Hi there, Newton the SureFlap cat here! The humans keep going on about the ‘Oscars’. Sounds like something to do with dogs. I know quite a few called Oscar…

Anyway I’ve since discovered that the Oscars are actually to do with movies. I thought I’d look back at some of the movies that have won best picture in the past and I’ve created my own rendition of my favourite ones!

Image courtesy of KathrynW1 on Flickr

Hi there, it’s Newton the SureFlap cat here! I’ve just learnt an interesting fact about tortoiseshell cats. It turns out that most tortoiseshell cats are female.

Tortoiseshell cats are recognised by their brown, black, orange or cream colourings. But why are so many of them female? Without getting too technical, it’s all about genetics. The colourings on a tortoiseshell cat are attached to the X chromosome. Female cats have two X chromosomes, so that’s why tortoiseshell cats are almost always female.

Now, who knew that about tortoiseshell cats? Very interesting stuff.

In addition, tortoiseshell cats are thought to have unique personalities. This is what humans refer to as ‘tortitude’. Many tortoiseshell cats have strong personalities. They often enjoy their independence and can be unpredictable or feisty.

Does your tortoiseshell cat have tortitude? Do you have a rare tortoiseshell cat that is male? Why not tell us about them by leaving a comment on this blog post!

Have you ever wondered if there’s a male equivalent of mad cat ladies? Well wonder no more! Tom Cox has grown up around cats his whole life. In Under the Paw, he proves there is such a thing as a ‘Mad Cat Man’.

Want to know whether your non-pedigree cat is a Mog, a Puss or a Supervillain? Interested in finding out the cat dictionary definitions of an Argle, a Nuggin and an Uwookwack? And of course there’s the Mousestache; you can probably guess what that one means… There are many ‘ah yes I’m familiar with that’ definitions in Under the Paw for cat owners to relate to.

Tom had cats when he was a child. In the early years of his adult life, he moved to London to pursue a career as a rock critic; not what you’d expect of a crazy cat person. It was only once he met his partner Dee and moved to the country that he was able to truly unleash his secret love of cats. You know a person is obsessed with their cats when they are looking at a potential new home with ‘will the cats like it’ at the forefront of their mind.

Through the use of hilarious analogies, Tom explores the quirky nature of felines that will have cat owners (and even non-cat owners) in stitches! I experienced multiple laugh-out-loud moments reading this little gem. Tom also has the clever knack of making you giggle in one paragraph and sending you reaching for the tissues in the next.

A number of cats are featured in Under the Paw, and their unique personalities make for page-turning reading. One cat in particular, affectionately named The Bear, steals the show. Here’s a cat that had a rough start in life, has a bedraggled appearance and likes to steal curry. But for all his flaws, you’ll find yourself wanting to have a ‘The Bear’ of your very own.

Join Tom on his crazy journey through Cat-dom, through moments of heartbreak, revelation and chaos. By the end of the book, cat owners are sure to start analysing their own cats in strange new ways, while cat-less folk might be tempted to head straight for their nearest animal shelter.

Tom writes books and articles at his home in Norfolk. Take a look at his blog of the same name; Under the Paw.

Did you know that just like dogs, cats can be trained to take part in agility exercises? There are even cat agility tournaments!

Cat agility is great exercise for both you and your pet. The temperament of your cat will determine how easy they are to train. Shy cats will be much harder to train, but if your cat is confident, loves jumping and climbing, and isn’t afraid of new situations then they should take to it well.

Your cat will also enjoy cat agility if he loves playing with toys. Food is used to train dogs to navigate agility courses but cats are more likely to respond to their favourite toy. A simple stick toy will do the trick. If they don’t already have a stick to play with, introduce one to them at home so that they can get used to it in their own territory before responding to it on an agility course.

Your cat must be in good physical condition to take part in cat agility. Even if your cat has no obvious ailments, it’s a good idea to take them to the vet for a once over before they go on an agility course to ensure they are fit and healthy.

Just like dogs, cats should be rewarded as you train them. You can give them little treats but they also respond well to affection. A scratch behind the ear should do the trick!

Does your cat take party in cat agility?

If you have any extra tips on how to train your cat in cat agility, why not share them here by commenting on this blog post!

Videos of cats have taken over the internet and many have become You Tube phenomena. In fact cat videos are often amongst the most watched videos on You Tube.

