Caturday Art

Happy Caturday!

This cat photo art was created using PiZap.

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New Video on our YouTube Channel

Here's a funny video of me playing with a clothes peg. Mum filmed it the other night. That's her hand you can see in the video. Hope you enjoy it!

How Domestic Cats Spread Around The World: Part 1

Want to know how domestic cats spread around the world?

Mum has been researching this subject and has come back to me with these facts:

For two millenia, we domestic cats remained exclusive to Egypt. Yes, that's right. No one else was allowed to "own" us and any export to other lands was banned. You can guess why, though, can't you? We were so worshipped and revered that Egyptians only wanted us for themselves.

photo credit: KaDeWeGirl via photopin cc

But come on, I hear you ask. How can anyone tell a cat what to do and where to go? Well, some cats (mostly wild ones or semi-wild) did in fact get to travel across land and water into other regions.

Also, along came humans with their trade and transport and so we would end up going with them. Either by our own accord (sneaking on board a ship, probably on the hunt for food and prey), or by these traders who saw us as vermin control. And so we did our business and got travelling with these people across the seas and trade routes, finding ourselves in places like Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East, and even across to Europe. Oh yes, we spread our beauty and wisdom far and wide.

Just imagine if all this didn't happen? Can't bear thinking about, because for one thing we would not have been able to meet our devoted humans, who again choose to worship us. Amazing, isn't it?
Perhaps these humans shared lives with us in ancient Egypt?

Anyway, back to facts. It seems that it was 2,500 years ago when seafarers and mariners started
transporting cats. We were smuggled on board and carried away for sale or exchange on commercial ships along the sea routes of Spain, Italy and other Mediterranean islands. After we reached Rome, we were carried even further throughout Western Europe and soon become widespread through Britain (I wonder if I can trace my own family tree back to these cats). All was fine until those horrendous Middle Ages came along. But I shall leave this part until next time.

(to be continued...)

Wordless Wednesday

Don't you just love scaring your folks?

Melt Your Heart Monday

This reminds me of when I met my mum for the first time. Thankfully, my shelter pen wasn't a cage like this kitty's was, but I was sure excited when I saw my mum come for me. I knew she would. And when I saw her I recognized her soul energy right away! I really wish I had a video of that moment.

 

 And speaking of me, I have a new video up on my youtube channel. You may have seen it already as I've shared it on twitter. In this video I'm drawing back the curtain to look outside. I'd just woken up from a nap and thought I'd heard something. Do I look cool or just lazy?

 

Sunday Selfie

Happy Sunday! We couldn't decide which photo to use for this Sunday's selfie so went with a collage instead.

The Sunday Selfies blog hop is hosted by The Cat On My Head

Caturday Art

It's all about books today. The first photo art was created with PhotoFunia.

And we decided to continue with this classic oldie theme and turned the next photo into sepia. In this photo I'm checking out the paperback edition of my mum's new book, The Snowflake Pendant, which has just been released. You can get it from Amazon. It's also available as a digital download. This photo was created using PicMonkey

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On My Own Terms: How I Like To Be Petted

The following video from Jackson Galaxy got me thinking about how I like to be petted.


.

I don't have any problems with Mum petting me as she has the best hands ever and she is gentle and loving with her petting and stroking. She is sensitive to my needs and always knows when I've had enough of the stroking. She also has healing hands, and I love it so much. Sometimes I just want to have her give me Reiki because it feels so good!

A photo posted by Athena (@athenawisekitty) on Nov 20, 2014 at 9:47am PST

Unfortunately, there are some people that just have no idea about how to stroke a cat.  Ever been stroked by a really rough heavy hand? Oh, no thanks! Please go away, heavy handed person. You obviously haven't a clue what a cat likes. Especially a lady goddess like myself.

A photo posted by Athena (@athenawisekitty) on Oct 14, 2014 at 3:45am PDT

What I like is lots of gentleness. Lots of soft energy. Sometimes I jump onto Mum's lap and just sink down and enjoy all the petting. I purr so happily and this makes her pet me more. I show her how much I like it by turning up to look at her and then I give her my super-loving heartmelting gaze. We are then in this bubble of healing loving light.

A photo posted by Athena (@athenawisekitty) on Oct 22, 2014 at 3:46am PDT

Click on this video to see how happy and content I am as I sleep on Mum's lap.

