01.18.07
Posted in Cat Articles, Just For Fun, Cat Sites - Our Picks, Marketing & Opinions at 8:45 pm by pawpathblog
I’m taking a brief rest after my online work! Whew, I do love the warmth of the laptop keys. Purrrrrr. Anyway, our friend Sharolyn over at the fabulous new blog Artsy Catsy posted this comment about the review we received back in August of 2006 (mentioned in our post which you can read here). Thanks for the support! We loved the comment so much that we wanted to make it a post and Sharolyn kindly gave us permission. We cat bloggers have to stick together!
- Bambi
| Kudos, Juli, for your informative, well-researched post! I’ve recently launched our ArtsyCatsy “character blog” through the voices of our fifteen (yes, 15!) cats as an adjunct to our upcoming business website, an e-commerce site offering a wide variety of cat-themed original artist creations.
I think that over time, many of the critics will reverse their opinions about blogs written by our cats, particulary when those blogs, like yours and mine, are intended to put a personal face on our businesses. Why? Because blogs by cats are read by cat lovers, businesses like ours cater to cat lovers … and all you have to do is LISTEN to a cat lover! We speak CAT; we talk to our cats in a language a non-cat-lover would never understand. We communicate with our cats as if they are our children (they are!) and they talk right back to us!
I defy anyone to find a non-cat-lover who would ever utter something like, “Ooh, my wootsie pootsie Callie-walley bootsie toots,” or come home from work and snuggle up in bed with their pet lizard to tell it about their rotten day.
Therefore, our cat “character blogs” are speaking in our readers’ and customers’ language, one they not only only understand, but speak and respond to every day of their lives.
Sure, we can pepper our posts with a human voice every now and then, but cat lovers communicate with their kitties constantly, and it’s obvious by the number of popular cat blogs out there that they enjoy communicating with others’ cats online.
I don’t think cat-oriented sites fit into the mold, so I can’t agree with the criticism you’ve received that a cat character blog could lose sales that you might have received with a strictly informative blog. Have you ever walked into a retail store that has cats running around as mascots? If you’re a cat lover, the first thing you do is talk with the cats, and the second thing you do is become a loyal customer of that business!
Some think cat lovers are a bit weird; some may think we’re downright twisted; but one thing is certain - we “click” and we bond … with our cats, with others’ cats, with stray cats, and with each other. And just as a business in America is wise to speak to its customers in English, not Farsi or Greek, I think a business catering to cat lovers is wise to blog to its customers in their own native language!
And my cat, Rocky, says, “Right on, Meowmie!!” |
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12.16.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Just For Fun at 2:48 am by pawpathblog
Looking for last minute gift ideas for fellow cat lovers? You’ve come to the right place!
Give a gift donation! Give a truly meaningful gift that helps animals in need. It’s unique, perfect for the cat (or person) who already has everything, and it’s tax-deductible!
- If you gift a gift donation of $50 or more, the Humane Society will send the recipient an adorable plush “take along pet” - order by midnight, December 18th for delivery by Christmas. Get more info here or order by phone by calling 1-866-MY-FRIEND.
Another really great non profit that helps cats is the Alley Cat Allies - if you send a gift donation, they will send a special card to the honoree to let them know that you’ve donated on their behalf. Go and donate online at the Alley Cat Allies Site!
For more charities, check out our charities guide. Make sure you check out their rating on charity navigator or a similar third party site, so you know that your dollars are actually going to the cause and not to administrative costs!
Some other more conventional gift ideas…
- Get a cat calendar! Check out our selection at the cat calendar store for ideas.
- Get a unique cat print, poster, or photograph - check out our selection at our cat prints store.
- Fishs Eddy has great cat dishes, bowls, mugs, and glasses with adorable drawings of cats with commands for tricks written under them - we have them, they’re hilarious! (for example, a cat grooming itself says “fetch” or “play dead” underneath it):
- Go to Snapfish.com and get a personalized gift using your photos - they have everything from snowflake ornaments to mugs to calendars to teddy bears with custom printed t-shirts! And of course, a photo album would make a great gift! Just upload your photos, and it’s all done in, well, a Snap!
- Check out Sanrio’s Online Shop for tons of cute Hello Kitty gifts - order by 9PM PT Dec. 17th for your gift to arrive by Dec 22nd! Just look at how cute this mug is!
Chococat Mug with Lid at Sanrio, $6.95
Small Egyptian Cat at the Met Store, $22.50
Here’s one just for fun…we thought this was so unique and beautiful…a carved amethyst cat ring for $2100.00 from the Met Museum Store (if anyone wants to buy us one, let us know! Just kidding! ha ha 
Hope everyone’s having a great December!!
