Cats are such interesting creatures that if I were to write about them, you’d probably age fifty years. That’s why today I’m going to write about something else. YOUR cat. I don’t even know if you have a cat, but if you do, I’m going to teach you something really helpful!
Your Cat’s Favorites
In order to learn what your cat’s favorites are, you’ll have to feed your cat, play with your cat, or even just hang out with your cat. When feeding your cat, look closely on what flavor or type of food your cat eats the most of. Maybe your cat likes “Fancy Feast”. Maybe your cat loves to eat everything! This is helpful because if you want your cat to eat more of their food, then just feed them their favorite. It also helps when you’re trying to give medicine to a cat. Me and my mom sometimes feed my cats their favorite food as an reward for doing something really good, like going to the vet.
Now, next is your cat’s favorite toys. This can help when you’re trying to lure your cat into doing something, like going to the vet. This also makes your cat more willing to exercise and play with you. In order to find out what your cat’s favorites toy is, just play with your cat and see what toy your cat is more “enthusiastic” with. My cats love springs, and they’re also up for a good game of “Find the Lil’ Bee!”
Last but not least, your cat’s favorite petting spots. This is very easy. Just see where your cat purrs louder or encourages you to keep being her slave. This just helps your cat calm down when going to the vet or somewhere else. It’s also a good stress reliever for you!
Now, I know you might not want to do all this, but it can be really helpful. Learning all of this can help you bond more closely with your kitty. So please try it!
come join me in my rants(?) about various topics. cats, writing, life, or that one game i cried over for three weeks, i officially announce my retirement as the feline queen and am now a clown. enjoy.
Cats aren’t really thought of much…YOU can change that!
Kitty Celebs
One way to spread the word is first spreading the word of cats such as Lil BUB, Nanakuli, or even Grumpy Cat! When people find kitty celebs interesting, they might want to study these cats more, making them learn more about the cat’s…situation. This is really effective, because most people have heard of popular cat celebs like Grumpy Cat.
Anything…Loud??
Now, here’s where the fun comes in! Are you just great at being annoying? Well, this is a job for you! In every single conversation, with your parents or friends, mention cats. Try to make cats seem very interesting. (Which they are.) If they seem interested, go deeper. Explain how cats are sadly suffering, and how we can help. If they’re not interested, just keep talking about them until they finally give in. Another way is writing about the kitties, like me. This is also very effective, since the whole world is able to see this. If you want to be VERY loud, then…start a march! Or, you could educate your friends and family! Even a 7 year old can help!
Today I’ll be telling you about something very helpful. I can’t guarantee that this’ll work, but it might!
The Not-So-Hopeless Journey
There are many strategies for convincing your family, so I’ll be showing you what I did. I managed to adopt two cats because of my awesome skills! I’m currently working on getting a third cat in fact, with no luck so far. Anyways, let’s start!
My first strategy is being very annoying. What I mean are things like this: Everyday, no matter how long it takes, ask your family for a cat. You can also put little signs everywhere for your family to know you’re not giving up. Even if this takes a long time, it’ll probably work.
My second strategy is a bit harder if you’re used to misbehaving. My strategy is acting responsible. Don’t argue with your family, help with the family chores, listen to what your family says, and automatically do things when you’re supposed to. If you already have a cat, help take care of it so your family knows you’re there to help taking care of another cat.
My third and last strategy is very hard if no one needs your help. My strategy is to pet-sit another cat. If you do a good job and the owner is satisfied, your family will probably be satisfied about adopting another cat.
I hope these methods will help you! They helped make me the luckiest cat-loving person in the UNIVERSE!
This feline is thought to be extinct. I thought it was extinct too. Now one has been spotted at last, and it’s up to us to make sure the Zanzibar leopards don’t go extinct.
Learning About The Zanzibar Leopard
Before we get all crazy and start whooping about how awesome this is, let’s learn about this mysterious feline. Scientists didn’t get the chance to study the zanzibar leopard much before it went “extinct”. But let’s talk about the history of this feline. Unlike most big cats, many people were very glad the Zanzibar leopard was extinct. This is because many people living in the island Zanzibar, where the Zanzibar leopard lived, thought this big cat had been sent by witches and other types of evil stuff to harass the villagers. They were hunted to the point where not one was seen anymore…until a few months ago.
