A senior rescue cat name Nugget loves potatoes so much that he always wants to be near them, though, having no teeth, he can’t eat them. There are two short articles on Nugget below, but also a few videos showing the cats obsession.  I’ll just give some excerpts (indented). Click the headlines to read:

From The Dodo: (2021)

A toothless senior cat named Nugget is so obsessed with potatoes of any shape, style, and size that he wants to be around them all the time, as if they were his own children. According to his human Anshu these potatoes help Nugget with his anxiety, particularly when it comes to car rides.

He just loves his potatoes. No matter where they are, he would always go sit where his potatoes are. …We moved from from east coast to Texas so it was like a 3-day drive and Nugget doesn’t like being in the car at all. He’s very anxious, so I took two potatoes from our cabinet and we put them in his carrier. Lo and behold, he is sleeping calmly in the carrier.

And a few videos. Note that sweet potatoes count as potatoes for Nugget. Listen to him chirp with joy when he’s in the spud cabinet!

Some very short video of Nugget. Potatoes appear to be a kind of Prozac for this cat:

Nugget gets a big haul of spuds and is elated! Science has not yet explained (and may not explain) why potatoes affect this cat in such a way:

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Here is a 14-minute video of an adventure cat, complete with a life jacket, going kayaking for the first time. (The kayak seems to have a motor, at least from its speed and the noise.)  It’s fun to ponder what the cat is thinking when he sees all this stuff.  Yes, not much happens here, but I find the video very peaceful.

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“Bodega cats”, or cats that inhabit stores run by Hispanic folks, are a fixture in NYC. I’m sure this is illegal but nobody enforces such a draconian law. The NYT had an article about this shop moggies on June 16, which you can read by clicking on the headline below or reading it archived here.  The article is about a Tik Tok series called “Shop Cats”, and there are many photos in the piece.

I’ll give a few quotes (indented):

If you’re in a bodega in New York City and need to speak with “the manager,” you may find her underneath the fridge or nestled between bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Bodegas being managed by the cats that live in them is part of a “big running joke among a lot of New Yorkers,” said Drew Rosenthal, the creative producer of “Shop Cats,” a web show that recently found a large audience on TikTok for its feel-good feline coverage.

When Mr. Rosenthal, 35, moved to Brooklyn eight years ago, he was surprised by the ubiquity of semi-feral cats patrolling the city’s bodegas and delis. Even more so by the scarcity of online bodega cat registries documenting their addresses and personal updates, given their beloved role in the city’s ecosystem.

Last summer, working for Mad Realities — a media company with ambitions of becoming “the MTV of the internet,” according to its chief executive and founder, Alice Ma — Mr. Rosenthal addressed this gap in the kitty catalog by pitching a bodega cat talk show he characterized as “‘Cribs’ meets Steve Irwin.” It was greenlit almost immediately.

The pilot of “Shop Cats” featured Mr. Rosenthal’s local bodega cat in Crown Heights, a cuddly but capricious gray and white tabby named Kiki, who sleeps behind a display of corn chips. In the minute-and-a-half-long episode, Michelladonna, the flamboyant host of “Shop Cats,” interviews the whiskered bodega manager — who introduces herself by hissing into the microphone — and the locals who take care of her. The interview culminates in a test of Kiki’s hunting skills via her ability (or desire, rather) to chase a feathered toy. The hunt was set to a zany, “Looney Tunes”-style soundtrack, a signature of the show.

. . . Shop patrons are similarly quick to fawn over their local working kitten. Simcoe, a courteous, long-whiskered tuxedo cat who runs a brewery in East Williamsburg, has inspired T-shirts and even tattoos. “Simcoe is the best!” Yoko, a brewery regular who wears homemade earrings featuring Simcoe’s face, testifies in the episode. Ms. Reiss, too, tends to style herself in feline fashions, often sporting a long ponytail that shimmies behind her like a sassy cat tail. “You’ve got to lean into that kitty fever,” she said. She also has a penchant for winged cat-eye liner.

. . .Many of the shop owners like to claim a cultural affinity with their cats. The adoptive caregivers of Rambo, a scrappy brown tomcat from the Bronx, for example, like to claim that he is Yemeni on his father’s side and Dominican on his mother’s side. Charlie, the 15-year-old striped “employee of the month” at Flowers by Giorgie in Queens, was lauded by his owner for being “the best Ecuadorean cat in New York.” And on a recent sunny Tuesday afternoon in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn, the “Shop Cats” team had the pleasure of meeting Jamal — a puckish tabby whose name means “beauty” in Arabic.

You can also find a video, “The Truth About Bodega Cats,” that shows the dark side of shop cats, like their sometimes being locked in a basement or denied veterinary care. I’ll link to it, but watch for yourself.

