Hello feline friends, Charlie here, I've given Gemma the day off.
I was well chuffed when Gemma brought home a copy of Julia Donaldson's new book Tabby McTat.
Julia is well-known for her books about the Gruffalo.
Gemma was really lucky to grab a quick Cat Chat with Julia.
So, Julia tell me about Tabby McTat?
He's a busker's cat and he accidently gets separated from his owner and thinks he has been abandoned.
Where did you get the idea for the book from?
As a student I went busking in Paris to try and make a living. I write songs and poems.
Then I thought 'what about writing a story about a busker whose best friends is a cat?'
And it just went from there, plus I love cats - I have two I have two cats.
Campsie is the mother cat, and Goblin is her big tough son. When I'm writing they have a habit of walking over my work with their dirty paws!
How did you become an author?
Like I mentioned before I write songs and I sent a tape of songs to the BBC.
They started to use them on children's television programmes. One of my songs, "A Squash and a Squeeze" was made into a book in 1993 and that's when I turned my hand to writing books.
Axel Scheffler illustrates your book - how does that work? Do you tell him your ideas?
No. I write a story and send it to the publisher. Then the publisher sends it to Axel to illustrate and he does a great job, they always turn out better than I imagine them.
Gemma has four signed copies of Tabby McTat to give away. To win answer this question: What is the latin or scientific name for a cat?
Email your answers to catchatwithcharlie@live.co.uk
The winners will be announced in the New Year.
I felt compelled to write this blog entry myself this week instead of my gorgeous assistant/owner Gemma.
So
I have put claws to keyboard after spotting an article on the Telegraph website with my cat's eyes entitled, "Dogs are better than cats - at least scientifically speaking".
According to researchers, they have found that when it comes to a number of criteria including intelligence, bonding and obedience, dogs narrowly beat their feline adversaries.
I bet my catnip mouse these 'researchers' are dog lovers!
Out of 11 categories selected by the magazine New Scientist, dogs won six compared with five for cats. I hardly call that a conclusive result!
Despite cats deemed overall to have a more powerful brain, dogs showed greater ability to understand commands, problem solve and were generally more helpful, it was said. Just because we don't do what you say, doesn't mean we don't understand!
Cats on the other hand had better acute senses, a smaller carbon footprint and their miaowing and purring was considered less intrusive than dogs barking and whining.
Not only are we clever, we are doing our bit for climate change!
While dogs were thought to bond better with their owners especially as they appeared to offer unconditional love, cats were more independent and needed less care.
This was all down to evolution said the scientists that pointed out that cats were generally loners and dogs pack animals.
However the study admitted that despite the dog advantages, cats remained the most popular domestic animals in the world.
The top 10 cat owning countries in the world had an estimated 204 million felines, compared the top 10 dog owing countries having fewer than 173 million canines.
Ha, we will rule the world - cats rule dogs drool!
Charlie
Russell Brand wants his little kitty, Morrissey, to be able to travel with him to the States to visit his latest squeeze Katy Perry.
Asked whether he had resettled in Hollywood, Russell, 34, said: "I would never do that because the cat lives here, my cat, and someone has got to feed him... You can't just send him the occasional postcard saying things are going well - I've got to look after him."
He continued jokingly: "He hissed at me yesterday. I tried to explain to him but he doesn't understand concepts such as international travel and work. He certainly doesn't understand the concept of a bikini."
The comedian told GMTV: "I am getting him a pet passport which means he can travel around as much as he likes. Unfortunately, they don't do photos. I was really looking forward to that."
Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor Russell has been dating I Kissed A Girl star Katy since September.
Yesterday, he was puckering up to presenter Lorraine Kelly under the mistletoe on the GMTV sofa.
He joked of his former womanising: "There was a deep craving within me. I mistook it for lust. I thought I was promiscuous. It turns out I was thorough.
"I'm happy. It's really nice and relaxing (being in a relationship)."
Russell has previously hinted that he could be ready to tie the knot, saying: "I'd love to marry Katy - hopefully it's heading that way."
Today he said on marrying: "I don't know. That would be good. I do want to have children."
A rescue centre in Cambridgeshire is looking for a owner for a cat who could identify with a "food-obsessed" cat on a strict healthy eating plan.
