bodyguard, his housekeeper, and the princess of Monaco. Even so, from the start, one improbable name has stood out: Choupette, Lagerfeld’s blue-cream Birman cat.

In the years before he died, Lagerfeld often spoke in extraordinary ways about the role Choupette played in his life. Listen to just a fraction of his avowals: “I never thought that I could fall in love with an animal like this.” “She is the center of the world. If you saw her, you would understand. She is kind of Greta Garbo.” “She has lunch and dinner with me, on the table, with her own dishes. She never touches my food. She would never eat on the floor.” “I have only one great love, my cat, Choupette.” And, ruefully, “There is no marriage, yet, for human beings and animals.”

The first public window into this change in Lagerfeld’s life came not long [after 2011], when a friend of his posted a picture of Choupette sitting wistfully in Lagerfeld’s apartment, next to what appears to be a full bathtub, an arrangement of several dozen roses arching over her. By that summer, Lagerfeld was explaining in interviews that Choupette was “like a kept woman”; that she had “two personal maids, for both night and day—she is beyond spoiled”; and that these maids, aside from their other duties, were charged with writing down every detail of Choupette’s behavior when he wasn’t around so that he might know what he had missed: “Everything she did, from what she ate, to how she behaved, if she was tired, and if she wasn’t sleeping.” Already, Lagerfeld declared, there were 600 pages of such documentation.

Choupette’s fame swiftly grew, and Lagerfeld routinely extolled the extravagance of his cat’s day-to-day life: how she ate chef-prepared meals off the best china, traveled by private jet, appeared with models on magazine covers, and starred in advertising campaigns. Lagerfeld proclaimed her the most famous cat in the world, and declared that her advertising work had made her independently wealthy. “She has her own fortune from things she did,” he stated. “She’s a rich girl!”

According to Lagerfeld, in 2014 alone, Choupette earned more than $3 million from campaigns for Opel Corsa cars and Shu Uemura’s Shupette makeup line. That same year came a book, Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat, including photos, biographical tidbits, and details of Choupette’s beauty regimen. A second book, Choupette by Karl Lagerfeld, 53 photos of Choupette taken by the designer on his iPhone, followed in 2018.

Once he adopted her, few Lagerfeld interviews failed to include testimony to Choupette’s outsize role in his life, albeit clearly one that reflected his own particular tastes and needs. “She’s peaceful, funny, fun, graceful, she’s pretty to look at, and she has a great gait,” he’d explain, “but her main quality is that she doesn’t speak. It was love at first sight.”

Then reality intervened. Lagerfeld had learned he had cancer several years before his death in a Paris hospital on February 19, 2019, but this was information he had shared with almost no one. To ensure that Choupette was properly taken care of after he was gone, he designated his housemaid Françoise Caçote, who had long been the cat’s primary lady-in-waiting (and diarist), as her ongoing caretaker. During Lagerfeld’s last days, she surreptitiously brought Choupette to his hospital room. Once, not long before Lagerfeld’s death, Choupette caused great panic by disappearing, feared lost in the wider hospital, until her tail was spotted sticking out from her hiding place in Lagerfeld’s en suite bathroom.

As the post-death arrangements were made (Lagerfeld would be cremated with a piece of aquamarine jewelry bearing Choupette’s likeness), the media speculation about Lagerfeld’s estate began. The narrative that this involved Choupette had been primed by Lagerfeld himself, who had referred to how, should he die first, Choupette would be lavishly provided for. Although some reports that week allowed that any bequest to Choupette was, as yet, unconfirmed, a fair few were more absolute—led, as many such narratives are, by the British press, even its supposedly more respectable sectors. Their cumulative message was clear: “A cat belonging to the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died on Tuesday, is reportedly in line to receive up to $300m (£230m) of his estate” (The Telegraph); “Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, Choupette, may be set to inherit some of his £150 million fortune” (the Daily Express); “Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette is reportedly set to inherit some of the formidable fashion designer’s £150m fortune” (the Independent).

