Kitty

This looks like an award-winner to me. Femi, a Blue Lynx Point Birman cat, owned by Doug Piparo of Richmond, Va., plays withs ribbons. The kitty was competing this weekend at the Hidden Peak Cat Club's 32nd annual cat show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Looks like little Femi cleaned up in the competition! Congrats cutie.

When the "Show Your Soft Side" campaign debuted last year, Baltimore learned that real tough guys treat animals with soft hands -- and people across the county took notice. They were impressed to hear about the likes of Raven Jarret Johnson, MMA fighter John Rallo and Oriole Adam Jones were posing on city billboards loving up their pets with the message "Only a punk would hurt a dog or cat. " The campaign went viral and one upshot is the TV show "Must Love Cats" came to town to film an episode which will air at 8 p.m. Saturday on Animal Planet.

This kitty could be hard for some folks to look at, but in so many other ways, he's defying all sorts of expectations. This cat with two faces was brought to a vet's office at one day old to be euthanized. But a woman who worked in the office took pity on the strange little fellow and, though others told her she shouldn't, she took him home and gave him a chance. The cat she calls "Frank and Louie" just celebrated his 12th birthday on Sept. 8. He's the world's oldest living Janus cat, named after the mythical Roman character with two faces on one head.

Anyone who has a cat -- or knows even the slightest thing about kitty behavior -- knows that the idea of washing a cat is a bad, bad, baaaaaaad idea. Unless you have death wish. Luckily, cats are kind of self-cleaning anyway. But when a bottle of Vet's Best Natural Formula No-Rinse Foam Waterless Cat Bath came into the office, I knew we had to test it. If there was a way to get a cat cleaner without trying to actually bathe him, I thought folks would be interested.

West Coast scientists studying cats and the allergies they trigger in humans discovered serendipitously that not all felines carry the sneeze-gene that produces troublesome allergens. If true - there's always room for doubt about early claims such as this - millions of allergy sufferers who are forced to love Felix and Sylvester from a distance might have a future in which they can have their cat and pet it, too. Not everyone, of course, is fond of mousers. But the country's estimated 30 million cats have their fans, and a big chunk of the $35 billion pet industry comes from cat owners.

On July 7, 2003 KITTY SCHULTZ, beloved wife of the late Joseph Schultz, loving mother of Deborah Austin, Mark Schultz, and Brian Schultz; grandmother of Richard, Tracy, Matt, Adam, and the late Joseph; Also survived by six grandchildren; daughter of Thelma Seymour; sister of Joan Carter and Carole Speelman. Services will be private. Memorial donations can be made to the Johns Hopkins Cancer Society. Further inquiries may be directed to the family owned Ambrose Funeral Home, Inc., 410-242-2211.

Kitty Dohony, 60, secretary in the guidance department at Archbishop Curley High School, died Saturday at University of Maryland Medical Center after a stroke.A mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, Harford Road and Gibbons Avenue.Mrs. Dohony, who lived on Bayonne Avenue, had worked at the high school for 16 years.Her husband, Jack Dohony, is a retired head of the cord shop department at the old Western Electric Co. and a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker.

KATHERINE"KITTY" WALL, born March 10, 1920, passed away peacefully at home in Camillus, NY with her loving husband John by her side Wednesday morning, April 19, 2006. She was born and raised in Baltimore. Katherine was also known as "Mama" and "Grammy" to her grandchildren. They were her pride and joy. Every chance she could get, Kitty spent time with her family. She even did ceramics with her grandchildren. Since 1960 she lived in Camillus and worked retail at Dey Bros. for many years in Fairmount, NY. Kitty was a communicant of Holy Family Church in Fairmount and former member of the Sherwood Knolls Garden Club and the Sherwood Knolls Homeowners Assn.

