Category Archives: Cats

A rats to riches story: Larry the Downing Street cat finds place in TV spotlight

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Popularity of Britain’s top mouser – ‘the guy to meet in No 10’ – to feature in documentary series

He’s on his sixth prime minister, has watched presidents and princes walk through the black door of No 10, and will soon become the longest continuous resident of Downing Street since Pitt the Younger.

The landscape of British politics has changed a lot in the past 15 years, but Larry the cat has remained a reassuring constant. Now his enduring popularity – the like of which some of his temporary owners would kill for – is to feature in a new Channel 4 documentary series exploring Britain’s love of cats. For his fans, the spotlight has been a long time coming.

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Couple tell of ordeal when kittens went missing after being left in plane hold

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British newlyweds feared worst when transportation of rescue cats from Greece to Paris went awry

A newlywed couple who married in Greece have said they feared the worst when three kittens they rescued from Crete went missing after being left in the hold of an aeroplane.

They first travelled to the island in September 2023 and found the mother cat, who “had a very distinctive bulging eye that needed to be removed”, Bethany Mulcahy-Stephenson, a veterinary nurse, said.

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Dangerous pesticides and pet flea treatment detected in English rivers for first time

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Exclusive: Wensum and Tone found to have high concentrations of chemicals that are toxic to aquatic life

Dangerous modern pesticides used in agriculture and pet flea treatment have been detected for the first time in English rivers, research has found.

Scientists have called for stricter regulation around high-risk farming pesticides and flea treatments for pets because of the deadly effects they have on fish and other aquatic life when they make their way into rivers.

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Vet complaint process in UK often ‘stacked against pet owners’

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Consumer group Which? says owners are put off complaining and system for doing so is not fit for purpose

Britain’s pet owners often face an uphill struggle when they are unhappy with their vet because the industry’s complaints system is not fit for purpose, according to a leading consumer body.

The findings from Which? that the complaints process “is often stacked against pet owners” come as the UK competition watchdog is investigating the veterinary sector amid concerns that above-inflation price hikes and other issues mean consumers are not getting a fair deal.

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‘Don’t underestimate cats’: Los Angeles feline uses up one of nine lives surviving wildfire

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Katherine Kiefer lost her home to the Palisades wildfire, but her crafty kitty, Aggie, somehow lived through the disaster

It appears the tall tale that all cats have nine lives may be true for a California Maine coon named Aggie.

The beloved feline was feared dead for two months after the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles left her family’s home in ashes. But her owner, 82-year-old Katherine Kiefer, held out some hope.

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Nearly 500 cat figurines stolen from Gordon Ramsay’s London restaurant

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By Ramsay’s own estimate, he has lost more than £2,000 during one week in stolen maneki-neko cat models

Nearly 500 cat figurines were stolen in one week from Gordon Ramsay’s new London restaurant, the TV chef has said.

The restaurateur, 58, recently launched Lucky Cat 22 Bishopsgate by Gordon Ramsay in one of London’s tallest buildings, which features the beckoning Japanese cat models called maneki-neko.

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Doctor faces inquiry after giving his cat a Cat scan at Italian hospital

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Italian radiologist, who says injured pet was ‘between life and death’, also operated on animal at Aosta facility

An Italian doctor has been placed under investigation after giving his cat a Cat scan at a hospital in Aosta before performing a life-saving operation on the feline.

Gianluca Fanelli took the animal, called Athena, to Umberto Parini hospital in the northern Italian region, where he is a manager of the radiology unit, after she fell from a roof.

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Cat becomes accidental frequent flyer after being left on a plane by mistake

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Mittens made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia after she was not spotted in cargo hold

A Maine Coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when her cage was overlooked in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens, eight, was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on 13 January. Her owner, Margo Neas, said on Wednesday that she waited for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area, but three hours passed with no sign of the cat.

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Recall of raw and frozen cat food in Oregon after feline dies of bird flu

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Northwest Naturals has told customers to throw out Feline Turkey Recipe pet food after batch tested positive for virus

A voluntary recall of raw and frozen cat food has been issued in Oregon after a cat that died of bird flu was linked to the product, state officials have said.

Northwest Naturals has instructed customers of its Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food to throw out the product if its sell-by date falls between 21 May 2026 and 23 June 2026.

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Tiger among 20 cats to die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state

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Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herds

Twenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.

The feline deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana.

