Veronica is named for the Elvis Costello song. As the song says, she has a "carefree mind of her own" in that "pretty little head" of hers. After years of refusing to bring cats that I fell in love with home from shelters where I worked so as not to stress my three sibling cats (rescued from a euthanasia table at my first shelter job), I begrudgingly agreed to take a "feral kitten" from a coworker in distress. She knew nothing about cats, and a small kitten had been hiding under her car for over a week! She was putting out milk (not KMR) for the kitten, but couldn't touch the kitten. She wanted the kitten "safely removed from her property without harm".

My coworker lives an hour's drive east of the workplace, and I live an hour's drive southwest. I gave her a cat carrier and instructions on how to catch the kitten. It worked! She brought the kitten to me at work (secretively). I was surprised to see the little tortie, about 9 weeks old, crouching in the back of the carrier, gazing at me as if she were sizing me up. I expected a brown tabby from the description I received from my coworker. The kitten was not really feral, just wary. She was crawling with fleas. . . read the rest of the story

Anne's decision to keep Veronica and to bring another kitten home to keep her company for the sake of her older cats was a sound one. It's one of the reasons why two kittens are better than one. Veronica's photo will also be featured in my 2009 Tortoiseshell Cats gallery. You may submit cat photos by following the Photo Submission Guidelines. Sorry, but I will be unable to publish your photos without all the requested information.

The folks at Friskies asked that question in a poll and this was the response:

• Sleeping: 71%
• Eating: 52%
• Bird Watching: 47%
• Looking out Window: 47%

They decided to test those theories by enlisting 50 "repurrters" as a focus group, to wear cat cams on a collar to document their activities while the owners were away from home. Each cat cam took a photo every 15 minutes to track the cat's activities through the day. Among other activities, the cats spent an aggregate of 21% of their time looking out windows; 11.8% of their time was spent with other animals; but only 5% playing with toys; and 6.1% looking at TV, computer, books, DVDs (any media). Sleeping in the sun is a favorite activity (although the cats were only recorded a surprisingly short 6.1% of their time). One of the Friskies' behavior consultants suggested leaving drapes and blinds open to accomodate the cats' window viewing time, as well as to allow the sun to filter in. Another good suggestions is to leave a t-shirt you've worn in your cat's favorite sleeping place to give him a sense of your presence. You can download the full "Scratchington Post" report on the Friskies web site. It's a large PDF file, so it may take a few minutes to view. You can also view the Cat Cam Focus Group pictures on FlickR

I could have predicted our Billy's activities without a cat cam. He'd be doing much of the same activities he does every day, including watching our cats' own personal TV. BilBil's favorite DVD is "Kitty Goes Hunting. Kitty Goes Fishing," a two-part DV from PetQuerks. I'll be reviewing it soon. I was also surprised at how little time cats spent playing, according to the pet cam results. Try these tips for Toys for Home-Alone Cats. Most of them have passed approval of my own band of cat toy expurrts.
_{Photo Credit: © Franny Syufy}

An Inside cat gets
Two good meals every day
A warm comfortable place to sleep
Chin scratches and head rubs

An outside cat gets
To eat mice and birds and bugs
To sleep under cars or in the bushes
To scratch their heads for fleas

An Inside cat gets
To visit the Vet to get shots
To have their temperature taken
And have their ears peered into

An Outside cat gets
To be exposed to bad cat viruses
To suffer if they get sick
And hope that they get well

An Inside cat gets
To live 12 years or more
To be happy and content
And never go hungry

An Outside cat gets
To live 4 years or less
To be scared and alone
And always go hungry

Little outside cat
Don't you want to come in?

My longtime email friend, Kermit Allen, wrote this while stuck at home, recuperating from knee surgery. I thought it was too wonderful (Kermit calls it "whimsical") not to be shared, and Kermit generously agreed to let me publish it on my blog. Pictured here is Jewel, who shares Kermit's home with two other inside cats, Nellie Belle, and Oscar (and in spirit with Big Kitty.)
_{Photo and Poem © Kermit Allen}

The Best Friends Animal Society has a wonderful program running in November. It's called the Best Friends Double Your Impact Challenge, and this is how it works: Eligible animal charity groups create a website on the Best Friends site, and you can donate to the charity of your choice until December 4, 2009. Best Friends will match your donation up to a total of $500 per donation. If the hoped-for goal is reached, that will mean a total of $50,000 donated to help keep these animal charities doing their work for homeless cats and dogs. You can read more about the Double Your Impact Challenge on the Best Friends site.

For my readers: Ready, set, GO! And for Best Friends Animal Society: Way to GO!