We’re back with Caturday posts, though I’m not sure how many people read them. We have three this week and two—count them, two—items for lagniappe, including a nice book on big cats from the University of Chicago Press that’s about 80% off.

From Newsweek we have the key signs your cat loves you, but I should append a trigger warning: What if you find your cat doesn’t love you? Proceed with caution, and click headline (or link in the preceding sentence) to go there

Here’s the whole list, and you probably know it:

Headbutting

Some cats might rub their head back and forth across your legs or arms as you pet them. Owners might think nothing of it, but this process is a cat’s way of marking their territory.

“Cats have scent glands on their heads, so when they headbutt you, they’re leaving their scent on you,” Howard said.

They’re claiming you as part of their social group, Howard said. Take it as a compliment, especially since they won’t do it to everyone. You’ve made it into the inner circle of cat love.

Kneading

Also known as making biscuits, kneading occurs when a cat rhythmically presses its paws in a back-and-forth motion. This can be done on a blanket, pillow, or even a person’s arms and legs.

Howard said this behavior starts when they are kittens. Cats use their paws on their mother’s stomach to signal they want milk, which helps stimulate milk production.

This is my favorite one since there are lots of videos showing cat kneading in conjunction with a Mexican song featuring Tin Tan that I love, “El Panadero” (“The Baker”). Here’s one of the videos, but do listen to the “El Pandero” song too, or even watch the movie it’s from (“¡Ay amor… cómo me has puesto!”); it’s for free here on FB.

@peachie.cass

👩🏻‍🍳🍞🥐 the baker with the bread got a new truck! #baker #chefgary #cat #chefcat

♬ sonido original – GarzaVision

Purring

“If you’re petting a cat and they enjoy being petted, say behind their cheeks or behind the ears, you can stimulate purring,” Howard said.

Purring makes cats feel calm and secure. The purring can build a bond between felines and their humans.

Not only does a cat’s purr help them, but it can also aid humans. The frequency of a cat’s purr, usually between 25 to 150 hertz, has therapeutic effects on a person’s body and mind, according to an article from Inspira Health Network. Similar to sound therapy, purring can help reduce inflammation, improve circulation, stimulate healing of damaged tissues and promote regeneration of bone cells. Plus, a cat’s purr might help regulate the autonomic nervous system.

Chirping

Instead of a meow, you might notice your feline friend making a distinct, high-pitched chirp. This chirping behavior might start when felines are young. Howard said it is their way of communicating with their mother. If a cat chirps at you, it can mean they want you to follow them, they’re saying hello or they simply want your attention.

Nipping

Howard added that a cat’s “love bites” or nipping are not meant to cause pain. Instead, these slight pinches are used while showing affection and bonded feelings.

Nipping is also linked to grooming behaviors. For example, two cats might groom each other. The affection can build up and lead to a slight nip at each other. However, this is not a forceful bite.

Licking

Similarly to nipping, licking is a way a cat shows their love for someone. They lick their humans because they want to groom them, Howard said. They view you as one of their own.

Bringing gifts

Sometimes cats will bring you gifts, toys and even prey, such as birds or small animals. This is their way of showing you they want to share, Howard explained. They see you as their family. It started when their mothers taught them to bring food back when they hunted.

It could also mean they just want to play. Some cats might bring you a toy, drop it in front of you and move it with their paw. They’ll chase after it if someone throws it.

Exposing Belly

A cat’s belly is a vulnerable spot for them but, with the right person, a cat will expose their belly.

“All of their organs are out in the open – stomach, kidney, heart – as both prey and predator, so for a cat to go on their back and show you their belly, they trust you not to hurt them,” Howard said.

Tail Position

The last signal of a cat’s love is the way they hold their tail, although Howard said this could be difficult to determine, as the way their tail is positioned can have multiple meanings.

A tail up and curled means they are confident in a space. They feel secure. A slightly curled and forward tail usually indicates a cat is relaxed.

“If coming toward you with their tail up and curled, they really like you and they recognize you as a positive social interaction,” Howard said.

I thought the “slow blink” was another sign, but it’s not above. But exposing the belly, well, that definitely means love.

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Does this headline from petMD obey Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, which says that title questions are always answered “no”.  And, indeed, it’s true in this case. Click to read:

An excerpt:

. . . .do cats hold grudges, or is something else at play? Understanding a cat’s behavior can be confusing, and in many ways, seeing the world from their perspective is even harder.

“I doubt you’ll find anyone who says cats are the easiest species to understand, but I’ve never met a cat that wasn’t worth the effort,” says Maggie Placer, DVM, veterinary science program manager at EveryCat Health Foundation.

With that, Placer takes us inside the feline mind to explore whether cats truly hold grudges—or if their behavior is driven by something entirely different.

In short, no—cats don’t hold grudges the way humans do.

Lusvardi explains that cats don’t have a sense of morality. In other words, concepts like right and wrong don’t shape their behavior. Dr. Placer agrees, adding, “Cats go off fact, not interpretation.”

So before you attribute your cat’s behavior to ill intent, it’s important to recognize that it may actually be a natural and species-appropriate response. “They are processing a change in their routine and territory—one that they definitely didn’t sign off on,” Dr. Placer says.

However, cats do remember unpleasant things, like people hurting them, and can avoid them in the future. Dr. Placer admits that more or less, and I count that as a grudge.

There’s no longer a question of how long cats hold grudges—because they don’t hold them at all. Still, Dr. Placer says not to underestimate what cats remember.

. . . . Cats remember negative experiences, too. Those adopted from bad situations may struggle to trust again—not out of resentment, but due to survival instincts.

