Credit: mockstar

Grey-white fluffy cat laying on its back looking into the camera. One paw with its pink cushions is visible.

Tiny kittens are among the cutest life forms.

Anabells Kitten at 4 Weeks, originally uploaded by endbradley.

I’m ssssssssinging in the flowers, just ssssssssinging in the flowers…. what a wwwwwwwonderful feeling….. I’m *kitten* again….

Maine coon kittens, originally uploaded by eleda.

I’m sorry….. I love you….

A cat that had been missing since its owners’ home was leveled by a natural gas explosion has been found alive, according to a local newspaper.

David and Valerie Fitzgerald’s other cat, Oscar, was found shortly after the blast at 44 Willowdale St. on Tuesday.

Lilly emerged from the rubble as crews cleared charred debris on Wednesday morning, the town’s Dog Officer Sue Hogan told the Lowell Sun. She said the cat was singed, but appeared OK otherwise.

The blast was blamed on KeySpan subcontractors, who investigators said didn’t check where the gas line was or if the line was in the wrong place.

HERE’S a moggie with a look that’s straight from the catwalk.

He’s modelling the latest in pampered petware - a wig for your cat.

They’re available in a range of colours to suit their owner from a new American website.

And are bound to be a hit with dippy owners who already spend thousands every year on gifts for their animals.

Cat-mad Julie Jackson came up with the designs to spice up her cat’s wardrobe and give the animals a more exciting choice of outfit.

The designs - called The Kitty Wigs - are available in blue, silver, blonde and pink.

We recently told how a barking mad store had started flogging wigs for dogs on the web.

Cats probably prefer wearing them because they’re arti-fish-ial.

A cat is heading back home to St. Louis after he was found 700 miles away and missing for more than five years.

Some animal lovers tell News 4 that they are scratching their heads about this mystery trip.

Tracie Quackenbush found a long haired white cat in a tree and rescued him five years ago.

Quackenbush brought him into the Open Door Animal Sanctuary in Jefferson County where the cat, Hercules spent three months before he got adopted.

Quackenbush and animal leaders at the Open Door Animal Sanctuary thought Hercules was still with his adopted family until they found out the cat was in Fort Worth, Texas.

Thanks to a micro chip shelter leaders put in Hercules, animal lovers in Texas were able to track back to the shelter.

Apparently, the adopted family lost the cat, and never reported him missing.

Quackenbush is not sure what her furry friend’s been up to, but she says they’re welcoming him home with open arms.

Tabitha Cain has fed a feral cat she calls Wild Oats for several years, but now she’s thinking of changing the feline’s name to Survivor.

That’s because she says the cat survived for 19 days with a peanut butter jar stuck on its head.

“We tried to get her, but being the type of cat you can’t catch, she kept running and hiding,” said Doretha Cain, Tabitha’s mother.

The family saw the cat several times with the jar on its head and tried in vain to catch it. But after not seeing the cat for a week, the Cains feared the worst.

“I thought she was going to die with that jar on her head,” said Tabitha Cain, 25.

They found the once chubby cat Wednesday, too thin and weak to flee. They caught her with a fishing net and used some oil to get the jar off her head.

They gave her water and treated her wounds and Friday she began to eat again.

“I’ve heard of cats having nine lives but I think this one has 19 because she survived 19 days,” Doretha Cain said.

Memphis veterinarian Gerald Blackburn said he’s heard similar stories of pets getting trapped for days or even weeks at a time and surviving. Blackburn said the cat may have lived off of its excess fat.

Walt Disney World is going after pet owners who might feel better about vacationing at the resort if they know their dogs will be coddled with bedtime stories or their cats treated to snacks such as tuna on Ritz crackers.

“We will be able to provide wonderful experiences for pets,” said Dennis Dolan, president and chief executive officer of Best Friends Pet Care Inc.

