Catabunga!!!!!!

Surfing Cat: Loves The Waves Or Simply Hanging On For Dear Life?

Most cats usually don’t like water, but there are those certain felines that love playing around in the water and here is one that even surfs. It all started when Domingo Pianezzi of Lima, Peru brought his cat, Nicolasa to the beach and the cat jumped onto his surf board.

Pianezzi said that Nicolasa loves catching waves and some say that she may have the technique to turn pro because she “hangs ten” with all claws hooked around the edge of the board. Pianezzi also stated that Nicolasa loves surfing almost as much as catching mice.

Unlikely Friends...

My friend Brad passed along this amazing video that his mom found and thought you'd all enjoy. It is really unbelievable..... I don't know who's funnier - the cat and the crow, the owners or the little doctor. They all made me laugh!

Six Feet Under

Dog Survives After Getting Stuck In Grave For Two Weeks

Billy is quite the lucky Jack Russell. This curious dog survived being trapped in a grave for two weeks after he disappeared from his family’s home in Australia.

It is believed that two-year-old Billy chased a rabbit down a hole at the edge of the grave and became stuck when concrete started to fall in behind him. The O’Sullivan family searched everywhere for him and were afraid that he had been bitten by a snake or got stuck in a rabbit hole.

But luckily, the family found Billy when they visited the cemetery to visit the graves of their relatives. The family heard barking at the cemetery and followed the woofing to the grave where Billy was it. They saw Billy’s little nose through a crack in the grave and he barked out to the family.

Authorities were called and rushed to the scene to save the trapped dog. They opened the concrete lid with crowbars and Billy rushed out to his freedom. His owner said, “He jumped out like a little rabbit but he was all skin and bones and his ribcage was showing.”

Billy was hungry, thirsty, had raw paws, but otherwise was healthy and doing well from his ordeal. Although Billy seems to not have learned his lesson because his owner stated, “When we took him back to the cemetery this week we had to hold on to him or he would have been back down the hole. To him, it’s a big game.”

Cats Set Records Too

Mr. Peebles, the World's smallest cat

Oldest: Granpa, who lived to be 34 years, 2 months and 4 hours old, holds the record for longest-lived cat.

Smallest Cat: Mr. Peebles is the world’s smallest cat, standing 6.1 inches tall and 3 pounds. Oddly, he’s larger than the world’s smallest dog.

Heaviest Cat: A neutered male named Himmey, weighed a whopping 46 pounds 15.5 ounces, and sported a 15-inch neck and 33-inch waist. He died of respiratory failure.

Longest Cat: A Maine Coon Cat named Verismo Leonetti Reserve Red measures 48-inches from nose tip to tail tip makes him the world’s longest cat.

Most Toes: Most cats have a total of 18 toes, but a cat named Jake has a total of 27.

Largest Litter: Mother cats have 8 teats, and typically have about 5 or so kittens. But one cat named Tarawood Antigone had a litter of 19 kittens, of which 14 were born alive and survived. She didn’t even take fertility drugs.

Most Kittens: Dusty, born in 1935, before the concept of spaying your cat was widespread, holds the record as the most prolific cat mother. Over the course of 17 years she gave birth to 420 kittens.

Oldest Cat to Have Kittens: The oldest known cat to have kittens was a 30-year-old cat named, imaginatively, “Kitty.”

Best Mouser: Towser, a cat employed by a distillery for mouse control, more than earned her wages by catching 28,899 mice.

It's the Evolutionary Story for the Day!

The Beagle

The Beagle is a gentle, sweet, lively and curious dog that just loves everyone! A happy little tail-wagger! Sociable, brave and intelligent. Calm and loving. Excellent with children and generally good with other dogs, but should not be trusted with non-canine pets, unless they are socialized with cats and other household animals when they are young. Beagles have minds of their own. They are determined and watchful and require patient, firm training. This breed doesn't like being left alone. Consider buying two if you will be gone a lot. A Beagle has a loud baying cry that was a delight to hunting horsemen, but can be disturbing to family and neighbors. Beagles have a tendency to follow their own noses. They may take off on their own exploration if let off their leash in an unfenced area. Be careful when selecting your Beagle. The breed is being over bred and in some lines, the dogs temperament is suffering because of it.

A hardy, sturdy squarely-built, small hound. The Beagle has a sleek, easy-care, short coat, which can come in any hound color, for example, tri-color, black and tan, red and white, orange and white, or lemon and white. The coat is close, hard and of medium length. The beagle looks like a small English Foxhound. The skull is broad and slightly rounded, and the muzzle is straight and square. The feet are round and strong. The black nose has full nostrils for scenting. The long, wide ears are pendant. The brown or hazel eyes have a characteristic pleading expression. The tail is carried gaily, but never curled over the back. Beagles have a distinct howl / bay of a bark when they are on the hunt.

