Real American kitty goodness!

A few months ago, I asked my blogging friend Christine to bring me some American kitty treats when she came to visit her beau in Australia. Well, here they are:
Real American Shrimp Nip cat treats and a Real American Dog Hate postcard! Thanks, Christine! Here I am examining the card (Kate said that Christine's got very beautiful handwriting):

But then, I caught a whiff of the shrimpy, nippy goodness...


And had to investigate further...


Mmmmmmm. Niiiiiiiiiip...
I've never had nip before. Kate's a bit worried about what it'll do to me. She's just gonna give me a few shrimp at a time and see what happens. I'll let you know how I go! Thanks so much for the awesome present, Christine. Kate said she'd love to have you (and Mike) over for dinner when you come back in June/July.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Angry

What the? When I signed into blogger to moderate my comments this morning, it MADE me switch to the new blogger. Now cats that have commented on my posts who aren't switched to the new blogger come up as 'anonymous' and I don't know who they are and it doesn't link to their blogs. I was so angry, I had to find something to bite.

THIS SUCKS! Sorry guys. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know. And maybe you could include your name in your comments for now, just so I know who youse are?

Cheers,
--Pabs

It was 219 years ago today...

Today is Australia Day.

That means that on this day 219 years ago, the first European settlers landed in Australia (from England, where my mate Faz lives. Hi, Faz!) to start a new colony.

Many people think that's not a reason to celebrate, because the new settlers did some pretty bad things to the original owners of the land. In some ways, it's a day of shame. But I'm not here to argue that case, because 1) I'm a cat; and 2) I've found a reason to celebrate Australia Day...

Proposition 1: The First Fleet came to Australia by ship.
Proposition 2: In the olden days, cats used to work on ships, keeping the mice in line.
Conclusion: Cats came to Australia with the First Fleet.

Which means that today marks the 219th anniversary of cats in Australia! Now THAT'S something to celebrate!

Happy Australia Day!
Cheers,
--Pabs

It's all about me!

Monday was a great day. Check it out. Not only was I the star of Kate's cat-a-day 2007 calendar:

(I don't remember posing for this... is it you, Merlin?)

I was also the star of Nick, Kate and Uncle Simon's Scrabble game:

Actually, this was assembled by Kate, post-game. But you've gotta give her extra points for effort, even though some of the words aren't exactly complimentary. She might've beaten Uncle Simon with those extra bonus points!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Sleepy Saturday...

This picture wasn't taken today.
It wasn't even taken on a Saturday, as far as I can remember.
But seeing as I 'scairt' many of you with the picture in my previous post, I thought I'd redeem my public image by posting a picture of me looking more... peaceful.

Kate calls this a picture of 'her boys', which Nick really hates. This is Nick and I, chilling out one evening a few months ago. Well, I'm chilling out. Nick looks like he's reading something important, 'cause he's taking notes and stuff. He probably wasn't very chilled out. You could say then that it's a portrait of contrasts-- human and feline, work and rest. It's a bit hard to tell, but this is one of my classic floor-sleeping poses. My left arm is pointing out to the left, acting as a bit of a chin-rest, while my right arm is pointing back the other way. Looks uncomfortable, but totally isn't.

It's one of my ideal ways to spend a Saturday. Or any day, for that matter.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Most people I know think that I'm crazy...

... and here's the proof. Heidi (one of my First Mummies. Long story.) always said that my middle name was Legion, from the part of the Bible where Jesus heals a guy possessed by a legion of demons, inferring (in none to subtle a fashion) that my behaviour indicated that I was/am possessed by demons. This nightshot of me by Aunty Trakka adds weight to Heidi's theory.

Seriously though, how scary does it look? Humans: this is why we don't like the flashy box!!! It spooks us! We already have flashy eyes, so of course using the flashy box on us at night freaks us out.

And makes for freaky photos.

Serves you right.

Now I know how Prince William's girlfriend feels.

Sort of.

Cheers,
--Pabs.

A kitty in need...

