Touched by a Feline Angel?

''Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one,'' said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

Go read the whole thing. What a neat story!

iCats?

Scientists in the Netherlands are endowing a robotic cat with a set of logical rules for emotions. They believe that by introducing emotional variables to the decision-making process, they should be able to create more-natural human and computer interactions.

1. Call me crazy, but the phrase logical rules for emotions strikes me as an oxymoron.
2. That does not look like a cat.
3. I'd rather have interactions with my own very real cat, thank you very much.
   

Tummy Tuesdays

Benjamin also provided this week's photo for Tummy Tuesday:

That's one impressive fluffy tummy!
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For more feline tummy goodness, head on over to LisaViolet's joint.

Take the LOLcat Test!

The Divine Miss Marilyn (a/k/a GRC Galidorn's Marilyn Monrex of Woodsprite) took this test:

Your Score: Cheezburger cat

54% Affectionate, 53% Excitable, 75% Hungry

Sure, you deserve one. You helped popularized lolcats from a running gag to an online sensation. Now mainstream media writes asinine columns on this 'phenomenon', students write theses on the topic, programming languages adopt the grammar, and losers write tests about them on dating sites. Now take your cheezburger and never touch the internets again.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

She waives politely to SFP at Pages Turned.

Friday Cat Blogging

Friend of Lincoln State Cat Club Dana Glock sent this photo of Benjamin, the household pet she showed for the first time last February, lounging around at home. Gorgeous boy, isn't he?

Are you an exhibitor or a guest at our annual show and want to show off your beautiful cats? Send photos to catministrator-at-gmail-dot-com. We'd love to showcase them for you!
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In the meantime, don't forget to visit the Friday Ark. Carnival of the Cats goes up every Sunday and the 173rd edition, 7/15, is up at 100 Word Stories Podcast . The 174th edition will be hosted on 7/22 by This Blog Is Full of Crap. There are more weekly cats at Weekend Cat Blogging #111 hosted on 7/21-7/22 by Paulchen's FoodBlog?!

Morris Animal Foundation

Lincoln State Cat Club proudly supports Morris Animal Foundation. In the latest news from MAF:

Morris Animal Foundation’s VETERINARY STUDENT SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Advancing animal medicine tomorrow depends upon the students in veterinary school today. In 2006 Morris Animal Foundation launched the Veterinary Student Scholars Program. By giving students the opportunity to work on research projects early in their careers, we hope to encourage them to consider a career in research. At our annual meeting in June 2007, 23 student scholars presented their projects. Though originally two prizes of $5,000 were to be given, the projects were so outstanding that an anonymous donor came forward to allow MAF to give out six prizes. Prizes of $500, $1,000 and $5,000 were given to the top three students in the companion animal and wildlife categories.

Congratulations to our 2006 Winners:
The top prize in companion animals, The Ballard Award, went to Steven Friedenberg, a student at Cornell University. Under the mentorship of Dr. Rory Todhunter, Steven studied canine hip dysplasia and identified a potential genetic marker that may be linked to this disease.

The top prize in wildlife, The Ballard Award, went to Sophie E. Knafo, a student at Tufts University who was mentored by Dr. Gretchen Kaufman. Gretchen spent the summer in northern Kenya studying disease transmission from domestic livestock to the endangered Grevy’s zebra.

Second place in companion animals went to Cherlene Delgado at the University of Missouri for her work on treating feline asthma. Third place for companion animals went to Ashley Hill at Mississippi State University for her project on hyperelastosis cutis, a genetic disease of quarter horses.

Larry JB Minter at North Carolina State University received second place in wildlife for his project on cryopreserving (freezing) genetic material for use in assisted reproduction of wild species. Third place went to Laura Stokes-Greene at the Ohio State University for her work in studying infectious disease risks to the highly endangered Sumatran rhinoceros.

Morris Animal Foundation applauds each of the students who participated in the Veterinary Student Scholars program. Their commitment and passion will surely make the world a better place for all animals.

Please follow the link below to the Morris Animal Foundation 2006 Veterinary Student Scholars page on our website.

http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/2006_vss

More information about the Morris Animal Foundation Veterinary Student Scholars program is available on our website, http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/scientists
Applications for next year’s awards will be due February 2008.

Join Morris Animal Foundation's online community forum for animal lovers at www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org.

Tootin' the Horn

The first time I clapped eyes on Kenny and Willie (yes, Willie is the tiger equivalent of a person with Down Syndrome) at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, there were living in a cage with not a lot more than concrete and steel mesh.

Not anymore.

If this video of them taking their first steps into their new habitat doesn't bring a tear to your eye or a lump to your throat, nothing will.

Kudos to the all the folks at Turpentine Creek. Job well done.