Height: Dogs 14-16 inches (36-41cm) Bitches 13-15 inches (33-38cm)There are two height classes, 13-15 inches (33-38cm) and under 13 inches (33cm).Weight: Dogs 22-25 pounds (10-11kg) Bitches 20-23 pounds (9-10kg)

More Dog Records

Gibson, the world's tallest dog

Oldest dog: Bluey, an Australian Cattle Dog, worked cattle and sheep from the time he was a pup in 1910 until he took early retirement at the age of 20. He lived until 1939, when he was put to sleep at 29 years and 5 months of age.

Heaviest dog: Zorba, an Old English Mastiff, weighed 343 pounds. He also held the record for longest dog, measuring 8 feet 3 inches long from nose to tail. Zorba stood 37 inches at the shoulder.

Tallest dog: Gibson, a Great Dane, measured 42.2 inches at the shoulder.

Smallest Dog (length): In terms of measurement from nose to tail tip, a Chihuahua named Brandy, who’s length was a mere 6, holds that record.

Smallest Dog (height): Ducky of Charlton, MA, a Chihuahua bought for $5,000, holds the record for the shortest dog. Ducky stands 4.9 inches at the shoulder.

Smallest Dog (weight): Dancer, another Chihuahua, claims the lightest dog record with a weight of 18 ounces, about the size of a double cheeseburger.

Longest Ears: Tigger, a Bloodhound, sports 27.25 inches worth of ears, with one ear measuring 13.5 inches and the other, 13.75 inches.

Los Angeles May Mandate Spaying/Neutering

The first phone call came a couple of years ago. A man was on the line, recalled Ellen Lavinthal, president of the rescue group Animal Alliance, and he said, "I have a litter of kittens. I need to get rid of them."She picked up the kittens and dropped off a voucher that would allow the owner to get the mother spayed at a low cost. Six months later, the man called back."He said, 'I've got another litter. Are you going to come get them?' " Lavinthal did. And she gave him another voucher.Last spring, he called again. Another litter. Could she take them? "I said, 'Yes, but this time I'm going to take the mama cat, too. I'll give you $50.'

"Private rescuers exhaust their resources trying to collect and place animals. "We cannot do this all," said Lavinthal, who appeared before a Los Angeles City Council committee Monday.In the meantime, public shelters in Southern California try desperately to get animals adopted and euthanize the tens of thousands they cannot. Shelter officials and many activists say the only way to stem the tide of unwanted animals is to require people to spay and neuter their pets.

They may get as close as they've ever come to a sweeping mandate when the council today takes up a proposed ordinance that would require pet owners to spay or neuter their dogs and cats at the age of 4 months or older.If it passes -- and it has a good chance of doing so -- the measure would make Los Angeles the largest municipality in the country with a mandatory sterilization law.There would be numerous exceptions: police dogs, service dogs, breeders, dogs and cats on the show circuit or even aspiring to the show circuit, and animals whose veterinarians deem the procedure to be medically risky. Enforcement would be low-key.

City officials prefer to talk about educating pet owners -- passing out so-called "fix-it" tickets for violations that allow plenty of time to get the animal sterilized. "I think that's better than cold turkey and throwing a heavy fine on them," said Councilman Richard Alarcon, the sponsor of the measure.Alarcon and Ed Boks, general manager of LA Animal Services, say enforcement will be complaint-driven.

So if your unaltered animal lives quietly, it's unlikely that animal control will show up at your home.But if a neighbor calls about a noisy or aggressive dog and it happens the animal has not been sterilized, the owner should expect to receive an official notice to comply."If people are afraid we're going to go door to door enforcing this, we have neither the resources nor the inclination," said Boks. "We're trying to stop the serious inflow of animals into our shelters."The County of Los Angeles passed such an ordinance two years ago, but it covers only dogs and governs the unincorporated areas of the county.

A similar state bill faced enormous opposition last year but passed the Assembly. Without enough votes to get the bill through the Senate Local Government Committee, the bill's author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) requested the vote be deferred. The bill, with some amendments, is expected to come up for a vote in the spring.The city bill seems to have flown a bit under the radar -- until today. Supporters and opponents are expected to appear before the City Council this morning in Van Nuys."If our city shelters had glass walls," said Haze Lynn, who rescues boxers, "everyone would be for spay/neuter.

It's heartbreaking to see the healthy dogs brought into shelters."On the other hand, Louis Krokover, president of the Los Angeles-based Concerned Dog Owners of California, says his group opposes the bill. "We are not opposed to spaying and neutering. We are opposed to the word 'mandatory.' "Enforcement of all animal regulations is daunting. Boks said only about 20% of L.A. dogs have licenses. But any law, supporters argue, gives officials something to work with.Alarcon says he may be among the first to line up to comply. He says his wife's two Chihuahuas, Corazon and Chico (father and son, respectively) are not sterilized. He promises he will have them neutered. "I've already talked to my wife.

If the messenger can't act in a way that's consistent with the message, then they shouldn't do it."LA Animal Services would add four more animal control officers to deal with enforcement as well as clerical staff for a cost of roughly $400,000, Boks estimated. He added that the shelter system spends about $2 million a year on animals that are euthanized.Last year, although the city saw a drop in euthanasia, the shelter system still killed 8,960 cats and 6,049 dogs -- healthy animals neither retrieved by owners nor adopted by new ones.

The cost of a spaying or neutering operation for a cat or a dog at a veterinary clinic or office can range from $50 to $400, said Jeff Smith, president of the California Veterinary Medical Association.The city of Los Angeles offers free and low-cost spaying and neutering vouchers to people who qualify. They can be redeemed at two mobile facilities or veterinary offices that partner with LA Animal Services.

Hot Bitch of The Week!

Droopy the Dog

Droopy is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic dog (a basset hound), created by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1943. Essentially the polar opposite of Avery's other famous MGM character, the loud and wacky Screwy Squirrel, Droopy moved slowly and lethargically, spoke in a jowly monotone, and, though he didn't look like much, was shrewd enough to outwit his enemies.

The character first appeared, nameless, in Avery's 1943 cartoon Dumb-hounded. Though he would not be called "Droopy" onscreen until his fifth cartoon, Señor Droopy (1949), the character was officially first labeled Happy Hound, a name used in the character's appearances in Our Gang Comics. After the demise of the Droopy series in 1958, the character has been revived several times for new productions, often television shows also featuring MGM's other famous cartoon stars, Tom and Jerry.

Muttsoni

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE the Italian designer Missoni. Imagine how thrilled I was to find this Muttsoni bag for Little Edie! At $12 and $15 these are definitely a bargain.

http://trixieandpeanut.com/toys/137237.html

Guinness Book of Dog Records

You may have thought your dog was pretty clever when it learned to fetch your slippers or brought a ball back in the park. Well, meet ten-year- old Sweet Pea, who has set a new world record by faultlessly balancing a glass of water on the bridge of her nose while climbing up some stairs. The Border Collie/Australian Shephard mix also showed her world-class pedigree by repeating a 2007 record-breaking feat – most skips by a dog in one minute. The audience cheered as Sweet Pea notched up 75 skips in 60 seconds.

The world-beating stunts were featured on a special edition of the Oprah Winfrey show.

Grey Gardens Sunday

Little Edie lays on her beach and ponders cooking for her mother....

Sécurité

This summer, Karen and I visited St. Tropez. We stayed in a wonderful house with friends just steps to the beach. Our days were spent lounging around the pool or at the beach, then an afternoon stroll at the port was followed by decadent dinners in fun restaurants where people danced on the tables and chairs. We had heard that there was a little issue with security in the high summer season and unsuspecting tourists renting homes were the target. To be on the safe side, our host hired a security guard who patrolled the property every night with his pitt bull. Every night we would leave and then come back late and tipsy and the guard would be there with his pit bull who was always wearing a muzzle. The guard would always hold her tight as if to show me that she was not to be trusted. I would talk to her every night and tell her she was pretty. She didn't seem very mean. I got a little tail wag here and there and eventually he let me pet her.

One night we all cooked a great dinner instead of eating out. After dinner, everyone decided to go out dancing but Karen and I were pooped so we decided to stay in and rest up. About ten minutes after everyone left suddenly the lights went out! We both gasped and called each others names. It was pitch black in the house and we couldn't see a thing! "Oh No!" we both thought. "The bandits saw everyone leave and they thought the house was empty. They must be making their move!" We ran out to the backyard in a panic to see where the security guard and his dog were. We quickly saw his flashlight beacon as he was running through the backyard. "It's us!" we shouted just to make sure he didn't release the dog on us or shoot at us or whatever he would do if he really did encounter the bandits! Once they reached us and realized we were ok he went over to the meter and turned all the lights back on. No bandits in sight. Apparently we had too many air conditioners, lights and appliances on and it knocked out the power. The funniest thing was that when the pitt bull found us she was so happy. He took her muzzle off and I played with her and that's when I took this picture. She was so sweet. I don't think she could have hurt a fly but we were sure glad they were there that night!

You Aint Nothing But a Houndstooth Dog

Here's Ginger modeling her latest red denim with houndstooth winter jacket. Notice the matching red collar......Someone please get this girl an agent, already!!

Francis Albert Friday!

One of our favorite Frank nicknames was Mr. Fourth of July. This all started about three years ago when Joe and Darren were spending summer weekends at their beach house. On the Fourth of July we would gather at the house, barbeque and watch the fireworks over the bay. We had a perfect view from the house.

We didn't think anything of it the first year until the moment the fireworks started. Frank immediately climbed into Joe's lap and curled into a little ball all the while shaking and wimpering like a baby. He did NOT like the fireworks. We couldn't believe it had such an effect on him. You know.....this big, butch Doberman! The cat terrorizer of the neighborhood! His sister, Ginger's, BIG brother! The protector and leader of the pack! Ginger was hopping about happy as could be and Frank was having a nervous breakdown.

The next year we went back, not really thinking much of it and we noticed that he was visibly shaken at the beginning of the evening. Somehow his sixth sense kicked in and he knew what was coming. He could probably smell those firework fumes way out yonder. He started to cling to Joe and became increasingly nervous when everyone gathered out on the deck to watch the show begin. Joe and I stayed inside holding him and talking to him and trying to calm him down while he went right back into panic mode the minute the show started. We couldn't help laughing at him. It was so funny and sad all at the same time.

This year was Frank's last Fourth of July at the beach. We were a little better prepared since we knew that he would anticipate that this was the weekend he dreaded. He was shaking in the car on the drive down. He knew. This time, a while before the show started Joe took both dogs into the bathroom and laid on the floor with them watching TV. I tried to watch the show but I was so worried wondering what Frank was doing. He was so happy when it was over.

So that's how he earned the nickname Mr. Fourth of July. Whenever he would act like a tough guy on the walk or around other dogs, Joe and I would always say "Yeah, Mr. Fourth of July. If only they could see you then."

Boomerang Cats

What exactly is a “Boomerang Cat?” Well, a Boomerang itself – as we know it – is a kind of throwing stick that, when thrown correctly, travels in a curved path and returns to its point of origin.

Of course, hopefully, no one throws their cat in the air like a true boomerang, but the effect is basically the same. You put kitty down, she returns right back to the point of origin – YOU! So, you gently put kitty down again, she’s right back on you. Cat put down, cat immediately back. Cat down; cat back. And so it continues . . . Boomerang-style.

Whether you are trying to work on your computer, write a letter using a pen and paper, or doing any intricate type of work, a furry feline rolling and stomping all over your project and purring in front of your face is somewhat of a distraction, to say the least. Unlike the typical Boomerang, however, this is a behavior problem. Like most behavior problems, it hopefully has the ability to conform or, if that’s not at all a possibility, to arrive at a compromise for both you and your cat.

Mimi Adelman’s Mei Mei likes to Boomerang on and off her while she is at her desk working at her job as an author. “She is constantly up on the desk, under my arm, etc. I should have taught her early on that she's not allowed on the desk, but I didn't,” conveys Adelman, author of the book, Every Cat's Survival Guide to Living with a Neurotic Owner.

“So now I do three things: I have lots of little cat toys on the desk that she is allowed to push off the desk and onto the floor,” Adelman says. “I use my voice to keep her from walking in front of my computer screen (ugly voice when she takes the first step in front, instantly replaced by happy voice as soon as she steps back), and I have a special spot right next to me where she is allowed to settle down on the desk. When she goes to that spot and settles, she gets lots of attention and my happy voice for a few minutes, and then I go to work and pet her occasionally.”

Besides being an esteemed author, Adelman is also a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant. “We humans all have different personalities, and so do cats,” she notes. “As for the Boomerang effect, when we constantly pick them up and put them down – most likely speaking to them at the same time – that’s attention, which is what they crave.

“We might consider it negative attention, but they just consider it attention. So they are engaging in an attention-seeking behavior, if they get the attention, why wouldn't they do it again? Plus, the jump up, get put down, jump up again, get put down, jump up thing becomes a game after awhile. Lots of action and drama equals lots of fun.”

Finally, is there any chance you can change (or at least slow down) the Boomerang Cat’s clingy and needy ways? Adelman provides some hope for the exhausted Boomerang Cat owner, “As with all attention-seeking behaviors, the best ‘cure’ is more regularly scheduled one-on-one interactive play time. This satisfies the cat's craving for attention and action, and tires the cat out so she will catnap instead of jumping all over you.”

So while the “Boomerang” will eventually come back to that point of origin, it may get distracted along the way and give you some much-needed alone time. Besides, you won’t have to worry because, without a doubt, you know the Boomerang always comes back to you in the end . . .

(I couldn't help using this picture of Mr. Chow and Peanut, Brian's cats, which so accurately seem to depict this story)