Black Oriental Shorthair is your perfect vampire cat companion for Halloween

This is a beautiful jet black, Oriental Shorthair with a slight squint and golden eyes, together with massive bat-like years and fangs, which make him, Toivo, ideal as your vampire bat accomplice for the forthcoming Halloween parties.

Image: A Tuomas Ikonen and MikeB collaboration.

RELATED: Why Siamese Cats Are Cross-eyed. Note the Oriental SH is a member of the Siamese cat family and Siamese cats are predisposed to being cross-eyed.

He is five years old and he lives in Finland and a social media star. I have taken his photograph and removed the background and added some fun background objects to make him look more like a Halloween cat. 

I hope his owner accepts it and perhaps approves of what I've done. Anybody can use it provided the copyright owner agrees. I believe the copyright owner is Tuomas Ikonen. I have sent a message for his approval.

Toumas clearly loves the Oriental Shorthair breed, which has a very particular look: slender, sometimes very slender which is described as "Oriental" by the cat fancy.

He is a very calm cat according to his owner. Despite looking like a badass, vampire cat with massive fangs, he is a sweetie with a great personality and a big voice which sounds like an out of tune falsetto opera singer.

He loves attention and of course he has found fame at this time of year. This brings to mind a more serious side to Halloween and black cats. It is that time of year when sometimes, crazy people, like to abuse black cats because there are hints of witchcraft about them if you believe in that kind of stuff. 

This is a throwback to the Middle Ages; around the 13th century. It's crazy but as I recall, some animal shelters do not let people adopt black cats at this time of year to protect them from these crazy people.

And of course, there is another serious side to this time of year which is fireworks. This is one of my pet hates and you will find that it is a pet hate of many cat owners (and dog owners). We don't know how Toivo deals with the sounds and sights of fireworks but if the general population is anything to go by, he hates it just like I do.

I have a page on advice from the UK's Cats Protection charity about how to look after domestic cat during this torrid time of year which you might like to peruse at your leisure by clicking on this link!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Five black cats vanish near Darlington, UK. Is this witchcraft?

Firstly, there are people who practice witchcraft in the UK today, 2022. You don't hear much about them if anything. You don't see them but they are self-proclaimed witches practicing witchcraft. And they perform weird and wonderful ceremonies. We don't know where they are and I don't think that people are much interested in them except for people like me news media reports that five black cats have gone missing from two places: Croft-on-Tees and Dalton-on-Tees, both near Darlington, UK.

Five black cats vanish near Darlington, UK. Is this witchcraft? Image: PoC.

There are two strange facts about the case. There are other indoor/outdoor cats allowed to roam around these towns which are not black cats. Nothing happened to them. Secondly, the five black cats have completely disappeared. There is no trace of them anywhere. It is as if they no longer exist.

RELATED: The earliest record of the belief that cats are witches in disguise.

This would point strongly to the suggestion that a person or persons have simply taken them. They've been removed from the street and taken somewhere. Bearing in mind the association between black cats and witches, and also bearing in mind, as stated above, that witches remain in the UK even today, it is reasonable to suggest that persons engaged in witchcraft have used black cats as some sort of sacrifice.

That sounds horrible and brutal and it conjures up a very unpleasant image. However, my gut feeling is that it is a reasonable and accurate assessment.

RELATED: Witches and Witches’ Familiars in the UK in the 1970s.

Specifically, three black cats on the same street in Croft-on-Tees vanished without trace in a matter of weeks leaving their caregivers bereft and searching for them.

And two black cats have also gone missing in a neighbouring village: Dalton-on-Tees. The matter is being investigated by the police. Mrs Schmidt who owned a black cat called Tom which has gone missing said:

"It is a complete mystery. The cats are chipped and none have been found on the roads. It is like they have just vanished into thin air. There are loads of cats in our village and it is just the black ones which have disappeared."

Anyone with any ideas or information which might help trace the cats can contact North Yorkshire Police by calling 101, press 2 and ask to speak to PSCO Helen Sutherland.