. . . . Cats don’t dwell on resentment, and they’re certainly not waiting for an apology. Instead, their behavior often stems from stress, fear, or anxiety. The key to helping them isn’t making amends—it’s creating a sense of security and breaking any negative associations they’ve formed with you or other objects, sounds, smells, or events, Lusvardi says.

After reading this, I’m not sure the question was really answer. Lusvardi’s definition, of “a deep, persistent emotion tied to a perceived wrongdoing” might count as a grudge for a cat avoiding people or things that have done them harm. Like vacuum cleaners, for example.

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This paper from The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery shows that cats can behave differently, even under anesthesia, when they’re exposed to different types of music.  They used a dozen cats who were being spayed. Click below to read:

Here’s a summary of the whole paper from the Abstract, which is quite convenient:

Results

There was also a control, and if you read the paper you’ll see the differences aren’t huge, with some not statistically significant (expected with just a dozen cats). Clearly, vets should not only play music to cats when they’re under anesthesia, but classical music. Heavy metal gave the worst results, so clearly cats can not only hear the music, but have good taste. But I doubt you can persuade your vet to play Bach to your moggie while she’s getting spayed.

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Lagniappe:

Reader Enrico found a great sale on a book about wild cats. A 50-buck book for only eleven dollars!  To wit:

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS:

Now through June 15th, 2025 you can get thought-provoking, independently published books for up to 90% off with code GREATCHICAGO25.

Our catalog offers deep discounts on hundreds of books in subjects like history, fiction, art, science, travel, cooking, and more!

https://press.uchicago.edu/resource/Sale_catalog.html

The PDF of the catalogue is here.

On page 26 of the sale catalogue (that is, page 28 of the pdf file of the catalogue) you’ll see this:

Amazon has it for $36, but this is less than a third of the price!  Look at all those color plates!

And information on how to order is on page 55 of the pdf of the sale catalogue

Use code GREATCHICAGO25 to get the sale price.

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Lagniappe #2: a weird video with a cat and deer. Click to watch:

Privacy breached : Four deer, Zero boundaries
byu/PrestigiousZombie726 inAwww

h/t: Ginger K., Gary

From Now I Know we have the story of a moggy who became a multimillionare. Click on the title to see the tail. . .

Actually, at first the money didn’t go to the cat, but to an animal rescue organization. An excerpt:

. . . . . we can still imagine what a pet would purchase if they had more money than they would ever need. Would they splurge on gourmet treats? Build a mansion with a room dedicated to chasing laser pointers? Or maybe just nap on a pile of cash?

For one Italian cat named Tommaso, this isn’t just a hypothetical—it’s his reality. Kind of.

In 2007, Tommaso was a homeless kitten, living on the streets of Rome — your stereotypical alley cat. He quickly became the feline equivalent of a rags-to-riches story when a woman named Maria Assunta, then either 89 or 90 years old, adopted Tommaso as her own. Tommaso became one of Assunta’s few companions; her husband, a property magnate, predeceased her, and she didn’t have any children (and apparently, not a lot of friends). And when Assunta passed away in 2011, she left her entire fortune—$13 million—to Tommaso. Yes, you read that right: the cat became a multimillionaire.

Of course, you can’t easily leave cash to a cat, but that’s what lawyers are for. As the Times of India reported, “Lawyers Anna Orecchioni and Giacinto Canzona who are representing her say that she left the fortune to Tommasino in a will she wrote and deposited with them in their office in Rome in October 2009. Orecchioni explained that under Italian law Tommassino is not entitled to inherit the money directly and the will also asked for the money to be given to a ‘worthy animal association, if one could be found.’ She added: ‘We had requests from several organizations but we didn’t find any that we thought suitable.’”

The solution was to give control of the money to a nurse who had cared for Assunta instead. The nurse — identified in the press only as Stefania, to protect her from people who want the cat’s money — was named as the trustee of the millions for the benefit of the cat. Stefania was apparently unaware of her late employer’s wealth, but didn’t seem to mind that it went to the cat and not her. As she told the Telegraph, “I promised her that I would look after the cat when she was no longer around. She wanted to be sure that Tommaso would be loved and cuddled. But I never imagined that she had this sort of wealth. She was very discreet and quite, I knew very little of her private life. She only told me that she had suffered from loneliness a lot.”

Tommaso’s newfound wealth catapulted him into the ranks of the world’s richest animals. He’s in good company, joining the likes of Grumpy Cat, whose internet fame brought in millions. But Tommaso’s story stands out because it’s not about fame or business ventures—it’s about love and loyalty.

Here’s a Tik Tok video purporting to show the wealthy Tommaso. But of course a cat cannot spend $13 million, even the late Karl Lagerfeld’s famous cat Choupette, who had an unknown amount of money (surely large) and her own maid and fancy vittles to nom.

@urhobofinest

Tommaso the rich cat 😺 #tommaso #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatlovers #urhobofinest

♬ original sound – Urhobo Finest

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World’s Best has a short article containing interesting facts about cats and New York City (I’ll be going there in June so this is essential information). Click below to reead:

An excerpt:

If you haven’t been buried under some litter as of late then you already know that New York City was named the Top Cat Kingdom, aka the city that uses the most cat litter in the United States.

As word of this major litter distinction spreads throughout the NYC metro, we decided to do some digging on all the other curious connections between cats and the big city. (Drawing from Facebook):

Moar facts (bolding is theirs):

How many cats are there in New York City?

