sell that thingy!

Guess why this post too is so brief.

But I do have a spiffy list of Advertising Mascots from TV Acres. Would you have gotten Ubu Roi? No, not me either.

it's a pet circus!

Woo! I'm goin' to Vegas!

...well not right away. But I'd like to go this year, and maybe I'll see the Popovich Comedy Pet Theater when I do. (Careful, I don't think you can turn off the music at their site.)

Greory Popovich grew up in Russian circuses, and joined the Moscow Circus Group at 17. In 1990 he was invited to join the Barnum and Bailey circus here in the States. In 1992 he was invited to do his clown and juggling act in Las Vegas; in a bit of inspiration he and his wife decided to use their kitten as part of the act, and the response was tremendous.

A friend pointed out that there were lots of possible circus kittens in animal shelters. There aren't animal shelters in Russia, so the bio says, and Gregory was stunned and saddened to see nice animals without good homes. (As all right thinking folk should be.) From then on, all his stars were recruited from shelters. . . and, well, you should see it.

And they live with him and his family. They love each other. Yay.

snarky kitty

Still sick. And how. But still somehow able to find and bring to you the blog exploits of According to Marley, a cat with a taste for feline sarcasm. My fave so far? "Max Thinks Friend is Too Ugly to Be Happy."
He has a point.

a birdbrained tale

Since I have spent most of today deathly ill, I was crashed out reading the new Iggy Pop biography, Open Up and Bleed. It's good. And there was a passage or two about Iggy/Jim Osterberg's (one and the same guy as you probably know) yellow parakeet, which would sit on his shoulder as he wrote songs. The little guy died, which was a source of no little distress for Jim. And I'm thinking, "Aw, I know."

So I was in a pet-bird mood today and bring you this folktale of a magpie that gets short shrift for its honesty:

The Indiscreet Magpie (Switzerland)

There was a woman who had a caged magpie that could talk, and it told everything that it saw and whatever anyone did.

Now it happened that her husband was saving a fine, large eel in a tub, planning to serve it to a friend for dinner. But one day while he was away, his wife caught the eel, cooked it, and ate it herself. She planned to claim that an otter had stolen the eel, but when her husband came home, her magpie said, "Master, my mistress ate the eel."

He went to the tub, and not finding the eel, he asked his wife what had happened to it. She started to make an excuse, but he interrupted her, "I know that you ate it, because the magpie told me so!" And he scolded her with angry words.

As soon as the man left, the woman grabbed the magpie and pulled every last feather from its head. "That's your punishment for telling about the eel," she said.

From that time forth, whenever the magpie saw bald-headed person, it would cry out, "You too must have told about the eel!"

***
Source here. And this is what magpies look like - they are lovely and flashy.

klee's "cat and bird"

I traveled today in the cold midwinter, luckily just missing ice and snow - not a lot, not even much at all, but enough to make other people skid off and have nasty wrecks. I did a lot this weekend. My mind is full of plans and tasks. Now I am home with Elizabeth and the other catstaff, looking into their wide eyes and wondering what goes on in there.

Paul Klee wondered that too, and his answer in 1928 was Cat and Bird, now owned by MOMA.
Lucky MOMA. I wouldn't mind having that wide, innocent catface on my wall, the delectable nose leather (it's the key to cuteness, remember) delineated with a warm pink heart, the tender pink tripartite kittylips, and the forehead emblazoned with a bird very handily indisposed to flight. Klee used his calm, clear line not so much to draw the perfect cat form, but to draw the idea of the cat thinking. I like to think he smooched whichever handy cat was about after he created this. Probably right on the nose leather.

Stay warm and dry, everyone.

vietnamese figures of pet speech

Today I stumbled upon Linh Dinh's blog Detainees and his list of Vietnamese figures of speech. I've cherry picked a few pet-related ones. The differences - and similarities - of traditional societies in their concerns and how they phrase them never fail to interest me.

Dog yawns, swallows a fly. Chó ngáp phải ruồi.

Dog dies, story's over. Chó chết thì hết truyện.

Hide, like the cat, its litter. Giấu như mèo giấu cứt.

Mouse gnawing on a cat's leg. Chuột gặm chân mèo.

Kill one cat, save ten thousand mice. Giết một con mèo mà cứu vạn chuột.

Beat a dog, look at the owner. Đánh chó, ngó chủ.

