DogTV is the cat’s meow

Test Subject: DogTV, the television channel for dogs.

The big picture: Making its cable-TV debut in San Diego, the recently launched DogTV channel was created to help soothe and distract dogs while their humans are away from home, or perhaps while their humans are too busy watching “Downton Abbey” in the other room to administer comforting belly rubs.

DogTV is an on-demand channel airing on Cox Cable on Channel 2635. Time Warner Cable customers in metro San Diego can find it by going to the On Demand area, then selecting “My Pet” or “My Home.” (The channel is not available to Time Warner’s North County customers.)

It is free for now, but the creators plan to make it a subscription channel with a fee of about $4.99 a month. Among DogTV’s selling points, no loud commercials to startle our furry friends and no episodes of “Toddlers & Tiaras” to undermine our already shaky reputation as the superior species.

San Diego is a pet-crazy city, but will San Diego’s pets be crazy about DogTV? I put in some viewing time with a few four-legged critics to find out.

Read about the tests:  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/18/dogtv-is-the-cats-meow/

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

NO ONE WOULD accuse Jaroslav Flegr of being a conformist. A self-described “sloppy dresser,” the 63-year-old Czech scientist has the contemplative air of someone habitually lost in thought, and his still-youthful, square-jawed face is framed by frizzy red hair that encircles his head like a ring of fire.

Certainly Flegr’s thinking is jarringly unconventional. Starting in the early 1990s, he began to suspect that a single-celled parasite in the protozoan family was subtly manipulating his personality, causing him to behave in strange, often self-destructive ways. And if it was messing with his mind, he reasoned, it was probably doing the same to others.

The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxofor short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis—the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cats’ litter boxes. Since the 1920s, doctors have recognized that a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, in some cases resulting in severe brain damage or death. T. gondii is also a major threat to people with weakened immunity: in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, before good antiretroviral drugs were developed, it was to blame for the dementia that afflicted many patients at the disease’s end stage. Healthy children and adults, however, usually experience nothing worse than brief flu-like symptoms before quickly fighting off the protozoan, which thereafter lies dormant inside brain cells—or at least that’s the standard medical wisdom.

But if Flegr is right, the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents. And that’s not all. He also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”

An evolutionary biologist at Charles University in Prague, Flegr has pursued this theory for decades in relative obscurity. Because he struggles with English and is not much of a conversationalist even in his native tongue, he rarely travels to scientific conferences. That “may be one of the reasons my theory is not better known,” he says. And, he believes, his views may invite deep-seated opposition. “There is strong psychological resistance to the possibility that human behavior can be influenced by some stupid parasite,” he says. “Nobody likes to feel like a puppet. Reviewers [of my scientific papers] may have been offended.” Another more obvious reason for resistance, of course, is that Flegr’s notions sound an awful lot like fringe science, right up there with UFO sightings and claims of dolphins telepathically communicating with humans.

But after years of being ignored or discounted, Flegr is starting to gain respectability. Psychedelic as his claims may sound, many researchers, including such big names in neuroscience as Stanford’s Robert Sapolsky, think he could well be onto something. Flegr’s “studies are well conducted, and I can see no reason to doubt them,” Sapolsky tells me. Indeed, recent findings from Sapolsky’s lab and British groups suggest that the parasite is capable of extraordinary shenanigans. T. gondii, reports Sapolsky, can turn a rat’s strong innate aversion to cats into an attraction, luring it into the jaws of its No. 1 predator. Even more amazing is how it does this: the organism rewires circuits in parts of the brain that deal with such primal emotions as fear, anxiety, and sexual arousal. “Overall,” says Sapolsky, “this is wild, bizarre neurobiology.” Another academic heavyweight who takes Flegr seriously is the schizophrenia expert E. Fuller Torrey, director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, in Maryland. “I admire Jaroslav for doing [this research],” he says. “It’s obviously not politically correct, in the sense that not many labs are doing it. He’s done it mostly on his own, with very little support. I think it bears looking at. I find it completely credible.”

