Happy Halloween - check out my pumpkin cat!

Hey everyone!


Just spent the day carving my pumpkin - check out this scary black cat!


Have you created any of your own pumpkin designs? Email gemma.jaleel@liverpool.com and I will display the best ones on my blog!

Cat Trivia and Quiz

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.

How many did you get right?!

CAT-astrophe averted after cat survives two miles in car engine

I picked this up from NBC New York. This poor cat survived a two-mile drive stuck in the engine of a car.

The stray cat had apparently crawled into the engine of a Nissan Murano.

The car's owner, Wilfredo Rodriguez, drove the car for two miles and noticed a rattling sound while he was driving.



Stopping the car to check the engine, Wilfredo saw a cat's tail and paw sticking out from under the hood.

Wilfredo told NBC news: "I said, 'Oh my God! I killed a cat.'"

Not quite. The cat was alive. It was extricated from the car's engine and handed over to the city's Animal Care & Control.

Talk about a purring engine!

Novi Sad Cats - Cat shelter in Serbia

I found this lovely blog about and cat shelter for homeless cats in Serbia.

The shelter in Novi Sad and the blog is all about the cats and the staff that look after them.

They also upload videos and give daily updates on the cats come through their doors.

The shelter is funded by donations and some of the cats are really cute - so take a look!

Charlie visits Woodlands Cat Hotel in Holmeswood

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.