This is Possum. She's a NKOTB (new kitten on the block) here in West Hobart, but she's facing a bit of trouble. Her mum and dad found her in the gutter not long ago. They took her in and looked after her and even planned to keep her. But things aren't looking good. Her parents' real estate agent is being all 'NO PETS' about things, and appealing to the owner of their flat hasn't worked thus far. Please send Possum your bestest purrs (or even give her a shout out on her blog), cause she really wants to stay with her new mum and dad... and the West Hobart Tigers really want to pick her up in the 2007 rookie draft. I'll let you know how she gets on.

In other news, I've lost another collar! I'm keeping quiet about how I lost it, but I came home nude again the other night. They've bought me another one, but it's not very comfortable. Let's see how quickly I can rid myself of it and get another one!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Melbourne: Part 2

As promised, here's the second and final installment in Kate's report on cat culture in Melbourne. The first report centred on cat tributes in the Melbourne CBD, and I mentioned that there weren't many live cats to be found there. Well, Kate did find some real live (and mighty cute) cats in the CBD. Unfortunately, they were in a pet shop in the Melbourne Central shopping centre. Check them out:
Cute stuff indeed. Now there's nothing wrong with being a pet shop cat. I've got nothing against pet shop cats (some of my best friends are pet shop cats), and I know that pet shops have smartened up their act in the past few years as far as animal welfare is concerned, but I still think it SUCKS that pet shops are allowed to make money outta selling cats and dogs when there are SO many abandoned and stray animals who need a home and someone to love them. If I was Kate, I would have busted those kittens outta there and spent the rest of my Melbourne holiday finding good homes for them. But that's just me.

I was hoping that Kate would be able to take a heap of photos of suburban Melbourne cats doing their thing on the streets and in their front yards, but according to Kate, they were quite elusive (either that, or she couldn't be bothered chasing cats for her whole holiday). Apparently Melbourne cats value their privacy and aren't as forthcoming as your typical Hobart cat. She did manage to snap this old timer while he was trying to evade her lens in the suburb of Kensington:

(That human on the left is Kate's friend Sarah. Hi, Sarah!)

But by far Kate's coolest live cat discovery in Melbourne (and props to Aunty Trakka for telling her about it) was Toto:
Yes, I know that Toto is traditionally a dog's name, but I guess his houseperson decided to reclaim the name for cats. Toto is a shopcat, which means that he works in his houseperson's shop. I've heard of shopcats and officecats before, but this is my first photographic evidence that they really exist. I think it's a great idea. Cats add style and sophistication to any retail establishment. I think that more shops should have cats on their payroll. It would help to attract the Right Sort of Customer (as long as the cats are appropriately remunerated!). But I don't think I'd be very good at it. I don't like strangers...

Anyway, Toto helps out at a shop called Paper Indulgence, on Victoria Street in Brunswick West:

It's a specialty paper shop, and Kate said that it sells all kinds of pretty paper (again, I'd be no good in a paper shop, because I chew paper).

Apart from looking attractive, Toto's main job is security:





Toto can often be found sniffing around people's bags to check for dangerous (or tasty) objects, and sniffing the carpet to find out who's been in the shop. He's always on the move, is Toto. That's why Kate didn't get a decent headshot of him (or maybe it's that paranoid Melbourne feline privacy thing again?).

Pablo Enterprises salutes Toto, a true hero of the feline world, for his contribution to human-feline relations... and he doesn't even chew paper!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Breaking news from the Pablog newsdesk...

G'day everyone,

Just had to let the cat world know about an awesome piece of of cat-related news that broke in Australia today.

You can read the full story here, but to cut a long story short, an Australian bank unknowingly issued a credit card to a cat called Messiah when his mum applied for a secondary credit card in his name to test the bank's security procedures! Messiah's mum was also able to make Messiah a secondary account holder on her electricity account! The bank in question gave Messiah a $4200 credit limit, so everyone: the Fancy Feast treats are on Messiah!

Will I be applying for a credit card, I hear you ask? Why would I? Nick and Kate pay for all Pablo Enterprises expenses. But kudos to Messiah and his mum for putting a cat on the national media stage.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Melbourne: Part 1

As you know, I sent Kate to Melbourne a few weeks ago to investigate the local cat culture. After all the busyness of Christmas, I've finally had time to sit down and go through her findings. As you would expect, there weren't too many cats to be found in the CBD... not real cats, anyway. There were, however, a good number of VHQCTs (very high-quality cat tributes) to be found:

This VHQCT shop display is from a store called Genki in Cathedral Arcade off Swanston St (right in the city, for those of you who aren't familiar with the Melbs...). Kate says that it sells 'really cute stuff'.

