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Elderly cats are being saved from being euthanized with adorable cat retirement village

It's a cat paradise.

Representative Photo by Siobhan Kelleher|Wikimedia Commons

Elderly cats now safe thanks to adorable cat retirement village

An amazing retirement village is accepting guests in Shropshire, England—but instead of catering to elderly people, it's designed for elderly cats. Shropshire Cat Rescue has been rescuing elderly cats set to be euthanized and providing them with top notch elder care for over 21 years. Thanks to donations and sponsorship, the retirement village was built in 2009 to create comfortable homes within the rescue for senior and super senior kitties.

The owner and co-founder of the rescue, Marion Micklewright, was tired of seeing older cats get passed over for adoption and subsequently put to sleep simply because they were old. Som she decided to do something about it. Shropshire was created in 1991 and moved to Micklewright and her husband Richard's current home address in 1998. Today there are cats wandering the retirement village who are over 20 years old. One cat, lovingly named Cat, loves to hang out in the little "store" in the tiny cat town, while others lounge in cat condos.

Veterinarian Dr. Scott Miller, TV personality, resident vet on ITV's This Morning, and owner of an elderly cat himself, visited the feline retirement community in March 2024 to film for his new YouTube Channel, Rescue Vet. He was deeply impressed with how much the retirement community had to offer the cats that call it home and dubbed it the "cutest cat retirement village" according to Shropshire Star in 2024.

- YouTube youtu.be

Shropshire Cat Rescue is a marvel, but it's not the only retirement home out there for felines. A Florida couple opened a retirement home for elderly cats, too. Terry and Bruce Jenkins decided to open their home for elderly cats in their backyard, rescuing them from "hardship situations." Affectionately called Cats Cradle, the Jenkins' rescue doesn't adopt the old kitties out; they let them live out their years happy and cared for cozy in their backyard (that Bruce unofficially calls "cat Disneyland"). "I found a real purpose in caring for these animals who, in many ways, were a reflection of where I was in life, too," Terry told AARP in 2023.

Wonderfully, there are several retirement homes for cats in America, but Shropshire's retirement village operates like a small town. It comes complete with a storefront, six "homely chalets," and the "Moggies Mansion," a sort of common area for all the cats to congregate.

As of 2024, Shropshire Cat Rescue houses about 19 elderly cats, but have opened the village to "younger but just as in need" cats. They offer adoptions, are open to and eagerly welcome volunteers, and even host local events.

You can support Shropshire with donations to their PURR Project, a new center complete with it's own retirement village, nursery, pet hospital, education center, and even staff and volunteer accommodations.

Check it out:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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Why the viral advice to change your voicemail greeting if you're lost is absolutely a bad idea

Here's what to do instead.

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A widespread myth about changing your voicemail greeting when stranded gets debunked by rescuers.

Back in 2021, multiple tragic news stories of people being stranded in the wilderness elicited a wave of viral posts sharing some wise-sounding advice for if you're ever stuck somewhere without cell service and a low battery.

The general suggestion was to your outgoing voicemail message to include your location. One version that went viral reads:

"If ever lost while hiking, stranded with a broken-down vehicle or other emergency situation, if your cell phone battery is low here is a tip that can very well save your life. Change your outgoing voicemail on your phone to a message that gives your approximate location, the time, the date, your situation; lost, out of gas, car broken down, injured, etc... plus any special instructions such as; 'You are staying with the car', 'You are walking towards a town' If your cell phone dies, stops working or loses signal your voicemail will still be working. Anyone calling your phone will hear your emergency instructions. They will know you need help and know where to find you or where to send help."

The problem is, the advice isn't wise after all. Yes, it sounds smart, but a Colorado rescue team explained why it's not.

The Alpine Rescue Team posted its response to the viral post on Facebook, writing:

"1. Without a signal (connection to the cell system) YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR VOICEMAIL. The voicemail system resides with your cell provider. To change your outgoing message, you have to CALL into your voicemail and then navigate the menus, record a new greeting, confirm the new greeting, etc. YOU CANNOT DO THIS WITH NO SIGNAL.