Car hits dogs, dog hits car. Xe cán chó, chó cán xe.

more herford kitten verse

Remember Oliver Herford, whose Rubaiyyat of a Persian Kitten gave me such comfort in October? I didn't know he had also written The Kitten's Garden of Verses in 1911. Mm! Let's have a taste, shall we?

The Puncture

When I was just a Kitten small,

They gave to me a Rubber Ball

To roll upon the floor.

One day I tapped it with my paw

And pierced the rubber with my claw;

Now it will roll no more.

The Joy Ride

When Mistress Peggy moves around,

Her dresses make a mocking sound.

"You can't catch me!" they seem to say--

I often steal a ride that way.

And this one is for Elizabeth, who flies through the air with the greatest of ease.

The Game

Watching a ball on the end of a string,

Watching it swing back and to,

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a Kitten can do.

First it goes this way, then it goes that,

Just like a bird on the wing.

And all of a tremble I crouch on the mat

Like a Lion, preparing to spring.

And now with a terrible deafening mew,

Like a Tiger I leap on my prey,

And just when I think I have torn it in two

It is up in the air and away.

today i saw a cool dog

I glanced out the window at work and saw a pickup driving into our parking lot. In the passenger seat sat what looked like the biggest, whitest pitbull I'd certainly ever seen. Thanks to the interviewing skills of my also dogloving co-worker, I now know I was treated to the sight of a Dogo Argentino.

He was huge, and had long legs and big cropped pointy ears like a Great Dane, and wagged his tail and had a nice friendly stretch in the sun. His eyes were very dark and gentle. He was quite somethng, and I am peeved at myself for not going and getting a photo.

But you may see many here. You may also wish to learn the interesting history of how two Argentinean brothers carefully bred this dog starting in 1925. They started with breeding stock of The Fighting Dog of Cordobo, now extinct, and mixed in a number of handpicked other breeds. Have a look at that. (Dogo.org.)

zippy's cat scan

I always did love Zippy the Pinhead. He was so loopy goodnatured eighties. Say what you will about that decade, some of us had a really good time then even if we came at it diagonally. I mean, what's not to love about a guy who asks a Sphinx, "Can I enter the Gates of Perception?" and is fine with hearing, "Maybe. But only if you love cats -- do you love cats?"

Of course he does.

What I really wanted to find was the Zippy strip about nose leather -- the "cold, wet thing at th' tip of a cat's snoot." It's the key to cuteness. And by the way, that IS what the leathery part at the end of your cat's nose is called.

(bummer)

Sigh. Sorry, I feel really badly about Heath Ledger. Bless him.
I've always had a soft spot for Aussies (my brother has a dual American/Aussie citizenship).

I'll try to find a nice post anyway.

um. about that ferret song

I am sure some of you noticed I misspoke my formats. There is NO vid available online, that I have found, of The Ferret Song.

If you find one I beg you to tell me. or I guess I could just buy the whole TV show on DVD, which I've been wanting to do anyhow. But while I was looking I did find this jolly home video of a lion cub with a ferret buddy.

the ferret song

I absolutely love Monty Python, and was sure I had seen every episode that was to be had of the original series.

So I'm stumped - in a most delighted way - to have come across "The Ferret Song," which I totally missed, via the Dutch site The Ferret as a Pet.

"I've got a ferret sticking up my nose. . .
I can tolerate it for a while
although it's absolutely vile,
It's not as bad as last week when I had a crocodile."

There's a couple of sound formats, so you have no excuse not to enjoy its glory. Happy Monday!

plutarch on the care of dogs and other beasts

Kindness indeed is of wider application than mere justice, for we naturally
treat men alone according to justice and the laws, while kindness and gratitude,
as though from a plenteous spring, often extend even to irrational animals.
It is right for man to feed horses which have been worn out in his service,
and not merely to train dogs when they are young, but to take care of them when
they are old. . . .
Many persons, too, have made friends and companions of dogs, as did
Xanthippus in old times, whose dog swam all the way to Salamis beside his
master's ship when the Athenians left their city, and which he buried on the
promontory which to this day is called the Dog's Tomb.
We ought not to treat living things as we do our clothes and our shoes, and
throw them away after we have worn them out; but we ought to accustom ourselves
to show kindness in these cases, if only in order to teach ourselves the duty
towards one another. For my own part, I would not even sell an ox that had
laboured for me because he was old. . . .

