The Litter Box Diaries

Chinese cat lovers block truck shipping cats to restaurants - International Herald Tribune
Chinese cat lovers block truck shipping cats to restaurants
The Associated Press
Published: July 10, 2007

SHANGHAI, China: Chinese cat lovers mobilized online to save a truck load of cats from the cooking pot, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Veteran Shanghai cat rescuer Duo Zirong started off her mission of deliverance on Friday when she called police to stop a truck stuffed with some 800 live cats, the China Daily said.

The standoff happened at a parking lot in a southern suburb of Shanghai. It continued for hours while cat lovers spread word of the incident online, eventually raising 10,000 yuan US$1,320; €966 in donations to buy the whole load.

They now hope to place them in homes after posting their pictures and profiles on the Internet.

“They were so frightened,” it quoted one of the rescuers, Huo Puyang, as saying.
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“Some bit people when they tried to let them out of the boxes. Some still hide in dark corners and will not come out for food,” Huo said.

Cat meat is considered a delicacy in southern China and cats are sold live to markets where they are slaughtered fresh for customers.

Cat Survives Nearly 3-Week Ocean Trip

The Associated Press
Friday, July 6, 2007; 6:34 AM

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A cat that spent nearly three weeks crossing the Pacific inside a shipping container with no food or water appears to be just fine.

Pamela Escamilla lost sight of her 3-year-old calico, Spice, while packing a large container with household goods in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. The container was shipped June 15 to Southern California.

Escamilla, 39, and her husband could not find the cat before taking their flight and asked neighbors in Hawaii to call if Spice returned.

As it turns out, Spice spent 18 days in the pitch-black container without food or water before arriving at the San Bernardino home of Escamillas parents on Tuesday.

“We really thought that cat was going to be dead,” said Edward Gardner, Escamillas father.

When Escamilla opened the container, she and family members noticed fluffs of cat hair on the floor. They started removing items, and Escamilla climbed into the container to search.

She said she saw Spice poke her head out from behind some bicycles.

“I started to scream,” she said.

Escamilla gently picked up the cat and took her to a veterinarian who said the felines prognosis was good. Spices kidneys had shrunk and her bowels were backed up, but she managed to get some food and water down at the vet, Escamilla said.

Escamilla said the veterinarian told her that calicos have a strong survival instinct.

“Its always a good day when the cats alive,” said Escamilla. “We didnt know what we would find.”

Some guy in Arizona yesterday called the fire department reporting a fire at his house. Turns out there was no fire, but he wanted the fire department to get his cat down out of a tree. They got there and refused to rescue the cat, telling the owner to “wait until the cat gets hungry and comes down”. The man then went into his house and came out with a gun, shooting at the firemen. When later sentenced to five months in jail, the owner admitted to the judge that he (not the cat) “might have been drinking” at the time of the incident.

No kidding? Why do they think the cat went up the tree in the first place? He was trying to get away from this nut!

A woman in Chicago is suing Menu Foods, maker of the cat food which has recently been recalled and linked to kidney failure and death in several pets. In most states, pets are only considered “property” and therefore damages in lawsuits are usually minimal, in spite of the fact that the pet may have been considered part of the family.

Worried about the cat food recall by Menu Foods? Here is a link to the pet food site listing all the products that have been recalled.
Menu Foods dog food / cat food recall list

15-year-old Heidi the cat is doing well after she was fitted with a pacemaker. Surgeons at the University of Melbourne performed the rare operation, thought to be the first of its kind for cats in Australia.

The tiny pacemaker was lodged in the stomach muscles, and wires fed to the heart. Heidi was suffering from fainting spells due to arrhythmia, where beating momentarily ceases.

In the mid 1950s, many Americans were asking themselves: Why can’t Johnny read? In a Life magazine article, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey maintained that American children couldn’t read because their classroom primers were boring and “antiseptic” and could not compete with cartoons, comics, and other more fun and interesting stimuli, so he challenged Theodor Geisel, a.k.a Dr. Seuss, to write a story “first graders wouldn’t be able to put down.” And that’s just what Dr. Seuss did, using a vocabulary of only 236 words. In 1957, Random House published The Cat in the Hat and those 236 words revolutionized the way children learn to read.

Here’s a recent story about a mama cat who recently had kittens. The cat adopted a Rottweiler pup who had been rejected by it’s mother. The pup nurses from the mother cat along side of her baby kitties.
Kansas City Star | 02/16/2007 | Weird News: Mama cat adopts a pup

LOSANTVILLE, Ind. A cat found by its owner half-frozen in a water trough is recovering from tissue damage to its ears, feet and tail.

Melissa Jones and her husband had to use buckets of hot water to free the cat…14 WFIE, The Tri-States News Leader: IN: Cat recovering after being frozen in water trough