The Tik Tok site for “Shop Cats” is here, and I’ll put up a few videos. First, “Kiki,” mentioned above:

@shopcatsshow

Meet Kiki in Crown Heights #cat #bodegacat #bodega #nyc #brooklyn Producer: Drew Rosenthal Art Direction: Sunny Li A show by @madrealities.tv

♬ original sound – Shop Cats

. . . and here’s Simcoe:

@shopcatsshow

Meet Simcoe in East Williamsburg #cat #shopcat #brewery #nyc #brooklyn

♬ original sound – Shop Cats

There are 46 other videos on the page if you want to see more!

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Lagniappe: From Wholesome Memes:

Extra lagniappe: The caption to this cute YouTube video is “Our Grand Baby Lynnly Was Scolding Her Cat For Running Out of The House… She Went and Got Her Cat and Brought Him Home…”   Sound up.

h/t: Gregory, Greg, Merilee

I found this post on the National Geographic Lovers Facebook Page, and became curious.

But doing just a little digging on the Internet, I find that Snopes adjudicates this “oldest cat photo” claim, judging it FALSE:

While we have not been able to definitively determine the source of this image, we can say with confidence that this is not the oldest photograph of a cat.

For starters, this image is often circulated with the claim that it was taken in the 1880s, but the first cat photographs date to at least the 1840s. When we examine these earlier photos of cats, it’s clear that the above-displayed image was not created with the same methods used in the 1840s.

The internet’s propensity for taking and sharing cat photos may seem like a modern-day tradition, but long before we had Maru, Lil Bub, or Grumpy Cat, we had photographer Harry Pointer and the “Brighton Cats.”

Pointer, who lived in Brighton, England, became well-known for a series of photographs he took in the 1870s of the “Brighton Cats.” Pointer took photographs of cats doing regular cat things, like resting, drinking milk, and sleeping in baskets, but his photographs became more popular when he started to position his cats in humorous or unusual positions. One photograph, for instance, showed a cat on a tricycle; another showed cat next to a few tea cups.

Maru! That’s also the chubby Japanese tabby!  But here are three Brighton cats at the link given by Snopes, and the site has a lot more than these:

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This story comes from Newsweek, and deals with a “helicopter cat mom” who was obsessively watching her moggy from afar.  Click headline to read:

An excerpt:

A quick-thinking cat mom has shared how she managed to save her pet from potential danger, despite being hundreds of miles away.

Mandee, 36, from New York, shared a now-viral clip of her 9-month-old cat, Fifi, who recently joined the family after being adopted from a shelter in 2024. In the video on TikTok Fifi is seen on the front porch of their home, moments before slipping out of a loose harness.

On Friday, May 9, while Mandee’s husband was outside digging a trench for a culvert in their yard. He briefly tethered Fifi to the porch so he could run inside for a tool. But the kitten, wearing a harness meant for a larger cat, quickly wriggled free.

That’s when Mandee, who only shared her first name, received a motion alert from their home security system while away on a work trip. Opening the live feed, she spotted the problem instantly.

“I could see she was wearing the wrong harness,” Mandee told Newsweek. “I’m a helicopter cat mom who is always watching, even from afar.”

Using the camera’s audio function, she immediately called out to her husband, who was just a few yards away, to intervene before Fifi could venture too far.

“Tim Fifi’s out,” the voice from the camera said in the video. “Tim. FiFi is out, she is loose,” she said, and quickly, her husband came running.

Thankfully, he arrived in time to scoop up the escapee. No harm was done, but Mandee said the incident was a lesson learned.

“The harness was obviously too large for Fifi, and my husband realized afterward he can’t tether her, even if only for a moment,” she explained. “It was the first and last time he would try that.”

Well, the cat may have gotten loose, but it’s not clear how much “danger” it was really in. What it shows is how attached some people are to their cats. And here’s a Tik Tok video of the near escape:

@talesofwhist

I did not mean to make him trip. 🤣🤣🤣 Crisis averted! **She was there for a total of 2 minutes while he was checking his work by the road #catharness #catfails #catfunny

♬ Mission Impossible Theme (Movie Trailer Mix) – Dominik Hauser

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Finally, from Parade, we have a cat with a Pinocchio nose; he’s named Barney Rubble, from the Flintstones.  The nose extension is apparently the result of a fungal infection, which is getting better, but it’s not cure whether the proboscoidal hypertrophy will vanish. Click to read:

An excerpt:

The sweet video of Barney Rubble was posted to the TikTok account for BBC Northern Ireland at @bbcnl, and everyone has fallen in love with this precious orange boy.

