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Welcome To Ace's 'Cat News' Page.Late breaking news and information of interest to you and your kitty. |
World's Ugliest Dog Dies (your cat will get a kick out of this one)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam, crowned the "World's Ugliest Dog" for three years in a row at the
Sonoma-Marin Fair, died Friday, Nov. 18, 2005, just short of his 15th birthday.
Quote
"I don't think there'll ever be another Sam. Some people would think that's a good
thing."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susie Lockheed
owner of Sam, the so-called world's ugliest dog
(AP) Sam, the dog whose ugliness earned him TV appearances, limousine rides
and even a meeting with millionaire Donald Trump, has died, the Santa Barbara
News-Press reported Tuesday.
The pooch with the hairless body, crooked teeth and sparse tuft of hair atop his
knobby head died Friday, just short of his 15th birthday, said his owner, Susie
Lockheed.
"I don't think there'll ever be another Sam," she said, adding wryly, "Some people
would think that's a good thing."
Sam became an international celebrity after winning the ugliest animal contest at
the 2003 Sonoma-Marin Fair in California, a victory he twice repeated. The
purebred Chinese crested hairless made appearances on TV in Japan, radio in
New Zealand and in Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid, stayed in luxury hotels and met
Trump on a talk show set.
Lockheed marketed his visage on T-shirts, a calendar and even a coffee "ugly
mug."
At the time of his death, Sam was scheduled to be filmed for a Discovery Channel
series on the world's ugliest species.
Lockheed said she was initially terrified of Sam when she agreed to take him in as
a rescue six years ago on a 48-hour trial basis. Although she fell in love with him,
his appearance repulsed her then-boyfriend and prompted the man to break up
with her.
Later, however, Sam became a matchmaker by bringing together Lockheed and
her current beau, who saw a picture of the two on an online dating site.
Lockheed said she had Sam euthanized after a veterinarian told her Sam's heart
was failing.
She said she's felt a little lost ever since, and is sleeping with Sam's favorite toy, a
stuffed bear he picked up and carried home.
"I have snuggled Sam under my blankets on my bed for six years," said
Lockheed, who has three other dogs named TatorTot, TinkerBell and PixieNoodle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam, crowned the "World's Ugliest Dog" for three years in a row at the
Sonoma-Marin Fair, died Friday, Nov. 18, 2005, just short of his 15th birthday.
Quote
"I don't think there'll ever be another Sam. Some people would think that's a good
thing."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susie Lockheed
owner of Sam, the so-called world's ugliest dog
(AP) Sam, the dog whose ugliness earned him TV appearances, limousine rides
and even a meeting with millionaire Donald Trump, has died, the Santa Barbara
News-Press reported Tuesday.
The pooch with the hairless body, crooked teeth and sparse tuft of hair atop his
knobby head died Friday, just short of his 15th birthday, said his owner, Susie
Lockheed.
"I don't think there'll ever be another Sam," she said, adding wryly, "Some people
would think that's a good thing."
Sam became an international celebrity after winning the ugliest animal contest at
the 2003 Sonoma-Marin Fair in California, a victory he twice repeated. The
purebred Chinese crested hairless made appearances on TV in Japan, radio in
New Zealand and in Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid, stayed in luxury hotels and met
Trump on a talk show set.
Lockheed marketed his visage on T-shirts, a calendar and even a coffee "ugly
mug."
At the time of his death, Sam was scheduled to be filmed for a Discovery Channel
series on the world's ugliest species.
Lockheed said she was initially terrified of Sam when she agreed to take him in as
a rescue six years ago on a 48-hour trial basis. Although she fell in love with him,
his appearance repulsed her then-boyfriend and prompted the man to break up
with her.
Later, however, Sam became a matchmaker by bringing together Lockheed and
her current beau, who saw a picture of the two on an online dating site.
Lockheed said she had Sam euthanized after a veterinarian told her Sam's heart
was failing.
She said she's felt a little lost ever since, and is sleeping with Sam's favorite toy, a
stuffed bear he picked up and carried home.
"I have snuggled Sam under my blankets on my bed for six years," said
Lockheed, who has three other dogs named TatorTot, TinkerBell and PixieNoodle.
The cougar's last stand
Southern Californians rejoiced when a litter of cubs was born to the last two mountain lions in
the Santa Monica Mountains. Little did the public know that they may face a future of
inbreeding, hunger.
By Veronique du Turenne, Veronique du Turenne is a Malibu-based freelance writer.
