So You Want an American Wirehair

Do you want a cat that has a distinctive and unusual looking appearance? If so, you may want to consider the American Wirehair. This breed has hair that looks like colored steel wool, although it doesn’t feel quite so coarse to the touch.

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Is an American Shorthair the Right Breed for You?

If you aren’t familiar with pedigreed cats, you may be under the impression that the American Shorthair is a fancy name for an alley cat. However, the American Shorthair, which was called the Domestic Shorthair until the nineteen sixties, is a pedigreed cat that meets a specific standard.
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Should You Own an American Curl?

The first time you see an American Curl, you may think that the cat has a deformity. After all, cats don’t usually have ears that curve back toward the back of their heads. The American Curl has varying degrees of curl to the ears, from ears that barely tip back to ears that curve so far back that they form a crescent shape. Only cats with ears that form a crescent curve are suitable for showing, but all American Curls make delightful pets.
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So You Want an American Bobtail?

If you want a friendly cat and don’t mind that the breed you’ve chosen is a bit of an upstart in the cat world, since it only has existed since the nineteen sixties, you may want to consider the American Bobtail.
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Is the Playful Abyssinian the Right Breed for You?

If you’ve always thought cats were too snooty and unaffectionate, you haven’t met an Abyssinian. These cats are very personable and affectionate animals that love to interact with their families.
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How to Choose the Right Cat Breed

There are so many cat breeds. How can you decide which breed is right for you and your family? Follow this handy guide to select the perfect cat breed.

The first thing you should consider is whether you will be able to handle having a vocal cat. Some cat breeds can actually be quite noisy. While many cat owners do not have a problem with these vocal breeds, as they realize their cats are just communicating with them, a loud cat can be a problem in an apartment situation. Breeds that are very vocal are the Siamese Cat, the Korat, and the Burmese. The Scottish Fold, Somali, and the American Curl are considered to be very quiet cat breeds.
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Auri Is a Cat Burglar!

Today Susan was making herself meatballs for lunch. She heated them up and put the plate down on the counter while heading to the refrigerator for some tomato sauce.

Up jumped Auri, who stuck out a claw and flipped one of the meatballs off the plate! She then played meatball hockey for quite a while after finding out it was too hot for her to eat!

Of Popes and Cats

Back in the Sixties or Seventies, David Peel released an album entitled "The Pope Smokes Dope". While that scenario is extremely hard to believe, it is no doubt true that the current Pope and I share a different addiction…that of kissing cats.

Pope Benedict XVI is well-known as a cat lover and a recent New York times article goes into this in some depth.

But wait, there’s more! His official biography was written by a cat ! How things have changed since Pope Gregory IX declared black cats to be evil, causing innumerable cats to be killed!

Like cats, Popes have multiple names. Pope Benedict’s cats may call him Benny, but I doubt it, since his real name is Joseph (he took the name Benedict when he was elected Pope). And, anti-Catholic propaganda to the contrary, even Popes don’t have unlimited power — Pope Benedict was unable to have his cats join him in his official residence. So fooey on the Vatican, anyway…at least "Catholic" begins with "cat"!

Tuxies In Japanese!

We have a very dear friend who lives in Tokyo and is not only a world-famous computer journalist but also a cat lover. She has two cat blogs — one in English and one in Japanese — and she recently sent us a link to a Japanese tuxedo cat video. It’s on the Japanese-language version of YouTube, so there are lots of tuxedo “related videos” on the right side of the page, just like the English version.

A Moment of Silence for Some Friends of Cats

OK, not really friends, perhaps. But all the cats loved to watch them.

Today Susan unexpectedly lost one of her beautiful fish, a Gold Nugget Pleco, and Madame Houdini, a White Line Gecko. Dang, they were both fine yesterday.

Here’s a picture of Madame Houdini with two of her little gecko friends in happier days (like when she was alive):

She wasn’t called Madame Houdini for nothing. In her most famous escape (documented in the upcoming book Famous Geckos and Where They Hid, soon to be a major motion picture starring Stickon D. Wall and Leggo Mai Gecko), she not only got out of a completely sealed tank, but eluded six cats for three days by pretending to be a wall decoration, and then resisted capture by numerous experienced reptile wranglers. If you don’t believe me, check out these photos.

Madame Houdini could often be found on the back wall of her tank, where she teased the heck out of all the cats, but especially Jennifur, Auri, and Aurum. Jenni sometimes stood up on her hind legs like a meercat to look at her, while Aurum would come out in the middle of the night and stare at her for hours.

We will all miss them both.

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