His Norwalk, Conn., company just got a contract from Disney to operate the resort’s five existing kennels — and to build a state-of-the-art boarding center where dogs and cats can board in two-room suites with patios and get all the pampering they have come to expect.

Walks? Sure. Runs on an obstacle course? If they wish, as shown on the right, at a Best Friends facility in New York. Ice cream snacks. Bottled water. Supervised socializing with other pets. Elevated beds with lamb’s-wool bedding. If special bedding is desired — even orthopedic beds — those, too, will be available.

For dogs used to curling up on a child’s bed and drifting off to sleep as a parent reads a bedtime story, bedtime stories will be available. For those conditioned to nap in front of a TV, televisions can be provided. And they won’t be playing just any TV shows; they’ll have dog movies, like Milo and Otis or Homeward Bound.

“A lot of people leave their televisions or radios on at home during the day to keep their pets company. This is really an idea that came to us from our clients who wanted a more homelike setting for their pets,” said Best Friends spokeswoman Debra Bennetts. “What we provide is luxury suites. . . . It’s really for that person who wants to make sure that their pet is being pampered the way they get pampered at home.”

Cats will get a different kind of pampering. Their “condos” will come with lofts. Their TVs will play videos of birds. They can have aquariums to watch.

Dolan said luxury boarding for pets has been emerging for years, and he considers his company to be one of the innovators. Best Friends has 44 other boarding centers nationwide. Most of the luxury features are available at most of them.

Note: an earlier version stated misleading rates for Disney’s kennels.

At those other Best Friends facilities, basic boarding fees for dogs range from less than $25 to more than $40 a day, depending on the local market and the size of the dog. Luxury features, such as 10 minutes of cuddle time, can be purchased separately for $2 to $12 per feature or in packages that add $12 to $38 a day to the cost.

The company has not yet set its Disney World luxury rates. Current Disney fees run from $10 to $15 a night, depending on the pet. Those basic rates will go up after Best Friends starts taking over operations in January — perhaps up to $20 a night, though the level of service will increase, too, Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said.

A Cedar Rapids woman is crediting her cat with possibly saving her life from exposure to carbon monoxide.

For the last week, or longer, Jeanie Probst says her black and white cat named Oreo made a screeching racket every time the furnace in her apartment kicked on. The cat would also constantly look at the heating registers while making odd sounds. She says she couldn’t figure out the problem…until she finally called MidAmerican Energy to test for poisonous CO fumes.

Probst tells TV9 that she and her boyfriend had headaches and slight flu-like symptoms during the same period of time. Those are some of the signs of mild CO poisoning. But she wasn’t sure something was really wrong.

Still, the constant agitation of her cat that convinced her to call for a furnace check. Probst said when the technician came to her apartment to check for the odorless, colorless gas she told him how her cat was acting.

“He didn’t believe me at first, he wanted me to run the furnace with the front off. That’s when Oreo got back on the chair, nose to the vent and did his noise again,” Probst said.

Probst said the technician kept checking and eventually discovered a blocked flue. Carbon monoxide gas was getting back into the apartment instead of properly venting outside. Probst said one other odd thing is she has another dog and cat. Neither of those animals reacted in a strange way during this last week.

One feline behavior expert tells TV9 cats have a much keener sense of smell than people. However, dogs are much more sensitive than cats.

Dr. Bonnie Beaver, a veterinarian at Texas A&M University, said there is another possible explanation for Oreo’s agitation. Dr. Beaver said “this cat may be one that’s more susceptible to a headache and because it didn’t feel good it started meowing because it was not comfortable.”

Whatever the explanation, Oreo’s getting extra treats…but he won’t be expected to have to do the job alone again. Probst said she is getting a carbon monoxide detector.

The Texas A&M professor contacted by TV9 said there’s no scientific way to prove a cat was acting “heroically.” Dr. Beaver said she hears such stories occasionally.

Mid-American Energy said the technician who found the carbon monoxide leak also heard the cat’s visible reaction when the leaky furnace was running. The technician said he had never seen anything like it.