Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

"I am the Fabio of kittehs...Rrrr-RAWR!"



Saturday, November 26, 2011

PFFFT! Silly Television!

What do you do when the cable channel changes their schedule on you just hours before the show starts?

We apologize for anyone who tried to watch Jingle All The Way last night so's they could play in our Treasure Hunt Contest...
Mommy kept checking to confirm and she saw the schedule on their web site go back & forth from 6 PM CST to 7:30 PM CST.

In the end,  Jingle All The Way did not air when we said it would on our bloggie, and we's sooo sorry about that! So...because of that, we're extending our contest through next weekend when both shows air again.

Straight from hallmarkchannel.com, here's the schedule for Friday December 2 (pleez don't change it again, Hallmark Channel! *kitteh smiles*):



6:00 PM
hoops&yoyo Ruin Christmas - When Hoops, Yoyo, and Piddles wait up
to catch Santa in the act on Christmas Eve, disastrous consequences follow.
Will Christmas or Santa ever be the same? Only if these comedic friends
save the day.
6:30 PM
Jingle All the Way (2011) - A spirited Husky puppy looking for a home at
a Christmas tree farm instantly bonds with a young boy visiting with his
parents. Unable to keep him, the boy rides away, and the pup embarks
on a snowy journey to find his friend again.


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful Thursday




Since today's Thanksgiving...and in just a few short weeks, I celebrate my "gotcha" day with Mother & Daddy...

I wanted to share all the things I'm thankful for.


A wonderful family (well, except for Faraday, sometimes)...
Food to eat, a warm place to sleep...
And a lovely back yard to play in.



*sigh* oh, okay and even my own purrsonal bodyguards who shadow me when I go out to keep me safe. *grudging look at Mother*

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


Monday, November 21, 2011

Backstory: Petfinder's Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays




Hi all! *wiggles pink toenails in hello*

I asked Mother if we could blog about Petfinder's "Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays" because it's very personal to me. You see, that's how I found my Forever Family! And Mother was excited to do it because she knows - and works with - the people who were instrumental in making this a great new national tradition!

It all began many years ago when a lawyer in suburban Kansas City wrote a bedtime story for his kids. It was about a special boy who heard his hometown shelter needed to find temporary homes for its animals over the holidays.

The story also told how his small act of kindness inspired and motivated an entire town to extend their peace and goodwill to animals that year, too! That man's name is Greg Kincaid, and his story, "A Dog Named Christmas," was first published 3 years ago this month.


Someone gave a copy of Mr. Kincaid's book to a really nice man that Mother works with - Brad Moore, president of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. He fell in love with it - first because it's an awesome story but also, Mother says, because it's a hometown story and we're big about supporting hometown talent!

Greg's book became Hallmark's 2009 Holiday Hall of Fame movie (and if you never got a chance to see it, set your recorders for Sunday December 4, because at 8 AM EST it's playing again on the Hallmark Channel).

But that's just the beginning of the story! Hallmark then partnered with CBS and Petfinder.com to launch a new program that winter, based on the concept in Greg's story: the idea to foster a lonely pet for the holidays.

This is a wonderful idea for several reasons. Not only would this make it easier for shelter workers to have a holiday of their own (fewer pets in the shelter = less time they need to work), but it also gives animals a few weeks away from the stresses of a shelter environment.

Did you know that there is such a thing as shelter stress and that it can weaken an animal's immune system?

Veterinary News wrote about shelter stress and its affects on cats in particular in an article this past July. They quoted Dr. Michael Moyer, President of the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), as saying that a shelter environment "means stress, and stress means relapse of latent viruses ... [and] supportive care for weeks in order to convalesce."
 
Please consider participating in this year's Petfinder's Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program. You'll be giving a wonderful animal a few weeks' reprieve, lightening the load for your local shelter, and - who knows? You just might discover your foster friend is someone you just can't part with. (It can happen - just look at me! *giggle*)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Fabulous Fall!

*squee!* ooh I just LOVE Fall! All those lovely leaves to roll in! 
(and I *do* mean ROLL...!)
oh look! It's Allie's best side! *snicker*


Wednesday, November 16, 2011

(Almost) W_rdl_ss Wednesday

But Motherrrrr.......

