The person who submitted this photo to Black and WTF took the picture himself in the 1950s. Link -via Buzzfeed

“The cat was not malnourished, not dehydrated, didn’t need any kind of veterinary care. So, it had a happy ending. What concerns me is the people capable of doing this might be capable of doing something worse,” Browning said.

Just who would put a cat in a taped up box and leave it in a parking lot remains a mystery at this point.

Capt. Camilleri said, “Right now it doesn’t appear there’s really much to follow up on. It didn’t have any identification on the box or anything like that.”

The upside to this is that the cat, named “Truffle,” is fine, healthy and back with her owner. Tracking down the person responsible is unlikely, if not impossible.

If found, the persons responsible could be charged with animal cruelty. Even Erwin Schrödinger never wanted to try his famous thought experiment on a real cat. Link -via Arbroath

Aw, how cute, a dog with a kitten in its arms. Uh-oh, better watch what you dangle in front of a kitten! And now we know where the phrase, “Cat got your tongue?” came from! But Murkin the dog still loves kittens. -via The Daily What

This Twaggie was illustrated from a Tweet by @DrTwittenheimer. Wouldn’t it be nice if our lives were as simple as our house cat’s lives are? Link

“I was just bored and decided I wanted to be a cat burglar,” Slivers told 23ABC in a jailhouse interview. “So I kicked in the window and tried to steal the lion but it was too heavy, so I stole the cat.”

“I took the leopard to my hotel. I then decided I wanted the dingo so I went back and took it. I took it to Jack In The Box because I wanted to have breakfast with it.”

23ABC asked Slivers what he was planning on doing with the dingo and he replied, “I was going to take it around town with me.”

Slivers told 23ABC he hadn’t taken his medicine for over a week.

Police found the other animal, an African leopard, in Silvers’ hotel room. Link  -via Arbroath

Nostromo is making hysterical hooting noises and flashing its lights on and off. This is all rather exciting, but as I’m being ferried through the passages and walkways I feel helpless, and would really rather be free to run around. Also, the can-opener is hurling herself around like nobody’s business, so it’s not a smooth journey, I can tell you. Anyhow we roll to a stop, and I can tell straightaway it’s because we’ve run slap-dab into the hairless kitten again. Only I’m not sure I can call it a kitten any more – it’s really big now. Honestly, it’s like a super-giant cat. But since it’s still only a few hours old and clearly hasn’t been housetrained and hasn’t a clue how to groom itself or behave in can-opener company, I shall continue to call it a kitten. Because, technically, that’s what it is.

Later, Jonesey confronts the alien and tries to share the secrets of charming the “can-openers.” From the delightful blog Cats on Film. Link -via Maximum Verbosity

Instructables member TigrisLi make a tank for her kitten out of cardboard, and posted the instructions so you can make one, too! Even if you don’t want a kitty-sized cardboard tank, don’t miss the short film she made of her kitten using it to blow the enemy away. Link -via Laughing Squid

We’ve shown you Canine Musical Freestyle competitions and Bunny Show Jumping competitions, and now we have Feline Agility Competitions, too! In this video, a 5-week old Tonkinese kitten named Jumpin Jack Flash starts his training. He’s already got a blue ribbon in “adorable.” Find out more about these competitions from the Cat Fanciers Association. Link -via Buzzfeed

It's a cat, of course! Artfully done by Svetlana of Fat Cat Art: Link - Thanks Svetlana!

Previously on Neatorama (also by the same artist): Art with Cats

This cat has a unique method of climbing up the stairs. Soon you see that it probably has something to do with the “prey” it has caught. -via Buzzfeed

A driver in Sacramento, California, had trouble getting his car started. He heard a funny noise coming from the engine and found a cat tangled in the motor belts.

Firefighters cut through the belts and were able to free the cat, which was severely injured with several deep cuts.

The cat was taken to the Sacramento Cat Hospital in Carmichael, where life-saving surgery was performed.

The cat, nicknamed Blaze, will be put up for adoption when she recovers in a couple of weeks. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: Sacramento Metro Fire Department)

Ignoramusky is back with another cat video dramatically enhanced with a soundtrack. If I saw my cat looking like this, I’d be worried about my safety -or at least my curtains! -via Cynical C

I don’t know what Mannings is advertising here, but it’s a lovely story of selfless devotion nonetheless. A Babelfish translation of the related site offered no help, but if you can read Chinese, you may be able to clue us in. Link -via Everlasting Blort

If this were in my local paper, I’d help pay to have a picture of the cat posted. After all, there are young people who don’t know what Barbra Streisand looks like. -via Criggo

Officials at West Valley City’s animal shelter in Utah say the cat named Andrea hadn’t been adopted for 30 days when shelter officials tried to put her to death in October. She survived, so they gassed her again.