Last checked, there was approximately 500,000 pet cats in New York City, but that doesn’t reflect the immense feral and stray cat population — which was last estimated to be around 500,000 to 1 million.

If you want to see a cat, the best thing is to go to a bodega.

Bodega cats are a notable aspect of New York City’s culture, residing in local convenience stores for companionship and err to deter pests. Bodega cats are so popular in fact, there’s even an Instagram account (@bodegacatsofinstagram) dedicated to them!

Here’s a bodega cat named Martinez shown on Tik Tok:

@shopcatsshow

Meet Martinez in East Harlem Host: @MICHELLADONNA Producer/DP: Drew Rosenthal (@Be Happy For Once) Editors: Drew Rosenthal & Sean Fitzmaurice AE: Ryan Novak Art Direction: Sunny Li Translation: Sabrina Sanchez PA: Sam Aberbach A show by @madrealities.tv #cat #shopcats #bodegacat #harlem #nyc

♬ original sound – Shop Cats

Other facts and things to do in NYC if you’re an ailurophile:

If you’re a cat-lover (either just visiting or currently without a cat) looking to see the sites, you’ve got to go to the Brooklyn Cat Café — one of NYC’s most famous cat adoption cafés, where you can sip coffee & cuddle adoptable kitties!

You could also swing by the one of Animal Care Centers of NYC locations and say hello to the cats in their care. The crew at ACC of NYC is not only a GiveLitter® shelter partner, but it’s NYC’s largest animal shelter.

• In the early 20th century, cats were employed in New York City post offices to control rodent populations, with over 200 cats on duty in 1910.  (Source: Smithsonian Magazine)
• New York City is home to multiple famous cats – including Morris the Cat, Hamlet the Broadway Cat, and more. (Source: Cats About Town)
• In 2013, two kittens shut down subway service when they ran loose on the tracks in Brooklyn. The city stopped trains until the kittens were safely rescued! (Source: CBS News)
• In the early 20th century, Swain’s Rat and Cat Circus featured trained cats and rats performing together. This act was part of the vaudeville scene and showcased in venues like Huber’s Palace Museum on East 14th Street. (Source: The Hatching Cat of Gotham)

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Finally, we have an article about cat genetics from the prestigious journal Genetics. It’s one of the best resources I’ve seen to learn how to tell the coat genotype of a cat by looking at it. Click on the title to read or download the pdf here.

The explanation of the major genes are very clear, like this:

Long hair: Long hair is recessive, and is indicated by ll. Short hair is either Ll or LL. An explanation of this is appropriate at the very beginning of Mendelian genetics.

Agouti: An explanation of the agouti gene and its effect on hair pigmentation patterns is appropriate in the context of epistasis. Many genetics texts include examples of agouti and black in mice as an example of epistasis. In cats the explanation is complicated by the Tabby gene, which controls the pattern of expression of agouti. This concept is one of the more difficult ones for students. I generally use the example of mice to explain the pattern of pigmentation of each hair caused by the agouti gene, then introduce the idea that in cats the Tabby gene causes the agouti gene to be expressed for a different period of time during the hair growth cycle in the stripes, leading to the Tabby pattern. We do not score alleles of Tabby in the exercise because T^b (Tabby-blotched) and T^a (Tabby-abyssinian) are very rare in this area. In general it simplifies things for the students to use the Tabby pattern as an indicator of whether the cat is agouti (A_) or nonagouti (aa). If they can see a Tabby pattern in the fur, then the cat must be agouti, whereas if the colors are solid then the cat is nonagouti.

Dominant white: An all-white cat with nonpink eyes is likely to be W_ rather than albino. Albino cats are fairly rare; out of 1519 cats, my students have never reported one. Dominant white is an example of dominant epistasis as it is impossible to score any of the other color genes in the presence of W. Dominant white kittens often have one or more small pigmented spots on the forehead that usually fade by adulthood.

Siamese and Burmese: The c gene has two different temperature-sensitive alleles, c^s (Siamese) and c^b (Burmese). Both are recessive to C. The Burmese has more pigmentation in the warm parts of the body than the Siamese. I try to discourage students from genotyping Siamese and Burmese as the breeding of these cats is generally under close control by humans, thus the Hardy-Weinberg assumption of random mating is unlikely to be true. If students turn in the genotype of a Siamese or Burmese, I count the number of C and c alleles and calculate the allele frequencies, but do not include the other color genes from these cats in the population totals. If the class size were smaller, I would strongly discourage use of any fancy breeds.]

Students get a checklist (below) and get credit for walking around, looking at cats, and sussing out their genotypes from their appearance. Some of them get so into it that they do more cats than are required. I can understand that.  Anyway, if you have a cat, this is a good general article on cat coat genetics that’s accessible to the layperson.

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Lagniappe from Divy, who enjoys “seeing cats enjoying a good soak”:

h/t: Killian, Matthew, Ginger K.

You may have already read about this new cat coat color, undoubtedly found as a single mutation in a single individual. Popular Mechanics describes the color, called “salmiak”, or “salty licorice” in the article below. “Salmiak licorice” is flavored with ammonium chloride (!), and, according to Wikipedia, is “a common confection found in the Nordic countries, Benelux, and northern Germany ” I tried it once in Sweden, but wasn’t a fan.

Presumably this coat was named because it resembles a variety of this confection that is coated with salt, like these:

To read about the color and see photos, click the headline below to go to an article in Popular Mechanics, which is also archived here, and also go to the article at My Cat DNA. Photos are below, too.