His name is Higgins and when he came to the Block Fen Animal Centre he was bigger than a small dog.
Poor Higgins, I know whats its like to love your food! Garfield, eat your heart out!
Higgins weighed a "massive" 11kg in March but has managed to lose almost a third of its body weight.
The RSPCA say that he is still very competitive for food.
He needs a very special new home as he is obsessed with food and will need someone who can commit to helping him towards a healthy lifestyle.
Cattery supervisor Rita Austin added: "He has a long way to go to reach his target weight, but we think Higgins will make the perfect companion, especially to anyone who can identify with the trials and tribulations of weight watching."
A cat endured a two week, 3,000-mile sea journey from Egypt to the UK in a shipping container.
The animal is thought to have survived its epic trip from Port Said to Felixstowe, Suffolk, by licking condensation from the inside of the container.
The male cat was only discovered when the container was unloaded by freight handers GMA Freight in Ipswich. Staff then alerted the RSPCA.
The cat, nicknamed Pharaoh, is being held for six months' quarantine due to anti-rabies regulations.
Jon Biscoe, of GMA, said: "He was very scrawny. One of my colleagues gave him his sandwich. He ate the meat very quickly. He was very happy to see us."
Charlie is calling on all his feline friends to get festive!
Next week we are launching Festive Pets across all our titles.
But he is looking for Christmas Cats to feature on his blog.
Here he is with housemate Mitzy - Charlie wants to make sure she is looking her best!
Charlie wants pictures of all sorts of cats, black, white, big, small - send your festive felines to me and we will feature one each day up until Christmas on Cat Chat.
Email your pictures to catchatwithcharlie@live.co.uk.
I found this website which was created by Ben Huh, a journalism graduate from America, who after interning at a several newspapers decided he would have a more lucrative career path in: funny cat photo captions.
Huh, 31, is the big cheese behind www.Icanhascheezburger.com, the enormously popular blog revealing the inner feelings of felines.
His company, Pet Holdings Inc. of Seattle, is a burgeoning media empire with 27 other sites and counting.
Pet Holdings has been profitable since its founding in 2007. With a bare-bones staff of 22, it generates millions in annual revenue through advertising, merchandising and publishing.
The company's first book, a collection of so-called LOL - or laugh out loud - cat photos with captions, sat on the New York Times Bestseller list for 13 weeks.
I really recommend checking this website - you really will be in stitches.
Check out this video of a very cute cat begging for some attention from a police officer who is trying to carry out a traffic stop in Taylor, Texas, US.
The black kitty was captured crawling up and down in a friendly display towards the cop on the patrol car's dashboard camera.
Taylor police officer Keith Urban is seen being patient with the cat, then finally gently booting the kitty away.
The Taylor Daily Press reports Urban had pulled over an SUV in the driveway of a farm lot. The video shows the cat scampering up and down on Urban, making its way to the officer's shoulders.
Police chief Jeff Straub says Urban never mentioned the feline encounter until he became concerned that the cat might have been injured when they parted ways.
Straub says the video shows "incredible patience on the part of the officer."
I love Hello Kitty! I have Hello Kitty stationery, Hello Kitty car fresheners - even Hello Kitty seatbelt pads!
And now the Japanese creation is cool, quirky and cute and has reached the grand old age of 35 - now what is that in cat years?!
Just look at the docile little creature with red bow and yellow button nose. Who doesn't love her?
At her inception in the 1970s, few could have known that the cute cartoon would become a global phenomenon complete with a theme park, TV series and restaurant featuring an image of her sweet whiskered face baked into bread.
Indeed, Ms. Kitty has come a long way from her Japanese homeland. Christian Dior, Cynthia Rowley, Betsey Johnson and Kimora Lee Simmons have all hopped on the Hello Kitty pop icon bandwagon over the years, whisking the kitten around the world in high style.
Hello Kitty was created in Japan, in 1974, by Shintaro Tsuji as part of his greeting card company Sanrio.
After an in-house design contest, the little Sanrio kitten was born, and Hello Kitty quickly became popular, boosting Sanrio's sales in just two years and bringing her cute "kawaii" style to coin purses, diaries, stationery and notebooks.
