MIDNIGHT MONDAY @ HOUSE PANTHERS

A ♥ SPOOKY DO ♥ BOO
WE'RE GETTING READY FOR MY
FAVORITE HOLIDAY. I PLAN ON
MAKING AN APPEARANCE AT THE
STROKE OF MIDNIGHT WHEN I LOOK
THE SCARIEST AND OF COURSE THAT'S
WHEN THE KITTY TREATS ARE HANDED OUT!
♥COME VISIT JEWELGIRLS KATZ AND MEET
THE REST OF MY KATZ FAMILY!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Click on image to bigify it. Image Info.

Midnight, Cocoa and Grrr were all feral kittens found living under a junk car in 2005.

Midnight gets a lovely red ruff around her neck in the winter, that sheds out in the summer. She has close bonds to both of her siblings, all of which share a blog at Grr, Midnight and Cocoa.

Midnight was previously featured on House Panthers on Monday, March 3rd.



Sunday's Events at Cat Blogosphere
Easy Like Sunday Morning
Strolling Sunday
Spotty Sunday
Suddenly Sunday



Weekend Catblogging!

Find Weekend Cat Blogging #147 (Mar. 29-30) is being held by Amar and Luna at CatSynth.

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #38 (03-30-2008) with Megan & Bad Kittens Three at Bad Kitty Cats Journal.
Optional Theme - Eyes or Ears
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats #211 (3/30/08) is being hosted by Nikita's Place
(submit your post here)



Facts about Fostering

Could you be a foster parent to a cat? Though animal shelters house thousands of cats, there are still staggering numbers of strays that these facilities simply cannot accommodate without the help o£ foster homes. Foster families open their hearts and homes to cats in need, enabling these organizations to help more cats. Although finding enough dedicated foster homes is a daunting task, fostering saves countless needy cats.

Despite aggressive spay and neuter programs, the number of cats entering shelters has increased – perhaps as much as 20 percent since 1996. More cats mean that shelters are often cramped for space. Foster homes often take care of cats that aren't ready for adoption. This creates space in the shelter, which allows the facility to help those cats that are ready to go to their forever homes. Itty Bitty Kitty Committee is a good example of this kind of fostering, as they take care of kittens until they are old enough to be spayed or neutered and then help to place them in new homes. Besides adorable pictures, they place profiles of each of the kittens on their blog.

Fostering is a better solution and a much more humane option for cats that don't do well in cages or that have been in a rescue organization for a long time. Cats that live in a foster situation stand a better chance of being matched with the right home, since the foster parents often participate in the adoption by communicating with prospective owners and following up after adoption, making transitions smoother and increasing the chance that the cat won't be returned to the adoption agency.

My Bean and her family fostered woofies back when she lived in O Hi O, and Not the Mama - he of our own House Panthers - recently helped out by fostering Callie.



Want to join House Panthers? Our membership is open to members of the black, grey (Russian Blue) and dark brown (Bombay) clans. Ask Not the Mama to e-mail you an invitation!

Don't Forget! Monday is Midnight Monday here at House Panthers! Show off your beautiful black coat!

Tuesday is Black Tabby Tuesday for all you black tabbies out there, Wednesday is Blue Wednesday for our Russian Blue members,Thursday is Grrday, and Friday is Formerly Feral or Foster Friday.

Find a new friend at Petfinder.com, the temporary home of 245,845 adoptable pets from 11,827 adoption groups. Over 9,000 house panthers are available around the country!

Midnight Monday

I figured it Thursday is Grrr-Day, then I should really do Midnight on Monday. Unfortunately, it would appear that Grrr, Cocoa. Riley et.al. are all camera hogs and it's really hard to find a photo of Miss Midnight. You can find Grr, Midnight and Cocoa on their shared blog.. This photo was redone using Photoshop's splatter filter.

Monday's Events at Cat Blogosphere
Midnight Monday:
Come on House Panthers, show us your petty black furs!
***
It’s Meezer Monday for all Meezers with Simply Siamese
Mancat Monday for all ferocious Mancats and mancats-in-training
Movie Monday for our Feline Fellini Furriends



What's Up with Whiskers? Whiskers or vibrissae (pronounced Vahy-bris-uh) are made up of sinus and tylotrich hairs (highly specialized skin appendages), that comprise a highly sophisticated sensory system capable of detecting slight wind variations and sudden movements. Since cats hunt instinctively, which help us survive.

These prominent follicles aid us to catch prey at close range, much like a pair of reading glasses help humans capture words on a page. "Cats are farsighted and can't see prey they've caught," says Alice Moon-Fanelli, veterinarian and clinical assistant professor at Tufts University's Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine, citing the use of whiskers as a means to get in and out of any given situation.

"Cats in the wild move their whiskers forward when they are about to kill prey," says Michael Tewes, Ph.D., professor and coordinator at Texas A&M's Feline Research Program of the Caeser Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. Tewes, an expert on the behavior of exotic cats, notes that vibrissae prolong big cats' lives, acting as a warning system to protect themselves from breakage of canine teeth, which can cause infection and early death.

Domestic cats depend on the same senses as wild and big cats. Indoor cats might use whiskers to mock jungle moves or walk through dark rooms, avoiding bulky furniture and other obstacles.

Moon-Fanelli, who specializes in feline and canine behavior says a cat's whiskers also indicate mood. "If they are pushed forward, the cat is calm, but if the cat is defensive or stressed out, they're closer to the face.

But whiskers aren't just useful to knock out prey and ready kitty's frame of mind, they also serve as a navigation tool. Tomorrow, find out how whiskers serve as our own built in GPS device.



Good Mews! House Panthers will be hosting the Carnival of the Cats #215, the weekend of April 27, 2008. This will be the first time that I, Diamond Emerald-Eyes, have hosted a Carnival of the Cats and also the first time it will be hosted at House Panthers. I'm really looking forward to this event, and I hope you will join us to make a huge success!



Want to join House Panthers? Ask Not the Mama to e-mail you an invitation!

Find a new friend at Petfinder.com, the temporary home of 245,845 adoptable pets from 11,827 adoption groups. Over 9,000 house panthers are available around the country!