The rest of the article—and it is a long one—deals with settling Lagerfeld’s estate (still unsettled because of French tax complications) and detailing what Choupette is doing: mostly occasional ads that punctuate her usual napping. The article is full of photos of the eccentric Lagerfeld and Choupette, so have a look.

Lagerfeld used Choupette’s image in his own products, and here are three photos I took of Choupette-y Lagerfeld products on offer at a fancy department store (Galeries Lafayette) in Paris in 2018:

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If you know anything about famous American cats, you’ll know about a cat named “Room 8” after a classroom the cat entered and inhabited for 16 years. Here’s an introduction from Wikipedia, but there are videos and more information below:

Room 8 (c. 1947 – August 13, 1968) was a cat who became a celebrity for attending Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California, United States. He wandered in through a window in 1952 and quickly made himself at home in Room 8, where he joined class for the next 16 years. Room 8 vanished each summer and reappeared in the fall when students returned, a routine he kept up until the mid-1960s.

In the 1960s, Room 8 became world famous. Beverly Mason, the school principal, said in a 1968 newspaper story: “He disappeared all summer, but the minute school started, the day the first bell rang, down the street he’d come. On the first day of school, every newspaper and television station in town showed up at the crack of dawn to watch this cat appear from out of the hills.”

A short from Jen,  Good News Girl:

More about Room 8 from Purr-n-Furr (click screenshot to read). It’s a good shortish summary with photos:

But if you really want to get into the details about how a feral tabby cat became world famous, and how students competed to get the coveted position of Cat Feeder, there is a 50-minute documentary film, and it’s a really good one:

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And from the Guardian we hear of a recent sighting of a sand cat (Felis margarita) in Libya, where it was not known to exist. Now there’s a short video (below).   Click to read:

An excerpt:

When wildlife photographer Mohammed Almuntasir uploaded 18 seconds of footage to YouTube, he thought little more about the small, pale cat seen digging a hollow in the sand in the remote dunes of south-west Libya.

The video, however, posted in 2017, turned out to be the first material evidence that the sand cat (Felis margarita), the world’s only felid adapted to true desert conditions, existed in the country.

“When I posted it, nobody believed it had been filmed in Libya,” he said. “Everyone denied it, but I kept insisting that the cat is here, in several places; one of them was only 70km (43 miles) from Zintan, where I live.”

Nearly a decade later there is increasing evidence that this was not just one sand cat but that south-western Libya may represent a previously unrecognised stronghold for the species. The sand cat is no bigger than a domestic cat and its sandy colour means it is almost impossible to spot in the terrain it inhabits, earning it the nickname “ghost of the desert”.

Almuntasir did not actively circulate his film of the cat, but it drew attention on its own, prompting numerous researchers to contact him over the years, including Firas Hayder, a zoologist specialising in small carnivores and a postdoctoral researcher at Sol Plaatje University in South Africa.

. . . Their efforts culminated in a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Arid Environments in February 2026 documenting the sand cat at 13 sites across the Libyan Sahara, as well as the Saharan striped polecat at eight new locations, seven of them outside the species’ recognised IUCN range. A high proportion of sand cat sightings, 15 out of 36, were concentrated in Wadi Armet, an isolated valley roughly 1,000km south-west of Tripoli.

. . .“This valley is incredibly vast,” Almuntasir says. “More than half of it remains unexplored because of how rugged the terrain is. Animals migrate there in summer because of the water. Many of them come from the Tassili n’Ajjer reserve on the other side of the Algerian border.”

The findings suggest that the species is more widespread and in better condition in Libya than previously believed, and that the country’s south-west may represent a strong refuge for desert-adapted species. The sand cat is one of a number of mammals considered threatened in Libya, including the cheetah, dama gazelle and sand gerbil.

. . .Because sand cats feed primarily on rodents such as jerboas, as well as venomous snakes and scorpions, they have an important role to play in preventing cascading damage to the limited vegetation that sustains desert ecosystems

“All Libyans should be involved in conservation efforts,” says Hayder. “They need to feel a sense of responsibility, that these species represent their environment and represent their country.”