What’s more, many experts think T. gondii may be far from the only microscopic puppeteer capable of pulling our strings. “My guess is that there are scads more examples of this going on in mammals, with parasites we’ve never even heard of,” says Sapolsky.

Read on: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/8873/

Domestic Cats, and Wild Bobcats and Pumas, Living in Same Area Have Same Diseases

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2012) — Domestic cats, wild bobcats and pumas that live in the same area share the same diseases. And domestic cats may bring them into human homes, according to results of a study of what happens when big and small cats cross paths.

Initial results of the multi-year study were recently published in the scientific journal PLoS One by a group of 14 authors.

The joint National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Program funded the study. Scientists at Colorado State University and other institutions conducted the research.

It provides evidence that domestic cats and wild cats that share the same outdoor areas in urban environments also can share diseases such as Bartonellosis andToxoplasmosis. Both can be spread from cats to people.

"Human-wildlife interactions will continue to increase as human populations expand," said Sam Scheiner, program director for EEID at NSF.

"This study demonstrates that such interactions can be indirect and extensive," said Scheiner. "Through our pets we are sharing their diseases, which can affect our health, our pets' health and wildlife health."

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120206164632.htm

What If All the Cats in the World Suddenly Died?

Perhaps you're a cat lover. Perhaps you abhor the lazy critters. Either way, when you see a cat lounging on an armchair, napping all day but for the occasional stretch or window gaze, "useless" is by no means the last word that comes to mind. Cats, beloved or otherwise, don't radiate the message that they're indispensable, hard-working members of the household, or the world.

But, in fact, they're just playing it cool (as usual). Experts say that if all the world's cats suddenly died, things would quickly go to hell in a handbasket.

Cats, both pets and strays, may fool us into thinking that they depend on our food and trash for survival, but according to Alan Beck, professor of veterinary medicine and director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University, they're expert predators with adaptable hunting behaviors. 

"They are a significant predator of small animals, and can survive as almost solitary animals when the prey is scarce, while thriving in high density when the prey is abundant," Beck told Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience.

And that's just why we'd miss them. By killing mice and rats in barns and grain storage areas, cats are vital for keeping those pests in check. In India, Beck said, cats are believed to play a significant role in lessening the amount of grain loss caused by consumption or contamination by rodents. In other words, it may be true that humans feed cats, but without cats, humans would have less food in the first place. 

So, how dramatically would the rodent population increase if cats suddenly vanished? It just so happens that several scientific studies have been conducted that paint a vivid picture. A 1997 study in Great Britain found that the average house cat brought home more than 11 dead animals (including mice, birds, frogs and more) in the course of six months. That meant the 9 million cats of Britain were collectively killing close to 200 million wild specimens per year — not including all those they did not offer up to their owners. A study in New Zealand in 1979 found that, when cats were nearly eradicated from a small island, the local rat population quickly quadrupled.


And if the rodent population shot up, this would of course trigger a cascade of other ecological effects. On that same island in New Zealand, for instance, ecologists observed that, as rat numbers increased in the absence of cats, the population of seabirds whose eggs rats preyed upon declined. If the approximately 220 million domestic cats in the world all bit the dust, seabird populations would likely fall worldwide, while the populations of non-cat predators that prey on rats would be expected to increase.
"All species have an impact," Beck said.


And let's not forget the emotional toll that a mass cat death would take on us humans: "In this country, cats are much loved by many. While there are more dog-owning households (38 percent) than cat- owning households (34 percent), there are actually more domestic cats than dogs because cat owners own more of them. Cats as pets have always been appreciated for the contact, relatively low maintenance, and pedomorphic (child-like) face and general morphology."


http://www.livescience.com/18294-cats-world-died.html

On-the-loose cat in the cockpit delays Air Canada flight

Ripples, the cat that grounded an Air Canada flight for four hours after he got loose and hid in the cockpit Wednesday, wound up more upset than anyone on board, his owner says.

“Right now, he’s just hiding out in his kennel. He doesn’t want to come out because he’s a little shook,” Debbie Harris, the cat’s owner, said with a chuckle. “I don’t think he’ll come out of the kennel for awhile.”