CATHARINE BAKER "KITTY" ADAMS Passed away peacefully on December 22, 2009 at age 81 in Rochester, NY. Predeceased by her beloved husband, O. Ross Adams; parents, David and Catharine Baker and brothers, David B. Baker, Jr. and William G. Baker, III. She is survived by her children, Kitty (Pat) Murphy, Ross (Missy) Adams and Caroline (Moby) Burton; five grandsons, Nick and Tyler Kurlas, Philip and Whitman Adams and Colby Murphy; One great-granddaughter, Annabelle Hart Burton; as well as nephew, David B. Baker, III; niece, Nina Baker Neal; sister-in-law, Eleanor Baker Cadwalader; many dear friends; and wonderful caregivers.

On the phone, Lisa Loeb isn't very chatty. But she is polite, her words softly spoken. Since her ascent up the pop charts in '94, she has been the antithesis of what's hot: a brainy singer-songwriter in dark-frame glasses with a flippy That Girl-like do, strumming a guitar and crooning lyrics of love lost and found. Her style is never obtrusive or overdone; there's an openness. "The songs are inspired by different experiences," she says, "but they aren't too autobiographical." On Saturday night, the Dallas native will perform at Temple Oheb Shalom, 7310 Park Heights Ave., in a concert open to the community (age 10 and up)

After an aiport odyssey that made the Tom Hanks movie "The Terminal" look like child's play, Jack the long-missing cat has finally been found at JFK airport. American Airlines reported Tuesday that workers had found the fluffy orange kitty, who had escaped from his carrier at the airport last August. The plight of the missing cat became a social media sensation, with a Facebook page topping 16,000 fans. Airport officials say the kitty is "healthy, safe and well. " "Jack was found in the customs room and was immediately taken by AA team members to the airport vet service, VetPort, where a microchip scan confirmed that the cat is indeed Jack," airline officials wrote online.  The kitty was fine, except for being dehydrated and a good bit skinnier.

This kitty could be hard for some folks to look at, but in so many other ways, he's defying all sorts of expectations. This cat with two faces was brought to a vet's office at one day old to be euthanized. But a woman who worked in the office took pity on the strange little fellow and, though others told her she shouldn't, she took him home and gave him a chance. The cat she calls "Frank and Louie" just celebrated his 12th birthday on Sept. 8. He's the world's oldest living Janus cat, named after the mythical Roman character with two faces on one head.

A kitty named Natasha Finkel isn't a designer. And she isn't a model. But she sure was  photographed like one during New York Fashion Week at Lincoln Center on Sept. 14. What a cat!

Two newborn Red Panda cubs play, nose-to-nose as they meet the press at the Berlin Tierpark zoo. The babies named Kit and Kitty were born in June. If you liked these red pandas, check out more here.

Football season is here! With the Ravens about to begin their regular season this weekend digging in at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's time to introduce Baltimore to its newest sports star: Teddy The Pigskin Picking Pup. He's too small to be a linebacker. He's probably fast enough to get the ball down the field -- if the ball wasn't heavier than he is. And he wears the purple jersey with as much pride asRay Lewis. But this dog's real talent is picking the winners of games.

A Florida woman was so inspired by the care her beloved kitty got at a California vet school that she left the institution $7.6 million in her cat's name. According to the Sacramento Bee , years ago Maxine Adler brought her kitty, Du Bee, to the University of California, Davis, to be treated for cancer. The kitty died, as did Adler, a few years later by a hit-and-run driver. But before her death, the paper reports, Adler had made sure her will included $7.6 for the university's school of veterninary medicine.

I was recently laid off and I'm wondering whether I have enough money to not return to work full time. Here are the facts: I am 41 and my wife is 40. She is a teacher with a $60,000-a-year income, and we have a combined retirement balance of $3.5 million. (Obviously, we have benefited not only from lucky investments, but also from dedicated retirement investing since we graduated from college.) I believe we could live comfortably by drawing $50,000 a year from our retirement kitty, but our planner does not recommend it, as the withdrawals would lower our potential retirement nest egg. This leads me to my question: How much is really enough?