carnival of the cats

Carnival of the Cats 526

We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting the Carnival of the Cats this weekend! It has been a while since we last hosted – indeed we have been a little remiss on participating of late. But we’re happy to be doing so today, and even updated our banner to reflect the changes underway with San Francisco’s street signs. But without further ado, let us get on to the cats.

Over at StrangeRanger Maddie teaches us about the use of resources. Sunshine should be applied in the proper places, otherwise it is wasted.

Meanwhile, our friends at Elvira reviews some great toys with an assist from Sneakers. In addition to the feather toy, there were mousies and balls as well, all from The Natural Pet Company. On a related note, we are sending good healthy thoughts and restful thoughts for our friend Daddy Kiril who greatly overdid it this past week. Cats fortunately make great nurses. But please stop by to leave some words of encouragement.

Some good news about our friend Moosey at Animal Shelter Volunteer! His tests came back good, and his health is improving. He is home relaxing and quite contented with his humans, our friends Kevin and Tracey. We wish them all well.

We will continue to update through tonight as submissions come in, so please leave a comment or contact us if you like to be included.

Carnival of the Cats #456

We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting Carnival of the Cats #456, a weekly round-up of cat-related blog articles submitted by authors. If you want to participate, leave a comment below or follow this link for more info.

First up, we present the cute white kitten Levon and his crystal bowl antics, courtesy of Lost in the Cheese Aisle. It is, after all, Bowl Game season is it not?

Our friends Nikita and Elvira and their dad Keeril resume their Seen and Heard series from their new home in Houston. Their first entry features “Grumpy Goats”, but there are other critters as well when Keeril visits the Southeast Transit Center. (As fellow transit geeks, we like the location.)

A bittersweet entry from StrangeRanger, as they remember Ivy this holiday season. “It’s our companions who make the holiday very, very special. Even if they are no longer with us.”

Carnival of the Cats #435

We at CatSynth happy to be hosting Carnival of the Cats #435. For those who aren’t familiar with the carnival, it is a weekly round-up of cat blog posts from around the Internet, submitted by authors. If you would like to participate, leave us a comment – the usual “handy BlogCarnival submission form” is (yet again) not working today. But we still hope that we’ll get some people joining in today.

First up, we have Luna’s fellow house panther Diamond of Diamond’s Lair explaining the impressive feline olfactory system. This is of course an important part of cats’ world in ways that humans cannot understand.

Elivra celebrated her 2nd Gotcha Day this past week! You can visit Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat to wish her well.

Also from Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat this week, we have a survey of cat-themed art from Laguna Beach.

Next, we have a tale of two men, two lounger rooms and two cats, courtesy of the site Mrs. Banks has kittens. You can visit and judge for yourself (and check out the kitten pictures while you are there).

From strangerranger, we have photos of Maddie encountering her new collar. They also have photos of a mysterious feline visitor to their yard.

Animal Shelter Volunteer shares photos of cats Kosmo and Kramer from PAWS. We at CatSynth are fans of Seinfeld, we love the names! Animal Shelter Volunteer is also a finalist for a Pettie Award (awards for the best of pet/animal blogging). You can help them out with the voting by following this link.

At iInfidel, Ritzi likes to pull the curtains open to look out the window. She occasionally likes to stretch her claws on the curtains as well, but this is frowned upon.

If you would like to participate, we will leave the Carnival open through the end of Sunday. Please leave a comment below with your link.

Carnival of the Cats (and Weekend Cat Blogging)

We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting today’s edition of Carnival of the Cats, a weekly roundup of feline-themed posts from around the blogosphere. We are also stepping in to host Weekend Cat Blogging. If you would like to participate in either event, please use the handy carnival submission form or leave us a comment below. We will be updating the post during Sunday.

In the meantime, we encourage everyone to visit our special Wild Cats on Earth Day post. It’s an annual tradition at CatSynth, with photographs and information about several wild cat species and links to organizations that support wild cat conservation.

Next up, Lost In the Cheese Aisle presents Bernadette as a great traveling companion. It sounds like she is quite well behaved during long trips, and this picture of her on the dashboard is quite cute.

Good news from our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer. Ringo, Claire and several other cats have been adopted and are going to their forever homes. It’s always great to here stories of cats finding loving homes. Claire in particular has been waiting a long time. She is pictured above.

