Tag Archives: cats

WMEO 9 — Feline News Desk Commentary- What’s in a Name

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The Newroom cats of WMEO prepare to share thier thoughts on the mews of the day

WMEO 9 — Feline News Desk Commentary- What’s in a name?

Broadcasting live from the living room newsroom

Banner: “WMEO 9 Breaking Mews: “The humans are renaming lakes now. Apparently renaming the Gulf of Mexico wasn’t enough — they’ve moved inland.”

Balboa: “Next up: renaming puddles. I call dibs on the one under the kitchen sink.”

Banner: “Experts say Lake Ontario might become Lake America. I say experts need a nap.”

Balboa: I renamed my litter box Lake Trump. It still smells and its still a terrible idea. Still more thought than the humans put into theirs.”

Banner: “Experts say renaming a lake doesn’t fix anything. I say experts should look at my brother’s litter box.”

Balboa: “Hey! My litter box is a natural ecosystem. It has layers and  history. It has… sediment.”

Banner: “It has EPA violations.”

Kitty Litter box with a sign designating it as Lake Trump. 2 crayons sit ont he floor

WMEO Educational Moment

Banner: “By the way, Lake Ontario already has a name. It comes from the Huron and Iroquois languages meaning ‘great lake,’ ‘beautiful lake,’ or ‘sparkling waters.’”

Balboa: “So it already had a good name. Unlike my litter box.”

Banner: “Correct. Some things don’t need renaming. Some things need cleaning.”

2 Newsroom cats signing off at the end of thier mewscast

 

Banner: “More updates as the humans continue renaming things nobody asked them to.”

This has been a WMEO Commentary. We Meow-You Listen

Please resume your regular scrolling

 

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

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A serene landscape featuring a wooden bridge over a small stream surrounded by green grass and colorful flowers. A bright rainbow arcs across a golden sky with soft clouds, and a butterfly hovers near the center, creating a peaceful, dreamlike scene.

In Memory of Mr. Jazz Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day was created by author Deborah Barnes in honor of her beloved cat, Mr. Jazz, who passed on August 28, 2013. It’s a day to remember the pets who touched our lives and left pawprints on our hearts.

Today we honor the pets who shared our homes, our routines, and our hearts. Pet loss is a grief that cuts deeply. They become family, and when they’re gone, the silence they leave behind is enormous. Many people say they mourned a pet more than a person — and while that can feel uncomfortable to admit, it’s true for many of us. We love them fiercely, and we lose them fiercely. And still, we adopt again. Because love is worth the risk.

My Rainbow Bridge Roll Call

Mittens – My first cat. Black with white paws, and the beginning of it all.

Squinty – A semi‑feral, long‑haired, scruffy stray… but I loved him anyway.

Starsky and Hutch – A matched pair of white cats with black ears and black caps on their heads.

Shadow – A polydactyl adventurer who loved car rides and terrorized every squirrel in the neighborhood.

Pyewacket – The sweetest little black‑and‑white kitty.

Little Joe – A rescued Persian, loyal right to the end.

Smoky – Saved from animal control and a hoarding situation. Declawed, poor thing, but still gentle and sweet.

Buddy – My boomerang cat. I tried to re‑home him three times, but he kept coming back. He wanted to be with me — and he was, until he passed.

Rocky – My first orange cat. A very special boy. We were together almost 20 years, and his passing left a hole in my heart.

Each one gone, each one remembered. All of them loved.

And beyond the cats…

There were dogs who wagged their way into my life, a parakeet who filled quiet mornings with chatter, and even a horse whose steady presence taught me patience and trust. Each one left their own mark, but the cats — oh, the cats — have always been the constant thread through my years.

The Present Moment

Banner and Balboa are here now — six years old already, somehow. Half their lives lived, half still ahead.

A Wish for You

If you’ve recently lost a pet — cat, dog, bird, reptile, or a companion I can’t even imagine — I wish you comfort. I believe they will be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge, whole and happy, ready to greet you again someday.

National Toilet Paper Day: A Celebration of Softness, Strength, and Cat Chaos

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Four cats in a bathroom surrounded by shredded toilet paper. An orange cat sits on the toilet batting at a roll on the wall, a black‑and‑white cat stands nearby holding an empty cardboard tube, a fluffy gray cat sits among torn paper on the floor, and a black cat lies down with toilet paper draped over its back. The floor is covered in ripped toilet paper, creating a humorous, chaotic scene.

 

The WMEO Household: Where Toilet Paper Goes to Die

Today is National ToiletPaper Day. Yes that bathroom essential has a day of its own.

Toilet paper is one of those everyday items we barely think about  — unless you live with two cats who treat it like a recreational sport. Banner and Balboa are so enamored with toilet paper that I eventually had to remove the wall‑mounted holder entirely.

Not because I wanted to. Not because it looked better. But because every time I left the holder empty, my housekeeper would helpfully put a fresh roll back on it.

I tried to explain why a roll on the holder is basically an invitation for chaos, but the concept of cat‑induced toilet paper carnage didn’t quite land.

So the holder had to go. Now the roll sits upright on a pole like some kind of minimalist sculpture — safe from paws, safe from shredding, safe from becoming avant‑garde hallway décor.

Toilet Paper Art: A WMEO Tradition

Before the Great Holder Removal, Banner and Balboa created masterpieces. Long ribbons. Confetti explosions. Entire rolls dragged triumphantly across the floor like festive parade streamers.

They weren’t being naughty — they were being artists. Expensive artists. But artists nonetheless.

And they’re not alone. The internet is full of cats who share this obsession. Toilet paper is apparently the universal feline muse.

A Brief Moment of TP Panic: The 2020 Shortage

Of course, toilet paper became internationally famous in 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit and people started stockpiling it like it was currency. Shelves were empty, stores were rationing rolls, and everyone suddenly became very aware of how much TP they used.

