Social media, online cat videos and apps are all the buzz today, and one major pet food manufacturer is jumping on the bandwagon. Friskies announced last week that it will sponsor a large-sale video competition to the Internet cat video of the year, including a $15,000 grand prize and truckloads of cat foods.

And if you are looking for an app for you cat, try App For Cats ($1 on iOS, a game where ladybugs and a cartoon mouse move on the screen against plain backgrounds, reacting to the touch of a  paw or hand. It’s designed to be simple enough for a cat or a baby to operate.

For more on this, check out:

App Smart Extra: Cat Apps Work for Babies
New York Times (blog)
Last week’s App Smart column was all about apps for babies, because they really will love playing with your tablet and smartphone as much as you do (though you may need to pay a lot of attention lest they drop your expensive electronic item onto the …

Friskies Stops Pussyfooting Around Internet Cat Culture, Launches Video Initiative
Co.Create
Friskies will announce this morning that it is no longer just a cat food brand. It has larger catspirations, and is catapulting itself into a new category. It is to be the namesake of The Friskies, the first (and possibly annual) large-scale …

Will Zweigar Cashcats.biz, a Tumblr blog that features user-generated photos of cats and money, and capitalizes on the Internet’s bottomless demand for cat photos, took another twist recently with an exhibit and auction, How the One Purrcent Really Live,” in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood. The site was launched 19 months ago and gets about 3,000 hits a day. See more below.

In another bizarre twist, cat news find the justice department in Quebec setting a new precedent, perhaps something that’ll set a precedent for a new real estate disclosure when buying or selling a home.

A woman was ordered to pay more than $32,000 to a couple who bought her house for $238,000 in 2010, because she hadn’t revealed the extent of a cat-urine problem. According to the report the buyers hadn’t noticed any smell during three pre-purchase visits, only discovering it shortly after taking possession in the summer.

Read more at:

**Cats leave home seller holding the bag
Montreal Gazette
Every month, Quebec judges and regulatory agencies issue dozens of rulings that, without making headlines, set the ground rules for business in Quebec. Here are a few of the offbeat and/or consequential rulings rendered in recent weeks. A cat that isn …

Internet Culture Meets Cat Media
Wall Street Journal
At an exhibition space in Dumbo last week, 33-year-old social media consultant Will Zweigart stood in front of a photograph of a cat sitting on a pile of cash (estimated to be about $3 million), musing on the popularity of online photographs of cats …

And then we have a report from Carlos Driscoll, trudging alone through Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, who all of a sudden hears meowing and spots a big black domestic cats that he says we living on its own, being very fat and happy. The cat willing followed him back to his camp to live with him. From this he claims cats cans survive without us.

For more on this, visit:

**Cats occupy unique niche
Coos Bay World
Domestic cats can survive with or without us, said Driscoll, who is one of the world’s leading experts on domestic cats. And the Mongolian cat was just one example. Their ancestors — the wildcat, or felis silvestris — thrived in virtually every …

And for more cat news around the world, from cats shot with arrows to two cats that died after sounding a cat alarm for a fire, checkout these links:

Cat-shooting teens seek early release
The Columbian
Two Battle Ground teenagers who went on a cat-shooting spree last year are seeking to be released early from confinement, so they can finish school locally. On Oct. 4 of last year, Jaren Koistinen and Mitchell Kangas were sentenced to between one year …

‘Go On’: Ryan Ends Up With More Than A Dozen Cats After Trying To Help Sonia …
Huffington Post
When Lauren was going to stop by to check up on Sonia, Sonia dropped off a half-dozen cats at Ryan’s house so Lauren wouldn’t think she had a problem. But even that wasn’t all of them. She’d divided them among almost the entire group, but inevitably …

Scaredy-cats can stay at home but confident felines can take their owners for …
Washington Post
The United States is home to more than 74 million pet cats, according to the American Pet Products Association. Although the overwhelming majority of domestic cats likely have never been on a leash, every cat should be comfortable on a leash, in a …

$2500 reward offered after cats found shot with arrows
Lakenewsonline.com
Responding to a call from law enforcement officials in Morgan County, the Humane Society of Missouri Animal Cruelty Task Force is investigating a report of two adult cats found shot with arrows in Versailles, a press release from HSMO states. Both cats

Chapin cat colony has found a new home
WACH
… Bi Lo Cats, Chapin Bi Lo, TRN, Trap Neuter and Release, Feral Cat Colonies, Cat Colony, Feral Cat Colony, Stray Aminals, Animal Rescue. The cats have been trapped neutered and released, which is why relocating them is turning out to be hard work.

