Carnival of the Cats: Let My People Meow Edition

Welcome everyone, to the 108th Carnival of the Cats! We're the wonkitties, Pushkin and Orloff. We're hosting, and we're thrilled, because it's Easter and Passover, and we love holidays. And we love other cats -- as long as they don't actually join our family. But they can appear on the human's blog. Oh, yeah, we have a human, too. She's not important, except for her opposable thumbs (the better to open Fancy Feast tins with).

I'm Pushkin. I look like the Sphinx. That's all you need to know. Actually, Tigger looks like the Sphinx, too. It makes sense for kitties to sit like this -- it reminds us of a time when we were gods.

I'm Orloff. It looks like I'll be doing most of the hosting tonight, because, like Nardo, I'm a good boy. Pushkin's too busy posing. The human will be typing (those opposable thumbs of hers do come in handy).

We thought we'd start (Tigger and Nardo notwithstanding) with some sad stories -- not because we want to make you feel bad, but because these stories are important and concern the welfare of felines, big and small. At Catymology, a little cat tells us the heartwrenching tales of tigers who deserved so much better than what they got. And, at Mind of Mog, we learn that Jezi is missing. (I hope, by the time this carnival is up, that Jezi will be back home.)
Phoebe's story is more bittersweet. After a rough start, a special human gave her years of love. She is greatly missed, on the anniversary of her adoption, and every other day, we are sure. And at Caturday, an important message about the welfare of cats (okay, and dogs), with which we wholeheartedly concur.
And now, some Easter kitties for you all. But first, the human loves Stargazers, and she bought some for Easter this year. Usually, we love plants in our home, because we get to chew on them and then barf them up all over freshly washed laundry. But this year the human finally got smart and sprayed these flowers with Bitter Apple! Gross! We haven't touched them, so they still look purdy. Check them out.