From Plutarch's Life of Cato, V. Plutarch was a Greek historian living shortly after the lifetime of Christ -- 46 to 120 AD -- famed for his biography series of famous Greeks and Romans.

a cat most loyal

Tower of London, 1601:
Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southhampton, sits in his cell awaiting his death for conspiring to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I.

Meanwhile, back at Southampton House, where the Earl would have been snugly at home, his cat Trixy wants to know where daddy is. After a while, the distraught cat leaves home and strikes out for the big city, finds the Tower, and finds the Earl, where she hung out with him for two years until a change in rule frees the Earl - and his cat.

True story, thought it's very possible Trixy got some help getting to the right cell. I got this story from 100 Cats Who Changed Civilization, by Sam Stall (2007: Quirk Books). After his release the Earl had a portrait done of himself and his staunch cat. (Thanks, Elizabethan Geek. Coolness.)

loomp and other wienerdog greatness

That would be the German pronounciation for "Lump," which in that language means "rascal." Lump was a dachshund belonging to Picasso, acquired in 1957, and much beloved. At least I hope Picasso treated his dog better than he treated people, because by and large he didn't treat people very well at all.

Lump is one of the "famous wiener dogs" listed in this article at Mental Floss Blog. Others are Andy Warhol's Amos and Archie, and David Hockney's Stanley and Boodgie. A most decent article indeed.

my favorite scene in "into great silence"

Two and a half hours long, largely close to silent, and filled with the stark loveliness of a life spent in the Carthusian order of monks, Into Great Silence is not a film for everyone. I love it. It's soothing in its very simplicity, comforting in its good will, organic in its rhythms.

And of course my favorite scene is the one where the barn cats get fed.
To fully understand why I like it so, you must know that this monastic order incorporates a vow of silence, very rarely broken. So when one of the older monks takes a tub of food to the barn and begins to encourage them with soft chirrups, I took notice. Then he went over to a wire hook that held a blue teddy bear, another thing these monks don't tend to have kicking around, and waggled it at the cats, who orbited the toy with indecision. He put it down and one came over to sniff it: "He is the boss," the monk said in French, smiling.

So the love of little creatures led this monk, and by extension his monastic community, to provide food to nourish their bodies, and a toy for the refreshment of their kitty souls. He even spoke aloud to make one short explanation. One could wonder if they were in a way adjunct members of the community. I found this a most touching look at the spiritual dimension of four footed creatures, whether intended as such or no.

For those of you who wish to find this scene quickly, it's scene #6 on the DVD. You can find many reviews online, but here's The New York Times'. Alas, I can't find a clip of the cats!

law cat of the week

The Ross-Blakely Law Library Blog is a place for harried Arizona State University law students to learn things that will help them get through their coursework. . .

and to show off their pets. Like their fluffy law-student cats.
Cats are the best study aid ever, I always say.
But some of the law students prefer dogs. And others, horses.

why does the cat kill rats?

The Nigerians know, for they have a folktale telling us why:

Ansa was King of Calabar for fifty years. He had a very faithful cat as a
housekeeper, and a rat was his house-boy. The king was an obstinate, headstrong
man, but was very fond of the cat, who had been in his store for many
years.
The rat, who was very poor, fell in love with one of the king's
servant girls, but was unable to give her any presents, as he had no
money.
At last he thought of the king's store, so in the nighttime, being
quite small, he had little difficulty, having made a hole in the roof, in
getting into the store. He then stole corn and native pears, and presented them
to his sweetheart.
At the end of the month, when the cat had to render her
account of the things in the store to the king, it was found that a lot of corn
and native pears were missing. The king was very angry at this, and asked the
cat for an explanation. But the cat could not account for the loss, until one of
her friends told her that the rat had been stealing the corn and giving it to
the girl.
When the cat told the king, he called the girl before him and had
her flogged. The rat he handed over to the cat to deal with, and dismissed them
both from his service. The cat was so angry at this that she killed and ate the
rat, and ever since that time whenever a cat sees a rat she kills and eats it.

Source for this tale here.

a fun cat experiment

Not serious, of course, but haven't you always wanted to know how long your cat's tongue is?