From Popular Mechanics:

You’ve probably heard of spooky black cats, chaotic orange cats, and distinguished-looking tuxedo cats. If you’re really into cats, you might have even lesser-known color variants like seal point and ticked tabby. But there’s officially a new cat color in town— salmiak, or ‘salty liquorice.’ You can see one here.

The pretty black, white, and grey shade—named for a popular snack food in Finland, where this coat color has been making itself known—is thanks to a fur strand that starts off black near the root, but grows whiter and whiter out towards the tip. The coat was first spotted in 2007, and in 2019, it was brought to the attention of a group of cat experts lead by feline geneticist Heidi Anderson. Since then, the group has been trying to figure out exactly what causes this shade to express itself, and recently, they finally figured it out. A paper on the discovery has been published in the journal Animal Genetics.

Here’s a two-minute video of this fur pattern:

And from My Cat DNA, which runs down the genetics (this is a single genetic mutation, a “knockout” mutation that inactivates a gene because there’s a big deletion of the DNA outside that gene).

The salmiak colour pattern was found to be recessively inherited, meaning it requires one copy of the salmiak variant from both parents in order for the trait to be visible. Although white spotting patterns can lead to hearing impairment in cats as well as dogs, researchers did not note any signs of deafness. However, they recommended BAER (brainstem auditory evoked response) testing in the future to rule out this possibility. The allele appears to be quite rare, with only 5 cats found to be positive for the pattern, and another 3 carriers for it, out of 183 Finnish domestic cats screened. The variant has not yet been found in other domestic cat populations.

Two additional domestic cats were also genotyped, one domestic cat from Romania and one from the UK, which manifested a similar type of white patterning referred to as “karpati,” of yet-unknown molecular cause. This pattern has been used as the basis of the creation of a new breed, called the “Transylvanian.” The term karpati is related to “Carpathian,” the region where local cats were noted to have this pattern. Researchers confirmed that the salmiak allele was absent in both of the karpati-coloured cats. Both karpati and salmiak may be described as being similar to roan colouring in other domestic species.

Here’s the paper in Animal Genetics. Click to read (note that they use the word “flavor” in the title, which is not an accident):

. . . and a picture from the paper (caption also from paper);  Some of these do resemble salted licorice, especially (a) and (f):

The authors sequenced entire cat genomes, and found that the salmiak pattern is associated with a huge deletion (95 kb, or 95,000 bases) outside the KIT gene, a gene responsible for the distribution of white patterning in cats.  This region of the DNA is presumably not translated into a protein, but somehow controls the expression of KIT, knocking it out. And that’s what produces the color.   “Regulatory” regions of genes are often very distant from protein-coding genes themselves, making it hard to find out how a gene’s expression is controlled.

The top line is a map of the cat chromosome containing the KIT gene (chromosome B1), the second line is a normal “wild type” cat with an intact KIT and control region, and the third line is the genotype of a cat with the salmiak allele, showing the bit deletion that moves the KIT gene closer to the KDR gene.

This probably produces the salmiak color (we can’t be 100% sure). The authors of the paper say this:

Other structural variants downstream of the KIT gene have been previously associated with coat color phenotypes in cattle, goats and horses (Brooks et al., 2007; Henkel et al., 2019; Küttel et al., 2019). In two Pakistani goat breeds, of which one is completely white and another one is white with colored patches, there is a copy number variation starting ~63 kb downstream of KIT and spanning a ~100 kb region that has a disrupted variant in a genomic region most similar to the salmiak variant (Henkel et al., 2019). In summary, comparative data from other species and genotype segregation analysis support the newly discovered KIT region deletion as potentially being a cause of salmiak coat color in cats.

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This article from the Washington Post, by Sam Sanders, tells you how to play with your moggy. Click on the headline below or find the article archived here.

A summary (quotes are indented):

Pick the right toys.

For toys, Ellis says, “the texture and shape are what truly matter.”

Does the toy feel furry like a mouse? Does it have feathers like a bird? These are good signs that your cat will enjoy the toy. Cats slice with their teeth instead of chewing, so hard, durable toys used for dogs typically don’t work for cats. Cats also prefer toys that are smaller in size, similar to the size of the prey they hunt.

Move your cat’s toy in a pattern that mimics their prey. 

. . . To mimic a bird, glide a wand toy in large sweeping movements or figure eights mirroring natural flight patterns. Create “S-shaped” wiggles on the floor with a wand to mimic a worm or snake. Tuck a toy under your rug like a hiding mouse.

Let your cat win.

As you move their toy in prey-like motions, periodically let your cat “win” by capturing the toy, and don’t immediately rip it away. This allows them to finish the predator cycle. Let them celebrate their successful hunt with additional kicks, bats and bites before reengaging for additional playtime.

DO NOT USE LASER DOTS. I have always thought that this frustrates the cat and is more for the amusement of the staff than of the cat. Two more tips (there are additional ones in the piece):

Create multisensory experiences through sound.

Adding sound brings dimension to a cat play session. “Cats can hear in an ultrasonic range,” says Delgado. “Their close-up vision is very fuzzy, with a focal point of only a few meters away, so they use their hearing to know if prey is nearby.”

Create noises that mimic what cats would hear in the wild, like a high-frequency chirp or squeak. The rustling sound of paper, tissue paper or cardboard while playing with a toy can mimic the sound of rustling through leaves. Try hiding treats in the paper pile, creating an immersive food puzzle.

Try turning the lights down low. 

Cats need play throughout the day, but engaging in a play session during low-light conditions is another opportunity to provide a novel and enriching play session. “Cats are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk,” says Delgado. As dawn and dusk change throughout the seasons, your cat’s play habits will change, too. Take this as an opportunity to give your cat a high-intensity play session as the sun is setting to help them (and you!) get a restful night of sleep.