@bbcni

This week Alright Pet? went to Rescue Cats NI to visit a rather remarkable kitty 🐱 Listen now on BBC Sounds Pets Cat Rescuecats

♬ original sound – BBC Northern Ireland – BBC Northern Ireland

The video clip explains that Barney’s rescuer feels he may have a Cryptococcosis infection which this sweet boy is on medication for. PetMD explains that a Cryptococcosis infection is a type of fungal infection that occurs when a cat inhales spores from a type of fungus that grows in organic material such as soil, decaying wood, or bird guano (especially droppings from pigeons.) It’s obvious that the rescue loves this sweet boy and are doing everything they can to make sure he’s all better.

Once a cat is diagnosed with cryptococcosis, a veterinarian will prescribe anti-fungal medication. The type of medication that is prescribed will depend upon the severity of the infection.

The article also explains that the best way to reduce risk for infection is to keep cats away from pigeon roosting areas and ideally keep them strictly indoors to reduce the risk for them to breathe in spores from Cryptococcus neoformans or Cryptococcus gattii.

If you have a cat who goes outside, you’d best read the linked article, “Cryptococcosis in cats,” which explains what it is, how cats get it, what the symptoms are, and how vets treat it. The good news is that it seems pretty curable. Barney Rubble may be cute, but I feel sorry for him, and hope that he’s cured.

This article from the NYT recounts a new study from PLOS One in which researchers tried to understand whether cats knew the scent of their staff as opposed to other cat owners and other people who didn’t own cats (click on screenshot to read, or find the original article archived here).  The results are straightforward, and I’ll quote the NYT summary:

An excerpt:

There’s one figure showing a cat (there should have been more!); here it is with caption from the paper:

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From Bored Panda we have “50 pictures of cats looking extremely annoyed“, and here’s a small selection (click on the headline to see them all):

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ScienceAlert tells us why we shouldn’t give milk to cats.  Click below to read; I’ll add an excerpt:

An excerpt:

Farmers began to employ them as pest controllers. It was through this arrangement that cats and milk first became acquainted.

Before the commercialisation of pet food, cats were mostly fed scraps from the family table. Not much was known about their nutritional needs. In his 1877 book on cats, Scottish doctor Gordon Stables insisted cats need two bowls – “one for water and the other for milk” – and suggested porridge and milk as an excellent feline breakfast.

From these origins, cats and milk became further embedded in the collective zeitgeist through depictions of milk-loving cats in art, books, movies and cartoons. There’s even the classic trope of the scruffy street cat being rescued from the rain to enjoy a saucer of milk from a kindly stranger.

. . . . While it’s not surprising that cats and milk have persisted as an unquestioned combination, research now tells us cats shouldn’t be drinking milk at all.

Like all mammals, cats begin life drinking milk from their mother. But past kittenhood, milk is a completely unnecessary part of a cat’s diet.

After weaning (around 6–12 weeks of age), kittens stop producing the enzyme lactase, required to digest lactose in milk. For the vast majority of cats, this means they are lactose intolerant.

However, just like in humans, the level of intolerance varies for each individual based on how much of the enzyme their body naturally produces.

Don’t rush to give your kitten milk, though. Just because kittens can digest lactose doesn’t mean they should be drinking cow’s milk. Cats are much smaller animals than cows and, fittingly, the amount of lactose in the milk of mother cats is much lower than in cow’s milk. It’s best to let them drink from their mother or to get them a kitten-appropriate cat formula.

Lactose intolerance isn’t the only reason not to give your cats milk. Though rare, cats can also develop an allergy to milk or dairy.

. . . And if you’re thinking your cat is one of the lucky few that isn’t lactose intolerant, think again. Cats are very good at hiding discomfort because, in the wild, showing weakness would make them a target for predators.

If you absolutely must, opt for lactose-free milk or milk formulated specifically for cats, and keep it as a very occasional treat.

While it won’t upset their stomachs in the same way as regular cow’s milk, it still won’t offer your cat any nutritional benefit.

As for milk alternatives like oat, soy or almond milk? Any unusual additions to your cat’s diet are likely to cause digestive upset, so it’s best to avoid these as well.

I guess cheese and ice cream are out, too. 🙁

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h/t Merilee, Ginger K.

There’s a recurring claim on the Internet that orange cats are weird, but, not having observed them, I can’t vouch for it. However, two new studies published in the prestigious journal Current Biology claim to have at least found the mutation that makes orange cats orange (and add the orange patches to calicoes and tortoiseshells).  The two headlines below come from ZME Science and the Guardian respectively, and the two original papers are here (Current Biology 1, Current Biology 2).