A video posted by Athena (@athenawisekitty) on Jan 7, 2015 at 3:20am PST

So here is what I don't like again: Rough petting from smelly hands. Hard and pushy so that it feels like I'm being pressed down into the ground. Don't pet me after you've been petting another cat. Wash your hands first! Actually, wash your hands anyway because I don't know where they've been!

Wordless Wednesday Wisdom

It's important to meditate daily

Busy humans must make time in their day to meditate. Felines however, can meditate whenever they want, and can do so with great ease.

Melt Your Heart Monday

Look at the love going on between these two. How sweet! Have a great week everyone :)

Sunday Selfie

I've chosen two photos today for The Cat On My Head's Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.

The first is a bit of a disaster as you can see. I was warming myself on the radiator (it's OK, it isn't too hot and Mum put a towel on it for me) and this is the result.

Mum tried to take it for me by holding her iPhone under my chin. She wasn't that close, but she cropped the photo. Mmm.. not so sure.

So I decided to include the second photo she took the other day because I like it. It's really mysterious with the shadows, don't you think?

Caturday Art

HAPPY CATURDAY!

We thought we'd try a different photo editor today - PiZap. We saw it on the Cat On My Head blog last week and thought it looked really creative so Mum had to go and try it out. You can tell that she had fun with this pic. It looks so arty, but with minimum effort on her behalf! 

After using the Amber Forest filter in PiZap, she then went to PicMonkey and added the green frame to match my eyes.

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Be the Change for Animals: Adopt Don't Shop

Please adopt a pet from a rescue shelter. Don't buy.

As a rescue cat I like to help other shelter cats find the forever homes they all deserve. I know how terrifying it is to find yourself orphaned and homeless. I would rather not remember that awful time. I was a small kitten and can't remember much of it, but it has definitely left its mark on me.

One way it's left its mark is that I don't like being left alone in the house for long. Well, I don't like being left alone at all really. I follow my mum everywhere.

But this post isn't about me. This post is for Be the Change for Animals and I want to share some cats that are wanting forever homes. I can't feature them all here, so I will tell you of a great place to find your forever cat if you live in the UK. It's a website called CatChat.org, which is a fantastic web based Cat Rescue resource and registered charity, whose mission statement is "to facilitate the rehoming of unowned cats and kittens nationally through cat rescue groups, and to promote kindness to animals"

Rescue shelters across the UK and Ireland are listed on the CatChat.org database and you can view photos and details of all the cats available at your local shelter. So, if you are looking to rehome a cat in the UK, do check out this site!

At the bottom of this post there is also a link to my mum's Pinterest Pet Rescue board where she pins photos of shelter animals from around the world (mostly the US) who are really desperate and unfortunately are on Death Row. It's heartbreaking that some of them won't make it out of those shelters alive. Why? It's not fair, is it? They deserve a life too. Why is it right for humans to decide whether an animal should live or die?

You see, that's why it is so important to adopt your pet from a shelter.  Doing so means that you are saving not one life, but two, because adopting an animal means you are making room for another animal in need at the rescue centre.

Follow Marie Symeou's board Pet Adoption & Rescue on Pinterest.

ROYALTIES FROM MY RESCUE STORY WILL BE DONATED TO HELP OTHER SHELTER ANIMALS. Click HERE FOR WHERE TO BUY

Wordless Wednesday

Why Do Tabbies Have the "M" Marking On Their Foreheads?

As a little kitten, my M marking on my forehead was pretty striking, as you can see from this picture.

It's still there now of course, and I am very proud of it, as all tabby cats should be. But what exactly is it, and where did it come from?

As I am not the only tabby that has this distinct marking, I don't think it stands for Marie (or Mum). But there is a story that it does stand for the Virgin Mary. And Mary is a variant of the name Marie, isn't it? Now, the story goes that there was a cat and her litter of kittens in the stable when Jesus came into the world, and as his mother Mary stroked it, she left the "M" marking on the cat's forehead.