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11.29.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Just For Fun, Cat Trivia at 10:26 am by pawpathblog
In this post, we explore the origins of the saying “the cat’s meow,” which appropriately enough, means “something considered to be outstanding” or the “height of excellence.”
This lovely saying was coined by American journalist, boxing authority and cartoonist Thomas Aloysius Dorgan (1877-1929) who signed his cartoons with the acronym ”TAD.” Wikipedia states that he is credited with coining more expressions than anyone else.
He also coined the phrase “the cat’s pajamas” which means the same thing.
Here’s a “Cat’s Meow” sculpture that we thought was really cute, which we found at the Art Institute of Chicago’s online museum shop:
Another expression with the same meaning is “the cat’s whiskers.”
Hey, cat bloggers, you guys are the cat’s meow!
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10.26.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Just For Fun, Cat Trivia at 9:09 am by pawpathblog
There are very many wonderful (and some not so wonderful) euphemisms, anecdotes and sayings in the English language about cats. Ever wonder why people say cats have nine lives? We did! And here’s what we found out:
One reason, which is fairly obvious, is that cats are very resilient and crafty, and can survive falls from great distances with their ability to absorb shock (although many stupid people overestimate this and don’t protect cats from falling to their deaths from high windows). Cats, being their tenacious selves, gracefully skirt near-death situations, making them seem like they have multiple lives. But why the number nine?
The number nine was a lucky, mystical, or magic number because it is the Trinity of Trinities (3 x 3). As cats seem able to escape injury time and time again, this lucky number seemed suited to the cat. While in most countries the cat is said to have nine lives, in Arab and Turkish proverbs poor puss has a mere seven lucky lives and in Russia, is said to-survive nine deaths.(source: Paws For Proverbs)
The Egyptian Goddess Bast, or Bastet
Another possible origin is Ancient Egyptian mythology, when cats were worshipped as gods in Ancient Egypt (ahhh, those were the days!). Justine Hankins claims that the number nine is associated with various Egyptian gods and cats, but we haven’t been able to fact-check these statements. Any Egyptolo-cats out there who have any insights?
During the Dark Ages, cats were killed as demonic beings (unfathomable!). The most possible origin of the nine lives saying could be Beware the Cat, which is the earliest original piece of long prose literature in English, published in 1533.
Beware the Cat : The First English Novel
The author William Baldwin wrote, “it is permitted for a witch to take her cat’s body nine times.” (source: Cat Facts) If you want to read about the number nine, check out the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight, which also gives Beware the Cat credit for the 9 lives myth.
As a bonus, here’s a related term which is a bit more nasty, but hey, it’s Halloween time!
Cat O’ Nine Tails:
In olden days, people were flogged by a nasty device made up of three separate knottings of three stands attached to the whip’s handle. While the strands may have been made from the hide of cats, the multiple of 9 had already been associated with cats; presumably if a person being flogged survived, they were as lucky as a cat with 9 lives. Yeeeeowch! (source: Cat-ch phrases)
Wow, all that research made me want to take a nap with Pinky, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!
- Bambi
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10.18.06
Posted in Cat News, Cat Articles at 8:10 pm by pawpathblog
AP Photo/Shiho Fukada
A 4-year old short hair Calico Manx Spay, Grand Premier Fuzzy-Foot Confetti of Deydream from New Jersey won Best in Show this past weekend at the CFA-Iams Cat Championship at Madison Square Garden where 300 cats representing 41 distinct breeds competed for the coveted ribbon. Go and meet the winners!
See photos from the championship on Yahoo! News >>
Or watch a slideshow with commentary by the executive director of CFA on CNN >>
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10.17.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Cat Trivia at 5:32 pm by pawpathblog
The headline everywhere today is that our country is becoming overpopulated, as the U.S. hit a population of 300 million Tuesday morning, making us the third most populated country in the world next to China and India. Read more on cnn.com >> or see the Population Clock on the U.S. Census homepage.
What about cats? According to the Veterinary Market Statistics in 2001, there were about 70 million cats in households. It is estimated that there are over 60 million feral cats roaming the streets in America, which would make the cat population about 130 million in the U.S.! However, there are no reliable sources for the exact cat population (see wildlife.org), so nobody knows how many cats there really are. The U.S. Census does not collect data on pet ownership.
There are a lot of organizations that are doing excellent jobs on controlling the feral cat population. One of them is the Alley Cat Allies.
We’re catching up! Careful, puny humans, we are taking over the world. Mwa HA HA HA HA HA HA! -Leo
Don’t be such a bonehead, Leo. Seriously. Cat overpopulation is a serious issue! -Bambi
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10.16.06
Posted in Cat News, Cat Articles at 12:50 am by pawpathblog
Some cat related news this week!
Genetic Savings and Clone, the company that offered cloned pets for $50,000 (they recently reduced the price to $32,000) is going out of business due to lack of demand.