2. If your battery is low do not waste its power by calling your voice mail—or a friend or relative. Call 9-1-1 for help.

3. If you have no signal, text for help to 9-1-1. Many, if not most, 9-1-1 centers can receive a text.


4. Text takes much less power, is far more likely to get through, will automatically retry many times if you have spotty service, leaves record others can see and can give you an indication that it got thru. BTW, because of the automatic retries, you can compose and hit send on a text and then get your phone as high as possible to improve the chances of getting the message out.

5. Stay put. Okay, if you're lost or broken down and you've called for help (assuming you have signal and battery) please stay in one location—UNLESS YOU MUST MOVE FOR SAFETY REASONS. Changing your location makes our job more difficult. Trying to reach someone whose GPS location we have (within a circle, of course) is faster for us than trying to nail down a moving target. STAY PUT.

6. Maximize battery life. In order to make the battery last longer, turn off everything you do not need. Close all apps. Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth. Don't use your cell phone as a GPS/map device and especially do not use the compass if your phone has one -- the compass feature in some phones is a serious battery drain. Pull out your map and compass and/or use a dedicated GPS unit. You may be instructed, by text, to turn your phone off and text back at a specific time. Also, keep your phone just a little warm with some body heat or a handwarmer."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Many people probably think of their voicemail greeting as a recording saved on their phone, but it's not. A fact-check by USA Today, which consulted the top three carriers (Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile), confirmed that cell service or a data connection is needed to change an outgoing voicemail message. You can do it over wi-fi, but that's not helpful if you're stranded on a mountain somewhere. You could change your voicemail greeting before you leave, letting people know where you're going to be adventuring if you feel comfortable with that, but once you're stuck without cell service, there's no changing it.

This is a friendly remind that it's always wise to look for what the actual experts say before passing along a viral social media post, even if the advice it contains sounds smart initially.

This article originally appeared four years ago.

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Massachusetts bans uber-bright aftermarket LED headlights and drivers couldn't be more thrilled

The details of the law are a little technical, but it's a good first step toward much tighter regulation.

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It's impossible to see the road, other cars, and pedestrians when you're staring into someone's LED headlights.

I used to love driving at night. I'd just hop in the car and pick a direction and go, blasting music with the windows down and clearing my head along the way. It was truly one of my great joys. A lot of things were different back then, though. I had fewer responsibilities, for starters, and had time to just aimlessly wander. Gas was way cheaper, too, making these adventures far more economical.

But one big thing that has contributed to me losing my passion for night driving is absolutely, without a doubt, the rising prevalence of LED headlights. If you've ever wondered why everyone's headlights seem to be insanely, dangerously bright these days, you're not alone. And you're not the only one who's pissed off about it. What good is it to illuminate the road in front of you so well that you, in fact, blind the other drivers traveling at high speeds in your direction? How is that making anyone safer?

Just look at how infuriatingly dangerous these can be in real-world conditions:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The state of Massachusetts has reignited the conversation around LED headlights with a surprising new piece of legislation.

Many new cars come equipped with LED headlights, up to 75% or more of new models, in fact. But even more LED lights are sold as aftermarket options or conversion kits, and these are poorly regulated. Many aftermarket lights are far too bright and/or suffer from misalignment that shoots the light beams directly at the eye level of oncoming traffic. They represent a large portion of the glare problems we experience out on the road.

Massachusetts is cracking down with a new law. It states that LED headlights that come equipped from the manufacturer are fine (for now), but there will now be far stricter regulations on simply swapping in an aftermarket LED bulb or conversion kit onto your vehicle. The legislation specifically cites coloration and positioning issues with LED headlights that haven't been tested as a "full unit," meaning including the housing and reflectors that are typically part of a headlight.

