Can you believe the first ever International Cat Video Festival was a worldwide sensation?! Of course we know!
The camera just loves cats with their agility and flexibility prowess, endless antics, and extreme intelligence. It's no wonder they are a digital and cultural phenomena that is shared a million times over--more than celebrities. Sorry Justin Beiber.
Hosted in Minneapolis, MN at the Walker's Art Center, one of the nation’s most prominent institutions of contemporary art, this was the first cat film festival dedicated completely to cat videos. The idea for the festival was born from an an associate
at the museum, who suggested it early this year as a sort of joke. By
spring her bosses came to believe that it would be a good fit with the
Walker’s Open Field initiative, which calls for experimental public programming, often free, on the lawn. From its inception to its closing credits, this was an online meme made flesh (and fur).
The submission process went viral with 10,000 entries within a couple of months. Even the number of attendees doubled their projections and over 10,000 attendees packed the lawn of the museum, spilling over onto sidewalks across the street.
As the panel of judges narrowed down their list of winners, they soon learned that some cat finalists had agents. Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat are the more famous online cats. LilBub was surrounded by photographers and fans asking for pawtographs.
Who were some of the winners? No surprise that Maru, the cat from Japan, known for its affinity of cardboard boxes, walked away with a Golden Kitty award.
Below is the winner of the People's Choice award "Henri, Paw de Deux"
Our friend and fellow cat-advocate, Katie and Glogirly (Katie is the Cat, Glogirly is her owner's nickname) received an honorable mention for Real Housecats Season 2; Episode 2
Katie is a witty and sassy kitty. She's fast rising to cat stardom. Be sure to follow her and view her other videos! Katie--we hope you'll remember us average cats.
Meet Venus the cat! The two colored facial fur and eyes are real! This is NOT Photoshopped. She is a chimera--which does not refer to the type of cat but instead signifies a mutation of genes.
Since this photo appeared, commentators swore this photo was Photoshopped or altered. To prove Venus is a real cat the owner created a video. See below! In just a few days the number of hits on YouTube are close to 800,000 at the time of this posting.
Venus was a feral cat living on a farm. Neighbors were struck by her features and decided to adopt her and she blended in with the owner's other cats. We love happy endings.
CLICK HERE to learn how you can help homeless cats!
Here is a video of Venus and Christina's appearance of the Today Show.
Retailers, shoppers & shelters UNITE to help homeless pets
No more feeling guilty or powerless from reading the countless stories about sick or injured kitties: Sophie, a two pound kitten, who's leg was amputated; Lion King who was starving to death because he could not eat food due to infected tooth and gums. Kittens and cats trapped inside a crumbling building, spaying/neutering a colony of harmless cats....The vet bills add up fast! Most of us are on a budget and have demanding schedules. So then you wonder, "How can I possibly help homeless pets?" Well just by shopping online at your favorite retailers, a percentage automatically goes to Riverfront Cats you can make a difference! It's that easy! Read on!!!
AMAZON --America's favorite online retailer
Amazon is the largest online retailer for everything from electronics, to
home furnishings, to kitchen utensils to beauty and fashion must haves
to pet food and supplies. Anytime you shop on Amazon for ANYTHING YOU NEED, by clicking on our Amazon link to the right and making that purchase, Riverfront Cats automatically receives a small percentage of your purchase every time!
ADOPT-a-SHELTER.com
If you shop at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, iTunes, Petco, PetSmart, Heels.com, Zazzle and hundreds of other online retailers. you can help. Visit AdoptaShelter and start shopping away and a small portion of your purchase is sent to Riverfront Cats. It's that simple!
Step 1: Click on the link above or here. You will be automatically taken to Adopt-a-Shelter page for Riverfront Cats.
Step 2: Shop away!
PET FOOD
For your first time purchase only on Mr. Chewy, they will donate $20 to Riverfront Cats! Chewy offers convenience! If you're like us and visited your local pet food store only to find that they were out of one item, who has time to drive around town? Order everything online and get FREE SHIPPING for orders over $50. But you have to click on the banner ad to the right. Please share this with other pet owners!
PET MEDS
No matter whether you have an indoor or outdoor pet, vitamins and medicines and prevention applications are important for a healthy pet. Whether you give your pet daily vitamins, or specific medicine for health condition or need to resupply flea/tick solution, by clicking on PetCareRx* banner to the right or below and ordering from the site, Riverfront Cats will automatically receive a small percentage for every order! They also offer free shipping on orders over $49.
Remember to click on the links on this website to order. ~ ~ ~
Be sure to bookmark this website.
Thank you for shopping here,
thank you for caring!
*PetCareRx is proud
to have Riverfront Cats as a participant in the PetCareRx Affiliate Program.