The childlike Sanrio cat quietly made its way to the United States in 1976, only two years after she was invented, and remained relatively dormant until the 1990s.
As Hello Kitty matured into her late teens she was given her first boyfriend, Dear Daniel, an equally enigmatic fellow kitten with a spiky pompadour. Daniel tends to wear blue and, like Hello Kitty, he embodies the Sanrio values of sharing and friendship.
By 1995, the Sanrio star's fans were growing up along with the fetching feline, and not without frisky behavior: The New York Times that year noted that the kitty was popular in the rave scene.
Hello Kitty fans in their late teens and early 20s took to wearing such Hello Kitty merchandise as barrettes, watches and backpacks equipped with supplies for all-night parties.
In 1997, Hello Kitty was suspected of having a naughty streak (going feral, maybe?) when a licensee introduced a Hello Kitty shoulder massager that ended up being a popular item on adult store shelves.
The massager was taken off the market after a couple of years, but Hello Kitty's introduction into sexuality was born. By this time, Hello Kitty had blown up in the U.S. with the help of Grammy-winning darling Mariah Carey and other seductive celebrities who were captivated by the critter.
At the start of the millennium, Hello Kitty pitter-pattered into adulthood with an assist from top designers, who helped her develop into a regal, elegant icon while keeping her youthful charm.
For Kitty's 30th anniversary, the bouncy Betsey Johnson designed a flashy, three-tiered pink dress in honor of the kitten, while the chic Cynthia Rowley created a simple yet classic Hello Kitty design for an Airstream trailer.
But nowhere has Hello Kitty's foray into adulthood been more present than in her collaboration with Kimora Lee Simmons, which began in 2004.
"I thought how can we make this bigger and better than just some little notepad?" Simmons says.
Simmons, designer for Baby Phat and Simmons Jewelry Co., crafted a line of high-end jewellery featuring Hello Kitty's face plated in diamonds and platinum, selling the top-dollar designs at tony stores such as Neiman Marcus.
To those unfamiliar with the lure of the brand, the success of the jewellery has been surprising, but not for the model-mom-mogul.
"Who doesn't love Kitty? Everyone from Paris Hilton to me, to Kelly Ripa, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Tyra Banks, Iman. I mean everybody loves Kitty," Simmon says.
This isn't the first time the moon-faced creature has made an impression on Vogue.
Christian Dior featured his collection in Japanese Vogue in 2008 with the stubby white feline as a model for his designs.
Further confirming Dior and Simmons' view of the pop icon as fit for grown-ups, a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital recently opened its doors in Taiwan.
The hospital chose the cartoon theme hoping to ease the stress of childbirth and increase business. The facility features Hello Kitty baby blankets and nurses in pink uniforms with kitten-themed aprons, proof that a whimsical world follows the feline along with her maturing fans.
The wave of celebrations including a sushi workshop, karaoke night and a Halloween party over the last few days suggests that Sanrio's little kitty has come a long way from her early years as a schoolgirl obsession.
As for the adorable Japanese kitten's future in 2010? Her popularity shows no signs of slowing.
Lady Gaga was recently shot by famed photographers Markus Klinko and Indrani swathed in a remarkable gown of stuffed Hello Kittys.
Janet Hsu, president of Sanrio Global Consumer Products, expects to keep welcoming up-and-coming designers to the Hello Kitty family, and knowing the little Nov. 1 Scorpio, there will be some mischief along the way.
Reuters are reporting the first case of swine flu in a cat in Iowa.
The 13-year-old short-haired cat has tested positive for H1N1 swine flu, the first time a cat has been diagnosed with the new pandemic strain, the American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed.
The animal likely contracted the virus from its owners, veterinarians say, since two of the three family members living in the cat's household had recently suffered from influenza-like illness.
The cat, a 16-pound orange tabby, began acting lethargic and lost his appetite.
He is the only pet in the house and never goes outside. The cat, described as "large framed but not chubby," stopped eating and drinking and stopped cleaning himself.
He also rested by hunching on all four feet, rather than sprawling out on his side as usual, a sign of respiratory discomfort. A few days earlier, two out of three family members in the home had developed flu-like symptoms, with fever and body aches.