So you could still legally upgrade from halogen bulbs to LED, but you'd have to replace the entire headlight unit and not just the bulb.

Hefty fines will be implemented for drivers who are caught in violation of the new policies.

LED headlights offer a lot of benefits, in theory. So why do people hate them?

LED lights use less power, are brighter (duh), and last far longer than traditional halogen bulbs.

But there are a few problems with the technology that make them a huge hassle for other drivers. First, they're just too bright! They look even brighter in real-life because of the pure/cool white they emit, versus the yellow glow of halogen bulbs. Cool colors like white and blue are harsher on the eyes than more night-vision friendly warm colors such as red, yellow, and orange.

Second, especially in America, we love huge vehicles. More and more people are driving trucks and jeeps that sit high. Now those ultra-bright LEDs are shining directly into the poor sedan drivers' eyes.

Third, too many Americans choose to drive with their high beams on at night — all the time. They like the extra visibility they get by dousing the entire roadway in bright light and have little regard for how dangerous it is for others in their path (or they simply forget they have them on). While a lot of American cars have high beams that can switch off when another car is detected, other countries have better technology at play.

Did you know that many cars in Europe and Asia feature a technology called ADB (Adaptive Driving Beam) that allows LED lights to shape and direct their light pattern in very specific ways on the road, actively avoiding the eyes of other drivers? US cars, so far, are not allowed to enable this mode — though the regulations are in the works.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Even still, assuming good alignment and ADB technology, bright LED headlights are a dangerous problem. They're causing accidents all over the world, and especially in America.

The legislation in Massachusetts is a good step toward even greater action. Organizations like the Soft Lights Foundation continue to fight for even stricter regulation of LED lights — and not just in cars — or even outright banning them.

And the public outcry for lawmakers to do something about the problem continues to grow. People are sick of being blinded in dangerous, high-speed situations. Hopefully more states will follow suit, and we can continue to pressure auto manufacturers to turn down the damn brightness.

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Woman leaves bachelorette trip after trusting her gut about sketchy men partying with friends

Woman's intuition is right again.

via Nathan Rupert/Flickr

Some girls out at a bachelorette party.

In a since-deleted story posted on Reddit last year, one woman showed how sometimes trusting your gut can be the best thing you can do, even if following it will seriously impact your friendships. It all started when a 24-year-old woman with the username @Yslbabycat went to a bachelorette party with five other friends in Italy.

For brevity’s sake, we’ll call our main character "YBC." One night, the six girls went bar and club hopping and met some new friends. “We met some young people, and they invited us to a party. We went and danced and met more people. The night kept going on longer, and we were very far from our lodgings. These young men with 2 women in their group told us to stay with them for the night,” she wrote.

That’s when she had the first strong gut feeling.

suspicious, distrust, gut feeling, wary, suspicionsomeone vision GIFGiphy

“I wasn’t feeling this situation. It felt unsafe, but the group voted and I was in the minority,” she continued. ”I didn’t trust these men. Something seemed wrong. But I was at a loss as I could not split from my group and didn’t feel safe separating from them in the middle of the night.”

Even though the girls locked their doors that night, the men could enter their rooms. Despite this the girls, besides YBC, all wanted to stay another day because the men promised to show them around Italy.

“I didn’t want to get into a car with them because I found them creepy. There were women in their group but it didn’t matter. They seemed even more suspicious to me, being overly friendly,” she continued. “The whole morning, I found the men staring at me a lot and also making some comments about my ethnicity—I am Korean and they could tell and it seemed that they were interested in me because of my ethnicity, asking me strange questions …including if I’m a virgin or not.. so in my head I could only think of perverted reasons for these questions because I thought these guys were sketchy and sizing us all up for some reason I couldn’t figure out yet.”