Deep in the Santa Monica mountains, her exact whereabouts known only to biologists
tracking her by GPS, the puma gave birth a year ago to four kittens. Two males and two
females, their newborn eyes and ears sealed shut, their tiny bodies making swimming
motions against the lapping of their mother's rough tongue. It was a solitary act by a
secretive animal in a wilderness her species has roamed for thousands of years.
Six weeks later, the cubs were media stars. Photo ops and stories by the Associated Press,
the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and ABC 7 News put them squarely in the public eye.
"Last known Santa Monica Mountain lions become parents"
Images of a National Park Service worker cradling a 6-week-old cub, all wide blue eyes and
black-spotted fur, round and clumsy as a plush toy, gave the story legs.
"It's quadruplets for the last known mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains"
The timing could not have been better. Just 10 months earlier, after an investigation showed
that the cubs' father, known as Puma 1 or P1, was preying on goats, a rancher had been
granted a "kill" permit by the state Department of Fish and Game. News that hunters were
about to shoot the last known male lion in the Santa Monica Mountains produced a public
uproar. The rancher quickly backed down and the permit expired. Now, with the death
sentence lifted and a litter of cubs giving the local mountain lion population a significant
boost, there was cause for exultation.
"Four lion cubs are born free"
But Ray Sauvajot, a wildlife ecologist and director of the National Park Service's 10-year-old
Carnivore Project, knew better. In public, he shared his genuine joy at the litter's birth. In
private, he faced the grim truth that science wouldn't let him ignore: With freeways, roads,
business parks, housing developments and vineyards gobbling up their range, there isn't
enough wild land left in the Santa Monica Mountains to support all six pumas.
Without a way into the wilder lands to the north, these mountain lions may be doomed. They
have no one to breed with but each other. Driven by his territorial instincts, P1 could kill any
one of them at any time. What appeared to be salvation from extinction was, without some
luck and some quick action by humans, the beginning of a grim slide into oblivion.
The puma in Topanga Canyon is invisible. buff-colored, he blends into the golden trunk of a
sycamore, vanishes against the dun-colored dirt floor of his enclosure. Adjust your focus and
suddenly he is there, crouched motionless save for the twitching black tip of his heavy tail.
His head is small and sleek. His fur is thick and soft as a house cat's. It smells like warm
toast. But before you can get too misty-eyed, even as you notice his pink nose, golden
brown eyes and the Mr. Coffee murmur of his powerful purr, he makes the tiniest of motions.
Shifts his weight, perhaps. Flexes his toes. And he's airborne. No warning, no visible effort.
Balletic and lethal, that long, long tail flowing behind as ballast, he floats 20 feet across the
cage to land, soundless, inches away from your face.
"Hi, kitten. You killed us," says Mollie Hogan, president of the Nature of Wildworks, the
nonprofit wildlife refuge where the lion lives. He turns without a glance and stalks away.
Hogan's compound shelters mostly native species displaced from zoos, illegally kept as pets
or orphaned or injured in the wild. She uses the animals in public education programs.
Today, she's talking pumas.
Mountain lions roamed the Americas tens of thousands of years ago, she says. They were
here when the Spanish conquered first the Aztecs and, centuries later, the Californias. Their
range extends from the southern Andes Mountains of South America to the alpine forests of
Alberta, Canada; from the West Coast of the U.S. across to the Florida Everglades. Among
mountain lion subspecies, it is puma concolor, Latin for cat of one color, that resides in
California.
"They're the true natives," says Hogan. "They've been here a lot longer than we have."
Cat of one color, perhaps, but of many fanciful names. They have been called cougar,
catamount, panther, king cat, mountain screamer, silver lion, brown tiger and, most telling of
all, ghost cat. The males, which grow up to 8 feet long—3 feet of which is tail—can weigh up
to 200 pounds. Females are slightly smaller, up to 6 feet long and from 80 to 130 pounds.
They live and hunt alone, seeking each other out only to breed. Those encounters can be so
ferocious that it's sometimes impossible to tell whether the lions are trying to mate or murder
each other.
Each zealously guards its territory. Males need about 150 square miles to survive, an
enormous chunk of land. Females use about a third of that. They can mate at any time
during the year, the fierce ritual sometimes taking several days. When the courtship is over,
the male disappears.
The female gives birth and raises her litter alone. Kittens are born blind, with ringed tails and
spotted coats that, at about 12 months, take on the characteristic sandy color. They don't
stay helpless for long. By the time they are 6 weeks old, they respond to a vocabulary of
chirps, whistles, growls and screams, and accompany their mothers to a kill. At a year old,
they're helping in the hunt. Before they reach 18 months, the mother will drive them away,
out into the wild to find their own territory.