His owners brought him to Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for treatment.
The family mentioned to the vet that they had also recently battled illness, which led to testing the pet for H1N1.
Pigs are the original source of the H1N1 virus and it has been found in several herds, as well as in a pet ferret. Ferrets are especially susceptible to human influenza viruses.
"Two of the three members of the family that owns the pet had suffered from influenza-like illness before the cat became ill," Iowa Department of Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Ann Garvey said in a statement.
"This is not completely unexpected, as other strains of influenza have been found in cats in the past." Both the cat and its owners have recovered from their illnesses.
It's not yet clear how vulnerable cats, dogs and other household animals may be to the new virus, but the Iowa cat's case reinforces just how different H1N1 is from seasonal flu viruses.
Although some household cats and certain wild cats in zoos have gotten ill with avian influenza, and dogs have their own canine version of the flu virus, pets don't normally get sick with the regular human flu.
"There has never been a report of human seasonal influenza affecting cats or dogs." says Dr. Julie Levy, director of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Florida.
It's possible that the Iowa cat's case may be a bellwether of future pet disease, but it's also possible it was just a fluke event.
At the cat's advanced age, its immune system may not have been as adept at fending off influenza as that of a younger animal - similar to the vulnerability seen in aging humans.
Dr. Ann Garvey Garvey notes that despite nearly 25,000 cases of positive, lab-confirmed H1N1 in people reported in the U.S. since last spring, the Iowa cat is the first pet to be documented with the virus.
But before pet owners start suspecting Fido and Fluffy of being H1N1 hotbeds, Garvey stresses that so far, no cases of influenza of any kind in pets - including cases of bird flu - are known to have moved from animals into people.
And even among the animals, the virus does not appear to spread easily, which may further suggest that pets are not ideal reservoirs for influenza.
That's good news for pet lovers and flu worriers.
And so is the fact that the cat seems to be recovering well from its bout with H1N1.
As for anyone else who is worried about spreading H1N1 flu to their pets, wash your hands frequently, cover your coughs and try to avoid close contact with your furry friends until you're well.
This moggy from Edgware, London has been awarded the most sought after job for a cat of its class - the official cat of the Wookey Hole Witch.
The nationwide competition launched earlier this month when pet insurer, Petplan, specified a strict witchy criteria to separate superior felines from the cat-pack.
The Halloween job hunt saw Tiny beat stiff competition from 12 other magic moggies to see his portrait take pride of place at Wookey Hole and be her apprentice cat of choice.
Tiny walked into his owner's life three years ago, as if by magic, just after her previous cat had passed away. He boasts a cauldron black shade of fur combined with moonshine yellow eyes and pitch perfect meow.
The Wookey Witch said: "Tiny caught my eye immediately as he chose his owner, with a single minded loyalty befitting of a witch's cat.
"Competition was fierce but Tiny pipped the others to the role due to his ability to catch almost anything and guard his territory so fearlessly."
Tiny's owners receive a £250 donation to their animal charity of choice, a £100 animal gift hamper, a framed picture of Tiny in his new role as a witch's cat, plus transport and entry to Wookey Hole to view his portrait in its pride of place at the Wookey Hole caves.
Cats are funny creatures - check out this clip of Charlie playing with my dog Mitzy in the back garden!
In fact, Charlie and I were having a discussion the other day and he was telling me all sorts of things about his species.
*Did you know people should never pick up cats by the nape of the neck? Only a mother cat knows how to do that carefully and safely.
*Charlie says that cats have a third eyelid, called a "haw", but we only see that when he isn't feeling well.
For more funny cat facts and a little quiz, see below:
*Did you know that cats can see six times better at night than humans can? Charlie has very pretty yellow eyes, but all cats have blue eyes when they are born.
*Some of them start to change colour at about three weeks.
*Many cats lack the necessary gene required to be affected by catnip, but Charlie goes mad for it!
*Charlie has four rows of whiskers on either side of her face. The top two rows move independently from the bottom two. He says it's because the whiskers help measure openings. He can only fit through an opening as long as either side doesn't touch his whiskers. Pretty cool, huh!
*Charles has a really cute nose, but did you know that's not the only way he smells? He has something called the Jacobson's organ, which is located in the upper surface of the mouth.
