Happy Happy Joy Joy

My Garden to Table in Pottstown, PA, shared this photo of their cat and some Hpapy Cat Farm seed packs. They wrote: "Best find at today's #seedswapday was @Happycatfarm Really looking forward to taste testing these beauties! Sprite is a 4-year=old rescue we got (with his sister, Melody) when we moved to the farm. He's smart, engaging, and overall a very happy cat. "

Key West Kitties

Kirk R. Brown, a garden communicator and speaker, shared these photos of the feral cats of Key West, Florida: "On my recent visit, the Ernest Hemingway House showed off its 58 movie star cats. They are indifferent to tourists. Of course. But each is a master or mistress of capturing the attention of anyone passing by. All of them carry the polydactyl (extra-toes) gene. Some are deeper in the pool than others."

   "The guide told us that this orange tabby (pictured below) was the dominant cat of the collection. Polydactyl by breeding not by name. And cleaning as we watched."

   "Most have been neutered or spayed. They say they allow only one litter per generation. (Obviously, at some time in the past, they were less concerned about overpopulation.) in this current generation, they are excited about breeding an obvious polydactyl male with a similar female. They are selecting for this recessive. I don't know if there are any other genetic side effects to this appearance, like kidney or liver problems or chronic people avoidance..."

Rumble in the Window Jungle

MowCow lawn services (https://mowcow.com/) shared this adorable photo of a sun-bathing tuxedo cat with us. "We got the kittens for Christmas. Rumble was adopted from a Renae, a warm-hearted grandmother, who fosters cats and kittens in Lynchburg, VA. Butters was adopted from the Lynchburg Humane Society, which has the coolest cat corners I've ever seen. (I can share pics if interested). The energetic kittens live with our family in Nokesville, VA. I'm waiting until they get a bit bigger before allowing them out into the gardens as I'd hate for the coyotes to get interested in them. Rumble is tuxedo, Butters the ginger."

Sweet Summer Memories

Athena is the cutest, most adorable tiny kitten meowing while she explores the rocks and flowers i this Youtube video.

And a very lovely cat-in-garden quote on this picture of Athena:

Vampire Kitty

I stumbled across this toothsome cat in a Huffington Post story. Honestly, they had me at "vampire." Then I saw this GIF of Monk attacking an innocent plant, I knew he was a gardening cat natural!

Vampire Cat Monk (short for Monkey) and his younger "brother" Bean live in Long Island, New York. He is just 6 years old and has more than 43.1k followers on Instagram! 

Here is the Instagram account where you can enjoy many more gorgeous pics of this be-fanged feline: https://www.instagram.com/monkandbean/.

Top Cats in Gardens Blog Posts of 2016

Looking back at 2016, we had a few posts that performed heads and whiskers above the others. Here are the top three in reverse order:

3. Back in the Day with Behnke Cats
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2016/02/back-in-day-with-behnke-cats.html
These black-and-white family snapshots from Stephanie Fleming of Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville, MD, were the perfect Baby Boomer childhood nostalgia.

2. Sunset Kitty
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2016/12/sunset-kitty.html
This painting by Michelle Bailey of Takoma Park, MD, was a favorite of many who appreciate art and felines.

1. Meadow Cats
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2016/08/meadow-cats.html
This brother and sister duo were submitted by Hunter Ten Broeck, Co-Owner/Operator of WaterWise Landscapes Incorporated in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. They proved to be adorably photogenic and people loved the naturalistic landscape settings. Not only was it the top post of 2016 for us, but it was our top post of all time!

What were your favorite Cats in Gardens posts of 2016?

Cats in a Stack

Jenny Sharp of Hartford, CT, shared this photo on her Instagram feed. She says, "Their names are Dobby (top) and Padfoot (bottom) and they are about 6 months old. Dobby is super snuggle and always wants to snuggle. Padfoot is mischievous and gets into everything."

 

"Padfoot gets along with our Corgi, Ziggy, and Padfoot plays with him (pictured below). We got them from a couple who rescued a stray cat who ended up being pregnant and had 8 kittens! "