Read the rest at the archive and then start playing with your cat PROPERLY!

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Finally, from the AP news (click on the headline), you can read about bodega cats: those cats in NYC that inhabit small, often Hispanic-owned stores. If you’ve been to NYC, you may know that many bodegas have resident cats. But I didn’t know it was illegal.

An excerpt:

New York City’s “bodega cats” are beloved fixtures in the Big Apple — but they’re on the wrong side of the law.

The convenience store cats that live at many of the city’s bodegas and delis look innocent enough, spending their days lounging in sun-soaked storefronts or slinking between shelves of snack foods as they collect friendly pets from customers.

Officially, though, state law bars most animals from stores that sell food, with bodega owners potentially facing fines if their tabby is caught curling up near the tins of tuna and toilet paper.

The pets’ precarious legal position recently came into the spotlight again when a petition circulated online that advocated for the city to shield bodega cat owners from fines, racking up more than 10,000 signatures.

But inspecting bodegas is a state responsibility. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets said in a statement that its goal is to ensure compliance with food safety laws and regulations, though it noted that inspectors aim to offer “educational resources and corrective action timelines and options” before looking at fines.

Many fans argue that the cats actually help keep the stores clean by deterring other ubiquitous New York City creatures, like rodents and cockroaches.

Indeed.  Bodega-cat inspectors are EVIL! And bodega cats help in many ways:

However, some shopkeepers say the felines’ most important job is bringing in customers.

At one bodega in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a fluffy gray and white cat named Mimi has become even more of a star attraction after a customer posted a video of her to TikTok that was viewed over 9 million times

Sydney Miller, the customer who shared the video, said the experience has helped her build a lasting rapport with Mimi’s caretaker, Asam Mohammad, a Yemeni immigrant who has only been in the U.S. for a few years.

“Ultimately, the cats are a symbol of community building and the special, unique type of connection that happens in a city like New York,” said Miller, a poet and digital content producer.

Here’s Mimi!

@girl.brain

Replying to @Cleotrapa a little update on mimi the bodega cat #cat #bodega

♬ original sound – sydney

You can sign the petition here (it’s over 11,000 signatures now). I signed it!

And here’s a short video about bodega cats and the push to protect them from Cat Pecksniffs:

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Lagniappe: Two of them today. First, a rescued cougar. Listen to its noises!

. . . . and a cat becomes a sundial.

h/t: Barry, Debra

Here you go: the 18 celebrity ailurophiles featured, including photos and videos of their moggies. They include Taylor Swift (of course), Drew Barrymore, Ricky Gervais, Kate Beckinsale, Katy Perry, Martha Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Ellen DeGeneres, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ruffalo, Russell Brand, Robert Downey, Jr., Miley Cyrus, Kat Dennings, James Franco, Jesse Eisenberg (he was on Team Cat when we debated at the New Yorker Festival), Mayim Bialik, and Cameron Diaz.

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From FB; a video of cats going down stairs, most of them awkwardly.. I like “Slinky Kitty”.

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Did you know that there is an American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva, North Carolina? I discovered it when Facebook foisted a short video on me. Here’s where Sylva is, and it’s not far from Asheville (birthplace and burial site of Thomas Wolfe) or Pigeon Forge (home of “Dollywood”).

Some information from the site:

The American Museum of the House Cat is dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of art, artifacts, and literature of the HouseCat for the purposes of education, historical perspective, aesthetic enjoyment, and for the significance of the unique five million year relationship between man and the domesticated feline.

The Museum was closed for several years, but opened up again in 2023, and is still active. Admission for adults is $10, and $5 for children. Here’s a ten-minute video of a visit to the Museum by “Cashew Paul”.  This looks like a MUST for all cat lovers.

I have two Chessie System playing cards: rarities (see 5:30). You need to know who Chessie is, along with her kittens Nip and Tuck and their father Peek (doesn’t he look proud?). Note also the medieval “petrified cat”, a signed Warhol cat, and a ton of cat art, clocks, ceramics, pendants, stuffed toys, and so on.  And a display of FELIX, my favorite cartoon cat.

And there’s a movie about the curator, Dr. Harold Sims, which I found on YouTube (see below). The blurb on the site:

Little Works of Art, a documentary by Kim Best, is the story of our Curator, Dr, Harold Sims.  Serving as an introduction to our American Museum of the House Cat, this short film details the love and passion Dr, Sims feels for the Cat.  The Cary Theater featured Little Works of Art for their Local Premiers Series in November of 2017.  Little Works of Art then debuted at the 1st Annual New York Cat Film Festival in December of 2017 with the awarded honor of being chosen as the title feature for the Program Two and has been touring the country throughout 2018 with stops in cities and towns from the West Coast to the East Coast delighting cat lovers everywhere.  In 2018 Little Works of Art was one of the films officially selected for the LongLeaf Film Festival held at the North Carolina Museum of History.

Voilà: “Little works of art.”  Don’t miss Dr. Sims’s passion for cats, and what he wants done with his body after he dies. And you get to see more stuff from the Cat Museum.

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Lagniappe: I saw this photo on the FB site Meow, and I needed to find out the details. I found them, of course, on YouTube, on a news report in the video below:

Meet Suki and her staff, Francesca Bourdier.  After Suki attended all the Zoom classes that Bourdier watched, Suki got her own cap and own, but not really a diploma. That’s okay, though.