We know that the orange mutation resides on the X chromosome, which is why most orange cats (80% of them) are males (same reason why color-blindness is more common in male humans).  The two papers in Current Biology note this mutation is a large-ish deletion in a single X-linked gene ARHGAP36, encoding a Rho GTPase-activating protein. This gene, while present in other mammals, seems to be unique in cats in having mutations that affect coat color. The deletion is also responsible for the orange color in tortoiseshell and calico cats, which, having other colors whose genes reside on the X chromosome, are nearly always female (the orange patches are caused by the random inactivation, in XX females, of X chromosomes having “white” and “black” alleles as well as the “orange” gene).

Here’s the abstract of the first paper in Current Biology (link above). I’ve bolded “what you need to know”:

The Sex-linked orange mutation in domestic cats causes variegated patches of reddish/yellow hair and is a defining signature of random X inactivation in female tortoiseshell and calico cats. Unlike the situation for most coat color genes, there is no apparent homolog for Sex-linked orange in other mammals. We show that Sex-linked orange is caused by a 5-kb deletion that leads to ectopic and melanocyte-specific expression of the Rho GTPase Activating Protein 36 (Arhgap36) gene. Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) studies from fetal cat skin reveal that red/yellow hair color is caused by reduced expression of melanogenic genes that are normally activated by the melanocortin 1 receptor (Mc1r)-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-protein kinase A (PKA) pathway, but Mc1r and its ability to stimulate cAMP accumulation is intact. Instead, we show that expression of Arhgap36 in melanocytes leads to reduced levels of the PKA catalytic subunit (PKA_C); thus, Sex-linked orange is genetically and biochemically downstream of Mc1r. Our findings resolve a longstanding comparative genetic puzzle, provide in vivo evidence for the ability of Arhgap36 to inhibit PKA, and reveal a molecular explanation for a charismatic color pattern with a rich genetic history.

ZME Science:

An excerpt:

In a study published today in Current Biology, Kaelin and colleagues report they’ve pinpointed the peculiar genetic mutation behind the orange coat in cats — and it’s unlike anything seen in any other mammal.

“For more than a century, orange coat color in cats has been recognized as an exception to the genetic rules that explain coloration in most mammals. Orange male cats are uniformly colored, but female cats often have a patchwork of orange and black fur, commonly referred to as tortoiseshell or calico patterns,” Kaelin told ZME Science.

Orange coloration in domestic cats almost always shows up in males. Only about 20% of all orange cats are female. Females, with two X chromosomes, need both copies of the orange gene to appear fully orange — rare. Most end up displaying a mosaic of orange and black, a patchwork quilt of fur caused by a genetic process called random X inactivation.

“The orange mutation affects a gene on the X chromosome. In mammals, males have a single X chromosome and therefore one copy of the orange gene, whereas females have two X chromosomes and two copies,” Kaelin said.

. . .Orange coloration in domestic cats almost always shows up in males. Only about 20% of all orange cats are female. Females, with two X chromosomes, need both copies of the orange gene to appear fully orange — rare. Most end up displaying a mosaic of orange and black, a patchwork quilt of fur caused by a genetic process called random X inactivation.

“The orange mutation affects a gene on the X chromosome. In mammals, males have a single X chromosome and therefore one copy of the orange gene, whereas females have two X chromosomes and two copies,” Kaelin said.

And from the Guardian:

An excerpt showing that this involved citizen science!:

. . . . the Stanford team began by collecting hundreds of cat DNA samples, visiting cat shows from California to Maryland and as far as Brazil. Researchers approached cat owners to ask whether they were willing to contribute and people were eager to participate, said Christopher Kaelin, a geneticist at Stanford and the study’s lead author.

“Cat owners and breeders are really open to genetic studies and contributing to genetic studies,” Kaelin said. “They’re very interested in their cats, and they’re very interested in talking about their cats and sending pictures, which is another big part of this study. All of that interest made it really easy to connect and collect samples.”

Collecting a sample involved sticking a cotton swab in a cat’s mouth and rubbing its cheeks to collect a small bit of DNA, Kaelin said. It’s much more challenging to collect a cheek swab from a cat than a dog, due to felines being particularly resistant to having things placed in their mouths. But researchers have learned specific techniques to distract the cats, including scratching their heads. Talking them through the process seems to help, he added.

“After doing several hundred cats, you learn what you can get away with and when you need to back off quickly,” Kaelin said.

. . .Researchers collected about 200 samples for use in the study, and in total have collected more than 3,000 samples for their research. After sequencing the DNA, they compared the sequence of orange cats to non-orange cats, which helped them locate the precise alteration: a small piece of missing DNA responsible for the orange mutation, Barsh said, near the gene known as ARHGAP36. The mutation activates that gene, which gets specifically turned on in pigment cells where it is not normally active.