The 10-year-old male tabby got loose as passengers were boarding Air Canada Flight 603 from Halifax to Toronto early Wednesday morning. Air Canada allows passengers to carry pets into the cabin as long as they weigh less than 20 pounds (nine kilograms) and are in a crate that can be stored underneath a seat.

Ms. Harris, who was on her way to visit her daughter, said she thinks the latches on Ripples’s crate weren’t shut properly after security personnel inspected the cat before boarding the plane. When she boarded, the crate popped open and the cat jumped out.

The owner, along with other passengers and crew members, tried to catch him, but he quickly ran into the cockpit, past the captain’s feet and between a panel into the wiring of the airplane, out of reach. Ripples, who his owner said usually responds to his name, didn’t come out as she and crew members called to him. Eventually, maintenance crews were brought on board to deconstruct the panelling
and remove the cat.

“When I finally got to see him, it was like he was in a head stand. His butt was up in the air and his head was down, jammed between this pipe and this metal thing,” Ms. Harris said. “I [was] crying and trying not to hurt him. I finally got him pulled out and then they had to put the plane back together.”

But before passengers were able to re-board, Air Canada staff did a thorough inspection to ensure the cat hadn’t caused any damage. The flight, which usually departs at 5:40 a.m., took off around 10 that morning.

“I felt bad and was just thinking: ‘How in the heck did you get out of this? You’ve never gotten out of it before,’ “ Ms. Harris said.

While pets have been known to get loose in cargo bays, Peter Spurway,a spokesman for the Halifax International Airport Authority, said he’s never heard of a case like Ripples. “I’m sure that there will be some other [stories] that will pop up now, but in my experience it’s the first one.”

Ripples – who was named for his rippling stripes – isn’t usually much of an explorer, according to Ms. Harris. He’s actually quite shy.

“He doesn’t like to be around people and I guess it was just too much action,” she said. “He was too much of a scaredy-cat to do much of anything except shiver and shake.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/on-the-loose-cat-in-the-cockpit-delays-air-canada-flight/article2314522/

Cat Shot With Arrow: 'Cupid' Expected To Make Full Recovery

You can shoot an arrow through a cat, but it's still going to land on its feet.

A stray orange tabby in Houston earned the nickname 'Cupid' this week after he survived a piercing shoulder to shoulder wound, KHOU reports.

The 2-year-old feline managed to elude neighborhood residents for about three days before being captured by a member of BARC -- the city rescue group -- and taken to the Brittmore Animal Hospital.

Dr. Amanda Taylor took x-rays and determined that there was no 'paws for concern' before surgically removing the weapon.

"This definitely wasn't an accident. An orange cat doesn't look like something you hunt for. Luckily, this kitty is a tough one and came out OK," said Taylor, according to local reports.

Dr. Taylor added that no vital organs were harmed and that 'Cupid' is expected to make a complete recovery.

Video: http://main.aol.com/2012/01/20/cat-shot-with-arrow-cupid_n_1218741.html?ref=weird-news&ir=Weird%20News

Missing cat comes home after four years

The owners of a cat that went missing four years ago got a late surprise Christmas present when they were reunited with her the day after Boxing Day.

Willow, who is now 10 years old, disappeared after being let out to play from her home in Princetown, Devon, in 2007.

The black cat was one of three that vanished from the same close in the town on Dartmoor within months of each other.

While one of them turned up in Taunton, Somerset, Willow was finally found in Plymouth.

"It's really only sinking in now, but it's the best Christmas present ever," owner Cristel Worth said.

"How she managed to stray from Princetown to, about 20 miles away, to get to Elburton, I have no idea. It's a long journey right across the moors."

Willow was taken in six months ago by a family from the Elburton area of Plymouth until a space became available at a nearby animal rescue centre.

But it was not until last week that the Gables Farm Dogs' and Cats' Home in Plymouth finally identified her thanks to an implanted microchip.

Worth, 32, said she was with her husband, Mark, 31, and their two young daughters when she received the call from the charity last Tuesday.

