My Feline Friends

This week on Cats in the News I want to profile another cat hero. For 41 years the Purina pet food company has sponsored the Hall of Fame in which four pets are chosen to be honoured as heroes for saving lives. During the time span of the contest a total of 117 dogs, 24 cats and one horse have been inducted from among the entries received.

This year a cat named Nemo is one of the winners. Twenty-one pounds of cuddly fun, Nemo’s routine was to wake his dad up for his breakfast every morning. One morning he jumped on his mom, Angela instead, and would not cease his bids for attention, by meowing, swatting and nudging her. When she turned to her husband, Peter, to ask his opinion on Nemo’s bizarre behaviour, she discovered that he had stopped breathing, and had no pulse. Angela called 911, and when the paramedics arrived they were able to revive Peter. He received heart surgery soon after that, and is doing well today, thanks to Nemo’s persistence in waking his mom that night.

Nemo, and the other three winners will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony at PawsWay, the Purina pet centre in Toronto. To read the full story, and learn about other animal heroes check out the Purina website at

Purina

Hot Docs, an international documentary film festival, being held in Toronto Ontario, is currently featuring a film called Cat Ladies. In an attempt to overcome the stereotype of the cat lady, four women are profiled who each house between three and over one hundred felines. In the film, the women speak openly about their lives, which gives the audience some insight into the factors which underlie their intense relationship with cats.

Whether the film is successful in its aim, or only promotes the stereotype of the cat lady, is in the eye of the beholder. Since I have not personally viewed the film, I’ll leave the reviews to the professionals. If you would like to investigate further, I’ll supply the links below. For now, here is the trailer from which you can draw your conclusions.

Fast Tube by Casper

If you want to read the reviews, check out these links:

National Post

She Does the City