Influx of cats, vet bills has shelter scratching for funds
Toledo Blade
Summer is always challenging for Paws and Whiskers Cat Shelter because warm weather brings an influx of kittens and the nonprofit group’s shelter becomes crowded until they are adopted. This year brought more than just the pitter-patter of tiny paws.

Fire chief: Cats saved residents’ lives in West Manchester Township fire
York Daily Record
Two cats alerted several residents of a fire at their West Manchester Township home — which was not equipped with smoke alarms — but then perished in the blaze, Fire Chief Dave Nichols said. “They owe their lives to those cats,” Nichols said this …

Police investigate poisoning of two cats in West Peabody
The Salem News
PEABODY — Police are investigating reports that at least two cats were poisoned, most likely by antifreeze, in the Winona Pond area of West Peabody on Clifton and Jennings circles. Both cats had to be put down because they were so severely injured.

1950s Disney Animation Expores How Cats Went From Gods To …
By Jill Pantozzi
This delightful animation was part of a weekly hour-long television program Disney put together for ABC back in 1954 in exchange for their help building Disneyland. Youtuber Disneytv4me writes, As a result, the television show was also …

Overwhelmed with cats, Arizona Humane Society drops adoption fee
KPHO Phoenix
It has become so bad, the Humane Society had to put up a strongly-worded warning explaining that there is no more room for cats. The sign tells owners their pets may have to be euthanized since they could be turned over to Animal Care and Control.

Cat rule isn’t new to Leisure Town
TheReporter.com
When we married, shortly before moving to Leisure Town, my husband had a cat that he took outside on a leash. Sweet Pea lived 21 years because he wasn’t allowed to roam outside. Our neighbor across the street takes his cat out on a leash. So, to answer ..

Phoenix ponders cat rules
Mail Tribune
PHOENIX — A new committee tasked with reviewing possible standards for residents who trap pet cats will meet Monday to review a proposed ordinance. City officials established the committee after residents in a neighborhood off Colver Road voiced …

No lion: Big cats roam Canyon
Arizona Daily Sun
Finally, after about 15 minutes of trying to scare them, we decided we had to move somewhere, so we took cautious steps backing up the trail, keeping our eyes on the cats. To our relief, a couple hundred yards up the trail, just before it switched back …

How a Cat Meme Became a Fine Art Auction in Brooklyn
Businessweek
About four years ago, when Will Zweigart saw an image of a crying child sitting on the lap of a man dressed in a Santa suit, he knew he’d struck Internet-meme gold. From there, he bought a domain name—SketchySantas.com—and asked Internet users to

**Study shows path to common ground between ‘cat,’ ‘bird’ people
Kansas City Star
Nationally, the debate over the effects of cats on wild bird populations – and how to deal with feral cat colonies – has been impassioned, with each side claiming the moral high ground and attacking the other’s beliefs. In the NCSU study, those looking

Ask a Vet: West Nile Virus is rare in cats and dogs
CapitalGazette.com
WNV is very rare in cats and dogs, and these species do not show many signs of the disease. Dogs that were experimentally infected did not show any symptoms. In similar studies with cats, low-grade fevers and mild lethargy were seen. Cats have been …

Ban hunting big cats – Lobbyists | Zambia Daily Mail
By web editor
MINISTER of Tourism and Arts Sylvia Masebo with some Zambia Wildlife officials during her recent visit to Shang’ombo in Western Province. This was after she officially launched the new infrastructure at the Community Partnership Park …

And we must had to mention, a bit earlier news:

Feral cats on the rise in York
Daily Press
YORK — At least three times each day Beverly Krams has to walk her 120 pound Scottish Deerhound in her fenced-in backyard on a leash. She does so because a colony of feral cats has claimed Krams’ home on Church Street in historic Yorktown as its own.