CatNews Friday finds six unhappy cats say their piece about President Obama’s inauguration, while Digisocial lets you attach voice to your photos. An accident finds 1,000 cats on their way to Chinese restaurants, and New York City goes all out when the Architects for Animals builds some fancy digs for the million homeless cats in the city.

Hank the Cat, Socks Clinton and four other cats are not to happy about President Obama’s inauguration on Monday, Jan. 21. Just like people, some of these kitties give their reasons they aren’t so happy about Monday’s event. Sometimes it just comes down to special interests. Here’s a slide show that’s a bit of a spoof on the whole deal.

6 cats that are not excited about Inauguration Day [SLIDESHOW …
By Taylor Bigler
Millions of people and their feline masters will switch on the television on Jan. 21.
The Daily Caller

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When you think there’s nothing more that can be done with the cats craze on the internet, something else pops up. Just this week, Digisocial was launched. This free iPhone app allows users to take a still photo and record a sound clip to layer over it. They can also comment on these VoicePhotos with their own audio, and then they share the VoicePhotos with others who have the app, or share a link to them via Facebook or Twitter. We’ll have a whole new group of talking cats and whatever else. For more on this story, check out this link.

Talking Cats: Digisocial Lets You Add Voice to Pics
Businessweek
You thought photo sharing couldn’t get more self-involved. Turns out you were wrong. Now that vain girl/guy who takes photos of her/himself in the mirror and posts them all over social networks can also add voice captions to them. “Kisses!” Digisocial …

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There could be as many as a million homeless animals on New York’s City’s streets, most of them being cats. On Jan. 10, Architects for Animals” held its third annual Giving Shelter fundraiser at Manhattan’s Steelcage Showroom to help those community cats brave the elements and survive the freezing temperatures.

The event benefited the Mayor’s Alliance NYC Feral Cat Initiative, a not for profit organization committed to solving New York City’s feral cat overpopulation crisis through the humane, non-lethal method of Trap-Neuter-Return program. For more on this, check out the links below.

Architects For Animals’ Gives Shelter To Street Cats In New York
CBS Local
According to the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals, there are as many as a million homeless animals living on the streets of New York, most of them cats. For the third year, “Architects for Animals” held its annual Giving Shelter fundraiser …

Architects for Animals gives shelter to feral cats
Mother Nature Network
There are a million homeless animals living on the streets of New York City, and most of them are cats, according to the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals. But many of these feral felines will soon have a home to call their own, thanks to Architects for

Feral Cats In Washington Heights Have Better Digs Than You
BlackBook Magazine
The cat shelters is all part of a three-year-old program called the NYC Feral Cat Initiative. These new digs in Washington Heights are one of eight locations (another park, a church, etc.) to get new outdoor feral cat shelters created by city …

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CatNews Friday finds the city of Barker, NY, a town of about 500, gets the significance of TNR when it comes to feral cats. Town officials were meeting with representatives from Feral Cat Focus,  a group founded about ten years ago to handled similar feral cat issues throughout Western New York

With the mile winter last year, the feral cat population expanded. And when the an abandoned house on Lake Road in Somerset was demolished this summer, they found more than 100 cats. The Village Board has invited representatives of Feral Cat Focus to address the public Monday. For more on this story, check out the link below.

Barker sets meeting with experts on feral cats
Buffalo News
“We had a small problem, but it got bigger with the mild winter we had last year and then the demolition of the abandoned house on Lake Road in Somerset this summer, where they found more than 100 cats,” Mayor Herb Meyer said. “I thought we’d better ..

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Chinese cats being rescued from the dinner table are once again in the news. This week, there were many reports of an accident involving 1,000 cats, cramped in 40 cages on  a truck, on their way to Guangdong, where they would be sold to restaurants as meat. The driver was taken to the local hospital. The cats were left stranded in their cages. The police called out for volunteers to help out, and on the early morning hours of Jan. 14 they arrived at the crash site to rescue the felines. .

