Thursday, January 31, 2013

Casa de Buddy Has No Reverse

This is a challenging time at Casa de Buddy-Has-No-Reverse.  We've been busy.  Well, Jan has been busy and Buddy has been busy beating her up.  But we've just been trying to keep out of Jan and Buddy's way.


Last week we almost lost Micah.  He'd only been here 4 months and suddenly he had a horrible respiratory infection.  It came to where Jan was trying to figure out how she was going to dig a grave in the cold, hard ground because he wasn't responding.  Last Friday night he started to rally.  Just a little and he picked up over the weekend.  Jan kept feeding him a little at a time and he ate every bite and lapped up the water with it. 

He's lost some weight but he started spending his evenings investigating the house.  He was getting really brave until Percy went after him again last night.  Time will tell whether Micah will go back to hiding or stake a claim in the house.


Buddy chewed and licked himself back into the 2 soft ecollars so his skin can heal.  But they didn't stop him, so he had to go back into the HATED plastic ecollar.  (Hated by Jan and anyone / anything that gets near him.) 

Yep, he's terrorizing the furniture, the house, us furries, and especially Jan again.  He has no reverse.  When he runs into an obstacle, he just keeps banging against it until it moves, the cone bends or he knocks things over.

Jan is so concerned about him beating the light protection off the collar and cutting his neck again that she contacted the manufacturer.  Who said the same thing always said about Buddy - We never heard of such a thing before.  That's cause they haven't met Buddy!

The company has kindly offered to send him an inflatable collar to see if that helps.  We can't wait!

While wearing the cone, Jan notice when she'd remove it so we dogs can take her walking, Buddy would immediately start chewing on a front paw.  It looked fine.  Then she removed the collar and he started chewing and crying.  So Jan took him out on the front porch so he'd be closer to her old eyes, twisted his paw and practically stood on her head, and finally found the problem.

 That was only part of one dew claw.  It had curved back so tightly and grown faster than the other one.  Right into his paw.  And the side of his paw had swelled over it so it couldn't be seen except from an uncomfortable angle for both Jan and Buddy.  The only dog clippers Jan has have to go over the end of the nail in order to cut it.  Fortunately, Jan had an old pair of cat clippers that made the cut without cutting Buddy.  But he screamed to loud someone across the street stopped to see what abuse Buddy was getting. 


You're thinking this is the end of the post now, aren't you?  Well, it's not.  It's Jan's turn. 

A small cut on Jan's leg started getting infected.  She isn't able to go walking with us dogs and screeches like she's being killed if any of us even get within sprinting distance.  But Buddy keeps sneaking up and ramming / scraping the ecollar on the infection site.  (Do any of you have any spare ear plugs?  We could use some.)  If any of your humans would care to pray for her Jan, we're sure she'd appreciate it.  So would we.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Spencer Seeks Someone Special

Hey, Merci here today.  Our friend Gracie was contacted by someone who needs a home for his kitty.  She passed the information on to us and we're sharing it with you.


(Above) is a picture of Spencer, my 10 yr old Tabby.  I live in Los Angeles, CA and I'm getting married and moving in with my wife who has two dogs that are not cat friendly.  I want to find a great home for Spencer as he has a special place in my heart.  He is an indoor/outdoor cat, LOVES to cuddle at night and gets along with other cats.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jeff    


Please pass this information on to help find Spencer a home.  You can contact Jeff by email.  Just put this together in email format.  jeffreyschlosser  AT gmail DOT com 

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Dennis the Vizsla Dog's brother Tucker can use some prayers.  The infection in his foot is not healing and he is losing bone mass. 


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These are the awards Percy, Micah & Rusty received for participating in the Tabby Cat Club Caption This Event the other day.  See, you all thought Percy and Rusty were really miffed at Micah, but since Jan said they could only have enough time to post one photo, Percy came up with a way for all of them to participate.  Pretty nifty, huh?  They all got an award.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Percy and Rusty Are Miffed


Percy: Rusty and I are feeling a bit miffed because today there's a special event at the Tabby Cat Club and a certain latecomer member has taken over our whole post.
Rusty:  Well, to be fair, Jan did say she could only let us use the computer for a few minutes, so whichever one of us found a photo suitable for captioning first would get to post.