*Did you know a cat, left to its own devices may have three to seven kittens every four or five months?
*This means that during a cat's lifetime, she can have up to 2,100 kittens in a 10-year life span. This is why spaying and neutering is so important.
*Charlie said when he was a stray, he would use her homing ability to get back to the place he started but I don't think it worked because he walked into my life.
*He uses her biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the earth's magnetic field to get back home. Who knew cats were this smart?
*Did you know cats are three times more likely to contract rabies than dogs? They cover more territory, they roam freely and spend a large part of their time at night, increasing their chance of running into a rabid animal.
*Rabies vaccinations are so important to cats. Please make sure your cat visits the vet every year for this.
*Cats have over 100 vocal sounds. Dogs have only about 10. Charlie says you can learn a lot about a cat by its tail.
*First of all, a cat's tail has 32 muscles. You can tell how a cat is feeling by how it controls its tail. For instance, a cat's tail held high means happiness.
*A twitching tail is a warning sign and a tail tucked in close to the body is a sign of insecurity. Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The only other animals that do this are giraffe and camel.
*Charlie says she ages differently than I do. A cat that is one year old is equivalent to 16 human years. The second year, a cat ages eight human years, and each year after that, about four human years.
*This means a six-year-old cat is equivalent to 40 human years!
*God help me when Charlie turns one in a few year!
Test your knowledge in Charlie's Cat Quiz below:
1) How many breeds of cat is there?
2) What is group of cats called?
3) What is a group of kittens called?
4) Charlie says that, in Egypt, entire families would do what to show they were in mourning when the family cat died?
5) How many cats is there in the world? a) 420 million 6) 800 million or c) 600 million?
6) Which ancient civilization is widely believed to have been the first to domesticate cats?
7)Which breed of long-haired cat became popular in Britain during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria?
8)At about what age does a domestic cat reach puberty?
9) Which two pigment colors form the basis for all coat colors in the modern domestic cat?
10) Which breed of short-haired cat is known for its rabbitlike gait and the absence of a tail?
11) A cat's "righting reflex" allows it to: a) Find its way around even in the dimmest light
b) Always land on four feet when falling from a reasonable height
c) Retract or extend its claws immediately
d) Look more imposing by arching its back and raising its fur?
12)Allergies to cats are one of the most common allergies in humans. What causes cat allergies in people?
13) What breed of hairless cat, first bred in Canada in 1966, was given full Championship Class status in 2002 by the Cat Fanciers' Association?
14) British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's successful musical "Cats" (1981) was based on which work of literature: a) "Cat That Walked by Himself" (1902) by Rudyard Kipling
b) "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) by Lewis Carroll
c) "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" (1939) by T. S. Eliot
d) "The Cat in the Hat" (1957) by Dr. Seuss
15) A polydactyl cat has extra a) hair b) toes or c) whiskers?
Answers
1) About 100.
2) A clowder.
3) A kindle.
4) Shaved off their eyebrows.
5) There are an estimated 600 million house cats in the world. With a human population of roughly 6.6 billion, there's one house cat for every 10 people on the planet.
6) Most people agree that the domestic cat descended from the Caffre cat, a small breed of African wildcat that was domesticated in ancient Egypt, possibly as early as 2500 BC.
7) The correct answer is a Persian. Persians became popular in 19th-century Britain during Queen Victoria's reign; she and other members of the royal family kept blue Persians.
8) The domestic cat usually reaches puberty at around 9 or 10 months of age.
9) Two pigments, black and orange, form the basis for all coat colors in the modern domestic cat. These pigments may be combined with each other or with white (the absence of pigment). A single gene, the O (Orange) gene, determines whether a cat's coat contains black or orange pigment. The O gene can be thought of as a switch that is either on (orange) or off (black). The gene is located on the X chromosome, so its inheritance is sex-linked.
10) Manx is a breed of short-haired cat native to the Isle of Man, a British island off the coast of Great Britain. Although there are many stories about how tailless cats first came to the island, it is most likely that the genetic mutation originated there.
