"Reporters feed me and let me nap on their coats"

Equal time, from Bob the Cat in Olympia:
A cat's eye view of the statehouse ( Bob's blog via Ridenbaugh Press )

Bonus link: Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve

Friday cat blogging

Just because it's been a while since they've visited the blog.

NY: "tattooed bikers, a dog's best friends"

Uplifting tales of tattooed Americans helping animals in need, from the New York Times:

Heaven’s Angels

Clad in leather, inked to the hilt in skulls and dragons, with images of bloodied barbed wire looped about their necks, they shared something else — a peculiar tenderness for animals, and the intensity needed to act on the animals’ behalf when people abuse them...

About a year ago, they took up the name Rescue Ink, and now work full time investigating cases of animal abuse...

Nothing peculiar about that; admirable in fact.

53 minutes left for Friday cat blogging

Someone noticed that these two hadn't made an appearance in the blog lately. Here they are.

I can has fair trial?

From two photo sites: one I hadn't heard of - Pundit Kitchen
...and one that everyone's heard of.

Lazy Sunday

Plum and Al

I can has detention

Happy Valentine's Day

(since it's been a while since one of my fur family has been featured in the blog)

No justice, no cats

Blogger Adam has a place for us in his coming regime:

In every municipality dealing with a feral cat problem, we set up special tribunals to try accused cats. Each cat will be assigned a public defender...

My unbiased experts are skeptical.

Bless the beasts and the firefighters

From the Idaho Statesman, photo by Chris Butler:People, pets saved after fire breaks out at apartment

When Boise fire fighters say they work to save lives and property every time they are called out to extinguish a blaze, that includes pets. Boise fire fighters rescued two cats from an apartment fire Friday morning and resuscitated one of them with a special breathing mask, much to the relief of residents of the apartment complex...

Nothing about work here, just moved by the photo and the story. HELP Animals, Inc. is one charity that helps provide animal oxygen masks to first responders.

Tomcat blogging

For an antidote to the previous post, here's a good tomcat:

Weekend new cat blogging

Courtesy of Feline Friends, please welcome Al the Cat:

Friday Bubba the Cat blogging

Bubba the cat, 1989-2007

The other reason I haven't posted much recently:My wife wrote something nice about Bubba today here.

Weekend adolescent cat blogging

Because it's been a while - La Plum:

Peaceable kingdom cat blogging

Bubba would have you think that he's a tough guy who doesn't like kittens, but every now and then when he thinks no one's looking, you'll find him and Plum sharing the same bed.

Friday kitten blogging

Taking a break from chasing the cursor

New kitten blogging

Meet the tis-the-seasonally named Sugar Plum, whose name we're keeping, but will call Sugar, Miss Plum, Shug, or Bad Kitten No No as the mood (or the cat) strikes us. She, her mom, and her siblings were abandoned, then rescued by the kind people at Feline Friends. Joe picked her out on Sunday.

















Bonus links:
* it seems that before we met her, our kitten posed for Stella Marrs' Bad Cat projects, available from the artist or from buyolympia.com.
* Charges Against Accused Serial Meower Are Dismissed

ID: some justice for abused cats

From the Twin Falls Times-News:

Judge’s verdict: For cat resort owner, the horror of the crime deserves jail, not rehab

The woman responsible for what has been called the worst animal abuse case in Idaho history will spend the next six months in jail.

Janet Rasmussen was living in fecal squalor at her cat boardinghouse along with 323 cats, including some dead, when an army of sheriff’s deputies and veterinarians entered her business April 20 with a warrant. Rasmussen, the former owner of Rocky Mountain Cat Resort... pleaded guilty in August to 19 counts of cruelty and 51 counts of neglect, each count a misdemeanor carrying a maximum six-month sentence and $1,000 fine.

Under questioning from her lawyer, Mick Hodges, she pleaded for help, not jail. But when Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Amanda Wright cross-examined her, Rasmussen returned punches with punches.

Why had she never attended to several dead cats lying about in her home? Wright asked against Hodges’ objection. Rasmussen retorted with a host of excuses ranging from not having enough time to not knowing they were dead. She intimated how the winter chill and a broken light bulb kept her from cleaning up drying feces from the garage floor. She said heavy furniture blocked her from cleaning it in other parts of the home.

“I got to take care of the living today. I’ll get there when I can,” was ultimately her most succinct explanation...

The site has a link to in-court video of Rasmussen's testimony during the sentencing hearing.

Off-topic: unbreak my heart

I've always been conceited about having a bigger heart than other peoples'. Last month I got proof from a cardiologist that it's true. In the morning, I'm going in for lap-band surgery to ease the strain a bit. After that, I'll be taking a load off. This silly blog will recommence sometime next week.

In the meantime, please enjoy this dog and cat photo.


Bonus link goes to "The 400-Pound CEO" by George Saunders (you can hear a reading by the author at "This American Life", beginning at 10:48 into the show).