The Internet Cat Video Film Festival has been set up to celebrate our love of feline furries on film! The festival will be held in Minneapolis on 30 August 2012, and cat lovers are being invited to nominate their favourite cat video by 30 July.

Many cat videos on You Tube have received millions, even tens of millions of hits. Some of the most watched cat videos include ‘Charlie Schmidt’s Keyboard Cat’ with 25m views, ‘Stalking Cat’ with 34.5m views, ‘Cat Mom Hugs Baby Kitten’ with nearly 47m views and ‘Surprised Kitty’ with nearly 64m views!

What’s your favourite cat video of all time?

Today is the SureFlap Blog’s 1 year anniversary – the last year has simply flown by! I thought I’d mark the occasion by sharing with you some of my favourite moments and posts on the blog from the last year.

In January, Newton the SureFlap mascot wrote his first post on the SureFlap blog from a cat’s point of view! He discovered that getting microchipped wasn’t as scary as he first thought it would be in It’s microchipping day…

I’ve been closely following the story of Larry the Downing Street cat. Even before Larry was appointed Chief Mouser at Number 10, I wondered, Will 10 Downing Street get a new cat? Then when Larry got the job, Newton expressed his own thoughts on the new Downing Street cat.

I’ve blogged about useful tips for cat owners including caring for a three legged cat and how to keep your cat cool in summer, but I’ve also enjoyed blogging about fun stuff, whether it’s about my favourite internet cat or details about one of our fun competitions!

In August, I opened our blog up to guest bloggers. Some of the guest blog posts have been fantastically varied. Here are some of my favourites:

• Yoga Cat – This short story was sent to me by Dena Harris, a published writer of comical cat books. The story of Yoga Cat is from her book Lessons in Stalking: Adjusting to Life with Cats.
• Ten tips for keeping your cat safe this Halloween – A useful, topical guide submitted by Paris Permenter and John Bigley, publishers of CatTipper.com.
• An ordinary morning in the life of King Louie Halse – A story written from a cat’s point of view, submitted by an existing SureFlap customer.
• Introducing a kitten to a cat – Submitted by a fellow blogger offering comprehensive, first-hand advice.

So that’s my year of blogging in a nutshell! I hope to bring you lots of other exciting cat news, tips and contests in the New Year!

In a recent study, UK pet insurance company Petplan found that half of UK pet owners share pictures of their favourite furries online, and one on ten pets have their own Facebook page, Twitter account or YouTube channel!

We noticed this trend straight away as many of SureFlap’s social media followers are cats! On Facebook, there’s Simba, the ginger tabby and Louie the black and white cat. We’ve got many more on Twitter – too many to count in fact!

On our Facebook page, we actively encourage SureFlap customers to send us pictures of their cats to put in our Happy Cats album. We currently have 189 happy cat pictures in our album! It’s a great way for people to share their cute cat pics and for us to get feedback on our product at the same time. (If you are a SureFlap customer and would like to send us a picture for our Happy Cats album, please send it to enquiries@sureflap.co.uk).

People have different motives for setting up a social media account for their pet. For some, it’s just for fun, while others use it for marketing purposes. On Twitter, Sockington (@sockington – nearly 1.5 million followers) tweets his everyday life from a cat’s point of view in a very comic way, keeping his tweets fun and interesting. Maru, a cat in Japan, has his own YouTube channel featuring funny videos of his everyday antics. His videos are so cute and watchable that they’ve gone viral and his most popular video has in excess of 10 million views. Meanwhile Emmy the Cat (@EmmytheCat – over 7,000 followers) also tweets from a cat’s point of view, but in doing so raises awareness about Hounslow Animal Welfare.

I think creating a social profile for a pet has so much appeal because of the comic aspect of it and the fact that so many pet owners treat their animals like human beings! It’s an interesting and novel way to get your own opinions across – through your pet’s eyes – and to engage other animal lovers and pet owners.

Do you have a cat that has its own Facebook or Twitter page? Why not get them to follow us on Facebook or tweet @SureFlapNews. We’d love to follow you back! Newton, our SureFlap mascot, even has his own Twitter page – @NewtonSureFlap, and his own section on the blog where he posts from a cat’s point of view!

I was prowling around at the London Pet Show in May and the SureFlap humans decided to run a colouring competition. And I was the star of the show!

