Caturday felids trifecta: More on Max, the banned library cat, why cats show you their butts, and Boomer leaps dogs

Yes, I know it’s Sunday, but I’m writing this while it’s still 10:30 pm on Saturday in the U.S.; and I don’t think we’ve missed a Caturday felid in years. So here’s a quick one.

First, remember the library that banned Max the Cat, but did so in a way that resembled a children’s book?

This is basically halfway to being a children's book pic.twitter.com/DjwUPHy9Wz

— Erin McGuire Olson (@e_mcguire_) November 29, 2017

Well, Today.com has an article on Max that actually shows the trespassing moggie:

Max, who lives with his family just by the campus of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, likes to wander. The animal rescue group he was adopted from a little over a year ago even issued a write-up about the gallivanting feline, saying he’d been picked up after being “out without any apparent purpose or chaperone,” Lipton said.

Here he is, and he’s sweet (he’s wearing an ‘adventure vest’, as he’s being trained to go outside on a leash):

Max roams when he has the opportunity. Lipton says he just likes to be where there are a lot of people who might pay attention to him.

He would pay visits to student foreign language houses, the science building, the athletic center. He’d hobnob at social gatherings — Lipton, a nurse, recalls getting a phone call from a party attendee once, informing her that Max was there — and liked to relax at a local cafe.

And, of course, Max was a regular at the the DeWitt Wallace Library on Macalester’s campus, where his dad is a professor — until recently, that is, when Max was famously banned with a most delightful sign:

“Please do not let in the cat,” it reads. “His name is Max. Max is nice. His owner does not want Max in the Library. We do not want Max in the Library. Max wants to be in the Library. Please do not let Max into the Library.”

Now Max is an internet darling. A local bookstore has put out the welcome mat for him, but he’s now under house arrest and can’t go outside alone:

One of Max’s fans even made him a library card!

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From BGR we have the intriguing article, “Here’s what a cat is telling you when it shows you its butt“. Well, what is it saying?

Longtime cat owners are plenty used to this by now, but cats really, really love their own butts, and they’re not shy about showing them off. Petting any average house cat has about a 50% chance to result in the cat raising its tail high and showing off its dirtiest of orifices. As cat researcher Mikel Delgado explained to Inverse, that’s really just the way cats are programmed.

“For cats, it’s normal for them to sniff each other’s butts as a way to say hello or confirm another cat’s identity,” Delgado told the site. “It’s hard for us to relate to, but for them, smell is much more important to cats and how they recognize each other than vision is. So cats may be ‘inviting’ us to check them out, or just giving us a friendly hello.”

Cats, not unlike dogs, communicate a lot through scent. When you pet your cat, you’re sharing your scent with them and allowing them to place their own scent on you. Because cats are territorial by nature, the “butt scent” is one way they communicate who they are and allow other animals to know what they’ve laid claim to. When your cat raises its tail it’s a sign that they’re greeting you in the most intimate way they can, and it’s a sign that your cat sees you as someone to be trusted.

And cat butt magnets! I have a set on my fridge!

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Finally, Boomer the Aussie cat, who is a Bengal, has been trained to leap dogs. What a cat!

h/t: Grania, Charleen