Journal of No. 118

Some cats come by surprise; some cats come with surprises.

They're just funny like that at the Cat Distribution System, they apparently like pranks and surprises. Yes, normally they'd send out a cat in need to the arms of a trusted hooman for a foster or adoption. It's literally what they do (we think… nobody actually knows what they do, this meowsterious bunch). But every once in a while, they won't just make you hear a kitten in the bushes, or have a cat running towards you, meowing profusely. But sometimes, it's not the unexpected adoption plans that suddenly land on an unsuspected pawrent-to-be - sometimes, the cats themselves come full of surprises. Literally.

This cat came with three little surprises inside her. The CDS sent a cat to be adopted, and she turned out to be four different felines. Don't worry - all cats found a forever home. But you see, this is the nature of a Trojan mama - they come in seeking help, as any sweet stray would, but they actually seek help for their future kittens. And that's absolutely adorable. It's also a lot of work for any pawrent, either deciding to keep the bunch or making sure the entire Trojan load has a home. Either way - it's more cute cats with a roof above their heads, which makes us very happy.

The only solution now is to get her piano lessons so both of their lives can improve.

Every cat has their own unique purrsonality and cute quirks. Some like to sing you the song of their people at precisely 6:47 every meowrning, some will only eat off of a dinner plate instead of their normal food bowls, and some like to be held upside down while being pet. They're weird, and we love them. It's precisely these quirks that make cats so awwdorably lovable. But sometimes, our kitties' passion for their hissterical habits isn't quite so soothing, like our cat below who awakened her purrfect passion for playing the piano.

Purrhaps she is Meowzart reincarnated, purrhaps she's writing her first meowsical, or maybe she just enjoys a simple, discordant tune. Her hooman, however, is not her biggest fan. They claim that the piano purrformances are actually quite disturbing, causing multiple jump-scares daily and frequent fluffy disturbances while watching movies. And now, he's looking for a way to stifle his cat's creative expression.

The internet came through with some meowtrageous solutions (as we expect them to), such as investing in their cat's potential and teaching them to properly play the piano, or try to confine the cat to the bedroom during sleeping hours (we all know how well that's going to work out), or covering the piano in aluminum foil to deter Meowzart from finishing her silly symphony.

Purrsonally, we think they should simply allow their cat to express themselves with their meowsic and learn to love it. It's not every day you see a cat playing the piano. If they really worked for it, they could have a famous internet cat in no time!

When the days are cloudy and gray, you can always turn to cats to fill every meowment with sunshine and pawsitivity.

It's a known fact that people tend to be a little more down in wintertime. The shorter days, the gloomy weather, the freezing temperatures, and the fact that we haven't seen the sun for a number of days just makes everything feel dreary. It's an unfurtunate consequence of daylight savings and living in a location with an actual winter, but there are quite a few tips and tricks we have to stay pawsitive and make the SADs less sad.

Some people buy special "sun lamps" that trick your brain into feeling like it's experiencing sunshine without there actually being any sun in sight. These lamps reduce excess melatonin, help your body understand that it is, in fact, daytime outside, and can help with irritability, low mood, and brain fog. However, they work best with everyday usage and will not magically cure your grumpiness.

Our preferred method is much simpler (and fuzzier). We work with a purrscription for cats, kitty cuddles, and silly cats on the internet. This combination of things always makes us feel better because (excuse us while we get a little technical here) we get: oxytocin (your body's love hormone) from petting our cats and cuddling with them, and serotonin (your happy hormone!) from scrolling through silly cats. With these three things combined, it's purractically like chasing the clouds away and feeling the sunshine on your face. Now that's what we call meowgic.

The days may be gloomy and sad, but the cat corner of the internet remains purrfectly pawsitive. Gather around, because we've got a sunny selection of silly cats for you that are sure to shoo away those gloomy, grumpy vibes, and get you feeling purrfectly optimistic in no time!

Life as a wild cat in a world full of humans is full of challenges. 

When we think about wild cats, we like to imagine them free, roaming forests, savannahs or moutains, searching for food and shelter without interruption. But that is not always the case. Sometimes, they encounter civilization, and that can lead to all kinds of problems. It's what happened to the puma that we'll be talking about today. It was a tragic accident involving a careless driver that caused this puma cub to go blind, and since that point, everything changed for him. 

Of course, the same way that we sometimes cause these issues for wild cats, we are also the ones who are capable of helping them - of giving them a new life and a purpose. And we're happy to say that we actually do that for them every once in a while. We've seen that in a special needs lion who was born with a rare disorder becoming best friends with an itty bitty daschhound. We've seen that in a rescued bobcat becoming a foster mom to other bobcats after being deemed unable to go back into the wild herself. We have seen that in a rescued mountain lion enjoying life as a house cat, loved and spoiled like any other kitty, having been saved by humans after an accident. 

We try our best, we really do. And with the little puma in this story… Although it was a human's fault that this happened to him. It was also a human who saved his life, brought him to a shelter, and gave him a second chance at happiness. And now, he's surrounded by a human who loves him, a dog who is his best friend, and a bunch of other puma cubs who he helps grow before their own release back into the wild.