"We had almost given up hope that we would ever find her again and it was a really wonderful experience to know that she had finally come home," she said.

"I wish she (Willow) spoke, as all we know is that for the last six months she's been living in Elburton, but the previous three and a half years are a mystery."

Worth said the cat, which she had rehomed from an RSPCA centre, was now doing well but had seemed timid on the first night she was home.

She added that her six-year-old daughter, Izzy-May, was able to remember Willow, but the cat was a "delightful" new addition for two-year-old Olivia-Rose.

"Izzy-May has been feeding her special treats and giving her extra attention during feeding time and she's now met our second daughter.

"Izzy-May is extremely excited as she used to see her in the photo albums and didn't quite understand why she went, but she now has her back, which is wonderful.

"I'm not sure what has happened to her during the last four years but she does seem a lot more timid than before she left our family … She's now getting lots and lots of TLC, lots of cuddles and more cats' toys than you could imagine."

Worth said she also wanted to send a huge thankyou to the family who took Willow in looked after her until a place became available at the Gables.

Katie Barkell, from the Gables, said: "It's so difficult to match cats up with their owners, especially when the cat's been missing for four years … so having them microchipped is fantastic as we can get them straight back in contact.

"It was just brilliant to be able to tell them their cat is home … They rushed in and she [Mrs Worth] was just lost for words, she said it was just the best Christmas present they could have hoped for."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/02/missing-cat-home-four-years

Cat that went missing in Colo. 5 years ago is found on NYC street

NEW YORK - A calico cat named Willow, who disappeared from a home near the Rocky Mountains five years ago, was found Wednesday on a Manhattan street and will soon be returned to a family in which two of the three kids and one of the two dogs may remember her.

How she got to New York, nearly 1,800 miles away, and the kind of life she lived in the city are mysteries.

But thanks to a microchip implanted when she was a kitten, Willow will be reunited in Colorado with her owners, who had long ago given up hope.

"To be honest, there are tons of coyotes around here, and owls," said Jamie Squires, of Boulder. "She was just a little thing, five and a half pounds. We put out the `Lost Cat' posters and the Craigslist thing, but we actually thought she'd been eaten by coyotes."

Squires and her husband, Chris, were "shocked and astounded" when they got a call Wednesday from Animal Care & Control, which runs New York City's animal rescue and shelter system.

Willow had been found on East 20th Street by a man who took her to a shelter.

"My husband said, `Don't say anything to the kids yet. We have to make sure,'" Squires said. "But then we saw the picture, and it was Willow. It's been so long."

ACC Executive Director Julie Bank said a scanner found the microchip that led to the Squires family.

"All our pets are microchipped," Squires said. "If I could microchip my kids, I would."

The children are 17, 10 and 3 years old, so the older two remember Willow, Squires said. As for the 3-year-old, "She saw the photo and said, `She's a pretty cat.'"

The Squireses also have a yellow Labrador named Roscoe, who knew Willow, and an English mastiff named Zoe.

"We had another dog back then, too, and I remember that Willow would lie with them as they all waited to be fed," Squires said. "She thought she was a dog."

Squires said Willow escaped in late 2006 or early 2007 when contractors left a door open during a home renovation.

Since then, the family had moved about 10 miles from Broomfield to Boulder, but it kept its address current with the microchip company.

Bank recommended that all pet owners use microchips.

She said Willow, who now weighs 7 pounds, is healthy and well-mannered and probably has not spent her life on the mean streets of Manhattan. But there are no clues about her trip east or anything else in the five years she's been missing.

Squires seemed a bit worried about a possible New York state of mind.

"I don't know what kind of life she's had, so I don't know what her personality will be like," she said. When Willow disappeared, she said, "She was a really cool cat, really sweet."

The ACC and the Squireses were trying to arrange for transportation back to Colorado and health certificates and said it might be two weeks before the reunion. Willow may spend some time with a foster family in New York.

"The kids can't wait to see her," Squires said. "And we still have her little Christmas stocking."

http://www.startribune.com/nation/129846553.html

Christmas Cat

A missing cat has been reunited with its owners in time for Christmas - four years after disappearing.