The Zanzibar leopard doesn’t look like a regular leopard, with a fierce face and a scary snarl. But I can assure you that it is a feline. It’s very rare feline. The Zanzibar leopard looks like a regular leopard, except for what I mentioned earlier. Nothing is really known about this leopard, because scientists didn’t get the chance to study them before they soon became “extinct”.
Extinct…Or Alive?
Now that you know a bit about the Zanzibar leopard, let’s talk about the main point. If the Zanzibar leopard was really alive all this time, why didn’t anyone see them? I searched up which other felines lived in Zanzibar, but all that came up was the Zanzibar leopard, and a fox, which is completely irrelevant. So I’m sure that they didn’t mistake the Zanzibar leopard for another type of feline. Now, my question is; Did the crew of “Extinct Or Alive” simply photoshop it to make it seem like there was a Zanzibar leopard? I don’t mean any harm, and I’m fairly sure that they didn’t photoshop it. It just seems very… unlikely that the Zanzibar leopard wasn’t extinct this whole time. But then, it seems very unlikely that the hunters in Zanzibar hunted down all the Zanzibar leopards. I just can’t decide. In my opinion, I think that the Zanzibar leopard is still alive. I hope that it still is, because all felines are very precious to me, and I’ve heard of too many extinct animals for a lifetime. Please stop hunting down all the felines…
According to “The Encyclopedia of The CAT”, by Bruce Fogle, big cats were considered protectors, and therefore strong and proud. Today we’ll learn more about the tiger, the biggest of the feline family.
Tiger Facts!
Tigers, in case you didn’t know, are big, yet graceful felines with orange fur and black stripes. In some very rare cases, tigers with albino (an inherited genetic condition that reduces the amount of melanin pigment formed in the skin, hair or eyes), which is only caused in Bengal tigers, are white with brown stripes and blue eyes. Beautiful, yet it comes with many health problems. Like I already mentioned, tigers are the biggest of the felines. Adult tigers are 2.3 to 4 feet tall. Adult male tigers are 8.2 to 13 feet long, and females are 6.6 to 9 feet long. Amazingly, a male tiger can weigh 200 to 670 pounds. A female can weigh 140 to 370 pounds.
A tiger’s lifespan can range from 16 – 18 years in captivity. In the wild, a tiger can live from 10–15 years. A female tiger can give birth to two to four cubs at a time on average, and can do so every two years. Survival is very difficult to tiger cubs, as there are many predators in the wild. The oldest tiger has been recorded to live to 26 impressive years.
Tigers live in the many rain forests, grasslands, savannas and mangrove swamps of Asia. Tigers don’t mind the water as much as most other felines, and like to swim to cool off. There are currently six subspecies of tiger, including the Sumatran tiger, Amur tiger, Bengal tiger, Indochinese tiger, South China tiger, and Malayan tiger. Tigers are endangered and need our help. Donate, spread the word, or even help out in zoos! There are so many ways to help tigers. Together, we can make a difference.
This cat was treated horribly. No cat deserves to be treated like Ugly was, but it happens sometimes. Today you’ll learn more about this poor cat, and be taught an important lesson.
Brokenhearted Yet Full Of Love
Meet Ugly. He was a feral kitten, and I think you can guess why he was called Ugly. He had sores covering his matted tabby fur, a stump for a tail, and with only one eye usable. This poor cat was mistreated. People would throw rocks at him, yell names at him, hose him down with water, and just completely ignore him. And yet, he treated every person like they were his owners. He always tried to figure out what he did wrong, and beg for forgiveness. He would ask for attention, despite all the abuse. Ugly lived a horrible life, yet he was still sweet.
The End…
One day, Ugly got attacked by some huskies. A man heard the commotion, and went outside to see what was happening. People were told to stay away from Ugly, but this man didn’t hesitate to pick up the injured kitten and bring him to his room. He was slow, and he was afraid he would just make the injury worse. He didn’t, but it was too late. Ugly died in his arms, finally freed from the suffering.
It’s important to learn what we can in order to save the felines. Millions of other cats and felines are also suffering like this. But we can save them, so help me.
Many amazing and unique big cats are sadly critically endangered, and the Amur leopard is one of them. Here you’ll learn more about this graceful feline.
