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

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

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”.

Fears mount that election deniers could disrupt vote count in US swing states

Microsoft billionaire fights US election disinformation

Palestinian advocacy groups pressure Harris as election looms

Presidential poll tracker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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California community comes together to find beloved cat: ‘It is so appreciated’

Dundee the cat, survivor of 2018 Camp fire, was taken in a car theft – but he was reunited with his owner after locals rallied round

Susie Heffernan was just returning from the vet with her beloved cat, Dundee, last Wednesday when she stopped to pick up pet food at a Tractor Supply in Paradise, California. She covered Dundee’s carrier on the passenger seat, locked her truck and ran inside.

When she returned, the truck was gone, as was the eight-year-old Snowshoe Siamese. Video footage from a nearby store revealed someone had broken into her vehicle and driven off with Dundee still inside.

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Big Panda author using proceeds to set up animal sanctuary in Swansea

Exclusive: James Norbury says he is fulfilling pledge made after his debut book landed him a six-figure deal

The self-taught artist and writer James Norbury was living below the poverty line and volunteering with a cat charity when his self-published book was snapped up by a leading publisher in 2021.

After repeated rejection by literary agents, the six-figure deal was all the more astonishing for him being a debut author and he vowed to invest money he earned in creating a sanctuary for animals.

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Cyprus to begin treating island’s sick cats with anti-Covid pills

Vets receive medication originally meant for people amid virulent feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats

Veterinary services in Cyprus have received a first batch of anti-Covid pills, from a stockpile originally meant for humans, as efforts intensify to stop the spread of a virulent strain of feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats.

The island’s health ministry began discharging the treatment on 8 August – long celebrated as International Cat Day – in what is hoped will be the beginning of the end of the disease that has struck the Mediterranean country’s feline population.

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A rare parasite is killing California sea otters – is cat poop runoff to blame?

The bodies of four furry swimmers tested positive for a strain of toxoplasmosis first seen in mountain lions

Scientist Melissa Miller was seeing something in California sea otters that she had not seen before: an unusually severe form of toxoplasmosis, which officials have confirmed has killed at least four of the animals.

“We wanted to get the word out. We’re seeing something we haven’t seen before, we want people to know about it and we want people working on marine mammals to be aware of these weird findings,” said Miller, a wildlife veterinarian specialist with the California department of fish and wildlife (DFW). “Take extra precautions.”

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Pets could be gene-edited under new English law, says RSPCA

Act opens door to technology being used to create cats and dogs with extreme features, says charity

Pets could be subjected to gene editing under a new government act, the RSPCA has warned.

The animal charity has said that the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act applies to all vertebrate animals, not only farmed animals, and that it could lead to cats and dogs being gene-edited to include extreme features.

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Feline uncertain? Cats do give clues if the fur’s about to fly, study finds

Study of 105 pairs of interacting felines decodes the cat behaviour that puzzles humans – and flags up the unsubtle battle cry of claws and yowling

When cats get together it can be difficult to tell rough and tumble play from a full-blown scrap. Now researchers say they have decoded feline behaviour to help owners spot when the fur might be about to fly.

Dr Noema Gajdoš‑Kmecová, first author of the research from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, in Košice, Slovakia – a cat owner herself – said understanding feline interactions could be difficult.

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Animal ambulances answer growing demand for pet emergency care

Firms such as Animals at Home offer range of care services and can step in when pets are in trouble

The day did not begin as expected for Verity Hope. She had been due to spend a wet November morning making a trip to a vet with a reactive dog, but the client phoned in sick. Then another job cropped up: taking a dead rabbit to a pet crematorium.

It may seem an eclectic set of requests, but for Verity and her animal ambulance it is the norm. Since the start of the pandemic, 4.7m households have acquired a new pet. Changes in work patterns and everyday pressures mean many need support.

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Animal welfare advocates hail New York law banning sale of pets at retail stores

The legislation aims to end the ‘puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline’ for abusive breeders of dogs, cats and rabbits

Animal welfare advocates in New York are heralding the recent approval of a statewide law that prohibits the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at retail pet stores to “end the puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline and stop abusive breeders” and help more stray and abandoned pets find homes.

The law, which goes into effect in 2024, will not outright bar pet shops from having four-legged friends on display as retailers may charge rescue organizations rent to present ready-to-adopt companion animals. But it has been hailed as a major achievement for animal welfare by its backers.

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Alabama women, 85 and 61, sentenced after feeding stray cats

Beverly Roberts and Mary Alston sought to trap the cats so they could be neutered

Two Alabama women were given suspended jail sentences last week after feeding stray cats and trapping them so they could be neutered, a common public health intervention to reduce stray numbers.

Beverly Roberts, 85, and Mary Alston, 61, of Wetumpka, Alabama, were sentenced to two years of unsupervised parole and a $100 fine each on Tuesday, reported the Montgomery Advertiser. The women were also given suspended 10-day jail sentences.

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No puppy love: post-lockdown lifestyles and cost of living are driving Australians to surrender their pets

Animal shelters nearing capacity are encouraging people to adopt by slashing fees and hosting events to make room for other animals in need

The end of Covid lockdowns and the spiralling cost of living have left animal shelters overflowing, with organisations now forced to host adoption drives and slash their fees in an effort to get more animals out of shelters and into their forever homes.

This was in stark contrast to the high adoption rates and shelter shortages across Australia during the early days of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

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Lindsay Hoyle introduces new Westminster cat named after Clement Attlee

Attlee follows in the steps of other parliamentary moggies such as Palmerston, Gladstone and Larry

For the past few months, Westminster has been abuzz with little else other than Boris Johnson and his nine lives. Now, however, he may have a rival in that particular field: Lindsay Hoyle’s new cat, Attlee.

The feline will follow in the steps of other parliamentary moggies including the Foreign Office’s Palmerston, Treasury’s Gladstone and Downing Street’s Larry.

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