Cats

Hello my friends. Thank you all for the purrs and they are so appreciated. yesterday I ate hardly anything at all and slept the day away. Today was much the same despite mum trying to tempt with all sorts. A while ago dad tried another appetite tablet and I kept it down. I have eaten a little so far and now am back to snoozing. Please keep those purrs, woofs and paws crossed for me. yesterday mum was talking to me and saying she loved me and that I should eat please...I listened... I will try mum... Promise.... Love and hugs to all.. GJ xxx

We say farewell to another long time furiend. Mittens Pollypaws was helped to The Bridge yesterday afternoon. She had been diagnosed with stomach cancer over three years ago.She joins her sisfurs Patches Lady and Mistrie Rose at The Bridge. Please go and leave some comforting purrs for her mum CalicoMom Toni and little sis Precious Flower. We know they have had a sad year this year, so we send lots of comforting purrs to them. We hope you enjoy chasing the fairies with your sisfurs. We will miss you, but always remember you.

I may be making a crazy statement here, but I had a thought last week: If rescues want people to adopt more FIV+ cats and really and truly want to educate the public that an FIV+ diagnosis is not the end of the world, then I think they should start practicing what they preach. In the rescue world, everyone is working hard lately to educate potential adopters about FIV+ cats -- and this is a great thing! It’s not big deal, we say. FIV+ cats can mix and mingle with other cats, and as long as neither is super aggressive, there is very little risk of them passing it on. They can live long, happy lives, and they're pretty much otherwise perfect. And yet, most rescues will not accept FIV+ cats, and the ones that do (thank you for that much, at least!), keep them separated in an “FIV room” with other positive kitties. Share this image Me super-cuddling Berger, a sweet FIV+ kitty. function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) So how in the world are assumedly uneducated adopters supposed to accept these cats into their homes if rescues segregate them from other cats? It’s a touchy situation, and one that might initially be hard to accept -- and even harder to put into practice. The fact is that FIV is not easily transmittable. I say this when describing the risk factor: “Unless both cats are wild lions and tigers and get into a violent fur-flying skin-shredding attacks, you’ll most likely be okay.” Rescues know this, too. I won’t go into the specifics about feline immunodeficiency virus (but you can read all about it here), but I will say that there is a lot of misconceptions about it. If cats test positive in an animal control shelter, for instance, they will most likely be euthanized on the spot. It’s not because they are “sick,” but because they are harder to adopt because of these misconceptions. Share this image Big orange cat and little orange kitten by Shutterstock.com."> Big orange cat and little orange kitten by Shutterstock.com."> We can be friends, right? Big orange cat and little orange kitten by Shutterstock.com. function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) FIV+ cats can be adopted into homes with negative cats. It’s all about temperament, really. For instance, one of my cats is the calmest, sweetest boy ever. I know he’d be a great match for a calm FIV cat. Neither one of them would present any danger of scratching or biting the other. So here’s my point: If rescues want people to believe this (because it is true!), then maybe that’s where the example-setting should start. Perhaps someone might be more inclined to adopt an FIV+ cat if they see how well he is interacting with other cats and everything is fine. Maybe if they weren’t so segregated at rescues or shunned at shelters, they’d have more a chance of being more widely accepted. Imagine if you see a super-sweet kitty at the rescue. He’s the best one. He rubs your hand and rubs the cat scratcher and rubs his buddies and decides he wants you to take him home. It’s love at first sight, and you tell them you’d like to adopt him. And then they tell you he’s FIV+. Share this image Little girl with pet cat by Shutterstock.com."> Little girl with pet cat by Shutterstock.com."> Dreaming of a day when FIV kitties always get to live the good life... Little girl with pet cat b

Tommie, Gracie & Mickey Mouse from the Shelter Cats blog are this week’s featured interview by the Funny Farmer Felines.  They are generous, caring cats who seldom appear on their own blog because they want shelter cats to be as fortunate as they are, with a home of their own.  You can read Talking...Read more »