Colin the black cat disappeared shortly after Peter and Maria O'Neill moved from Middlesbrough to Garstang, Lancashire, in August 2006.

Despite attempts to locate the missing moggy the couple eventually gave up hope and moved back to Middlesbrough.

Colin was found in a garden in Garstang and taken to charity Cats Protection, which arranged a microchip scan.

The O'Neills, who originally found Colin as a feral kitten roaming around the Corus steelworks, had updated the charity with their new address in Ingleby Barwick, Middlesbrough.

He was found by a woman in Garstang earlier this month.

Mrs O'Neill said: "I couldn't believe it when I got a call to say Colin had been found. It was really the best Christmas present I could have hoped for.

"When I went to pick Colin up, he was quite nervous and cowering in the corner of a pen. I simply said his name and he instantly recognised me.

"He bounded up to me and stuck his head under my arm. It was just a magical moment and it left me close to tears."

'Made' Christmas
Jeanette Greaves, publicity volunteer at the charity's Preston branch, said: "Everyone at the branch is so thrilled that we were able to reunite Colin with his owners after all this time.

"It has really made our Christmas.

"This case certainly highlights the importance of microchipping and keeping details up to date, as it greatly increases the chances of a happy reunion should a cat ever go missing from his home."

Cats Protection helps about 215,000 unwanted cats through a national network of 256 volunteer-run branches and 30 adoption centres.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-12076415

Christmas Cat

A missing cat has been reunited with its owners in time for Christmas - four years after disappearing.

Colin the black cat disappeared shortly after Peter and Maria O'Neill moved from Middlesbrough to Garstang, Lancashire, in August 2006.

Despite attempts to locate the missing moggy the couple eventually gave up hope and moved back to Middlesbrough.

Colin was found in a garden in Garstang and taken to charity Cats Protection, which arranged a microchip scan.

The O'Neills, who originally found Colin as a feral kitten roaming around the Corus steelworks, had updated the charity with their new address in Ingleby Barwick, Middlesbrough.

He was found by a woman in Garstang earlier this month.

Mrs O'Neill said: "I couldn't believe it when I got a call to say Colin had been found. It was really the best Christmas present I could have hoped for.

"When I went to pick Colin up, he was quite nervous and cowering in the corner of a pen. I simply said his name and he instantly recognised me.

"He bounded up to me and stuck his head under my arm. It was just a magical moment and it left me close to tears."

'Made' Christmas
Jeanette Greaves, publicity volunteer at the charity's Preston branch, said: "Everyone at the branch is so thrilled that we were able to reunite Colin with his owners after all this time.

"It has really made our Christmas.

"This case certainly highlights the importance of microchipping and keeping details up to date, as it greatly increases the chances of a happy reunion should a cat ever go missing from his home."

Cats Protection helps about 215,000 unwanted cats through a national network of 256 volunteer-run branches and 30 adoption centres.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-12076415

'Terminator cat' survives being shot and run over ..

METRO REPORTER - 24th December, 2010

The four-year-old moggy miraculously survived being hit more than 10 times with an air rifle outside her home in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire.

Just one month after vets saved her life in the 'drive-by shooting,' the brave puss was then flattened by a car and had to have metal plates put into her pelvis last month.

Owner Tim Gamble, 55, said pals suggested he change Tinsel's name to The Terminator because of her ability to survive a gun attack and road accident – much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hit 1984 movie.

She has now been dubbed the 'hardest cat in Britain' by her owner, who said she never expected his beloved moggy to survive.

He said: ‘She really is remarkable - to look at her you wouldn't know anything had happened to her.’

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/851374-terminator-cat-survives-being-shot-and-run-over#ixzz194aaszkV

'Terminator cat' survives being shot and run over ..

METRO REPORTER - 24th December, 2010

The four-year-old moggy miraculously survived being hit more than 10 times with an air rifle outside her home in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire.

Just one month after vets saved her life in the 'drive-by shooting,' the brave puss was then flattened by a car and had to have metal plates put into her pelvis last month.