According to the report in the Huffington Post, “Cat snatchers supply the majority of the felines in China’s cat meat market, selling each cat for $1 to $2 to a middle man who transports the cargo to restaurants.” It also reports an estimated 4 million cats are eaten in China each year,

This is not the first time CatNews Friday has found 500 Chinese cats on their way to the dinner table. In November, Xuzhou police pulled over a truck with out-of-state license plates only to discover the cargo was cats. Officers stalled the vehicle until volunteers arrived to strike a deal for purchase the cats from the drivers. For more on the most recent effort that resulted in 1,000 cats being rescued from the dinner table, check out the following links:

Volunteers Rescue 1000 Cats From Slaughter In China During Truck Accident …
Huffington Post
The cats, trapped in more than 40 cramped cages on the truck, were en route to Guangdong, where they would be sold to restaurants as meat. After the truck crash, the cats were left stranded in their cages in the abandoned truck as the driver was taken …

600 Cats Saved From Becoming Chinese Food After Truck Crash
Business Insider
Around 600 cats stuffed into wooden crates and destined for dinner plates in southern China were rescued by animal protection volunteers after a truck crash, a volunteer said on Thursday. Volunteers hauled the felines from the lorry on Monday after the ..

More Than 1000 Cats Rescued
Hartford Courant
Cats are seen locked in cases without food and water, after a traffic accident on a street in Changsha, China. A truck carrying more than 1,000 cats to Guangdong to sell them as food was stopped during the accident. Around 50 animal protection group …

Truck accident spares 1000 cats from China restaurants
Houston Chronicle (blog)
(Credit: Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle). Volunteers in China have rescued more than 1,000 cats that they found crammed in crates on the side of the road after the truck that was carrying them crashed, The Daily Mail reports. The felines were …

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CatNews Friday finds cats copy habits of their owners. Republicans own more dogs while democrats prefer cats. Check out the links below to find out about the cat news this past week.

Cats Adopt Owners’ Habits (Bad and Good)
Discovery News
Cats really do become part of our families, to the point that they take on human habits — good and bad — and adapt their lifestyle with that of their owners, says new research. The finding shows how profoundly captivity can affect certain animals …

STUDY: Republicans Are Dog People, While Democrats Prefer Cats
Business Insider
Republicans and Democrats tend to disagree about everything, on issues ranging from tax policy to gun control. So it’s no surprise that a study by the American Veterinary Medical Association revealed that, by and large, red states and blue states can …

20 Cats Need 2-Week Foster Homes Starting Now
W*USA 9
The cats, all of whom will ultimately be cared for by the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society, need to be in a home environment for two weeks before they’re transported, a requirement of Massachusetts state regulations. WHS’s adoption centers are …

Three residents, two cats escape early morning Sylvan Township blaze
AnnArbor.com
Firefighters then went into the house and rescued two cats from the second floor of the rental home in the 19000 block of Ivey Road, said Chelsea Fire Chief Jim Payeur. There were no injuries, but Payeur said the 21-year-old woman who was showering …

‘Housecat’ life is for the birds, these cats hunt mice
USA TODAY
A cat adoption program in Louisville, KY., allows cats that are not suited for indoor domestic life to be adopted by people that need them to ‘work’ in barns to keep rodents away. Post to Facebook. ‘Housecat’ life is for the birds, these cats hunt mice ..

Big Cat Rescue offers close look at big cats in Citrus Park
Tbo.com
Directly across the street from Westfield Citrus Park mall, along the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, at the end of an old country road called Easy Street, is a sanctuary for more than 100 exotic big cats, including lions, tigers, leopards, bobcats, cougars, an …

Cats good, not purr-fect
Global Times
After touring cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Wuhan and Chongqing, the Chinese version of the musical Cats finally debuted in Beijing on December 21 and will continue through February 3. This tour is the first time Cats has been performed in …

80 chickens, 4 cats lost in NH barn fire
Danbury News Times
The Telegraph reports (http://bit.ly/VHwCh3) firefighters rescued two other cats and took them from the second floor of the house to a gurney where they were given oxygen and water before they were transported to a veterinary office. Firefighters from ..