Percy:  Yeah, but he's been getting a lot more posts than we have for a while.  We need to have a serious talk with him!

Rusty:  Well, it will have to wait, as he's sawing wood and wouldn't hear a word we say.

Percy:  Sawing wood?  Oh, you mean snoring.  Okay, but when he wakes up ....

Rusty:  Well, even though we're not included, stop by the Tabby Cat Club.  Yep, it's Caption This day there.  You don't have to be a TCC member to visit or comment.




Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sunday Smile

We have a fun video for your Sunday Smile today.  Bob Hope (age 52)  and James Cagney (age 56) showing us all how to dance.  Without falling off the table or kicking anyone in the nose, something all humans need to practice for fancy social situations..


If the video doesn't play, click here

Friday, January 25, 2013

Fortunate Failed Fosters


Our guests this week are Larry, Curly and Mo, the three feline stooges -hey, it's the truth, ask their mom!  As we were saying, our guests are Tim (Curly), Tom (Larry), Mozart (Mo), Maestro, Ivy, Spud and Junior.  They are well-known as the Random Felines.  

If you have never met them or if you have and you think you know them well, drop by Mousebreath and read Random Felines ... Flourishing Failed Fosters and learn some more.  . 


Monday, January 21, 2013

Mr. Seymour Has A Secret

Hey, Cameron here.  It's about time someone let me do a post of my own again.  Talk about a traffic jam, there's always one here in front of the computer.

We don't know about you but last week was crappy for Jan!  So we decided to find something fun and interesting for her.  You furries might not be too interested in history, but your humans might.

In 1956, Samuel J. Seymour was a guest on "I've Got A Secret."  Who was Mr. Seymour and what was his secret?  He was the last living witness to a tragic moment in history.  At age 5, he was at the Ford Theater the night John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. 

Enjoy a few minutes of old-fashioned television.


If the video doesn't play, click here

If you would like to read his  newspaper interview, you can read it here   We had a fun time figuring out how to view the entire article but finally learned to use the little box to the left of "Page 11 of 58" at the top right. It's short and interesting to read.


Percy, Rusty & Micah belong to the Tabby Cat Club and Nerissa, one of the members, has a brother Seville who is having a urinary blockage problem.  So drop by Nerissa's Life if you can and wish him warmer weather and thawed puddles so he can drink lots of puddle water and pee outside to his heart's content. 


Friday, January 18, 2013

9 Cats and a Dog


Our interview with Cory and her siblings Nigel, Jonesie, Figgy, Ellie, Bennette, Cecilia, Madison, Ginger and (woofie) Grete is on Mousebreath today.  Please stop by to read Second Time Around Love for Cory & Siblings and then stop by the Cory Cat Blog to let them know you enjoyed their story.



Thursday, January 17, 2013

De-stuffers and Bed Eaters

Hey, Sam here.  Today I want to talk about bed eating.  Yes, it's a popular hobby among dogs,.  I want to teach you the difference between a pro and an amateur. 

Remember this recent photo?
Well, I'm a pro.  See, no mess.  I actually ATE some of the bed.


This is an amateur. (This dog is not one of us, he or she is from Dogshaming.)  M-e-s-s-y! 


And this is another amateur.  With that mess, Buddy will never be a pro, but he doesn't care.  For some strange reason he isn't a bed eater; he just likes to dig holes and de-stuff them. Kinda strange, if you ask me. 

And by the way, the bed I'm sitting on once looked the same as what's left of the cushion Buddy's laying on.  Yep, he de-stuffed that too.  Buddy and I still slept on what was left of it, but eventually it had the same fate as Buddy's cushion.  It went out the door one day and never returned.  Come to think of it, a lot of our stuff disappears like that.  We think Jan has a private burial ground for de-stuffies somewhere.

Maybe Buddy should do a post on how to de-stuff beds.  He could title it, How to Drive Jan Crazy! 

Don't forget Sallie's auction will start next Monday.  Email a photo of any items you'd like to donate with a brief description and a starting bid to margaretmsan AT gmail  DOT com. 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Helping Jan Clean

Hey, Rusty here

I've been having fun rolling in the dirt  and then leaving a trail of leaves behind me as I walked through the house afterward.  We've enjoyed a few rainy but warm winter days.  The weather is about to change, but I'll have fun memories to tide me over till spring. 