This might be in slightly poor taste, but this shop on Brunswick St, Fitzroy was trying to solicit custom by displaying a tiger's head rug in its window! (Don't worry guys, I checked with Kate, it's fake. Although they do have real tigers at the Melbourne Zoo, including three new tiger cubs that aren't yet on display.)

But by far the best and most high-quality VHQCT was this awesome piece of graffitti art that Kate found in an alley off Centre Place, which runs between Flinders Lane and Collins Street and has lots of funky little shops and cafes. I think it is some kind of cat god. I think the artist based it (loosely) on me, what with all the browns and blacks. Apart from this amazing cat tribute, Kate said that there's lots of other non-cat-related graffitti in this alley that's worth checking out if you're ever in Melbourne, which I don't ever intend to be, because that's what Kate is for.

I'm thinking of sending Kate to Melbourne again when the tiger cubs are on display in the New Year. Meanwhile, stay tuned for Part 2 of Kate's report from Melbourne, which features some real live Melbourne cats!

Cheers,
--Pabs

A very Pabby Christmas...

I don't really do Christmas. As you can see from poor Kate's attempts to take my 'Christmas portrait' to submit to our local newspaper:

Tinsel is spiky. It puts me on edge.

I think she was going for some kind of Godzilla thing here...

But I kinda got into the Christmas spirit a coupla days ago when I got a present from my small human friend Elijah. People call him Liji Beau. I think his mum helped him with the card and the wrapping...

This was what was inside: a red mousie! I love it. Thanks, Liji Beau!

And this was a thoughtful present from my friend Sarah. It's a great read (sorry for the slightly out-of-focus pic).

So like Macaulay Calkin before me, I'm home alone for Christmas. But unlike Macaulay, I'm not ordering cheese pizzas to keep me going. Aunty Tracey and Uncle Simon are going to be checking in on me/feeding me/ letting me in and out twice daily. Sweet! The rest of the time, I can hang out undisturbed. And it's not THFC! It actually snowed today on our mountain (not in the town). Fancy that in the middle of summer! But Nick and Kate missed out on that. Sucked in.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to the cats of the world (and dogs, especially Sidney and Sherman), their housepeople and my loyal Pablog readership. May your chickens be fat and cooked to perfection! As always, a special Christmas hello to my Pablo Fan Club chairfelines, Phoebe and Monica.

Cheers,

--Pabs

Goodbye Jupe...

Jupe in his West Hobart days

It is with heavy whiskers that I share the news that the West Hobart Tigers has lost one of its non-playing members. Jupe Richardson (a former West Hobart resident who retired to the seaside town of Kettering in late 2005), was accidentally run over and killed just a few weeks ago. Jupe was a fine cat, and a very skilful hunter. We could learn a lot from him. Since moving to Kettering, where his grandpa has an awesome property, he has been hunting and killing rabbits regularly, even catching one on the day before he died! I've never caught a rabbit. I bet it's awesome. So goodbye, Jupe! As we say here at the Tigers, 'Go forward to kicks the goal!' Our thoughts go out to Damon, Tineke, Django and Steve – Jupe’s human family.

A super duper special

Attention, shoppers: Whiskas tinned cat food is on super-duper special at Woolworths supermarkets in Tasmania this week at just 79 cents a can! That's a saving of 56 cents per can. Tell your housepeople! Their semi-regular special is 99 cents. A few weeks ago, it was 89 cents, and now this! At these prices, Kate bought up big:

Now, there's a trap for young players when it comes to buying tinned cat food on special: watch out for the 'casserole' or 'mince' varieties. Don't get sucked into buying them. Always go the loaf style. The others (especially the casserole variety) are just filled with gravy and are thus a rip-off, as well as being a bit too rich for cats' tummies (mine, anyway).

... and don't forget that the Hobart Cat Centre cat food drive is still on at Woolworths. This special makes it even more affordable to help out the local strays. Why not do it today?

