My first cat was beautiful, fluffy, white stray, and of course, being such a creative child, I named her "Fluffy." But by far, the funniest cat ever was Sassy, named for her rather erratic behavior and personality. She would run full tilt down the hall, a straight shot from our kitchen to my bedroom door, and slam herself into it shake it off, then begin the routine all over again. I learned quickly to leave the door open.
She never did quite get the hand of the litter box . Sassy would climb into it, scratch around, finding just the right spot, then hang her behind over the box and deposit her business on the kitchen linoleum. She always made my friends laugh!
One day Sassy sat on the hassock, facing my sister's boyfriend who was ensconced in my father’s favorite chair, and entered into a staring contest with her. It went on for quite a while until Sassy began to slowly tilt, then tumbled right off onto the floor!
June is National Adopt a Cat Month so let’s celebrate these beautiful, feline creatures that definitely have their own style and attitude! These stories will have you purring in no time at all!
STORIES
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| Cat Among the Fairies by John Anster Fitzgerald 1819-1906 |
I confess, I am more of a dog lover but I did grow up
with many cats and kittens in my childhood home. At one time there were two
adult cats, which timed their pregnancies perfectly, and blessed us with 12
kittens all at the same time!
My first cat was beautiful, fluffy, white stray, and of course, being such a creative child, I named her "Fluffy." But by far, the funniest cat ever was Sassy, named for her rather erratic behavior and personality. She would run full tilt down the hall, a straight shot from our kitchen to my bedroom door, and slam herself into it shake it off, then begin the routine all over again. I learned quickly to leave the door open.
She never did quite get the hand of the litter box . Sassy would climb into it, scratch around, finding just the right spot, then hang her behind over the box and deposit her business on the kitchen linoleum. She always made my friends laugh!
One day Sassy sat on the hassock, facing my sister's boyfriend who was ensconced in my father’s favorite chair, and entered into a staring contest with her. It went on for quite a while until Sassy began to slowly tilt, then tumbled right off onto the floor!
June is National Adopt a Cat Month so let’s celebrate these beautiful, feline creatures that definitely have their own style and attitude! These stories will have you purring in no time at all!
- The oldest archaeological evidence for domesticated cats was found on the Greek island of Cyprus, where several animal species including cats were introduced by 7500 BC.
- The next is 6th millennium BC Haçilar, Turkey, where female figurines carrying cats or catlike figures in their arms have been discovered.
- The first illustration of a cat with a collar appears on an Egyptian tomb in Saqqara, dated to the 5th dynasty (Old Kingdom, ca 2500-2350 BC). By the 12th dynasty (Middle Kingdom, ca 1976-1793 BC), cats are definitely domesticated, and the animals appear frequently in Egyptian art paintings and mummies.
- The ancient Egyptian reverence for cats is well-known—and well-documented in the archaeological record: scientists found a cat cemetery in Beni-Hassan brimming with 300,000 cat mummies. Bastet, an Egyptian goddess of love, had the head of a cat, and to be convicted of killing a cat in Egypt often meant a death sentence for the offender.
- Ancient Romans held a similar—albeit tempered and secularized—reverence for cats, which were seen as a symbol of liberty. In the Far East, cats were valued for the protection they offered treasured manuscripts from rodents.
- Cats came to be demonized in Europe during the Middle Ages. They were seen by many as being affiliated with witches and the devil, and many were killed in an effort to ward off evil (an action that scholars think ironically helped to spread the plague, which was carried by rats). Not until the 1600s did the public image of cats begin to rally in the West.
The above information was found at the following websites:: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief_cats.html#ixzz2UPp0bxQp
The Boy Who Drew Cats –
Japan
The Cat’s Elopement – Japan
Cat and Mouse in Partnership - Germany
Domingo’s Cat – South America
Why Cats and Dogs Never Get Along –
Haiti
You
will find these seven folktales at the link below, along with a few Aesop
fables.
·
How Cat’s Got
Their Purr – England
·
The Master Cat,
or Puss n’ Boots - France
·
The White Cat -
France
·
Kissa the Cat -
Denmark
·
The Lion and the
Cat - England
·
The Cottager and
His Cat - Iceland
·
The Clever Cat -
Iran
Here
are 12 different stories about cats from Nigeria, Palestine, Tibet and other
countries around the world.
CRAFTS
Cat and Kitten
Crafts for Kids
Cat Puppet –
Cute and easy, made from Styrofoam and a straw.
CURRICULUM
For Kids About
Cats - Resources for Parents and Teachers
Kidssoup.com –
Cute cat math activity for preschoolers.
Do you have any of cat stories to share? I would love to hear them! Please feel free to add them in the comment section of the blog.
SONGS/FINGERPLAYS
Step by Step –
Song, fingerplays books and there is even a flannel board story all related to
cats.
Do you have any of cat stories to share? I would love to hear them! Please feel free to add them in the comment section of the blog.
Karen Chace 2013 ©
This blog post was researched and compiled
by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either
electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written
permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you
wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or
Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and
personal integrity.
