The post How to Throw a Kitten Shower! The Baby Shower for Cats by Misty Layne appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click to Skip Ahead Before You Begin How to Throw a Kitten Shower A Few Last Things Remember the days when cats were more often family animals who helped out in some capacity around the home (mostly as mousers) rather than being members of the family? Yeah, neither do we. These days, our kitties are full-blown members of the family, which means we celebrate their important occasions, whether that’s a birthday or a pregnancy. When it comes to pregnant cats, there’s no better way to celebrate than with a kitten shower! What exactly is a kitten shower? It’s a baby shower for cats! Throwing kitten showers for pregnant cats has become more popular recently, so you’ve likely heard about the phenomenon before. Kitten showers are an excellent way to celebrate mama cats and welcome new kittens into your home. In fact, even if you’re simply adopting a kitten, you could still throw a kitten shower to welcome them (even shelters throw kitten showers during kitten season to encourage people to adopt kittens!). You may not know how to throw a kitten shower, though, which is why we’re here. We’re sharing kitten shower ideas below so you can plan the perfect party for your soon-to-be mama cat! Before You Begin You can’t throw a party without making a few preparations, of course. The most important party preparations will be: Choosing a date and time for the event Making a guest list Setting up a gift registry You’ll also need some supplies, which we’ll cover below. Supplies will vary depending on how extravagant and creative you want to get with your kitten shower. Image Credit: ANURAK PONGPATIMET, Shutterstock How to Throw a Kitten Shower Now that you’ve done your preparations, it’s time to throw a fabulous kitten shower for your incoming kittens! 1. Send Out Invitations Once you’ve chosen your party date and time and made your guest list, it’s time to send out invitations! Invitations can be as simple or as fancy as you want. Get some cute physical invitations and mail them out like the olden days, or just make a Facebook event page and invite your guest list there. Whatever works best for you. 2. Start a Registry Make sure your invitations include the link to your registry. You can start a registry on Amazon or a site specifically for registries and add items you will need for upcoming kittens (food, crates, bedding), items for the mama cat (she deserves a push gift!), and items for the kittens (toys and more toys). Image Credit: Elise Christopher, Shutterstock 3. Get Some Decorations Decide how you want to decorate and acquire your decorations. This is another area where you can go as big or small as you want. Grab cat-related banners, tablecloths, paper plates, and more to go all out for your kitten shower or put up a few pictures of mama cat (or the new kittens, if adopting) and blow up a few balloons for a simpler vibe. Pinterest is a fantastic place to get ideas for decorating a kitten shower. 4. Plan Party Games Once your decorations are gathered, decide whether you want to play party games with your guests. If so, you may need to get a few more supplies. Some fun kitten shower party games include Pin the Tail on the Kitty, a cat cookie decorating contest, and a litterbox toss! 5. Pick Your Food Again, you can get creative as you want with the food for your kitten shower. You might choose to stick to simple finger apps or go all out with a kitty-themed cake. Don’t forget special treats for any furry friends that might be attending! Make some tasty feline snacks or order a few items from a bakery that offers cat-friendly items. If you decide to order food, be sure you place your order far enough out that the food will be ready on the big day. Image Credit: Vershinin89, Shutterstock 6. Start Setting Up Once everything is decided upon and the day of the kitten shower arrives, it’s time to set everything up! Put up decorations, set out food, set up any games you want to play, and ensure everyone in your home is ready to have fun! 7. Don’t Forget the Photos! Choose a family member or friend to take photos. You’ll likely be quite busy on the day of the kitten shower, but you absolutely want plenty of pictures of the event, so ask someone to act as the dedicated photographer. 8. Do a Safety Check Before people come to your house, consider the safety and comfort of any pets in your home. Whether it’s a mama cat or another pet, determine how well they’ll deal with having multiple people around. If you have a pet that will be anxious or stressed, consider placing them in a separate room away from the action. If mama cat or kittens might not enjoy the attention, bring them out briefly to greet people, then separate them from the action. Image Credit: ZalinaSirik, Shutterstock A Few Last Things There are a couple of things you should avoid during your kitten shower. One is putting your cat (or cats) into costume (unless they just really like being dressed up). As adorable as it is to see kitties in costumes, they usually aren’t fans, and you want your pets to have fun on their big day! You also want to avoid having any foods at your party that could be toxic to felines. Look into any foods you’re ordering or making to ensure that they won’t harm cats; this way, if something is dropped on the floor and one of the cats in your home snatches it up, you can guarantee they won’t suffer serious side effects. Final Thoughts Kitten showers, or baby showers for cats, are a newer trend that is getting more popular. Whether that means celebrating a pregnant cat or simply throwing a shower to welcome new kittens to your home, a kitten shower is a fun and fabulous way to celebrate. Kitten showers are easy to put together and throw, too, as you don’t have to do much more work than you would for a baby shower. They’re also guaranteed to allow you, your friends, and any felines in the home to have a great time! Sources Catster Koro Catster VetsNow Featured Image Credit: Sheila Fitzgerald, Shutterstock The post How to Throw a Kitten Shower! The Baby Shower for Cats by Misty Layne appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