Here’s the dispositive video showing the kitty getting some shade (and a scratch):

And here’s the distribution of the sand cat from Wikipedia. Notice that it doesn’t include Libya, but that should now be changed:

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Lagniappe: Three  good items today! The first is a satirical take on the oppression of moggies:

Extra lagnaippe! A cat who loves “soggy time”: taking a shower!

And a cat in a Ramen shop that has its own stool:

h/t: Matthew, Ginger K.

We have three cat-related items today, the first from the  Journal of Chemical Ecology. Click to read it, and after doing so you might consider giving your cats silver vine rather than catnip.

Silver vine (Actinidia polygama) grows in the mountainous areas of NE Asia, and has long been known as a cat attractant. Here’s a photo from Wikipedia labeled, “A silver vine plant with the eponymous silver markings on its leaves.”

Wikipedia says this about its effect on cats. (it has other medicinal and culinary uses for humans):

Silver vine has long been known to elicit euphoric response in cats.  The reaction to silver vine is similar to the response to catnip, but appears to be more intense. Silver vine is an alternative to catnip, and many cats that do not react to catnip will respond positively to silver vine powder made from dried fruit galls.  Typical behaviors include rolling, chin and cheek rubbing, drooling, and licking. The effect usually lasts between 5 and 30 minutes, but afterwards cats exhibit a refractory period lasting roughly an hour during which they are unresponsive to further dosage.

A study published in January 2021 suggests that felines are specifically attracted to the iridoids nepetalactol and nepetalactone, present in silver vine and catnip, respectively.  The compounds were found to repel mosquitos, and it is hypothesized that rubbing against the plants provides the cats with a chemical coat that protects them against mosquito bites.

That sounds weird but may be true: cats’ behavior may have evolved so that the moggy became attracted to the plant and rubs all over it: those cats who behave this way get fewer mosquito bites.  I suspect that’s wrong, though. Do cats get malaria or other reproduction-reducing maladies from mosquitoes?

Here’s a gif from Wikipedia of “A cat under the influence of Actinidia polygama“. It’s baked!

Here’s the paper’s abstract:

Chemical cues that appear potent in controlled laboratory bioassays do not necessarily function as effective behavioural cues under natural conditions, where animals can freely approach or ignore stimuli. How chemical detectability translates into voluntary behavioural engagement, therefore, remains an important unresolved question. Plant-derived semiochemicals provide a tractable system for examining this issue because the same compounds can be presented either as intact natural sources or as purified chemicals. Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) show a characteristic self-anointing response to iridoid-producing plants, including catnip (Nepeta cataria) and silver vine (Actinidia polygama), both widely regarded as cat-attractants. Here, we tested whether these plants differ in their ability to induce voluntary engagement under free-choice conditions. Free-roaming cats rarely showed self-anointing behaviour (face-rubbing and rolling) toward intact catnip plants, but consistently engaged with silver vine. The same bias toward silver vine was observed in captive cats presented simultaneously with plant extracts. Chemical analyses confirmed that catnip contained abundant bioactive nepetalactone, indicating that weak responsiveness was not explained by a lack of bioactive compounds. These findings demonstrate that chemical abundance and laboratory bioactivity do not necessarily predict behavioural reliability under natural encounter conditions. Instead, whether a cue consistently elicits voluntary engagement may determine its ecological effectiveness as a behavioural cue.

But can you buy silvervine, and is it dangerous? The answer to the second question is a firm “no”; vets say it is safe and nontoxic. The only dangers are possible ingestion of chew sticks if you buy silvervine in that form, and some stomach upset if the cat ingests too much.  Here’s Grok’s summary:

Silvervine comes in safe forms like powder (from the fruit galls), sprays, toys, and the aforementioned sticks. Powder or sprays are often sprinkled on toys, beds, or scratching posts. Some products are designed for light ingestion.In short: Silvervine is one of the safest and most effective plant-based enrichments for cats. It’s widely recommended by vets as a catnip alternative with an excellent safety profile. If your cat has any pre-existing health conditions, it’s always wise to check with your veterinarian before introducing new toys or treats, but for the vast majority of healthy cats, it’s perfectly fine and enjoyable.