Where Amur Leopards Live
The Amur Leopard, also called the Far Eastern Leopard, lives in the temperate forests of Far Eastern Russia, where they face harsh winters and hot summers. They’re found in Southwest Primorye in the Russian Far East, and along the Russian border with Heilongjiang (a mouthful), Province and Jilin Province in North East China. It’s possible that a few leopards also exist in North Korea, but no one has been allowed to check out this area so far. The Amur leopard is the northernmost (another mouthful) of all of the leopard subspecies. Its historic range extended throughout northeastern (“Manchurian”) China, the southern part of Primorsky Krai in Russia and the Korean Peninsula. Amur Leopards disappeared sadly in this area during the 20th century, because of habitat loss and hunting. The first accurate estimate of Amur Leopards was made by Dmitry Pikunov and Vladimir Abramov at the turn of the 20th century. Dmitry and Vladimir estimated about 38 to 46 Amur leopard still alive in Russia. The point is, less than 50 Amur Leopards are still alive today. In fact, the Amur leopard are one of the most endangered animals in the world.
An Amur Leopard’s Life
An Amur Leopard’s lifespan can range from 10 to 15 years in the wild. Amur leopards mature at two to three years of age. They mostly breed in January and February. Amur Leopards can have up to 6 cubs in a litter, but they usually have 2-3 after a gestation period of 90-105 days. Like most felines, Amur Leopards are born blind and helpless. They weigh around one pound, and they don’t open their eyes until they’re ten days old. When the cubs are six to eight weeks old they start to follow their mother out of the den. By three months the cubs are weaned, but they shall stay with their mother learning how to hunt until they are 18-24 months old. The Amur leopard can live up to 12 years in the wild, and up to 20 years in captivity. That’s a lot for a big cat!
That’s all for today! I hoped you liked learning about the Amur Leopard!
I hope you liked learning about how Shadow was adopted! Today I’ll be telling you the story of Domino, my other kitty!
Domino the Crazy Kitty
About half a year after I adopted Shadow, I realized so many people had multiple cats. I wanted to be one of those people. So I started my long journey of asking my parents for another cat. I asked them everyday, I made little signs saying; ADOPT A CAT!! , and I came up with a list of reasons to adopt another cat. Eventually, my parents decided to go look at some kitties. This time we were going to go to two places. The first one was good old Montclair Township Animal Shelter (MTAS), which had become our local animal shelter. There were more kittens than when we went to adopt Shadow, but I didn’t feel any connection towards then as I had with Shadow. I did see a young 4 month old kitten named Rose. She was strikingly beautiful, with patched of black, orange, and a bit of white. I noticed that her eye seemed a bit swollen, and I asked a volunteer was that was about. She told me it was because there was something wrong with her eye, and since they were going to give her surgery, we couldn’t adopt her. I felt disappointed, but I wished her well and me and my family then drove to the next place.
It was called Cameron Small Animal Hospital (CAH), but they had cats up for adoption too. When we came in, we waited for the nurse to finish her appointment. Finally we were called to enter. She asked us what type of cat we were looking for, so we described it. The nurse then left to get to first group of cats. Excited, I talked to my family about what we could name the cat. We came up with names like Muffin, Sam, Kitty, and many others. After a few minutes, the nurse came back with another assistant. I tried to resist jumping up and down, for the nurse and the assistant were carrying two kittens each. They all looked like they were siblings, because they were all black and white. “There are 1 male and 3 females in this litter.” The nurse told us. “The male is the most affectionate, so I would recommend him.” The kittens were VERY CUTE, but one in particular caught my eye. She was one of the females, with white paws, the ones in the back slightly longer so it looked like she had boots.
After spending a good 20 minutes with the litter, the nurse and assistant brought in another kitty. She was actually not as young as the 4 month old litter we had just saw. Her name was Jellybean, and she was beautiful! Jellybean had patches of orange and black over her white fur. To be honest, the patches really did look like jellybeans! She wasn’t as shy as the last group, and she loved those belly rubs! The nurse sadly told us that Jellybean, who was about 7 months old, had lived here ever since she was born. The reason for this was because Jellybean hadn’t been as friendly like now. I wanted to adopt her, but I could tell she was going to get adopted soon.
After we left, we went to Domino’s Pizza to order some pizza. While we waited, I told my family that I was interested in the kitty with the white boots. It was decided. We would try to get in touch with the nurse as soon as we can. We tried to come up with some more names. We looked around and tried to find names that we could name her. Marble, Cookie, Pizza, and even Chicken didn’t fit. Suddenly my dad grinned. “The cat is black and white, right? What about Domino?” I clapped my hands excitedly. It was perfect. A domino is usually black and white, like the cat! Plus we would always know that we ate pizza after looking at all these kitties. We adopted Domino a few days after, and all was well…
One of the reasons I’m so intent on saving the felines is because I know they’re suffering. I can compare my cats’ feelings with their cousins’ feelings, and I feel sympathy for them. Today I’ll tell you a bit more about my cats, and how I came to adopt them.
Shadow, The Shy Guardian Angel
First things first, Shadow is VERY shy. That’s one of the reasons I adopted her. I’d started to study cats that year, and I became a bit motivated to adopt one. I begged my family until they finally decided to only SEE the cats, not adopt any, as a late birthday present. So we went to Montclair Township Animal Shelter, also called M.T.AS. It was a shelter that had their own website, so I checked out some of the cats on the website the day before we visited them. I had noticed a cat called Espresso, who was said to be very shy and prefers to be adopted with her sister. I felt bad for her, so I decided to keep an eye out for her and her sister. When we first arrived, I was in a state of shock and excitement. Why? Because there were SO MANY CATS!!! I wished I could adopt all of them. The cats seemed to be sleeping, and there weren’t many kittens. I suddenly noticed a black fur of ball race across the room and under one of the cages. I crouched and immediately knew that was Expresso. I didn’t see her sister…but I didn’t concentrate on that though. I was too amazed by the beauty of Espresso to be worried that moment. She was warmed by the deep black coat of hers, turning a dark caramel in the sunlight. As she stared at me in fear, her dark pupils widened and her emerald eyes became the cutest thing I had ever seen. I held out my hand for her to sniff, and she lashed out and gave me a thin scratch. Okay, maybe it wasn’t love at first sight for her, but I was still determined to make her trust me. I decided to leave her alone for now and check out some other cats.
Now that I had left Expresso, I had become a bit worried about her sister. “Where’s Expresso’s sister?” I asked one of the volunteers standing there. “I don’t know, she might’ve already been adopted, in the other room, or…other reasons…” Me being a very young 8 year old, the volunteer probably thought I didn’t suspect the other reason, which was the shelter thought there were too many cats and had to euthanize some of them, including Expresso’s sister. Even though that wasn’t that likely, I now realize, because if Espresso is shyer than her sister, wouldn’t she have gotten euthanized too? As I pondered where Expresso’s sister could be, I heard a closet door open. I noticed an elegant grey tabby cat with long hair sitting on top of one of the cabinets inside the closet.
I slowly approached the cat to find the cat rubbing it’s hand against mine. I started petting her slowly, scratching her chin like most cats liked. After a while of me petting her, she let out a sound that sounded like she was blowing a kiss. I asked the same volunteer what that meant. “She’s actually blowing you a kiss!” The volunteer announced cheerfully. Me not knowing what to make of that, I went back to the cat, who I found was named Velour and was 3 years old. I made the same sound that she had made to me. As I continued petting her, I wondered who I should adopt. Expresso had turned out to be only 4 months old, and I knew nothing about her sister. My heart grew heavy as I made my choice. If I left Espresso and adopted Velour, she would most likely get euthanized. If I adopted Expresso, Velour would probably get adopted. I told my parents what I had decided, and to my surprise they said we could adopt Expresso today! We told the people at the shelter, and then we left them while we bought supplies for Espresso. When we came back they were still struggling to trap Espresso and put her in the carrier, but they finally managed it. As we rode home, I told my parents how guilty I felt about leaving Velour, but my mom assured me that she would continue to volunteer and wouldn’t let them euthanize Velour. A few days later, she told me that Velour had been adopted, and all the sadness that I’d been feeling went away. As months went by, I grew a close bond with Espresso, who we renamed Shadow. She would sleep with me at night, and I would be her loyal human forever! The only thing that still bothers me is what happened to her sister…
I have no idea when I took this photo, but I love Shadow with all my heart ❤️😻
This took longer than I expected to write, so I’ll be cutting this article into two parts. This is the first part, about Shadow! I’ll be making part two as soon as I can, but right now I hope you enjoyed!