When I said I wanted a roll in the hay, I meant it Literally!

Gee...what did you think I meant?


Monday, November 14, 2011

Remembering Ryker



Mommy was going through old photos of Ryker cuz we lost him to a blood clot one year ago today (11/14/2010).

While she was looking at his pictures, she thought she'd better scan them in so she'll have them digitally, too.
We told her to share them on our bloggie, so here they are!

Ryker at 4 months with older brother Caleb
Mowzers! He was TINY!

Ryker at 5 months
We Tonks are a handsome bunch, aren't we?


Mommy tried to fix Ryker's LAZER eyes here = FAIL! MOL

Ryker liked to kick older brother Caleb's fuzzy butt.
Often!
Here Caleb's telling the Little Whippersnapper to STAND DOWN.

Didn't Work. (MOL!)

Mommy thinks he had the most amazing eyes. (This picture was not retouched.)
He was Mommy's baby boy. (We're her baby boys, too)
RIP Ryker Richman
January 3, 1997 - November 14, 2010



Sunday, November 13, 2011

Against Petland USA

Mary Haight of Dancing Dog Blog asked bloggers who are against puppy mills to take action this weekend. She asked us to blog about Petland USA and their (IMHO ridiculous) response to our opposition to Petland USA selling dogs from breeders.

Per Mary, in a reply to her inquiry about their policies, Petland USA replied twice that they believed - are you ready for this? -

“... that animal rights people have an agenda to get rid of family pets."

Seriously? Seriously??  

Every person I know who volunteers at Wayside Waifs (the shelter where I volunteer) is passionately involved in placing animals in loving, responsible homes. We believe they are family members. So what if they happen to have four feet, fur and a tail? They're our KIDS.

This reeks of an attempt at diversion, PR sleight of hand, a sound bite they can trot out for the media inquiring about the outcry against them in places like twitter and facebook.

Speaking of facebook, Mary informs us that Petland USA has blocked all comments from protesters pertaining to this issue on every local Petland USA facebook page where the sale of breeder puppies was raised.

What will it take to get Petland USA to behave like a responsible corporate citizen???

Here is Petland USA's claim, in their emailed response to Mary's pointed questions:

“[Petland USA claims] that all of the places they get pets from are USDA approved and have no direct violations."  (Mary's response to that:  "they are unaware [this] does not, in fact, preclude a place from being a commercial puppy mill?")

Mary comments on how interesting it is that Petland used the phrase: 'no direct violations.'
She points out that brokers can't have direct violations since they don't keep animals, they only trade them.
Of course, the places they get animals from can certainly have them!
Mary goes on to point out that "of course because it is a franchise, Petland USA can claim the franchisees are the people contracting with puppy mills."

In case anyone reading wonders if breeder situations can really be all that bad, please click over to two of our previous posts where we interviewed the head of the rescue program at Wayside Waifs, Sarah Little. Sarah describes the very real medical issues Wayside has had to address when rescuing dogs from puppy mills. Or watch the vlog interview with Kathy Bassett, Wayside’s dog advocate, as she discusses the emotional and psychological condition of these poor dogs when they arrive at Wayside, and the lengths volunteers go to, in order to rehabilitate these poor sweet animals.

Finally, here is Mary's response to Petland USA's email – and her request of us:

“And so we have asked once again, just in case there was some kind of change happening in this corporation, to be fair – to see if Petland USA would join the 21st century and understand that cruelty to animals should not the foundation of any company.  We got the answer. You can check out the call to action at change.org.”

Are you as angry about this as I am? Then please share, repost, retweet, boycott and go to change.org to sign the petition.



Saturday, November 12, 2011

Precious Boy, You Are Missed

Monday is the anniversary of Ryker's loss.





Thursday, November 10, 2011

Please help us get Jack's Law on the books!

The wonderful humans over at change.org have begun a petition that will force airlines to modify the way they handle animals in transport situations.