From its lofty perch atop the food chain, the California cougar has a wide range of prey from
which to choose. Coyotes, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, birds and even rodents can make it
onto the menu. The quarry preferred above all others, however, is the mule deer. About 35
or 45 per puma per year. Which means that, in the Santa Monica Mountains, if you live near
deer, you live near lions.
Most people in Los Angeles have never seen a mountain lion, but the mountain lions have
seen them. Shy and stealthy, they move silently through the chaparral on their padded feet.
Southern Californians rejoiced when a litter of cubs was born to the last two mountain lions in
the Santa Monica Mountains. Little did the public know that they may face a future of
inbreeding, hunger.
By Veronique du Turenne, Veronique du Turenne is a Malibu-based freelance writer.
Deep in the Santa Monica mountains, her exact whereabouts known only to biologists
tracking her by GPS, the puma gave birth a year ago to four kittens. Two males and two
females, their newborn eyes and ears sealed shut, their tiny bodies making swimming
motions against the lapping of their mother's rough tongue. It was a solitary act by a
secretive animal in a wilderness her species has roamed for thousands of years.
Six weeks later, the cubs were media stars. Photo ops and stories by the Associated Press,
the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and ABC 7 News put them squarely in the public eye.
"Last known Santa Monica Mountain lions become parents"
Images of a National Park Service worker cradling a 6-week-old cub, all wide blue eyes and
black-spotted fur, round and clumsy as a plush toy, gave the story legs.
"It's quadruplets for the last known mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains"
The timing could not have been better. Just 10 months earlier, after an investigation showed
that the cubs' father, known as Puma 1 or P1, was preying on goats, a rancher had been
granted a "kill" permit by the state Department of Fish and Game. News that hunters were
about to shoot the last known male lion in the Santa Monica Mountains produced a public
uproar. The rancher quickly backed down and the permit expired. Now, with the death
sentence lifted and a litter of cubs giving the local mountain lion population a significant
boost, there was cause for exultation.
"Four lion cubs are born free"
But Ray Sauvajot, a wildlife ecologist and director of the National Park Service's 10-year-old
Carnivore Project, knew better. In public, he shared his genuine joy at the litter's birth. In
private, he faced the grim truth that science wouldn't let him ignore: With freeways, roads,
business parks, housing developments and vineyards gobbling up their range, there isn't
enough wild land left in the Santa Monica Mountains to support all six pumas.
Without a way into the wilder lands to the north, these mountain lions may be doomed. They
have no one to breed with but each other. Driven by his territorial instincts, P1 could kill any
one of them at any time. What appeared to be salvation from extinction was, without some
luck and some quick action by humans, the beginning of a grim slide into oblivion.
The puma in Topanga Canyon is invisible. buff-colored, he blends into the golden trunk of a
sycamore, vanishes against the dun-colored dirt floor of his enclosure. Adjust your focus and
suddenly he is there, crouched motionless save for the twitching black tip of his heavy tail.
His head is small and sleek. His fur is thick and soft as a house cat's. It smells like warm
toast. But before you can get too misty-eyed, even as you notice his pink nose, golden
brown eyes and the Mr. Coffee murmur of his powerful purr, he makes the tiniest of motions.
Shifts his weight, perhaps. Flexes his toes. And he's airborne. No warning, no visible effort.
Balletic and lethal, that long, long tail flowing behind as ballast, he floats 20 feet across the
cage to land, soundless, inches away from your face.
"Hi, kitten. You killed us," says Mollie Hogan, president of the Nature of Wildworks, the
nonprofit wildlife refuge where the lion lives. He turns without a glance and stalks away.
Hogan's compound shelters mostly native species displaced from zoos, illegally kept as pets
or orphaned or injured in the wild. She uses the animals in public education programs.
Today, she's talking pumas.
Mountain lions roamed the Americas tens of thousands of years ago, she says. They were
here when the Spanish conquered first the Aztecs and, centuries later, the Californias. Their
range extends from the southern Andes Mountains of South America to the alpine forests of
Alberta, Canada; from the West Coast of the U.S. across to the Florida Everglades. Among
mountain lion subspecies, it is puma concolor, Latin for cat of one color, that resides in
California.
"They're the true natives," says Hogan. "They've been here a lot longer than we have."
Cat of one color, perhaps, but of many fanciful names. They have been called cougar,
catamount, panther, king cat, mountain screamer, silver lion, brown tiger and, most telling of
all, ghost cat. The males, which grow up to 8 feet long—3 feet of which is tail—can weigh up
to 200 pounds. Females are slightly smaller, up to 6 feet long and from 80 to 130 pounds.