Meanwhile, in the WMEO household, Banner and Balboa were living in blissful ignorance — happily shredding rolls like tiny furry anarchists while the rest of the world was treating toilet paper like gold bullion.

If they had known how valuable it was at the time, they would have demanded velvet ropes and museum lighting for their “installations.”

A Surprisingly Fascinating History

Toilet paper may seem simple, but its history is anything but:

  • Ancient Romans used communal sponges on sticks. Communal.
  • China was producing toilet paper by the 6th century, and by the 14th century they were making millions of packages a year.
  • In 1391, Chinese royalty used perfumed toilet paper made exclusively for the emperor.
  • Early Americans repurposed leaves, corn cobs, newspapers, and famously the Sears catalog — so popular that Farmer’s Almanac started pre‑drilling holes for outhouse hanging.
  • Modern toilet paper arrived in 1857, marketed as “Medicated Paper for the Water Closet.”
  • Perforated rolls appeared in 1890, courtesy of the Scott Paper Company.
  • Colored toilet paper was a 1950s décor trend until they realized the dyes weren’t great for humans or plumbing.
  • And yes — someone makes 22‑carat gold toilet paper costing over $1.3 million a roll. Truly flushing money away.
  • Conservationists cringe but one person’s lifetime usage of toilet paper, if made from virgin paper, would take around 384 trees to make! Of course, using toilet paper that has been recycled from other purposes helps to cut down on this extensively.

How Cats Celebrate National Toilet Paper Day

Some cats nap. Some cats chase toys. Banner and Balboa? They honor the ancient traditions of their ancestors by shredding toilet paper with the passion of tiny furry historians.

Balboa prefers the dramatic “confetti bomb” technique. Banner goes for long, elegant ribbons. Together, they create installations that would impress even the Romans — and those people used sponges on sticks.

Conclusion: Toilet Paper Is Fun

Who knew toilet paper had such a wild history? And who knew two cats could make it even wilder?

Around here, it’s never dull — especially when toilet paper is involved.

 

The Cats’ Labor Day Travel Demands Have Arrived

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Labor Day Weekend: Should You Travel With Your Cats?

(A WMEO Special Report)

Labor Day weekend is creeping up, and plenty of folks are gearing up for a road trip. If you’re a cat parent, that means facing the annual dilemma: pet sitter or pack the furr‑babies and hit the highway?

Some cats are natural road warriors. Kurt and Gary? They’ll probably hop in the car, buckle their imaginary seatbelts, and enjoy the ride. The Oreo crew — Pudding, Olive, and Onyx — might be a little more dramatic about it. And Nanake? Well… he’s done cross‑country travel before, with results best described as “memorable” and “requiring emotional support snacks.”

But what about Banner and Balboa?

Two Cats, Two Very Different Travel Personalities

Banner and Balboa have never left the house since the day you brought them home. The vet doesn’t even get the privilege of seeing them in a clinic — Ross Veterinary House Calls comes to you. And even then, Balboa must be sedated or he’ll stage a full‑scale meltdown worthy of a Broadway revival.

His annual routine:

  • Receive his “calming potion”
  • Get gently escorted to the bathroom so he can’t hide in seventeen impossible places
  • Spend the next hour looking like a tiny, confused marshmallow

He’s a sweetheart, but he’s also a certified fraidy‑cat. A road trip? Absolutely not. He’d unionize before you even backed out of the driveway.

Banner, meanwhile, would probably try to take over the GPS and declare himself “Navigator Supreme.”

The Cats’ Official Labor Day Travel Demands

Since I couldn’t get a straight answer out of either of them, I asked what it would take for Banner and Balboa to agree to travel with me. They immediately produced a list — and I swear they had it ready in advance.

  • At least 16 nap breaks during transit (We’d be lucky to make it to the end of the street.)
  • Unlimited treats at all rest stops (I foresee two car‑sick kitties and one very unhappy driver.)
  • Mandatory belly rubs, pending mood (Their mood changes every 4–6 minutes.)
  • A proper travel litter box — the hotel bathtub does NOT count (Honestly, fair. The bathtub is not a sandbox, no matter how much they insist.)

They warned me that failure to comply would result in unionization, followed by a strike, followed by dramatic flopping and pointed glares. Honestly, I believe them.

So in my house, the answer is clear: I’m calling the pet sitter… or just staying home.

What about you? Are your cats road‑trip ready, or are they already drafting their own list of demands?

Welcome MeowPicks to our Affiliate Family

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Introducing Our Newest Affiliate Partner: The MeowPicks

Let me introduce you to our newest affiliate partner, The MeowPicks — a high‑end, cat‑centric shop with a distinctly European flair. If you’ve ever looked at your cat and thought, “You deserve the good stuff,” this is exactly the place.

Their motto? “The Good Stuff, Nothing Else.” Honestly… that’s a cat all the way.

A close-up of a blue‑eyed gray and white cat beside elegant promotional text describing a premium cat brand, with buttons to shop the collection and learn how products are chosen.

The Meow Picks organizes their offerings into three curated categories:

  • Furniture – Those essential cat trees, loungers, and perches worthy of your feline royalty.
  • Technology – Automated litter boxes, kitty fountains, and clever gadgets that make life smoother for both humans and cats.
  • Lifestyle – Toys, collars, backpack carriers, feeders, and all the delightful extras that make daily life with cats more enjoyable.

This advertiser is Banner and Balboa approved. Banner gives The Meow Picks two paws up, and Balboa says they need more snacks, but he’s willing to share the spotlight.

This post contains affiliate links. If you use one of our links to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission — which goes directly toward cat toys, snacks, and keeping the WMEO newsroom running smoothly.