Big Cat Love

A couple of big cats made the news this week:

• Goliath (a.k.a. Hercules) is so big that he was caught stealing cat food out of a woman's garage when he got stuck in her cat door! Fortunately, the publicity generated by the story helped reunite him with his owner.
• Jupiter, an abused circus lion, was rescued by a Columbian woman who he adores completely if his hugs and kisses are any indication. My favorite shot of him is on this week's Animal Tracks slideshow on MSNBC.com.

Cats to compete in parody of reality TV show

I just read a Reuter's story about how the makers of Meow Mix cat food have found a great new way to advertise: Take 10 homeless cats, and put them in a stylish storefront window that doubles as a stage set in New York City for 10 days of being filmed and gawked at by passersby, put the resulting footage together with some catty voiceovers by actors pretending to be the different cats, then have people vote on which cats to vote out of the "house." The kitties voted out are actually being placed in permanent homes, and the last cat napping supposedly gets hired by the company as the Feline VP of R&D, a taste tester of Meow Mix products.

You can watch the three-minute spots on Animal Planet starting June 16th at 9 p.m. or on the Meow Mix House's website which also sports a 24/7 meowcam of the kitties.

(Geez, what's next? Feline Fear Factor where kitties compete to see who takes longest to run under the bed when the vacuum cleaner is turned on?)

Dancing Cat Video and More

OK, here's something just for fun. Google Video is one of Google's beta projects. It'll soon go commercial, but for now you can find all sorts of amateur videos. (Sorry, no racy stuff here, you'll have to find those kind of amateur videos elsewhere.) If you go to their site, http://video.google.com, do a search for cat or kitten and see what you find. There's all sorts of cat antics here, but my favorite find is called the best cat dance ever posted by someone called funny junk. Shakespearean Cat Fight runs a close second just because of the music. See what you find and post your favorites in the comment section!

Cat's in the pink despite color change

There's a story that has been picked up by several UK media outlets about a once-white cat who came home pink one afternoon. I'm sure the only reason this has become such big news is the cute pictures. He looks a bit like he's been dipped in Easter egg coloring, or more likely, rolled around in a slightly damp red towel on his walk around the neighborhood. (The story's popularity might also have to do with the funny headlines possible. Check out Google's list of pink cat stories to find some I don't think would be used in more conservative US newspapers.) Check out the different stories because they each have different cute photos of him:

• 2005 SEP 05. Cat in the pink over new colour. BBC News, UK.


• Richard Savill. 2005 SEP 05. The cat that turned pink. Telegraph.co.uk, UK.


• Author. 2005 SEP 06. White cat turns pink. Ananova, UK.

Leave a comment: Why do you think Brumas turned pink?