Okay, maybe not. But John and Michael Abbott did, and set up the apparatus required to discover the Determination of cat tongue length using the "White Wine" method. (Apparently much easier than the "Beefy Bovril" and "Creamy Yoghurt" method, but looking at the photos I can see why.)

catwrap

I really am quite fond of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). If you ask someone "What's French Rococo painting like?" the first example you're steered to will likely be one of his, all pink, ribbony, delicate and often a little naughty. A society painter par excellence, he made the beautiful people of his time look as precious as the times and mores allowed.

Yet he also loved to portray children doing all the crazy things that children do, such as dressing up the cat whether Puddy likes it or not. This gently rendered drawing from the Louvre, The Wrapped-Up Cat of 1777, shows just that, with the cat doing that stiff-kitty-no-not-digging-it thing, and a couple of other kids and dogs larking about getting a look. The expression of the dog on the right is priceless. Here's the closeup.

some say he had fifty heads

They were speaking of Kerberos, or Cerberus as we usually spell it, the three-headed hound who guarded the gates of Hades to keep the ghosts of the dead from leaving.

I am thinking he would have been useful last night when somebody bashed in the hatchback window on my Bug. Glass everywhere, and I mean the kind with the heat striping too. (Speaking of Hades, I vote a certain somebody go there.)

So I was thinking I would post on guard dogs today, history of, and what should pop up but that famed guardian? And not just on any webpage mind you, but the fabulously lavish Theoi Greek Mythology, which is wonderful to look at and full of literary quotes.

So here's some lit about the mutha of all guard dogs:

Propertius, Elegies 4. 5 : "May your spirit find no peace with your ashes, but may avenging Cerberus terrify your vile bones with hungry howl."

Propertius, Elegies 3. 18 : "Hither [to Haides] all shall come, hither the highest and the lowest class: evil it is, but it is a path that all must tread; all must assuage the three heads of the barking guard-dog [Kerberos] and embark on the grisly greybeard’s [Kharon’s] boat that no one misses."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :"And there [depicted on the shield of Eurypylos, son of Herakles], a dread sight even for Gods to see, was Kerberus, whom Ekhidna (the Loathly Worm) had borne to Typhon in a craggy cavern's gloom close on the borders of Eternal Night, a hideous monster, warder of the Gate of Haides, Home of Wailing, jailer-hound of dead folk in the shadowy Gulf of Doom."

This is cheering me up immensely for some reason. Have a look at him.

"pussies is quick"

For those of you who haven't seen glorious Sweeney Todd, that's a line from the song sung by Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter) as she's bemoaning the cost of meat and its deleterious effect on her pies - the "worst pies in London" . . .

Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop.

Does a business, but I notice something weird.

Lately, all her neighbors cats have disappeared.

Have to hand it to her!

What I calls, enterprise!

Poppin' pussies into pies!

Wouldn't do in my shop!

Just the thought of it's enough to make you sick!

And I'm telling you them pussycats is quick.

I wish I could tell you this was a fanciful coloration of the tale, but the fact is (oh dear me) when it comes to anything handy on four feet or two wings, starving folk will eat it - even in the metropolises of the 19th century. History isn't always worthy of nostalgia, sorry to say. As you may read in this interesting if unfortunate thread. But does this threat make the little sods behave? No.

Though I did learn that Gordon Ramsay shot and cooked up a rook.

a rabbit god

Ancient Scripts is a nifty website if you like seeing how alphabets developed and what they look like over time and place. I do. But I didn't expect them to have a page on a Mayan rabbit that seems to have gotten drafted as "rabbit scribal god" -- check this out.

dogs of the forest

Roy De Forest (1930-2007), that is. Born in Nebraska, raised in Yakima, Washington, he headed to San Francisco to attend art school. Personally, I do see a deal of the wacky good nature of midcentury San Francisco in his work, though I admit that might be happy prejudice on my part. In any case, he was possessed of a playful vision that wasn't afraid of color or fantasy.

He loved dogs, and painted them so often it was a recognized theme. When you look at some De Forest work you'll see clearly that cute and funny as they are, he gives them a presence and autonomy that lets them racket off on their own adventures, no leash required. You'll see that clearly in the first two "Untitled" works at this page from the Linda Hodges gallery. See the ones flying off in the claws of birds? They look like they're off for a grand airborne expedition. Even the dogs accompanying men on the ground look out of the picture plane with a collected air.

Some more on Roy de Forest, and a few more works, here.