We begin today’s cat trifecta with the in comparable Kiffness, who often makes songs out of cat noises. Here he presents a song called “Look I’m Gay (Why Are You Gay?” I suppose the answer is, “I was born that way.”

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This article from ZME Science (click screenshot to read) gives you an opportunity to participate in a citizen-science project about can ancestry and behavior, even getting a DNA sample from your cat (that costs extra);

An excerpt:

“Cats are one of the least-studied companion animals in genomics, and as a result we are missing out on all that genetics can tell us about their ancestry, behavior, and health,” said Dr. Elinor Karlsson, Chief Scientist at Darwin’s Ark and Director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. “That’s why I’m so excited about Darwin’s Cats’ fur-based DNA collection. It’s easy on the cat and easy to scale, making it possible for us to level up cat genetics research.”

Warning: clicking on the link above takes you to a post on the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth. The “Darwin’s Cats” page is here.

Darwin’s Cats was launched in mid-2024 and has already analyzed genetic data from over 3,000 cats. Traditionally, collecting an animal’s DNA required either a cheek swab or, worse, a blood draw — both of which cats tend to resent. Darwin’s Cats is bypassing the battle with claws and fangs by introducing a revolutionary, stress-free method: DNA extraction from fur.

Joining is simple. Any cat owner can sign up for free. You then share details about your cat’s appearance, health, and behavior. Those who wish to go a step further can order a DNA sequencing kit with a tax-deductible $150 donation, which covers the cost of sequencing and analysis. Once 1,000 samples have been processed, participants will receive insights into their cat’s genetic background.

. . . Cats have lived alongside humans for thousands of years, yet they remain, in many ways, an enigma. Unlike dogs, whose domestication was carefully shaped by human breeding, cats largely domesticated themselves. Understanding their genetics could reveal not just the hidden history of our housecats, but also help us figure out ways to keep them healthier for longer.

And while this project is about unraveling feline DNA, it’s also about something bigger: bringing everyday people (and cats) into the world of genetic research. By crowd-sourcing data from thousands of cats, researchers can finally fill the gaps in our understanding of feline evolution and domestication. In short, this study could help cats live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

Researchers who weren’t involved with the study also praised the initiative. A spokesperson for the charity International Cat Care (iCatCare) told The Guardian: “We’re really interested in the collaborative approach of Darwin’s Ark, particularly in encouraging pet owners as community scientists to help advance the collective scientific understanding of cats as a species.”

You have to sign up to do this, and yes, you can take research surveys, but the main point seems to be to squeeze money out of you to get your cat’s DNA sequenced. What will that tell you? “50% alley, 10% Persian, 40% Ashkenazi Jew”?  But there are other sites that do this too. Here’s one that will sequence your cat’s entire genome for $499.  The Guardian has an article on this project that makes it seem more serious (click to read):

An excerpt:

Cat owners are being asked share their pet’s quirky traits and even post researchers their fur in an effort to shed light on how cats’ health and behaviour are influenced by their genetics.

The scientists behind the project, Darwin’s Cats, are hoping to enrol 100,000 felines, from pedigrees to moggies, with the DNA of 5,000 cats expected to be sequenced in the next year.

The team say the goal is to produce the world’s largest feline genetic database.

“Unlike most existing databases, which tend to focus on specific breeds or veterinary applications, Darwin’s Cats is building a diverse, large-scale dataset that includes pet cats, strays and mixed breeds from all walks of life,” said Dr Elinor Karlsson, the chief scientist at the US nonprofit organisation Darwin’s Ark, director of the vertebrate genomics group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and associate professor at the UMass Chan medical school.

“It’s important to note, this is an open data project, so we will share the data with other scientists as the dataset grows,” she added.

The project follows on the heels of Darwin’s Dogs, a similar endeavour that has shed light on aspects of canine behaviour, disease and the genetic origins of modern breeds.

Darwin’s Cats was launched in mid-2024 and already has more than 3,000 cats enrolled, although not all have submitted fur samples.

Participants from all parts of the world are asked to complete a number of free surveys about their pet’s physical traits, behaviour, environment, and health.

However, at present, DNA kits – for owners to submit fur samples – can be sent only to US residents, and a donation of $150 (£120) for one cat is requested to cover the cost of sequencing and help fund the research.

Karlsson added the team had developed a method to obtain high-quality DNA from loose fur without needing its roots – meaning samples can simply be collected by brushing.

The researchers hope that by combining insights from cats’ DNA with the survey results they can shed light on how feline genetics influences what cats look like, how they act and the diseases they experience.

But of course if they’re building a genetic database they need genetics, and that means they need that $150 out of your pocket. If you’re willing to do that, fine, but do you get any information back about your cat, or are you just funding another group’s research project? I don’t know, but if you’re helping them, you shouldn’t have to pay!

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Finally, from Instagram, a “1970s vintage psychedelic disco cat ballet”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Psychedelic Archives (@psychedelicarchives)

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Lagniappe: Cats react to mice shown on t.v.: a “Whak-A-Mouse” game that seems to keep the cat entertained.

h/t: Debra, Ginger K.

From the Times of London we have the story of a tuxedo cat appropriately named Mischief, who’s become famous for his wide-ranging perambulations around the city of Plymouth. Click headline below to read, or find article (archived here):

Some excerpts:

You might think Tonie Blackmore would get worried when her pet cat Mischief goes missing for days on end, but thanks to his friendly nature he has the city of Plymouth tracking his every move.

The appropriately named feline has been making himself at home across the city for the past three years, and developing thousands of committed Mischief megafans.