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The Good News Girl reports on something that cat cognoscenti have known for a long time: Disneyland is populated by over 200 feral cats recruited to keep the rodent populations down (not Mickey or Minnie, I hope!). Here’s her report, click to hear:

Here’s a longer but good video  (6-minutes) explaining the origin of the cats and their care (they get food and veterinary care, and are also trapped and neutered). Kittens or overly familiar cats get adopted out.

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Finally, in one Indiana city, at one time seven years ago, you could pay off parking tickets by giving the cops food for cats! I saw this on FB and decided to check it out:

Here’s a 2019 article from the Washington Post about the program, though my investigation showed that this program operated only in Indiana in 2019 and is no longer in practice. In some places, however, you can pay tickets by giving food for homeless people.

An excerpt:

To ease the pressure, police created a trade-off: For five days in July, people could pay for their parking tickets by donating to the shelter the equivalent value of cat food or litter. Residents who brought their donations to the police chief’s office with a receipt proving the value got their tickets wiped away. A police officer’s daughter works at the shelter and had made the department aware of the organization’s need.

Muncie is among cities across the country that are opting temporarily to accept charitable donations in lieu of monetary payments for parking infractions. From Anchorage, to Woodstock, Va., municipalities are writing off tickets in exchange for school supplies or cat litter — a way to fill a community need while lessening the sting of getting a ticket. Some cities offer a discount to people who pay with a donation, while choosing the donation option in other municipalities simply allows the payer to feel good.

From the CNN article above:

What’s the cost of a parking ticket in Muncie, Indiana? For a few days in July, it was a cat food or supplies donation for a local animal shelter.

In an effort to help the Muncie Animal Care and Services Shelter, the Muncie Police Department asked violators to pay their parking tickets in cat food.

The request came after a couple of officers toured the shelter and found that it was running short on supplies to care for over 350 cats and kittens.

“If you have a $25 parking ticket, you can bring up to $25 worth of cat food or litter to the Clerk’s Office, and you can get your parking ticket to go away with the exchange of the donation,” Officer Jamie Brown said on a July 15 video shared by the police department on Facebook.

Although the offer ran only from July 15 to 19, the department quickly learned that people will do practically anything when little balls of fur are involved.

“This room was almost empty before we started! Most of the folks that donated didn’t even have parking tickets,” Muncie Police said in a tweet with a photo of all the donations.

. . .”I don’t know if the police department plans on doing this again, but we’re incredibly grateful to them and the community. Their response was overwhelming,” Ashley Honeycutt, the shelter’s office manager, told CNN.

I think they need to reinstate this program!

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Lagniappe: A famous cat in a riad (a fancy Moroccan house converted into a boutique hotel). Click on the screenshot to read more,. but I’ve put the whole text below:

A small riad in the Marrakech medina has built a wall display in its entry courtyard out of guest reviews. The reviews are not about the riad. They are about the cat, an orange tabby named Mishmish, who has been working the front gate for about six years.

The owner started noticing the pattern when his bookings began increasing for reasons he could not initially explain. He pulled the reviews.

A representative selection: “Mishmish was very professional.” “Mishmish escorted us to our room and approved.” “The location was good but Mishmish was the highlight of our trip.” “Mishmish let me cry in the courtyard for a long time and did not say anything.”

The owner printed his ten favorites, framed them in cheap wooden frames, and hung them on the wall above the reception desk. Mishmish now sits underneath the display like a portrait subject seated beneath his own gallery.

Booking inquiries now routinely ask whether he will be on duty during the guest’s stay.

If you want to stay at this place, here’s how to do it (from Grok):

Riad Julines is praised overall for its clean, charming traditional Moroccan decor, friendly staff (like hosts Raja/Raga and Daniel), excellent breakfast on the terrace, indoor pool/terrace, and peaceful vibe despite the central location. It’s a boutique-style guesthouse that feels like a home.If you’re planning a stay and love cats, this riad is a great match—many reviews note how the resident cats enhance the experience. You can find it on Booking.com, TripAdvisor, or by searching “Riad Julines Marrakech.” Note that cat policies can vary, so confirm directly with the riad if you have allergies or preferences.

h/t: Reese

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