I told him that there were some chocolate covered raisins on the counter. He didn't bother turning on the lights and just went by the little bit of daylight shining through the kitchen door glass.

I heard the sound of "crunch, crunch" from his mouth, then he asked, "What is this?"

I had placed the bowl of dry cat food on the counter when I mopped the floor.
The chocolate covered raisins were still in their unopened package.

According to the story, the man's feline companion caught pigeons and brought them home to his hungry master, who made "pigeon noodle soup" with the "catch of the day."

Realizing that he had an valuable solution to the economic hardships in the nation, the elderly man tried to have his cat insured with the state insurance authorities in his southern Russian town of Labinsk. The cat was, after all, his sole means of support! But to his dismay, the very unsympathetic insurance officials turned down his request.

The report went on to say that the man had taken his complaint all the way to Boris Yeltsin, arguing that elderly people on fixed incomes were the ones hardest hit by economic reforms.

Without the keen hunting prowess of his generous, beloved cat, this 80 year old man probably would have starved to death.  What a wonderful creature, this guardian angel in fur!
Is it no wonder why we love them so much?

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Battling the Flea

With good sanitation measures and the new products now on the market, you and your human can do a good job of controlling fleas without toxic, residual pesticides. It is important for your human to keep in mind that adult fleas live on us, whereas immature fleas live on the dried blood in our beds. The life cycle of the flea takes about 6 weeks, in good conditions, but fleas can remain dormant up to a year waiting for the presence of humans or animals to stimulate them to activity.

Flea control around the house:

• We must always keep out of, or off of, hard to treat areas.
• We shouldn't be allowed to roam outside or pick up fleas from other animals during flea season. Where we live in Southwestern Florida, it is flea season all the time, that is why we are all indoor kitties.
• Be sure to have your human vacuum the house frequently and thoroughly. Then have her dispose of the vacuum bag after vacuuming, the new bagless vacuum is great for this, dump it in the trash outside. Don't want to let the little critters back into the house, once you get them out, you don't want them back inside.
• Have your human wash your bedding in hot, soapy water every 2-3 weeks during flea season. I know this is upsetting, but it must be done to battle the fleas. Jessie gets real upset when her bed gets washed, she has spent so much time shedding the hair and arranging it just right and pushing the bed into just the right shape.
• Have your beds, carpets and floors sprayed throughout the house.They say this is important, but my human doesn't like to spray where we are, so we don't do this, but we do spray outside. To control immature fleas, use products containing methoprene (also called PrecorÔ). This is an insect growth hormone with a long lasting effect (3 to 7 months) on immature fleas. To control adult fleas, use products containing pyrethrins. These are short-lived, fast-acting compounds from pyrethrum daisies that have a quick effect on adult fleas. Some product contain both ingredients. Use all products only as directed on the label. NEVER use a product made for a dog on a cat, this can be fatal.
• Treat your resting places in the yard, if you are an outdoor cat, with products containing pyrethrins, methoprene, or diatomaceous earth (silicon dioxide), a fine, white, non-toxic dust that kill fleas by causing them to dehydrate.
• If you travel in the car, treat car seats and carpets (as above) or leave the car in the hot sun for a day with the windows closed to "fry" the fleas. That isn't a problem around here. The car is always like an oven if let sit outside in the sun. So with or without my fleas, our car is flea-free.

Flea control on you:

1. You should take a bath with flea shampoos containing pyrethrins at weekly to monthly intervals; this can turn into a martial art if not done properly. Be sure to use only products that state they are safe for cats, anything else can be toxic. Shampoos do not have residual effects, therefore, flea-allergic cats may need a bath daily in flea season. Yikes!
2. You should use a spray weekly with a pyrethrins product registered for this use. Spray thoroughly and have your human work it well into your coat. Be sure your human wears rubber gloves and cover your eyes with her hand when spraying anything around your head.
3. Daily to weekly combing with a fine-toothed flea comb will help remove adult fleas from your coat, this is a good idea if it is awkward to bathe you, and like most kitties I know, it IS awkward to bathe you. Drop fleas caught in the comb into soapy water to kill them.

For severe infestations: Have your human shampoo or steam clean the carpets and shampoo upholstered furniture where you have been sitting. Have your human vacuum and/or scrub floors thoroughly, treat your coat (as above) and wash the bedding. Spray the house with products formulated for that purpose containing methoprene and pyrethrins, this is optional of course, we never spray. Treat all areas in the yard or outbuildings where you rest or play. Continue stringent control measures for adult fleas on your coat (combing, sprays, bathing) for several more weeks to eliminate adult fleas. After such a thorough campaign, routine santitation measures, including treatment with methoprene sprays every 6 months, should prevent further severe outbreaks. Once we got the fleas under control, our problems were over. But my human is always on the alert for a stray flea.

NOTE: Do not buy ultrasonic devices to repel fleas--there is no scientific basis for claims made for such devices against insects. My human bought one once, and it really didn't do the job. What worked best for us was the flea control that we got from our friendly local V*t.

Why did the Egyptians worship cats?

Egyptians literally believed that cats were divine, to the point that if a household cat died, its owners would shave their eyebrows
in mourning and lovingly transport the cat carcass to one of the cities devoted to mummifying cats for their journey to the next world. (They apparently didn't make it. In 1888, about 300,000 cat mummies were discovered still lounging around this world in the ancient city of Beni Hassan. (We guess it illustrates once again how hard it is to get cats to go where you want them to.) There were practical reasons for worshipping cats, though. The Egyptians were very dependent on grains for their main staples of bread and beer, and they knew how much the cats contributed to their lives and economy by keeping rats and mice in check. PHOTO: This noble and his wife are spending their leisure time hunting fowl with their big orange-striped cat (lower left area). Notice that the birds, and especially the fish, are painted very realistically, with attention paid to the slightest details, while the humans conform to the cartoon-like "frontalistic" style.

Cat Ownership Good for Soul, Study Shows

WILMINGTON, DE (AheadOfNews.com) - People with pet cats have larger, more robust souls than people without, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study measured the souls of 1,500 nurses in Delaware and found the souls of the cat owners among them to be, on average, more than twice as long and almost four times as wide as those of catless nurses. The souls were measured using "highly sensitive, carefully calibrated instruments" designed for that purpose, according to Dr. Enrico Gatto of the Institute of Feline-Human Interconnectivity in Wilmington.

Gatto also noted that the nurses with cats seemed to "bounce back faster" from emotional disappointments and that the souls of the cat owners "shimmered."

The study also tracked the impact on the soul of other household pets. No friends of canines, rodents, or reptiles in the study possessed souls as hefty as those of subjects with even one domestic shorthair cat. Yet most pets were found to be somewhat beneficial. Any pets are better than no pets, the data suggest. Those nurses who had no animals in their homes had "paltry, shriveled souls," Gatto said. "And brown as a dead leaf. They were a sorry sight to behold."

Effects on the soul did vary considerably from one species to another. For example, "there is almost no spiritual benefit to poodle ownership," said Gatto. "You get quite a bit of uplift from a Great Dane or a Saint Bernard. But you would have to acquire 6.3 Chihuahuas to grow a soul like a person who has just one gerbil."

The good news is that the damage inflicted by a pet-poor lifestyle appears to be reversible. "Some of the nurses went out and got kittens" when they saw the results of the study, Gatto said. In a follow-up examination, "we found their souls swelled considerably in just three to four weeks."

For those unwilling or unable to keep cats, Gatto suggested adopting two or more large dogs. "You must go to great lengths," he said, "to fill the hole left in your soul by catlessness."