I'd like to thank T. Mike for inspiring this post with his primo De Forest dog tshirt.

dog star

What movie had that dog? You know? No. I don't. But the obliging researcher at Moviedogs does! Although I think that means he actually had to watch "Killer Klowns from Space" to get the dog right. Oof.

a little bulldog book

Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) was a Belgian writer, whose work was Symbolist in approach and often concerned with the theme of death.

Believe me, I know how that sounds. When I tell you that he wrote a short book about the equally short life of his bulldog pup, you may think that sounds even worse. But it's not as bad as you think. In fact it can be lyrical:

And what a smile of attentive obligingness, of incorruptible innocence, of
affectionate submission, of boundless gratitude and total self-abandonment lit
up, at the least caress, that adorable mask of ugliness! Whence exactly
did that smile emanate? From the ingenuous and melting eyes? From the ears
pricked up to catch the words of man? From the forehead that unwrinkled to
appreciate and love, from the four tiny, white, projecting teeth that shone with
gladness against the dark lips, or from the stump of a tail that, with its
abrupt bend, the mark of his race, wriggled at the other end to testify to the
intimate and impassioned joy that filled his small being, happy once more to
encounter the hand or the glance of the god to whom he surrendered himself?

Symbolism was a supremely literate, if not exact movement. This book does have a number of appealing illustrations which I am sure you will enjoy, and you may see if you can download its PDF here -- otherwise you have to settle for the text file.

"every kitten needs a name."

I was going to blog on the dogs in Roy De Forest's paintings, but (audible braking sounds) I find instead I must bring you this story of a holiday kitten rescue.

Kyle Cassidy is a photographer. He did a card series for West Philadelphia's City Kitties Rescue, and was called upon this past Christmas to help a momcat and kittens in need - particularly one kitten of the bunch, who went missing for days in rain and subzero temperatures. Kitten was found, miraculously alive, but six hours later not looking so good. So Kyle, who was on crutches at the time, had a friend drive him and kitten to the emergency vet. They asked him the baby's name, at which he admitted he didn't have one in case it died. That's when they said:

"Every kitten needs a name. Give it a Christmas name."
He named it Bing. Happy ending and photos, oh, the photos, here.

history of spay/neuter?

I wanted to post on that this morning. After all, when you get to thinking about it, my great-grandmother didn't "fix" any of her pets, but jump forward to the late 60's and pets got fixed. So what happened?

I can't find out exactly, though it does seem that the sterilizing of smaller companion animals did gain prominence in the 60's. Also, if I remember my James Herriot correctly, he was doing spays and neuters in the --what, 30's, 40's?

If you know, please give me a heads-up adn I'll post it. Meanwhile here's a well-thought-out bit on "how young is too young to neuter" by Dr. Dave Sweeney at Utah's Best Friends Animal Society.

PS: She's still fine. I can't believe how high she's trying to jump. We keep telling her not to, so she spends today locked up in the office.

elizabeth, fixed

Yes, Elizabeth is home and resting comfortably, so it appears. I am very happy to have her here safely as traffic and a rainstorm made it a lengthy and difficult trip to get her...poor lil' girl. But I'm afraid it's taken up all my posting time, so wish me better luck tomorrow.

toygers: or, i think now i've seen everything

Know how they say domestic cats are "the tiger in the house"? Well, spend $4K and get a Toyger if you really want the closest thing to a tiny Panthera tigris.

A designer cat meant to publicize the plight of tigers in the wild, the Toyger has been a registered breed since 1993. The someday goal of the woman behind the breed, Judy Sugden, is a white-bellied critter with that iconic orange and black spotstripy coat. Apparently they love water -- like their gazillion-pound originals -- and are affectionate and smart.

Yum, huh? They are rather pretty, as this article from LIFE makes most clear. And here's the breed's main website.

S Novym Godom: or, Happy New Year

For the first day of 2008 I wanted to find something really special. I think I have. Check out a Russian computer animation of a kitten, dated 1968.

That's right, I said 1968.

And to kick off the year, here's "A Prayer for All Animals" written by Albert Schweitzer.

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals, especially for
animals who are suffering; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or
frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death. We entreat for them all
Thy mercy and pity, and for all those who deal with them we ask a heart of
compassion and gentle hands and kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to be true
friends to animals and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

May it be a good year for all beings in your house.