Entries Tagged 'Pets / Animals' ↓

…at least on this blog, recently. See, even Kitty loves the red cape. What a fashionable cat.

You can check out more catty fashion at My Cat Wears Clothes.

This proud fellow is called Mr Lee and he is sporting a very nifty device. If you ever wanted to know what your cat gets up to, wonder no more! For just US$45 and quite a few weeks of waiting, you can have your own very cool catcam that attaches to your cat’s collar and takes random photos like this one:

But there is a safety note to consider:

Please consider that a collar on a neck of a cat is a potential safety risk. Because a cat wanders and crawls more or less in any place and can catch or trap itself with the collar on an object such as gate rods or tree branches. This may lead to dead of your pet. In the USA are collars common which provide a safety release if a certain amount of force is applied. Everything mounted to the collar will be lost in such a case. Please decide what is more important: The life of your pet or the device on the collar.

From a WIRED Science blog - I just couldn’t resist! Click on the graphic to go to the original file and to see the animation.

Poor moosey…
Drunken Swedish moose drowns after fermented apple binge » Netscape.com

A moose that became inebriated after binging on fermented fallen apples in northern Sweden drowned when it fell through the ice of a frozen inlet, a Swedish tabloid has reported. “The moose appears to have eaten too many fermented apples and become confused out on the ice,” Luleaa police spokesman Erik Kummu told Aftonbladet on Thursday

[via IPKat]

Studio Daily has links to a couple of wonderful Flash animations in an interview with Darren Price from Nexus Productions (you have to scroll down the article to get the video links - sorry won’t let me legally embed!). First there is Potapych: The Bear Who Loved Vodka which is a beautifully animated and quite sad little story about a drunk who adopts a bear and teaches him how to drink. Apparently based on a true story.

And Hare in the Gate, an amazing piece of animation featuring a hare/rabbit who travels through a myriad of cinematic genres and iconic scenes. It was for a Motorola ad and is somewhat mindblowingly wonderful. Unfortunately, I don’t think the ad made it downunder.

I meant to post this about a month ago so hopefully they have all found homes now. These have to be the most character filled kittens I have ever seen. If you are interested in seeing if they still need homes please email me and I’ll pass on the details of the people trying to rehome them. Love the little grey tabby’s eyes, they are like Hamish Blake’s or Shirley Manson’s (from Garbage).

Two female Komodos managed to conceive without any male partners. If dinosaurs can do it, why not dragons? [link]

World’s first hypo-allergenic cat | Video | Reuters.com

San Diego based company Allerca says it has successfully produced the world’s first hypoallergenic cat, something that could allow allergic pet lovers to enjoy cats again.

Unfortunately my laptop has decided to give up on its sound so no idea what’s being said in this video, the cats are cute. I’d be interested to see if there’s a patent in this, given that it’s being done by a company rather than a breeder. I wonder too whether there’s a trademark associated with it. Mind you, it’s not the world’s first hypo-allergenic cat, apparently the Russian Forrest Cat has incredibly low levels of allergens, likewise many Abyssinians possess low levels of allergy triggering proteins in their saliva.

[Edit: Just checked out the company Allerca’s website and, yes, their techniques are “patent pending” and you can only buy neutered cats (I doubt in the interests of overpopulation). You also cannot even choose the gender of your cat (due to “high demand”) nor the colour so out would be any of the personality matching of a responsible cat breeder (yes, cats do actually have different personalities). I guess the good news is if they haven’t keep some crucial part secret, the patent will be available in twenty or so years for anyone to use. They are taking votes for the next breed to de-allergenise. ]

Miffy just learnt down. It wasn’t as easy as sit and it will take lots more reinforcement. The idea was to get her to sit and then hold a piece of food in your hand (palm facing floor) until she lies down to try and get it. As soon as she flops down, she gets the treat. Took a while for this to happen, she was more likely to just get up and go sniffing but after about three or so times of her doing it, she worked it out and just started flopping like a natural.