Cats

Veterinary Forensics Pioneer Melinda Merck on NPR's FreshAir

I just heard an interesting interview on NPR's FreshAir with Dr Melnda Merck, who is a pioneer in the field of veterinary forensics. From the site veterinaryforensics.com:

Melinda D. Merck, D.V.M., has been studying and investigating animal cruelty cases since beginning her practice in veterinary medicine. After graduating with her veterinary degree from Michigan State University in 1988, she opened The Cat Clinic of Roswell in June, 1990, in Roswell, Georgia. In addition to private practice, she worked on cruelty cases with local animal control agencies.

That's Roswell, Georgia, not Roswell, New Mexico, of UFO-sighting fame. The interview focuses on Dr. Merck's practice and her investigations of animal cruelty. Some of these stories are quite disturbing and distressing, nonetheless I recommend that those interested in the subject listening to the program here.

CatSynth pic: dj kikovas with Roland SP-404

From dj vivi pedraglio, who left this photo for us on myspace:

dj kikovas…with his roland sp-404.

dj vivi pedraglio comes to us from Argentina and has some really interesting beats and sounds. Check out her link above. She has also been featured recently on matrixsynth.

dj kikovas has at least one other photo, so we'll see more of him soon here at CatSynth. As for dj vivi herself:

Looks like she has the same idea here as Mimì 😉




WCB 101: Video tribute for TeaCup, and Kitty Love

Megan and family have put together this wonderful video entitled Good Night Sweet TeaCup

Very sweet and touching, and also quite amusing at times. I particularly love the pictures of him sitting inside the red fish bowl.

This tribute to TeaCup seems a fitting segue into Weekend Cat Blogging #101. He was in our thoughts a week ago during WCB100, and now a week later we remember him and keep his family in our thoughts. We have seen so many in this online community come together around this one little soul. He was indeed more than “just a cat.” As all our little animal companions are. They are family, we enjoy and honor them in life, and grieve for them when they pass. How could it be any other way? It's sad that some people refuse to accept or celebrate that. The recent pet-food contaminations have added to the sense that our animal companions are precious, and also served to remind others in society of their value. I hope that Luna and I will have many years together before we need to think about such matters ourselves, and in the meantime I am proud to “love my kitty” here in this public forum. She certainly deserves no less.

The recent pic on the left was taken with the built-in webcam on my MacBook, I was probably posting something to CatSynth at the time.

And of course, check out the other cats who are very much loved at Weekend Cat Blogging 101. This weekend's roundup is being hosted by Sher, Upsie and Sundance, who remind us all to be good to our mothers this Mothers Day weekend. We at CatSynth will be making the call back to New York on Sunday. Mmmm, Sher and friends have some delicious looking cheese, too.

And don't forget that all CD sales in May will benefit the family of TeaCup and Bad Kitty Cats. Please help support them and support new music at the same time. I will post this info to the right-side column so it won't get lost in the depths of blogging.









Sad News: TeaCup

We just got the sad news, TeaCup passed away this evening.

At 9:12 tonite Dr. Duke called and said TeaCup was gone… Thank you to everyone who purred and prayed for my sweet baby. He isn't suffering now, but the pain is so great in my heart. TeaCup was special, and he will be missed dearly.

We've only briefly known TeaCup over the past two weeks or so, and he's gone just as we were getting to know him. It's a reminder to value the time with your friends and family. I'm certainly spending extra time with Luna right now.

You can leave your condolences for Megan and The Bad Kitty Cats here. We are also going to continue our CD offer to help support them.

UPDATE: A really lovely rememberance at the Cat Blogosphere by Sophia with a great poem and photo.




Teacup's race against time, and CD sales to benefit his family.

Our little friend Teacup isn't doing very well, and Megan says it's a race against time. He continues to receive surgeries to combat his gangrene infection, but now he has been diagnosed with the parasite Hemobartonekka Felis, which essentially destroys red blood cells. He received a blood transfusion, and now is attempting to recover from that in addition to his infection and surgeries. He is but a shadow of his former handsome self.

You can read more about Teacup's struggles, and the efforts being made to save him, and all the warm thoughts from other humans and cats being sent his way.

We also continue to send him our thoughts and hope he recovers. A sad truth, however, is that whatever happens, there will be huge vet bills for Megan and the rest of TeaCup's family. Several auctions are helping to raise money for his bills. You can find out more at the Cat Blogopshere, where you can also donate directly.

We are also going to donate all proceeds from CD sales during the month of May, so please do consider helping out if you enjoy both new music and animal companions. This will cover both direct sales and sales via CDBaby. Unfortunately, we cannot include digital download sales, it just is too complicated to manage. Click on the CD cover to the left for more info (I will update the page tonight with benefit info).






New Podcast: "Mission Accomplished (again)"

Some of you may have seen my parody of Bush's May 1, 2003 “Mission Accomplished” theatrics, and a few of you may have even gotten the joke.

In any case, I posted a version to YTMND complete with remixed clips from the speech. Tonight's podcast is an extended version of that speech remix. As always, click on the podcast icon to the right, or the “Podcast” item in the right-side menu, to subscribe.

podcast
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WCB100: TeaCup

A serious note to accompany Weekend Cat Blogging #100. TeaCup at “Bad Kitty Cats”, has been very ill. He suffered an unknown injury to his leg that became infected, and he has had several operations to remove the infected tissue. He has been very tired and weak, and is currently back in the hospital. We learned about TeaCup through Weekend Cat Blogging and we've been sending our thoughts to him and Megan, and hope other readers will do the same. Fellow WCB'ers Pet's Garden Blog are holding an art auction for TeaCup and Megan, and he is among the animals supported this week at the pet prayers and praise blog.

We at CatSynth hope that TeaCup gets well soon.






Weekend Cat Blogging #100: The Big One Hundred

Well, it's Weekend Cat Blogging #100. The honor of hosting this milestone goes to Puddy and Kate at A Byootiful Life.

Once again, we turn our attention to he world outside of Luna's window. Remember this photo of Luna staring at an outside cat?

Well, the cat is a frequent visitor to the yard. He's been living here longer than I have, and was roaming the neighborhood long before Luna was born. He's actually quite friendly, and handsome as well:

We don't know his name because he doesn't have a tag, but he seems very healthy and sociable, so he probably has a home. He enjoys cruising the tops of fences and finding comfy spots to chill out:

He almost looks like a wild cat in that photo.

Although I don't have a photo of this, I have caught him staring in at Luna a couple of times, with that same frozen slack-jawed look that all the tom cats in the neighborhood, seem to get. Remember this tuxedo visitor?

Luna has all the neighborhood boys looking. It's kinda fun getting to play the role of proud but protective dad for her…