They live and hunt alone, seeking each other out only to breed. Those encounters can be so
ferocious that it's sometimes impossible to tell whether the lions are trying to mate or murder
each other.
Each zealously guards its territory. Males need about 150 square miles to survive, an
enormous chunk of land. Females use about a third of that. They can mate at any time
during the year, the fierce ritual sometimes taking several days. When the courtship is over,
the male disappears.
The female gives birth and raises her litter alone. Kittens are born blind, with ringed tails and
spotted coats that, at about 12 months, take on the characteristic sandy color. They don't
stay helpless for long. By the time they are 6 weeks old, they respond to a vocabulary of
chirps, whistles, growls and screams, and accompany their mothers to a kill. At a year old,
they're helping in the hunt. Before they reach 18 months, the mother will drive them away,
out into the wild to find their own territory.
From its lofty perch atop the food chain, the California cougar has a wide range of prey from
which to choose. Coyotes, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, birds and even rodents can make it
onto the menu. The quarry preferred above all others, however, is the mule deer. About 35
or 45 per puma per year. Which means that, in the Santa Monica Mountains, if you live near
deer, you live near lions.
Most people in Los Angeles have never seen a mountain lion, but the mountain lions have
seen them. Shy and stealthy, they move silently through the chaparral on their padded feet.
Letter from Iraq
Kitten endures mortar explosions
Here in Baghdad you get attached to the simplest things, such as my Iraqi kitten. Her name is
Grey-Two (I have a Grey-One cat at home in Redondo Beach).
I found her after a mortar attack on our compound. She was all dusty from the dirt flying
around. It took two days for me to find her mother and father. But she still likes to hang out with
me. After another attack, this time by a huge rocket, I thought that she would be too scared to
see me again because I was giving her milk when the rocket came about 30 feet over my head
and exploded. We were not in any real danger, but it sure was a loud noise. Then there were
three more explosions, so she took off for a couple of days.
I was worried that she might be hurt, but she was OK. She came back just before the
restaurant blew up and shook our building because we are so close. Hey, wait a minute,
maybe I should call her Boomer. But after all that, she still likes me (or the milk I sneak away
from the mess hall). Her father's name is Poophead because he has an attitude and her
mother's name is Stinker (for obvious reasons if you ever get close to her).
I am happy to have a little friend even though it is odd to hold such a small, fragile living
creature in one hand and a weapon in the other while you wait out a mortar attack together. I
won't be able to bring her home with me because there are several soldiers here who want to
adopt her.
— Col. Robert, Infantry, Baghdad, Iraq
Kitten endures mortar explosions
Here in Baghdad you get attached to the simplest things, such as my Iraqi kitten. Her name is
Grey-Two (I have a Grey-One cat at home in Redondo Beach).
I found her after a mortar attack on our compound. She was all dusty from the dirt flying
around. It took two days for me to find her mother and father. But she still likes to hang out with
me. After another attack, this time by a huge rocket, I thought that she would be too scared to
see me again because I was giving her milk when the rocket came about 30 feet over my head
and exploded. We were not in any real danger, but it sure was a loud noise. Then there were
three more explosions, so she took off for a couple of days.
I was worried that she might be hurt, but she was OK. She came back just before the
restaurant blew up and shook our building because we are so close. Hey, wait a minute,
maybe I should call her Boomer. But after all that, she still likes me (or the milk I sneak away
from the mess hall). Her father's name is Poophead because he has an attitude and her
mother's name is Stinker (for obvious reasons if you ever get close to her).
I am happy to have a little friend even though it is odd to hold such a small, fragile living
creature in one hand and a weapon in the other while you wait out a mortar attack together. I
won't be able to bring her home with me because there are several soldiers here who want to
adopt her.
— Col. Robert, Infantry, Baghdad, Iraq
THE WORLD'S SMALLEST CAT
Meet the world's fully-grown smallest cat - Mr Peebles.
He weighs in at just 3lbs, around the weight of an average bag of sugar.
The two-year-old has had his record verfied Guinness World Records.
His extremely slight stature was first noticed at a veterinary clinic in Pekin, Illinois, USA.
Dr Donna Sassman said: "I was at a house doing vaccines on a dog and saw Mr Peebles.
"He was very cute and I asked the owner if I could have him. She said, 'Yes, if you can catch him."
The cat has a genetic defect and is expected to hold his title for some time as he is already past the age at
which he should have reached full size.
But he still eats four times a day.
Co-owner Robin Sbendesen said: "He curls up in my arms and sleeps next to my neck when it's cold.
"And one of his best habits, he'll lick me on the chin at night to give me a kiss."
Meet the world's fully-grown smallest cat - Mr Peebles.