Animal Shelter Volunteer reports from PAWS, a no-kill shelter in Connecticut. Our friends Nikita and Elvira present a special report on the no-kill animal shelter revolution. Many shelters, like PAWS and like our own municipal animal services here in San Francisco already operate no-kill shelters, but the article describes an effort to reform the country’s animal-shelter system to make no-kill the rule. We support them in this effort.

On the lighter side, Elvira and Nikita also received some great new toys this week. They were purchased from a local independent store operated by a fellow cat-blogger, and as one can see the cats love them.

Cokie the Cat presents A Cat’s Last Will and Testament, dedicated to his friend Petie who recently past away. It is a very touching post, and a reminder about the joys of sharing life with animal companions.

At Mind of Mog, Meowza is enjoying some time outside, safely away from a visiting child. (I’m sure Luna would want to do the same in that situation.) It always looks like fun outside there, thought it sounds like it’s quite hot there this weekend, over 100F, so we hope Meowza stays cool.

We continue with some WCB participants. It’s turning out to be a lovely spring in Alabama, but this stark blank-and-white photo of Jules amidst the bare trees last winter is quite stunning. The high contrast and silhouette appeals to our photography aesthetic here at CatSynth.

Pam of Sidewalk Shoes presents the neighbors kitty, a lovely dark-fur cat who has “adopted” the people in his neighborhood while his original human wasn’t able to care for him. He is now able to go back home, which is good news but also a little sad for those who will miss him

Carnival of the Cats #414

We at CatSynth are happy to host Carnival of the Cats #414!

The Carnival of the Cats occurs every Sunday and features feline-themed posts submitted from around the “blogosphere.” You can participate by leaving a comment or using the handy submission form. Although we are questioning the handiness of the submission form this week, as we have very few participants. But we’re here for those who are participating, so let us get started.

Elvira turned two years old this past week. Please join us in wishing her a happy birthday! It looks like she had a good celebration with her family. Her birthday week also happened to coincide with Valentine’s Day.

Meanwhile, Nikita relates his dad’s recent acquisition of cat-themed books. It looks like they have quite a collection going, including some vintage books from the 1940s and 1950s. [Note: it is actually Elvira in the photo above.] It reminds us at CatSynth that we should do a similar post one of these days.

In addition to hosting this carnival, we did a photo of Luna for the Weekly Photo Hunt on the theme of “point”, along with a pointing maneki neko. We encourage visitors to check it out. There is a highway sign as well (yes, we’re a little odd).

It’s Flash Back Sunday at Life from A Cat’s Perspective, with significant pictures from the past, including one of the last with Samantha and Mr. Tigger together. They all miss him very much.

Over at Sweet Purrfections, Truffle and Brulee claimed this bed as their own and are enjoying a nap on it. I think they match the bed and the room quite nicely.

Jill of BabyBakes introduces Chuck (aka “Kat”), a new kitten. She relates the story of how this tiny kitten came into their lives, and also the adventures of putting together a new “kat tree.”

At Animal Shelter Volunteer, Moosey knows exactly how to spend a Sunday: enjoy a nap in a patch of sunshine. He looks quite comfy and relaxed there.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Point

There are so many interesting ways that one can interpret this week’s Photo Hunt theme of Point. Mathematics and highways come to mind, but this is of course also Weekend Cat Blogging, so as usual we feature cats. First, one of our many maneki nekos points its paw:

And here is Luna pointing while basking in the morning sun:

Both of these photos were taken with the latest lens and film options I got for the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone.

Another Hipstamatic photo on the theme does veer into the realm of highways. Here is one of several studies I did with the freeway entrance shield for the Bay Area’s infamous Interstate 238 for an upcoming article on the highway. It has the customary downward pointing arrow of freeway entrances in California.

Tomorrow (Sunday), we at CatSynth will be hosting the weekly Carnival of the Cats. If you have a feline-themed blog post from the past week, you are welcome to participate. Just visit the handy BlogCarnival submission form or leave a comment below.

Weekend Cat Blogging #350 is hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome.

The Weekly Photo hunt theme is Point.

As stated above, we are hosting the Carnival of the Cats tomorrow.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Two

For our combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt theme of two, we present a pair of Hipstamatic photos of Luna. A single pose, but two sets of lens and film effects:

It’s a sleepy morning for us, after I recover from two music performances over the past two days, and Luna basks in some sunshine after a wet and rainy Friday.