And you know what happens when we kitties eat grass? Yep, we hurl!  So I'm pretty proud of myself for single-handedly ... um, I mean single-pawedly keeping Jan busy cleaning up after me.  

Now that I've got Jan somewhat trained to clean up after me, I think I deserve a snooze.  Training a human is hard work!

But first, a little news.
The Furriends of the Cat Blogosphere auction blog is putting together an auction for Sallie, who recently was rushed to an emergency vet with severe complications from diabetes.  She is blind but home now.  Her mom Dawn needs some help with the high vet bills. 

The auction will begin next Monday, January 21st.  If you would have an item or two you'd like to donate to the auction, send a photo with a brief description and a suggested starting bid to Marg (be sure to convert this to the proper email format) margaretmsan AT gmail DOT com.

We finished the graphics yesterday, so feel free to grab this auction graphic for your sidebar and / or a post and help spread the news.  Thanks.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Birthday, Contest, TNR Seminar


Today is Gracie's 4th birthday and she's having a party at the Tabby Cat Club.

Happy Birthday, Gracie.  We're grateful for your friendship and look forward to helping you celebrate many more birthdays. 


Have you gone by Fur Everywhere and joined the "Name Our (New) Blog Contest" yet?  Well, what are you waiting for?  We made a submission.  You're next.



We're including this poster from Toby Franks for those of you who live in the Akron, Ohio area.  This is a good chance to learn from experienced TNR (Trap Neuter Return) trappers about this humane and effective method for controlling feral cat populations.

It's a PNG file and will supposedly by easy to post to Facebook, so feel free to print ... copy ... share the flyer.

Monday, January 14, 2013

A Wootty Bed for Merci

Hey, it's me, Merci.  I wanted to show you the neat bed Jan made for me this year.  She used to make this for Rusty but Rusty's a cat and cats are fickle, so he'd just claim it and sleep anywhere else he felt like it.

So this year the bed is mine.  And I have dubbed it a Wootty Bed.  That's a woofie / kitty bed cause sometimes one of the kitties does borrow it.  But it's a perfect size for me and it's got nice warm blankies in it for me to scrunch up into the perfect mattress. 

But sometimes I like to sleep on one of the big woofie beds, like the one in this photo with the big chunk of material missing.  Jan was going to sew a sheet together for a new cover until she saw teeth marks in the stuffing.  Yep, Sam was starting to eat the stuffing too and that stuff swells when swallowed, so she had to throw the whole bed away.  We really miss it since we're now a bed short, but Jan didn't want to have to bury our resident barking hog who eats anything.  We're all kind of fond of Sam, even if he does have a strange appetite.

To be honest, all our beds are Wootty Beds since cats have no concept of this is mine and that is yours, only this is mine and that's mine too.  We'd borrow theirs but none of us woofies can fit in a dishpan bed.


We're rushing to get this post up cause we haven't eaten yet, so we're going to post 2 prayer requests and use Ann of Zoolatry's words.  (Ann made the lovely graphics.)


Many of you know long-time blogger, Catrina of Cat's Cats.  For several months now Cat has battled against breast cancer.  Previous treatments and surgeries have not brought much success ... she is now about to face major surgery.  

We hope, and we pray, that this time will the cancer will be successfully attacked!  We personally know, all too well, how difficult the fight against cancers are, and hope that along with us, you will visit (it is an older post on her blog) and offer your prayers and your support.  Thank you.



Our dear sweet furriend Lucy, of the blog Hannah and Lucy has been battling serious dental issues for many weeks now.  She's a tiny little girl, so all the dental problems and extractions have also interfered with proper eating.  Lucy will again see the vet today and she, and her Mom Sue and sisfur Hannah need our purrs and prayer and crossed paws.  We Love Lucy!   Please visit to share good thoughts ...

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Sunday Smile

Hey, Sam here.  We thought I'd make you smile today, so I found a short video of dog bloopers that will make you laugh - even if you've seen any or all of them before.

We're chillaxin today and hope you are too.  And you can return to it after a word from our sponsor.  Kidding.  After the video.


If the video doesn't play, click here.