He weighs in at just 3lbs, around the weight of an average bag of sugar.
The two-year-old has had his record verfied Guinness World Records.
His extremely slight stature was first noticed at a veterinary clinic in Pekin, Illinois, USA.
Dr Donna Sassman said: "I was at a house doing vaccines on a dog and saw Mr Peebles.
"He was very cute and I asked the owner if I could have him. She said, 'Yes, if you can catch him."
The cat has a genetic defect and is expected to hold his title for some time as he is already past the age at
which he should have reached full size.
But he still eats four times a day.
Co-owner Robin Sbendesen said: "He curls up in my arms and sleeps next to my neck when it's cold.
"And one of his best habits, he'll lick me on the chin at night to give me a kiss."
Ford Web ad upsets pet lovers
'Unauthorized' spot shows an animated cat being decapitated
By Nick Bunkley / The Detroit News
DEARBORN — A 39-second Internet commercial that Ford Motor Co. says it never meant to release is circling the globe
through e-mails, appalling pet lovers with its depiction of a cat being decapitated.
The ad for the Ford Sportka, a hatchback sold in Europe, shows an animated but realistic-looking orange tabby cat climbing
on top of the car and curiously poking its head into the open moonroof.
The moonroof slides closed and the cat struggles briefly to escape before its headless body slides to the ground.
Ford says the clip was conceived without its approval by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather as part of a “viral marketing” campaign
for the Sportka, billed as the Ford Ka’s “evil twin.”
Companies can get widespread exposure for little money through viral marketing. Ads are posted online in the hopes that
Web users will find them funny or entertaining and e-mail them to friends.
But as Ford has learned, once released the ads are out of anybody’s control and can float in cyberspace indefinitely.
“It replicates itself, and anything that is controversial is what’s likely to be shipped around the world,” said Sam Fullerton,
who heads the department of marketing at Eastern Michigan University’s business school.
Fullerton has received the clip through e-mail several times, from as far away as New Zealand.
“It’s definitely created a buzz,” he said. “Some people argue that any buzz is good, but I don’t necessarily adhere to that
philosophy.”
Ford did like another ad showing a cartoon pigeon getting a fatal whack from the Sportka’s hood and released it online last
September.
The cat clip began circulating online several weeks ago, prompting Ford to apologize and begin investigating how it leaked
out.
“We find this unauthorized ad totally unacceptable and reprehensible and deplore the fact that it has been unofficially
issued,” Ford spokesman Oscar Suris said.
Ford is not the first company accused of sacrificing a cat in the name of Internet publicity.
Last year, cell phone maker Nokia denied responsibility for a clip showing a cat being spun around and flung into a wall
after snaring its paw on the dangling cord of a ceiling fan.
The ad, for a camera phone sold in Australia, had been proposed by an outside agency and was immediately rejected,
Nokia said.
“You don’t want to make fun of something like that,” said Evie Woods of Ferndale, a receptionist at Greenfield Animal
Hospital in Southfield, who was shocked when she heard about the Sportka’s apparent hatred for felines.
“They definitely acted in poor taste. Luckily, I’m a Honda girl.”
'Unauthorized' spot shows an animated cat being decapitated
By Nick Bunkley / The Detroit News
DEARBORN — A 39-second Internet commercial that Ford Motor Co. says it never meant to release is circling the globe
through e-mails, appalling pet lovers with its depiction of a cat being decapitated.
The ad for the Ford Sportka, a hatchback sold in Europe, shows an animated but realistic-looking orange tabby cat climbing
on top of the car and curiously poking its head into the open moonroof.
The moonroof slides closed and the cat struggles briefly to escape before its headless body slides to the ground.
Ford says the clip was conceived without its approval by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather as part of a “viral marketing” campaign
for the Sportka, billed as the Ford Ka’s “evil twin.”
Companies can get widespread exposure for little money through viral marketing. Ads are posted online in the hopes that
Web users will find them funny or entertaining and e-mail them to friends.
But as Ford has learned, once released the ads are out of anybody’s control and can float in cyberspace indefinitely.
“It replicates itself, and anything that is controversial is what’s likely to be shipped around the world,” said Sam Fullerton,
who heads the department of marketing at Eastern Michigan University’s business school.
Fullerton has received the clip through e-mail several times, from as far away as New Zealand.
“It’s definitely created a buzz,” he said. “Some people argue that any buzz is good, but I don’t necessarily adhere to that
philosophy.”
Ford did like another ad showing a cartoon pigeon getting a fatal whack from the Sportka’s hood and released it online last
September.
The cat clip began circulating online several weeks ago, prompting Ford to apologize and begin investigating how it leaked
out.
