The story of Santos, the much pampered Persian who has been deemed the world's top cat, was a reader favorite on Tuesday at newsobserver.com. It seems that he was a welcome diversion in a world of bad news that seems to get gloomier by the day.

Some readers were not content to just read about the North Raleigh residents who have made an expensive hobby of keeping Santos in impeccable shape for international cat fanciers' shows, they wanted to praise the beauty and smarts of their own furry felines. (In the interest of full disclosure, I live with Lady Ashley, a mutt who nonetheless demands to be treated like those of the finest pedigrees.) I can assure you tha my feline preference had absolutely nothing to do with Santos appearance on the front page. I am outnumbered by dog people and puppies get their turn today.

In addition to their prose, cat fanciers sent photos. Among those we heard from were fans of Hartley Peavey, nominated to be West Raleigh's top cat. Enjoy. -- Linda Williams

Carrboro Police Officer G. Mayfield responded to a house on Broad Street Saturday and found a mother dog tied up beyond the reach of her two tiny puppies during a heavy rainstorm.

"One of them was about to drown in a puddle because it could not hold its head up," Mayfield wrote in an incident report. "The other one was trapped near the house. Both puppies were young enough that neither of them had their eyes open. The mother was tied up to a tree, and she had gotten her leash wrapped around a few pieces of lawn furniture and could not get to the puppies. The puppies appeared to be extremely hungry."

Emergency Animal Rescue Services took all three dogs into custody.