Friday, January 11, 2013

Mr, Puddy, King of Castle

Mr. Puddy is a handsome cat who cast a spell on his future pawrents so they'd adopt him.  Okay, we're just kidding.  He doesn't actually know how to cast a spell, but wait till you read how he chose his forever home and charmed his way inside as an adopted furkit.  Now he is king of the castle and its surrounding territory.

If you haven't met Mr. Puddy yet, be sure to go by and introduce yourself.  If he's an old friend, you can learn something new by reading our interview with him From Visitor to Adopted Son on Mousebreath.

Have we interviewed you yet?  (You could be next.)  Is there a blogging kitty or kitty family you'd like to read about?  

 

Happy weekend!

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Laser Greens and Chunky

Hey, Micah here, with an update on myself.  Remember this?  It was one of the first photos Jan took of me when I arrived here.  See how super thin I was?  Well, guess what?  I'm not super thin any more.  Jan says I've been eating like I've never seen food before and now I'm a super handsome mancat.

Aren't I the cat's meow now?  I found this wonderful spot I can climb to when Jan makes me spend time in the living room.  From there I can watch for psycho Percy.

And speaking of Percy -
 Yep, I got my green lasers on, so look out Percy!

Well, maybe I better tone it down a bit.  I don't want to challenge him.  Jan was petting me a couple days ago and Percy jumped up next to me.  There we were nose-to-nose with Jan petting both of us.  I growled out of habit (and fear) but Percy didn't hit me.  Maybe in about 20 or 30 years he'll stop picking on me?

Monday, January 07, 2013

Reverse Motivation


When we stopped by da Tabbies o Trout Towne, we found they made a slew of Rezzo Lou Shunz. And then we realized the object of this is to only make ones you can't and won't keep. Kind of reverse motivation.  We can do that! 

JFF: So our first rezzo lou shun is to never pick on Jan again because she's perfect.

And we individually resolve to...


 Percy: ... stop picking on Micah and welcome him into the funny farmers..



Micah: ... stand up to psycho Percy and punch him in the snooter!



Rusty: ... share my doghouse  / clubhouse with the dogs.


Cyndi:  ...I can't think of anything.  Guess I'll have to resolve to make lots of rezzo lou shunz.

Cameron:  ... be the perfect kitty living on a funny farm.  Oh, wait, I am perfect.  I know.  I'll learn to count past my toes.

Buddy: ...stop leading Merci and Sam in a howling spree whenever the phone rings so Jan can hear and callers don't think they've dialed the wrong number and reached Riot Central.

Merci: ...stop wagging my tail and putting out the heater pilot lights.  Oh, I haven't done that this year.  How about if I start listening to Jan when she calls me to go out and when she calls me to come in, I'll stop staring into the distance as if she doesn't exist?



Sam: ... stop staring pitifully at Jan as if I haven't been fed in a week whenever she sits down to eat. I guess I should give up eating cat toys too.  *  What, Jan?*  Oh, okay, I promise not to eat any more bedding until I can afford to purchase a replacement from my own funds.

Well, now that's done we can set about not keeping them.  We had no idea we were missing so much fun every year.  So what rezzo lou shunz did you make to break?

Oh, and Percy, Rusty & Micah posted their New Year resolves at the Tabby Cat Club Friday.  Want to know what they're up to?  Go read what they plan to do in 2013.

Graphic by Zoolatry
Prayers for Mr. Pip, who continues to have serious health problems. Stop by with a kind word. 

Friday, January 04, 2013

Tober, Executive Boss Cat



*Brrrrr, shiver, cough, cough.  Testing, testing -- frog one, frog two ... frog five reporting for news announcement.*

Good morning.  It's kinda cold in here today and we've all got a frog in our voice, so please excuse how we sound. 

But we are pleased to introduce - or -re-introduce to those who have already me him -Mr. Tober, Executive Boss of the Thorntown Library.  We hope you will drop by Mousebreath to read another in-depth interview by us  Funny Farmer Felines --- Tober, Library Cat with Staff..  You just might learn something new or be reminded of things you're forgotten about him.  And he is a character.  :)


Have a good day.  Stay warm and dry.  And stay away from them frogs!  They're contagious.