“It intersects with the same pathway that is responsible for red hair in humans, but it affects that pathway in a completely different way,” Barsh said. “That’s why the study is important. This is a pathway that is required for hormonal signaling in many different cell types in many different animals, including humans. We’ve learned this pathway can be modulated in a new way to, in this case, affect hair color. But we think that that applies broadly to all cells and all tissues.”

The fact that the samples were obtained in partnership with cat lovers in the community has allowed them to have greater engagement with the public, Barsh said: “Both of those examples with cat shows and working with spay-neuter clinics are examples of how partnering with the community helps science and science education. More broadly, it advances science and no cats are harmed.”

Kaelin has attended nearly 100 cat shows, he said, and presented research dozens of times so that cat owners have the opportunity to learn about what the team is doing. Feline color genetics are a useful scientific tool for discovery, and allow researchers to communicate scientific concepts to non-scientists. “It really bridges an important gap,” Kaelin said.

So, if you have an orange cat, or even a calico or tortie, you know that one of its genes caries a large deletion that results in the red color.  But I still have no idea whether there are pleiotropic effects of an orange color on temperament or behavior. Were that the case, calicos and torties would be partly weird.

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This report of a six-legged cat comes from the CBC.  Bitsy the cat was born with six legs, apparently resulting from the absorption of a twin while in utero. Veterinary surgeons had to remove three of the legs, converting Bitsy into a “tripod” cat. She’s now functioning well, whereas before surgery she couldn’t walk at all.

A summary:

. . . Koltun said her organization met Bitsy, named after the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” nursery rhyme, after staff got an email last month about a stray cat with extra legs growing out of her side.

As it turned out, Bitsy absorbed a littermate while she was in the womb, gaining two extra legs and a second pelvis that grew as she did.

One of the main four legs didn’t work and also needed to be removed.

At first, Koltun said, she wasn’t sure if Bitsy could be helped.

“I had a little bit of a cry when I first brought her in. Because it was just so overwhelming thinking, ‘Where is this going to take us? Will we be able to help her? Will we be able to fix this?”‘

Veterinarians at Windermere Veterinary Hospital took X-rays and determined surgery would significantly improve the cat’s quality of life.

After a procedure that took a little more than two hours, Koltun said Bitsy is recovering well.

“Within less than a day, Betsy was up using the litterbox, drinking the water all by herself. So we really couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” she said.

Bitsy still has stitches and is taking some pain medicine but is slowly being weaned off, Koltun added.

She said a staff member at the vet clinic has been fostering the feline and may keep her.

“We’re really happy for both of them that they’ve formed this amazing bond, and we’re hoping that Bitsy’s story ends up with getting to stay with her foster mom.”

All’s well that ends well, and Bitsy is now getting along fine with three legs. Here’s a CBC video; be sure to see the pre-surgery X-ray at 0:37 where you can see an extra pelvis as well.

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From a commercial site, The World’s Best Cat Litter, comes an analysis of what owning a cat will cost you each year. Not that it matters, right?

Click below to read:

An excerpt in which they compare 2019 prices to 2005 prices:

Like a lot of things in life, it costs more to own and care for a cat than it did a few years ago.

An analysis of how much it costs to own a cat in 2019 versus today shows substantial increases across the board — the total initial cost of owning a cat has increased from a range of $345-780 to $535- $2,810 today. This includes things like adoption fees and medical needs, as well as buying a litter box, toys, food & water bowls, etc.

Note that these first costs are basically setting up to get a cat:

And thee annual upkeep:

Annual costs of food, litter and the like has also increased — the same analysis shows the cost in 2019 was between $788-1,693 while today’s cost range averages between $710-2,865.

They break down the costs, but you can read the reason for the ranges at the link. One think I noted was that health insurance is recommended. I always thought it wasn’t, but here’s their explanation:

Though it may seem like a large expense upfront, pet insurance is a good investment in the long run.

Even just one emergency visit to the veterinarian can cost hundreds of dollars. Having pet insurance will help to reduce these costs and take the stress out of vet visits.

Indeed. Remember when Jack the Cat fell several stories and was severely injured? His staff, fortunately, had pet insurance, which prevented them from losing a LOT of dosh for his treatment at Boston’s Angell Memorial hospital.

But really, who would worry that much about money if they loved their cat? It does seem to me, though, that the prices are fairly high.

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Lagniappe: This cat really wants to get its toy by reaching under the door. It’s apparently a game!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jade💚Kai💙Leo🧡 (@pawpypals)

h/t: Wendy, Merilee, Simon, Larry, Ginger K.

We have three—count them, three—items today.  The first is the first known portrait of an individual cat, that is, a cat who is known to have existed as a pet and with a name:

From Strange Company,

tumblr:  Giovanni Reder, Portrait of the cat Armellino, 1750. Oil on canvas. The first known painting of an individual cat. The italian poetess Alessandra Forteguerra commissioned the artwork of her beloved tom cat. Museo di Roma.

