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A Japanese police probe into the attempted murder of an elderly bedridden woman has reportedly led to an unlikely suspect: a stray cat. Mayuko Matsumoto's daughter found her bleeding profusely from about 20 cuts to her face on Monday at her home in a mountainous region of southern Japan. Police launched an attempted murder investigation after seeing the wounds, some of them relatively severe, according to local broadcaster RKK.

A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that adapts its shape to fit a container. Yet under certain conditions, cats seem to fit this definition. This somewhat paradoxical observation emerged on the web a few years ago and joined the long list of internet memes involving our feline friends. When I first saw this question it made me laugh, and then think. I decided to reformulate it to illustrate some problems at the heart of rheology, the study of the deformations and flows of matter. My study on the rheology of cats won the 2017 Ig Nobel Prize in...

Two women went on a search for their beloved cat after the devastating wildfires that swept across Northern California. During the search, they came across two cats that had survived the unthinkable. They knew they had to save them! After Brandi Ann's home was completely destroyed by the raging fires, she and her girlfriend Steph Gediman were determined to find her cat, Apu, who had gone missing. "We were back in the neighborhood the morning after the fires took place looking for her cat. We got out of the car and I stood there blank in the face just trying...

This cat likes to slob around in bed while watching his favourite TV show - and he does not take kindly to being disturbed. Owner Ann Baret filmed Bizon the five-year-old Scottish Fold cat sitting upright in bed watching his favourite show on TV in Bulgaria.

Gary wasn't used to being around people. He didn't like being touched, or even looked at. If anyone came too close, he'd lash out. He was perfect for the job. Because at the "Working Cats" program, no manners is no problem. Philadelphia's Animal Care and Control Team established the program about four years ago to place unadoptable cats - the biters and the skittish, the swatters and the ones who won't use a litter box - into jobs as mousers at barns or stables. The shelter recently expanded the program to move cats that were less-than-ideal pets into urban jobs...

The fluffy-eared, big-eyed felines are adorable, and they don’t seem to age. They are forever kittens. And while photos of the wild cats have been widely shared online, the cats have been surprisingly hard to find in the wild. Until now. ... Add to that, sand cats tend to live in tough wilderness, places where researchers must endure high temperatures and the occasional sandstorm. Because the animal is so hard to track, assessing populations has been difficult, according to Mother Nature Network. The species is believed to be extinct in Israel, for example, though a litter was born at the...

Things We Can Learn from Dogs and Cats Msgr. Charles Pope • October 4, 2017 • Here at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Parish in Washington, D.C., we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi with the blessing of the animals. Although most folks bring dogs to be blessed, there are usually some who bring cats and a few other animals like ferrets. Once, someone even brought a snake!In the past I have shared a list of things we can learn from dogs. When I was growing up, we always had a dog, so although I did not compose the...

About a third of the world’s population is chronically infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that about 11% of the U.S. population aged 6 years and over is infected with the parasite, while in other countries the infection rate has been shown to be up to 95%. Researchers from 16 institutions across the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, and Australia have now analyzed genetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data from infected individuals, and from studies in cell cultures, to link T. gondii infection with a number of brain disorders,...

With the monstrous Hurricane Irma just days away, much of Miami Beach heeded mandatory evacuation orders from officials and headed out. But some of the Beach's smallest residents — the hundreds of feral cats who call the island home — have no way out. So this week, animal lover Mary Garcia began scooping them up one by one and taking them home. She stocked up on cat food and kennels, and cleared out two rooms in her house in inland Miami-Dade County. By Thursday, she had taken in 40 cats. She jokes that her home has become an "animal hostel."...

St. Francis’ Feast Day and the Things We Can Learn from Cats and Dogs Msgr. Charles Pope • October 3, 2016 • Here at Holy Comforter-St Cyprian Parish in Washington, D.C., we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi with the blessing of the animals. Although most folks bring dogs to be blessed, there are usually some who bring cats and a few other animals like ferrets. Once, someone even brought a snake!Over the years, I have shared with the dog owners a list of “Things we can learn from dogs.” When I was growing up, we always...

