One Fine Day

In this romatic comedy, Jack, played by George Clooney, is a career-oriented single parent struggling with a childminding crisis. He has to buy off his cat- crazy daughter Maggie with a kitten after her tearfully determined declaration, "I won't leave the shop without one!", thereby adding another crisis to his life. They take home a beautiful Bengal "cub." A descendent of the Asian Leopard Cat, the Bengal siblings that play Maggie's new pet look exactly like tiny leopards.

That Darn Cat

This FBI agent is putting his life on the line. Fortunately, he's got nine. (Tagline from the movie) In this Disney remake, a cat called D.C. (Short for Darn Cat!) And his teenage owner help the FBI find a pair of kidnappers.

It was the first starring role for cat actor Elvis, who was originally brought in just as a stand-in for the three experienced cats already chosen to play D.C. However, such was Elvis's versatility and intelligence - as well as his onscreen magnetism and around-the- set "attitude" - that he quickly became the movie's star.

Sleepwalkers

Horromeister Stephen King's Sleepwalkers are bloodsucking shape-shifters whose only mortal enemy is the domestic cat.

Clovis, police cat extraordinaire, marshals an army of local moggies to vanquish the sleepwalking monsters. Sadly, for audiences expecting to be scared witless, the movie's team of cat trainers had great difficulty in persuading the cats to pay any attention to the Sleepwalkers - even when th monsters were liberally smeared with cat food. Instead of an army of ferocious felines, the screen shows a bunch of rather bored felines.

Mountain Lion

• Scientific name: Felis concolor
• Length: 6 to 9 ft.
• Weight: up to 200 lbs
• Life span: 12 years

The genera Felis is comprised of the smaller or lesser cat species; cats that cannot roar. The largest of these cats is the (mountain lion (Felis Concolor). NOTE: Large cats (lions, tigers, etc.) are of genera Panthera.

The mountain lion, also known as the cougar, puma, panther, painter, or catamount, is the most widely distributed cat in the Americas found from Canada to Argentina. Next to the bears, this is the largest, most powerful north American predator. It is normally active in the early morning and evenings.

This beautiful cat is large and unspotted with a relatively small head. They have a reddish-brown to gray fur with light throat and under parts depending on where it lives, in dry areas it is likely to be brown. It's more reddish in tropical areas and usually gray in the north. They also have longer fur in the colder areas and shorter fur in warmer climates. The very end of it's long tail is black. There is a dark spot at base of its whiskers and the ears are short and rounded, with dark backs. The relatively long hind legs are long and heavy with large feet. The tail is long and heavy. It is a quiet cat that cannot roar, although females in estrous may make piercing calls. Its closest relative among the big cats appears to be the cheetah.

They are found in a wide range of habitats, from cold, temperate forests to tropical rainforests, from mountains to deserts. Once numerous and formerly distributed throughout the New World from southern Canada to the southern tip of South America, the mountain lion has been eliminated from almost all of mid-western and eastern North America. Nevertheless, the mountain lion has the greatest natural distribution of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere except for man.

Today this wild cat is distributed in Western North America from British Columbia and south Alberta south through west Wyoming to California and west Texas. Also south Texas, Louisiana, south Alabama, Tennessee, and peninsular Florida. The only mountain lions known east of the Mississippi live in southern Florida and are known as the endangered Florida Panther.

The mountain lion requires a large territory with abundant prey including deer, coyotes, porcupines, beaver, and rodents. Legend has it that the mountain lion's scream sounds like a human being attacked, but no scientific evidence can prove it.

Of all the large American mammals, the mountain lion is the shyest, most furtive, and most difficult to encounter. He travels alone and efficiently through his territory concentrating on areas where he has found prey before. The slightest sound alerts the mountain lion to prey, and once the prey is spotted it will move in slow motion, creeping upon its prey and then catching it with quick bounds. A good climber and excellent jumper, he is able to leap more than 20 feet and swims only when necessary.

The first record of this species dates back to 1840-50 when John Oliver reported that he heard of two "panthers" being killed in Cades Cove, TN. In 1859, Buckley noted that the "panther" was troublesome to the mountain farmers of North Carolina and Tennessee, destroying their sheep and hogs.

Today, the principal threat to the mountain lion is human destruction by hunting. According to 2001 statistics provided from actual sales of hunting permits, almost 2100 mountain lions are still being killed by hunters each year. This figure does not include those killed by hunters who do not buy licenses nor report their kills. They are also persecuted by livestock ranchers and by inbreeding in the Florida population.

Watch for information on another "Small Wildcat of the World" in our next issue.

If you do not use Life's Abundance and would like to have a FREE sample of the dry and wet food, just send me an email and ask. I will have the sample sent to you and you will owe nothing.

I only ask that you give it a try and consider using it. I look forward to hearing from you.

Share this newsletter with others and win a gift from Bagheera Bengals. You know your friends would enjoy reading this newsletter!

So, why not share and win? Just click on the link at the bottom of the page that says "forward e-mail."

Put your friend's e-mail address in the space provided, AND, be sure to put our email address in one of the spaces: cats@millcreekbengals.com

When we get the fowarded message, we will contact you regarding where to send your gift.

I hope to see some of you at one or more of these shows. If you have never shown a cat before, just let me know and I will see that you have all the information and help that you need. Come on, let the world see just how wnderful your kitty is!

Registered Championship Cats and Household Pets are welcome.

Cattyshack Cats
North Augusta, South Carolina
September 15 - 16, 2007
Information here

Evangeline Country Cat Fanciers
present Calcasieu Cats
Lake Charles, Louisiana
September 29 - 30, 2007
Information here

Florida Sun Cats, Inc.
Proudly Presents
The Cat in the Hat IV
Green Cove Springs (Jacksonville area), Florida
October 20-21, 2007
Information here

Cat-N-Round Feline Fanciers
Jamestown, North Carolina
November 17th & 18th, 2007
Information here

North Alabama Feline Fanciers
and
Volunteer Cat Club
Christmas in Dixie
Huntsville, Alabama
December 8 & 9, 2007
Information here

First in Flight Cat Club
Raleigh, North Carolina
December 28-30, 2007
More inormation later

Hurricane Cat Club
Tampa, Florida
January 12-13, 2008
More information later

Destiny Cat Fanciers
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
January 26 - 27, 2008
More information later

Field of Dreams Cat Club
Raleigh, North Carolina
February 16-17, 2008
More inormation later

Alabama Paws and Claws
Bessemer, Alabama
March 15 - 16, 2008
More information later

Hotlanta Cool Cats
Atlanta, Georgia
March 29 - 30, 2008
More information later