The Mister Tristan site says this:

Very few cats can boast that they have actually had their portraits painted, that is, that they have been depicted without any allegorical, moralizing, religious, esoteric, or simply decorative intent on the part of the artist….Armellino, wearing an elegant little collar, has literally posed on a luxurious cushion; a sonnet by the abbot Bertazzi has even been dedicated to him.

Now, I can’t find a translation of that sonnet anywhere. If any reader can, or can speak Italian, please provide me with a translation. I will credit the translator and put the sonnet in this post. You can enlarge the text by clicking on it.

Reader Brooke supplied the necessary sonnet:

The translation of the sonnet in the painting can be found on this page (you have to scroll down the page quite a ways):

Sonnet to a Cat

by Abbott Bertazzi

This Cat painted here on canvas,
tasted a loving kiss from a beautiful goddess,
after having done the portrait from life,
The cat keeps himself well guarded and most jealous.
In order to keep himself fully intact,
like an Ermine who lives in fear
and to avoid being caught
flees rapidly to stay in the wood or in a more hidden place.
So you as well, oh adventurous Cat,
preserve your mouth intact and your heart pure,
and only think of the one who kissed you,
and allow only me to love you,
you who shoot a kiss,
and take back my lovely kiss to cool the passion.

The cat’s name, Armellino, apparently means ‘ermine’ in old Italian.

Another site has an excerpt about this painting from H.V. Morton’s A Traveller in Rome (1957).

In a picture gallery upstairs [in the museum of Rome] I found a portrait of a black and white cat. This lordly and imposing creature prowled the marble halls of some seventeenth century palace and is here seen enthroned upon a tasselled cushion, wearing a broad collar to which bells are attached. Pinned to a curtain behind the cat is a little poem which says that a great and beautiful lady once kissed the cat and bade him keep his heart and mouth pure, and to remember her kiss. No one knows who the lady was.

Wouldn’t “the lady” be the cat’s owner? It’s rather confusing.

There are earlier named cats, of course, including Pangur Bán (“White Pangur”), the subject of a poem written by an Irish monk in a 9th-century manuscript. It’s a wonderful poem, comparable to “For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry,” by Christopher Smart, but, alas, there is no portrait of Pangur.

These are the two best cat poems ever.

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The Japan Rail Club site gives us a look at a wonderful Japanese cat train (I think there are several). The article and photos are from Carlissa Loh, and go to the site to see tons of photos. If you’re an ailurophile, you’ll want to take this train.

Click below to read and see photos, alo by Carlisa Loh:

Excerpts:

Would you take a 1.5-hour train in the Wakayama (和歌山) countryside just to see a cat? Many people would, and many have! In fact, it was thanks to a beloved cat, Tama, that one railway line was revitalised and saved from closure.

The railway line was Wakayama Electric Railway’s Kishigawa Line (貴志川線), and in January 2007, Tama (たま), a female calico cat, became the station master of Kishi Station (貴志駅).

Here’s Tama, the subject of a Wikipedia article in Japanese that autotranslates into English. It says, among other stuff, this:

Tama ( also known as Stationmaster Tama ; April 29 , 1999 ( Heisei 11) – June 22, 2015 (Heisei 27 )) was a cat and the honorary permanent stationmaster of Kishi Station on the Wakayama Electric Railway ‘s Kishigawa Line .

She was a female calico cat kept at the station’s convenience store and became an idol , like a maneki -neko (beckoning cat), before eventually becoming the station’s official mascot (a unique stationmaster, or cat stationmaster ) with the title of ” stationmaster ” and becoming world-famous . ^[ 3 ] She is now the station’s honorary permanent stationmaster.

On January 5, 2007, he was officially appointed as the stationmaster by the Wakayama Electric Railway, which caused quite a stir . ^[ 3 ] His main job was to “welcome customers,” and he is said to have not only attracted customers to Kishi Station, but also brought about the Heisei era cat boom, ” nekonomics ,” in Japan . ^{[ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]} He was employed for life with no term limit , and his annual salary was one year’s worth of cat food .

Tama died in 2015, age 16.

But the Japan Rail Club says there’s a new stationmaster cat:

Her role of station master at Kishi Station was assumed by another beautiful calico cat, Nitama (ニタマ literarally “Tama two”), for whom curious travellers and excited fans alike travel all the way to the quiet station in Wakayama Prefecture.