This weekend also marks the 400th Edition of the Carnival of Cats. That is quite a milestone, and we are happy to help celebrate! It is hosted by Mog, we has been the “Carnival Caretaker” over the past couple of years There is a history of the Carnival posted by last week’s hosts Nikita and Elvira of Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

Photo Hunt #291 is hosted by tnchick. The theme this week is two.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Carnival of the Cats 394

We welcome everyone to Carnival of the Cats #394, a weekly round-up of cat articles from a variety of blogs. New participants are always welcome; and you can find out more at the official Carnival of the Cats site.

Many cat bloggers are marking LIVESTRONG Day, to recognize those who are currently fighting cancer and to remember those who have lost their lives to these terrible diseases. So we are dedicating this week’s Carnival to that effort. Cancer is complex and diverse and affects felines as well as humans, and we hope we continue to find ways to help people survive.

And so let us begin with the round-up.

Cats love resting in the sunshine. And the cats at The Second Half are no different. Above, we see Ed getting a little solar action. Follow the link to see Lizzie in the window.

At Gattina’s My Cats and Funny Stories, Arthur has not been feeling well of late. But he is on the mend and feeling like a king. And as such, he is regally demanding to be served chicken, liver and mortadella. We’re glad to see he is doing well!

Catsparella introduces us to The Cats of Disneyland. Inspired by an interview with Ryan Gosling, the article discusses the presence of feral cats at the Anaheim theme park, and the complex relationship as out-of-side rodent control (and the obvious irony of this for Disney).

If you can’t get enough feline news, Nikita and Elvira are launching the World Mews Repurrt. “We consider it our mission to bring you the news that possibly no-one but our fellow Felines, and their Humans, could give a fig about!”

Our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer are marking LIVESTRONG Day by honoring family members who are battling cancer and remembering their human and feline loved ones who have lost the battle. We love their graphic for today!

Samantha, Clementine and “honorary cat” Maverick are also marking LIVESTRONG by hosting this year’s slideshow. We encourage readers to check it out. We thank them are their Mom Chandra for all the effort putting this together.

Cokie is a self-described “Bohemian cat blogging from his Hollywood Boulevard apartment”. We’re always happy to hear from more urban cats.

That’s the round-up so far. We will continue to post new entries the end of Sunday US Pacific Time. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Although not officially participating this time, Mog of Mind of Mog and coordinator of the Carnival of the Cats is also recognizing LIVESTRONG Day in honor both human and cat family members who have lost the battle with cancer, and we wanted to give her a mention here today.

Weekend Cat Blogging #322 and Carnival of the Cats #386

We at CatSynth are planning a quiet August, and what better way to begin than with hosting both Weekend Cat Blogging and Carnival of the Cats on the same weekend!

Call it efficiency, or poor planning, but here we are and we’re ready to host both events together in a combined round-up. So feel free to leave a comment below to submit your WCB post, or if you prefer use the handy COTC submission page. Either way, it ends up here.

We begin with Nikita and Elvira of Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat. First Elvira demonstrates good diet and exercise practices.

Then we get a sneak preview of Kiril’s appearance at a charity event at the Oprheum Theatre in Downtown LA. We see the special name tags and business cards he printed up for the event, as well as his new suspenders.

Next up, Animal Shelter Volunteer presents Loreen and Krystal, two sisters available for adoption. They are a beautiful pair, and need to adopted together. Today, they are taking it easy while they wait for a forever home.

At Lost in the Cheese Aisle, Elisson introduces as to Bean, the littlest Barn Cat-in-Training. Very cute, indeed! Bean lives with Elisson’s “Elder daughter”, who has left urban (and urbane) life for a more bucolic existence, at least for the moment.

Catsparella presents The Catsparella Podcast Episode 2 and an Exclusive Sarah Donner Interview and Performance. Follow the link to check out the videos of the podcast and performance. It turns out Donner is an animal advocate who fosters kittens when she’s not on tour, and even has a hit YouTube video featuring one of the kittens she rescued.

At Judi’s Mind of Matter, Jules poses very handsomely for Luna. Black cats rule! We always know we can count on Jules to provide a great shot for WCB. Meanwhile, Vincent looks horrified at what happened to his friend Smudge from Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes. What could it be?