The seven cats living at the flooded Dickinson nursing home that sparked a viral image over the weekend are now dry and happily rescued, just like their owners. "They're all safe and sound," said Timothy McIntosh, whose mother-in-law owns the waterlogged La Vita Bella facility. On Sunday, as rains pounded the small Galveston County town, the low-lying facility that was home to 15 elderly patients battling dementia flooded, leaving the residents inundated. A picture of the patients - and one of their cats - sitting in shoulder-deep water started making rounds on the Twitter after owner Trudy Lampson sent it...

To honor cats on the International Cat Day, DW encourages their human companions to protect the planet we all share. From carbon pawprint to waste to wildlife, it is in our hands to take up better practices. Your cat’s sweet purring and loving, contented looks won’t change the fact that it’s guilty for the planet’s suffering — just like we are. A recent study confirms that pets’ meat-based diet has a fatal impact on the climate, due mainly to high carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, our loyal friends are big resource consumers and waste creators. The situation is particularly worrisome...

Australia has a feral predator problem. Feral dogs and dingo/feral mixtures kill large numbers of lambs and calves. They predate on native species.But as bad as feral dogs and dingo/feral mixes are, the top predator in most places is the feral cat. Exotic foxes, that were imported from England are considered pests.Restrictions on gun ownership and hunting have made the feral predator problem worse.  The government could encourage people to carry rifles and shoot feral predators.Instead, the government puts out 1080 ejector capsules. When an animal pulls at the bait, the spring loaded ejector propels the poison capsule into...

A cat and a cockatoo have become an unlikely comic duo after a hilarious standoff between the pair went viral. Footage from Nagoya, Japan, shows the parrot, named Karin, using her beak to prize open a wicker basket - revealing Koume the cat.

Welcome to a bold science-based project to end the overpopulation of homeless pets by developing Spay and Neuter Cookies. Once completed, the Cookies will be capable of spaying and neutering – without surgery. Yes, we’re on track to being able to use food instead of surgery. The Spay and Neuter Cookies are being designed to be species and gender specific. Dog cookies will only work on dogs. Cat cookies will only work on cats. Spay cookies will only spay females. Neuter cookies will only neuter males. Better yet, they are being engineered so that they will only need to be...

Since 1980, PETA has made a name for itself as the number-one authority on animal welfare. UK-based YouTube vlogger Calum McSwiggan, however, wants people to consider otherwise, and recently used a scathing Twitter rant to sound off on the organisation’s true colours. After recent investigations, PETA has come under fire for a lot more than just the scantily clad women they use for marketing. In a March 2017 press release, the Center for Consumer Freedom revealed that PETA euthanized more than 1400 cats and dogs at its Norfolk, Virginia shelter in 2016. PETA defends their actions as ethically and economically...

Sometime around the invention of agriculture, the cats came crawling. It was mice and rats, probably, that attracted the wild felines. The rats came because of stores of grain, made possible by human agriculture. And so cats and humans began their millennia-long coexistence. This relationship has been good for us of course—formerly because cats caught the disease-carrying pests stealing our food and presently because cleaning up their hairballs somehow gives purpose to our modern lives. But this relationship has been great for cats as species, too. From their native home in the Middle East, the first tamed cats followed humans...

You may think that owners pick which pet they want - but sometimes animals make the decision for themselves. In these adorable photographs compiled byBored Panda, reluctant owners reveal just what happens when cats turn up uninvited at their homes - and what little power they have to get rid of them.

 Image from spiegel.com The number of animals that die from lead poisoning because of lead projectiles or lead sinkers on fishing tackle, is highly disputed. The high end estimates are about 10-20 million a year in the United States. Let us put that into perspective. Cats kill birds and small animals. Lead poisoning kills some birds and animals. Animals are killed in collisions with vehicles on our roads.  All animals die. How significant are these numbers?  In Internet wanderings I came across some numbers that show that estimates of the deaths by these various means are pretty wild. The...

Police in Citrus Heights, along with Animal Control, have become involved in the case. They say the two nuns were upset that cats were getting into their garden. "For lack of a better term, these two ladies were at their wit's end and they just wanted some peace, and if they couldn't move themselves then they might be able to move the other half of the problem, which was the cats," Boehle said.