In other news, I'm sending Kate to Melbourne tomorrow on a cat culture reconnaisance mission. I'm letting her take my digital camera so she can document the profile of felines in Australia's coolest city. She'll be back on Sunday. Look out for a report from her when she returns! Meanwhile, Nick will have to feed me and care for my needs, which he pretends to hate but secretly loves.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Some local catvertising...

This billboard ad is part of the current Betta Milk advertising campaign. Betta Milk is the only locally-owned milk company in Tasmania. The premise of the campaign is that Betta Milk tastes so good that Tasmanians want to stop tourists from smuggling it out of the state when they leave... so they've deployed a Betta Milk Protection Squad, complete with 'sniffer cat', to keep our milk in Tasmania. Not a bad idea, I have to admit. I was really stoked when I heard that a cat was going to feature in the new Betta Milk campaign (it's a great boost for the profile of cats in Tasmania), but I have to say that I'm a touch disappointed with the realisation of the concept. There's a few reasons for this:

• The choice of cat. I really don't think that a longfurcat would work as a sniffer cat (or work anywhere, for that matter). Don't get me wrong... some of my best friends are longfurcats (shout out to Monica and Phoebe here). Longfurcats just weren't made to work. They were meant to lounge on cushions and look glamorous. A shortfurcat (like me, for example. Or my little pal Beto), would have looked much more realistic. Although I wouldn't be seen dead in that jacket!
• The cat is a pretty major component of both the print and TV ads. But there's no decent close-ups of the cat in the TV ad. And the guy talks too much. What a waste! I think they should ditch the man and have a voiceover of the cat's internal monologue instead (no appalling mechanical talking cat, please!)
  
• The perpetuation of the myth that cats have an affinity with milk. I don't like milk. Never have. No cat Kate has ever had liked milk. I've heard that cow's milk is bad for cats, anyway. Is this true? Do any of you like milk?

Great to see a cat plastered all over the billboards of Hobart, though.
Cheers,
--Pabs

An inconvenient truth?

[Will global warming turn my fur pink? Sure, it looks good in a Warhol-style portrait, but permanently?]

I'm a bit worried.

The housepeople have been talking lots lately about something called 'global warming'. At first, I thought it sounded awesome... I had visions of some elaborate worldwide air conditioning system that would standardise the global temperature to PTFC all year round (Perfect temperature for cats: 22degC. That's around 71.6degF for my Northern Hemispherean cousins). That would be sweet. But global warming won't be like that in reality. Here's just a few reasons that I think global warming will probably be bad for cats:

1) More erratic weather patterns: Those of you in Australia will know what I'm talking about, given our weather in the last few months. 32 degrees, strong winds and bushfires one day, rain, hail, strong winds and snow the next! Fewer PTFC days, waaay too many THFC days (Too hot for cats). And a bit of wind is great (it carries a lot of interesting smells along with it) but strong winds mess up my fur and put my whiskers out of order.

2)Melting of polar ice caps > rising sea levels: especially bad for cats who live on small islands/low-lying/coastal areas/near the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. I hate getting my paws wet!! This will result in territory loss, and more cats competing for less territory. It will be all work and no play.

3) I can't see these things being very good for our prey, either. Farmers won't be able to grow chickens and cows and turkeys in drought conditions. On the positive side, I have heard that it will be good for pest animals like flies and mice and rats, which I love to catch. But we'll have to hunt more for our food, which will again reduce important sleeping time.

I don't think it's a risk that we can afford. What are your thoughts, cats of the world?

--Pabs

Not the first princess to grace West Hobart...

As those of you in Australia and Denmark would be aware, Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary and Prince Christian arrived in Tasmania for a private holiday today. Their first destination? West Hobart, of course! They've spent the day here visiting Princess Mary's sister Jane, who lives in this, the finest of Hobart's inner suburbs. Local people are so excited... one of Jane's neighbours was so amped up about the media circus that she forgot to put bicarb soda in her banana cake! I kid you not.

