猫猫狗狗合唱圣诞赞歌

Christmas is just around the corner. For the rest of today's program, we bring you some famous Christmas tunes by the world famous Jingle Cats, a singing group composed of nine real cats. The group, most famous for their version of "Jingle Bells", has just released their new album which features real cats ‘singing' holiday favorites.

Damin has more.

Jingle Cats' new CD is their original debut album that blasted onto the Billboard Charts when it was first released in 1993. It is regarded as an all-time classic Christmas album featuring 20 songs sung by real cats.

The new album features such classic Christmas songs as "Oh Christmas Tree", "Jingle bells" and "What child is this?" as well as other Jingle Cats hit songs.

Mike Spalla, the producer, recorded several thousand meows for his albums and has found cat meows to be music to his ears. He says cats make a wide range of sounds which can be arranged and adapted into musical notes and phrases.

Mike Spalla is a graduate of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. He says there are 59 million cats and 53 million dogs in the United States.

A long time ago, in the frosty North Pole, nine kittens were born on Christmas Day. The tiny kittens were placed in a basket on Santa's porch. That is where they were discovered by Mrs. Claus, who heard their tiny cries.

The mother of the kittens was nowhere to be found. Mrs. Claus brought them in the house and gave them some milk. "Poor little kittens," she said. "Where is your mother?" The kittens mewed and cried for their mother. Mrs. Claus took care of the kittens and kept them well fed while they waited for Santa to arrive home.

When Santa returned home from delivering toys to all the children of the world, the elves began playing their favorite Christmas records. Then, an amazing thing occurred, the tiny kittens began singing along with the music.

"They're singing!" Santa exclaimed, "what a wonderful day this is!" The elves joined in with laughter and the Jingle Cats became permanent residents of Santa's house in the North Pole.

The nine Jingle Cats are - Cheesepuff, a Yellow Tabby; Max, a Russian Blue; Binky, a white with dark gray patches; Clarisse, a Maine Coone; Petunia, a Calico; Graymer, a light gray; Twizzler, an American Shorthair; Sprikenz, a black cat and Cueball, a cover cat.

Each holiday season they ride with Santa in his sleigh and sing songs for the entire world to hear. Every time Santa hears the kittens sing, he laughs with joy, "Ho, Ho, Ho. What a wonderful Christmas this will be! Meowy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

While the Jingle Cats continue to rake in the royalties with their classic holiday favorites, man's best friends, the Jingle Dogs, are back in the studio with their feline label-mates. The Jingle Dogs songs feature the barks and howls of over 100 real dogs.

Fun for all ages, the album is sure to bring laughter to all holiday parties.