YBC's friends tried to tell her that it was just cultural differences and that the men weren’t being creepy, but she decided that she wanted to leave. So, she called her boyfriend, who was a few hours’ drive away in France, to come get her. She met him at a local store where YBC called the bride-to-be and informed her she was leaving. The bride-to-be screamed at her on the phone, chastised her for spoiling the “mood of the trip,” and told YBC to, essentially, “F*** off.”

angry, phone call, fight, woman, friendsWoman fussing on phone.Canva Photos.

After YBC left, the other five girls went on a boat with the men who all tried to get them “extremely” intoxicated. They then began to aggressively pressure the girls into having sex. At the night's end, the girls got away from the men and found another hotel. Even though YBC’s suspicions were confirmed, the bride-to-be was still upset with her and YBC did not attend her friend’s wedding.

In the end, Reddit commenters overwhelmingly thought that YBC did the right thing by trusting her gut:

“So all the other girls but the bachelorette confirmed that you were right and the guys were super creepy and yet the bachelorette is still pissed at you for getting yourself out of there?” user @YouSayWotNow wrote. “All of them are very lucky nothing really bad happened, and frankly, they should be embarrassed they didn't take you seriously at the time.”

“You may have saved the entire group by leaving early, as the men realized that you knew where they lived and could ID them,” user @RobinC1967 added. “Please don't ever feel bad for getting yourself out of a sketchy situation. Stay Smart!”

Most would agree that YBC did the right thing by trusting her gut and trying to lead her friends out of a potentially dangerous situation. Science supports her actions, too. According to a 2015 Psychology Today article entitled, “3 Reasons Why You Have to Trust Your Gut,” philosopher and writer Susanna Newsonen says that your intuition is encoded in your brain like “a web of fact and feeling” and is helpful because it’s “shaped by your past experiences and the existing knowledge that you gained from them.”

Following your intuition can be hard, especially when there's no concrete "evidence" for why you feel the way you do. In a 2024 article for VeryWellMind, writer and instructor LaKeisha Fleming helps identify the times when your gut is trying to tell you something and the top times you really need to listen. First, Fleming walks the reader through the signs of intuition—the physical and emotional cues that your body has something important to say:

  • Tension in the body or a thought that won't go away
  • Heaviness like a "pit" in your stomach
  • A strong feeling that you should or shouldn't do something (go somewhere, talk to someone, avoid some place, etc.)
  • The hairs on the back of your neck stand upright before something frightening happens

intuition, gut feeling, discernment, body, listenListen to your body. Canva Photos.

Of course, Fleming notes, anxiety, trauma, and regular old overthinking can skew our intuition, so how do you know when to trust it? She notes the top four times you shouldn't ignore your gut:

1. When it comes to your and others' safety:

Does something seem off? Err on the side of caution and just listen to yourself. It could save you from danger like in YBC's case.

2. When you body is sending signals about your health:

If your body is experiencing persistent symptoms like headaches and migraines, sudden weight change, nagging pains, unusual sensations, or digestive issues, they could be signs something is wrong internally or externally. Do you get a stomachache around a certain person? Does being in someone's company make you feel nervous? Do you feel mostly fine except for this nagging pain that won't go away? Pay attention to these cues.

3. When something feels "off" in a relationship:

Sure, it could be nothing, but it doesn't hurt to check in if your romantic partner or friend is acting strangely, making you feel uneasy, or arousing suspicion. Gauge the severity of your feelings and plan how to respectfully connect, confront, or question the other person to understand what's really going on.

4. When you doubt yourself:

A lot of times, self-doubt is the ever-pesky imposter syndrome rearing its head. Sometimes you may be picking up on legitimate shortcomings within yourself that you need more time to identify and improve (signed up for a marathon but haven't trained or practiced much at all? Yeah, maybe listen to your body and sit the race out this time), but most other times, self-doubt is insecurity, which can be overcome. If you know you're trained, educated, and skilled in a certain area, there's a good chance you know what you're doing and will do it well.

In short, your gut will seldom steer your wrong. If you've got a bad feeling like YBC did, trust yourself and act accordingly. It could save your life.

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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