“We find this unauthorized ad totally unacceptable and reprehensible and deplore the fact that it has been unofficially
issued,” Ford spokesman Oscar Suris said.
Ford is not the first company accused of sacrificing a cat in the name of Internet publicity.
Last year, cell phone maker Nokia denied responsibility for a clip showing a cat being spun around and flung into a wall
after snaring its paw on the dangling cord of a ceiling fan.
The ad, for a camera phone sold in Australia, had been proposed by an outside agency and was immediately rejected,
Nokia said.
“You don’t want to make fun of something like that,” said Evie Woods of Ferndale, a receptionist at Greenfield Animal
Hospital in Southfield, who was shocked when she heard about the Sportka’s apparent hatred for felines.
“They definitely acted in poor taste. Luckily, I’m a Honda girl.”
Kitten Stuck In Pipe Four Days Rescued By Plumber
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A kitten stuck in a pipe for four days was rescued Tuesday evening by some caring people and a Roto
Rooter man using the latest technology.
The kitten fell inside an open pipe by an electrical panel behind an Orange Park strip mall.
"I think he backed up into it -- went sliding down," Carol Oster said.
People heard the kitten's cries and lowered food and water into the pipe to keep it alive while they tried to figure a way to get
the cat out.
Tonya Mathis heard about the stuck kitten Tuesday and thought some of her husband's plumping equipment could help. He
arrived and lowered a small camera into the pipe to see the kitten.
"We use the camera for sewer lines all the time -- identifying broken lines and any number of things," Bart Mathis said.
He's used the camera to recover jewelry and other precious things that falls into drains, but never a cat.
It took about an hour working with the camera and a saw to cut the pipe and free the kitten -- a bit shaken, but alive and well.
The kitten, now known as "Zap" will be going home to live with one of the business owners who fell in love with him over the
last few days.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A kitten stuck in a pipe for four days was rescued Tuesday evening by some caring people and a Roto
Rooter man using the latest technology.
The kitten fell inside an open pipe by an electrical panel behind an Orange Park strip mall.
"I think he backed up into it -- went sliding down," Carol Oster said.
People heard the kitten's cries and lowered food and water into the pipe to keep it alive while they tried to figure a way to get
the cat out.
Tonya Mathis heard about the stuck kitten Tuesday and thought some of her husband's plumping equipment could help. He
arrived and lowered a small camera into the pipe to see the kitten.
"We use the camera for sewer lines all the time -- identifying broken lines and any number of things," Bart Mathis said.
He's used the camera to recover jewelry and other precious things that falls into drains, but never a cat.
It took about an hour working with the camera and a saw to cut the pipe and free the kitten -- a bit shaken, but alive and well.
The kitten, now known as "Zap" will be going home to live with one of the business owners who fell in love with him over the
last few days.
31-pound cat dieting for a new home
German kitty has trouble
moving, cleaning himself.
A 40-pound feline, who was adopted earlier this year from a Berlin animal shelter. Recently, a 31-pound
cat was brought to the same shelter and is on a diet so he can find a new home.
BERLIN - A Berlin animal shelter is trying to wean a 31-pound cat off its daily diet of oily tuna fish, hoping
the obese animal’s health will improve enough to find it a new home.
Peter, the second grossly overweight cat the shelter has received in recent months, has trouble moving
and cleaning himself because of his swollen body, spokeswoman Claudia Pfister said.
“Peter doesn’t like the taste of the diet food and will only eat tuna fish,” she said, adding the cat was 22
pounds overweight.
She said his elderly owner, who died recently, spoiled him with large daily helpings of tuna. “We’re
giving him his tuna fish now, but only diet-sized portions and without the oil.”
In April, another cat named Mikesch was brought to the shelter weighing 40 pounds. He went on a diet
and shed 30 pounds before he was handed over to a new owner.
“For some strange reason people love fat cats,” Pfister said. “They think it’s cute and spoil their cats with
the best food they can afford.”......
German kitty has trouble
moving, cleaning himself.
A 40-pound feline, who was adopted earlier this year from a Berlin animal shelter. Recently, a 31-pound
cat was brought to the same shelter and is on a diet so he can find a new home.
BERLIN - A Berlin animal shelter is trying to wean a 31-pound cat off its daily diet of oily tuna fish, hoping
the obese animal’s health will improve enough to find it a new home.
Peter, the second grossly overweight cat the shelter has received in recent months, has trouble moving
and cleaning himself because of his swollen body, spokeswoman Claudia Pfister said.
“Peter doesn’t like the taste of the diet food and will only eat tuna fish,” she said, adding the cat was 22
pounds overweight.