We were sorry to lose another blogging legend, DaisyMae Maus, on New Year's Eve day.  We made this for her a couple days ago but weren't able to post it till today.

We are pleased Charmee will continue the blog, although we will greatly miss DMM.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Funny Farm Woofies and Picasa

Hey, it's us, the 3 stooges ... um, the 3 woofies of the funny farm.  We've been doing a lot of this (napping, not shredding cushions) and plan to do a lot more this winter.

As you already know, in December a lot of bloggers were hit with monthly storage charges for their Picasa account and some were forced to sign up with Google+ just to access their account.  It was not a fun time for many.  We were particularly upset that there was a problem over Google+ and Poppy Q's blog was deleted on the very day our Mousebreath interview with her published.  It was restored a couple of days later, but she missed out on the fun part of being interviewed.  (You can still read her interview here.)

We keep a close eye on our Picasa storage use and it went from 8 mb to 26 mb in the wink of an eye.  There was no way!  So Jan sat and added up the total size of all the blogs we own or help and guess what ....?  Yep, they'd counted every single photo in every album, most of which should not have counted. This is why the directions we posted a while back on how to resize your Picasa photos to make room for more did not work.

Before we continue, we'd like to say how grateful we are that Google allows us to blog and post photos for free.  This fits perfectly into our budget.  But we don't understand how and why this happened and so many bloggers were charged for extra storage when Google was planning to upgrade.

A couple of weeks after finding we'd evidently been posting huge photos in our sleep (8 to 26 mb, remember!), our storage suddenly went from 1 gb to 5 gb.  Thank you, Google!  We are so grateful to have even more free storage.  But what went wrong in your upgrade of our accounts that our storage was first downgraded?  What about all those bloggers who had to pay or sign up for Google+, which they didn't want?

Well, the good news is that you need to check your Picasa storage use again and make sure your account has been upgraded (5 gb free storage + whatever storage you paid for = ) and then you can cancel your paid storage before the next payment comes due.  (JB Bean canceled her extra storage plan without a problem.)

We were suggesting bloggers who don't have Photoshop or another photo editor to resize the photos they post download the free Picasa for their computer.  Some of you didn't want a big program or want to fool with learning it just to resize photos, so have we got good news for you!

Mr. Doug (Jan's brother) sent her a link last month to a free resize program and after protesting she didn't need another photo program, she watched the video and then downloaded the program to try it.  She loves it.  See, this is just a little program that does absolutely nothing except resize photos for posting, emailing, etc.

It is so easy to use!  Just drag photo(s) into it.  The first time she tried it, she resized 30 Christmas ecards in a second. It retains the same file name and adds "resized" to the file to ID it.  (Jan changed it to "rszd" for our photos.)  It does not alter your original and adds the rszd copy to the same folder unless you tell it differently.

You can resize for email (we use this setting for Blogger photos), instant messenger,  social networks, iPhone/iPod, original size compressed, or custom.

The program is called Freesizer.  You can watch a video of how easy it is to use here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zpl5d379p0

And if you like it, you can download it here - http://www.freesizer.com/

The photo of us at the top of this post was resized in Picasa which we have on our computer.  It is 800 x 451 pixels and 213 kb.

Then we ran it through Freesizer for "email" and it is now 800 x 451 pixels and 73 kb. (Click on it to enlarge.)

This is not a review.  We are using this program and find it helpful, so we're sharing with you in case you'd like to try it.

Oh, a quick review, in case you don't know or have forgotten how to find your storage use.

Go to Google.com
Top -  click on "More"
Click on "Photos" in drop down box

If you're signed into your blog, Picasa will open.  If not signed in, you'll need to sign in.

At the very bottom of the page, you should find these two lines  ---

You are currently using "X" MB (X.XX %) of your 5120 MB. Upgrade Storage
(Google copyright info line)

In the event you can't find it at the very bottom of the main page (where you see all your albums)  ---

Go to the top of that page and click on "Upload"
Look in the sidebar on the right.  There should be a bar showing your online storage and useage.
(Mine goes from 0 to 5120 mb -- do you have the same??????)

Online storage:
0  -   5120 MB
  "X" MB Storage used
5112 MB Storage remaining

Hope 2013 started off well for you.  Have a good day.