Lots of people leave cats at animal shelter doors in the middle of the night. You don’t often hear about people who steal cats who are already at the shelter. Authorities believe that earlier this month, Emily Uckele of Burlington, NC, wanted some cats, and she knew just where to get them: the Burlington Animal Shelter. But instead of doing the sane thing -- you know, visiting the shelter and filling out an adoption application -- Uckele is accused of breaking into the facility and stealing 16 cats. Share this image Cat with paw on face by Shutterstock"> Cat with paw on face by Shutterstock"> That was so dumb, even cats are *facepalm*ing. Cat with paw on face by Shutterstock function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Police issued a warrant for her arrest after viewing surveillance video that showed her at a nearby Walmart, buying the tools she needed to break in through a window. But Uckele turned herself in before the cops had to serve the warrant. I really can’t wrap my head around this: Why would anyone steal animals from a shelter? It doesn't seem like a wacky animal liberation thing. Authorities say she never volunteered for the shelter and she never worked there, so I doubt the theft was based on an animal-rights agenda. Was the theft a result of mental illness? Sometimes people who do stuff like this are just not right in the head, after all. I’m not sure about that, either: Police believe she didn’t act alone, and it seems she did stop by the shelter at least once before the break-in -- her signature is on a visitor sign-in sheet. Was she casing the place? If so, she wins a Dumbest Criminal of the Month Award for using her real name on the guest list. Share this image Abandoned cat peeking out from under a decaying wall by Shutterstock"> Abandoned cat peeking out from under a decaying wall by Shutterstock"> Abandoned cat peeking out from under a decaying wall by Shutterstock function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Was she unable to afford the $60 adoption fee? Well, I suppose if you want 16 cats, the costs do pile up. But really, who on Earth needs 16 cats, all at once? Was it just an act of greed? Were Uckele and her suspected co-conspirators looking to get some animals to sell to research facilities or dog fighters? I hope not, because that would be stomach-turningly awful. In the couple of cases I know involving animals stolen from shelters, the animals and the thieves are usually caught pretty quickly. Not this time: Almost a month later, the cats are still missing. What happened to them? Why won’t Uckele say anything about it? Even if she doesn’t want to turn in the people who might have worked with her, the least she could do is tell the authorities where the cats are. Share this image Joyous reunion by Shutterstock"> Joyous reunion by Shutterstock"> Joyous reunion by Shutterstock function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Come on, lady! This is just cruel. Please, for heaven’s sake, at least say where you put the cats you stole. You’ve already been irresponsible enough; try to win back some decent karma by doing the right thing. And if those

We want to send out our sincere thank you to everyone who has sent us cards, and commented on our blog, and on Facebook about the passing of Jenny and Obi. We will get around to personally thanking each of you over time. It is very hard on Maw and us right now. We miss Jenny's meowing, and her loud purrs. She could really purr! And it became louder when she could no longer hear herself over the last couple of years. And then at the end, she was always coming right up to Maw and Paw's plates to eat whatever they had because she had serious hyperthyroidism and was literally starving all the time. She would steal pieces of meat off their plates. Maw sure does miss Obi. Obi was always so happy when she would come home, and would run to the door to meet her. And he would always go upstairs at night with her, and climb into bed with her. And every time she sat down on the chair, he would jump on her lap. Now, there is no Obi to meet her at the door, and no Obi to climb into bed with her, and no Obi to jump on her lap. She misses Obi a ton. Many hugs and luf, Us

The Mom was looking at pictures last night and stumbled across this classic. She could never, ever build a snowman without somedawg, well, you know, on it. heh hehThis is what happened whenever The Mom thought the froot bats might be too chilly.Have a great weekend, everybuddy!

MARLEY: I had great fun in my chair-tent! I sat inside.I leaned over the arm! I curled up inside!It is SUCH a great place ta nap!

When the lady with the yellow hair went to BlogPaws last weekend, it meant one thing for me.  I didn’t get my blog day!!  So totally unfair to me AND my fans!  You all missed me, didn’t you?  Well, that better not happen again. But, y’know, I kinda missed the lady with the yellow hair when she was gone.  But don’t tell her that, okay?  She might start thinking that I actually like her. Okay, let’s get on with the good stuff.  I get to announce the winner of our little BlogPaws swag giveaway.  Here’s how we picked the winner.   We had a total of 42 entrants.  We gave each entrant a number from 1 – 42 in the order in which the comments were left.  We ran those numbers through the True Random Number Generator on random.org.  And the winner is…. Jan’s Funny Farm Congratulations!  We’ll be contacting you by email so we can get your prize sent out to you before Ernie eats all of it.  And thanks to everybuddy who pawticipated in our giveaway!  Now go have a great weekend!!