The post Kattenstoet (The Belgian Cat Festival) : Origins & Celebration Facts by Catster Editorial Team appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click to Skip Ahead How Kattenstoet is Celebrated Origins When Is Celebrated As a cat lover, can you think of anything more awesome than a parade dedicated to cats? If I’ve already piqued your fancy by using “cat” and “parade” in the same sentence, you might want to start planning a trip to Belgium. The Kattenstoet (which literally translates to “the Cat Parade”) occurs in a small town named Ypres on the French border of Belgium on the second Sunday of May every three years. While this beloved festival celebrates cats, it’s based on a rather horrific tradition of the townsfolk of Ypres once engaged in annually. Read on to learn more about this unique festival, including its history and what to expect if you plan to attend in the future. What Happens During the Festival? The Kattenstoet parade operates much like any other parade—the participants build elaborate floats, hand-sew costumes, and put on performances. It’s not unusual to see modern depictions of cats in this history-focused festival, either. For example, there’s one particularly popular float with a humongous Garfield cat peeking out from a cardboard box. While most of the festival is feline-focused, some aspects of the parade have nothing to do with cats. Attendees may spot knights in chainmail walking around with spears or folks dressed in medieval garb clutching pieces of fabric. This is just part of the tribute to the town’s history and humble beginnings in cloth manufacturing. The townspeople of Ypres participate in the festival by decorating their shops with cat displays or baking cat-shaped buns or cookies. After the parade procession, someone dressed in a jester costume tosses stuffed kitties from the belfry to the eagerly awaiting townspeople below, who hope to catch one of the plushies. After the jester has run out of cats to toss, a mock witch-burning event occurs, in which the crowd sets a puppet witch aflame. The festival is a popular tourist event in Belgium, bringing in thousands of visitors and strengthening the local tourism economy. Event organizers expected 50,000 spectators to come from near and far to watch the 2024 parade. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Martin Macharis (@martinmacharis) How Did the Parade Come to Be? While the parade celebrates our adoring relationship with our cats, it wasn’t always this way in Ypres. During the Middle Ages, the town’s primary industry was cloth making. Cloth makers would use cats to keep their warehouses free of fabric-destroying vermin. These cats were free to roam Ypres as they liked during the winter months, but when they started reproducing too quickly, the town officials realized they were in over their heads. Cats were overrunning the town, and they didn’t know what to do to address the sudden overpopulation. They soon decided it only made sense to get rid of them. Instead of shipping them off somewhere or dealing with them humanely, they decided to toss cats from the belfry tower to their deaths. They would do this annually during the second week of Lent on a day they referred to as “Cat Wednesday.” This tradition continued for hundreds of years into the 1800s. It’s also important to remember that, at the time, cats were associated with witchcraft and evil, so getting rid of them was much celebrated, and many looked forward to the event. Thankfully, the last time a live cat was thrown off the belfry was in 1819. Ypres officials decided to reignite the tradition in 1937, except they chose to toss stuffed cats from the belfry instead of real ones. The goal was to acknowledge the town’s complicated history with cats and also celebrate them. The tradition was put on the back burner during World War II but was back in full swing by 1946 when town officials added a parade to the fun. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Studio Cats! Meow (@studio_cats_meow) When Is the Kattenstoet? The Kattenstoet is typically held triennially on the second Sunday of May. The most recent festival was in May of this year, so if you’re hoping to book a trip to attend the next one, you’ll have to wait until 2027. Final Thoughts The Kattenstoet parade is something for cat lovers to add to their bucket list. Being surrounded by thousands of other feline-loving humans sounds like a great afternoon to me. The festival is an excellent way for the town of Ypres to acknowledge its complicated history with cats while also recognizing how much they love and admire them today. Featured Image Credit: Piqsels The post Kattenstoet (The Belgian Cat Festival) : Origins & Celebration Facts by Catster Editorial Team appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read. The post UFO and Mysterious Case of Time Traveler from Ukraine appeared first on Anomalien.com.

With the launch of Space Marine 2, the world of Warhammer 40,000 is back on everyone's mind, but the game I’m really waiting for is Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus 2. The XCOM-like strategy game’s 2018 predecessor is one of the greatest and most overlooked in the franchise. In Mechanicus 2, developer Bulwark Studios and publisher Kasesdo Games are building on the original's success by making the Necrons enemy force into a playable faction. At Gamescom 2024, I sat down with Kasedo product manager Tony Cross to take a closer look at the new game and learn how it brings the Necron perspective to the fore. Continue reading Warhammer 40k Mechanicus 2 gives the beloved strategy game a new angle MORE FROM PCGAMESN: New PC games, Best PC games, Free PC games

The special chemistry of this shiny iron alloy creates a protective layer on its surface that prevents it from rusting.

In short, sodomy is used to expand the size of one’s anal cavity so explosives can be placed in it, allowing suicide bombers to go undetected.

“And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem. Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of … The post The Editors’ Quote of the Day: appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.

(Continued from Part 4.) More on the 6.5 Creedmoor In its development, many aspects of the 6.5 Creedmoor were combined to produce a very accurate cartridge. The 6.5×55 barrel twist rate is 7.8:1 and the twist rate for most 6.5CM rifles during its introduction was 8:1. This is ideal for the heavier 140 to 160 grain 6.5mm projectiles that give both of these 6.5 cartridges very desirable ballistic properties and fine accuracy. The long bearing surface of heavy-for-caliber bullets impart stability inside the barrel and outside the barrel as yaw rates are lower and the bullet settles down and could … The post Hunting in Desperate Times – Part 5, by Tunnel Rabbit appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.

On September 7 AD 70, the Roman army under General Titus occupied and plundered Jerusalem. Thus began the Great Diaspora. Just as Jesus predicted, all of the walls of the Jerusalem Temple were destroyed and scattered. Only the foundation stones remain. The best- known foundation stones are at the Western Wall, also known as The Wailing Wall. (Pictured.) On September 7, 1876, the Younger Brothers, a group of American outlaws who were often allied with Jesse James, were captured following an unsuccessful bank robbery. Today is the birthday of novelist Taylor Caldwell (born 1900 – August 30, 1985). And September … The post Preparedness Notes for Saturday — September 7, 2024 appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.