11) A cat's "righting reflex" allows it to always land on four feet. A cat reflexively rights itself when its head is not square with the ground - thus, when dropped or when falling through the air from a reasonable height, the animal lands on its feet regardless of the position in which it begins its descent. Its supple spine allows it to twist midair and, given enough room, the cat's muscles relax, minimizing injury upon impact. Because this reflex coordinates input from both the eyes and the middle ear, newborn kittens whose eyes have not yet opened do not fall so gracefully.
12)A protein in the cat's skin and saliva causes a reaction in people with cat allergies, leading to itching, sneezing and other allergy symptoms. For allergic people who wish to have a cat, allergists recommend keeping the cat out of the bedroom; bathing the cat, if the cat tolerates washing; using air purifiers to remove allergens; and, in some cases, receiving injections to desensitize the body against the allergen.
13)The Sphynx, a breed of hairless cat, the result of a natural mutation.
14) British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's successful musical "Cats" (1981) was based on poet T. S. Eliot's book for children, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" (1939). "Cats" the musical is an almost plotless story about a group of cats in a junkyard.
15)A polydactyl cat is a cat with more than usual number of toes on one or more of its paws as a result of a genetic mutation. Normal cats have four toes and one dewclaw (thumb) on each front paw and four toes on each hind paw. Polydactyl cats may have as many as seven digits on front and/or hind paws.
WHEN I heard about a cat hotel in Holmeswood, I knew there was only one fella - or rather feline could take with me - my kitty Charlie.
Woodlands Cat Hotel based at Woodlands Animal Sanctuary on Sandy Lane has been open for 15 years and offers 24 hour care for tabbies while their owners are away.
Owner Jacqui McDerby, an avid cat lover from a young age, runs the hotel with her family including daughter Vickie.
Jacqui used to breed and show pedigree Siamese cats for a number of years before going into rescue work which led her to becoming coordinator of the Southport and District Branch of the Cats Protection for over 10 years.
She is now founder and trustee of Woodlands Animal Sanctuary.
The same love of cats prompted her to open Woodlands Cat Hotel to enable all cats to enjoy her high standard of love and attention whilst their owners are on holiday.
Vickie, 25, said: "My mum's been looking after cats and kittens for over 20 years. Cats that are ill or strays.
"The place just grew and grew and as well as cats people were bringing rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, goats and birds."
In 2005, Woodlands Animal Sanctury was officially registered as a charity and cares for unwanted and neglected farm animals, small domestic animals and species of native wildlife that, over the years, have been given to them to care for.
"We solely run on donations and that's where the cat hotel comes in we use the profits from it to put back into the sanctuary."
Charlie was given a guided tour of the hotel by Vickie and spent time in the spacious sleeping quarters alongside residents Rocky and Ellie.
Vickie added: "They are fully heated and each pen has a ladder giving access to the lower floor and their toilet.
"At the moment Rocky is staying with us and he has diabetes and must have insulin every day. We cater for all sorts of cats."
So what was Charlie's verdict? Woodlands Cat Hotel is a purrfect place to stay.
If you would like more information about the hotel or sanctuary or are interesting in volunteering your time visit www.animalsanctuary.org.uk or call 01704-823293.
This time a missing cat was found almost 500 miles away from his Scottish home, more than a year after he went missing.
Sampson was handed in to a vet centre in Plymouth, Devon, 478 miles away from Penicuik in Midlothian.
The cat, who had been thought to be a stray in Plymouth, was identified by a micro-chip, and has been reunited with owner Linda Jansen.
Ms Jansen said: "Forget the Proclaimers, my cat really did walk 500 miles."
She said: "I have no idea how he travelled so far. He may have been trying to get home but was walking in the wrong direction."
Ms Jansen and her two daughters Kirsten, 12, and Lauren, 16, first rescued Sampson from a cat sanctuary in the Borders.
She said: "A lot of people knew him. He was such a character and really was the man of the house, it was so strange when he went missing and we couldn't find him."
She had given up hope of seeing her the cat again and even crossed his name off at his vet.
Then she received a call from the Woodlands Veterinary Surgery in the Devon town.
She said: "I couldn't sleep at all after I got the call. I had given up on seeing him again. The odd thing is that he is a very bad traveller, he always gets car sick when he travels so I can't imagine him lasting on a long road trip like that."
