A couple weeks ago, I posted a video of Maru, the box-diving dare devil kitty. He’s a fearless, cute Scottish Fold who lives in Japan and spends his days diving into tunnels and boxes, thus providing us with hours of entertainment on YouTube.

Check out his blog (it’s in Japanese) and his other videos on YouTube. The video above has clips of all of his best tricks.

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More from Maru, the playful Japanese kitty. This time, Maru entertains us with his cool tunnel toy.

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Had to include this one…

Check it out.  It’s so funny.  Contains videos of cats doing incredible flips, running on their front legs, doing the “Curly Shuffle”, and all kinds of other zany stuff.  About half-way through it gets a little slow for just a moment.  Keep watching though, ’cause it picks up again.

Enjoy!

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Here’s the step-by-step method she developed.

So after a week or so of brainstorming, I came up with this recipe for homemade kitty litter.

1. Shred newspaper in a paper shredder. I collect the shredded paper in an unused litter box.
2. Soak the paper in warm water mixed with a few squirts gentle, biodegradable dish soap (like Ecover). The shredded paper takes on a cooked oatmeal consistency. The paper won’t come completely clean, but the water will turn grey.
3. Drain the water (an old colander works wonders) and repeat the soaking process minus the soap.
4. Sprinkle baking soda liberally on the wet paper. Knead it in to the mixture (you might want to wear gloves to avoid getting ink on your hands).
5. Squeeze the remaining moisture out until it’s as dry as you can get it.
6. Crumble over a screen and leave to dry (it takes a few days).

Once it’s dry, I put about an inch and a half to two inches of the paper crumbles in the litter box, scoop solids daily and change it once a week. It takes about a half an hour to 45 minutes to make a 2-3 week supply of litter, and it’s kind of fun, in an elementary school art project way.

With the exception of a few cents worth of baking soda, it’s free. I use the circular newspapers and Pennysavers (make sure to remove staples) that come to our house. The baking soda does a good job of controlling odor, and it doesn’t track very much. I think it actually works better than most of the store bought products I’ve tried.

Once the temperatures are no longer arctic here, I plan to do this outside and use the wastewater to water my lawn.

Here’s how it starts out.

And here’s what the finished product looks like.

Read the original article here.

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This video does a nice job of showing us the very beginner stages of toilet training your cat.  In this case, they’re using Litter Kwitter products.  (You can tell by the colored inserts they place in the toilet bowl.)  The kitten looks to be about 4 or 5 months old.

Great soundtrack, too!

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If you’re a cat lover and haven’t heard about the designer Ashera (sometimes misspelled “Ashira”) cat with the minimum price tag of $22,000, then you must be living under a rock!  The UK’s Mail Online reported on the luxury cat, as did the Pet News Examiner and msnbc.com, informing readers of the facts as they found them:

• Bred by a company called Life Style Pets in California
• Bred from the African serval and Asian leopard cat, crossed with an undisclosed domestic breed
• Stands 4ft tall on its hind legs
• 9-month waiting list to get a kitten
• Hand-deliver to client
• Spayed, neutered, micro-chipped on delivery
• Lives for 25 years
• Weighs up to 30lb.
• Starting price is $22,000 (£12,000)
• A “Hypoallergenic” version of the Ashera costs $37,000.
• The “Snow” Ashera costs $65,000 (background color is white)
• The “Royal” Ashera costs $125,000. (spots and stripes are “tiger orange” instead of plain black)

So I started digging around just because I found the topic fascinating and the photos and videos of the cats captivating.  They’re so regal looking!

But then the other day I found some alarming information on various web sites.  It seems that there are a good number of cat experts who are claiming that the Ashera is completely a hoax.  They say that the new Ashira strain is really just a Savannah cat, which has been a recognized breed since the year 2000 and ranges in price from $2,000 to $12,000.

There’s an interesting and revealing online conversation on the blogspot Ashera vs. Savannah Cat, with blog entries by a Chris Shirk of “Cutting Edge Savannahs”.  Apparently, Shirk found that three first-generation Savannah cats that he had bred himself were being held at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands after an attempt to illegally import them as Ashera cats.

Here’s an excerpt from the online conversation:

DNA evidence proves that the Ashera is a Savannah cat

Finally, the news we were waiting for. We knew the result, we just wanted it officially confirmed. The three Ashera kittens confiscated at Schiphol Airport months ago are F1 Savannahs bred by Chris Shirk of Cutting Edge Savannahs. His post today to the Savannah cat community:

I have received official word today that it has been confirmed all three Savannah kittens confiscated in the Netherlands are from my cattery!!!
The court is still proceeding and the decision has not yet been made as to where the kittens will go. I have requested their return but it’s up to the judge. However, their forensic labs have all confirmed they are from parent cats owned by me, Christopher Shirk of Cutting Edge Cats. They are Savannahs produced by my cats, not Ashera cats from Simon Brodie’s scamming Life Style Pets business.

I guess Simon Brodie, if you’re reading this, you’ll do what you do best….disappear. …But you will face the consequences of what you did to my kittens. CHRIS

Read entire conversation here.

The “maker” of these Ashera cats, or perhaps I should say the “con artist” is the California company called Life Style Pets, with Simon Brodie at the helm.

Kessie Carroll gives us more interesting facts on the cats, while clearly and strongly clarifying that they are indeed Savannah’s and not a separate, new breed.

Savannah cats and Ashera cats both come housebroken, at 8-12 months old. Only males are sold as pets, because they are sterile. However, savannahcatbreed.com also sells breeders. They are about the same price as the cats offered as pets, again, prices varying depending on generation.

According to the websites, Savannah cats have almost dog-like personalities. They like going for walks on leashes, like car rides, playing fetch, and swimming. What a great pet: a cat that acts like a dog! In fact, they make friends with dogs easier than they do other household pets.

These exotic cats can be cared for like any domesticated cat. They eat cat food and use a litter box. But every breeder website has a warning that sometimes purebred Serval cats are sold under the guise of Savannah cats. Servals aren’t quite as good pets, and among other things have to have a pricey diet of raw meat. It seems that Savannah cats are so hard to breed and in such demand that unscrupulous breeders will take advantage of their customers.

Read the original article here.

But then msnbc.com (whom we tend to trust) reports that Brodie is aware of the genetic similarity between his Ashera and the already-established Savannah.

While Lifestyle Pets admits this type hybrid breeding has been done before, “the Ashera is unique in that genetic monitoring is used to standardize breeding and ensure that the defining features and size of the [animal] remain exceptionally consistent.” And like most other super-luxury items, the company says it will sell only 100 Asheras per year worldwide, with only 50 being sold to U.S. customers

Read the original article here.

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You can see another video about the ashira cat specifically here.

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“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a toilet called the Cat Genie.”

Just a quick check on google will inform you that the CatGenie is supposedly the world’s only self-washing, self-flushing cat box.  And apparently the newer version drains hairballs, too.  The article in the Ventura Star reports that It is said to be invented by a former rocket scientist.

Here’s a video from Yahoo Video of the CatGenie cat toilet “in action”, along with testimonials from users… er… owners of users, that is. Some of the main points in the video…

Washable, permanent litter-like granuals

Dome to hide box

No smell, due to sanitizing solution

Eco-friendly, as opposed to regular litter

More info and videos here.

Technorati Tags: cat toilet

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