Owner Tim Gamble, 55, said pals suggested he change Tinsel's name to The Terminator because of her ability to survive a gun attack and road accident – much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hit 1984 movie.

She has now been dubbed the 'hardest cat in Britain' by her owner, who said she never expected his beloved moggy to survive.

He said: ‘She really is remarkable - to look at her you wouldn't know anything had happened to her.’

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/851374-terminator-cat-survives-being-shot-and-run-over#ixzz194aaszkV

Escape by a whisker: Quick-thinking cat saves house from fire...

A clever cat has been hailed a hero after he prevented his owners' home from burning down - by opening a window.


Five-year-old Pepper has learned to open windows and lets himself out every night by hopping on to a kitchen worktop and using his paws to turn the latch.

So when a fire broke while his owners were Christmas shopping, the quick-thinking puss leapt into action and opened the window to allow the acrid smoke to escape.
The billowing cloud of ash alerted neighbours and firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the blaze before it spread to the rest of the house.


Owner Sharon White, of Totnes, Devon said: 'He first did it (opened the window) at a dinner party and everyone was applauding him, I think it spurred him on.

'He can climb back in through the window by jumping diagonally on to the ledge as well so he really does come and go as he pleases.

'Pepper is still a bit spooked by the ordeal but is still managing to eat plenty of food.' Sharon and husband Phil, a radiologist at Torbay Hospital, Devon, were handed Pepper over four years ago after a neighbour could no longer look after it.

Pepper developed a 'fierce independent streak' and would often leave the house for days on end.


But over the last few months, he has become increasingly nomadic and has learnt to let himself out through the downstairs window by turning the metal lever 90 degrees with his paws.

The dramatic fire started at 4pm on Saturday after the couple nipped to the shops and left their microwave on a ten minute timer, which then caught fire.

Sharon, who owns a publishing consultancy, said: 'We put something in the microwave for ten minutes and then popped out to do our Christmas shopping in the local town.

'I discovered on the way that I had left my purse at home but decided not to turn around.

'It was my sister-in-law who lives next door that rang us about two hours into our trip and said you had better get home as there is quite a lot of smoke coming out of your house and the fire brigade are here.

'We are thankful our neighbours did not just dismiss the smoke as a bonfire.'

Firefighters rushed to their £350,000 house and extinguished the flames before they could spread and the kitchen suffered only smoke damage.

Phil added: 'Pepper managed to get out and smoke must have been pouring out the window which alerted the neighbours.

'There is some damage to the kitchen but it was isolated so nothing compared to what it could have been.

''He's got a real mind of his own and is usually a bit of a pain. But on this occasion we're grateful as without him, and our neighbours, the fire could have been so much worse.'

Stefan Belsten, of Devon and Somerset fire service, said: 'If Pepper hadn't opened the window the fire would have developed quite a lot.'

By Daily Mail Reporter

Escape by a whisker: Quick-thinking cat saves house from fire...

A clever cat has been hailed a hero after he prevented his owners' home from burning down - by opening a window.


Five-year-old Pepper has learned to open windows and lets himself out every night by hopping on to a kitchen worktop and using his paws to turn the latch.

So when a fire broke while his owners were Christmas shopping, the quick-thinking puss leapt into action and opened the window to allow the acrid smoke to escape.
The billowing cloud of ash alerted neighbours and firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the blaze before it spread to the rest of the house.


Owner Sharon White, of Totnes, Devon said: 'He first did it (opened the window) at a dinner party and everyone was applauding him, I think it spurred him on.

'He can climb back in through the window by jumping diagonally on to the ledge as well so he really does come and go as he pleases.

'Pepper is still a bit spooked by the ordeal but is still managing to eat plenty of food.' Sharon and husband Phil, a radiologist at Torbay Hospital, Devon, were handed Pepper over four years ago after a neighbour could no longer look after it.

Pepper developed a 'fierce independent streak' and would often leave the house for days on end.


But over the last few months, he has become increasingly nomadic and has learnt to let himself out through the downstairs window by turning the metal lever 90 degrees with his paws.

