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Woman builds an elaborate hotel in her yard for stray cats to stay cozy through the winter

People are calling it "Hotel Catifornia" and "The Fur Seasons."

A woman in China provides a cozy home for stray cats in her neighborhood.

As winter approaches, people may wonder how stray animals stay warm and safe. Stray cats in particular are highly adaptable creatures and their home is the great outdoors, so most of the time there's not much that people need to do to protect them. But when temperatures dip to dangerous levels, caring humans naturally want to make sure strays have a place to go to get out of the harsh elements.

One woman has taken that desire to a whole new level with an elaborate cat apartment she built for the many stray cats in her neighborhood. We're not just talking about a shelter–it's like luxury hotel living for her feline friends. The apartment has multiple rooms, cushy blankets that get taken out and cleaned and even a temperature-controlled water source so they're always able to find drinking water in frigid temps.

Check this out:

The woman who built the apartment actually lives in China and shares videos on TikTok.

Welcome to the Meowtel Catifornia

Of course, the clever hotel jokes and puns started rolling in first thing:

'Welcome to the hotel catifornia."

"Such a lovely place."

"They can check out any time but they won't ever leave ^^"

"I prefer Hotel Calicofornia."

"Meowriott."

"Given my skill, mine would be more like Meowtel 6."

"Pawliday Inn.'

"The Fur Seasons."'

"Meowne Plaza."

People loved seeing the care and ingenuity she put into the "meowtel," as well as how happy the cats seem with the arrangement. In fact, some people were sure their own house cats would move out just to go live in this kind of cat commune.

"My cat just looked at me and sighed…"

"All the neighbours be looking for their cats and they’ve bailed to live at the kitty motel."

"They’d pack their little bags and move in without a second thought."

"They wouldn't even wait to pack their bags."

"Alright Carol it’s been real but we’re gonna head out. Found a great deal on a luxury apartment so yanno… take care."


@5fimnl9m

Create a single apartment on the third floor of a four story winter cat shelter for stray cats#fyp #cat #cute #Straycat#salvation

Cats live where they want when they want

Those people may have been joking, but several people shared that their cats really did ditch them to go live with neighbors who had more desirable living situations.

"I’ve had two cats do this. One was annoyed at our second dog’s puppy energy so she moved in with an older lady a street over. We used to see her all the time until she passed. The other missed our kids being little so she moved next door where there’s a little girl. We talked to both neighbors and said if they get sick of them to let us know and we’ll take them back but both lived the rest of their lives with their new families."

"One of our cats moved next door because he loves children and wanted to be with the little girl next door. Because it’s a very small village, he goes to the school most days to wait for her and they come home together. School is 3 buildings away."

"We had a cat do the same thing about 20 years ago. She hated the barks of our new puppy and would put her paw on his mouth to try and stop it. One day, she slipped outside and I found her a month later, two streets over, hanging with a couple who didn’t have a dog. They said she just showed up at the door and moved in. I gave them all her cat food and hope she had a nice quiet life."


@5fimnl9m

After two months of production and renovation, the basic facilities for wintering stray cats in the courtyard are almost complete#fyp #cat #cute #Straycat #salvation

Is it a bad idea to feed and shelter stray cats?

People have differing opinions about whether it's good to feed stray cats or not, as cats can cause problems for local wildlife and it's not great to encourage an increasing stray cat population. However, there are responsible ways to care for stray cats, which includes spaying and neutering those in your area.

According to the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, here are the best practices for feral and stray cats:

- Spay/neuter to prevent additional litters

- Find homes for friendly cats

- Feed outdoor cats on a schedule

- Remove food & dishes when they are done eating

- Pick up scraps and keep the feeding area tidy

- Provide fresh water

- Provide a warm place for the cats to sleep

So go ahead and care for those kitties and keep them warm through the winter—just make sure they can't make any more kittens.



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Equality

Video of school kids in China bouncing balls in unison is like a cultural Rorschach test

ShanghaiPanda/Twitter, @offsidepuppy/Twitter

It's been nearly 100 years since Hermann Rorschach introduced the well-known inkblot test used by psychologists to analyze personality characteristics and emotional processing. Where one person sees a bat, another may see a butterfly. One person might find an inkblot shape soothing while another finds it unnerving.

Whether the test truly tells psychologists anything definitive, there's no doubt that our perceptions are colored by our thoughts, emotions, and experiences. And that's quite clear in people's reactions to this video from a school in China.

The video, shared by ShanghaiPanda on Twitter, shows a large circle of children bouncing dozens of balls in unison and moving around the circle in a rhythmic pattern. "China's kindergarten game: Cooperation," the post reads.

Responses to the post reveal a wide range of perceptions of the purpose and value of the activity. As a former teacher, I see kids learning and practicing excellent hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. I also see them working together, cooperating to keep the balls moving in unison. To me, it's a really cool example of using the whole body to perform a task and focusing one's attention on what's in front of them while preparing for what's to come. It also builds trust, as you have to trust that your neighbor is going to perform their task of bouncing the ball at the right time, and your other neighbor has to trust that you will do the same. (A far better lesson than, say, the cut-through terror and individual dominance most of us remember from playing dodgeball in school.)

From my perspective, this is a valuable group activity for young kids that teaches multiple skills at the same time.

But for others, it's a creepy example of group-think indoctrination, molding kids to accept uniformity and train them into obedience.

Huh.

If the first thing you think of when you think of Chinese culture is communist indoctrination, then I can see why this video would elicit that response. But that doesn't make it correct or okay.

Thankfully, most of those responses were met with rebuttals that showed the hypocrisy and xenophobia inherent in them.

