Cats

Animal welfare and wild cats for “Mo’ Cats Day”

Back in 2009, some individual or group declared that 09/09/09 would be “No Cats Day”, a day on which there would be “no cats on the internet.” It is true that there is a preponderance of cat-related material on the internet, some of it fun and endearing, some quite informative, and some downright insipid. But the idea of banning cats from the internet for one day is preposterous, and quite mean. So in defiance, many cat-related blogs declared “Mo’ Cats Day” on 09/09/09, and on every September 9 since then.

We have not participated in the past, but this year we are doing so with a brief post highlighting the work of organizations that promote the welfare of domestic and wild cats. The Humane Society of the United States is one such organization – one of their recent monthly magazines achieved coffee-table-quality and is shown in the above photo at CatSynth HQ.

Locally, we have the San Francisco SPCA, which has adoption and animal-welfare advocacy programs among their many functions. They are behind those holiday windows at Macy’s Union Square that feature adoptable cats.

Both the SPCA and our local Animal Services operate no-kill shelters, and indeed we became the first “no-kill city” in the United States.

Luna was adopted back in 2005 from the local shelter in Santa Cruz, and in gratitude we continue to support Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals.

We are also thinking about wild cats on this day and the organizations that work towards their welfare and conservation. The International Society For Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada is dedicate to the conservation of small wild cats, who often don’t get the attention of their famous big-cat counterparts. The have lots of information and are involved in several programs around the world.

Closer to home the Felidae Conservation Fund “aims to advance the conservation of wild cats and their habitats planetwide through a combination of groundbreaking research, compelling education and cutting-edge technology.” They are involved in several research studies, some of them quite local to northern California, as well as conservation efforts.

Please visit our previous wild cats posts for more information and links to other organizations.

Weekend Cat Blogging #325

We are sending thoughts for all our friends and family on the east coast of the U.S. today:

This graphic from our friends at the Cat Blogopshere is a reminder to take care of our companion animals during the storms as well. We hope everyone stays safe (and relatively dry). I am particularly watching events in New York, where I grew up and to which I am still connected.

Weekend Cat Blogging #325 is hosted by Kitties at Mom’s Sunday Cafe.

Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at iMeowza.

And the Friday Ark is on hiatus this week.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: One

Today’s combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt features the theme of ONE.

Of course, there is only one Luna. No one can dispute that.  And this particular pose features one paw sticking out.

We also veer away from cats and into the realm of highways with California Highway 1. This view from Pescadero (between San Francisco and Santa Cruz) is a quintessential image of our coastal highway.

This one is further north, crossing over a harbor in Fort Bragg, in Mendocino County.

Although thought am sure I have lots of images of Highway 1, they have become rather hard to keep track of in the ever increasing library.   (It’s hard to keep track of all the Luna photos as well, for that matter.)  Tagging and naming files does help, but I would like to use image similarity search as well. Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

Weekend Cat Blogging #323 is hosted by Samantha and Clementine at Life from a Cat’s Perspective

The Photo Hunt #278 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is one.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Nikita and Elvira at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

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.

CatSynth pics: Mimi and Monsieur Gris

We happy to have a new picture of Mimi from our friend Eric Pochesci of polynominal.com, this time with a Roland Alpha Juno:

And we also introduce “her little brother called “Monsieur Gris” (Mister Grey) playing with Future Retro Revolution! he’s a bit shy :)”

I have to admit, the Future Retro Revolution has interested me for a while because if its visual appeal. I tried it a few times at NAMM, but it never made to the top of the priority list to acquire. Does anyone have any thoughts on it as an instrument?

Weekend Cat Blogging: Luna discovers iPad game for cats

I recently downloaded an iPad game for cats by Hiccup for Luna to try out. For a cat that spends a lot of time surrounded by technology, including the iPad, she is quite reluctant to touch it, so I wasn’t quite sure how she would react.

The game features a little mouse that resembles a cat toy scurrying around the screen. When the cat (or human) hits the mouse, it emits a little squeak and the player receives points; and the process repeats. That’s it – very simple. I started it up for Luna, and she immediately went to tracking the mouse intently, her little head shifting back and forth in deliberate motions. Tentatively, after a while, she started to paw at it, and eventually managed to pounce on the mouse. She seemed to be quite enjoying it, though she was still a little nervous and often backed away from the device after a pounce.

Here a brief excerpt of her first day of playing:

This is really just a little diversion for both of us to enjoy together, Luna playing with a virtual toy that draws her attention, and my taking delight in watching her do so. But this is clearly a demonstration of user engagement in the app space, for both cats and humans. Sometimes simplicity wins out.

I set up the game again in the office/studio while writing this article, and managed to get a brief iPhone video of Luna’s play. As one can see, she has gotten a bit more confident, even aggressive with it.

This does not seem to be a good game to play a small cluttered space.

Weekend Cat Blogging #321 is hosted by Pam with Coco, Patchouli and Smudge at Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by CAT SMRT.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging will be hosted here at CatSynth next weekend, so do check then and submit your cat-related blog posts. New participants are always welcome.

CatSynth video: Cats and Mini Theremin 2

From widtara on YouTube:

“Adjusted to lower pitch than the first one.”

There are three cats in the video, but readers are forewarned that the sound can be a little challenging to take for the full length of time.

The “first one” actually appeared here back in 2009.

Here is another classic cat-playing-theremin video. Indeed, a reader on twitter reminded me about this video and thus led to the theme of today’s post.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Busy

There is rarely a moment that we at CatSynth aren’t busy, thus it is an appropriate theme for this week’s combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt. Even going into the extended holiday weekend.

Luna poses once again with the iPad, but the app on display isn’t as exciting as the synthesizers and music controllers we usually show. It’s Toodledo, the cloud-based todo-list service that I use on iPhone/iPad and the web in a valiant attempt to keep ahead of the extreme busy-ness of the past two years. Not very exciting, but we do our best to make it at least look pretty in photos.

For those who obsessively try to do such things, the task being shown on these photos (strategically distorted via the Hipstamatic) is a daily reminder to brush Luna. There is also a weekly task for Weekend Cat Blogging. Many of the tasks on the list are about getting in touch with friends and professional contacts. I do need to catch up on those! On that note, we have been a bit remiss in visiting our WCB friends. We will try to do so this time.

Weekend Cat Blogging #317 is hosted by our friends Kashim, Othello and Salome. Even though they live in Vienna they honor us with a Fourth of July theme.

Carnival of the Cats will be up this Monday (rather than the usual Sunday) in honor of the Fourth of July as well, hosted by Nikita and Elvira at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

Photo Hunt #272 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is BUSY.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Cards

This weekend we are once again combining Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt. The theme is cards, and we start with an unexpected take on the theme:

I recently came across these older “Smart Media” data cards while cleaning. They’re bigger (and a bit more interesting to photograph) than the current SD cards my current cameras and other devices use, but they are essentially useless. I do have a reader that can read/write them, but no particular reason to do so. Anyone have any ideas?

Here is Luna with some of her past birthday cards:

I believe they are from 2010 and 2007. It’s not Luna’s birthday, but the cards are out because of the recent cleaning (similar to the memory cards).

Weekend Cat Blogging #316 is hosted by pam at Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes.

Photo Hunt #271 is hosted by tnchick. The theme this week is cards.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at When Cats Attack!

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator