snow kitties!

with the big one blowing into town yer kitties may want to learn how to snow-burrow. 

anne hathaway is the new catwoman!

anne hathaway will play catwoman in the newest installment in the batman series, the dark knight rises. oh come on, don't pretend like you didn't see princess diaries like eleventy billion times. no? anyone?

too bad she's allergic to cats. oh the irony!

robo-polo gets a new paw

the newest story to hit teh interwebs today ... polo the husky gets a prosthetic paw after being hit by a car. while its sad that he needed one, the whole science of animal prosthetics is fascinating.

plus, you know if polo was a cat, they would have gotten lasers on that thing. it just makes sense.

the usda sure does kill a lot of wildlife

ya, try upwards of 4 million (pdf) in 2009. that's a whooole lot of tax dollars ($57 million from the feds, $64 million from states and local gov'ts) going towards dead animals. this site's got the break down.

was anyone else dumbfounded by the total number of birds killed? 2,140,978. someone should forward that number to those anti-feral cat bird brains. their numbers are loose estimates at best, but these are cold rigor-mortis'd facts.


cue *the more you know* music.

cassowaries are adorable, deadly

did you hear the one about the chicken and the egg....that became a baby cassowary?  it's full of inter-species love and awwwws.

fun fact:  that baby cassowary will grow up to be the world's most dangerous bird.  they can slice and dice and break bones with just a couple of kicks.

hope that chicken crosses the road before baby turns into an ultimate fighter.

jack and happy

the man was ahead of his time - feeding his dog raw, talking about fitness and nutrition, living holistically.  he was our kind of guy. we'll miss ya, jack.

epic game was epic

the packers are NFC champs!  victory is ours!!

i bet this guy is pretty excited.

but the ratings for animal planet's puppy bowl (and kitty half-time show, w00t) will probably take a dip, eh?  mmm...dip.  yep, it's superbowl time. 

scientists find 9,400-year-old mutt

scientists recently determined that dogs and humans go way back. try at least 9,400 years. dude, how many dog years is that anyway?

however, they believe that dogs weren't prehistoric man's best friend but rather man's best nom because the 9,400 year old bone fragment was found deep inside a pile of caveman doo.

see kids? science can be fun!

more apocalypse stuff - this time cows and octopi

we knew there was something wrong with madison's water.

but what the heck is going on in stockton?  and off the coast of portugal?

scary times, folks.  how many plagues were mentioned in the bible again?

get yer vote on

hey all you fans of the democratic process... it's time again to get yer vote on!

 madison magazine has started their best of madison voting for this year. polls are open now through feb. 28.

it's tree cat!

did you see the story about almond, the kitty who lives in a tree?  it sounds like something out of a children's book.  but it's real!  check out the article and video from today's WSJ.

the best part is that almond's caretaker is a 66-year old man who never in a million years imagined he'd be climbing a ladder twice a day to take care of a kitty.

doesn't he look like a beefier nikki?

baby, it's gonna be cold outside

every one's talking about the cold, cold, cold we're headed for on friday.

if your kitty is already freezing her fuzzy buns off you may want to check out one of our cool warming options.  we've got heated beds, electric bed warmers (like a safe heating pad), and even a microwavable warmer if you prefer something non-electric.


nikki madcat loves the warmer when we pop it in the mic for 8 minutes and then tuck it into her trundle bed.

dog treats cafe - featuring zukes

if you are easily grossed-out this web series may not be for you. but if you love the idea of a ten-year old girl who eats dog treats for fun then this is right up your alley. here, in this episode one of our old favorites is reviewed - zukes mini-naturals chicken treats.

friends of ferals ignites bomb-scare, lulz

our favorite feral wranglers made the WSJ!  it's an explosive story:


"Police kept their distance investigating a suspicious package on the hood of a car in a downtown parking ramp about noon Thursday, shutting down the ramp until they could take a closer look at ... a homemade cat trap."


big props to the cat-trap guy, any publicity is good publicity.  and it must have worked - they adopted out 3 cats at saturday's adoption fair!


w00t!

i can haz cushy political job?