Shelter officials detected no vital signs and presumed she was dead after the second try, so they put her in a plastic bag in a cooler. But when they checked the bag, they saw she had vomited on herself and had hypothermia but was alive.

The shelter then decided to stop trying to kill her.

“It was just one of those things where they thought this cat obviously really wants to live,” West Valley City spokesman Aaron Crim told the Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/ylvSDw). “Let’s give it a chance to find a permanent home.”

Andrea has since been adopted, and is settling well into her new home. Link -Thanks, Skully!

(Image credit: Community Animal Welfare Society)

The Tweeting Cat Toy is handy for keeping up with your cat’s activities while you’re gone, but wouldn’t it be nice to pet your cat or even groom him from a remote location? Taylor Veltrop hooked together a Nao robot, a Kinect sensor bar, two Wii remotes, a head-mounted display, and a treadmill for the purpose of brushing his cat. Rube Goldberg himself would have been proud! And all this technology only worked because the cat is extremely tolerant. But Veltrop shows that it can be done, even though it took a year to perfect the procedure. Link

Marc de Vinck's wife misses her new cat when she goes to work and always bug him for updates. So what's a geek to do?

Chester is a spunky little stray who’s always looking for fun. Even if it means knocking a few things off my desk as I write this article. The only problem is, when my wife goes in to work, she misses her new cat and always wants to know his whereabouts.

She used to ask me for updates, but after a while I realized that I needed to make something that would take me out of the loop, and let the cat communicate with my wife directly via twitter.com. I needed a Twittering cat toy. And that’s how Kitty Twitty came to fruition, after some basic soldering and crafting with just a few parts.

Best of all, Marc posted the instruction on MAKE Projects so you can make your own Kitty Twitty Cat Toy: Link - via Techcrunch

The depressing thing is that the feline is much more adept at playing the fun iPad game than me. See it at Ubergizmo: Link [embedded YouTube clip]

On the one hand, it appears amazing that we sacrifice expensive electronics for the amusement of our cats. On the other hand, I know how easy it is to accumulate obsolete computer equipment that may not function as originally intended, but will still amuse the cat. Which, in turn, amuses us! -via Tastefully Offensive

Unable to afford its raised rent at a suburban mall, the Milwaukee Animal Rescue Center needed to buy a new building. To raise the necessary funds, Rowell solicited $26 donations – $1 for each of Daniel’s tootsies.

Donors opened their hearts and their wallets, and $125,000 poured in within the space of just six weeks, the Associated Press reports – $5,000 more than the goal. And most of it came in the form of $26 donations.

The mortgage is not yet paid off, so Daniel will continue to solicit funds for the shelter. Link -via mental_floss

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel! Just what a cat loves for Hanukkah. I think he needs to work on his skills a little, though.

Surely you can spare eleven seconds for a cat video today? Six-month old Bella decides to go down from the loft. The older cat, Kimba, decides to give her a hand. -via Blame It On The Voices

Who does better tricks, Kaiser the Bengal cat or Nana the border collie? I’d have to give the title to the dog, because I have a border collie, and can attest that they are always in a hurry to do everything perfect, as far as they understand it. However, getting a cat to do any tricks at all is a major accomplishment! This competition is from the pet trainers at Use Your Clicker. Link -via Laughing Squid

You’ve heard of First World Problems, but now here’s a site for cat problems. The problems of pampered, indoor cats with permanent homes, that is.  After all, misery is relative. Link -via I Can Has Cheezburger

Thinking of declawing your kitty? If you're in Israel, think again as the Israel legislature has unanimously passed a bill that outlawed the declawing of cats.

It's now a crime punishable by one year in prison and a fine of $20,000. But oh, won't someone think of the furniture? Link - via Metafilter

Tired of the classics? Instantly rejuvenate boring fiction by adding feline. I mean, you've got to hand it to I Can Haz Cheezburger and Comediva - they know that LOL cats are like catnip to the Interwebbers in all of us.

Behold: Kitty Lit 101

Previously on Neatorama: Movies Recast with Cats

There, steel saws were used to gain access and the mewing prisoner was revealed – as nothing more than a squeaky toy.

Kelvin Owen, who owns the engineering firm, said: ‘Once we got into the bin we heard the miaowing – it sounded just like a cat and we all started to carefully search the bags.

‘Then I found a bag of toys and picked out a toy. I said: “It couldn’t be this, could it?” As I held it it went “miaow, miaow”. Mystery solved!’