We think the way American Airlines handled Jack's situation was horrible. Not only was he lost for over 2 months, he ended up suffering horribly and dying as a result.

As a pilot, Mommy is horrified by the stories she is hearing and has promised us we'll *never* EVER travel anywhere if we can't be in the cabin right with her! 


Ryker:
Please click over to THIS LINK HERE and sign the petition. Then share it with everyone you know. 
Let's get Jack's Law on the books!!








Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Wordl_ss Wednesday





Saturday, November 5, 2011

More on Senior Cats

I pondered quite a bit about what to write for this Saturday's Pet Blogger's Blog Hop.

Then a friend told me about Bella, the senior kitty owned by actor Chris Pratt, who stars in the movie Moneyball that just recently came out in theatres. In a (failed) attempt to add a little comic relief to his troubles with his cat Bella, Pratt posted on his blog asking if anyone knew the best way to kill a cat.
Like I said, HUMOR: FAIL.

I'm not going to play the blame game here; Pratt is a comedian and was probably just trying to get a laugh. Thanks to public outcry he now knows not to E-V-E-R do that again. It takes a real act of stupidity to get that much bad press.

Can anyone say PR: FAIL? From his description, Bella - a 12 year old white Persian - was beginning to have incontinence issues. In the end, Pratt was able to place Bella in a home where she's the only pet.

Since part of the problem may have been the stress of an elderly cat having to coexist with two energetic pug dogs, this is a happy ending for Bella. But the entire brouhaha brought to light another issue: Bella falls solidly into the demographic of the Senior Cat. And as senior cats age, they often develop illnesses and chronic conditions that owners may not be prepared to deal with.

According to VetMed Team, more cats are living into old age than ever before, and with that comes a greater need for education on how to care for senior pets. Here's what they had to say about it: "Many, if not most, geriatric cats have multiple medical conditions, and managing them is where the art and science of veterinary practice meet. Challenging it may be, but also incredibly rewarding when the veterinary team and owner working together see the tremendous impact on the cat's life.

Many cats live for years with good management of multiple chronic medical conditions." They're currenty offering a free online course on the care of Senior Cats to anyone who has joined their community. Membership is open to all veterinarians, their employees, veterinary students and animal shelter workers. Please encourage your vet - and especially your local shelters - to take advantage of this free resource!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Dona Nobis Pacem: Blog Blast for Peace

Today bloggers from all over are uniting to promote peace. This will be our first time participating, and we thank Coffee, Cats & Yarn for her blog post, otherwise we would not have known about it.

Peace - Shalom - is a pretty central concept to our culture. So we asked Mother to say a few words about it.

*waves a paw dramatically* Take it awaaaaay, Mommy!

  (*eyeroll* There's one in every crowd... )

_________________

Thanks guys.

For many years, the U.S. had a governmental affairs office in D.C. headed by a man named Moshe Shearer. This man, a rabbi, had a very interesting insight into the concept of peace.

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One of the oldest practices in Judaism, he said, involves a prayer that concludes with Oseh Shalom. Oseh Shalom is probably the most famous prayer for peace in the Hebrew language – and in my opinion one of the most beautiful, especially when you hear its melody. Translated, it goes something like this:

May he who makes peace in the high places make peace for us…

Interestingly, tradition requires you begin by taking three steps back then, as you say the prayer, you bow to the left, to the right and to the front.

Rabbi Sherer taught that the reason for this was to remind us that there is only one way to truly achieve peace among people. 

Stepping back represents stepping back from oneself, dropping personal agendas and willingly letting go of those strongly held personal viewpoints. This helps remove obstacles that stand in the way of objectivity. And while pure objectivity may never be achieved, this practice helps you to better understand the viewpoint of your adversary.

But stepping back isn’t enough. Keeping an open mind and striving for objectivity are a critical first step, true, but if we truly want peace we need to be willing to bend. A little bit of compromise (whether it’s the left, the right or the center) is a necessary component to achieving true peace.


May we all learn to step back and be willing to bend - whether it's to the left, to the right or to the center.  

Oseh Shalom Bimromav. Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu. V'yal kol Israel, v'imru Amein.