She said his elderly owner, who died recently, spoiled him with large daily helpings of tuna. “We’re
giving him his tuna fish now, but only diet-sized portions and without the oil.”
In April, another cat named Mikesch was brought to the shelter weighing 40 pounds. He went on a diet
and shed 30 pounds before he was handed over to a new owner.
“For some strange reason people love fat cats,” Pfister said. “They think it’s cute and spoil their cats with
the best food they can afford.”......
Animal mummies were treated like kings
Scientists study how Egyptians mummified cats, birds.....MummyCatNational Museums Liverpool
Scientists studied how the Egyptians prepared and wrapped animal mummies, and found that the
mummification was carefully done — right down to the pointed ear wrappings on this mummified cat.
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON - Ancient Egyptians revered cats and other animals and took as much care in preparing them
for their passage to the next life as they did with humans, scientists said Wednesday.
A study of animal mummies from tombs dating back thousands of years showed the ingredients the
Egyptians used to preserve them were the same as those used for humans.
"The sorts of compounds we were finding indicate they were embalming them in the much same way,
with some exotic ingredients," said Richard Evershed, an expert in archaeological chemistry at the
University of Bristol in southwest England.
Millions mummified
Millions of mummified animals, birds and reptiles have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, which
has led scientists to assume that little care or expense was involved. It was thought they were simply
wrapped in coarse linen bandages and dipped in preservatives.
But Evershed and his team, who studied the mummies of a cat, two hawks and an ibis dating from 818
to 715 B.C. and 380 to 343 B.C., found traces of beeswax, tree resin, petroleum bitumen, Pistacia and
possibly cedar resins and vegetable oil.
"The main aim of the study was to see if animals were mummified using the same sort of embalming
agents as humans, and so contributing to the debate on whether they were treated with the same sort of
reverence," Evershed told Reuters.
Spectral analysis
The scientists used mass spectrometry and other sophisticated methods to detect the compounds in
very small samples of balms and wrappings from the animal mummies. They reported their findings in
Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
Evershed said even the wrappings of the animals were elaborate.
"It suggests some degree of sophistication in the way they were treated," he added.
The types of compounds used in embalming by the ancient Egyptians showed they were trying to halt
microbial decay. Substances like beeswax have antibacterial properties, and vegetable and animal fats
prevent water from getting back into the body.
"They knew what they were doing," Evershed added.
Scientists study how Egyptians mummified cats, birds.....MummyCatNational Museums Liverpool
Scientists studied how the Egyptians prepared and wrapped animal mummies, and found that the
mummification was carefully done — right down to the pointed ear wrappings on this mummified cat.
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON - Ancient Egyptians revered cats and other animals and took as much care in preparing them
for their passage to the next life as they did with humans, scientists said Wednesday.
A study of animal mummies from tombs dating back thousands of years showed the ingredients the
Egyptians used to preserve them were the same as those used for humans.
"The sorts of compounds we were finding indicate they were embalming them in the much same way,
with some exotic ingredients," said Richard Evershed, an expert in archaeological chemistry at the
University of Bristol in southwest England.
Millions mummified
Millions of mummified animals, birds and reptiles have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, which
has led scientists to assume that little care or expense was involved. It was thought they were simply
wrapped in coarse linen bandages and dipped in preservatives.
But Evershed and his team, who studied the mummies of a cat, two hawks and an ibis dating from 818
to 715 B.C. and 380 to 343 B.C., found traces of beeswax, tree resin, petroleum bitumen, Pistacia and
possibly cedar resins and vegetable oil.
"The main aim of the study was to see if animals were mummified using the same sort of embalming
agents as humans, and so contributing to the debate on whether they were treated with the same sort of
reverence," Evershed told Reuters.
Spectral analysis
The scientists used mass spectrometry and other sophisticated methods to detect the compounds in
very small samples of balms and wrappings from the animal mummies. They reported their findings in
Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
Evershed said even the wrappings of the animals were elaborate.
"It suggests some degree of sophistication in the way they were treated," he added.
The types of compounds used in embalming by the ancient Egyptians showed they were trying to halt
microbial decay. Substances like beeswax have antibacterial properties, and vegetable and animal fats
prevent water from getting back into the body.
"They knew what they were doing," Evershed added.
WASHINGTON - Two kittens have been born using a new cloning method that may be safer and more
efficient than traditional methods, a U.S. company said Thursday.
.....CloneKitties.....
Genetic Savings & Clone promises to clone anyone’s pet — for $50,000 or so — and started with chief
executive officer Lou Hawthorne’s own pet cat.