Because of the distances involved Ms Jansen was unsure how to bring Sampson home and approached Edinburgh-based Eagle Couriers to find out about shipping charges.
After hearing the full story the firm then offered to transport the cat for free.
Director Fiona Deas said: "His is one of the most amazing pet stories I have ever heard. I don't suppose we'll ever find out how the animal ended up on the south coast of England, but we can make sure it gets home safely.
"As an animal lover myself I can't even begin to imagine the kind of shock and elation the owner must be feeling at the moment."
Hey cat watchers - I'm back so sorry for no posts I've been so busy with my job - but I've still been on the lookout for some great cat stories.
First, Nora the piano playing cat who is sweeping the world by storm, so much so she has had a piece of chamber music written for her by acclaimed Lithuanian conductor.
Nora's musical skills have made her a Youtube sensation, US media star, and also the object of a video on animal behaviour.
Mindaugas Piecaitis's four-minute piece for the Klaipeda chamber orchestra had its premiere, with a video of the six-year-old feline soloist in the background.
Meanwhile I've been having battles with my cat Charlie to stop him from killing things (see above for Chalie out on the prowl in the garden).
First it was voles then wood pigeons - any suggestions?
One seriously cool cat has been hitting the headlines this week.
Ugly Bat Boy or Uggs for short belongs to vet Stephen Bassett.
He is furless except for his chest, which sports a thick mane.
The cat, 8, was adopted by Stephen who runs the Exeter Veterinary Hospital, in New Hampshire, USA.
He was born in a litter with three other cats, and his sisters have the same look as him.
Hospital staff say the curious cat can scare and mesmerise people.
The cat's favorite domain is atop the warm computers around the office - where he routinely gets in the way - and where a visitor recently snapped a photo and emailed it to friends.
That sparked a media juggernaut which now has The Ellen DeGeneres show trying to book a guest appearance.
Charlie and I were having a discussion the other day and he was telling me all sorts of things about his species.
There are about 100 breeds of cats. A group of cats is called a “clowder,” but a group of kittens is called a “kindle.”
Charlie says that, in Egypt, entire families would shave their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when the family cat died.
People should never pick up cats by the nape of the neck. Only a mama cat knows how to do that carefully and safely.
Charlie says that cats have a third eyelid, called a “haw.” We’ll only see that when he isn’t feeling well.
Did you know that cats can see six times better at night than humans can! Charlie has very pretty yellow eyes, but all cats have blue eyes when they are born.
Some of them start to change colour at about three weeks.
Many cats lack the necessary gene required to be affected by catnip, but Charlie goes mad for it!
Charlie has four rows of whiskers on either side of her face. The top two rows move independently from the bottom two.
He says it’s because the whiskers help measure openings. He can only fit through an opening as long as either side doesn’t touch his whiskers. Pretty cool, huh!
Charles has a really cute nose, but did you know that’s not the only way he smells? He has something called the Jacobson’s organ, which is located in the upper surface of the mouth.
Did you know a cat, left to its own devices may have three to seven kittens every four or five months?!
This means that during a cat’s lifetime, she can have up to 2,100 kittens in a 10-year life span. This is why spaying and neutering is so important.
Charlie said when he was a stray, he would use his homing ability to get back to the place he started but I don't think it worked because he walked into my life.
He uses his biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the earth’s magnetic field to get back home. Who knew cats were this smart?
Did you know cats are three times more likely to contract rabies than dogs? They cover more territory, they roam freely and spend a large part of their time at night, increasing their chance of running into a rabid animal.
Rabies vaccinations are so important to cats. Please make sure your cat visits the vet every year for this.
Cats have over 100 vocal sounds. Dogs have only about 10. Charlie says you can learn a lot about a cat by its tail.
First of all, a cat’s tail has 32 muscles. You can tell how a cat is feeling by how it controls its tail. For instance, a cat’s tail held high means happiness.
A twitching tail is a warning sign and a tail tucked in close to the body is a sign of insecurity. Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The only other animals that do this are giraffe and camel.
Charlie says he ages differently than I do. A cat that is one year old is equivalent to 16 human years. The second year, a cat ages eight human years, and each year after that, about four human years.
