"From the moment the first kitty made shadow birds on the walls of a prehistoric cave, we have had theater." Claw Theater presents Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Robin Hood, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. [more inside]
posted by dersins on Nov 10, 2009 - 2 comments

Stormy the ferret has died. While the video accompanying that report claims dogs and cats are safe from H1N1 the Iowa Department of Public Health says otherwise. A cat in Iowa is confirmed with swine flu. Turkeys and pigs have also gotten it. The USDA is now releasing confirmed and presumptive cases in domestic animals (PDF).
posted by cjorgensen on Nov 4, 2009 - 44 comments

People love their cats. Understandably so. In San Francisco, Cat-o-philia has resulted in a measure to ban declawing cats in city limits. That means San Francisco would join about 20 other nations that ban similar practices. The reason? Cat declawing is typically a painful process. But cats have always been loved throughout history. Some say that after the collapse of the Roman Empire, cats even started their own government. [more inside]
posted by glaucon on Oct 27, 2009 - 105 comments

No, it is not Caturday.
posted by Pronoiac on Oct 9, 2009 - 63 comments

Poet Robert Pinsky presents an appreciation (and reading) of the most famous section of Christopher Smart's "Jubilate Agno" (1759-1763) -- the (epic) fragment devoted to the spiritual consideration of the institutionalized Smart's sole constant companion for the years of his confinement: Jeoffry (his cat). [more inside]
posted by kittens for breakfast on Oct 8, 2009 - 19 comments

Glamourpuss? In case you didn't get enough the first time around (previously on MeFi), now there's a whole book of cats in wigs with "snappy captions". Spotted on the cover of this week's Publisher's Weekly. I think my cat is hiding.
posted by sparky on Sep 21, 2009 - 12 comments

Stray, The Unfamiliar, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie - Three stories of a group of dogs, and a cat, battling the supernatural courtesy of Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson and Dark Horse Comics, released for free as a teaser for the forthcoming Beasts of Burden. (via)
posted by Artw on Sep 13, 2009 - 12 comments

A few months ago, The Cincinnati Zoo challenged Cheetah Outreach to a little race. At stake? The future of a species...and bragging rights as the world's fastest mammal.

Sarah, an eight-year-old cheetah from Cincinnati, made the first runs in this race. She set a record of 6.13 second over 100 meters. This shaved about 1/20 of a second off the old record (6.19 seconds). By way of comparison, Usain Bolt covers this distance in a leisurely 9.58 seconds.

South Africa's Cheetah Outreach's competitor, Zaza, will make her runs later this month or early next.
posted by MrGuilt on Sep 9, 2009 - 24 comments

A Day Without Cats on the Internet Because why should all the fun on 09/09/09 be for Beatles fans, Apple geeks, 99-cent-store customers and post-apocalyptic steampunk ragdolls. Oh, and also President Obama. Is there anybody NOT doing something special on 09/09/09? Maybe... Satan? (long boring talk by nutcase about Large Hadron Collider and Nostrdamus) [more inside]
posted by wendell on Sep 2, 2009 - 38 comments

Out of the Shadows: The elusive Central Asian snow leopard steps into a risk-filled future. [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Sep 1, 2009 - 27 comments

Cats for Clunkers? It had to be Michigan where the Humane Society is promoting its free cat adoptions like used car sales... That's right folks, Certified Pre-Owned Cats! Standard 4-paw Drive! 100,000 Purr Warranty! Made in Michigan and Better than New! But before you take that cat home, check out Catfax.org because nobody wants a lemonpuss. lol.
Found at Consumerist so it must be legit [more inside]
posted by wendell on Aug 21, 2009 - 20 comments

More cute than you can possibly handle (via)
posted by desjardins on Aug 11, 2009 - 60 comments

...a very long time ago, a calendar came into my possession, a kitten calendar. It was placed on my wall as it was so offensively sickly I found it funny. But then, the graffiti started. And one by one the kittens had things added... creating... kitti graffiti!
posted by martinX's bellbottoms on Jul 31, 2009 - 27 comments

Animals With Casts has everything from a wrinkly mutt with his hind legs supported by a homemade PVC pipe wheelchair, to an elephant with an enormous leg cast, to a turtle with two wheels attached to its shell, to a baby kangaroo with its hind legs wrapped up. But please don't go breaking your pet's leg just to get in the lineup.
posted by netbros on Jul 30, 2009 - 19 comments