The company was launched by John Sterling, the billionaire founder of the University of Phoenix who wanted to clone his hunting dog Missy. It was never accomplished. The company opened for business in 2000. The company has reportedly produced 5 cloned cats since it opened, but only sold 2 to paying customers. Needless to say, this practice has sparked intense ethical and scientific debate over cloning.
Animal rights activists rejoiced when hearing the news of Genetic Savings and Clone’s closing, as thousands of stray cats are euthanized each year and there is no need to make more cats. The Humane Society of the United States’ president, Wayne Pacelle, called Genetic Savings “…not just a bad business venture, but an operation grounded in the misuse of animals.” He stated that numerous failed cloned cats suffered deformities, chronic pain, and suffering.
Read more on USAToday.com or Reuters via Yahoo! News.
In more whimsical news, a stray cat has been hanging out in a cherry tree in a pigeon’s nest in Norfolk, England! We wish there was a picture, but there isn’t. What a strange cat! Read a brief article in All Headline News.
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10.13.06
Posted in Cat News, Cat Articles at 9:25 am by pawpathblog
The CFA-Iams Cat Championship will take place this weekend, October 14-15 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The show will place the spotlight on more than 300 pedigreed cats representing 41 recognized breeds registered by the Cat Fanciers’ Association. Also returning to this year’s show is a spectator favorite, the Feline Agility Competition (FAC), a challenge that is sweeping the nation. 500 homeless felines will also gather for the Adopt-A-Cat at the Garden. Visit the official site to learn more, as well as see the winners from last year.
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Here’s Tyler, a 12- year old domestic house cat, who is jumping a hurdle in the preview for the CFA-Iams Cat Championship on Wednesday, October 11th, at Madison Square Garden. See more pictures from the preview on Yahoo! News
Big deal, so that big-shot Tyler is jumping through a hurdle. Is there a prize for sitting in inconvenient places for attention? I’d probably win that. Just yesterday, I was sitting right in front of my mom on the forbidden table, on top of her papers doing just that. I made various sounds, from cute little mew’s to very masculine, low mmmm’s to very loud MMRRROAR’s. Mom kept saying it didn’t matter what I said, as she was “working” and “paying the bills” and that she’d hug me later…hm! That hardly seems very important compared to playing with me. But I digress. What’s the prize for this championship? Hugs? If that’s the case, SIGN ME UP, BABY, I’M IN!
-Leo
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10.09.06
Posted in Cat News, Cat Articles at 9:07 pm by pawpathblog
Out of curiousity, I emailed PETA to see what their take was on Allerca’s hypoallergenic cats, and they replied very promptly. We’re not against scientific & genetic research to better people’s and animal’s lives, but I’m still not sure whether I can support this particular experiement or not.
PETA can notoriously get over zealous, like when they protested a cockroach-eating promotion at Six Flag’s Great Adventure, calling the insects “gentle, complex animals” - a bit of a stretch in our book. But for the most part they do a whole lot for the well being of animals, which is pretty great. Here’s what they had to say:
———————–
Dear Juli,
Thank you for contacting us about “allergy-free” cats.
PETA is strongly opposed to the creation of transgenic animals. The researchers are playing with Mother Nature, and history shows us that this rarely works. Mortality rates for animals in transgenic* research are very high, and animals who do survive are frequently born with severe physical abnormalities. Genes are present for reasons not yet completely understood, and tinkering may cause physiological and immune system problems that honest researchers admit they can neither anticipate nor control.
Every year, millions of animals are euthanized in shelters around the United States. There is no reason to “create” new animals when countless animals are being destroyed for lack of good homes. There are simple, ethical, and effective ways to cope with allergies to cats and other animals. If you have not already done so, please see PETA’s Web page on transgenic cats at http://www.PETA.org/feat/trans/index.html for tips on dealing with allergies to animals.
To learn more about ways to help cats, and for information about stopping cruel and unnecessary experiments on animals, please visit http://www.HelpingAnimals.com and http://www.StopAnimalTests.com.
Thanks again for contacting us and for your concern for animals.
Sincerely,
The PETA Staff
http://www.SupportPETA.com
——-end PETA email——
*Apparently, PETA used the wrong term, as Cecilia kindly pointed out to us (see comments). transgenic as defined in genome.gov : An experimentally produced organism in which DNA has been artificially introduced and incorporated into the organism’s germ line, usually by injecting the foreign DNA into the nucleus of a fertilized embryo.
Read more about GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms) on Wikipedia.
Allerca may not get any protests from the anti-GM (Genetic Modification) lobby, as what their doing is not technically genetic modification, it is selective breeding…or are they? Victor Tabbycat, do your evil laugh again!
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