Stray Cats Find Home in a Bookstore in Hong Kong 

source: http://lovemeow.com/2011/05/stray-cats-find-home-in-a-bookstore-in-hong-kong/

One of the kitties adopted into the bookstore

Two little kittens spending time with a customer 

A small bookstore (SAM KEE Bookstore, 森記圖書) in North Point, Hong kong became a little haven for many local homeless and stray cats. According to Chunli who visited the store recently, the owners of the bookstore have taken in many homeless cats and let them sleep in, play inside and hang out with their customers. The kitties are given plenty of food and love and attention from everyone in the store. They love to patrol around the aisles and nap on a stack of books or often time a customer’s lap.

Many people come to the bookstore to read and spend time with the kitties. Some are regular customers who have bonded with some of the cats in the store.

The bookstore is a permanent home to many cats who otherwise would be roaming the street.  They feel very loved and happy there.

Photos courtesy of ©Chunli Duan (flickr: chunli-duan).

Welcome sign in the bookstore

There are many cat trees in the store for the cats to climb and hang out 

Every corner of the store, there is a cat bed for the kitties to nap in 

Two of the many cat residents there. 

 

Nap time! 

The owners of the bookstore put up a photo of each cat they adopted from the street and created a little gallery in the store. 

The bookstore is decorated with all kinds of cat ornaments

Tabby Cat Adopts 30 Chicks 

source: http://lovemeow.com/2011/05/tabby-cat-adopts-30-chicks/

A Chinese farmer Lao Yang had thirty chicks that he placed in an enclosure next to his bed. When the little chicks escaped, Lao was afraid that their house cat would find them as prey, but something unexpected happened. The cat became like a mother to the little chicks, grooming them and treating them like her own. The chicks love running and chasing the cat. How cool is that!

Photos and story from AD.nl and Cute Overload.

 

White the Beautiful Deaf Kitty 

Source: http://lovemeow.com/2011/01/white-beautiful-deaf-kitty/

"I am shy!" - White the kitty  

White the snow white kitty is hard of hearing. She was born with blue and hazel eyes. Though not all odd-eyed white cats are deaf, White is one of them.

White was adopted by Lu who uses her hands as the prime means of communication. By using body language, White knows right away if Lu calls her to come over.


White has much sharper vision than hearing cats. Because of her deafness, she has adjusted herself to the environment. She is very sensitive to vibrations. When Lu enters the room where White is asleep, she often taps the floor to let her know that she is coming in, so that she will not startle her baby girl.
White loves to be petted. She often walks up to Lu for love and attention. A sense of touch provides smoothingness to many deaf cats.

Even though White cannot hear, she knows when you are talking through vibration. To her, talking is like purring rather than a noise. She enjoys anything that creates similar vibration such as a vacuum cleaner and she’d sit on it when it’s on while many other cats would run away from it.

White is strictly an indoor cat but she does not miss the great outdoors by sitting by the window, watching her daily bird TV.

The little snow white is just like any other cats when it comes to play. She loves her toys, cardboard boxes, and bottle caps. Even though she cannot hear, she never feels any different and is perhaps more affectionate because of her love of being petted.

White’s world may be quiet, but it is full of colors, vibrance, touch and smell. To Lu, there is nothing cuter than seeing White lazing on her bed, snoozing away.

Photos courtesy of ©Lu You.

White loves to be touched and petted

Goofy girl

White spots potential prey

Playing hide n' seek

"Sweepy!"

Gorgeous eyes

Snooze!

Jack the Blind Kitty Adopts Little Rescue Kitten  

Source: http://lovemeow.com/2011/10/jack-blind-kitty-adopts-little-rescue-kitten/

Jack the cat was born without eyes. When he was introduced to C.J. a little rescue kitten, he took to her immediately and became like a “mother” to a little white fuzzball. This is an remarkable story.

“Little C.J. was found in the local burn pile, we’re unsure whether she was left there by a human or if her mom was a stray that wandered off or died. A friend of my mom’s found her and planned on keeping her. However, she wasn’t going to be around for a couple days and asked if we’d babysit. While she was here, Jack decided to adopt C.J. He carries the kitten in his mouth like a mother cat would, cleans her, and plays with her. C.J. just loves it. Because of Jack, everyone decided it would be for the best if C.J. stayed here,” said Jamie on her flickr.

Little rescue kitty C.J.

Jack who was born without eyes adopted the new kitten and gives her “motherly” love

C.J. learning to climb

Latest updates of the two best friends:

Photos by ©Jamie (flickr: Jcspenny).

Foster Kitten Adopts Tiny Rescue Chihuahua 

source: http://lovemeow.com/2011/05/foster-kitten-adopts-tiny-rescue-chihuahua/

Cheech the kitten and Casanova the chihuahua, best friends

Cuddles!

A little ginger kitten named Cheech used up a couple of his nine lives before he was saved by Amanda and brought to his foster home back in 2009. He was much smaller than his age, but the little guy was getting stronger every day. Then one day, he was introduced to a teeny tiny five day old chihuahua puppy named Casanova who was an orphan. From that point on, something remarkable happened between the two.
Cheech took to the little puppy immediately as if they were meant to be together. He took him in his arms and groomed and cleaned him. The puppy responded to his every touch, snuggling up to his new friend like a pup to his mother. When Cheech was tired, he would climb into the puppy’s box and cuddle with Casanova, sharing his heating blanket. To Cheech, he was “his” puppy and best friend.