Some of the kids that visited the London Pet Show loved the colouring competition and SureFlap had around 90 entries. Some of them were really colourful! The kids didn’t stick to my usual black and white colours – I got to be all the colours of the rainbow!

Take a look at the three winning entries below from their 0-3 years, 4-7 years and 8-12 years categories. I think they’re all purrfect!

SureFlap have also uploaded some of the other colouring competition entries on their Facebook page. Why not take a look? I think they’re all pretty cool!

Hello and welcome to What’s New Pussycat, SureFlap’s official blog! We’d like to join in with the Meet & Greet Party Blog Hop to connect with fellow pet bloggers and shout about our award-winning SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap!

Our blog is designed for cat owners all over the world, offering them tips and advice about cat care, cat related news, competitions and product tips and information. We encourage visitors to our blog to leave comments on any blog posts that they feel they have a connection with.

The SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap was developed by Cambridge (UK) physicist Dr Nick Hill to keep out intruder cats by using a cat’s microchip like an electronic doorkey, unlocking only for your pet. SureFlap was launched in early 2008 and we are thrilled to have received three awards for our cat flap’s innovative design.

To find out more about the SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap, take a look at our website: www.sureflap.com.

In addition to our blog, we have lots of other social media channels:

SureFlap on Facebook – Connect with a cat loving community, post pictures of your cats, ask us questions about our microchip cat flap or enter our monthly Caption Competition to win a SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap or £50 worth of Amazon vouchers! Already own a SureFlap? Send us pictures of your cat to add to our SureFlap Happy Cats Album!

SureFlapNews and AskSureFlap on Twitter – SureFlap has two Twitter accounts. SureFlapNews has all the latest product information, cat news, events and more, while AskSureFlap is designed as a customer service portal.

SureFlap’s YouTube Channel – Our videos on YouTube are designed to demonstrate to existing and potential customers how simple it is to program and install a SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap. We also have a microchipping video to show how quick and painless the procedure can be. Our videos have all been translated into French, German and Dutch.

At SureFlap we love all the fun cat characters on the internet, from animated creations to real life moggies with quirky antics. We want to take a closer look at three of our favourite internet cats – Simon’s Cat, Maru the Cat and Stalking Cat.

The beauty of these three cats is that their videos don’t involve any talking. The cats’ actions speak for themselves!

Let us know which cat is your favourite internet cat, even if we haven’t mentioned it here!

Simon’s Cat

Simon’s Cat is an animated internet cartoon phenomenon! Hand drawn by British wildlife lover and cat owner Simon Tofield, Simon’s Cat is a series of animated videos that sees him getting into all the usual sorts of moggy mischief! Simon’s Cat purrs and meows from time to time, and the sounds are provided by Simon Tofield himself.

The first Simon’s Cat animation, Cat Man Do, depicts the curious cat trying to wake his owner up while he sleeps. This film won the Best Comedy Award in the 2008 British Animation Awards.

Subsequent episodes sees Simon’s Cat bugging his owner in TV Dinner, being bewildered by the snow in Snow Business and having a fight with a piece of tape in the most recent film, Sticky Tape.

Simon’s Cat also has a website with loads of other fun stuff. There’s an online shop with Simon’s Cat goodies including cushions, mugs and greeting cards. Simon’s Cat even has his own book and iPhone app!

Maru the Cat

Maru the Cat has taken YouTube by storm. Maru lives in Japan and has a particular penchant for cardboard boxes… He just can’t get enough of them! Put a box in front of Maru the Cat and he just can’t help diving into it, no matter how small it is!

Maru the Cat’s videos on YouTube have had millions of views, and it’s easy to see why. He’s quite a character! Not much is known about Maru’s owner – she keeps hidden and allows Maru to be the star of the show.

Maru the Cat also has his own blog for fans to keep up with his adventures, which is written in both Japanese and English.

Stalking Cat

The Stalking Cat video on YouTube has had over 19 million views. The concept is extremely simple, but very compelling.

Stalking cat is a gorgeous grey and white cat with big dark eyes. Stalking Cat creeps closer and closer to the camera while the cameraman hides behind the furniture. Each time the camera is pointed at Stalking Cat, he becomes perfectly still!

There’s even a Stalking Cat part 2…