The Boyz at No Deep Thoughts may not have flowers to chew on, but they get way better Easter treats than chocolate. One of Sissy Willis' kitties is doing exactly what we would do to a fake bunny -- ignoring him. Hippety, hoppety, indeed! At Mensa Barbie's place, a kitty after our own hearts -- swathed in gifts, but keen to receive even more of them. Boo at Manx Mnews shows 'em what we cats think about being dressed up like fools! Boo -- you're our hero!
At Egoist, Morris is an Easter kitty, who maybe should drop by this kitty's place, since he's afraid of Easter bunnies. Hey -- we can relate! A big, bunny invading your home? We'd cover our eyes, too.
For a glamorous, world-travelling touch, we're off to Jerusalem for Passover, where Missy, at Elms in the Yard, gets a chin scratch. That, after some brave exploring. (Our human went to Israel last year for her work, and told us that there are more cats per square foot there than political parties in the whole country! Sounds good to us!)
While we talk of matters spiritual, check out Entrevanche's Mr. Gato, doing his best Bodhisattva impression. He looks at peace, this kittysattva!
A troika -- no, make that a fourka -- of gorgeous orange puddies are our next Carnival-ees: Beezersong boasts that he was interviewed by Frisky. Just two saucy redheads, talkin' shop.
This orange and white kitty discusses the perils of living with a poet, at Watermark. He looks pretty mellow, though, for a cat who talks of perils.
And boy, we thought all Danes were blonde! Not so, some have Titianesque good looks, like this guy at Dorte's Smadderkasse.
From Denmark to France, where this Euro-cat is pretty cool -- and a handsome devil. And ooh, la la -- Diva at Chez Diva learns what it feels like to be a cheese-eating surrender monkey, with a kitty as spoiled French youth, and herself as a hapless Jacques Chirac.
One thing that unites kitties the world over is our love of food. BBD and Aye Aye share the love, and the kibble, on Good Friday, over at Composite Drawlings.
Handsome goes above the call of duty, not only eating his veggies, but eating brussel sprouts, at that. I think we'd have to be pretty hungry before we'd try those, but the human likes them. Yogurt, on the other hand, we're fond of, like Kieran, who indulges while Aidan stretches.
Chocolate Chip isn't just Striving for Average. He's smackin' his chops. Wonder what he just ate? Maybe, like Rosie, he smells fish.
Sissy Willis' BabyCakes reaches for a plant to chew on. I'll bet it hasn't been sprayed with Bitter Apple. Lucky BabyCakes! Sissy has some other cat pictures, too. BabyCakes poses in the shower. Tiny has the cat-itude down perfectly, and well, we don't really like these inter-kitty blog politics, but we love the kitty pics.
Cat-blog "issues" aside, X'anath takes a stand on human politics. Hmm. We never thought of using our box that way. But we do think about good photo-ops, like the following felines:
At Pages Turned, Claudius and Ellie have gone gargoyle. At Rosa's, Fridolin is tres mellow, while Maruschka is non-plussed. They're Swiss kitties, by the way. At Far Cartouche, Kwan Yin and Maple await the herds. Sydney likes birdwatching, at Lady Gunn's domicile. Izzy won't settle to just watch birds, no sir. At Anchored by Grace, Jasper, Cosmo, Lotus Blossom and Riley find their peaceful sleep invaded by a human with a camera. They don't seem to mind, though. Nor do these exotic cats, snoozing outdoors. It looks like Kiri is also going to find his peaceful sleep invaded, when his favourite old mattress is thrown out. Clover, at Melange, likes boxes, as do we...and sure poses cutely in them, as do we. Mollie likes winter woodboxes -- what will she do in summer?
Jax, at Texas Oasis, does The Pose. Dude -- you rule! Cleo, the Wondercat, does what cats do so very well, over at Cool Cucumber.
Bagheera loves the camera, if not the photographer. Bagheera should really be on the cover of Vogue, if you ask us. And Orloff has seen the girl cat of his dreams in Tinker, who is curiouser and curiouser. Church and Snowball are among the purdiest black and white cats we have ever seen. (And we really don't like giving compliments to other cats.) Bandit and Smoke want out -- boy, can we ever relate! The human keeps us in. Something about, "for your own good." Right, well, especially in spring, we envy cats like Caesar and crew, at Niobium.
Sigh, purr...Still, we are cognizant of the fact that we are lucky. Look how poor little Sadie's life started. But now she's safe and loved.
At Keewee's Corner, a kitty asks, what is THAT? Shadow is an adorable kitten at the Common Room. Sebastian is tabby and white and handsome all over, in this closeup. Tinker looks pretty psychedelic at Middle-Fork. Is Timothy Leary around? Or is he dead? What did the Moody Blues say?
Now, onto some very important cats -- two cats who look just like wonkitty Orloff! Huck is appalled, and tres handsome, and this kitty is channeling Norma Desmond.
As we wind down this week's carnival, we wonkitties would like to wish our cousin, Ollie, a very happy TWENTIETH birthday! Yes, he's twenty. And we think he looks damned fine.
Ollie isn't the only kitty marking a birthday. Pasha and Pixel at Just Between Strangers, are nearly a year old now. And Pepper is sixteen! Way to go, Pepper -- you've come a long way, kitten.
We have to say, hosting this carnival is fun, but it's aging us, speaking of festivities. Cats have to do all the work, even without opposable thumbs. This kitten knows it, and Ferdinand T. Cat, the Conservative Cat, knows it, too. And Gato knows how unappreciative humans are. When we try to help, they accuse us of deliberately impeding their progress. No wonder the Maximum Leader, over at K. T. Cat, had to go on a Ray Milland-style catnip binge!
Well, that ends another carnival. We know we may not have done it better than you, Skoda and Braun, but like you two, we love Irving Berlin. May we all celebrate what us lucky cats have in common -- humans who love to blog about us. Look at the four blogging purposes we serve! Keeping those in mind, we hope you all, felines and humans, enjoyed this visit with us. We're already looking forward to next week's Carnival of the Cats.