The two kittens, Tabouli and Baba Ganoush, were born to separate surrogate mothers in June, the
company said.
Its report was not submitted for the traditional scientific review process and has not been scrutinized by
cloning experts. But the company is less interested in the scientific questions and medical promise of
cloning and more interested in its business model — helping people make copies of their beloved pets.
“These two remarkable kittens should finally put to rest the issue of resemblance between clones and
their genetic donors,” Hawthorne said in a statement. “When performed by a skilled team using
sufficiently advanced technology, clones resemble their donors to an uncanny degree — just as we
predicted. It’s a happy day for our clients.”
Is a clone an exact copy?
Some experts have argued that cloning pets is a gamble, as non-genetic factors, such as conditions in
the mother’s womb, can affect coat color and temperament.
That was the case back in 2001 when Genetic Savings & Clone produced the first cloned cat, named
"cc" (which stands for "carbon copy" or "copycat"). Research published in the journal Nature cited DNA
evidence that the kitten was indeed a clone, but her coloring and disposition were different from those of
her genetic mother.
This time around, the company used a new method called chromatin transfer, which had been perfected
by cloning expert James Robl and colleagues at Hematech LLC, based in Sioux Falls, S.D. Hematech is
using the method to clone cattle that produce human antibodies in their milk.
The traditional nuclear transfer method of cloning involves taking the nucleus from a cell of the animal to
be cloned, putting it into an egg cell that has had its own nucleus removed, and then triggering this egg
into growing as if it had been fertilized.
It is not efficient — most eggs die — and many animals are born deformed.
How chromatin transfer works
Chromatin transfer aims to produce a cloned embryo that more closely resembles a normal embryo.
It involves dissolving the outside of the nucleus of the cell to be cloned and removing certain regulatory
proteins from the chromosomes, which carry the genes, and the proteins around the chromosomes.
This entire cell with its permeable nucleus is fused to an egg cell to create the clone.
Genetic Savings & Clone said it has tried the method to duplicate Tahini, a 1-year-old female Bengal cat
belonging to Hawthorne. Bengals are specially bred crosses of Asian Leopard Cats and domestic cats.
The company has contracted to produce five more clones for clients by the end of the year.
efficient than traditional methods, a U.S. company said Thursday.
.....CloneKitties.....
Genetic Savings & Clone promises to clone anyone’s pet — for $50,000 or so — and started with chief
executive officer Lou Hawthorne’s own pet cat.
The two kittens, Tabouli and Baba Ganoush, were born to separate surrogate mothers in June, the
company said.
Its report was not submitted for the traditional scientific review process and has not been scrutinized by
cloning experts. But the company is less interested in the scientific questions and medical promise of
cloning and more interested in its business model — helping people make copies of their beloved pets.
“These two remarkable kittens should finally put to rest the issue of resemblance between clones and
their genetic donors,” Hawthorne said in a statement. “When performed by a skilled team using
sufficiently advanced technology, clones resemble their donors to an uncanny degree — just as we
predicted. It’s a happy day for our clients.”
Is a clone an exact copy?
Some experts have argued that cloning pets is a gamble, as non-genetic factors, such as conditions in
the mother’s womb, can affect coat color and temperament.
That was the case back in 2001 when Genetic Savings & Clone produced the first cloned cat, named
"cc" (which stands for "carbon copy" or "copycat"). Research published in the journal Nature cited DNA
evidence that the kitten was indeed a clone, but her coloring and disposition were different from those of
her genetic mother.
This time around, the company used a new method called chromatin transfer, which had been perfected
by cloning expert James Robl and colleagues at Hematech LLC, based in Sioux Falls, S.D. Hematech is
using the method to clone cattle that produce human antibodies in their milk.
The traditional nuclear transfer method of cloning involves taking the nucleus from a cell of the animal to
be cloned, putting it into an egg cell that has had its own nucleus removed, and then triggering this egg
into growing as if it had been fertilized.
It is not efficient — most eggs die — and many animals are born deformed.
How chromatin transfer works
Chromatin transfer aims to produce a cloned embryo that more closely resembles a normal embryo.
It involves dissolving the outside of the nucleus of the cell to be cloned and removing certain regulatory
proteins from the chromosomes, which carry the genes, and the proteins around the chromosomes.
This entire cell with its permeable nucleus is fused to an egg cell to create the clone.
Genetic Savings & Clone said it has tried the method to duplicate Tahini, a 1-year-old female Bengal cat
belonging to Hawthorne. Bengals are specially bred crosses of Asian Leopard Cats and domestic cats.
The company has contracted to produce five more clones for clients by the end of the year.
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