freddy the cat got himself a pretty sweet job - as mayor of sharon, wisconsin.

but his post ain't all shakin' hands and kissin' babies.  rumor around capitol square is that freddy has been working on very important legislation regarding the legalization of catnip.

wonder if he accepts bribes?

dog's best friend - patricia mcconnell

did you see the q&a with pat mcconnell on madison.com?

we think they could have asked more interesting questions than "do you feel like dr. doolittle?"   i mean, this is one of the nation's most renowned dog trainers, right?  but she's a cool lady and had fun with it.

if you're interested in reading some of her books on training we've got 'em, including:  feisty fido, leader of the pack, i'll be home soon, fastidious feline and more.

awesome site alert!

new favorite time-wasting obsession: awkward family pet photos. we've all got em, right? well now this site ensures that yer awkward photos will live in infamy forever... and be laughed at by the internets forever.

check it out!

this week in bad ideas - how not to enforce tax collection

the swiss village of reconvilier deserves an award for best idea ever {to blow up in one's own face).  they may even be eligible for a darwin award.

what's happening is that people aren't paying the $50 annual dog-tax.  village officials want that money.  so what do they do?  threaten to kill the dogs.

guess who's getting the death threats now?

catnip's not my thing

cats - the enemy within?

we first told you about caboodle ranch back in september... well american hero stephen colbert's got his finger on the pulse of what's really going on there:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Enemy Within - Caboodle Ranch
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

"there's plenty to fear... i definitely think cats could be trained to shoot a gun."

happy birthday, david bowie - cat person

    the cat-eyed starman turns 64 today!  can you believe it?  seems like only yesterday he was putting out the fire with gasoline and dancing the magic dance.

why are we talking about bowie on a cat blog?  cuz he's super awesome.  who doesn't love bowie?

so happy birthday, mr. bowie.  hope you get lots of kitty kisses today.

dottie's day off

a new study has found that cats fake sick when upset by changes in their environment.

the key is to lick your palms. it's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school.

"when cats are upset about a change in their environment, they let you know by acting sick - refusing to eat and vomiting excessively, even if they're healthy... this translated to a 3.2-fold increase in the risk for sickness behaviors by all cats when their routines were disrupted."

well duh. any cat person can tell you that they're total drama queens.

arkansas birds - scared to death

well, we have an answer.  the national wildlife health center (in madison, w00t) released its findings.  the cause of death was epic fail - the birds killed themselves.

some un-permitted fireworks are thought  to have spooked the birds, disorienting them and causing them to crash into buildings or the ground.

apparently the reason we don't see this after our own rhythm and booms is that warner park is not a roosting area for most birds.  just the geese......uh oh!

more birds fall from the sky

this time the birds fell in louisiana, 300 miles south of beebe, AK, and now more dead birds are being reported in sweden.

fireworks, power-lines, storms, disease and confusion are all considered possible reasons why an entire flock would fall to the ground at once. according to the U.S. geological survey these events are not uncommon.  but they sure are spooky.

some birds have been sent here to madison to be examined by the national wildlife center.  let's hope they find an answer soon.

kackel dackel - yess! it landed right on the shovel!

apparently cleaning up after your dog is a whole lot of fun over in germany.  it's a good idea - teach the kids while they're young.  wonder if a kitty-version is in the works?

what's going on in arkansas?

5,000 blackbirds fall from the sky.

100,000 fish wash up on shore.

it sounds like something out of the x-files but it's unfortunately all real.

anyone have any theories?  doesn't sound like the authorities do...

weird dog news update

rubber ducky, you're the one. you make digestion... really difficult.

jasmine the bull terrier got a little too friendly with a visitor's bath toy and swallowed it... nine months ago. she's okay though. but it does make for one heck of a cool x-ray.

which makes me wonder... why are x-rays of things that dogs have swallowed so fascinating?

change of plans - we're taking a Wisconsin Day

it seems like everybody and their brother's cat have plans to watch the big game today. 

in honor of our madison-pride we're going to take off early and watch our badgers eat some frog toad legs for supper. 

on wisconsin!

happy new year!!!