Really Riley

Rillito Nursery & Garden Center in Tucson, AZ, said: "This is Riley. He is 19.5 years old and adopted us! He is a good and mellow boy and loves attention! He is an old boy and his kidneys are slowing down, but he is still master of his nursery and has a staff and customers who cater to him "

Here are a few pics of him in younger days:

 

Roman Cat Sanctuary

Planning a trip to Rome anytime soon? Cat lovers should add the Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary) to their must-see bucket list. As profiled on Atlas Obscura (http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/torre-argentina-roman-cat-sanctuary), "this archaeological wonder was excavated as part of Mussolini’s rebuilding efforts in 1929, revealing extensive multilevel temples that lie sunken 20 feet below modern street level. Besides several different temples, Torre Argentina also contains part of the famous Theater of Pompey, upon whose steps dictator Julius Caesar was betrayed and killed in 44 BCE. Today, volunteers at Torre Argentina care for approximately 250 cats."

The location has its own web site here: http://www.romancats.com/torreargentina/en/introduction.php, where you can donate or "adopt" one of the felines. Many of the cats are disabled or are from abusive households.

Photo at top by Jakub Hałun (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo at bottom by Wknight94 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Headturner

This ad from Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs shows a Cat in a Garden -- yet, it doesn't. How is that? Through the magic of Photoshop, says Mark Osgerby, Marketing & Public Relations at Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc. "It was stock photography that we took at the nursery and the project was largely photoshopped," he explained. We wish it was a real cat-in-garden image, but we appreciate the effort and nod to discriminating garden felines.

Maurice in Hospice Care

Ann Amato-Zorich is seedstress at Cistus Nursery, owner at Spiffy Seeds, and owner at Milton's Garden Menagerie in Portland, Oregon. She shared this beautiful black cat and says: "Momo (aka Maurice) is just over 16 and I rescued him when he was one. I used to have three black cats and I believe in black cat rescue adoptions, but somehow I've ended up with a black-and-white family recently. (We have four cats. In addition to Maurice and the two young ones (LuLu and Felix), we have Mona - who is also black and I found her in a parking lot one rainy November evening when she was a kitten. She's part feral and lives in the garden and in the basement. She is our ghost cat.)

Our young cats will mostly be indoor and roof cats. We lost an incredibly beautiful black part-Maine Coon named Quincy Mercurio Carbone to a coyote and we never want to go through that again. Portland sadly has quite a few urban coyotes now. Quincy disappeared the night before his first birthday. It was so sad. He disappeared without a trace and a coyote was seen on our street again within a day or two so it's fairly obvious what happened.

Maurice was diagnosed with cancer on his jaw over 6 weeks ago and he's still with us. Each day now is a blessing. He's lost some of his sight. but has adjusted and continues to follow his routine. LuLu is a great caregiver, but Felix, well, not so much.

UPDATE on 11/12/16:
I am sorry to report that Maurice has passed away and gone to the big garden in the sky. Here a few more photos in happier times.