Ever since he was old enough to leave his house in the centre of the city, he has been searching for strokes, suntraps and catnap spots in schools, shops, pubs, colleges, sports halls, youth clubs and strangers’ homes.

Mischief, a distinctive black and white tuxedo cat, can often be found lazing in hotel receptions, churches, supermarkets, railway stations and regularly visits HMS Drake naval base — where staff had to be reminded not to take and upload photos of him on site as it could threaten national security.

One woman was escorted home by the cat, while others have had him join them for car journeys, trick or treating outings and walks along the seafront.

One of his favourite haunts is Devonport High School for Boys, where he can often be found lazing in a staff room, sleeping through double physics or watching the netball and football teams compete on the weekend.

. . .Barry Hardman, the school sports co-ordinator, outlined a typical weekend visit from Mischief: “Inspected the toilets, got cuddles from two little girls, fell asleep in girls coat, sat by a window until netball girls left, followed the netball girls, and with that he’s gone again. Such a flirt.”

Rachel Fisher, a local jeweller, said it was “such a pleasure when he wandered into our house one day for a look around, a bit of a tickle under the chin, a sit by the fire and then he asked if he could leave to continue his wanderings”.

When he’s been away from his family for too long or found his way miles from home, he has a group of dedicated followers willing to drive across the city to pick him up and return him home.

. . . He has been microchipped and neutered and Blackmore’s family love to see what he gets up on his adventures, through the regular updates posted by locals on his Facebook fan page.

Here’s where Mischief has been spotted–as far as three miles from home!

And now he’s famous!

Mischief’s fame went global this week [March 7], after an admirer posted videos on TikTok about his affectionate antics and received more than nine million views.

Now the curious cat has fans declaring their love for him on his Facebook page — Mischief’s adventures in Plymouth — from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Georgia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, the Philippines and Panama.

You can find Mischief’s Facebook page here; it’s temporarily paused for a day. Here are a few snaps of the wandering moggy:

Mischief as a kitten:

Mischief hitting the bars:

Mischief and his staff:

Of course outdoor cats have lives much shorter than feral cats or all-indoor cats, so I worry aboui Mischief. However, so many people are looking out for him that I hope he’ll be okay.

Mischief away from home for 3 days!

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Here’s Tuna (she/her, please) in love with delivery people.  Follow her and her mate Loki on their Instagram page. She’s sort of an outdoor cat, but never leaves the yard, and mostly hangs out on the porch. 

A quote from her staff: “I think we could all learn a little bit from Tuna: about putting ourselves out there.”

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And from the AP (click to read), we read about Aggie, a cat lost after the California wildfires and presumed gone forever, but rescued after two months. Shown is the staff Katherine Kiefer with Aggie; photo by Carolyn Kiefer for the AP):

Aggie’s tail:

It appears the tall tale that all cats have nine lives may be true for a California Maine coon named Aggie.

The beloved feline was feared dead for two months after the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles left her family’s home in ashes. But her owner, 82-year-old Katherine Kiefer, held out some hope.

Over the weekend, Kiefer got a call from the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. Her daughter Carolyn Kiefer shared their reunion Saturday in a TikTok video that quickly garnered more than 1 million likes. It shows tears pouring from Katherine Kiefer’s eyes as Aggie curled up in her arms.

“I was very much worried that I was going to wake up and (discover) it had been a dream,” she said.

Kiefer was at a medical appointment the day fire engulfed her neighborhood and her children couldn’t find Aggie — who was prone to hiding — when they tried to rescue her.

“The one thing my mom asked was: ‘Did you get Aggie?” Carolyn recalls.

Many pet owners struggled to reach their domesticated animals during the frantic rush to evacuate from the Palisades wildfire in January.

Aggie, who is about 5 years old, was gifted to Katherine Kiefer by a friend during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media users have been so touched by the pair’s reunion video that many have been asking for daily updates. The family’s $30,000 GoFundMe campaign for Aggie’s vet bills had topped $21,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

The reunion from Tik Tok:

@apnews

When Katherine Kiefer, 82, lost her home to the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7, she feared she had also lost her beloved cat, Aggie. But two months later, Aggie was found alive in the fire’s ruins. Here’s the moment Kiefer and Aggie reunited.

♬ original sound – The Associated Press

h/t: Richard

Here’s a question that cat owners probably ask themselves. Certainly some cats go nuts when they see themselves in the mirror, but they could be thinking it’s just another cat and not their own reflection?  Here, according to petMD, is how SCIENCE addresses the question. click to read:

The test scientists use for self-recognition is the famous “mirror test“, which has been criticized because it depends on a critical use of animal vision, and not all species are very visual. They have, for example, used odor in animals like dogs (e.g., do they recognize their own odor?) From the article:

Understanding that you are the person staring back at you in the mirror may seem obvious, but it’s a feat of mental gymnastics that you probably didn’t develop until you were 18 to 24 months old. Scientists have used the mirror-self recognition test (also called the MSR or mark test) to assess self-awareness in humans and animals for decades.

How the test is run varies slightly from study to study, but MSR tests work by exposing animals to mirrors. Once the animal is used to the mirrors’ presence, the researcher places a marker, like a sticker or a patch of dye, on a part of the animal’s body they can’t readily see (their face or neck, for example).

If the animal investigates the visible mark on their body while looking at themselves in the mirror, they are said to pass the MSR test. In other words, they saw something unusual on their body when they looked in the mirror and reacted in a way that showed understanding that their reflection was their own image.

Some animals, such as great apes, elephants, dolphins, and magpies, have passed the MSR test, but many others haven’t. While there haven’t been any rigorous mark tests involving cats, one recent study made use of YouTube videos and concluded that cats can’t recognize themselves in the mirror.