Considering how we have kids recite the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag every morning in unison, the "indoctrination" argument falls a bit flat.

It's not hard to imagine very different responses if this were a group of American kids coordinating to do the same thing. They would be hailed as impressive kids who worked toward a goal, not communists.

Not to mention, nearly anything can be twisted into something dark or sinister simply by describing it that way, as evidenced by this description of "musical chairs."

The video also ignited some interesting conversations about competition vs. coordination.

Ultimately, the idea that working together in unison to build skills and create a cool effect is somehow "communist indoctrination" is purely a product of people's perceptions about China and its people. After all, our marching bands and cheer squads do the same thing.

If our first impression or reaction to a video of kids doing something educational in another country is "that's creepy" or "ew, communism" we may want to check ourselves. Replace those kids faces with ones who look American to you and be honest about what your reaction would be to see it. Our prejudices can color our perceptions, and it's important for all of us to acknowledge and challenge our own thoughts.

Especially when we're looking at children bouncing balls, for goodness sake.

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Nature

Zoo worker just wanted to rake her leaves but these baby pandas had other ideas

No one likes to rake leaves. When something gets in the way of you accomplishing such a task, it is even more annoying. Unless it is this video of baby pandas trying to prevent a caretaker from tackling the yard work in their panda sanctuary. In the cutest viral video this week, we can see the adorable fluffball troublemakers rolling and tumbling, trying to "help" the zookeeper in Sichuan, China.

Some of you might have read the piece about Tuscan, the stray dog who had the persistence to hang around a car dealership until he got a job greeting customers. Now he's positioned to star in a national car commercial. But these are baby pandas just trying to rake a yard—or look cute while doing it.

It could very well be the caretaker does not realize that the pandas think she's been working too hard and deserves a break. Or they actually want to be the next stars of their own commercial. Either way, they are certainly getting all the attention lately.


Cute！What did panda do when zookeeper cleaning the leaveswww.youtube.com

Perhaps people should recognize that pandas do not rake the yard the same way as we do. Look no further than the viral video called The Honor of the Opportunity where a father talks about how his son mows the lawn in his own way.

It kind of feels like the pandas had the rake taken away from them before they had sufficient time to start a task— one they don't know they are supposed to be doing with a tool they have never used before.

Of course, I jest. But perhaps instead of focusing on the pandas' tenacious work ethic (or lack thereof), the zookeeper should trade in the bright pink broom for an actual rake.

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Wellness

A teacher in China describes what post-lockdown school reopening looks like

Michelle Lombardi Henry/Facebook

Parents who have been home with their school-age children for weeks and will most likely remain that way until next school year may be wondering what school will even look like when it finally resumes. With the coronavirus pandemic sticking around for the foreseeable future, we clearly can't go back to packed buses and classrooms, school assemblies, close contact sports, etc.

So what will school look like post-lockdown?

A teacher living and working in Hangzhou, China shared a description on Facebook that might offer some clues. Michelle Lomabardi Henry works at Wahaha International School and explained how life has changed for students, teachers, and administrators after a 14-week pandemic shutdown.

"Many of my teacher friends have been curious about life in school after COVID19," wrote Henry. "So, I thought I would explain it in detail once."

First, she described the phased approach to kids returning, with different grades coming back at different times.

"We were out of school a total of 14 weeks, 3 of which were planned Chinese New Year break. The first week, April 13th, all teachers were called back to learn the new protocols in place while continuing online learning. The 2nd week, grades 4-8 were called back, and today is the 3rd week with K-3 joining us. Having the kids come back in stages allowed us to practice protocols without full traffic in the building."

Then she explained the temperature and mask protocols:

"Each morning before we get to school, we need to send in our temperature and verify we have no symptoms. When we get to school we go through a face recognition scan that records our temperature again. We take our temperature for the 3rd time by lunch. Masks on campus are optional now and there are special trash cans for masks on each floor."

Finally, she described what life in the classroom is like:

"In the classrooms, desks are in rows 1 meter apart. Kids get up one at time to do anything. Specialist are doing lessons in the classroom, unless the class has 10 or less students then they can do it in their own room. Each student has their own supplies and they do not share. Four times a day, at scheduled times kids get their hands sanitized with a chemical free spray (Enozo). All afterschool activities, as well as any meetings, assemblies or other crowd gathering events are cancelled. Kids still have recess but are encouraged to keep their distance from one another….not happening. This is very difficult, especially in the younger grades, as you know. Dismissal is in stages and from two locations on campus."

Henry also explained how the school is disinfected by cleaning staff several times a day, and how they use UV lights overnight to destroy any residual virus on surfaces. She says if they have even one case, she imagines they'll have to shut down again.

One of the most striking photos Henry shared is one of children eating lunch at separate tables, spaced apart.

Michelle Lombardi Henry/Facebook

Seeing desks in a classroom spread apart is one thing, but seeing kids separated during lunch, when they would normally be able to socialize with friends, just tugs at the heartstrings.

At least one school, also in Hangzhou, have young kids wearing homemade social distancing hats as a reminder to keep their distance from one another. The same thing could undoubtedly be accomplished simply by kids lifting their arms and staying far enough way not to touch, but anyone who's worked with kids knows what an impossible task that would be.

Primary school in Hangzhou lets children wear "1m hats" to enforce social distancing measureswww.youtube.com

The silly hats are a fun visual reminder for kids to leave space between one another—and also a strangely haunting reminder of the serious reality we've found ourselves in.

It's hard to say what will be happening in August or September, when most schools in the U.S. are scheduled to start the next school year. When—or if, perhaps—schools do resume in the fall, these posts give us clues as to the kinds of protocols and provisions our kids may be experiencing.

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