PetCareRx makes no endorsement, express or implied
of our activities. Thank you for shopping with an PetCareRx
Affiliate
Introducing Jade! This vivacious two year old female was abandoned on front steps of someone's home. After taking her to the vet it was discovered she had given birth to kittens and was separated too early from her babies. Caretakers call her Juno (after famous teenage character) or Jade due to her stunning green eyes.
Jade has been waiting for a home for two years now! It's time for her furrever home. Jade does best in a home where she's the only pet. Ideally someone who works from home or is retired and does not travel much. But these are not strict requirements. She needs to be the center of your universe and return you will become her most cherished master or mistress! Jade will snuggle, play and give you unconditional love!
To meet Jade please contact Selina at 954-709-7326.
Another celeb is coming out of the cat closet. Well not really, it was never a secret for Eva Longoria whose had life long love for cats since she was a little girl.
Here is a link to her involvement in an ad campaign showing a single sexy woman coming home from work and starts dancing. Who is her audience? A cat!
Here's to sexy cat ladies turning around the misconception of cat lovers!
Do you know of any other celebrities who are cat lovers? We know about Carrie Ann Inaba, Eva Longoria and Cee Lo Green. Click on "Comment" and tell us who is your favorite celeb cat lover.
And so we continue Charlie's magic carpet ride to Abu Dhabi, a series of posts that follows the journey of Charlie, a once abandoned cat in downtown Miami, and the exemplary steps by his pet guardians to ensure his safe transport to their new home in the Middle East. We left off in part two where Charlie was settling in the AVC Cattery.
Nina, his mother, visited Charlie daily as the cattery was located a few blocks from the hotel where Nina and Felipe resided until they found a permanent home. When I asked Nina about the staff and care of the cats in Abu Dhabi, her response was "Tony, the man in the photo below of Indian descent, has two cats of his own and he's really a cat lover. He and his staff check on the cats several times a day. They ensure the cats eat their food, and if not, then they switch their food to a brand the guardians have pre-approved. The cats are also weighed daily. The staff pet the cats and talk to them, it's amazing."
Tony with a client cat
Charlie resting on higher level in his three- story cage
Turns out Charlie took comfort in the over-sized but private compartments in the cattery. So much so he met a feline named Belle and fell in love during his exploration time. That was fast! They sniffed, rubbed noses and purred. Perhaps his middle name should be anointed "Casanova".
The time came to move to their new condo. Like all cats, new surroundings generate consternation, like exposing oneself. Charlie searched frantically for a place to hide in a room piled with boxes. Let the Musical Hiding Game begin! First there was the oven...
"This is no good, they can see me!"
Then he scrambled inside the dishwasher...
"Better but uncomfortable"
And of course a favorite--the clothes closet.
"Ok--familiar scent, looks like a closet but it's not the Miami closet"
With time and at his own pace, Charlie explored his new home. (This is important during the transition to a new home. Never force a cat to come out from hiding or to lay on the sofa or on your lap. Your cat will know when the time is right.)
"Hmm I wonder what's there?"
"Will I fit here to hide?"
"That shelf is looking mighty purrfect for me to hide"
And finally, something familiar--a chair. When the furniture arrived from their home in Miami, Nina unwrapped the tall chairs and Charlie jumped with glee. "This has my scent! And my mommy and daddy's scent and our other home..."
Charlie napping in the living room on his favorite chair.
(He's also not hiding anymore)
Then there was the question of exercise. Charlie used to jump on the bed and desk and office chair back in Miami. But with minimal furniture, Nina and Felipe were concerned that Charlie was lacking exercise. They were right. But the solution was an easy one. They purchased LACK shelves from the local IKEA. This accomplished two goals--maintaining a modern theme and ensuring Charlie had plenty of vertical space for exercise. Cat furniture is very limited in UAE so thankfully there was a familiar store.
Charlie inside IKEA bag
(Charlie napping on tall chair)
Shelves on wall are for Charlie's climbing pleasure
Charlie sitting on Nina's lap in new condo in Abu Dhabi
Charlie is bored with his new view--construction boom in Abu Dhabi
We are thrilled to share this story of Charlie's rescue and adoption and his big move half way around the world. It's a fine example of responsible pet parenting. Nina and Felipe spared no expense in ensuring the safe transport of their newest family addition. They took the time to do their homework, cross checking with officials and vets both in the US and UAE.
But this is not the end of Charlie's story just this chapter. We will continue to provide updates on Charlie and eventually Riverfront Cats will celebrate this special adoption story with our Rags to Riches Contest. Stay tuned!
"GORGEOUS!It's like an animated children's version of an Alfred Hitchcock or Roman Polanski thriller set on the rooftops of Paris ." -New York Times
"Sublime! Breathtaking!Rich with film references (Reservoir Dogs and Goodfellas among them), A Cat in Paris is a stylish celebration of storytelling!" -The Boston Globe
"Wonderful, Sophisticated Fun!" -San Francisco Chronicle
The Academy Award® nominated A CAT IN PARIS from directors Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol is a beautifully hand-drawn caper set in the shadow-drenched alleyways of Paris . Dino is a cat that leads a double life. By day he lives with Zoe, a little girl whose mother is a detective in the Parisian police force.
But at night Dino sneaks out the window to work with Nico - a slinky cat burglar with a big heart, whose fluid movements are poetry in motion as he evades captors and slips and swishes from rooftop to rooftop across the Paris skyline. Rife with film references (from Reservoir Dogs to Goodfellas to The Night of the Hunter) A CAT IN PARIS is a warm and richly humorous love letter to classic noir and American gangster films, with jazz soundtrack featuring Billie Holiday.
Featuring the voices of Academy Award® winner Marcia Gay Harden ( Mystic River ), Academy Award® winner Anjelica Huston (The Royal Tenenbaums) and Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket). The film is rated PG for mild action and violence, and some thematic material.
Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards and beloved by festival audiences and critics around the world. A CAT IN PARIS opens exclusively at the Angelika Film Center and AMC Empire 25 in New York on June 1, and expands around the country in the following weeks. Learn more about the full list of theaters on our Facebook page. (Movie is rated PG, 70 min)
(Update August 28, 2012: for the impact of Tropical Storm Isaac that just passed through Miami, please read toward the bottom of this posting).
This story originates this past bitter, cold winter when one night it was raining nonstop, a very rare occurence for the season. Normally we see these rains during a tropical storm in the summertime.
Typically we feed the Riverfront cats around 7-8pm. But that night, I waited for the rains to stop. It didn't. Consulting with every weather news channel there was no sign of rains ceasing. So I headed out about 9pm in rain boots, raincoat and oversized umbrella and at station 3, my heart dropped. There they were-- the five cats at Station 3 standing frozen, soaking wet, and shivering. They looked up at me with relief! Oh my gosh I started to cry!
The condo cut down all the trees and bushes, the only semi- protection to shield them. The rain continued pelting them and these cats were starving. I was so overwhelmed in their trust in me. They knew I would appear to feed them no matter what. But the problem now was where to feed them. The rain would dissolve their food. I knew cat houses were needed for rainy season and it's here!
Also, we're down to two volunteers and one just lost her job! The other volunteers (even dog owners who never had cats) have moved out.
We urgently need donations to buy cat food & build cat houses.
To help, just click on the DONATION button on upper right side. You can easily donate with credit card or PayPal. Any amount will help. Or feel free to donate monthly. Or just from making online purchases at Amazon, Mr. Chewy and PetApprovedRx, these vendors will donate a small percentage to Riverfront Cats!
Due to our successful system (TNRM), these cats are not starving and are healthy and happy in general. We religiously feed them every night and the cats appear at feeding time so they are not crossing the major roads, looking for food and getting killed as what happened in 2008. We also apply flea topical solution.
We saved them from being inhumanely dumped at a park, we saved them from the kill-shelter, we saved them from being road kill. They are the Riverfront Pets! We have people with some time, but limited money, and people willing to donate money but have no spare time to volunteer. So with a little coordinating and teamwork we can help our Riverfront pets.
If you prefer to drop off the food or build the houses--even better! The cat houses are nothing fancy. I can explain in more detail. Just email me at riverfrontcats@yahoo.com
Thank you for taking a moment to help your community. As always, you're welcome to join the volunteers in the daily feedings--weekday, weekend, workday, holiday to observe first hand what we do and meet these amazing pets.
UPDATE August 28: It was very painful not to be able to feed the cats during Tropical Storm Isaac. Two cats have not appeared and we hope they did not go too far in search of food. We really need more donations to build those cat houses. We have a place to secure the houses in the event of storms. You can make a donation or help by purchasing cat food or vitamins and medications on the banner ads to the right (Mr. Chewy, Amazon, VetApprovedRx), we receive a small donation from the vendor. THANK YOU!
by Christine Michaels
This year I went to my first Blog Paws conference. What is it? It's a pet blogger's conference! It doesn't matter if your pet is a dog, cat, ferret, horse, or chimpanzee or if you work for a vet or rescue shelter. All pet owners, educators and caretakers were welcome and their pets!
Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to appear on local TV and magazines for Riverfront Cats to raise awareness and educate the public about the plight of homeless cat, but blogging is a powerful way to regularly engage readers and motivate them to take action--pass on information about homeless cats or make a donation or both. There's so much to blogging than just writing. It's a bit of an art and science involving marketing, branding, social media, networking and more. This conference updated me on proven practices and techniques.
One of the highlights was meeting famous bloggers that I had communicated with for months over email and Facebook but never met. So as I was staring at the name on the badge, the light bulb went off, and a verbal explosion and refrain ensued, "Oh my cat! You're Janea from Paws and Effect!". These are bloggers who excel at the trade and focus on the cute, the funny, their personal cats, cat behavior, or cat toys and furniture, etc. and have a loyal following. Each of these people have inspired me one way or another.
Deb Barnes, Christine Michaels, Dorian Wagner
(now do we look like crazy cat ladies?)
When I sounded the alarm on the Loews Hotel cat situation, I was amazed as to how quickly and readily these strangers were ready to help. Peter Wolf from Vox Felina in Arizona, Tamar Arslanian from I Have Cat in New York, Caren Gittleman from Cody Cat Chat in Michigan, Steve Dale--renowned pet behaviorist, pet columnist, pet radio host..and so many others.
Two people who went above and beyond blogging about the Loews Hotel cats are Deb Barnes author of The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey, and blogger, and Dorian Wagner of My Daily Cute blog. Their efforts demonstrate that concerted tactics, incorporated into a blog, is powerful!
Thank you Deb & Dorian--you are amazing! (I think it's time we have Cat Lady hero costumes made!)
Christine, Dorian, Tamar, Debbie
(Debbie won award for best Meow blog--Glogirly Congrats!)
The conference also had various seminars focusing on tips and techniques to help improve our blogs. I'm already revisiting my notes and putting them into practice. Oh my! I have a lot of work to do. No time for cat naps.
Like any conference, vendors were available to showcase new products and explain their benefits. I was amazed at the advancement and creativity of pet products from food, nutrition, grooming, training, odor control, pet decor and furniture, and the importance of a "Pet Trust" instead of a will to ensure your pets are protected like children and not used furniture that can easily be discarded at a shelter. Very informative and useful information for all pet owners. Off the top of my head was Rachel Ray's Nutrish (pet food), the FURminator (a grooming tool), and Pet360 (education on pet parenting).
Blog Paws thought of everything. With increasing popularity of cats, this conference featured a "Catification Lounge" and a treasure room of modern cat furniture from Moderncat.net hosted by Kate Benjamin and Jackson Galaxy.
The conference also featured high caliber speakers such as Steve Dale, Lena West, and Betsy Saul, co-founder of Petfinder.com. For me, Betsy struck a deep chord. Her presentation covered the history of animal rescue and the current, harsh realities about the biggest problem--stray and feral cats. She spoke about leadership and what it takes to start a movement. She then asked us to have the courage to get out of our comfort zone and be willing to start the crazy dance (see video below) and lead this effort. I'm sitting in the back of the room percolating-- "Betsy, I've been doing the crazy dance in Miami!" It was an affirmation, a sign from God, from Bast, the universe--I'm on the right track and in the right place with the right people. Hence my decision to formally start a nonprofit to get to the root of the problem of homeless pets-- EDUCATION--is my movement. http://www.pawsitivelyhumane.org/
Thank you Blog Paws and fellow bloggers! You have inspired me more than you know. Together we can make a difference and help many homeless pets!!!
Three new cats have appeared overnight at the Riverfront colony. Two males and a female. We suspect that at least one was dumped. She's tame, very clean and is getting closer to volunteers daily.
The first male was trapped and taken to the vet. Sadly he was very ill and on top of that he had severe eye infection and was going blind. We had to put him to sleep. He was an outdoor, feral cat that would not have survived. The vet bill was little over $100. (Office visit, physical exam, eye test, euthanasia and disposal fee).
That leaves the other two cats and Scotty who have been very difficult to trap with a standard cat trap. This means a drop trap is needed which is heavier, bulkier and more costly.
Female cat presumed to have been dumped
New male cat--he appears feral
Notice the black and gray striped tail contrasting brown body
Scotty is unneutered; (photo taken summer 2011)
We believe Scotty is very sick
He's had multiple wounds and is losing weight
We rarely see him and therefore he's very difficult to trap
Therefore, we are asking for any donation amount to help cover the cost of
trapping
veterinary care
spaying/neutering; post surgery care
food
Simply click on the Donation button to the right and use a major credit card or PayPal.
Thank you for any donation amount which will make a difference in the humane lives of these cats and our community!
NAME THE NEW CATS We also need to name the new male and female cat! We welcome your input! Just click on "Comments" below. You can be anonymous, use your first name, or email us at riverfrontcats@yahoo.com.