Mindaugas Piečaitis has performed his "CATcerto," an original score written to accompany Nora The Piano Cat's piano improvisation. Here's the video of kitty with orchestra. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Jul 25, 2009 - 20 comments

Cat-ladders around the world. 110 towns in 22 different countries. Cat's demands on their owners know no borders.
posted by kimdog on Jul 23, 2009 - 44 comments

I see what yer doin' there From the "I already knew this but someone did formal research on it" department: Research indicates cats have a "manipulative" purr which differs from normal/pleasure purring. The manipulative purr is specifically used to get food and attention.
posted by ShadePlant on Jul 13, 2009 - 84 comments

Cat dies. The NY Times is there.
posted by BitterOldPunk on Jun 20, 2009 - 63 comments

"It is by turns aloof and affectionate, serene and savage, endearing and exasperating." The origins of the house cat, when and how it was domesticated, have been matters of scientific debate. However, according to this article, it looks like we didn't adopt them; they adopted us, and a lot earlier in our history than has been supposed.
posted by angiep on May 26, 2009 - 49 comments

'We Three Cats' -- "telling tales, of walking in wild places, of painting, of sleeping in warm places and of mice and other things," as chronicled by children's book illustrator and artist Jackie Morris.
posted by ericb on May 23, 2009 - 15 comments

Parrot in touch with a cat. Cat in a sleeve; in a suitcase; in a vase; in shock; in sleeping positions; in tune; in history (origin of the Keyboard Cat meme).
posted by nickyskye on May 16, 2009 - 27 comments

Tigers and leopards and pumpkins, oh my! (Metacafe video, will autoplay on page load). So your little kittycat loves cantaloupe, eh? Then you should see how these rescued big cats descend upon the leftover Halloween pumpkins and assorted gourds distributed to them each year. (via)
posted by maudlin on May 11, 2009 - 42 comments

cat stole my heart.
posted by marlys on May 10, 2009 - 43 comments

"Josh and Nina are two friends. Every day, they each take a photo. Operating under a pact of absolute secrecy, neither knows what the other is working on. Each morning, they post their photos on Minty Forest side by side." Despite the diversity of their subjects the individual days often have consistency, consonance, coincidence, congruence or discord.
posted by Mitheral on Apr 12, 2009 - 13 comments

UR END IZ NEER! Sign 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10 [via]
posted by MaryDellamorte on Apr 1, 2009 - 32 comments

[Cats-starring-in-fake-HTML-TV-Show-Filter] It's time for... CAT TOWN! ...brought to you by MeFi's Own® Spatch! Starring El Guapo, J. Wellington Cat III, ... and Angel. Filmed in ALL CAPS! Tonight's exciting episode: THE BIG GAME!
posted by not_on_display on Mar 29, 2009 - 20 comments

Bay Area resident Michelle Hamilton has been adopting and caring for dozens of abandoned and neglected animals in the past decade, racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt. To call this a "predicament" for Hamilton is a little misleading. She sees only one option when faced with the choice of paying for the care or treatment for an animal in need: she pays, regardless of cost.
posted by porn in the woods on Mar 16, 2009 - 45 comments

The Saddest Cat in the World by Maria Konstantinov
posted by Korou on Mar 15, 2009 - 53 comments

Sufficiently usable read/write platforms will attract porn and activists. If there's no porn, the tool doesn't work. If there's no activists, it doesn't work well.
Some interesting commentary from an early employee of Tripod. Systems designed for the sharing of cute cats and other banal user-generated content will inevitably attract political activists, provided they work well enough.
posted by CrunchyFrog on Feb 28, 2009 - 18 comments

Craig Grant spends 14 hours a day, seven days a week, caring for over 500 cats. They live at Caboodle Ranch, a town he built himself on a 30 acre lot with $100,000 of his own money.
posted by MaryDellamorte on Feb 26, 2009 - 42 comments

The title says it all: Pets Who Want To Kill Themselves.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy on Feb 7, 2009 - 32 comments

Look at This Cat! Not to be confused with look at this dog, look at this muppet (wat a donut...), robots and donuts, monkeys and robots, monkeys on stilts, twin monkeys, koala twins, or celebrities without makeup. [via mefi projects]
posted by ooga_booga on Feb 3, 2009 - 73 comments