The dramatic fire started at 4pm on Saturday after the couple nipped to the shops and left their microwave on a ten minute timer, which then caught fire.

Sharon, who owns a publishing consultancy, said: 'We put something in the microwave for ten minutes and then popped out to do our Christmas shopping in the local town.

'I discovered on the way that I had left my purse at home but decided not to turn around.

'It was my sister-in-law who lives next door that rang us about two hours into our trip and said you had better get home as there is quite a lot of smoke coming out of your house and the fire brigade are here.

'We are thankful our neighbours did not just dismiss the smoke as a bonfire.'

Firefighters rushed to their £350,000 house and extinguished the flames before they could spread and the kitchen suffered only smoke damage.

Phil added: 'Pepper managed to get out and smoke must have been pouring out the window which alerted the neighbours.

'There is some damage to the kitchen but it was isolated so nothing compared to what it could have been.

''He's got a real mind of his own and is usually a bit of a pain. But on this occasion we're grateful as without him, and our neighbours, the fire could have been so much worse.'

Stefan Belsten, of Devon and Somerset fire service, said: 'If Pepper hadn't opened the window the fire would have developed quite a lot.'

By Daily Mail Reporter

Cat survives ride in engine; tries again

Anglesey cat's 30 minute car engine trip.



A cat which crawled into a car engine space to keep warm has survived a 30 minute journey after its unwitting owner travelled to work.

The black cat called Giggs was found after his owner's colleagues heard a meowing noise coming from her car.

Giggs's owner Cerian Griffith, from Anglesey, said despite missing a few claws, the cat was unscathed.

And incredibly Giggs did the same thing a second time, but was found before Ms Griffith left home.

"I hadn't thought anything about the fact that I hadn't seen the cat before I left for work," said Ms Griffith, who works at Ysgol David Hughes secondary school in Menai Bridge.

"A colleague said he'd heard a meowing noise coming from my car but I thought he was pulling my leg, until my mum sent me a text to say the cat was missing."

Ms Griffith said she immediately put two and two together.

"I went across the yard shouting 'puss, puss' but there was no response and I thought he must have been a goner," she said.

When she opened the bonnet however "a head popped up" and Giggs was perched to the side of the Vauxhall Corsa's engine.

"He was just sitting there, and I can't understand how he managed to stay there as my journey involves going around a few roundabouts and along the A55," she added.

Ms Griffith said she then had to "embarrassingly" ask the head teacherfor permission to take the cat home.

"He was lovely about it, and the cat fell asleep as he was being driven home," she added.

'Fast asleep'
Despite being 13-years-old, and not in the best of health, Giggs survived unscathed, apart from missing "a couple of claws".

The experience has not made him any wiser though as he was again foundin the engine a second time.

"My mum said she'd seen him near the car and for me to check," she said.

"I didn't think he'd do it again, but there he was, fast asleep.

"I've no idea how many lives he has, but that one journey must have used up at least three," she added
An RSPCA spokeswoman said it was not uncommon during cold weather for small animals to crawl beneath cars and climb up inside the engine compartment, seeking warmth and shelter.

"If you do discover an animal hitchhiker - and you do not know its identity - we would advise people to contact the RSPCA 0300 123 4999, and we can try to help trace the owner," added the spokeswoman.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-11973567

Cat survives ride in engine; tries again

Anglesey cat's 30 minute car engine trip.



A cat which crawled into a car engine space to keep warm has survived a 30 minute journey after its unwitting owner travelled to work.

The black cat called Giggs was found after his owner's colleagues heard a meowing noise coming from her car.

Giggs's owner Cerian Griffith, from Anglesey, said despite missing a few claws, the cat was unscathed.

And incredibly Giggs did the same thing a second time, but was found before Ms Griffith left home.

"I hadn't thought anything about the fact that I hadn't seen the cat before I left for work," said Ms Griffith, who works at Ysgol David Hughes secondary school in Menai Bridge.

"A colleague said he'd heard a meowing noise coming from my car but I thought he was pulling my leg, until my mum sent me a text to say the cat was missing."