It turns out Smudge had a trip to the vet for grooming and some serious dental care. That does sound painful! But in truth, he feels much better afterwards.

The cats at Friends Furever are celebrating Bora Bora day. We’re not entirely sure what it’s about, though it looks like a lot of fun (Bora Bora is an island in French Polynesia). And it involves a big fish. We are also sending healing thoughts for Ellie, who is not feeling well this weekend. Get well, soon!

We are also sending healing vibes for Samantha at Life at Cat’s Perspective, who could use some healthy thoughts after her last vet appointment. But amidst the seriousness, the whole gang is also heading to Bora Bora.

It’s a low-energy day at Chez Ranger, so they are reposting some old pictures. But hey, they are new to us, and the first picture is quite nicely composed. They report that Maddie is in good health, after her recent vet trips and health concerns.

As the above entries suggest, health concerns and sickness theme to be a big theme this week. And sadly, there are many others beyond those participating in WCB and COTC. Our friends Tillie and Georgia are foregoing their usual Friday close-ups and instead offering thoughts for all their sick-kitty friends.

But we do have some great close-ups from Team Tabby. All five cats are in a happy mood, and we are happy to have them join WCB this week. We show a side-by-side comparison of Mindy’s photographic portrait and a more stylized rendering.

We conclude with a bit of WCB apocrypha.

We meet Cheops of Donna’s Designs, who is joining WCB for the first time. Welcome!

At The Chair Speaks, Captain Jack Sparrow HAWK looks displeased (one might even say contemptuous) after his claws were clipped.

It looks like Faz wants a closer encounter with a nearby seagull.

Thanks to everyone who commented or participated this week. We will continue to post both WCB and COTC entries through the end of Sunday (US Pacific time), so do join us if you are interested in participating. Also, please let us know if we missed your entry in the complexity of handling both at the same time and we’ll add you right away.

Carnival of the Cats #377

We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting Carnival of the Cats this weekend. For those who have no idea what this is, Carnival of the Cats is a long-running weekly round-up of cat-related blog posts from around the internet. All blog authors with cat posts from the past week are encouraged to participate using the handy submission form, or by leaving us a comment below.

As usual, we’re off to a slow start this Sunday. But with plenty of coffee and our eclectic music in the background, we are ready to begin.

We open with a sentimental post from Ellison of Lost in the Cheese Aisle. While Haukna sits quietly, it looks like she is being watched over by the late Matata on an electronic frame, while we imagine Gershwin’s classic in the background.

Good news from our friends at Animal Shelter Volunteer Life. Long time shelter resident Bootz has found a new home. It’s always nice to hear about more mature cats being adopted, and wish him well.

We loved reading this post from Catsparella about fashion photographer Kristina Wilson and her fondness for cats. It was interesting read, lots of great pictures, and that first photo from Tokion Magazine is quite inspiring (not sure if the cat in the photo agrees, though).

At Gattina’s My Cats and Funny Stories, Rosie investigates one of the cat figurines in the garden. She ponders whether this is in fact a dead cat, but after learning that it made of stone, decides it is a good place to rest.

At Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat, Nikita and Elvira are helping their Dad heal from a serious ankle injury. As one can see, it is quite an exhausting task. We are glad that their Dad Kiril is on the mend. They also want to thank everyone who has sent good wishes and healing thoughts.

StrangeRanger presents this study in black and white in lieu of “scintillating prose.” It seems they have been busy tilling the earth and thus quite tired out. We are of course fond of wordless images here at CatSynth, so welcome this “place holder” post.

Over at Mind of Mog, we have an exercise in contrasts. Ritzi enjoys her spot on the sofa covers while Meowza enjoys rolling in the dirt. He is also out enjoying a nice Sunday morning before it gets too hot outside. That is something we definitely don’t have to worry about here this Sunday.

UPDATES: Samantha and Clementine share some glamor shots to share with us for the carnival. Visit their site for the full-size versions.

Finally, Nikita Cat asks the question “do cats watch too much TV?” There are reasons for and against watching television, with the observation that cats experience the images from this popular device differently. Read further to see the conclusions for yourself.

This concludes the carnival for this weekend! We will continue to add late entries for the remainder of Sunday (US Pacific time) so let us know if you would like to participate.