Out of respect for the privacy of the Danish Royal Family, the West Hobart Tigers decided not to hold an official feline welcoming party for them. Even though we're extremely keen to open a dialogue with the cats of Denmark, we (and when I say 'we', I mean 'me') know what it's like to have unwanted public attention foisted upon you. Anyway, it's not that big a deal to have a princess in West Hobart. One used to live here:

Princess lived in on the Westside for a number of years at the turn of the century (apart from a stint in a Sandy Bay student sharehouse where I briefly took over from her as the cat-in-residence in 2002, just before my own move to West Hobart with Nick and Kate). So although I didn't meet her, I know what she used to smell like. Princess (sometimes known as Princess Poo) was a truly legendary cat; a cat of consummate style and glamour (much like 'Our Mary'), as well as a skilful hunter (I don't know if 'Our Mary' can compete there). I plan to do a feature on Princess as part of an exciting new series on this blog in 2007- stay tuned! But for now, witness the glamour and beauty of this legendary lady of West Hobart. (N.B. Princess didn't ever play for the Tigers, but was a long-time patron and was awarded retrospective Life Membership upon her disappearance into the wilds of Knocklofty in late 2002.)

Cheers,
--Pabs

My international fan base...

Meet Phoebe and Monica, the co-chairs of my official fan club in the USA. They've constructed a blog in my honour! You'll find the link on the Links sidebar on the right of this page. While I'm flattered, I think they're making romantic overtures towards me! I think they're just carried away with the success of Mike and Christine's online romance. Could an online romance work for cats? I have had the offer of a long-distance romance before, but that's a story for another time.
Cheers,
--Pabs

L'amour sans frontiers...

On behalf of Pablo Enterprises and the Southern Feline Football League, I'd like to offer my furriest congratulations to Mike and Christine, who have just announced their engagement. A match made in cyberspace. I'm currently negotiating with them for the rights to the movie about their romance. Am trying to use it as a ruse to reunite Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe. Or Brad and Jennifer. Or Tom and Nicole. Or Johnny and Wynona. Or Uma and Ethan. Or Kylie and Jason. Or Paul and Heather. Or Angelina and Billy Bob...

Anyway, congrats, guys.
--Pabs

Pablo: A friend to the needy

Just a quick community service announcement to let those of you living in the Hobart area know that the Hobart Cat Centre is currently staging its annual cat food/fundraising drive at local Woolworths supermarkets. You'll see the donation bins near the supermarket entrance (having never been to Woolworths, or any supermarket for that matter, I'm relying on Kate's memory and spatial skills for the accuracy of this information. Apologies if she's got it wrong. She does make mistakes, conrtary to her self-appraisal). The Cat Centre are after donations of tinned cat food and/or cash. **Please note, kittens at the Centre prefer to eat food that does not contain fish, because fish upsets their tummies**

I urge all supermarket-going people to seriously consider making a donation of some kind to the Cat Centre, which does a lot of great work rescuing, caring for and re-housing the stray cats and kittens of Hobart. I'm not asking you to permanently divert your giving to human causes to cat causes (although I'd like to), I'm just asking you to remember the stray cats of Hobart this Christmas. You know why? BECAUSE IT'S HUMANS' FAULT THAT THERE ARE SO MANY STRAY CATS IN THE FIRST PLACE. People don't get their cats neutered. People take on a cat without properly considering whether they can adequately care for it for the duration of its life. PEOPLE DUMP UNWANTED CATS AS IF THEY ARE RUBBISH. You want evidence that cats are affected by The Fall? (apart from death and sickness, thanks humans!) There it is. Stray cats give Cats in General a really bad name due to the damage they do to wildlife, but it's not their fault! A cat's gotta live, any way it can. Who dumped them? Who stopped looking after them?

Become part of the solution. Step up to your God-given responsibilities as stewards of God's creation! Help stray cats in your area!

I've now got a link to the Hobart Cat Centre in the 'links' section of this blog. Check it out to find out more info on how you can help our local strays. If you're not in Hobart, please consider giving to a cats' home in your local area.

Thanks for your time,
--Pabs

They bought me a digital camera!!

It's true! They must have felt bad about not being able to afford a bigger, better headquarters for Pablo Enterprises, so a digital camera is my consolation. So now you get to see more pictures of me doing all the everyday things that I do so well...

This is me eating

This is me having my nightly post-dinner lickbath on MY chair

Hmm... this is just a bit too close

Anyway, I'm stoked because this camera is the key to my new cyber-Pablicity campaign. It means you'll be seeing a whole lot more of me on the internet, and hopefully the boys from the Tigers, too. Stay tuned!

--Pabs