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UK ministers support bill to crack down on puppy smuggling

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Bill aims to strengthen animal welfare by closing legal loopholes around imports of dogs, cats and ferrets

The government has thrown its weight behind a bill to crack down on puppy smuggling as part of a commitment to strengthening animal welfare.

Ministers announced on Friday that they were supporting a private member’s bill sponsored by Danny Chambers, a Liberal Democrat MP and veterinary surgeon, to crack down on the pet-smuggling trade.

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Cat that comforts trafficked women in London safe house is feline of the year

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Marley, whose ‘incredible gift of empathy’ is said to help exploited women, beats thousands of cats to prize

A cat that offers comfort to trafficked women has been named cat of the year at a national ceremony.

Marley, a black and white cat who lives at a safe house for women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked, won the award because of his “gift of empathy”.

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Ohio city hall bomb threat explicitly hostile to Haitians, Springfield mayor says

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Thursday’s bomb threat came after Trump repeated unfounded rumor that immigrants were ‘eating the pets’

The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, has said that the bomb threat made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools, and other buildings was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the city’s Haitian community, following Donald Trump’s stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residents’ pets are being eaten.

Rob Rue, the mayor, accused national Republicans who are amplifying wild rumors from a far-right provocateur that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are hunting and eating other people’s pets of “hurting our city”.

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Starmer leads with compromise for new family pet – and gets ‘dog-like’ cat

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Siberian kitten at No 10 may get frosty reception from chief mouser Larry, who took on George Osborne’s cat, Freya

On the face of it, the kitten that joined Keir Starmer’s family appears to have had a peaceful first week at an address where feline and human rivals have been known to get their claws out.

The arrival of the Siberian cat – as yet unnamed in public – was revealed on Monday by the prime minister, who said his children had been pushing for a dog to join them at Downing Street.

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Vets extend strike in first industrial action to hit Britain’s pet-care sector

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Staff at a practice in Wales have accused its private-equity-backed owner of poor pay and overcharging customers

Staff working at a chain of commercial vet surgeries have extended their strike, accusing their private-equity-backed owner of underpaying workers and overcharging pet owners as part of the first industrial action to hit the veterinary sector in the UK.

Unionised vets, nurses and support staff at Valley Vets in south Wales, which is owned by one of the largest veterinary corporations in the country, VetPartners, decided last week to stay out until the end of the month, in the latest move in an increasingly bitter dispute.

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Tears and triumph as George the cat reunited with owner years after going missing

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The cat had lived through thunderstorms, hail and icy cold in Adelaide but it only took him a moment to warm back up to his relieved owner

“Good news, George is alive.”

Adelaide woman Jessica van Niekerk was teaching her class of bright-eyed Year 2 students when she received an unexpected text message from her mother.

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Sphynx has lowest life expectancy of domestic cat breeds, research finds

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The hairless cats live on average for just 6.8 years, while a Burmese could survive to be 14, according to research

They may sound ancient but you should avoid a sphynx cat if you want a pet to grow old with, research suggests.

Experts have revealed how many years on average domestic cats in the UK have left to live based on their current age.

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US National Park Service sued over plan to trap Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats

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Activists say plan to remove 200 felines near Old San Juan fortress within six months is not enough time and worry cats will be killed

A non-profit organization said Thursday that it sued the US National Park Service over a plan to remove Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats from a historic district in the US territory.

The lawsuit filed by Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies comes four months after the federal agency announced it would contract an animal welfare organization to remove an estimated 200 cats that live in an area surrounding a historic seaside fortress in Old San Juan.

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Charity steps in to rehome 300 cats from ‘overwhelmed’ man in Canada

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Man says he ended up in ‘a crazy situation’ after he began taking in cats abandoned during Covid pandemic

An animal welfare charity in western Canada is scrambling to secure the resources needed to care for about 300 cats – all of them seemingly in good condition – after a call came in from a man who described himself as being “overwhelmed” by the sheer number of cats and kittens in his home.

Bruce Robinson told the British Columbia SPCA that he had taken in cats that had been abandoned during the Covid-19 pandemic but that the cost of caring for them had become a herculean task after he lost his job.

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Pet perils: injuries from animals are on the rise after Australia’s surge in dog and cat ownership

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Animal-related hospitalisations have been increasing for years but have surged since the start of the pandemic, AIHW study finds

In the north-west New South Wales town of Gunnedah, there are much deadlier things than a puppy. They are used to deadly brown and red-bellied snakes.

So Sarah Carter was surprised when her corgi Maxi landed her in hospital.

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