Black is beautiful. And funny.

 Just some funny black cat photos of my uncle George, the founder of this column, to celebrate Black Cat Day last week and to commemorate his memory.

An annoying human invention

 

My friend Tilly hunting in long grass

Wretched humans are destroying our way of life. We cats like hunting and we enjoy bringing home our prey through the cat flap to show off to our humans.

We would like congratulations from them but we usually get shrieks and dismay. We can live with that. Actually it is quite fun to see their reactions.

But now that fun is about to stop. Some horrible human scientists have come up with a cat flap that stops us from coming into the house with a mouse or a rat. It's so clever that it reads our face and can tell if there is something in our mouth.

What will they come up with next to ruin out lives?

Triumphant Toby brings home a rat to show off

Stop your human now! otherwise it will take an interest and join the early stages of this puritanical invention at kickstarter.

We have the right to  bring out prey home! Stand up for this!

International Cat Day photos

 To celebrate International Cat Day next Tuesday I am posting pictures of international cats - taken by my secretary. Notice how other photographers cannot resist a cat snap either. Guess where! Answers at the bottom of the pix.

....

Answers: My street, Serbia, Pompeii, Isle of Man, Egypt, Orkney.

Play is more than just play

This is natural play with a dead mouse

Play isn't just play. It's important for our feline mental health, especially if we are indoor cats. We need it. 

It exercises not just out bodies but also our minds when our humans play fishing rod games with us. We can stalk and pounce and bat the toy on the end as if we were hunting.

I hunt a little bit indoors anyway. I hunt flies on the window pane and any other kind of insects indoors. I pounce on spiders and butterflies when I get the chance. I even eat them occasionally.

This is the same play with a toy indoors

But that's not enough because my human has such a tidy apartment with so few insects in it. I need more. I love chasing toys on the kitchen floor and I absolutely adore fishing rod games. 

So purrlease play with me. It's the theme for International Cat Day which is coming up soon. Find out more https://icatcare.org/international-cat-day/

 

Why do humans lie on litter?

Even kittens know what sand is for.

 Humans are so weird. This time of year they leave their homes to go and spend hours lying in the sun on nature's litter tray -- the sea shore. Miles and miles of hot sand, ideal for feline use, are full of humans just lying there doing nothing!

There they are, with only a few bits of artificial fur (clothing), on sand. Sand is what I love too - but for digging and pooing in. Any heap of builder's sand, any child's sand pit, makes the ideal feline toilet. 

One of the misunderstanding between us cats and humans is just this. They really get upset when we use the kid's sandpit! Or - the next best place - the newly raked dry seedbed.

But why, oh why would they want to just lie on sand. The sand gets in all their nooks and crannies, but they don't seem to mind that. They don't seem to understand that sand is for toileting.

Now I enjoy lying in the sun. I love doing that. The sun on my fur, a little ripple of breeze, the warmth relaxing my whole body. So, no wonder they enjoy the sun too.

But if there's a choice I use paving or grass to lie on: sand is for other purposes.

It can't be the texture that attracts them, because they usually put down a towel or a bed. Maybe they like the company. They seem to lie there crowded against one another...

As I said, humans are so weird.