However, there is another version of the origins of the tabby "M" marking. The "M" is said to have been left by the Prophet Mohammed as gratitude to his favourite tabby cat, who was named Muezza. This cat had once saved him from a venomous snake, and legend has it that when the prophet was called to prayer and went to pick up his robe, Muezza was asleep on the sleeve. Rather than disturbing the cat, Mohammed chose to cut off the sleeve and let the cat enjoy his nap instead. When the cat awoke, the prophet marked his forehead with "M" and since that day all tabby cats have that marking.

But cats go back further than that. We know how the Egyptians just loved us and worshipped us (some of those are reborn today, I think, in our own mums and dads and humans. Mum and I certainly shared many lives together, and there is bound to be a few ancient Egyptian ones in there!

The ancient Egyptians called cats "Mau" - probably because it sounds like "meow". So this too can be why us tabbies have this amazing marking!

So what do you think the M stands for?

How about Magnificent? Magical? Mystical?

Melt Your Heart Monday

You've probably seen this video before but it's so adorable we just had to share this morning. Have a great Monday!

Sunday Selfie

Hope you are all having a nice Easy Sunday.

For Sunday Selfies this week Mum helped me take this. I was sitting on the radiator warming myself up one evening and she came up to me and snapped this photo with her iPhone.

The Sunday Selfies Blog Hop is hosted by The Cat on my Head.

Caturday Art

Happy Caturday!

My mum made this in Picmonkey and added one of the ink borders in pixlr to create this effect.

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Cat Book and Cat Tarot

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase via some of these links I will receive a small commission.

Mum wants to share these with you. She got them at Christmas and she absolutely loves them!

First, here is this amazing cat book. It's bigger than me as you can see!

It's a book called The Cat Encyclopedia and it's so heavy that Mum fears she might drop it on me so she has to be very careful when she is reading it.

This book has so many amazing feline facts. Everything is here and more. Right from the earliest history of cats on this planet to how we evolved into the domestic cats that now dominate the world.

Yes, all you need to know about cats is here. Just so much detail you probably won't get with other cat books (those that Mum has read anyway, and she's read a lot of cat books!). You will learn about cat anatomy, cat care, cat behavior, cat health and lots lots more.

My mum is fascinated by the astonishing beauty of this book and its wealth of information. Packed with stunning images and extensive details, it's a must-read and must-have for any cat lover!

Cat Tarot

And now for the Cat Tarot card deck.

One of my mum's many hobbies is the Tarot. She has been dabbling in it on and off for years. So, as a cat lover, of course, she just fell in love with this cat tarot deck. It's called the Tarot of Pagan Cats Tarot Deck.

The artwork of this deck is beautiful and Mum can't stop admiring it. She says it helps her feel better and she finds all the art and symbolism inspiring. She suddenly has so many creative ideas. Maybe it's in the cards?

The Tarot of Pagan Cats Mini Tarot deck is based on the symbolism of The Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck
 and sees the tarot from the cat's perspective.

What does this cat think?
I think this tarot deck is purrfect and magical - just like us cats!

Disclosure: I was not sponsored for this post. However, there are some affiliate links to help pay towards running costs of this blog.Full Disclosure.

Wordless Wednesday

Melt Your Heart Monday

Here is a cute little video for your humans. I bet they need a bit of cheering up on this Monday. I know my mum does.

Hope you all have a good week!

 

Sunday Selfie

We like this selfie because I look mysterious.

Sunday Selfies is hosted by The Cat On My Head.

Caturday Art

Welcome to the first Caturday Art of 2015!

Today, I am sending out special healing energy, direct from my healing paws, to all who need it, and of course some extra healing purrs as well!

You see, I am aware that some of my furry friends in the pet blogosphere are currently in need of some extra healing. There is sweet Joe from Marg's Animals, who I don't know that well but I heard about his accident through our friends at Alassandra, The Cats & Dogs, and of course there is dear Cody, who hasn't been feeling very well. So here I am sending out my healing purrs and energy to you guys. Mum has sent some too (well, she doesn't purr but she is trained in Reiki so she channels energy healing through her hands with loving light and thoughts). Some of you may already know that she has a special Facebook group where she sends free distant healing to pets in need. (If you want to request a healing just visit the link for details).

But you know what? We can all heal our friends, family, animals and even the world. The power is within us all. It's called love. The healing energy of love and positive thought can do amazing things.

So reach out with your hearts today and send loving thoughts out to those you love. To those that need it. To the whole world!

Love and Peace for 2015 and always!

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