Ms Griffith said she immediately put two and two together.

"I went across the yard shouting 'puss, puss' but there was no response and I thought he must have been a goner," she said.

When she opened the bonnet however "a head popped up" and Giggs was perched to the side of the Vauxhall Corsa's engine.

"He was just sitting there, and I can't understand how he managed to stay there as my journey involves going around a few roundabouts and along the A55," she added.

Ms Griffith said she then had to "embarrassingly" ask the head teacherfor permission to take the cat home.

"He was lovely about it, and the cat fell asleep as he was being driven home," she added.

'Fast asleep'
Despite being 13-years-old, and not in the best of health, Giggs survived unscathed, apart from missing "a couple of claws".

The experience has not made him any wiser though as he was again foundin the engine a second time.

"My mum said she'd seen him near the car and for me to check," she said.

"I didn't think he'd do it again, but there he was, fast asleep.

"I've no idea how many lives he has, but that one journey must have used up at least three," she added
An RSPCA spokeswoman said it was not uncommon during cold weather for small animals to crawl beneath cars and climb up inside the engine compartment, seeking warmth and shelter.

"If you do discover an animal hitchhiker - and you do not know its identity - we would advise people to contact the RSPCA 0300 123 4999, and we can try to help trace the owner," added the spokeswoman.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-11973567

Katrina Kat Scrubs Up Well

BILOXI, Miss.—Five years after wandering away in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, a gray and white cat named Scrub has been reunited with his Mississippi family
The Humane Society of South Mississippi says Scrub was identified by an implanted microchip. The 7-year-old cat was brought to the shelter by a Gulfport woman who'd fed him as a stray the past couple of months
but worried about his safety during a cold snap.

Scrub's owner, Jennifer Noble, tells The Sun Herald newspaper that she was skeptical at first when she received a call from the shelter. But by the end of the first night back, Scrub had snuggled in bed with one
of her boys.

The woman who'd been feeding him lives about 15 miles away. Noble says Scrub is in excellent condition.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/weird-news/ci_16806942

Katrina Kat Scrubs Up Well

BILOXI, Miss.—Five years after wandering away in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, a gray and white cat named Scrub has been reunited with his Mississippi family
The Humane Society of South Mississippi says Scrub was identified by an implanted microchip. The 7-year-old cat was brought to the shelter by a Gulfport woman who'd fed him as a stray the past couple of months
but worried about his safety during a cold snap.

Scrub's owner, Jennifer Noble, tells The Sun Herald newspaper that she was skeptical at first when she received a call from the shelter. But by the end of the first night back, Scrub had snuggled in bed with one
of her boys.

The woman who'd been feeding him lives about 15 miles away. Noble says Scrub is in excellent condition.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/weird-news/ci_16806942

Video Cat takes on two alligators

By Daniel Bird

A Louisiana cat has become a YouTube star after showing not one but two alligators who the king of the swamp really is.



With a jab that Audley Harrison would have be proud of, the feline was filmed hitting its foe with two clean swipes before the reptile retreated.

Down but not out, the alligator returned with a friend to take on the fearless feline but the cat stood its ground and delivered a swift left paw that sent the reptiles scuttling back to the swamp.

The onlookers who filmed the showdown were left stunned by the event. One can be heard saying "that cat has no fear" while another describes the attack as "unbelievable".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/8142438/Cat-takes-on-two-alligators.html

Video Cat takes on two alligators

By Daniel Bird

A Louisiana cat has become a YouTube star after showing not one but two alligators who the king of the swamp really is.



With a jab that Audley Harrison would have be proud of, the feline was filmed hitting its foe with two clean swipes before the reptile retreated.

Down but not out, the alligator returned with a friend to take on the fearless feline but the cat stood its ground and delivered a swift left paw that sent the reptiles scuttling back to the swamp.

The onlookers who filmed the showdown were left stunned by the event. One can be heard saying "that cat has no fear" while another describes the attack as "unbelievable".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/8142438/Cat-takes-on-two-alligators.html