Feral cats deserve care, not abandonment
San Francisco Chronicle
Letting feral cats run free, as advocated in The Chronicle’s Dec. 26 editorial, does not provide a full picture of the predicament and risk of leaving domesticated animals in the community without appropriate care. Throughout the recession, we’ve all …

Six cats missing after fire in Norfolk
WAVY-TV
NORFOLK,VA (WAVY) – Fire crews saved two cats during an early morning fire at a Norfolk home Monday, but are still looking for six others. Capt. Mike Hicks with Norfolk Fire and Rescue told WAVY.com three residents and eight cats resided in the home …

Attempt to keep stray cats warm nearly destroys Springfield house
Springfield News-Leader
Fire investigators say a Springfield resident’s attempt to keep stray cats warm on a bitterly cold night resulted in an East Atlantic Avenue house nearly burning to the ground. Assistant Fire Chief Randy Villines said the humane effort of putting a ..

Cats can get colds, too
Scottsbluff Star Herald
When someone comes into the shelter to look at cats, we ask them to please disinfect their hands with hand sanitizer before touching another cat. We really are not trying to be rude or insult anyone with this request; we are simply trying to protect …

** 5 Kids Who Will Never Like Cats – Yahoo! News
From Yahoo! News: The preference for cats or dogs can stem from allergies, familiarity or just stepping in pooch poop one too many times.

Cats Move to New Castle with Ribbon Cutting
Southern Maryland News Net
img_0658p The new Cat Castle operated by St. Mary’s Animal Welfare League (SMAWL) opened in Callaway with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, January

Curiosity will kill the cats’ reserve
Kansas City Star
Given their similar histories, one might have expected they’d be instant friends. Both were refugees from the rough streets of Brooklyn, N.Y. — “rough,” at any rate, for a cat with no dependable home. The principal difference was that one was an adult ..

Killer Kitties: United Kingdom House Cats Threaten Local Bird Populations
Geekosystem
The results of the survey showed that nearly 20% of domestic cats had returned with four or more dead animals a year, with only 22% of owners having been gifted with these critter cadavers. Factoring in the knowledge that cats tend to take one out of …

** Mount Vernon Animal Shelter to clear out cats, resume euthanasia policy to …
The Journal News | LoHud.com
MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon Animal Shelter, in an effort to stanch the spread of disease through the city’s feline population, has stopped accepting cats and is recommitting to management practices, including euthanasia, from which it had veered, …

** ‘Prince of Cats’ Creator Ronald Wimberly Puts His Own Spin on Static Shock and …
ComicsAlliance
Ronald Wimberly’s Prince of Cats pulls Romeo and Juliet into the 20th century by recasting Juliet’s cousin Tybalt as the leader of an ’80s street gang, mashing up Shakespeare with hip-hop culture and Japanese martial arts. And that’s certainly not his …

** Pet Tales: Top name for cats and dogs: Bella
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Call out Bella and many dogs and cats and birds will look up. Bella was the most popular name for dogs and cats in 2012 and the third most popular name for birds and exotics. Undoubtedly, the popularity of the name has something to do with those …

GNARBOOTS “Cats In Pajamas” Video: One Part David Lynch, One Part Cat Fancy
Huffington Post
The internet has largely become a place of passive voice advice asking and giving, and pictures of cats with “funny” sayings. As far as the latter: Bay Area smart alec band GNARBOOTS has just upped the ante with their contribution to a cat-themed …

Idea to limit number of cats in homes lacks purrr-pose
The Virginian-Pilot
Please. Apparently the city’s Animal Control Unit Advisory Committee has looked at rules governing the number of adult dogs that can live in a Beach home – four – and decided that perhaps there should be some restrictions on the number of cats, too …

Woman hopes to keep helping cats
Albany Democrat Herald
Jody Harmon of Albany is 56 years old, but it wasn’t until about 12 years ago that she said she found love for the first time. That love wasn’t familial love or love from friends. Rather, the love that gave her life purpose came from a colony of feral …

Zach Randolph is terrified of cats, discourages keeping them as pets …
By Ben Swanson
Zach Randolph is notoriously rough around the edges, but he has a weakness — cats. Yes, the man known as Z-Bo is scared of cats.