The sounds came from a talking plush toy resembling Marie from the Disney movie The Aristocats. Rescuers had a good laugh at the 12-hour effort to rescue the toy. Puss Puss is still missing, but may have been taken in by someone unaware of the search. Link -via Arbroath

Admit it, you’ve done exactly this at one party or another during your lifetime, haven’t you? From cartoonist Gemma Correll. Link -via reddit

This dog has a lot of energy! She manages to burn it up, while cats are ready for a nap anytime. -via Buzzfeed

Despite of what you may hear, cats are not the King of the Interweb. According to a new study of shared links by Bitly, dogs are still the top dog of cute animals on the Web:

While cats have a respectable lead, the winner is clear — dogs are 37% of the total results in the cute animal set, and feature in 50% more pages than cats!

Link - via ReadWriteWeb

Oskar the kitten may have been born blind, but things are looking up for him! Watch him in his new home, discovering what toys are for. We saw a slightly older Oskar in a video last month, playing with the wind from a hair dryer. That turned out to be a copy of the original video (now corrected) which did not explain that Oskar is blind. -via I Am Bored

Everything you know about cats is wrong: You actually can herd them, and in fact, you can even train them to run an obstacle course. There's even an international tournament dedicated to such (I suppose we can call it) sport.

Behold, the feline agility competition:

Feline agility competitions, in which cats run through a miniature obstacle course full of hurdles and tunnels, have become fixtures on the cat show scene. Modeled after canine agility competitions, the tournaments feature a ring in which cat owners — some of whom have trained their pets from kittenhood — brandish a feather or sparkly wand to try to coax a cat to climb stairs, weave around poles and leap through hoops in as little time as possible.

Some cats tear through the course in seconds. Others make it clear to the eager onlookers that they could not care less.

“You have to get the cat to focus on the toy,” said Anthony Hutcherson, who raises Bengal cats in Port Tobacco, Md., and whose oldest cat, Justin, has run the course in nine seconds. “Cats will pretty much chase a feather on a string anywhere.”

Jennifer Kingston of The New York Times explores this brave new world: Link (Photo: Monica Almeida/The NY Times)

Image from Burapha University

Necessity is truly the mother of invention, so when the going gets tough because of the 2011 Thailand Floods, the Thais get floatin' on a DIY boat made from water bottles.

Thai Flood Hacks is a Tumblr blog that collects the ingenuity of the Thai people in dealing with the 3-month-old flood. A few more pics:

Image: Noppol Tuntikul

Flood-proof tuk tuk. Image: kanok

Floating Toilet. Image: Bangkok Post

Homemade jetski

See more at Thai Flood Hacks - via Makeshift

Mama can teach her puppies to chase cats, but she hasn’t taught them what to do when they catch one! Russian YouTube user ignoramusky strikes again, adding just the right music to change the mood of an everyday video. -via Arbroath

He’s done it to cows and sheep; now cats get the fractal treatment from Cyriak Harris. -via Boing Boing

Previously: more of Cyriak’s animations.

Well, everything is better with cats and to prove that, the folks over at Next Movie blog and Old Red Jalopy recasted some of their favorite movies with felines. I'd say they nailed it: Link - Thanks Andie!

No, I don’t want to wear a pumpkin on my head. No. Never. What? What’s that? You’ll let me eat chicken if I wear it? Hmm… What? You’ll hand feed it to me? As much as I want? Gimme that pumpkin hat!

This cat is named Jumbo Pillow. Isn’t that perfect? The food is boiled chicken dipped in pumpkin. (via Cynical-C)

What’s black and white and red all over? Somewhere in Russia, there is a traffic light that comes with a bonus. -via The Daily What

Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative aims to connect 90 distinct jaguar populations across the Americas. It stems from an unexpected discovery. For 60 years, biologists had thought there were eight distinct subspecies of jaguar, including the Peruvian jaguar, Central American jaguar and Goldman’s jaguar. But when the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity in Frederick, Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health, analyzed jaguar DNA from blood and tissue samples collected throughout the Americas, researchers determined that no jaguar group had split off into a true subspecies. From Mexico’s deserts to the dry Pampas of northern Argentina, jaguars had been breeding with each other, wandering great distances to do so, even swimming across the Panama Canal. “The results were so shocking that we thought it was a mistake,” Rabinowitz says.

Panthera has identified 182 potential jaguar corridors covering nearly a million square miles, spanning 18 nations and two continents. So far, Mexico, Central America and Colombia have signed on to the initiative. Negotiating agreements with the rest of South America is next. Creating this jaguar genetic highway will be easier in some places than others. From the Amazon north, the continent is an emerald matrix of jaguar habitats that can be easily linked. But parts of Central America are utterly deforested. And a link in Colombia crosses one of Latin America’s most dangerous drug routes.

An extensive article at Smithsonian tells of the jaguar’s life in the wild, how this plan came about, and how it might just work -if the many obstacles can be overcome. Link

(Image credit: Steve Winter/Panthera)

Most cats run for their lives when a hair dryer is on, but, like cats and vacuum cleaners, there are exceptions. This kitty wants to catch the air stream! -via Cynical-C

KAORI TSUTAYA is a Japanese writer obsessed with cats. She exhibits her craftwork and runs kitty craft workshops to inspire other cat owners. AMY HIRSCHMAN is a translator, crafter, and pop-culture enthusiast. She lives in Los Angeles.