Nyet comrade, you can not has cheeseburger.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Feb 2, 2009 - 144 comments

Cat on a Roomba, Baby on a Roomba, Baby Kittens on a Roomba.
posted by empath on Jan 30, 2009 - 48 comments

Phriday Physics Phun! What is the force Superman exerts to stop a plane from crashing into the ground, or the speed and mass of Vince Vaughn's winning Dodgeball shot? What's the force exerted by a Dominique Wilkins windmill slam dunk, or the speed of a retired Charles Barkley? What's the frequency of a cat's purr? ...the mass of a snowflake? ...the pressure inside a can of soda? ..the reaction time of the human fingertip? The Physics Factbook, via hypertextbook.com, is "an encyclopedia of scientific essays written by high school students that can be used by anybody," containing over 800 entries and special topics. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Jan 16, 2009 - 28 comments

Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Group is looking to create a range of games based on his range of musical stage shows. The one video game company mentioned in the article is Electronic Arts. (via, by way of) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jan 14, 2009 - 32 comments

Caturday: I Can Has History plus Maru's many moods: music box l blankie peekaboo l Nature abhors a vacuum l weak in the time for toothbrush, sink pr0n. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jan 10, 2009 - 35 comments

Cats and noodles - what's not to like? Neko Rahmen has both, featuring Taishou, a cat who runs a ramen shop. Neko Rahmen was originally a comic strip, then a series of short animes (English-subtitled 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13), and now there's a live-action movie, featuring a cameo by a famous cat.
posted by needled on Jan 6, 2009 - 3 comments

Cats have a seemingly unique ability, a 'righting reflex', to orient themselves in a fall allowing them to avoid many injuries and land on all four feet. It is this ability that helps cats to parachute safely into Borneo and survive falls from the 38th floor of a skyscraper (although falls from lower levels can be more serious given that it takes some time for the cat to right itself). Here's how it works. Here's a video of the reflex in action.
posted by Effigy2000 on Dec 28, 2008 - 68 comments

Japanese cat food commercials: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
posted by needled on Dec 24, 2008 - 24 comments

Japanese cat humiliation. SLYT
posted by MaryDellamorte on Dec 17, 2008 - 46 comments

Play Trivia to Help Save Abandoned Animals. Free Rice set the standard for on-line charity games and Free Poverty soon followed by donating water. Now you can play for free kibble to be donated to either Rocket Dog Rescue or The Urban Cat Project.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy on Dec 17, 2008 - 9 comments

Pets have long been afraid of anything robotic, whether it be Roomba or Robotic Dog, but times they are a'changing and Pets are fighting back and have learned to overcome.
posted by Del Far on Nov 22, 2008 - 16 comments

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you.
posted by Effigy2000 on Nov 12, 2008 - 110 comments

The Noisy Drinking Cat. More videos of animals having fun. Who says that animals don't experience pleasure? [Scroll down for some of the interesting things animals enjoy.] Love Songs Bring Pleasure to Bird Brains. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Oct 26, 2008 - 41 comments

Double-Fine, when they aren't creating the videogames classics like Psychonauts and the upcoming Brütal Legend, have been busying themselves putting cute mini-games online. Tasha's Game is probably the best of the bunch.
posted by empath on Oct 20, 2008 - 12 comments

Were black cats ever in danger during Halloween? For the past decade or more, animal shelters have been holding back their black cats at Halloween, for fears of obsessed youths sacrificing them in ritualistic slaughter (or other cruelties, some involving duct tape). Some experts say it's a myth, or an urban legend with no basis in fact. The origins of the idea are often cited as ancient influence.
posted by Brian B. on Oct 19, 2008 - 46 comments

Bacon Cat in the New York Times With the presidential race heating up and the financial bailout package passing Congress on Friday, the New York Times thought this was the perfect time for a hard hitting look at straight, single men who own cats. So of course they wanted input from author John Scalzi, who by virtue of the fact that he is married, is not single. He does own Bacon Cat though.
posted by COD on Oct 4, 2008 - 46 comments

Beware of Dog. Nepali artists paint signs on metal. Before and After. The story behind Danger Dogs. Click on the names of the different artists at the top of the page for various styles. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Sep 25, 2008 - 24 comments

Cats I am near. Stick a postcode or address in below, and we'll show you cats near it.
posted by joelf on Sep 11, 2008 - 43 comments