Thanks Kimberly for letting us put the story together for Cheech and Casanova. Photos ©Kimberly Jennery. (More Kimberly’s foster stories here).

Navy Sailors Bonded with 3 Stowaway Kittens 

Source: http://lovemeow.com/2011/04/navy-soldiers-bonded-with-3-stowaway-kittens/

Kitten and his cuddle buddy

Kitten gives soldier a nose kiss

It all began when Eric Hanst and his fellow sailors were Navy deployed overseas. When they were in port for a few days, they were greeted by an unexpected guest. “A cat came aboard via mooring line. We lost track of her, and found her later that evening. We managed to get her back to the pier, and waved goodbye as we took off. This cat seemed unusually upset by this,” said Hanst.

What they did not know was that the cat didn’t just come alone. “It turns out, when she managed to sneak on board, she also managed to smuggle on three kittens. We thought she had given birth on the ship, but it was pointed out to us that they were too big to be only a few days old.”


When they were sailing off, no one on board was aware of the kittens. The little ones were very confused, looking for their mom for almost four days until they were discovered in the machine shop. “We found one initially and the other two a couple hours afterwards,” Hanst added.

Even though the crew had little experience bottle feeding a kitten, they all jumped into action, doing everything they could to help these little creatures. They did not have a bottle, so they improvised. They found boxes and necessary things to make a temporary nest for the kittens. They were all so proud, holding their new furry buddies and letting them climb all over them. When it comes to bottle feeding the kittens, these sailors showed remarkable love and care to the tiny little creatures that were about the size of their palm. They were gentle to the kittens and tended to their every whim.

“After the initial shock of being found, and feeding, the kittens were just as happy and playful as any other cute little bugger you’d find anywhere else. They were a great boost to crew morale, and I LOVED THEM,” said Hanst.

After they docked, the kittens were transported to local veterinary services. “We managed to find homes for all three kittens. I talked a friend into adopting one of the kittens, the other two were taken in by my a ‘cat couple’ who are regular rescuers.”

The soldiers rescued the kittens and the kittens gave them the companionship and love they needed during these long voyages. They both needed one another and it was a blessing that they found each other.

Photos and story submitted by ©Eric Hanst (flickr: Dire01). 

Little tabby loves to climb

Exploring new territory

Tabby trying to get into the jacket

Soldiers enjoy playing with the kittens. They are a great boost to crew morale.

They share a special bond

Nose cell transplant enables paralyzed dogs to walk
source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20365355

Jasper the dachshund walking again 

Scientists have reversed paralysis in dogs after injecting them with cells grown from the lining of their nose.

The pets had all suffered spinal injuries which prevented them from using their back legs.
The Cambridge University team is cautiously optimistic the technique could eventually have a role in the treatment of human patients.The study is the first to test the transplant in "real-life" injuries rather than laboratory animals.

n the study, funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the neurology journal Brain, the dogs had olfactory ensheathing cells from the lining of their nose removed.
These were grown and expanded for several weeks in the laboratory.

Treadmill

Of 34 pet dogs on the proof of concept trial, 23 had the cells transplanted into the injury site - the rest were injected with a neutral fluid. Many of the dogs that received the transplant showed considerable improvement and were able to walk on a treadmill with the support of a harness. None of the control group regained use of its back legs. The research was a collaboration between the MRC's Regenerative Medicine Centre and Cambridge University's Veterinary School.

Professor Robin Franklin, a regeneration biologist at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Stem Cell Institute and report co-author, said: 'Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement.
"We're confident that the technique might be able to restore at least a small amount of movement in human patients with spinal cord injuries but that's a long way from saying they might be able to regain all lost function. ' Prof Franklin said the procedure might be used alongside drug treatments to promote nerve fibre regeneration and bioengineering to substitute damaged neural networks.

Partial repair The researchers say the transplanted cells regenerated nerve fibers across the damaged region of the spinal cord. This enabled the dogs to regain the use of their back legs and coordinate movement with their front limbs. The new nerve connections did not occur over the long distances required to connect the brain to the spinal cord. The MRC scientists say in humans this would be vital for spinal injury patients who had lost sexual function and bowel and bladder control.  Prof Geoffrey Raisman, chair of Neural Regeneration at University College London, who discovered olfactory ensheathing cells in 1985 said: "This is not a cure for spinal cord injury in humans - that could still be a long way off. But this is the most encouraging advance for some years and is a significant step on the road towards it."

He said the clinical benefits were still limited: "This procedure has enabled an injured dog to step with its hind legs, but the much harder range of higher functions lost in spinal cord injury - hand function, bladder function, temperature regulation, for example - are yet more complicated and still a long way away."
Jasper, a 10-year-old dachshund, is one of the dogs which took part in the trial.
His owner May Hay told me: "Before the treatment we used to have to wheel Jasper round on a trolley because his back legs were useless. Now he whizzes around the house and garden and is able to keep up with the other dogs. It's wonderful."

Jasper can be seen in the video at the top of the page before and after his treatment.