This means a six-year-old cat is equivalent to 40 human years!
God help me when Charlie turns one in a few months!
That's right folks - apparently cats can sniff out cancer.
In Calgary, Alberta, USA, one kitty warned owner Lionel Adams that he had a cancerous tumor in his leg.
How, because clearly cats can not speak or dance yet that we know of? Well, the cat by the name of Tiger, would point to it every night with his paw.
Lionel said: "He would climb into bed and take his paw and drag it down my left side - he was adamant there was something there, and it was right where the cancer was."
When Lionel went to the hospital, surgeons later removed a tumor the size of a soda can.
I was sorry to hear that the famous cat that lived in the White House while President Clinton was in office has passed away.
"Socks" was put to sleep Friday at the age of 19 after suffering from cancer of the jaw. Socks had been living in Washington with Clinton's former White House secretary, Betty Currie. Curry said she planned to have Socks cremated.
Domestic cats are to be tagged by scientists in a bid to discover how damaging they are to urban bird populations.
According to the Telegraph, researchers at the University of Reading believe family pets could be responsible for killing up to 10,000 small animals annually per square kilometre in urban areas, significantly affecting some urban bird species.
The scientists looked at the hunting and feeding habits of 200 cats and their owners in nine, one kilometre squared areas around Reading, Berkshire, collecting the birds and small animals they brought home – estimated in a previous study to be 30 per cent of those they killed.
I know when I let Charlie out for the first time a couple of months ago, I dreaded what he would bring back but to my knowledge he hasn't caught anything...yet.
He's definitely honing his pouncing skills. Yesterday I dangled his toy mouse off the end of the bed and he nearly had my hand off, bless him!
Let's take a look at the ingredients in a typical can of cat food: meat by-products, chicken by-product meal, turkey by-product meal, ash, taurine.
Nothing too horrible, but in general, these things don't constitute a healthy human diet, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian with the American Dietetic Association.
"That said, I'm fully confident that your body can handle kitty chow."
Your liver, kidneys and skin do a terrific job of removing foreign substances from the body, especially mild ones like those found in cat food.
"Technically, you could safely digest a baseball," Blatner says. Perhaps the worst stuff in cat food is the high mineral content in the ash, but your body would clear that out quickly.
Actually, the ingredients listed on the organic blends of cat food sound pretty tasty.
There is a pet shop near where I live that sells Applaws Natural Cat Food.
To show us how natural it is the shopowner opened up a can and started to eat it.
I got some for Charlie and he loves it. His favourite food is cheese.
First, there was Lucy the fiesty feline from Great Massingham who took a whistle-stop tour of West Norfolk.
The short-haired tabby and white cat, who is nearly three, got into a space near the lorry's air brake and axle.
She was only found when staff at Supreme Carpets in Dersingham heard her cries thinking she had been run over.
It is thought the cat hopped on board the lorry in Mildenhall in Suffolk when it stopped for 45 minutes.
The lorry had travelled from Chelmsford in Essex, via Mildenhall, to Dersingham, stopping very briefly at King's Lynn.
Her owner Rob Petto said Lucy's travels began when she saw an opportunity for a ride in the back of a delivery van near her house early on Wednesday morning last week.
“A delivery driver stopped to unload his cargo and left the doors open. Lucy got into the van and then got out at the next stop on Norfolk Street in King's Lynn.
“She had been in the back and must have been quite scared, she jumped out and scarpered.”
Mr Petto and his father Alan, who also looks after Lucy, spent hours looking for their pet in King's Lynn but she had already hitched a ride to Dersingham, where she was found later on in the morning.
“She does like to get into cars but this is the first time she has taken a long journey, although her brother Homer once jumped on the bus to King's Lynn.”
It was originally thought the stowaway had boarded the carpet lorry in Mildenhall and clung on for more than 42 miles.
Then there was Manuel the kitten who survived a journey from Portugal to Northamptonshire in a lorry when he was only 10 days old and has now been released to an animal charity.
Manuel the kitten has been in quarantine for six months since he survived the three-day journey and is now looking for a new home. Aaaaahhhhhh!
Hello feline friends, Charlie here, I've given Gemma the day off.
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