Here is Nitama from CNN:

Notes (indented) and 3 photos from Carlissa Loh:

As a tribute to Tama, Wakayama Electric Railway started operating the Tama Densha train (たま電車), an adorable train with an exterior decorated 101 drawings of Tama donning a station master’s hat in various poses. Affectionately called “Tamaden”, the train’s front even has ears and whiskers, how cute is that? As a self-professed noritetsu, I love riding special trains, and knew I had to make room in my trip to take a ride on this train and pay a visit to Nitama.

Inside the train, there were even more darling drawings and decals of Tama adorning the windows and walls, and since it was the New Year’s period when I visited, there weren’t many other passengers, so I could take photos to my heart’s content.

The Tama Densha is made up of two carriages, and each one is furnished with wooden seats of varying designs of shades of orange, black, and white, and just oozed comfort and cosiness. The train was designed by Mitooka Eiji (水戸岡 鋭治), who has designed many memorable sightseeing trains such as the luxury cruise train Seven Stars in Kyushu, many of JR Kyushu’s D&S Trains, Kyoto Tango Railway’s sightseeing trains, and more.

I’d surely ride this train if I went to Japan (one of my dream destinations)!

More photos and info at the site.

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And from Defector, Alex Sujong Laughlin interviews his cat Pong about the cat’s obnoxious behaviors. Click below to read:

Excerpts by Laughlin are indented:

Like every other member of my generation who has put off traditional markers of adulthood, like home ownership and having children, I am completely, utterly devoted to my cat, Pong. In the five years he’s lived with us, Pong has evolved from the scrawny street cat we adopted in the Union Square Petco to the ruler of our household. We often quote a decade-old Adam Serwer tweet about his own cats: Management doesn’t need a union.

We’ve invented a rich mythology for Pong’s inner life over the last five years. His hardscrabble early years taught him to flirt and charm for his meals on the streets of Harlem, where he developed his taste for French fries, noodles, and pizza. He ran with a tough crew that wasn’t afraid to get into scraps if he needed to assert dominance. He inherited his asthma and anxiety from his mother (me), and he spends his days working hard (sleeping on a chair in my office) for the money to pay our rent.

In any relationship, you fall into rhythms built around each other’s quirks and scar tissue. This is true even—or maybe especially—when the relationship is with an animal who cannot speak English. We’ve come to accept his most annoying behaviors; his loafing on our backs at 5 a.m. like a sleep paralysis demon is just a part of life with Pong, as are the lost hours of sleep and frequent yelling when he can’t find us in the house. \

I got a recommendation for a pet communicator, whose identity I’m keeping private at their request, and booked a 30-minute session with them. We met on Zoom, and when they started looking for his energy, they asked if he’s a male, six to eight years old, who’s very sure of himself. Pong was sleeping next to me in a little kitty croissant but the communicator couldn’t see him on screen. I told them they had the right guy.

What follows is an interview with Pong, through the communicator, which I’ve edited for clarity.

Just two Q&A’s via the pet communicator:

Can you tell me anything about your life before you came to live with us? 

There wasn’t a loving family, but there were two or three people who took care of me on the street. There was one man who I had a strong relationship with. There was a misunderstanding, the people tried to bring me into the house, and then took me away.

(This made me think of Alex, the doorman who apparently fed him when he was a stray, and who he was named for when he was brought to Union Square. Yes, we should’ve kept that name.)

. . .I appreciate that. OK, one last question. Sometimes you’ll crawl up onto my lap and be really sweet and snuggly, and then out of nowhere you’ll start attacking me, biting me and breaking skin. It really sucks when that happens! What’s going on? 

Sometimes I feel like I’m back on the street and it just happens. It feels right in the moment, but when you get upset I feel ashamed. I saw the tissues with the blood last week and I feel bad. It’s not your fault.

There’s a lot more Q&A at the site.

h/t: Malcolm, Ginger K.

This will be a quick trifecta as I’m on Duck Duty. First, from Street Art Utopia, three memorials to homeless cats. Click on the headline to read:

Text from site is indented, and photos without credits are uncredited on the site. Two of the photos come from Pinterest.

Homeless cats monument in Braunschweig, Germany:

“Katzenstele” in downtown Braunschweig, German by sculptor Siegfried Neuenhausen, a former professor at the Braunschweig University of Art. The cat monument has been drawing attention to stray cats in Braunschweig since 1981. It stands as a symbol of appreciating all the kitties in town who don’t have a loving roof over their heads.

From Pinterest:

From Pinterest:

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Smithsonian Magazine recounts evidence for the earliest known pet cats to arrive in the U.S. In fact, they were likely working cats on ships rather than “pets” as we think of them, but at least we know they were heading to the U.S., even if they didn’t arrive there. Thus the headline below (click to read) could be doubly misleading:

An excerpt (the original paper is cited below, and it appears that the cats ate more than just rodents!):

. . . . a new study is offering even more insight into the history of these four-legged felines. Researchers have discovered the remains of two house cats in a 466-year-old Spanish shipwreck near Florida, which are likely the earliest known cats in the United States. They describe their findings in a new paper published in the journal American Antiquity.

