Well now, the England Football squad are currently in Qatar and training in the Heat of Doha, but some of their news has been hijacked by Dave the cat. Dave, who has been so named by John Stones, seems to have caught the hearts of Stones and Walker (no surprise there, that’s cats for ya).
Dave – The world Cup Cat for the England Football Cat
We wanted to say a huge congratulations from Moggyblog to two super cats called Jasper and Willow who are joint winners of the National Cat of the Year Award 2022 held by Cats Protection.
Cat of the Months ~ October 2022
The star moggies Jasper and Lewis
The two cats joined the team at St Peter and St James Hospice in 2018 and it sounds like they are both invaluable for patients, their families and staff too at the hospice. Jasper and Willow are a brother and sister and have really made a difference in their hospice home as the YT video (below) explains. Thier continued support “comfort and support they bring to people at the end of their life”.
Congratulations to all the runners up too and indeed to the Cats Protection for all the work they do every day for our wonderful feline friends.
Every year on August the 8th International Cat Day is celebrated. These beloved and household and backyard companions are one of our most common and ancient pets. They provide us with so many benefits to our health and wellbeing that its only right we should pay them back in some small way.
Equally, the wild cats (whether a big cat like a Lion or Cheetah, or a small delicate Kodkod Cat) are important as an integral part of the natural world and its ‘balance of nature’. We surely need em!
The ‘holiday’ (hey, maybe it should be one!) was conceived and created by the animal rights organization ‘The International Fund for Animal Welfare‘ in 2002, in the hope that cat owners and fans wouldwide would begin to honour their fabulous furry friends. It is a day for us to raise awareness for cats (big and small, wild and domestic) and learn about ways to help and protect them.
In 2020 custodianship of International Cat Day passed to International Cat Care, a not-for-profit British organization that has been striving to improve the health and welfare of domestic cats worldwide since 1958.
As custodians, iCatCare has announced the theme for this year is ‘Cat friendly resources’. They teamed up with world-renowned animal artist and illustrator Lili Chin to design educational materials to help us humans make sure we’re providing cats with the essential resources they need to stay physically and mentally healthy in a cat friendly way.
Lili created some new feline faces to the initiative. The ambassador cats Domino and McTatters.
Domino & McTatters
Domino represents pet cats that live in a more traditional home environment whilst McTatters represents the unowned cats that will vary in the way they live and interact with humans (if choosing to at all). You can grab your resources on the icatcare.org website
Peace and Love to all Cats (and Humans) everywhere!
The International Tiger Day is observed every year on July 29 across the world in order to raise awareness for tiger conservation.
Founded in 2010, at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia after it was registered that 97 percent of tigers had disappeared, the day promotes a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers. The International Tiger Day is observed by several international organizations including – the World Wide Fund for Nature, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Smithsonian Institution.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, India is home to over half of the world’s wild tigers – 2,226. It reported that while Malaysia’s tigers are critically endangered with as few as 250 remaining, Indonesia’s wild tigers are now found solely on the island of Sumatra. The organization has also called for urgent action to protect the tigers.
Cat of the Month ~ July 2022
White Tiger
Photograph Source: a-panache.com
Globally, the day is celebrated by holding conferences, seminars, and discussions on saving the tigers.
Meanwhile, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, there were 1,059 tiger deaths in India since 2012 with Madhya Pradesh recording the highest number of deaths.
Congress on its official Twitter handle on Friday has urged people to come together and “enhance efforts for conservation of the endangered species.”
Article Source: extract written by Manjiri Sachin Chitre of the Hindustani Times Newspaper.
Did you know that this year is ‘The Chinese year of the Water Tiger’ and that it began on February 1st and will last until January 21st of 2023 when the Year of the Black Rabbit will begin. ‘Tiger’ is the third of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, and its corresponding European Horoscope Zodiac sign is Aquarius.
It’s springtime, and those of us with a moggy or two think of helping the young birds in our gardens. Our cats like a portion of fast food from time to time (it’s just in their nature), so we try to help out if we can. By putting a bell collar on our cat we can give a birds a fair warning that somethings moving nearby – in this case a moggie on a mission. The stalking and final attack can be thwarted by the noisy jingle long before the final pounce.
It is amazing to find a reference to the ‘belling of a cat’ in an early poem: ‘Piers Ploughman’ by William Langland. This poem was written in or around 1377! Thats 1377 – I didn’t know they had pets back then!
The poem is said to be a significant work and is allegorical (meaning it is fictional but contains hidden meaning). In it, the poet falls asleep and has dreams and visions leading him to understand how to live a good life. So, of course, a verse or two mentioning a cat would be in there!
With that there ran a rout of rats at once,
And small mice with them more than thousand,
And came to a council for their common profit;
For a cat from the Court came when he liked
And o’er leaped them lightly and caught them at will,
Played with them perilously and pushed them about.
‘For dread of divers dangers we dare not look about;
If we grumble at his game he will attack us all,
Scratch us or clutch us and in his claws hold us,
So that we loathe life ere he lets us go.
Could we with any wit his will withstand
We might be lords above him and live at our ease.’
A rat of renown most ready of tongue
Said, as a sovereign help to himself:
‘I have seen men,’ quoth he ‘in the city of London
Bearing bright necklaces about their necks,
Some with collars of skilful work uncoupled they wander
Both in warrens and wastes wherever they
like;
And otherwhile they are elsewhere as I tell you.
Were there a bell on their collars by Jesus, I think
Men might know where they went and get out of their way!
And right so,’ quoth that rat ‘reason me showeth
To buy a brass bell or one of bright silver
Make it fast to a collar for our common profit,
And hang it on the cat’s neck then we may hear
When he romps or rests or runneth to play.
And if he wants play then we may look out
And appear in his presence the while he play liketh,
And if he gets angry, beware and shun all his paths.’
All this rout of rats to this plan assented.
But though the bell was bought and on the collar hanged,
There was not a rat in the rout for all the realm of France
That dare bind on the bell about the
cat’s neck,
Nor hang it round her ears all England
to win;
They held themselves not bold and their counsel feeble,
Esteemed their labour as lost and all
their long plotting.
Harvard Translation
Good luck to all who are going to put a bell collar on your cats this spring.
Belling the cat by an unkknown artist. mmm, I dont know what the rat’s up to…
There are only a few Cats that love being near water, heres one — but the Tiger must be the biggest of them all
Cat of the Lunar Year ~ 2022
Tigers have been around for a good 2 million years. Around 3,000 of the world’s wild tigers are in India.
Tigers are a top predator and, as such, help to keep their environment healthy. They have soft toe pads to help them stalk their prey. A tiger can easily travel 6-12 miles a night when they are hunting. Their main prey is deer and a large deer will provide a week’s food for a tiger. They will drag their kill elsewhere to eat it rather than eat it at the kill site. If tigers need to leave their food they will cover it with leaves, grass or dirt before coming back to it later.
Tigers use many vocalisations to communicate e.g. grunting, growling, roaring, chuffing, snarling and hissing. It is not yet understood what all of their vocal repertoire might mean.
Sadly in the last 100 years their numbers have dropped by about 95%. It is estimated that there are about 3,900 tigers left in the wild. There are estimated to be more tigers in captivity in the US than there are in the wild.
The WWF, from whom these facts were gathered, has more information and ways for us all to get involved in supporting these amazing and inspirational animals. Tiger | WWF
The name ‘Water Tiger’ comes from the Tiger’s five elements (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth) .2022 is the Year of the Water Tiger, which indicates a prosperous year due to the Tiger’s auspicious signs of strength and courage. We wish all wild cats, domestic cats and their humans a happy and courageous 2022.