But what about moggies?

Understanding that you are the person staring back at you in the mirror may seem obvious, but it’s a feat of mental gymnastics that you probably didn’t develop until you were 18 to 24 months old. Scientists have used the mirror-self recognition test (also called the MSR or mark test) to assess self-awareness in humans and animals for decades.

How the test is run varies slightly from study to study, but MSR tests work by exposing animals to mirrors. Once the animal is used to the mirrors’ presence, the researcher places a marker, like a sticker or a patch of dye, on a part of the animal’s body they can’t readily see (their face or neck, for example).

If the animal investigates the visible mark on their body while looking at themselves in the mirror, they are said to pass the MSR test. In other words, they saw something unusual on their body when they looked in the mirror and reacted in a way that showed understanding that their reflection was their own image.

Some animals, such as great apes, elephants, dolphins, and magpies, have passed the MSR test, but many others haven’t. While there haven’t been any rigorous mark tests involving cats, one recent study made use of YouTube videos and concluded that cats can’t recognize themselves in the mirror.

If you look at the paper, the answer is clearly “we have no idea,” for they don’t even used the “mark test” on cats. Clearly there is an important question here begging for an answer, and that answer is not that hard to get, even if the test produces false negatives (e.g. when animal does recognize itself but the mark test fails). Cats are visual animals, though, so someone should slap some red sticky dots on cats’ heads and see what happens. The article even tells you how to do it at home!

The best thing about the MSR test is you can easily try it at home with your own cat. Here’s how:

• Place a large mirror on the floor where your cat likes to spend a lot of time.

• Let your cat get used to the mirror for at least a few days.

• Cut out two small squares of clear tape. Leave one clear and color the other so it will clearly stand out when placed on your cat’s fur.

• When you’re ready to perform the test, place the colored piece of tape on the bottom of your cat’s neck and the clear one nearby.

• Put your cat in front of the mirror and watch how they react.

• Cats who look at themselves in the mirror and quickly try to remove the colored piece of tape might be demonstrating self-awareness!

I’m not sure what the clear tape is for, though.

There are videos of cats seeing themselves in the mirror, but they say little about self-recognition:

When you watch videos of cats seeing themselves in the mirror, it’s obvious they know that something important is going on. The cats’ body language falls into two categories:

• Aggressive: The arched back, erect hair, and puffy tail flicking back and forth are all signs of agitation and aggression in cats. Often, cats show signs of aggression because they are scared and feel like they need to defend themselves.

• Curious: Some cats don’t appear agitated but are simply curious. Their eyes are open wide, and their ears are pricked forward.

You can see both aggression and curiosity in the linked video, which I’ve put below:

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From that ever-informative magazine Newsweek, we learn that people are starting to dunk their faces into bowls of ice water or ice cubes, convinced that this will improve their skin. (I have no idea if there’s any data to support this, though the magazine found one doctor who said, “By constricting blood vessels, cold exposure reduces inflammation and redness, alleviating puffiness and restoring a refreshed look. Cold exposure is particularly helpful for those who have irritable skin through the constriction of blood vessels, alleviating swelling and flushes.”)

At any rate, a helpful cat helped its staff get through this painful procedure. Click on headline to read.

An excerpt:

For many, achieving flawless skin doesn’t happen overnight and often requires effort—whether through skincare products, facials, or even dunking your face in a bowl of ice-cold water, as this woman demonstrates.

Ice-cold therapy for facial skin can reduce puffiness and inflammation, and tighten pores; however, putting your face in the freezing water is the hard part. So, it’s no wonder Makayla Raezz (@makayla.raezz) is reluctant during her TikTok video, which has an astounding 17.7 million views.

Fortunately, she has a supportive kitten called Calypso who seems determined to help Raezz reap the benefits. She stands on her hind legs, places her front paws on her owner’s head, and simply pushes her face into the water.

The feline is referred to as her owner’s “personal cheerleader,” but not all TikTok users agree. Many were left wondering if the cat’s actions were playful or something more sinister. The debate in the comments continues to grow, with some users calling it “supportive” while others remain suspicious of the cat’s motives.

So far, the video has 2.8 million likes and over 7,000 comments, with many viewers assuming the worst.

“I think your cat want[s] you dead,” said one user, while others have written in the first person what they believe the cat would say if she could talk.

“Shhh shhh don’t fight it,” said one comment with over half a million likes, and another wrote: “This hurts me more than it hurts you.”

“Shhhhh just go into the light, girl!” said a third commenter and a fourth wrote: “Nah she was tryna take you out right there sis,” gathering over 20,000 likes.

Nonetheless, whatever the cat’s intentions were, her owner seemed happy that she helped her brace the cold. She even smirks at her kitten’s efforts, amused by the unexpected push. After all, it is beneficial.

Here’s the video under debate:

@makayla.raezz

#iceyface

♬ original sound – ;༊

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The movie “Flow,” an animated film featuring a cat and some other creatures, like a capybara and a lemur, encountering a worldwide flood apocalypse, is superb, and I’ve been touting it for a while. Well, it just won the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature Film, and you should see it. Below is a video of the award, and notice the black cat to the left during the award and in the picture below. Note also that one awardee says that “we’re all in the same boat,” indicating one theme of the movie, which features no words or humans—only animal noises. The movie was made by a group that included Latvians, French, and Belgians.

Oh, here’s the trailer again:

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Lagniappe: A statue memorializing a famous cat lady who lived on the Canary Islands of Spain:

h/t: Ginger K.