We’ve posted before about people who knit sweaters out of their dog’s hair. This isn’t like that. And it’s not about recycling hair for the sake of recycling. Crafting with Cat Hair has small, yet very personal projects that celebrate your cat and they look as cute as can be! If you’ve got a cat and a cat brush, you have the raw materials to make several projects. Unless you have one of those hairless cats.

Craft projects are not all that’s in this book. Tsutaya gives you plenty of pictures of her cats, some cat humor, and practical tips on caring for your cat, from proper brushing techniques to pest control.

The miniature cat portrait project is the first one my cat crazy daughter wants to try. You can personalize the portraits to resemble cats you know. You can even make a group picture!

These book covers are not completely made of cat hair, just the decorations. But you will have step-by-step instruction for making the covers as well as the cats.

Tsutaya makes things easy for you by including a variety of cat patterns of the proper size for the projects.

These are coin purses decorated with needle-felted cats. Other projects in the book include tote bags and pincushions you make yourself, and mittens, gloves, hats, and scarves that you decorate with needle-felted kitties. And what about the finger puppet on the cover? That’s my favorite.

See, there are two basic techniques for making miniature cats in Crafting With Cat Hair. In the very first project, Tsutaya shows us how to make felt with cat hair, beginning with how you brush it from the cat. Wrapping layers and then shaping the material with soap and water give us a solid piece of cat hair fabric, which we’ve made in the shape of a finger puppet as we go.

The other technique involves needle felting with cat hair, which is how many of the objects are decorated. Tsutaya also has instructions for cleaning and caring for the finished crafts.

These projects make personal keepsakes honoring the cats you love (believe it or not, I first typed “catsakes”), and also would make great gifts for cat lovers! Or, you could skip the work and buy the book as a gift for your cat-loving friends and relatives.

Crafting With Cat Hair is published by Quirk Books, and is available in stores today, as well as online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Paperback, $14.95, on sale for $9.17, 96 pages, 4-color, 7 ½ x 8

ISBN 978-1-59474-525-6

Do you have a zombieriffic family? Tell the world, or at least the guy stuck behind you in traffic, with the My Zombie Family Car Stickers by Adam “ape lad” Koford from the NeatoShop. This frighteningly fabulous set comes with 8 stickers:

• Zombie Dad
• Zombie Mom
• Zombie Brother
• Zombie Sister
• Zombie Baby
• Zombie Cat
• Zombie Dog
• and heart-shaped brain

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Zombie fun!

Link

Even alley cats have big dreams. An animation by Guy Collins. -via Buzzfeed

Simon’s Cat teaches a kitten what’s what. It’s not at all simple, as anyone with more than one cat knows already.

Black Cat Socks – $3.45

Do you love picture matching games? Yes! Well, you are going to love these  picture matching Black Cat Women’s Ankle Socks from the NeatoShop. Keeping your feet toasty and warm has never been so fun! Meow!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Picture Matching Socks and Crazy Footwear!

Link

Queso the cat would rather have gooshy food but is given dry food and water, so he makes cold cereal. Or maybe you could say he prefers his kibble au jus. -via Buzzfeed

Stewie is a Maine Coon cat, but I suspect there may be a bit of lynx or bobcat in his ancestral lineage, dontcha think? In August of 2010, Stewie was measured at 48.5 inches long, good enough for a world record. His owners are Americans Robin Hendrickson and Erik Brandsness. -via Buzzfeed

This ball rolls around, light up, and acts like it has a mind of its own, which makes it the perfect cat toy. It does not have a mind of its own -it’s you, controlling it by Bluetooth! You can even control it and take video of its antics at the same time. $130 is kinda pricy for a cat toy, though, and it’s not even on the market yet. What it does to a cat’s pupils is priceless! Link -via Buzzfeed

The pampered cat cannot get enough of attention, with scores of regulars calling him by name as they stop for a chat and give him a pat on the head.

Safety conscious, the sociable moggie is meticulous about using the subway to cross to the city-bound platform, rather than take a dangerous short cut across the tracks. When the evening peak comes around, Graeme puts on an encore performance, arriving at the opposite platform in time to greet owner Nicole Weinrich as she returns home from work.

His one risk-taking behaviour? Being too loyal to his fans.

But sometimes Graeme can take his desire to be close to his fans a bit too far – he has been known to jump on the train and get off a station or two later. “He doesn’t do it often, but we do worry about that,” Ms Weinrich said.

Link – via Arbroath | Video

In yet another episode of the ongoing battle between cats and printers, a kitten is evicted from its comfy perch by a tactless printer. -via The Daily What