The remains were found among the wreckage of the Emanuel Point II, a Spanish ship that sank in September 1559 near what is now Pensacola, Florida. The vessel was one of 11 ships that had sailed north from Mexico during an expedition under the command of Tristán de Luna y Arellano.

The conquistador’s fleet was anchored near the Spanish settlement of Santa María de Ochuse when a hurricane swept through, causing six of the vessels to sink and another to be driven inland. Between 1992 and 2016, researchers discovered three of the expedition’s shipwrecks.

Divers have successfully recovered several artifacts from the ships, including fragments of jars that likely contained olive oil, wine or water. Additionally, they’ve discovered the remains of several critters, including cockroaches, rats and at least two domestic cats.

For the new study, scientists took a closer look at the feline remains, which belonged to one adult and one juvenile cat.

Though the cats may have been stowaways, they were likely brought onboard intentionally to help keep rodents at bay. Along the way, they probably also became chummy with the sailors.

Their friendliness with the crew seems to have paid off: Tests suggest the adult cat was mainly eating fish and meats like pork, poultry and beef. Although it may have hunted the occasional rat or mouse, a “significant proportion” of the cat’s diet came from other sources, the researchers write in the paper.

The sailors may have fed the cats because they were so effective at controlling pests that there were none left for them to eat. Or they may have tossed the cats lots of food scraps “out of affection,” the researchers write. Sailors often considered cats to be lucky—especially those with extra toes.

“Their primary role may have been as commensal ratters and mousers that kept the onboard rodent population in check,” the researchers write. “This does not, however, preclude the possibility that these cats were well-liked and cared for by the sailors.”

. . . The first cats to travel to the Americas may have sailed on Christopher Columbus’ ships, though the animals are not mentioned in the voyages’ records. Archaeologists have discovered cat remains in present-day Haiti, where Columbus landed in 1492. But since the explorer never set foot on the mainland of North America, the first cats likely arrived via other expeditions—like the one led by Luna y Arellano.

Ah! We don’t think these cats arrived in North America. Whence the headline?

Click below to read the original paper:

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This paper, from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (click below or find the pdf here) shows a convergence between the skull shapes of some cats and dog breeds, a convergence that in some cases is so profound that you might classify some skulls of domestic dogs and cats as being morphologically closer to each other than either is to its ancestor (the grey wolf and the Egyptian wildcat, respectively). Of course if you looked at the rest of the skeleton you’d know whether you were dealing with a cat or a d*g.

Some of the science. First, the wild condition:

Skull Shape Diversity in Domestic Cats and Dogs.

As with dogs (PV = 0.013), domestic cats are extremely variable, ranging from highly dolichocephalic (long muzzles and narrow skulls) breeds like Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs to greatly brachycephalic (short faces and wide, rounded skulls) breeds like Persians and Burmese (PV = 0.01). Domestic cat and dog diversification are similar in a macroevolutionary context in that both are substantially more variable than their wild ancestors, wildcats (F. silvestris) (PV = 0.002, P < 0.0001, Table 1) and wolves (C. lupus) (PV = 0.002, P < 0.0001, Table 1); Figs. 1 and 2 and Table 1). Dogs are more variable than domestic cats (P < 0.043, Table 1); this result, however, does not parallel the ancestral condition as wolves are no more variable than wildcats (P < 0.66, Fig. 1 and Table 1).

Not only that, but this convergence appears to have evolved multiple times independently within both groups, so, for example, dogs became brachycephalic several times, as did cats.

The lesson: was already learned by Darwin: “Breeders,” he wrote in On the Origin of the Species, “habitually speak of an animal’s organization as something quite plastic, which they can model almost as they please.” That’s because every character seems to have tons of variation to select on. In this way Darwin’s studies of animal breeding informed his theory of evolution by natural selection, for he realized that what is true in domestic animals must also be true in wild ones. That’s why The Origin begins with a chapter on the domestication of and selection on animals like pigeons.

The PNAS paper ends with this warning, though the “companion animals” bit is a bit grating on me (I’m old and have no problem with “pets”):

Implications for the Health of Companion Animals.

The extent of convergence between brachycephalic cats and dogs is seen in an additional, unfortunate, phenotypic aspect. Brachycephalic cat and dog breeds have predispositions to many health disorders, some shared between species. As a result of these afflictions, pressure is mounting to ban the breeding of extreme brachycephalic individuals. We can hope such measures succeed for the welfare of our household companions, even if it has the effect of reversing this remarkable case of convergent evolution.

No pugs or Persians, please!

h/t: Barry,